∞ - May 2025
It was a busy month, but with less to report. That title May (ha!) be confusing… but I’ve been linking this year’s titles to events or projects from that month, and while I was tempted to call this one the title of the Star Wars Insider article I handed in earlier this month, that didn’t seem the wisest. So keep reading to learn about ∞.
Things I did
May began with its Star Wars celebrations as discussed below. On the 7th, I helped install a solar panel! Once again, working with my friend a heating engineer was such a vibrant educational experience. Unpacking and hauling a massive panel up a ladder onto a garage roof and installing the A-frame with concrete blocks hoisted in a bucket up a pulley system was such a great hands-on tonic to sitting at my desk. A great view of the coast.
From one great view to another, I could write a book about my two days seeing twenty one pilots at the O2. The prep started days before, when I gave myself a buzz cut for the first time, which was very freeing. I did this on the day a year since I met the band, which you May (ha!) recall.
I’ll keep a lot of the concert experience and the hours spent surrounding it to myself (also not bogging down this newsletter), but on my Instagram I shared 50 photos from the two days, featuring some of the new friends I made and the many fantastic things from the band’s history I saw. Here, here and here are those in-depth posts.
I will always remember those two days.
After a day to recover and attempt to process, I was off for a week in Seville with my family and a couple of days with some family friends (hi Nick!).
I could write in depth about everything I saw like a full travel blog, but I think it’s enough to say I was inspired every day. It seemed everywhere you looked was like a painting, or a frame from an arty film. I really want to take all the aesthetics I’ve soaked up and funnel it into something. The varied architecture of the Cathedral and various palaces, the ancient columns on colourful street corners, the monumental golden altars, striking patterned tiles over walls, floors and ceilings (the infinity symbol does kind of match the repeated tessellations), the jacaranda trees and peacocks, art, historical documents and of course, it wouldn’t be a Hamer holiday without some Roman remains.
Again, I shared a lot more (80!) photos on my Instagram… here, here, here and here. But, here’s one photo of each main awe-inspiring place, a tasting menu.
As I said on the gram (edited): My fifth MCM Comic Con was equally as fantastic as the rest, if not more so. As always, a great mix of familiar and new faces to uplift and inspire. Plus, I caught the wildly entertaining Bad Batch panel with Michele Ang and Noshir Dalal.
It was lovely to begin filling up Stars and Sabers’ wonderful first anthology with its wonderful contributors, pictured on stage below.
More photos of my haul and the signatures of those above. A lot of kindness and opportunities were given to me that day, so lots to be grateful for, to do and look forward to! After the convention and some disappointing football, the month ended with two more concerts!
After seeing AK Patterson there in March, I knew a session from Ralph of To Kill a King at Brighton’s Folklore Rooms would be a lovely intimate gig - and it was! With backup emotional support mandolin, and a great support act from Charlotte Carpenter, it was a fantastic evening.
While I love certain parts of massive concerts like the O2, there’s something very special about sitting for an acoustic set, the whole little room singing along, and then being able to go up to the artist after, grab a signed vinyl and tell them that you’ve been a fan since 15 and their music got you through hours of GCSE art!
Then the next day it was up to London for half alive’s concert at the Roundhouse. Despite being a fan since their first three-song EP, this was my first time seeing the band headlining (I had seen them as the support for twenty one pilot’s Takeover Tour). And they didn’t disappoint.
First, it was a treat to have the support be an artist whose music I also love, after being introduced to him through so many Bastille Presents: Ampersand shows (and also meeting him last month!). Merrick Winter also co-wrote a song with half alive, and so is the link between two of my favourite bands.
Standing 2nd/3rd row with friends I made in the queue made the concert that much more enjoyable. We had the perfect view of the whole spectacle (incredible lights and sound quality) of the three-piece band plus their two incredible backing dancers. Look up some half alive music videos if you want to see the sort of mind-blowing choreography they do. Josh the lead singer also joins in, but also leaned right onto me when he started crowdsurfing!
Earlier today, I attended another great WIP zoom with Mike Armstrong, all about making print-ready digital files!
Things I wrote
This newsletter… (I always like starting with this one!)
On May 4th, I sent off my third article for Star Wars Insider! Once again, my article will feature information from a brand new release. So, like last year, I woke up on Star Wars Day, watched the brand new animated episode (in this case, the whole six-episode anthology Tales of the Underworld) and added in a new paragraph and made some final edits. It was great to celebrate the anniversary of announcing writing for Insider too.
The May the Fourth celebrations continued with this month’s A Long Time Ago… I wrote a lot about how incredible it was to receive a contribution from such an accomplished writer (and TV producer!) as Marc. A great final edition on what was the regular fortnightly schedule. We’ll see when a new one comes!
A Long Time Ago… with Marc Guggenheim
During the monthly WIP Comics meet, the art for this year’s anthology (the theme being ∞, doubling for an 8 to celebrate their 8th book) was shown off. The digital edition at least will feature an eight-panel one-page story from me! Please follow this link to the Kickstarter and press Notify me for updates!
While I didn’t do any scripting this month, the video game project is moving along well. And everything is ready now for the Blenheim/English Heritage Minecraft competition I’m running for North Leigh Roman Villa. We have the tablets for the winner’s build to be hosted on-site, I’ve produced a document summarising all the discoveries from 1813 till now for dedicated entrants, and all that’s left is to get it all checked over into a final package to go out.
I’m ready to launch into this, my comic and lots more writing next month, including properly chronicling my two days on Gladiator II a year on (though sadly I can’t share that with you on here - but I want to get it all down while it’s in the memory banks!).
Things I gained
Just a couple of Star Wars comics this month. Both these series on the two polar ends of the Skywalker Saga timeline are fantastic additions to the galaxy far, far away.
I treated myself to some wonderful art this time at MCM. Top row, we have Matt Garvey’s Making Your 1st Comic, then Doaly’s poster for Daredevil: Born Again, a limited print signed by the artist! It was great to chat to him after nabbing his poster for The Electric State last con. Those were the three novels I got signed.
Then we have a Greek-myth comic and sticker from Sammy Ward, the usual postcard from Alison Sampson and some other goodies. Katie Whittle, aka Chatterpie, does lovely bird-related art, so I grabbed a bookmark and a Robin-themed book. I’m hoping Nick Gibbon’s Star Wars portraits will be a good omen for another Insider feature!
I think this month’s is the smallest stack so far (I suppose it would’ve been bigger with the MCM purchases). I’ve been meaning to read the original Civil War for a while. On top of that are six free comics from MCM, which all were a part of this year’s Free Comic Book Day. Glad I could grab them even though I didn’t make it to a shop on the day.
While books about Pullman’s world and an old booklet on Chedworth Roman Villa were surprises from my lovely parents, the book from Pilate’s House, with details of all the statues, tiles and other décor was a special gift. And from Pilate to pilots, I treated myself to Kerrang!’s zine for the band’s Clancy World Tour. The interview was conducted a while before their last two shows which I attended and I can’t wait to read their thoughts now it’s all over…
And that’s this newsletter all over…
Infinite thanks for reading!