No Wings
Like grown ups, Phil and I sit down at the dinner table to eat Sunday lunch. We put aside our smart phones and do our best to make small talk. Phil, as a genial person who works with other human beings and not figments of her own imagination, is quite adept at this. Me, less so.
I have spent the preceding week sat in the studio/front room working. This rarely, if ever, changes. I could have been asked the same question at any time over the last two decades and I will most likely have given the same answer. It isn't particularly conducive to the flow of stimulating conversation.
Phil casually mentions that she has spent the morning working on her newsletter and tells me all about a long extinct giant flightless bird from New Zealand. I am not listening to the interesting facts about the long extinct giant flightless bird from New Zealand because I am thinking, wait-a-minute, you have a newsletter? I didn't know this. Why did no one tell me?
I have questions. Urgent questions, but it would be rude to interrupt the flow of information about the the long extinct giant flightless bird from New Zealand's lack of wings.
I let the news settle in. Firstly that the bird had no wings. Secondly that we are a two newsletter household.
Almost as quickly I am worried that Phil might be revealing excruciatingly embarrassingly details about my personal failings in the same way I do about her. If anyone is going to flog their obscure comic books to the world by airing our dirty laundry in public, it should be me.
Woh-woh-woh, I say, sweating slightly. What's this about a newsletter? I am told that is part of her work. She contributes as a member of the arts and heritage team. Phew. It's strictly about giant flightless birds and not scurrilous gossip about the various personal failings of the spouses of the team.
Cool, cool. I wipe my brow, safe in the knowledge that no one will hear about my terrible flatulence and emotional unavailability. Not unless I can sell a comic book off the back of it.
My carefully curated personal brand is safe. My only worry now is that Phil has more subscribers than I do.
Phil is smarter than me. More capable than me. More accomplished. Better qualified. More respected in her profession. She works well with others, is collegiate, empathetic and well-liked. She earns much more than I do and and she is much better looking.
Please, god, let me have more subscribers to my newsletter than she does!
Sign up to her newsletter (it's really good) and shatter my male fragility into a million pieces.
You can subscribe by entering your e-mail in the box. Phil's piece on the giant flightless bird from New Zealand is scheduled for March 2023 (she's also more organised than I am).
Sunburn
The graphic novel by Simon Gane and me is now out in comics shops, bookshops and online retailers (also truck stops, retirement communities etc etc). You are probably sick of hearing and seeing it everywhere you go, such is the relentless marketing barrage we have subjected you to. There is NO EXCUSE (not even a note from your parent/guardian) for not buying a copy from the retailer of your choice.
If you have read it and liked it please leave a positive review online (even if you didn't purchase it from a huge online retailer which shall remain nameless) as it really helps us, not just with sales, but with hoodwinking editors and publishers into thinking we are more popular than we are.
If you read it and didn't like, let us never speak of it again. As this is such an unlikely scenario, forget I mentioned it.
Bookplates:
Order from OK Comics and you will get the book with a signed exclusive bookplate.
Order from Page 45 and you will get the book with a (different) signed exclusive bookplate.
We’re very lucky to have wonderful retailers who support our (and many other authors) books so please support them if you can.
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Even More Shameless capitalism
Simon has made two A3 prints from our Paris book and they are gorgeous. Drop by his store and snag one for yourself.
Patreon
I have a patreon which I update regularly. Tuesdays and Saturdays I post sketches and behind the scenes stuff such as Punycorn colour pages. Thursdays I post a one page comic story. And this year I am posting a review of the book I have read that week every Sunday.
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I still have books out in the world, Kerry and the Knight of the Forest & the awards nominated The Book Tour. Support my efforts through my store – digital comics – patreon or by leaving a positive review online
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