Self Publisher Magazine interviews Spandex creator Martin Eden

The latest free issue of Self Publisher! Magazine is out now – a US based title devoted to the creation of independent comics but one that regularly features British creators talking about their craft . 

"Issue 63 has a lot riding on it," says editor Ian Shires. It's the first issue that we are making available to read on-screen through issuu, it is the issue that we are printing and taking to the SPACE show in Columbus in a couple weeks, and it will be the first issue to go onto Kindle and iPad distribution through Cloud 9."

This issue's British creator is Martin Eden, creator of the acclaimed O-Men and Spandex, looking back on 10 years of writing his characters and forward to Spandex Book Two, tentatively scheduled for release next year.

Also in the 48-page issue are interviews with Chad Lambert, creator of Possum at Large (along with a Sneak Peek at the comic), Dan Dillard, Drew Close, Mark Lesie Lefebvre, Canny Cooper, Michael C. Williams, and Richelle E. Goodrich.

The title is still looking for more writers to bring their perspectives to the magazine. "We have room for more interviewers, a need for reviewers, and a place for people who want to express how-to ideas," says Ian. "We are continuing to expand into literary, music, and movie indy areas as topics to cover. 

"SP! Is 'by the people, for the people', so I thank you each of you I send this message to, for taking the time to read it. I hope it resonates. I have been working on incarnations of SP! Since 1989 – and I don’t think we’ve ever been as close to reaching that 'critical mass' as we are right now. I pledge to continue to put everything I’ve got into making it work, until it does."

• You can read it/download a copy of it at:  www.selfpubmag.com/downloads/entry/free-downloads/self-publisher/self-publisher_9.htm

UK Simpsons Comics reaches 200th issue

Next Thursday is something of a milestone for British Simpsons fans as the UK edition of Simpsons Comics reaches its milestone 200th issue.

Based on the world’s favourite family, Simpsons Comics is the official magazine of the cartoon, published by Titan Magazines, and comes packed with adventures featuring Homer, Bart, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and all the residents of Springfield.

Fans of the show will want to grab a copy of this landmark issue, wrapped in a specially drawn cover by the show's creator Matt Groening and his creative team - and the issue comes with another hilarious Homer Simpson comic strip story. In a panic about missing ‘Free Pizza Day’ due to the flu, Homer ingests the entire contents of the medicine bottle! However, if he thought a world without pizza would be bad, his subconscious (flu-syrup addled) mind takes him to a world without beer!

“In this year of celebrations and anniversaries, it is time for the first family of Springfield to join the party!", notes distributor Comag.

This special issue also reveals the best covers of the last 15 years – as chosen by the discerning readers and includes a competition to win one of a 100 great Simpsons prizes.

Simpsons Comics No.200 features a free squirting umbrella gift, available in three fantastic designs, including the super-rare, highly collectable Radioactive Man!

“We are all so excited about hitting this milestone issue of Simpsons Comics," commented loingtime editor Martin Eden. "And we're still going strong - just wait ‘til you see some of the amazing covers and strips we've got coming up over the next few months!”

Creating Comics: Martin Eden talks Spandex

Writer, artist and magazine editor Martin Eden has been creating comics since he was a nipper – but entered the British small press/indie comics world around 15 years ago.

After collaborating with various creators on titles such as Bulldog and Contact, he soon kicked off his own project, The O Men, a super-soap which ran for 10 years and was Eagle Award-nominated.

In 2009, he put out Spandex #1, which earned international headlines, earned excellent reviews and an Eagle Award nomination for Best British Colour Comic. Titan Books have now released the first three issues in a hardback book called Spandex: Fast and Hard.

Now also working on book collections of his old O Men series, DownTheTubes caught up with him after a successful weekend at the Kapow! comic convention to ask him about his work...

DownTheTubes: Spandex. What's it all about?

Martin Eden: It’s about a group of gay superheroes. They’re based in Brighton and they fight Giant Lesbians, Pink Ninjas and Gay Zombies – and that’s just the first three issues! It’s a big, epic super-soap comic and I delve into their personal lives quite a bit, and there are loads of twists and turns.

DownTheTubes: What inspired this story?

Martin: The idea just evolved naturally, but I did think it would be a really fun and original concept. For some readers, it would be a refreshing break from the crossover/reboot-filled worlds of Marvel and DC. It’s a complete new universe to explore, full of fun characters like super-spy James Bend and villains like Muscle Mary.

DownTheTubes: It's a welcome collection - how has it been pitched to people who haven't heard of it?

Martin: I call it a gay Eastenders-meets-Carry On-meets Grant Morrison. Actually, to be honest, I am really wary that people think it’s only for an LGTB audience. I think it’s for everyone (except kids!) - the gay aspect is just a context and a launching point for various interesting storylines.

DownTheTubes: The original strip was black and white, did you take a specific approach to the colouring? I've heard people say it's really enhanced the storytelling.

Martin: I’ve always done black and white comics, but then I realised that Spandex would only really work in colour (mainly because each team-member has a specific colour scheme). I was pretty horrified when I realised this, as colour printing is a bit more pricey – but it turns out that colour printing actually isn’t too expensive these days.

So after that, I had to teach myself how to use Photoshop and just get in there and start colouring. People seem to really respond to it, and I like to do fun things with the colours. For instance, the team’s homes are all colour-coded, their origin stories in issue 6 are all colour-themed, and issue 3 plays around a lot with the colour – a villain turns the whole world black and white and turns people into colourless zombies/drones, and only a handful of colourful Spandex members are left.

DownTheTubes: Do you have a favourite Spandex story or scene?

Martin: I think every issue has at least four or five favourite scenes – key moments that I build up to. I think I’d be bored of the comic if they didn’t have those!

Martin's favourite Spandex scene from Issue 5

Overall though, I like the scene in issue 2 where a lesbian and gay team-mate get a little bit over-excited in a fight... It shows something you don’t often see in a superhero comic... Issue 6 has a huuuuge cliffhanger which I’m really pleased with... I like the funny mini-fight between Liberty and Muscle Mary in issue 5... Maybe my ultimate favourite is a huge twist in Issue 4 involving Indigo and her girlfriend. I’m not saying any more about that! It’s a big scene.

DownTheTubes: What's coming next for Spandex?

Martin: Well I just released issue 6, which has a huuuge twist. Issue 7 finishes the four-part OMFG storyline and wraps a lot up of storylines and answers a lot of questions. Leading up to it, i’m going to be doing some cool teaser portraits featuring each team-member. If all goes well, Issue 7 will also include ‘Spandex Black & White’, a series of portraits by various artists.

Then I’m doing a Spandex Special early next year which will effectively be the final issue of the entire thing. I am just plotting it now, and I think it’s even more shocking than issue 6.

I think that will be the end of Spandex then – I’ll have told the story I set out to tell... But I do already have some more ideas...!

DownTheTubes: Would you ever consider doing Spandex stories that you write but drawn by other artists?




Martin: I did that with some mini-comics that came with Issue 6. I worked with other artists on stories for some of my supporting characters (Hag, Cherry Blossom Girl, and Bear Man & Twinkle). But for the main series, I want to do it all myself – there are so many scenes that have been in my head for years – I just want to draw them all.

Maybe if I ever do a Volume Two of Spandex, someone else could draw it. Drawing is so time-consuming, and I have a few other things I want to do.

DownTheTubes: You also created The O Men, which also earned you a lot of praise. Are they returning?

Yes! I feel guilty because I was only supposed to take a year’s break from The O Men to do Spandex. But the first issue of Spandex itself took a year to create! But now I’m reprinting the entire O Men series across five books. I didn’t finish the series – I had about 8 or so issues left, so that material will all be in the fifth/final book – all original material. I kind-of know what happens, but I do need to do a lot of writing.

DownTheTubes: What else are you working on at the moment?

Spandex takes up pretty much all my time, plus I’m working on the O Men collections, which involves a lot of tidying up scanned art. In the back of my head, I’m plotting my next series. At the moment, it’s called Top Class, and I want it to be five digest-sized books. I can’t say much about it yet, except that it might be for all ages, and it has an epic storyline (of course!)!

DownTheTubes: What one piece of advice you would give an aspiring comic creator?

Martin: Just go for it. I get a lot of people come up to me at conventions asking how to do it.

It’s easy -- just get a pen, paper, write it, draw it, do it – then get feedback, accept criticism (but don’t pay attention to online ‘Comments’ sections, people can be so nasty), learn from mistakes, go to conventions and see how people respond to it.

I would also say, don’t break your bank – just print up small amounts if you can. Try not to lose money, be careful!

And finally, make notes when you come up with ideas, because it’s annoying when you forget a good idea!


• More about Spandex at http://www.spandexcomic.com/ and more about The O Men at http://theomencomic.wordpress.com/

• Facebook: search for Spandex Comic, also The O Men and find Martin on Twitter @spandexcomic

 

Panel Borders: Spandex!

Continuing British comics radio show and podcast Panel Borders' month of shows looking at unusual depictions of superheroes, in an interview recorded at the Thought Bubble festival in Leeds, Alex Fitch talks to writer/artist Martin Eden about his small press comics The O Men and Spandex, the latter featuring the world’s only all gay superhero team.

Alex and Martin talk about distribution of small press comics, his experiences with the media’s interest in his new comic when it launched last year and representations of gay characters in sequential art.

This show was recorded live at Thought Bubble, Leeds and the show airs at 5.00pm, Thursday 25/11/10, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast  after transmission.


• More about Spandex at http://spandexcomic.wordpress.com

• Cool review of Spandex 3 by Paul Rainey: http://comicsontheration.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-spandex-3.html

In Review: The Bristol Comic Expo 2010

Matthew Badham reports on this year's Bristol Expo, which attracted some 1000 fans and over 100 comic creators...

I promised myself that I was going to do four things at the Bristol Comics Expo this year: make time to watch Doctor Who; get to bed at a reasonable time; make lots of notes for this report; and take lots of photos for this report. The fact that I managed to do none of these things is probably indicative of the absolute blast that I had at the convention.

Fun, fun, fun... and more fun, basically.

I was up bright and early on Saturday – at 4.55am to be precise – not because I had to be off to Bristol, but because my 10-month old was hungry. After feeding him, dozing a bit, then looking after t’kids as my wife had a lie-in, I headed off on what must have been one of the hottest days of the year.

One not-so-quick train ride and I was at Bristol, and the first sight that greeted me was two cosplayers, one of whom was carrying a golden sword that was almost as big as him (and he wasn’t a short chap)… normally, I’d have sneered, but I must be mellowing in my old age, because the sight of the two of them, standing and chatting un-self-consciously at Bristol Temple Meads station, even though they looked liked visitors from another planet just made me smile.

"This is what Bristol and the other cons do best," I thought, "they allow people to cut loose, to be themselves, to escape and to play."

The event proper didn’t have an auspicious start. I arrived at the Ramada (the con is split between two venues, the Ramada and Mercure hotels, with the pro’ contingent in the former and the small pressers in the latter) and had a wander around before checking in. The ambience was distinctly comic mart more than it was comic con, which wasn’t helped by the sweltering temperatures. Things were looking bad.

However, once I’d had a shower and changed, it all started to look up. In terms of the venues, the Mercure was the hands-down winner for me. It was light, airy and the small press/independent comics exhibitors’ room on the fifth floor felt far more spacious than its counterpart at the Ramada. However, I have to admit that I’ve personally got a bias towards the small press/indie side of the British comics industry too, and so that’s probably one reason why I felt more inclined to linger at the Mercure than at the Ramada.

Even though I was on a strict budget, I did manage to pick up a few comics. Martin Eden very kindly gave me a complimentary copy of Spandex 2, which I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s got sharp writing, lashings of super hero hi-jinks and, best of all, pink ninjas. What’s not to love?

I also picked up an issue of There’s No Time Like The Present from Paul Rainey, one of the best comics being published in the small press (and indeed, anywhere). If you haven’t heard of it, you should check it out at your earliest opportunity. And I bagged the latest issue of West (Distance) by Andrew Cheverton and Tim Keable, which is also cracking stuff and recommended.

Having chatted to various other creators, I headed back to the Ramada, which wasn’t looking quite as grim as my first assessment had suggested. There was a steady through flow of punters, lots of laughter and chatter, and all sorts of creators sketching, talking to fans and answering questions, all with remarkable good humour (which was pretty amazing, considering the heat). I suppose this is the core of the con experience, punters getting face-to-face contact with the creators. I had a nice moment on Sunday when chatting to a comics fan and he started to show me, with obvious pride, his collection of sketches, which included contributions from the likes of Colin MacNeill and Steve Yeowell.

The creators also gave very good ‘value for money’ when it came to the panels I attended. I saw a panel on Saturday about creator-owned comics with its focus on the Image Comics model in particular. Featuring Richard Starkings (Elephantmen), Kieron Gillen (Phonogram), Paul Grist (Jack Staff), Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead) and Ian Churchill (Marineman), it was a very illuminating glimpse into the benefits and drawbacks that face creators who do try to go the ‘Image Comics’ route.

It also gave tips about self-publishing and the creator-owned route generally, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if some members of the audience were inspired ‘a la Sex Pistols at the Free Trade Hall’ to go and make their own comics.

The other panel I attended was about the Eagle Initiative, an offshoot of the Eagle Awards that hopes to foster new comics talent via a ‘talent search’-style competition. I went in pretty dubious, but if those involved manage to achieve even some of the things they were talking about then the Initiative could be an exciting opportunity.

All in all then, it was a great con and a fab weekend (topped off by a fun Saturday night chatting and also listening to music courtesy of comics super group The Power Cosmic – every con should have a band!) I plan to be back next year and if you’re into comics – of course you are, you’re reading downthetubes – then you should be there too.

• Official web site: www.fantasyevents.org/bristolcomicexpo/

News Items
• Bristol Evening Post
"The Bristol International Comic & Small Press Expo may not be the catchiest title but it proved a sell-out at the Redcliffe hotel this weekend."

• Mega Comics News reports on a bust-up at the Expo between Insomnia Productions staff -expect some changes there

Reviews

• Bleeding Cool: Baking in Bristol
• Blimey! It's Another blog about Comics by Lew Stringer: Heatwave for Bristol Comic Expo 2010

• Dirty Rotten Comics
• My Favourite Books
• Ace artist Kevin Levell
• Cheryl Morgan (describes the event as "A mixed bag")
• Artist Mark Pearce  ("Amazing... I met so many amazing artists and people is was really overwhelming, but inspiring. I'm still kinda wired from it all.")
• thirty-nine (includes recommended comics picked up at the Expo)

• Emma Viceli (reacting to her Eagle nomination)
• Doug Wilson (includes plenty of creator links)

In Review: Spandex

The Book: Welcome to Spandex – super-heroes with a difference! From the creator of The O Men (www.comix.org.uk/theomen), Spandex is a brand new super-drama with a very unique spin. And even if you have heard what it’s about, it’s really not what you might expect – trust me…

The Review: First, a quick apology: I'm painfully aware I have been sent a number of books for review lately and the creators have yet to get a full review. At present I'm juggling work for ROK Comics and Titan Books full time during the week (and anyone in publishing will know how 'full time' extends to 'every waking hour' if you're not careful), so downthetubes, which is put together in my spare time, unpaid, has had to take a bit of a back seat.

Right, now the excuses are out of the way, on with bigging up Spandex - because it deserves it.

Featuring an all-gay superhero team, this sexy mature readers-only dramedy follows the adventures of Liberty (Britain's newest transvestite superhero), Diva (best described as a lesbian Wonder Woman), Prowler (who can absorb the skills of gay people), Glitter (a male Dazzler), Indigo (a beautiful French teleporter), Mr Muscles and Butch (strong twins). Issue one, ‘The Attack of the 50 Foot Lesbian’, is a 40-page beastie available as a print comic and PDF, introducing the team and their Brighton headquarters as they do indeed, battle a 50 Foot Lesbian, and next year will see the release of a 120-page Spandex graphic novel, featuring more adventures with the team. In between these, ‘Spandex Shorts’ will be released – mini-comics spotlighting various characters.

This is a book with all the plotting and scripting style that Martin honed to near perfection in The O Men. He has a real gift for superhero group dynamics and his new team of gay superheroes, fighting evil and their own personal demons, continues his high standards. Art-wise, watch out for visual gags and a clear knowledge of Brighton and its populace, delivering a fun adventure yarn with just the right amount of brooding menace as the story develops and you realize not everything is as it appears.

Martin 's O-Men was a superb riff on superhero group dynamics, but Spandex takes his usual skilled scripting to an entirely new level. This first issue shows huge promise for the series and I look forward to reading more.

•To buy Spandex #1 though Paypal, just click here or to get the PDF click here

• Official web site: www.spandexcomic.com

• 2008 Interview with Martin Eden on Forbidden Planet International

More Reviews...

• Jonathan Wilkins for Total SciFi

"Whereas many contemporary comic book heroes are dark and brooding, the protagonists of Spandex are real people who just happen to have superpowers. There are dark ideas covered, but they’re mixed with a winning humour, because life isn’t always as oppressive and difficult as some comic creators would have us believe... Thought provoking, funny and highly original."

• P B Rainey

"Martin describes Spandex as a superhero strip the likes of which you'll never have seen before and he's right. In it he explores the sexual dynamics between the cast and introduces some of the team's main villains, including as a 50' tall lesbian. Great strips, colourfully illustrated with some fun Smash Hits magazine styled extras and fantastic value for money; what more could you want?"