Improper Books' Porcelain set for limited release

Improper Books' Porcelain: A Gothic Fairy Tale is having a limited, indie release on 27th February, and will be available from Page 45, Travelling Man, Gosh! and Orbital Comics stores in the UK.

A gorgeous-looking 96-page graphic novel, written by Benjamin Read, illustrated by Chris Wildgoose, coloured by André May, and lettered by Jim Campbell, Porcelain A Gothic Fairy Tale is set within a world that’s a darkly magical echo of our own. It follows the story of a street urchin, known as Child, who leaves the cold streets of a snowy city behind when she climbs the high wall into the Porcelain Maker’s secret garden in a bid to steal whatever she can.

The Porcelain Maker discovers Child trespassing but, amused by her audacity, he offers her the chance to stay. He’s a lonely man, kept company only by his alchemically-powered automata, and he and Child form an unlikely friendship.

Shut off from the world beyond the wall, Child wants or needs for nothing as the Porcelain Maker heaps affection and luxury upon her, indulging her like daughter. In return, she can do as she pleases, except for one command, one rule that must never be broken, she must not look behind the workshop door.

• A free digital promo of the first 12 pages of Porcelain is now available to view and download via: http://www.improperbooks.com/projects/porcelain/ - here's a few of the amazing pages...

Improper Books is a comic and graphic novel imprint focusing on creator owned stories that have atouch of the fairy tale, the Gothic or the macabre.

Benjamin Read writes comics and makes films including the True Grit and Super 8 comic adaptations, and also wrote and produced the films Warhouse and 500 Miles North.

Chris Wildgoose is an illustrator, and conceptual and storyboard artist. Northern born, but London based, Chris made his comic debut with the official True Grit and Super 8 comics.
Porcelain © Benjamin Read & Chris Wildgoose. Images courtesy Improper Books

Elephantmen versus Strontium Dog story in the works

Elephantmen creator Richard Starkings and artist Boo Cook will be signing at Travelling Man in Leeds this Saturday with advance copies of the fifth Elephantmen hardcover, Devilish Functions.

The collection includes 'Man and Elephantman' (including the sold out one shot and the highly sought after issue by Bulletproof Coffin's Shaky Kane) and 'The Killing Season' plus several extras, including art by J. Scott Campbell and the shocking 'strip' from last year's Liberty Annual by Starkings and Shaky Kane.

Fans of Richard's Elephantmen will have the chance to ask the British creator - a longtime resident in the US these days - about the Elephantmen and Strontium Dog story set to feature in Thought Bubble anthology which will be published in November. 

Bleeding Cool reports the crossover story has been created with the approval of Strontium Dog creator John Wagner and 2000AD.

Richard will also be signing with artist Doug Braithwaite at Travelling Man in Newcastle the on Saturday 28th July.

• More about Elephantmen on the Hip Flask website: www.hipflask.com/elephantmen/

• More about Devilish Functions here

Sale, Starkings, Hughes among Thought Bubble guest signings at Travelling Man

Hulk by Tim Sale

The Travelling Man comic shops and Thought Bubble festival have just announced their line up of international comic superstars signing with at the store next week, as follows:

Tim Sale, Richard Starkings and Gail Simone
Travelling Man Newcastle - Wednesday 16th November 5.00pm

• Tim Sale is an Eisner Award-winning comic book artist, perhaps best known for his comic work with collaborator Jeph Loeb. The duo produced popular work such as Batman: The Long Halloween, and Batman Dark Victory for DC, and comics starring characters such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Hulk for Marvel.
Tim's artwork has also appeared on the television programme Heroes, primarily in the form of the fictional comic book 9th Wonders.
• Web: www.timsale1.com

• An Eisner Award-winning comic creator and founder of the Comicraft design and lettering studio, Richard Starkings is the creator of Hip Flask, The Elephantmen and his semi-autobiographical comic strip, Hedge Backwards. Born and raised in England, Starkings worked for five years at Marvel UK's London office as an editor, designer and occasional writer on Zoids, The Real Ghostbusters, Transformers and the Doctor Who comic strip.
Today he is perhaps best known for his work with the award-winning (and revolutionary) Comicraft, which he founded in 1992 with John 'JG' Roshell. Starkings & Roshell also co-authored the best-selling books Comic Book Lettering, The Comicraft Way and Tim Sale: Black and White.
• Web: www.activeimages.com

• An American comic book writer, perhaps best known for penning DC's Birds of Prey, Gail Simone's other notable works include Secret Six, The All New Atom and Deadpool. In 2011 she became the writer for Batgirl as well as co-writer for The Fury of Firestorm.
Simone first came to fan attention with her website, Women in Refrigerators, listing many instances in which female comic book characters were the victims of violent attacks because of their gender, or whose attacks were used as plot device for a male character.
In 2009, Gail received the Friends of Lulu - Hall of Fame Award, and is a several-time nominee for the GLAAD award for portrayals of LGBT characters.

Tim Sale, Richard Starkings, Esad Ribic and Adam Hughes
Travelling Man Manchester - Thursday 17th November 5.00pm

• Esad Ribic is a Croatian artist born in 1972. Working in comics since the early 1990s, he's spent most of his time on Marvel titles. His credits include Loki, Silver Surfer: Requiem and Sub-Mariner: Depths.
Web: www.eribic.net

• Probably best known for the striking cover artwork he provides for the comic book industry, over the course of his 20+ plus years working as a professional artist, Adam Hughes's art has graced the covers of such well-known titles as Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Tomb Raider, as well as the interiors of books like Justice League of America, Legion of Superheroes, Maze Agency and Ghost, to name a few.
Adam's ability to render characters both naturalistically and with style and humor, have made him a one-of-a-kind in the industry. His illustrations have been featured as statues and graced with awards, both Harvey and Eisner. You can see a retrospective of Adam's DC Comics career in the recently published coffee table book, Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes.
• Web: www.justsayah.com

Tim Sale, Gail Simone and Jeff Lemire
Travelling Man York - Friday 18th November 4.00pm


Jeff Lemire is a Canadian comic artist and writer whose work has been nominated for an Ignatz, a Harvey, and two Eisner Awards.
After self-publishing the Xeric Award-winning comic book Lost Dogs in 2005 via his Ashtray Press imprint, he produced the Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated Essex County for Top Shelf in 2008–2009.
In 2009 DC/Vertigo published Jeff's The Nobody, a two-colour tale of identity, fear and paranoia in a small community.
Lemire is currently writing and drawing the acclaimed post-apocalyptic DC/Vertigo series Sweet Tooth, and, following his relaunch of the Superboy series, is now writing the ongoing series Animal Man and Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
• Blog: http://jefflemire.blogspot.com

• The full Thought Bubble Fesitival Programme is available at www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/events/full-programme/ and the Thought Bubble Festival Guide is available for free in all Travelling Man shops

Last few days for 2010 Northern Sequential Art Competition

You have a few more days to send in an entry if you want to take part in the new Northern Sequential Art Competition hosted by the Travelling Man comic retailer and the Thought Bubble Convention. The deadline of 8th October 2010 is approaching fast,  so don't miss out.

The theme of this year's competition is 'November in the North of England'. Your story can be told with text and illustrations or by imagery alone. It must be a new, complete story with six panels or more and the page must contain the story's title.

Your page can be as wacky and creative as you wish - you can make the theme very prominent or just have a slogan on a t-shirt.

Finished work should be uploaded to the competition's Flickr page (Flickr is free to join, but you'll need to sign up to add work) or can be submitted as hard copy and sent to Thought Bubble (address on application form).

Your story should be A3 and 300dpi in origin (if you win the competition organisers will need your story to be good enough quality to print). However to make it easier to upload your image on Flickr it can be much smaller. One entry per person.

All entries will be showcased in a digital exhibition at venues in Leeds and the surrounding area for a period of two weeks prior to Thought Bubble taking place 18th - 21st November in Leeds.

The panel of judges (including 2000AD Editor Matt Smith, Imagine FX Editor Claire Howlett and Marvel Spider-Man Editor Steve Wacker) will select two runners up and a winning entry from each age group, the overall winner in each category will receive £200 of graphic novels and a private tutorial with a leading writer or artist based in the North of England.

All six winning entrants will see their work published in a special Thought Bubble Free Comic Book Issue alongside incredible talent such as Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead), Sean Phillips (Marvel Zombies), Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy), Andy Diggle (The Losers), Antony Johnston (Daredevil), Kieron Gillen (Thor), Mike Carey (Lucifer) and Marc Ellerby plus many more.

The winning story will also be published in Imagine FX.

The Free Comic Book Day comic book will be distributed around the world in May 2011 as part of Free Comic Book Day, a worldwide initiative to promote sequential art.

• Entries need to be loaded on to flickr for the 18th October 2010. Age groups for the competition are: 12 to 17 and 18+. If you have any questions just email Lisa at thoughtbubblefestivalATgooglemail.com

Draw Baby, Draw!

As part of Leeds "Light Night" event this month, the Thought Bubble Festival team have organised a special free event encouraging everyone to come along and draw to your heart's content.

On Friday 9th October, Thought Bubble will take part in Light Night Leeds to encourage everyone to get creative.

Light Night is a national programme of events covering the whole of the UK when, for one night, a city stays up so that its attractions and symbols are seen in a new light.

Six major UK cities - as well as Leeds, the others are Kircaldy, Birmingham, Dundee, Nottingham and Perth - will offer their residents and visitors the opportunity to experience their city from a fresh perspective.

Organisers say it's a chance for everyone to come together and celebrate the city, focusing on their shared culture, history and identity. Spectators get to see the unusual for free in a familiar environment and "lose themselves" in the city, which is transformed into a stage for the night.

As part of Leeds Light Night event, Thought Bubble are holding a live art installation at Travelling Man Leeds on their store front window. Lees residents and visitors are invited to pop along and draw something, and there will also be freebies, snacks and drinks for all.

The finished art will be displayed at the Travelling Man Leeds Coffee Bar.

• Draw, Draw Draw! is on Friday 9th October, 5.30pm to 10pm, FREE. Travelling Man Leeds, 32 Central Rd, LS1 6DE, 0113 2436461.

• Thought Bubble: The Leeds Sequential Art Festival takes place 19 - 22 November 2009, offering a huge one day comic book convention Saturday 21st November 2009 at Saviles Hall Leeds. If you would like to book a table at this event or if you have any questions, please email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com. For more information visit www.thoughtbubblefestival.com