Torsobear. A gritty noir…with toys.

Some of our good friends are working on a collection of strips entitled “Torsobear – Yarns from Toyburg” at the moment and since it looks like a lot of fun, I thought I’d throw up a link to the project so that you can check it out for yourselves.

The book is a collection of grim crime stories set in a world filled with action figures and soft toys and as you can probably see from the above page, it’s wonderfully silly. The book features work from our fellow Unseen Shadows creators, Cy Dethan, Nic Wilkinson & Pete Mason all of whom are brutally talented, as well as a bevy of other UK comic stars.

The book still needs a bit of help to reach the point of publication (or at least to do so in a way that the fine creators behind it get paid) so if you have a spare few quid and fancy checking out some fuzzy noir, pop over to their Kickstarter page and order yourself a copy.

On a more general note, I’m hoping to drop in to London Film and Comic Con, if only to catch the rebirth of the Eagle Awards, so perhaps I shall see some of you in a couple of weeks. It’ll likely only be a flying visit and it’s still dependent on sorting out a few other commitments but it would be nice to catch some of you fine people if the chance arises. Either way I’m pretty sure Steve’s there for the duration so you won’t go totally Moonless. If I don’t make it then I wish you all a splendid show and if I do, see you there!

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An Alternative World Cup Anthem by The Free Kicks

I’d be lying if I said that football was exactly my sport, none of the participants have wheels and there’s nary a V6 in sight. However, once every 4 years I join thousands of others just like me by watching a couple of preview shows, pretending I now understand every aspect of the game and picking a team to support post quarter finals (a decision usually based largely on shirt colour).

One thing that I remain an unabashed fan of is a good world cup anthem and Cambridge band The Free Kicks have put together a cracker that I thought I’d share here. The Free Kicks are made up of members of several Cambridge artists including our old friends Fred’s House and Josh Broadstone, star of some of Jim and I’s short films. As you might imagine with that combo it’s very silly and stupidly catchy. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who has bought Moon in recent weeks. Stay tuned for updates on Moon 3.

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“The Return” A webcomic by Dan Thompson and Jake Rowlingson

While Steve’s busily working on Moon 3, I’ve been doing a couple of side projects with the Unseen Shadows guys. The first of these to come out is a one page webcomic called “The Return.”

Bob Kelsey is the tragedy prone freelance journalist of Barry Nugent’s fantasy series and Barry asked a few of us if we’d like to do some short strips about Bob’s tribulations. I drew upon my own battles with terrifying monsters and created this spine chilling tale that was then beautifully illustrated by Jake Rowlingson. Hope you enjoy it.

You can view more of these comics on the Unseen Shadows website.

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A Christmas message from Dan and…erm…Santa

We’re really excited about some of the things Beyond the Bunker are doing in 2014 so Dan decided to go enlist the help of the only man jolly enough to convey how awesome it’s going to be. This is the absolute truth and we most definitely did not sneak into a grotto after closing time and sit in the chair.

Thanks to everyone who bought the book over the last year, we hope you dig some of the stuff that we’ll be brining out in 2014.

Have a great Christmas and New Year everyone!

Dan & Steve
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Moon unites with other indy comics to support Hood!

If you read a lot of British comics then you’re probably familiar with the work of Ant Jones. He’s a lovely chap, a fine writer and a regular at the Bunker convention table. Well, Ant has a new graphic novel project on the go and he needs some funding (via Kickstarter) to get the project off the ground. To assist him in this, he has assembled some of the brightest and best creators of the indy comics scene and then added in two idiots who do a comic about the Moon.

The book in question is called Hood and is a dark, modern retelling of the classic Robin Hood story. It might sound like you’ve heard it before but if you take a look at the team’s wonderful pitch video then you’ll start to get an inkling that they’re doing something a bit different this time.

The deal is simple. You pledge some money towards the completion of the book and you get a variety of goodies in return, one of which is a humble indy bundle containing comics from the likes of Jon Lock, Richard Worth and yes Beyond The Bunker. It’s a collection of books that any self respecting comic fan would love to own anyway but now you can do it in a way that helps another awesome book to come to life.

If you feel like checking it out then head over to the Hood’s Kickstarter page and see which of the rewards take your fancy. At the very least you should take a look at the t-shirts. They pretty.

I’ll leave you with some of the preview pages. Enjoy!

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MOMBcast Talks Moon 2

With all the work that we’ve been doing on Moon 3 as of late (seriously these biscuits don’t eat themselves) it’s sometimes easy to forget that lots of people are still picking up Moons 1 & 2 for the first time. Reviews are difficult to come by once your first issue is out but in this case the lovely Michael Georgiou took some time on the latest MOMBcast to chat about Moon 2 a wee bit.

It’s great to know that new people are still picking up the book and digging what they find in there and in Michael’s case it’s especially pleasant as he’s a heck of a talented creator in his own right.

You can listen to the review by going here and you won’t even have to do any shuffling as Moon’s the first thing on the menu.

Thanks MOMB!

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(P.S. Iv’s surname is pronounced Matilla, not Matilda. Matilda was the telekinetic devil child of children’s fiction. Iv does have telekinetic powers but this is purely coincidental).

 

Do you live in Kent? Come hang out with us tomorrow!

It’s Demoncon 6 tomorrow! If you’ve not been to Kent’s loveliest comic con (I think it’s Kent’s only comic con but that’s besides the point) then you really should give it a go. This will be our fourth appearance at the event and it honestly gets more fun every time. A relaxed, family atmosphere; a wide range of enjoyable ways to spend a Sunday afternoon and, due to the shocking number of professional writers/artists that live in Kent, a surprisingly top end guest list.

This year will feature the likes of Dan Abnett (Guardians of the Galaxy), Cy Dethan (various books that give you nightmares) and a couple of idiots who do a book about the Moon. There are also several new indy book launches, demo games, a raffle where you can win comics and original artwork and an appearance by the mighty 501st legion. In case you need any more persuading, here are three things that we got up to last time out:

1) One of the other artists left early so we stole his table and created the largest Moon booth we’ve ever had which Steve had to staff by himself because I had to play Dr Who with some kids. 

2)  Somebody asked Steve to draw a sketch of one of the 7 deadly sins so we put our heads together and came up with this interpretation of “Pride” (the look on the lion’s face still cracks me up whenever I look at it).

3) Peter Mason learned the price of lending pens to the Bunker clan as Steve promptly made off with his sharpies, leading to this poster being circulated.

So come on. It’s a Sunday, it’s raining and you’re probably hung over. What else are you going to do today? Housework? Forget that! Your house hates you. Show it who’s boss and come hang out with us in Maidstone.

Demoncon runs from 11am – 5pm at the Royal Star Arcade in Maidstone. Full details here!

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(Oh and did I mention that Steve and Timaree did the poster)

Thought Bubble 2013 Announcement

We love Thought Bubble. For about a million reasons it is one of the finest convention experiences you can have in the UK both as a fan and a creator. You can imagine how disappointed we were then when tables for this year’s TB sold out in an astonishing two hours leaving many indy creators suddenly out in the cold.

In retrospect, this is entirely surprising. The UK indy scene has exploded in the last couple of years as print costs come down, self publishers get more serious and a lot of incredible people go out of their way to support UK creators. With even the likes of the might MCM struggling to find space for the growing comic village it stands to reason that competition for tables is going to start heating up. Even so, TB 2012 sold out in a matter of weeks rather than hours so to open twitter on the first day of sales and see that we’d already missed out was something of a shock.

Fortunately for us (and fans of all of the nearly absent creators), Thought Bubble have once again stepped up to prove why they are every creator’s favourite place to hang a table cloth. Through some careful negotiating they have managed to secure the use of a third exhibition hall! It’s right next to the existing halls so you won’t have to walk far and it’s going to be packed to the rafters with talented yet tardy artists like us!

We shall be there with a whole table of big Moony goodness. So if you were worried that you would get through the whole event without Steve accosting you in the street like a sexy caveman or laughing at my Sunday face as I once again fail to cope with how cheap beer is outside of London, you may now set your fears aside.

Huge thanks must go to the entire Thought Bubble team for pulling this off. If any of you pay for a drink all weekend, it will be a crime.

Moon is coming back to Leeds and we couldn’t be more excited!

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Dan talks comics with Lazy as Funk

I think it’s fair to say that MCM was pretty insane. We have honestly never been busier than we were over those three crazy days and it was great to be able to introduce so many new people to Moon.

Amidst the selling though we did get a chance to chat with some lovely people and among them was the wonderfully named “Lazy and Funk” youtube channel. Have a look and enjoy me talking about MCM while Steve hovers like I’m about to rat him out for a murder. Stick around to the very end to get an insight into just how much I love the newly re-printed Moons.

We’ll be posting up some more stories and pictures from MCM over the coming weeks so keep checking back. Thanks again to everyone who came to say hi!

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Moon by Peter Mason

I’ve been a big fan of Peter Mason’s art for a while now. You’ve probably seen his preview art for Ashfall on the site and while Pete’s no longer involved with that book he did manage to find the time to do this fantastic drawing of ol’ crater face himself. Honestly, I think it’s the mismatched socks that are really winning it for me.

 Remember we have a brand new Moon print by Grant Perkins to unveil soon as well as some original Penfold ones too. If you like Moon then MCM is gonna rock.

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