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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Demoncon VI Poster designed by Beyond the Bunker

On September 15th, we will be in attendance at Royal Star Arcade, in Maidstone with Moon. A new venue for the Grinning Demon’s charity event that attracts both the indy and the professional. Confirmed guests so far are Lloyd and the Bear’s Gibson Grey, Moon print designer Grant Perkins, Tinpot Hobo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle artist Jack Lawrence, Grainne McEntee and Matt Rooke with Apes n’ Capes and Bertie Bear’s Andy Clift. We also know that Cy Dethan and Nic Wilkinson (Cancertown, Reverend: Wrath of God) and Dan Abnett (Guardians of the Galaxy, Legion of Superheroes, the Hypernaturals) are confirmed and friend to the Bunker and DJ to the stars Keiron Gillen (Uncanny X-men, Iron Man) may be in attendance.

After 5 Demoncons and 5 very distinct posters, Graham Beadle, Demoncon organiser and owner of Grinning Demon comic shop came to the Beyond the Bunker table and was nice enough to ask me to design the new poster for Demoncon VI. Because of the nature of the convention as a charity event, the posters themselves are more lively and varied than anywhere else. Right from the beginning, Demoncon posters have mashed up mainstream and indy in a visual bash up. Dredd stands beside Frostica, Wonderwoman by the Moose. That lack of limitation is irresistable for an upstart comic book artist like me so I was honoured to be asked frankly. The end mix as you see above.

But i couldn’t do it on my own so I was aided by the incredible talent of Timaree Zadel (who also coloured the new prints that were available at MCM). With Ivanna Matilla currently waylaid by teaching English in 20 different schools, Timaree was her chosen colourist. As you can see, no reason not to be over the Moon with this work.

Moon hits Demoncon 2012

Moon hit Demoncon pretty hard in Maidstone yesterday we’re very pleased to say. Sharing a table with Cy Dethan, Nic Wilkinson, Barry Nugent and his lovely lady we settled in fast. While it wasn’t the biggest con Moon has ever attended there was wrestling in the other room – which was novel. Well received I’d like to thank everyone that showed so much enthusiasm for the golf ball head.

Also, thanks to Andy Lanning for donating his Starfleet Academy page from 1998 to the raffle that I won! Very, very cool. Plenty of inking tips and some frankly eye opening explanations about how lettering used to be done. Who knew that Richard Starkings was the godfather of modern comic book lettering, Dave Gibbons has his own lettering template so he doesn’t have to letter his own stuff anymore and Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have a new book out that does stuff that they weren’t allowed to in Guardians of the Galaxy.

Tales of the Fallen: Wrath of God Preview

As many of you know, Steve and I have a couple of new books coming out in November. “Tales of the Fallen” is a set of four one-shot comics based on the Unseen Shadows series of books by Barry Nugent.  To celebrate the upcoming release of the comics, we’re going to be previewing one of them each week in October. If you want to be one of the only people in the world to pick up signed copies of Tales of the Fallen you’ll need to buy a ticket to theThought Bubble convention in Leeds so you can be there for the grand launch. Enjoy the previews:

Wrath of God

Cy Dethan (Writer), Steve Penfold (Artist) Gat Melvin (Colours), Nic Wilkinson (Lettering)

The Reverend: a holy weapon forged in tragedy and flame – a murderous martyr whose cold judgement strikes with the force of a vengeful God. Despair, for the Reverend walks among you. He is the right hand of vengeance. He is Wrath.

For more information check out Unseen Shadows on the WEB, on FACEBOOK and on TWITTER

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The Reverend: Wrath of God Preview

Allejuah!! First preview of Wrath of God, one section of Tales of the Fallen trade paperback available from the Thought Bubble Comic Convention in Leeds. Still working on it if I’m honest. Meanwhile 4 other creative teams all over the country are working to complete their projects ready for the big release. Trust me, there’s plenty special to take a look at.

Check it out at www.unseenshadows.com.

Fallen Heroes 2, Page 2: Full Preview

Page 2 of the upcoming second issue of Fallen Heroes, due to be released at Thought Bubble in November. Work continues apace on the collected edition of Unseen Shadows, featuring 5 of its central characters (Ben Ashodi (The Hand), Clancy Wallencheck, Napoleon Stone, Stephanie Connisbee) in one shot stories in one tome. Featuring work from Dan Thompson, Pete Rogers, Richard Clements, Cy Dethan, Corey Brotherson, Roy Huteson Stewart, Rob Carey, Conor Boyle, Cormac Hughes, Gat Melvyn, Vicky Stonebridge, Paul Mclaren, Nic Wilkinson and myself (Steve Penfold).

Check out www.Unseenshadows.com for more deets.

Fallen Heroes: The unseen Reverend design

There is a secret file that was sent to Nic Wilkinson (formerly editor for Insomnia Publications) but was never seen by Barry Nugent and Martin Conaghan (the writer of the novel and the writer of the comic adaptation). It was with my own blessing as you can see below. When I saw the finished design of the Reverend I knew instinctively I’d got it massively wrong. I may have been reading a lot of Preacher at the time but it was all a bit Saint of Killers. Certainly not what we were looking for.

Anyway, as I mentioned in last week’s blog there was a boycotted Reverend design and here it is. As you can see I designed it to make it absolutely clear that it wasn’t considered a decent design – something Nic was very quick to confirm. This was hidden from the Nuge – thankfully as it could’ve severely damaged my chances of success being picked as the artist for the project. Sorry Barry. We figured it out in the end though, eh?

Even now I wonder what the hell gripped me before I drew it. It looks like Stephanie Beacham at a wake armed with semi automatics. Sheesh.