Dave hailwood's Page

Well, here's my account of the Bristol Comics Expo: As I stepped off the train at Bristol Temple Meads, the smell of spot-cream and spandex filled the air. I thought to myself ‘this must be the place…this must be Bristol International Comics Expo!’ My suspicions were confirmed when, moments later, I found myself being unexpectedly frogmarched towards the queue by a small legion of well-armed Storm troopers. As an old lady with a poodle trundled past, the person in front of me felt inclined to comment ‘Great Storm troopers. But their Hoth monster’s rubbish!’ After a ten minute wait and a nifty bit of queue jumping (adopting the much used procedure of pointing excitedly at the sky and yelling ‘Holy crud! It’s the Battlestar Galactica!’), I finally got inside. Having missed the 2000ad event, I decided to say a quick ‘hello’ to Adam Grose and Tony Suleri of Clownpress Publications, who were promoting their Cosmogenesis collection and Flood charity comic. After a long overdue chat with Tony that rivalled the Lord Of The Rings trilogy in length, I suddenly realised I’d now missed all the events that I’d wanted to attend. Not only that, but I’d only got as far as two foot through the door. I resolved to quicken my pace and explore this mighty comic convention that I had spent six whole Earth pounds to enter! I made it as far as three tables down, when I bumped into Dave Evans of Futurequake (and just about every other 2000ad related fanzine going). Being up for another one of them Eagle Awards, Dave’s stall was a hive of activity and I just about managed to introduce myself before I was lost in a mass of eager young creators desperate to display their work inside his publications. Another table that seemed to be doing a healthy amount of business was Accent UK. Their newly released Robots anthology displayed the usual wealth of UK talent, and rumour had it several thousand copies of last years Zombies anthology had already been sold, which is quite remarkable for a small press offering. Shane Chebsey was there as always, promoting every small press comic that didn’t have its own stall (and several that did) under his Smallzone banner. Shane was the first person to ever publish any of my work, and a very brave man for doing so (since it involved the adventures of a barbarian with a big chin and quiff, named ‘Iron Bru’). It’s nice to see that his commitment to the small press and UK comics industry still hasn’t wavered after all these years. Having seen a sample of what’s hot in the small press world, I decided to check out what was hot in the world of pro comics, and ventured towards the Ace Comics stall. After a chat with one of the sellers about the merits of buying trade paperbacks instead of comics when you find yourself in a relationship with a comic-hating spouse, the mid-day sun began to make its presence known. Leaving the Ace Comics salesman contemplating the merits of trying to make sales whilst standing in a bucket of ice-cold water, I decided that now would be a good time to try and discover the Ramada hotel where the rest of the convention was being held. Since the way wasn’t very well signposted, I opted to use the age-old tactic of following the freakiest looking person I could find. This, I deduced would either lead me to the Ramada hotel, or to a long dark alley where I’d get knifed. Since there was a bar located in the hotel, I considered it worth the risk. I made it there with minimum flesh wounds, and met up with welsh comic artist Neil Alexander, who’d made even less progress than me. So far he’d visited three pubs and no doubt several off-licenses on route. We decided a fourth pub would make it a nice even number, and headed for that culture capital of the beer ‘n burger trade…Weatherspoons. On our way there we encountered a lone Storm Trooper in the car park, who’d become separated from the pack. Having seen a lot of movies, we knew how this was supposed to go. We were contractually obliged to jump him, steal his outfit and attempt to overthrow the Imperialist swine who’d taken control of the comic convention. Fortunately, I’d only had one pint and could tell this was probably a bad idea. Had it been a man in a Yoda outfit, I’d probably have gone for it; alas, it was not to be so. After one of Neil’s legendary shortcuts, which took us across several continents and on many grand adventures, we finally made it to Spoons. As the gathering grew in number and the beer began to flow, the conversation took up appropriately nerd-like topics. After a heated debate about whether ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’, ‘The Day The Earth Caught Fire’, ‘Day of the Dead’ and ‘Day of the Triffids’ all took place on the same day, Neil asked the immortal question: ‘Would Captain Kirk shag an ood?’ The general opinion seemed to be ‘Yes, he most certainly would. Even if it was dead.’ As it was now almost 5pm and I still hadn’t attended any events or brought any comics, I decided to take my leave. I hot tailed it back to the main hall, hoping to pick up a few bargains. Instead I once again got chatting with Tony and Adam, and by the time I’d finished the convention was closing. As I caught my train home I realised the only comic I’d actually brought at the convention was Adam and Tony’s Cosmogenesis collection. Clearly they’d used some sort of Jedi mind-trick on me, to prevent me from purchasing any comics other than their own! You’d think with so many Stormtroopers around, these sort of underhand dealings wouldn’t go on. It wouldn’t have happened on Vader’s watch, oh no. Anyway, to sum up, I had a marvellous time at the convention, met some smashing people, had some great beer and a truly awful burger. Perhaps next year I might actually get to attend an event or two, but somehow I doubt it. I will once again be quaffing ale with the best of them!

Achhhhhhhhhooooo!!!

Ugh...bloody colds...

Yes, that's right folks - I'm ill again. Still, it's given me plenty of time to catch up with my writing. So, what have I been up to this year so far?

Well, there's the usual supply of 'Eat Me' toons and 'Drink Like a Fish' - two series which I'm enjoying immensely. The cartoony art styles of Toshiro and Eno always have me in stitches. My own series 'Ups and Downs' has been put to one side for the moment whilst I concentrate on my writing.

After the collapse of IK comics digital outlet (though they may be adapting into a print based company at some point in the future. Will let you know if I hear more) I'm still exploring new publishing options for 100% Biodegradable and the strips that reside within. Although the strips for Issue 3 are pretty much done, the issue may not appear for quite some time as I'm planning on approaching several publishers with various items from within.

Me and Tony Suleri received a very favourable rejection from Best New Manga a few weeks back (basically the editor Ilya liked the art style and scripts, but thought they were more Futureshock than Manga), and we're now in the process of putting a new submission together (Along with submissions from Dave Thomson and John Kirkham). I'll also be working with the excellent manga artist Vanessa Wells on a short submission.

Today I finished off a 'Desperate Heroes' script for Darren Taylor, which involves a score of superheroes floating aimlessly in space with boredom as their only enemy. It'll be great to work with Darren again, as it's been almost ten years since we tried collaborating together!

I received the first half of 'Expendable Eddy' from Neil Alexander just before Christmas - and what a great present that made! It's shaping up a treat, and I eagerly await the rest of it.

Over the rest of the year I plan to send out submissions to various publishers, including: Wasted, Heavy Metal, Dreamworks comics, Dr Who, Shadowline, 2000ad and various others. If there are any artists interested in collaborating on a joint project aimed at publication, be sure to let me know!

I'll keep you abreast of any developments.

Ah yes, nothing like a misleading title to get peoples interest...

So, what have I been up to this week? Quite a lot, actually. I've been desperately trying to finish up various projects before I go off on holiday (and much needed it is too).

My first priority was to write Neil Alexander a script. So I've sent him a 4 pager - Expendable Eddie, a dark and twisted tale about a cloning project gone hideously wrong. I'll be nice to work with the Welsh Wonderboy again, since it's been many a year since we last collaborated.

Wrote another batch of Drink Like A Fish toons for Toshiro. Up to number 28, script-wise. I think it's either 18 or 19 we've got to at Rok comics.

I also wrote a short script for Lauren Monardo - who's work you can catch in the Jesus Hates Zombies anthology, available to pre-order now! (http://www.comicspace.com/jesus_hates_zombies). She enjoyed the Tricks Of The Trade 3 pager I sent her, and will be illustrating it when she gets the chance.

Also wrote The One Eyed Wench this morning for the talented Dave Thomson (http://www.comicspace.com/nineself). He's up for illustrating it, and it'll be going in the Valentines Day Massacre edition of 100% Biodegradable.

I've also been making good progress with a top secret Rokcomics project that puts a new twist on the Rokcomics format. Currently collaborating with the astounding Stu Smith (http://www.gravitoncreations.com) and networking guru Kerry Santo of http://www.scarybirds.com on this one. If the project is a success, I'll be needing a load more talented artists. Stay tuned for more details.

Right, I'm off to drink wine and get creative. Once more into the breach, dear liver...

Well, since it's been a month since I updated my blog, guess I'd better get to it eh?

Here's what's going on project wise at the moment:

Ups and Downs has finally hit its 50th episode at Rokcomics this week (after several weeks off for my hols, and working on other projects).

http://rokcomics.com/full_player.php?comicid=142273836

Ups and Downs is both a joy and a pain in the arse for me to do - mostly because before I got involved with Rokcomics I hadn't actually drawn anything in five years (and even then it was just a single picture of two dead bodies lying in a ditch). It took me a while to get back into the flow, but I've generally been rather happy with the artwork (especially the strips involving Death and the superhero 'Rotten Bastard'). I started with the intention of drawing 5 cartoons a week, but as other projects have grown in importance I've had to cut back to a single weekly cartoon. I'm still trying desperately to reach 100 cartoons before the year is out. We'll see what happens when the pressures of my Creative Writing MA are upon me.

Launching this week was The Shakes by myself and Jim Stewart. Being an intergalactic adventure of Sex, Drugs and Rock and roll I'm having great fun with this one.

http://rokcomics.com/full_player.php?comicid=142268093

As well as a trailer, episode 1 is now available to download. Episode 2 will be posted next week, and episode 3 the week after. Hopefully more will follow once Jim's wrestled control of his evil computer and got his deadlines back on track again.

Drink Like A Fish has just reached its 16th episode at Rokcomics (thanks to the fast and talented artist Toshiro De Smeyter).

http://rokcomics.com/full_player.php?comicid=142297071

As John Freeman recently commented, 'it's amazing how many strips you can get out of a fish in a bowl!' Trust me, there's many more to come - including the introduction of a brand new inebriated character to the series.

The 100% Biodegradable anthology became available to download at http://www.Ikcomics.com two weeks ago. This 'Sci-fi anthology with a blackly comic twist' represents probably five years work from myself and Tony Suleri. Tony's been patiently working on the scripts between his many other projects, so it's nice to see this one finally come together. We also plan to do a print version of the comic at some point, unless we can find a publisher who's willing to take it on.

A new 100% Biodegradable webcomic will be released every three months, with issue 2 being planned for halloween. It will contain a few reprints of old favourites (such a Teksas Chainstore Massacre by Stu Giddings and Poor Taste by Neill Cameron) but also a lot of new material. I'm working away feverishly on scripts for upcoming issues. Todays offerings were: 'Screwhead The Assassin' which I've just sent to the talented Small Press Idol runner-up Chris McJunkin, to see if he can squeeze it into his schedule. I'm also just finishing 'The Big 4-0' for clownpress publications Adam Grose, which will go in the second issue of 100% Biodegradable. If there's any artists out there who are interested in contributing to this comic (or others - I'm not fussy!) then please let me know and I'll send you a script.

Well, I think that's my update done for now. I'm off to finish writing The Big 4-0!

Hello folks.

Thought I'd start keeping a record of those projects I send out each week (mostly so I can keep track of everything I'm working on). If I get any useful feedback, I'll be sure to post it here.

Drink Like A Fish 9 by Hailwood/De Smeyter for http://www.rokcomics.com

Ups and Downs 49 for http://www.rokcomics.com

Both accepted and downloadable at the site.

Jesus The Carpenter radio sketch for BBC7's Play and Record series (not holding high hopes on this one getting accepted, since it involves Jesus slagging off the Roman's shoddy carpentry skills on the cross he's about to be nailed to)

Drink Driving radio sketch for Play and Record.

The Exterminator by Hailwood/Suleri for http://www.ikcomics.com

Hoping to pitch this to ikcomics as part of the '100% Bio-degradable' anthology title I've been working on with Suleri/Kirkham. Though whether they're after Black and White anthologies or not remains to be seen. There's not much info on IKcomics terms and conditions on the site, but I was sent some in an email. If anyone's interested, let me know and I'll post them here.

The Shakes - a script about a rock singer who's released from rehab to discover that drug-excreting aliens have taken over earth in his absence and got the whole of mankind addicted. Just emailed it to Jim Stewart, with the view to submitting the series to Wasted.

Think that's this weeks projects sorted. Next week I'll mostly be tidying up my 3D models for the Headcheeze series, and starting work on some Wallace and Gromit models with a view to submitting them to the Wallace and Gromit comic at some point.