One Month To Go…

Unbelieveably it’s just one month to go until my new book, Graphic Novel Builder: the illustrated guide to making your own comics comes out in bookshops. After a pretty relaxed summer, I’ve thrown myself back into work now, juggling some science comic commissions while ramping up promotion on the book.

It’s a funny time to be promoting a book, and I’m sure I’m not the only comic artist or author wondering where they stand on social media as a lot of it crumbles around us, and we’re left wondering how best to get our work noticed. I’ve decided that the best (and most fun) way is to lean in to Instagram Reels, which allow me to get a little creative and playful, while getting to show off the book in a more attention grabbing way than just previewing static images. In a sense I’m sidelining the ask (Please buy my book!), but that feels more relaxed to me. And as someone who agonises over every word when I compose a text post, it’s nice to just let the pictures do the talking.

If you want to help me get the word out about the book, there are a few things you can do right now that will help raise the book’s visibility and get it into more readers’ hands. You can help by:

• Preordering my book from any bookshop. Though you can get an exclusive bookplate with Portobello Bookshop!

• Recommending the book to other people - especially parents with kids aged 10+

• Adding it to your Amazon Wishlist.

• Asking your local library to stock it.

• Asking your school library to stock it (or invite me to run a workshop!)

• Giving an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads (once you’ve read it!) - The legend goes that 50+ reviews on Amazon significantly increases visibility.

• Following me on Instagram, Bluesky and (*shudders*) X, and helping to share my posts there.

I’m so grateful to those who have supported my work over the years, from buying my first mini-comics at conventions, cinemas and comic shops, through to supporting my first two published books with amazing word of mouth.

Every purchase, every book gifted to a friend, every review, every repost and share makes a huge difference. I literally and honestly couldn’t do any of this without other people engaging with my work and sharing it with the world.

Thank you.

Upcoming Events!

I’ve got a growing list of family friendly events in the works. Here’s a few confirmed so far. These will be great for young folk interested in comics - see individual events for full details:

• Gosh! Comics: Drop-in and Draw & Signing. 12/10 @11am-1pm. 1 Berwick St, London, W1F 0DR.

• Blackwells, Edinburgh: Comics Workshop (ticketed).

• Portobello Bookshop: Drop-in and Draw. 26/10 @10.15-11.45am. 46 Portobello High Street, Edinburgh, EH15 1DA.

I’ll also be appearing at Thought Bubble (16th-17th November) and Edinburgh Comic Art Fair (23rd November) if you want to come and say hi and get your book signed!

Also, if you run a relevant podcast, zine, blog, newsletter, youtube channel, or know someone who does, and would like to have me on, interview me, or feature my work please do let me know! Likewise, do reach out if you would like me to come to your school, library or youth club to run a comics workshop!

Recommendations

Thought I’d finish up today’s email with a few recommendations.

Rebel Ridge

If you’re in the market for a tense, inventive action movie you couldn’t go far wrong with Rebel Ridge from writer/director Jeremy Saulnier. The film offers an inventive spin on the one-man-army genre, casting Aaron Pierre as a man pushed to extremes against small-town police corruption. What could have been a formulaic mashup of Rambo and John Wick is instead a thoughtful, and acutely political parable about justice, state violence, and the US criminal justice system. The action is brawling and at times deliberately “sloppy and awkward”, inflected with a nice balance of realism and satisfying stuntwork, and the performances are uniformly excellent. A lot goes unsaid by the script but perfectly expressed through Pierre’s nuanced performance. Cult classic status imminent.

Wilmot’s Warehouse

I can’t get enough of what CMYK games are putting out, and this collaboration with fave boardgame youtubers Shut Up and Sit Down is an absolute delight. Players play as warehouse workers, taking in stock every day and having to memorise where it’s all been stored on a huge grid.

The magic emerges from the stories you concoct with your fellow players to help you all memorise the array of weird shapes that represent your stored products. Maybe you make a section of different bugs, or line up shapes to represent body parts. Maybe you tell a story about someone’s nose leaking eggs all over the golf course! Whatever works to help you remember, because at the end of the week, you’ll need to collectively work out where everything is!

It’s a fabulous game full of whimsy and humour, and as someone who’s never been good at memory games, it can be fun for pretty much anyone taking part from little kids, to your pal with a Sherlock level Mind Palace.

The Case of the Golden Idol

On Netflix, right now as part of your subscription (if you have one!), you have access to what is a growing and excellent range of games including some of the last few years’ cult classics. The Case of the Golden Idol is not to be missed.

In the game you are tasked with figuring out a series of grizzly deaths, all linked in some way to a mysterious Golden Idol. Each scene is a freeze frame, which in old-school point-and-click-adventure style you must explore to work out who everyone is, and what events have led to the current moment. Rifling through pockets for notes, examining the surroundings and eavesdropping on conversations, you’ll slowly piece together each mystery, and uncover the eerie goings on.

I loved the creepy artwork and evocative story of the whole thing, and it was a pleasure to puzzle through the story over a weekend of my holidays. The perfect balance of challenge and satisfaction for fans of games like Return of the Obra Dinn.

A Little Change…

Finally I just wanted to flag up that there’s been a wee change this month on the newsletter. I’ve migrated from Substack to Beehiiv, another newsletter platform, but one that isn’t profitting off of fascists and assorted bigots using their platform.

I was worried the change was going to be really complicated, but for anyone else considering it, the move has been painless so far. However, do let me know if you have any problems!