BarryHutchison.com

You might have noticed a new menu option has appeared just below the logo up at the top of the page. Because the Gangrene website is woefully out of date, I’ve put together a Comics page here on BarryHutchison.com, which will allow you to keep up to date with everything I’m doing in the wonderful world of comic books.

My big project at the moment is Gangrene, which has been mentioned a number of times on here before. The book is going to be published by Markosia, and it’s currently all systems go as we race to make sure it’s published later this year.

There are a number of costs involved in getting a comic to the point where it’s ready for publication, let alone the money required for marketing. To help with these costs, we’ve come up with a number of fund-raising schemes, the first of which – the ebay auction mentioned yesterday – will be launching this weekend.

In the meantime, if you’re feeling flush and want to help with the project, there’s a donate button at the bottom of the Comics page. There are various freebies and trinkets on offer to everyone who donates, along with my undying respect, appreciation and – yes – love, so be sure to give generously!

Well, I didn’t win the Author Blog Awards, but then I didn’t really expect to. The well-deserved winners were Emily Benet, Sam Starbuck, and the living legend that is Neil Gaiman. All three blogs (well, Twitter feed, in Neil’s case) are brilliant reads, and well worth adding to your bookmarks if you haven’t got them in there already.

The whole competition was an excellent idea, and I’m really pleased that BarryHutchison.com made it to the final shortlist. I had been toying with the idea of letting the blog go to pasture, and concentrating instead on the social media sites I use (see the list on the right) but making the awards shortlist has really renewed my enthusiasm for blogging, so expect to see more regular updates on here from now on.

I have a few exciting announcements coming up over the next few weeks. The first is that I’m going to be running an internet auction which will allow the winning bidder to either appear, or to nominate someone else to appear, in issue one of my upcoming comic mini-series, GANGRENE.

The exact ‘role’ that will be available to bid on will be announced when the auction starts (this weekend, if all goes to plan), and all money raised will go towards the costs of producing and marketing the comic. I’ll post more info here when the auction is ready to go.

If you’re new to the blog and are wondering what all this GANGRENE business is about, take a look at this five page preview of issue 1. Be warned, though, it’s not for the faint-hearted.

I’m also developing a new comic mini-series, which will be distributed on the PSP via Playstation Network, and via iTunes for the iPod, iPhone and iPad. More on that – along with some artwork – in the next couple of weeks.

I’m not sure how well this gallery thing is going to work, but I’ll give it a bash.  Below is a preview of the first five pages of the comic mini-series I’m working on with some very talented artist types – namely Neil Chenier, Travis Stephens, Fran Ros and Kel Nuttal.

Click the first thumbnail to enlarge, then use the arrows directly below the enlarged images to move through the pages. When you’re done, click the large image to close it.

If you’re reading this on Facebook the images probably won’t show up properly, so scoot over to BarryHutchison.com to see them properly.

Due to a number of little hiccups, my comic book mini-series, GANGRENE, was put on the back burner for a while. It’s back on track now, though, with pages coming back from the letterer, Kel Nuttal, at an incredible rate.

Here’s a random page from the first issue. Let me know what you think.

GANGRENE #1, page 5

Today my email inbox is virtually bursting at the seams with the amount of artwork I’ve been sent.

First in was a jpeg of the cover that will be gracing the proof copy of INVISIBLE FIENDS: MR MUMBLES.  It looks utterly brilliant, and as soon as I’m permitted to post it here I will.

Fortunately I can post some of the other artwork I received in.  I’ll only put up one page for now, but wrap your eyes around this – the fully coloured, fully lettered first page of GANGRENE.

I’ve just finished reading Batman #681, which – I’m sure you’re all only too aware – was the conclusion to the Batman R.I.P. storyline.

Written by my fellow Scot, Grant Morrison, Batman R.I.P. has been hyped up to insane levels in the comic book community over the past few months.  Morrison promised a saga with shocking twists, and what he called “the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman”.

What was delivered was – to my mind – something of a confusing mess.  There were so many characters in the storyline I lost track of who was who and why any of them were doing the things they were doing.  The storyine jumped about from place to place, while also flicking forwards and backwards in time.  Cliffhangers from issue 680 seem to have been forgotten about for the concluding issue (Commissioner Gordon in the booby-trapped Wayne Manor, anyone?) and generally the whole thing felt a bit sloppy.

I won’t give details about the ending in case I spoil it for anyone, although it’s so bland there’s not a lot to be spoiled.  It was all very disappointing, although nowhere near the awfulness of Jeph Loeb’s recent run on HULK.  If ever someone deserved to be whipped across the legs with reeds, it’s him.

I’ve started to get the coloured pages in for my comic, GANGRENE, and they’re looking fab.  I won’t show them off yet – not until they’re all lettered up – but the eyes above form the last panel on page one.

Kudos to all the artists involved in the project – Neil Chenier (pencils), Travis Stephens (inks), and Fran Ros (colours).  They’re all extremely talented people whose combined creative genius puts me to shame.  All I do is do the words an’ that – they bring the whole thing to life.

On a different note, I signed my contract for my top-secret book deal today, and posted them back off.  Now that’s done, I should soon be able to reveal the details of the deal.

Soon, but not quite yet …

I didn’t make it to a charity shop today to buy a book, as per yesterday’s blog post.  I did, however, make some hefty progress on the problematic book two of my series, so I’m happy enough regardless, and stuff the rest of you.

Tomorrow I will go and buy my non-familiar-genre, second-hand novel.  Tonight, I will go to Tesco and buy cheese, because we’ve run out.  Sorry, that wasn’t supposed to go into this post, I was just thinking out loud.

I’ve realised I haven’t given you any more updates on the progress of Gangrene.  That’s because there aren’t really any updates to give.  It’s still being inked and coloured.  Then it has to be lettered.  Then it has to be licked by elves.   Just a little tradition of mine.

I watched Misery on TV last night.  First time I’d ever seen it.  Kathy Bates is one scary woman.  I knew the bit with the hammer was coming, but Jesus, it looked painful.  I actually felt sorry for James Caan – something I thought was impossible after once having to sit through 40 minutes of Mickey Blue Eyes.

Anyway, that’s yer lot for tonight.  I have a lantern festival to attend.

Don’t ask.

I feel no words are really necessary . . .

So, I’m still waiting to hear the final decision on one of my manuscripts from a top international publisher. They seem very interested, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much. Hopefully I’ll be hearing something this coming week, at which point I should be able to reveal a little more. Until then, my lips are sealed.

I’ve now finished the rewrite of the first of the two books I did recently for Egmont.  Did I say that already?  I just had a real sense of Deja Vu typing that sentence.

On the comics front, things are cruising along with GANGRENE.  I have a load more artwork to show off, but it’ll have to wait until I have a bit more time to resize it all for the web.  It’ll be worth the wait, though.

I’ve also become involved in a web comic project with four other writers.  We’re all running our own comic on the site, and will be posting a new page on a different day each week.  So I might be putting my pages up every Monday, for example, with the other guys filling out the rest of the week with their new pages.  It should be fun, if a bit hectic!

Anyway, that’s about it for now.  I’m off to Dublin tomorrow until Friday, so I don’t expect to be posting any updates between now and then.  Never know, though.