Posted by Barry on Nov 18, 2008 in
Children's Books,
Comics 
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 …
Posted by Barry on Nov 11, 2008 in
Comics,
Personal 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.
Posted by Barry on Oct 16, 2008 in
Comics I feel no words are really necessary . . .
Posted by Barry on Oct 5, 2008 in
Children's Books,
Comics 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.
Posted by Barry on Sep 9, 2008 in
Comics Today i picked up a Marvel/DC crossover comic from a second hand bookshop here in Wexford. It features Superman and Spider-man teaming up to take on Dr Doom and The Parasite. There’s also a smattering of the Incredible Hulk thrown in for good measure.
Anyway, as with most Marvel and DC comics of this era (1970s - 1980s) it’s painfully overwritten to the point of being almost impossible to read. The characters explain what they’re doing in painfully intricate detail in a “look, I - the Amazing Spider-Man - am about to punch you hard in the face with my fist” stylee.
Also in keeping with other comics of the period, the writers (Jim Shooter and Marv Wolfman) are quite happy to pluck new powers out of thin air for the characters, if it provides a neat way to get them out of a tricky situation.
I give you exhbit A:
I mean really - Super-Ventriloquism?! Did Earth’s yellow sun really interact with Clark’s Kryptonian DNA in a way which made him able to convincingly throw his voice? What’s next? Super-Jazz Hands? Super-Knitting?
It’s stuff like this that gives comics a bad name …
Posted by Barry on Sep 1, 2008 in
Comics,
Personal It’s been a weird day, weather-wise. Glorious one minute, bucketing down the next. At the moment I can see a bright blue sky out of the big patio doors in my little home office. Sadly, I’m far too busy to get out and enjoy it, as I have 15 days left until a big deadline, and still lots to do.
On another note entirely, my comic series - GANGRENE - now has its own site. You can follow all the happenings an’ that by clicking the link on the right.
I really just logged on here today to delete all the usual spam comments about Britney Spears’ … um … lady’s area, but then I noticed that my post last night was the forty-ninth one to appear on the site. For the mathematically challenged, that would make this post number fifty. A milestone in anyone’s book, and cause for some kind of celebration.
But what? A cake? I could bake (well, buy) a cake and scoff the lot, but as celebrations go, that one feels a little on the selfish side. I suppose if everyone sent me their address I could send them a very small slice, but it seems to be taking over a week for any mail to get here from the UK, so the cake might not be the freshest by the time it arrives.
So what, then? How can I possibly thank the three, maybe even four people who read the blog on a vaguely regular basis? By shutting down the site and promising never to write another word for the remainder of my natural life? Possibly, but I’ve got contracts to fulfill and deadlines to meet, so that would only come back and bite me on the backside.
Hmm. I’ll have a think about it while I write the remainder of this self-congratulatory blog entry.
Fifty posts, eh? It’s not a huge amount - particularly as at least one of them was about commas - but it’s not a pathetic number either. It’s not, like, five posts, say. That’d be rubbish. If I was patting myself on the back for managing five posts you’d have my full permission to kick me square in my lady’s area.
Whoops! I mean man’s area. Hahahaha. Typo, that’s all. Just a typo.
So, fifty. It’s half way to a hundred posts, so that’s quite good. I already have my celebration planned for when I reach the hundred mark. Live on webcam I intend to cocoon myself in a sticky black ichor, where I shall remain for three weeks. At the end of that period I shall emerge as a beautiful, giant butterfly with a book for a face.
I shall then flutter from town to town, presenting my book face for the townsfolk to read. As they gaze at my quivering pages, a tremendous sense of calm and tranquility shall wash over them, and there will be no more hatred left in their hearts.
In a century or more, when my work is finally done and the world is at last a place of peace and joy, I shall write of my life in a series of picture books aimed at the under fives. They shall be known as ‘The Adventures of Book Faced Barry, the Butterfly of Love’ and their message will spread throughout the cosmos, touching the lives of alien beings we’ve never even dreamed of.
Alternatively, I’ll put some stuff up for you to download, like I’ve decided to do to mark the fiftieth post. Yeah, in fact, I’ll definitely do that for post one hundred. It’s not that I have a problem with being a book faced butterfly of love, but I’d get claustrophobic in the cocoon for that amount of time, so - alas - I’ll have to give it a miss. Mankind will just have to muddle through on its own.
Anyway, here are some random downloads from my hard drive you might fancy taking a look at. Or you might not. Entirely your call. I mean, it’s not like I’ve sweat blood and tears over them or that …
1. Gangrene - Page One
Page one of GANGRENE #1 has been all inked up and is looking fab. It’ll be coloured in the finished product, but here it is in glorious monochrome. The lettering was stuck on quite quickly by me, but a proper letterer who actually knows what he’s doing is going to be lettering the final comic. The pencils here are done by the ever-excellent Neil Chenier, with inks by Jeremy Freeman.
2. Gangrene - Draft One
And to go with the first page, here’s the full script for issue one in Adobe PDF format. Be warned, it contains the odd wee sweary word, a heap of violence, and a woman in a hideous tracksuit. It’s all just words, though, so when you get to the bit with the hideous tracksuit, you can always imagine it’s described as a lovely tracksuit instead.
3. Our Man in Pathology
My first ever attempt at a comedy sketch. It’s not great, so try not to laugh. Actually, no, forget that. Do laugh. That’s the point.
That’s it for now. Hope you enjoy!
Posted by Barry on Aug 16, 2008 in
Children's Books,
Comics,
Personal Still no phone line.
So, this exciting news I promised yesterday, then. Well, basically, the comic I came up with - Gangrene - has been picked up by the good folks at Arcana Comics. The four issue mini-series will be published first in comic, then in graphic novel format, and will be written by me, with artwork by my massively talented co-creator, Neil Chenier.
Between writing a 5-7 yrs novel for Egmont, and rewriting one of my own projects, I managed to get the full 22 page script for issue one done, and I’m very happy with it. It features gratuitous violence, dramatic entrances, a morally dubious hero, and a mutant dog - everything a good comic book should have.
In even more exciting news, next week I start on another two books in the top secret series I’ve been writing for Egmont. The first one, which I wrote a couple of months back, is released in January, with the next two I’m doing due to come out some time in May.
Which reminds me, both BEASTLY!: SPIDER SWAT and WOW! 366 came out at the start of the month, so feel free to buy them using the links on the right, if you haven’t done already. There are some fantastic stories in WOW! 366, and all proceeds go to Childline, so it’s worth picking up for all sorts of reasons. Gordon Brown’s isn’t really a story, so much as a bitterly uninteresting anecdote, but most of the others are well worth a read. Even Tom from McFly’s, despite all expectations to the contrary.
Anyway, it’s been raining like a long weekend at Noah’s for the past few days, but this afternoon - following a particularly nasty downpour - the sun came out and we all played football in the garden for a bit. Tomorrow, we’re off to a barbecue with live music in aid of my son’s new school. Fortunately it’s covered, so even if it rains I’ll be able to stuff my face on half-cooked chicken legs, before coming home and trying to get another 4,000 words done of my latest rewrite.
Posted by Barry on Jul 10, 2008 in
Comics Here’s another pic of Dan Green, the lead character in GANGRENE, the comic I’m working on with top artist fella Neil Chenier. Click here to see some more of his work, and revel in its brilliance.
Posted by Barry on Jul 9, 2008 in
Comics Neil Chenier, the penciller working on my comic script, has sent over a bundle of sketches he’s done of various characters in the series. I don’t have time to show them all at the moment, but here’s one of my favourites to whet your appetite …
Isn’t he lovely? I’ll post some more later, along with a link to some of Neil’s other work. As I’m sure you can tell from the above, he’s a really talented guy.
