HALCYON & TENDERFOOT launches!

We reviewed - and loved - Halcyon & Tenderfoot #0 in our Live Edition the other week so we're very pleased to announce the launch of issue #1 proper. Check out the full press release below for all the Disco Daniel Details...

HALCYON & TENDERFOOT ISSUE 1 LAUNCHES AT NEWCASTLE LIBRARY

Comic book publishing and workshop facilitation company, Art Heroes, will launch their superhero comic, Halcyon & Tenderfoot, at Newcastle City Library on Saturday 31st March.

The event will take place in City Library’s Bewick Hall and feature an Art Heroes Quick Comics workshop, a ‘How to Make Comics the Art Heroes Way’ presentation, as well as sketching and signing sessions where readers can be the first to buy a copy of the comic.

10:30am - 12:30pm: Quick Comics workshop

A fun workshop for young people who like comics, drawing, writing or just want something to do on a Saturday morning. No previous experience is needed. The workshop is aimed at 8 to 16 year olds and free to attend, but with places limited to just 30 young people, booking early is advised. 

12:30pm - 1:00pm: Signing and sketching

A short opportunity for the Quick Comics workshop participants to purchase a signed copy of Halcyon & Tenderfoot or a unique sketch by Lee Robinson.

1:30pm - 3:00pm: Signing and sketching

The main opportunity of the day to pick up a signed copy of Halcyon & Tenderfoot, meet the creators and buy a unique sketch by the artist of the comic book.

3:00pm - 4:00pm: How to Make Comics the Art Heroes Way

The Art Heroes team behind Halcyon & Tenderfoot reveal their process for creating the comic book - from initial idea to drawing techniques to printing and promotion - and everything in between! Perfect for people wanting to make their own comics, or anyone with an interest in comic books or artistic processes.

4:00pm - 4:30pm: Signing and sketching

The last chance to get your hands on a signed copy of Halcyon & Tenderfoot or a unique sketch.

For more information email ArtHeroesUK@gmail.com or contact Newcastle City Library to book workshop places on 0191 277 4100.

Halcyon & Tenderfoot

The first Art Heroes comic book, Halcyon & Tenderfoot, is an all-ages title written by Daniel Clifford with art by Lee Robinson. The comic is intended as an ideal entry point for new comics readers, and a refreshing change for existing comic book fans. 

Halcyon & Tenderfoot focusses on a father and son superhero team, with a definitive long-form story to tell - but individual story arcs will experiment with genre, storytelling form and length.

In the British tradition, Halcyon & Tenderfoot is an A4 comic with colour covers and black & white interiors.

A preview issue can be read for free at ArtHeroes.co.uk/comic.

Workshops

Art Heroes workshops were created to help tackle the biggest educational problem facing the UK - engaging young people in reading. Without an interest in reading, young people are less likely to gain the literacy skills they need in later life.

Traditionally comics acted as a bridge between storybooks and prose fiction, but the disappearance of newsstand distribution for comic books and more adult storylines mean that less children are reading comics than ever.

Art Heroes believes that these two things are linked and that by introducing more children to comic books through our workshops, we can capture their imaginations and improve their reading and writing skills along the way.

But our workshops aren’t only intended to encourage reading, they also focus on different creative activites, including storytelling and drawing skills.

Subscriptions

Halcyon & Tenderfoot will be released quarterly in 2012 (March, June, September and December). This regular schedule allows Art Heroes to offer a subscription service - to the physical comics or to digital files.

Physical subscriptions are £12 (each of the issues is £3), which includes postage and packaging and a gift with each issue. The first free gift is a unique A4 sketch by Halcyon & Tenderfoot artist, Lee Robinson.

Digital subscriptions don’t include free gifts but are priced just £7 - a huge saving on the physical issues. Digital subscribers can choose between PDFs, or CBZ files that work with digital comic reading apps.

Subscriptions can be purchased at the launch event, or right now from ArtHeroes.co.uk/storeuk. Current subscribers can pick up the first issue at the launch event, or have it delivered to their home as usual. 

Appearances

Art Heroes will be appearing at Bristol Comic Expo in May, and hope to launch issue 2 of Halcyon & Tenderfoot at Glasgow Comic Con in June.

Online

Visit ArtHeroes.co.uk for more information, to buy comics or sign up for a subscription, to read the preview issue of Halcyon & Tenderfoot for free, and to book comic workshops for your school or organisation.

Quotes

“Newcastle City Library is the perfect place for us to launch Halcyon & Tenderfoot. The library is a space where young and old readers are welcome to come along and enjoy books for lots of reasons - and our comic is exactly the same. Young readers will enjoy the fun characters and adventures, but more mature readers will be able to enjoy the depths in the characters and the references in the storylines.

That thought process translates to this event too - we’re running a workshop for young people, but also holding a presentation about making the comic for people of all ages to attend. As well as those things, we’ll be signing copies of the comic, and I’ll be sketching for anyone who is interested.” - Lee Robinson

“This launch event is a great way of combining the different parts of Art Heroes - comic book publishing and creative workshops. Making comic books is a dream for us, and a huge part of our lives - but introducing young people to comics is a passion too. A lot of young people aren’t interested in reading prose, so they completely give up on reading. That’s what I was like. But we aim to introduce people like this to comics and get them inspired about reading, through creating their own stories and artwork.” - Daniel Clifford

The Team

Daniel Clifford was born in South Shields, 1986. Having been taught to read by comic books in the 1990s, he now aims to create new comics that can inspire others to read. His published works (including the Sugar Glider comics) have been focussed towards an all-ages audience. He organised comic workshops around North East England for over two years before starting Art Heroes with Lee Robinson.

Lee Robinson was born in Hexham, Northumberland in 1986. He has worked on a number of projects as an illustrator and cartoonist, earning an Animation Foundation Degree in the process. His comic book work prior to establishing Art Heroess is published in Sugar Glider issue 2 and Sugar Glider Stories issue 2.

Coming soon: PEEPHOLES

We're always pleased to see what Blank Slate Books have in the pipeline so press your peepers against this pernicious press release for Peepholes which is premièring in April, pals....

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PEEPHOLES - Laurie J. Proud

ISBN 978-1-906653-24-8 | 122 pages | 225 x 169mm hardcover, full colour | £16.99 / $22.99

“What colour is the moon?”, “Red, silly girl.”, “have you seen my blacken’ eyed dog?”, “I’ll be your do-og...”.

And with that, the wolf-man climbs atop the naked bottom of the kneeling woman—electric shaver in hand.

In Peepholes, Laurie J. Proud peers into the worlds that lie behind closed doors—where everyday stuck-on smiles are shaken off to reveal the darkness and inner-yearnings they obscure.

Ten beautifully-crafted stories of the bizarre take us through somnambulant cities where businessmen walk up the sides of buildings, werewolves go to midnight screenings, love-struck hitmen are hired to kill their favourite movie starlets and literal towers of self-pity threaten to collapse at any moment. Veering in between dreams and nightmares, Proud’s oblique visions of urban and emotional chaos range from the darkly comical to bitingly poignant.

Created over a ten-year period whilst Proud worked professionally as an animator and storyboardist, Blank Slate now binds these stories together in a special 122-page hardcover presentation. Fans of creators such as Al Columbia and Ho Che Anderson will find a lot to love in work that’s captivating and unsettling in equal measure. For everyone else, this is a chance to see a new UK comics talent emerge with a fully formed creative voice. Do you dare peek through to the other side?

Released April 2012

MORE INFO HERE • PRE-ORDER SIGNED COPY HERE

PRAISE FOR PEEPHOLES

"tales of high graphic sophistication" - Paul Gravett, author of 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die

"Peepholes is standing out as one of the more visually fascinating-looking works that we should all be keeping an eye open for" - Joe Gordon, Forbidden Planet International Blog

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LAURIE J. PROUD has worked professionally for over 20 years as an animator, storyboard artist and illustrator. Now fulfilling his long held desire to move into comics, he has emerged on the British scene as a fully-formed talent. Inspired by the dark and the surreal, he recalls his first time watching Eraserhead at age 17 as a ‘mind altering experience’ and agrees with Victor Hugo that the sublime is best defined as a combination of the grotesque and the beautiful. Born in Newcastle, he currently lives in Hove, East Sussex, in a flat 

Comic Review: Into The Woods

This lovely review of Into The Woods popped into my email last night. Did I worry that this review from Charlie's Angels fan and faithful SPBMer Jenni Newman would constitute some form of conflict of interest seeing as Into The Woods is Stace's project and I illustrated a strip in it? Did I f... no I didn't. Take it away, Russ...

Into the Woods – A Fairytale Anthology

It wasn’t until recently that I re-opened my Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales book, not just for the pure joy of reading and not to read to my children (I have none so that would be awkward). No, for me re-reading Hans Christian Andresen is research for my solo directing debut for the musical titled Honk! The Ugly Duckling Musical.

Others have been returning to fairy tales also and by doing so they have created an anthology of twists on originals, re-telling old tales or just plain new fairy tales for a modern audience. ‘Into the Woods’ is this anthology and I have been hearing about it for a little while now thanks to its editor Stacey Whittle, and looking forward to getting it. I am a lover of fairy tales and folk tales alike; whether they are by Hans Christian Andersen or the Brothers Grimm or Disney’s spin on all of them. I have grown up with them and loved them all.

Getting ‘Into the Woods’ was on my to do list once it was available and this weekend (3^rd March) it arrived, I ripped open the envelope relaxed, still in bed on a Saturday morning, cup of tea to the side of me and started reading. The opening tale Red Riding Hood has a nice twist to a classic, in the space of five pages (an amount of pages for all of the tales in the anthology) writer Rich McAuliffe and artist Sara Dunkerton tell a reduced spin on Little Red Riding Hood making it just that bit darker by the end of its fifth page. The art, especially the wolf, was as lovely as the tale was dark and disturbing by its end.

‘A Time For a Change’ the tale of a once worshipped giant now no longer revered as a God does not understand why he has been forgotten about by people, a question that many religions may ask today. ‘A Time for a Change’ is another well told and illustrated tale.

I could write about all of the tales in this anthology and this could become one long spoiler, and that’s not the point of me writing this ‘review’. No, I would rather finish by telling you my last two favourite tales in the anthology. The first being ‘The Madness from the Sea’ not only did I love the artwork throughout this five page tale, well done Lee Grice, but the story itself. A retelling of Pandora’s Box set in Victorian times the black and white artwork, which runs through the entire book, added more to this tale. Its darkness mixed with a dark time line that loved the macabre and horror stories really added to it. Pandora’s Box is a tale that never ceases to teach us the dangers of curiosity but also the strength of hope. As many evils as there may be released or within the world there is always that little glimmer of hope that we all hold onto that gives us strength, somehow.

Finally the last of the pieces that I favoured, not only that but for me this final piece stood out from the book. ‘Amber and the Egg’ I loved this, I am all ready a fan of Bevis Musson, the artist of this tale, in fact I have his artwork framed and ready to be hung on my wall at home. However it was not just Bevis’ clean lined art that I adored about this tale but the story itself. Nic Papaconstantinou has written a lovely script that really did warm me, weird I’m sure to some but it did. Am I an overly sentimental sort of gal? Yes, I am, I’ll cry at a Disney film, sometimes a TV advert can grab me, yes quite pathetic but I can live with that. This is not to say that ‘Amber and the Egg’ brought tears to my eyes but it made me smile and feel warm and fuzzy inside, it is the lightest all of the tales in the book which are far more macabre and on the Brothers Grimm end of the fairy tale spectrum where as this is more towards Hans Christensen Andersen. I love the macabre tales I do but ‘Amber and the Egg’ was the perfect way to end the anthology, things were pretty heavy throughout the book but ended happily and with hope by the end and also the tease of a sequel to hear more about Jack – the Jack I hope with a beanstalk and all. Praise must also go to Filip Roncone for the lettering of ‘Amber and the Egg’ clear and concise, complimenting the artwork. I also thought that Amber’s dad was just a bit of a stud, well done Bevis!

Overall ‘Into the Woods’ is a wonderful collection of writers and artists work that is a joy to read and absorb. A round of applause must go to its editor Stacey Whittle the clever lady who brought these talented people together to create this anthology. I would highly recommend any one to read this book whether you are a fan of comics or fairytales it doesn’t matter which of these you are so long as you get yourself a copy of this book. I will be passing my copy on to friends to borrow and try out, and then I’ll tell them where they can buy their own copy to cherish. My hope is that this is only volume one and that there will be a second volume to ‘Into the Woods’ as there are so many tales to tell whether they be old or new, there are always stories to be told and an audience waiting to hear them.

Congratulations to all involved with ‘Into the Woods’ a job very well done and a true labour of love.

One final thing...is it just me or does the character of Mr. Richards in ‘The Lang Pack’ look an awful lot like Nicholas Cage?

Jenni Newman.

Thanks for the review (and the kind words) Jenni! Comics reviews, recommendations, news and convention reports are always welcome - just drop us an email or give me or Stace a good tweeting at.

SPBM LIVE!

"While we're at it, do we have to use the word “live” twice in the first two sentences like we just cracked the technology?" - CJ Cregg, The West Wing

Here's a fun/terrifying thing: Stacey and Lee will be broadcasting a special LIVE SMALL PRESS BIG MOUTH on 18th February - that's this coming Saturday evening! It will be part of a marathon live Geek News Radio podcast that includes Book Club, Next Level, Comic Book Outsiders, Sidekickcast, Speak Easy & SF Signal starting at 4pm and finishing around 11.30. SPBM's slot is 6pm-7pm.

The broadcast will be via Ustream and the full line-up looks like this (subject to changes)

4pm CBO Book Club

5pm The Next Level

6pm Small Press Big Mouth

7pm Comic Book Outsiders

8pm Sidekickcast

9pm Speak Easy

11pm SF Signal

To listen in on Saturday just click this 'ere link HERE or go to ustream and search for Geek News Radio.

Stay tuned to Lee and Stace's Twitter feeds for updates.

Episode 35.5 - a Canny panel!

Here's a special episode of Small Press Big Mouth which was recorded at The Canny Comic Con on the 10th December 2011...

The Information Superhighway to your audience! Digital distribution for self-published comics.

How can you use the web to get your comic to its readers? Stacey Whittle chairs a panel with Daniel Clifford, Leonie O’Moore, Gordon Robertson and Terry Wiley that will discuss the potential benefits and hurdles to using digital comic distribution. In a constantly evolving field, what new models, tactics and opportunities are out there for a comic creator who wants their work to be read?

Direct Download: Episode 35.5

Episode 35 is online!

Welcome to the ever so slightly late episode 35 of Small Press Big Mouth! This episode has a splattering of Indie related news but is seriously review heavy as Stace and Lee wade through a myriad of comics including: Hitsville, Hark! A Vagrant, Stiffs, Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Verity Fair, Seeds, Colin's Godson, The Holy Terror, Elemental Micah, Windfall Melons and What's The Time Mrs Woolf?. We hope you enjoy the comeback show!

Direct download: Episode 35

Linkypoos

Markosia preorders - Bayou Arcana, White Knuckle, Kindred Spirits

David Wynne

Bevis Musson

What Is It Katy?

Into The Woods

Cardiff Comics Expo

Canny Comic Con

Hitsville

Hark! A Vagrant

Stiffs

Hilda and the Midnight Giant

Verity Fair

Seeds

Colin's Godson

The Holy Terror

Elemental Micah

Windfall Melons

What's The Time Mrs Woolf?

Another Whittle work of art: Owl-Lee

Looking Forward: 2012

2011 was a pretty fab year comics-wise, but I think 2012 will be even better. Into The Woods, Bayou Arcana, White Knuckle, Rainbow Orchid v3, Princess Of Mars, Damaged Goods, Dick Turpin and the Crimson Plague and Babble to name just a few that were already on my Eagerly Awaited list, but what else can we expect? We gave a Big Mouth Call Out, and here's what we heard back...

****

Richmond Clements - Turning Tiger!

David Wynne - Hypergirl issues 2 and 3 by summer, trade in October... and some stuff I frustratingly can't talk about. AWESOME stuff.

Ian Sharman - Hypergirl 2 & 3 by Summer, trade in Oct. New edition of Alpha Gods OGN in Feb. Hero: 9 to 5 Book Two at some point.

Rob Davis - Don Quixote Vol II

Holly Rose - The Shrapnel: Case Files will be debuting in spring (some gender and sexuality politics as well as crime fighting fun)

Luke Foster - MoonFreight 3 on its regular MWF schedule, book collection vol. 3, and hopefully one or two other side projects.

Corey Brotherson - With Jennie Gyllblad: Bayou Arcana: Irons in the Fire, Clockwork Watch: The Arrival (followed by Breakaway), & secret projects. With Sergio Calvet Magic of Myths: season two. And with several other non-Twitter artists, Unseen Shadows: Stolen, and about 3 other secret/unannounced projects. Busy year! 

En Gingerboom - Those of No Class #2! And the compiled book of 'What is it Katy?' which I will be trying to fund with indiegogo

Valia Kapadai - White Knuckle with Cy Dethan and Nic Wilkinson / Kindred Spirits and Medina's 9 Lives with Maggie J Neko, if I have some time Dreamcatcher with Mo Ali, Urban Legends and Bayou Arcana anthology, maaaaybe a short comic with Pavlos Pavlidis and after all that I have Snow with Richard McAuliffe and Seeing Shadows with Christopher Barker !! It'll be an AMAZING YEAR !! ?

Lee Robson - Babble. Hopefully. Babble is the story of Carrie Hartnoll, a girl lost and going nowhere in life until she becomes involved in an attempt to resurrect the forgotten universal language of Babel. The apparent suicide of the project’s original team leader propels her to uncover the horrific truth about the language and why it was written out of the history books…

Gavin Mitchell - Official release of Stiffs and The Pride, (I believe anyway)

Graham Pearce - I'll probably get sued by George Lucas in May 2012 when I publish Sgt Mike Battle #17 which features a story entitled 'Star-Spangled Wars'! I'm also hoping to publish the first chapter of Last Admin Hero 2 by the end of 2012!!

Nic Wilkinson - Bayou Arcana will be out next year, too with ALL the cool kids involved. Cy Dethan, Peter Mason, Graeme Howard and I also have Cancertown 2 brooding in the wings for next summer!

Garen Ewing - Art for 'The Legend of the Golden Feather' in The Phoenix issue 1 (written by Ben Haggarty) and 'The Rainbow Orchid' volume 3 in April (May for the Dutch edition).

Gary Bainbridge - Sugar Glider #3 is out next year, unless I leave comics to take up chess.

Daniel Clifford - Halcyon & Tenderfoot  Subscriptions available now from artheroes.bigcartel.com

Sara Dunkerton - I'm sure you're already shouting about Bayou Arcana & Into The Woods, but the next Dark Harvest book is out in May, it'll be saturated with my work!

Christian Wildgoose - Ohh! Should have a book called 'Porcelain' out hopefully in March-ish plus a web comic 'ButterflyGate' both of them written by Benjamin Read and edited by Matthew Gibbs, and Dreamsolver coming out with Markosia late on..

Luke Halsall - the Glasgow League of Writers are producing a superhero anthology (each at most 6pgs) and a horror anthology later on.

BeyondtheBunker - Moon #2 will be out in 2012.

Glenn Jones working on my first comic book next year. to follow on from a novel I published 3 years ago. the title of my novel is called 'The Lyonsblood Chronicles' and I think the comic will be 'Tales from the Lyonsblood Chronicles'. I plan to do 4 comics. one special for each of my four main characters. Although I'm giving myself a year to do the first one...dipping my toe in the water etc. It's superhero, although not spandex and tights. it's more to do with the origin of super powers, and their ultimate purpose in the universe.

Dani Abram - Kitty Hawk will kick your ass in 2012 or so help me!

Laura Sneddon - I'll be creating my first comic for uni! Two modules this semester - one on international comics culture and the other on creating comics, for which I'll be writing and drawing a 9 page comic! I'm hoping my art talents come rushing back, ahem.

Jennie Gyllblad - 2012 will hopefully be the year I get a lot DONE, and published. Skal Chapter 1, Clockwork Watch, Bayou Arcana... Butterflies and Moths?

Andy Bloor - Zombies 2, Robot Shorts and many more coming from AccentUK and others

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Right then? Anyone got any more? And what are you looking forward to this year? Drop us a line in the usual manner!