Pygmy Kingdom (Comics &c. by Robert Brown)

This Little Piggy Went to Comiket

2012-02-15T20:06:00.003Z

... or rather, 'Will Be Going'. I'm following the modest debut of Killjoy with a turn at the Comica festival's Comiket in London this April. Like Thought Bubble, I'm exhibiting without having visited the event before. It looks good. I've already booked dirt-cheap coach tickets to the capital, and so should you. Come over and and we can exchange stilted pleasantries.

I probably won't have a second issue to sell. ^ © Paul Gravett, possibly.

Since the release of Killjoy #1, I've become involved in a couple of great cartooning projects, led by comics creators better known than me. This means that: (a) I will be drawing more comics than usual this year; and (b) I have the opportunity to type that great artist-blogger cliché: I can't talk about them yet! Actually, I might be able to - not sure - but one's got to fully exploit the opportunity to sound popular and enigmatic, 'ey?

A final note - Killjoy #1 is available, so far, in ten shops all about England, with a few more to follow - a couple of which will be over the Pond.

Methought Bubble

2011-11-21T20:59:00.001Z

Last weekend, Ian & I exhibited that the Thought Bubble Festival Comic Con in Leeds. I had neglected my friends, family, personal hygiene and proper sustenance for three weeks to draw the first story of my Catch a Fairy project to be published independently of Ian's anthology Sea Mouse. I delivered the finished artwork to the printer at the latest possible date, and unsurprisingly, almost turned up to the convention without a comic to sell. My parcel was left at the print house by the courier & I had to pull my first-ever 'angry customer' strop to persuade the printers to make an emergency delivery to Ian's house on Friday night. Thankfully I arrived at Ian's place to find a modest box of pamphlets to rip open eagerly.

On Saturday morning, we trudged through the frosty fog to the Royal Armouries, wherein we set up shop for the weekend. Ian regretted having not spent the previous week making miscellaneous merchandise, despite filling his half of the table with piles of two different 'Sea Mice', and half-a-dozen issues of his series Dishes; I had only copies of Killjoy #1 craftily displayed to take up the remainder of the tabletop.

Our first surprise of the con was having been allocated a spot beside the signing tables. We were frequently rubbing shoulders (sometimes literally) with eminent comics creators we hadn't heard of - but our first neighbour was a very familiar name, the lovely Posy Simmonds, beside whom Ian posed for a photograph. We gave her a handful of comics.

(She wasn't the only name we recognised. We also saw Dave Gibbons on both days - naturally, a very popular guest. Respect to the Gibbon.)

The event was more indie-centric than I had anticipated; my only experiences of comics conventions in recent years have been my two spells at Angoulême - at which the exhibitors run the gamut from photocopying mavericks to commercial monoliths - and I'd forgotten that most British cons other the major expos are populated by small presses and independent self-publishers. This made the fairly high proportion of cosplayers somewhat incongruous, but I guess that it was all 'part of the fun' even if the Judge Dredds and Stormtroopers felt a little far removed from the bulk of the material being exhibited. (I was actually eager to sell something to a costumed visitor, but all my customers were respectably-dressed individuals.)

I could tell the whole story of our weekend, but I'll avoid any rambling and simply state that I consider our turn at the con to have been a modestly successful one. We met many interesting people, and sold a fair few comics to a host of lovely (and gratefully received) customers - some of whom were more chatty than others, but all seemingly good eggs. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and made our first Thought Bubble experience quite wonderful.

(All photographs are copyright of Ian Cockburn - used without permission, but I'm fairly sure he won't mind.)

Almost Killjoy #01

2011-11-14T21:31:00.000Z

After three weeks of brush abuse and sleep deprivation, I've finally sent my first independent comic release in almost five years - Killjoy #01 - to the printers. The story therein is 'Cub Camp', and you can pre-order it at Shop page, where you can also have a gander at a three-page sample.

It'll be officially debuting at the Thought Bubble Festival Comic Con in Leeds this weekend (19 - 20 November), at which I'm sharing a table with my comrade Ian Cockburn, who'll also be debuting a new release: the second issue of his anthology series Sea Mouse (for which I have produced a double page strip).

You have been warned

2011-08-01T01:29:00.000+01:00

Please understand that this website is 'under construction'. (Imagine scaffolding. Please wear necessary headgear.)

Click the links above. There's a little bit there.

This is a test, too

Traveller's Tales

2011-07-31T15:40:00.005+01:00