What I've Been Up To

Too Much Sex & Violence #1 is out!

I've not seen a copy yet, but it's been getting good reviews. Rol has pencilled me in -- pun sort of intended -- for a few pages in the third issue, and I should be getting a script for that in the next couple of weeks. I had good fun drawing the introduction of vampiric DJ Gary Gore and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a tiny bit of jealousy that someone else is drawing him in #2 -- and maybe #3 too -- but I'm looking forward to seeing what I get in the next batch of pages.

The Future Is Not So Much Dark, But Boring (Part 2)

Remember UFO: Enemy Unknown -- or X-COM if you're a Colonial -- that great strategy game that took the mechanics of the wonderful Laser Squad and bolted them on to a setting not altogether dissimilar to Gerry Anderson's UFO? It was quite popular.

Just like Syndicate it's coming back! Just like Syndicate it's coming back as a first-person shooter.

Sigh.

The Future Is Not So Much Dark, But Boring

I was, for just a moment, excited that there's a new Syndicate game on the way, as the original was one of my favourites back in the day. I had most fun running around the cities and using the Persuadertron to brainwash every living thing. So, yes, excited. Then I read the article and saw the screenshots and, oh look, it's another first-person shooter -- or Doom-clone as we called them in the old days -- and that's killed my interest stone dead. What's wrong with the video game industry these days? Why the chronic lack of imagination?

Doxy #4

Xenobonus

I ordered the new Wii rpg Xenoblade Chronicles, but I decided I wouldn't start playing it until I'd cleared at least one game from my current backlog. I've been near the end of Final Fantasy XII for a while, but I've been reluctant to go for the final push until I'd mopped up some of the subquests and side missions. As of today, I've done that, so I cracked open the Xenoblade box.

Hang on, what's that little flash of blue there under the clip that holds the manual?

Well, that's unexpected:

It's not much, but giving away a little freebie like that is a nice touch. Well done, Nintendo.

A Bit More Sex and Violence

Here's another page of Rol Hirst Too Much Sex and Violence, still due in September.

Not Enough Sex and Violence

Here's one of my pages for Rol Hirst's new comic Too Much Sex and Violence, due in September.

Who Else is River Song? (SPOILERS)

There's a trailer below for the second half of this year's Doctor Who series.

Too Much Sex and Violence

Starting September - a new comic written by Rol Hirst.

Issue #1 art by Andrew Cheverton, Paul Rainey, Kelvin Green, Nigel Lowrey, Mark Renhard, Martin Eden, Adrian Bamforth and Rob Wells. Design by Dave Metcalfe-Carr.

Future issues to include art by Dave Metcalfe-Carr, Chris Askham, Tony McGee, Ryan Taylor, Neil Cavenham, Stephen Prestwood and others...

To be sure you don't miss the latest updates, sign up at rolhirst.co.uk

Again, Not Dead, Just Rubbish

I've been busy. Work -- the thing which I once enjoyed but now only tolerate -- has picked up, but due to cutbacks and layoffs, there aren't enough people to do the work, so there's that. The big drain -- although drain implies something negative, and this is anything but -- on my time at the moment is my art. I have been producing a lot of art in the past few weeks, often to short deadlines, and I haven't had much time for much else.

I've also not been able to talk about it much, or rather I'd prefer to go into detail when the stuff is released; I've got some art in a number of upcoming publications, a couple of which should be coming out soon, and some others coming out towards the end of the year. The big news on that front is that people are starting to pay for this stuff, and I've made a tidy profit over the past few weeks, although given the cost of materials, almost anything above a quid is a profit.

My PJANG! strip is going nowhere, although I am working on something else -- I don't know if it's been announced, so I won't go into too much detail -- with Rol in the meantime, and I'm still trying to plough through Don Quixote; I passed the half way mark a few days ago and the second half of the book is much more interesting. It's all gone very self-referential and one almost expects Cervantes himself to turn up in a fiction suit.