The Fogels, a stripblog from Tel Aviv.

Again reinder nodded me in the direction of a good comic.

Scarygoround is an online comic from the UK that looks to have been going a substantial time.

It looks rather good...

and there is a book out now!

made of real paper!

that you can buy from the website!

Single panel to 5 page submissions with Ireland/Irishness as the theme are invited for a one-shot comic provisionally titled 'THE JIG IS UP'. Stories are to be Black+White/Greyscale, roughly US comic page size (258 x 168mm) and of something approaching professional standard. All forms welcome, be they political rant, funny anecdote or some mad yoke that helps dispel (or create new) misconceptions about the Emerald Isle! (A fancy full colour cover is also required!)

Deadline for Artwork is 15th October 2003. This is not a paying gig.

Send stuff to creator of Diamond distributed comic MBLEH! - that's Bob Byrne, 43 Kilclare Gardens, Jobstown, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Eire. And/or contact Bob with queries and submission-related problems at bob@clamnuts.com.

Can I invite any interested parties to a discussion just getting under way at the PJ forums? Part of it includes a poll asking the question 'How can small press comics reach out to a wider audience?'...

They need better production values
They need better writing and art
They need better marketing
They need to be a more cohesive entity
They need elements of all of the above
The small press doesn't need to reach out, it's a well-kept secret
The small press will always remain an insular scene
Who cares? I just carry on doing what I'm doing!

Interested in a wide variety of views!

Click here to visit the messageboard.

As part of the international Ladyfest, there's a fanzine convention at the Cavern Club, Exeter on Saturday April 26th from 12pm.

The Fantastic Pulps Show & Sale will once again take place at the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, in the lower level of the Lillian Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library Saturday, April 26, 2003, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

The Show will again feature a select dealers' room of pulp magazines, pulp related items and reprints, rare and collectable Science Fiction from pre-1975, as well as periodic tours of The Merril Collection, plus an afternoon auction.

The pulp magazines reigned supreme on the newsstands from the early part of the last century up until their eventual demise in the mid 1950s. There were stories and titles of every kind, from tough detective to westerns; hero to romance, as well as horror, aviation, war, sports, science fiction, adventure and many more. Named after the cheap pulpwood paper on which they were printed, the pulps enjoyed an era of success for decades as the leading form of reading entertainment for the common people. The stories of many prominent authors of the century were first featured in their pages.

Daily strips at www.neiljam.com. Hooray!

Ol' stalwart Colin Upton has been doing a Stripblog as a reaction to the Iraq WII
"This is how I howl..."

I received Runoff #5 by the charming Mr Tom Manning in the mail this morning, and was seriously creeped out by the way the story is going; this chapter is genuinely horrifying. "Worms in your eyelashes" has to be one of the nastiest images ever. This series just gets better and better. Trust me, this is one you need to be reading.

Related: Interview at The Pulse, and the Sequential Tart interview I did with Tom a couple of years ago.

I chanced upon a copy of the small press version of Little Scrowlie last year, and this highly stylized comic made for a very enjoyable read. Now they've been picked up by Slave Labour Graphics who will reprint the first four mini-comics and carry on thereafter. Also, this month Sequential Tart have an interview with the creators, Jennifer Feinberg and Todd Meister.

The Badge Boy makes very cheap rather excellent badges. Perfect for wiley self-promoting types.

Purple Pussey is a regularly updated web-strip, with the artist veering from one style to another, apeing various indy comic artists. Check out those glorious colours.

USS Catastrophe have just put up a bunch of new minicomics on their site. Catching my eye is Sammy Harkham's Poor Sailor, clocking in at 124 pages and looking rather good too.

I really like Dorothy's Cat and Girl webstrip, updated every Monday.