A preview of the newly available first issue of Mythos from Yorkshire-based Swancomics is available on their website

The enormous edition of BONE is back in stores this week, and has already sold out from Diamond distributors (though future printings are planned). If you want to pick up the 1300 page doorstop, it retails for the equivalent of around $40. More details at boneville.com/

Regular readers may recall my previous entry regarding GIMP, which is a free Photoshop-type tool, in which I linked to a tutorial for creating speech balloons.

Well, here there are loads more tutorials, including tutorials on Bezier curves (useful for speech balloon tails), basic colouring, creating black-and-white images, and a couple on converting photos to sketches.

Scar Comics publish Falling Sky by Benjamin Dickson in September. Here's a preview.

An interview with Adhouse Books publisher Chris Pitzer.

The above strip excerpt from My Own Little Empire by Scott Mills, published by Adhouse Books.

Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights has been adapted as a graphic novel by Yorkshire-based poet and playwright Adam Strickson and the artist Siku, who has worked for Marvel comics and 2000AD.

An MP3 interview with Scott McCloud and his entire family, as they discuss their upcoming 50-state tour in support of the upcoming book, Making Comics. (Via)

Bugpowder has received a mention on Journalista. Does this sort of thing happen all the time or just when I decide to resign?

Declarations of interest to take over Bugpowder received so far: zero.

Bollocks.

Slave Labor Graphics is now offering some of its print comics in digital form. The future is now.

Actually, things are moving so fast the future is probably yesterday.

Here's a photo of Neil Gaiman aged three:

Paul Gravett has posted the full line-up for Comica 2006. If you're in any way into comics then this event is must-attend.

Ariel Kahn teaches a one evening a week, 12 week course on Jewish Graphic novels at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.

Check out this sneak preview of comic artist Barry Renshaw's new website, as well as some of his storyboard work.

Shit happens. Life goes on.

Meanwhile...

Jeremy Dennis crafts a(nother) little gem of a mini-comic.

Comics artist Bryan Talbot has 'ported his classic Adventures of Luther Arkwright to his official web site for fans to buy online.

Indie Review is go (or will be soon?).

Paul Gravett discusses exhibiting comics...

...and the book Masters Of American Comics.

Go and check out indie online graphic novel, SCHOOLYARDRULES! The Nightmare Edition.

Pete Ashton waxes lyrical about cartoonist and artist Andy Kronky Kru.

Synchrony two is out now.

Ralph Kidson returns (was he ever away?).

It turns out that Stan Lee wrote Watchmen, not Alan Moore! Nuff said indeed!.

David Baillie is posting his one-page strip Writer and Monkey (irregularly) over at his blog.

Monocat produces a quietly beautiful comic page.

Is it me or is Phil Elliot's website looking swankier than normal? The more I think about it, the more I realise that it's just me. Still, it's worth a look anyway.

Paul O'Connell makes very strange comix (and they are definitely comix).

Ellen Lindner is close to finishing the computer work on the 5th (of 6) chapter of her graphic novel (and it's looking pretty damn fine so far).

Cartoonist Richard Nairn is on MySpace.

There's a fantastic interview by Mark Cardwell with the always entertaining Brendan McCarthy at http://dogmatika.com/.

It is considered traditional, after linking to Wally Wood's 22 Panels, to subsequently link to Ivan Brunetti's version. So, lest someone think BugPowder remiss, here it is.

FutureQuake, the UK small press anthology publishers, have been caught in the middle of an unfortunate case of copyright infringement that all publishers who accept submissions should pay attention to. It concerns the cover artwork to MangaQuake #2 which was downloaded by a scoundrel from an artists web portfolio and passed off as his own. The drama unfolds on their message board and has resulted in FutureQuake withdrawing all copies from sale and requesting people who've already bought the magazine return it to them for a replacement, so consider this a request to spread the word. More here / via.

Jonathan Edwards has a new website. (via)

Did you ever wonder what happened to Frank Wynne who worked on Revolver and Deadline back in the 90s? This profile, leading up to the publication of his new book, tells the story. (Snide note: they get the facts screwed for the comics bit, but what can you expect from the Sunday Times...) (via)

Will Kane has a new weblog featuring art like this.

Catch a great exhibition of comic art called '...and other stories' which runs until 29th September. It's on at the Andrew Duncan clinic at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Morningside Terrace and is open all day every day.

The exhibition includes the work of artists Malcy Duff, Daniel Johnston, Jeffrey Brown and Renee French.

Fancy designing a new British Superhero? Then dressing up as them?

Angels (FancyDress.com) is running a competition. It was featured in the Sunday Telegraph and everything.

One of the best things I picked up at CAPTION this year was Stuart Kolakovics 'A Prince Such As I'.

Packaged in a record-style sleeve, the comic inside utilizes a translucent cover to further mimic a 45rpm vinyl single. As well as being a beautiful objet d'art, the narrative inside is surreal and rewarding, suggesting multiple layers of meaning, beyond the literal intertwining of conversation with an Elvis fan, and the journey of a passing bird.

This little gem is 16 pages, plus translucent covers and sleeve, and is only £1 (including postage) direct from Stuart (email radzombie[at]hotmail.com), or can be found at GOSH in London, or the Permanent Gallery in Brighton.

Stuart has another minicomic almost ready for print, so keep an eye out for that name.

Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work has resurfaced as a high-res scan of the original pastup along with the story that it wasn't intended as a teaching aid but a reminder to Wood to stop himself "noodling" and get on with the job. (via)

Since March of this year I've been owner-caretaker of Bugpowder. Now it's time for me to move on. What does this mean in practical terms?

I'm going to carry on posting to Bugpowder until mid-September but, for various reasons that I'm not going to go into, will be unable to do so beyond that point. Effective immediately I'm looking for declarations of interest to take over the site. If you're involved in small press comics in any way and would like to take on Bugpowder please get in touch. The job is fairly straightforward and Pete Ashton, the site's founder, is still available to offer technical (and other) advice. Successful applications will be subject to Pete Ashton's and Jez Higgin's approval.

matthew(at)bugpowder.com

NB: Ideally, I'd like a committee (like the one that runs Caption) to take on the running of Bugpowder (but let's see if anyone gets in touch first).

ROCKET PIRATES Update: SUBMISSIONS CLOSED

John Robbins writes to plug several booklets he's produced this year, including Negotiating the Beast, a collection of comic strips.

John Welding has updated his site, and of possible interest to Bugpowder readers is the 'Life of Magic' page, featuring a diary and sketchbook. Nice stuff!

TOONHOUND, your starting point for info on British cartoon, animation, comic strip and puppet creations of the past, present and future!...

The new issue of Smallzone's Incoming! (number six) features an all new There's No Time Like The Present cover by Paul Rainey (the artwork for which is reproduced below) and an interview with him about his comic work. Incoming! is a fanzine about the UK small press scene and contains articles, reviews, interviews and comic strips.

Andrew Cheverton, the writer of West and Synchrony, is going through the process of consolidating all of his various web presences under one website here. Currently you can read his blog there but, in the near future, you will be exposed to all manner of Angry Candy goodness. In the meantime, Synchrony Two made it's premier at this year's Caption and features art by Oli Smith, Justine Shaw and Jenika Loffreda.

Bugpowpowder's sister-site, TRS2, needs reviewers.

The Shiznit issue 3 is out, featuring work from Paul Rainey, Phil Barret
and loads of other slicksters. Available free around Ireland or by sending a SAE or an original drawing to Bob Byrne.

Paul Gravett:
In Conversation
Paul discusses the increasing global influence and popularity of manga. More...

Christine Harper of Comics International fame sends details of a new small press anthology she's editing:

The topic is freedom and the anthology will be A4, colour and about 40 pages long. Paul Gravett is Consulting Editor.

Interesting...

A case of watch this space for details...

Andy Richmond of Scar Comics sez:

Bristol has a growing comics scene. Come on in, the water's lovely.
New members welcome.

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey's comic The Nomad Church is going to be coming to the web as part of Warren Ellis's new webcomic collective, Rocket Pirates.

Joel Meadows, a journalist who often writes about comics, has a new weblog.

How Bryan Lee O'Malley scripts Scott Pilgrim.

Martin O'Shea has produced a comic about child abuse by the clergy.

Comic anthology Whores of Mensa 3 to be released this autumn.

More teaser images from Leonie O'Moore's forthcoming graphic novel.

You can look at how a website used to look in the past using the Wayback Machine.

So, for example, Bugpowder.

Issue 6 of indie comics mag Redeye to be released late September (it's been Fanzine of the Month three times in a row in SFX):

Redeye is published by Engine Comics.

Paul Schroeder has kindly sent us a link to the website of John Welding, a very talented illustrator and cartoonist.

His 'A Life of Magic' cartoon journal will be of particular interest. So good, it got me drawing again last night.

MANGAPHOBIA:
MANGA FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE MANGA

This Wednesday August 16th, the Modern Monstrosity Launch Party is happening in Clapham.

The Crap Your Pants Anthology is now available from www.monkeysmightpuke.com. Featuring contributions from Douglas Noble, Matthew Craig, Steve Tillotson and many more. Dan Lester will be selling copies at the Lancaster comics convention in October, and the Birmingham convention in December.

Andrew Reed has a new website up. and was wondering if he could get on the Bugpowder news from the small press section. Which is pretty much what we're here for. So 'Yes' would be the answer.

Bugpowder would like to start posting small pressers' art alongside news items. Not just finished stuff, but sketches, doodles, behind-the-scenes stuff and work-in-progress. So get scribbling and then get in touch.

(Via.)

One of the news items coming out from CAPTION is that Bulldog Empire is to be featured in its entirety as part of the Mammoth Book of Manga, edited by Ilya.

There appear to be two different editions, one from the US and one from the UK. The latter appears to have more pages, but that could be an error on Amazons part.

Jeremy Dennis has kindly contributed a new logo to Bugpowder:

As has the rather talented Leonie O'Moore:

We could do with a few more though (the logos rotate on a daily basis), so if you fancy designing one get in touch.

Lots of updates over at the Studio Blink Twice website, publishers of Malcolm Magic.

Peter Beare makes good comics. Here's his website. (Via)

From Liam Brazier:

I have a new 36 page illustration/mini comic/random sketch collection entitled 'DOWN IN THE MOUTH' available now from my site. Self published in black, white, and green, and filled with utter nonsense if I know my head at all, but hopefully pretty nonsense. There's more about it here.

From Matthew Craig:

I'd like to invite you all to visit The Matthew Craig Dot Com
which celebrates its third anniversary this week with a substantial
update.

First, there's The Salaryman Regrets. Written for Dan Lester's Crap
Your Pants anthology (which debuted at Caption 2006), the strip takes
a look at the peristaltic equivalent of "L'esprit de l'escalier," in
the form of four connected haiku.

Next, there's Experihondle:02. The latest in a series of graphic
novellas starring my dead dog and I, Experihondle:02 sees us travel
thirty years into tomorrow, to confront the dark future therein. It
also seeks to answer the question of the age: how does a dead dog hire
a car?

And finally, there's Trixie Biker. A brand-new superhero strip in
which insurance underwriter Jane Jasper defends Deva City against
crime, injustice and the stifling ennui of modern life - with the aid
of her magical motorcycle Dixie and the somewhat self-explanatory GoGo
Pixies.

These new strips take the site up to around 250 pages of free
webcomics, but there's plenty of print comics as well, which can be
found in The Matthew Craig Dot Com Shop.

So That Was Caption Remix 2006.

The Draw the World Together Auction is go.

Draw the World Together is an organisation that has been created to unite arts communities in providing possibilities for children who live in communities where they do not have the opportunity for basic healthcare and education.

Vlogs seem to be all the rage at the moment. Here's David Baillie's:

From the pages of 2000AD 1499, 2000AD Review brings you both the pitch and the original script to (graduate of the small press) Al Ewing's Future Shock, GIFTS OF THE MAGI. See how the story develops...

Reptile Day is a short, comic sci-fi thriller about shape-shifting lizards from the fifth dimension. In charge of design and background art on Reptile Day is comic artist D'Israeli (aka Matt Brooker).

From Chris Doherty:

"This is Chris Doherty - I've put a couple of low key minicomics out in the
past (Six and Two Threes, My Beloved Monsters) and have been a regular
contributor to the Accent UK anthologies since their 'Phobias' one.

I'm working on a more substantial Six and Two Threes comic at the moment and
to get me more into it I've set up a fake MySpace for the central character,
Evan Reilly here.

If any interested Myspacers checked him out and added him I'm sure it'd
help me make with the comics faster. Give me that extra bit of confidence I
might be needin.

Also I've just slightly redone my website and
added my strip from the Accent UK 'monsters' anthology."

Chris says that he feels cheeky and bigheaded emailing this info to us. Just to reiterate, that's what Bugpowder is all about: plugging small pressers and their comics, so don't ever hesitate to get in touch with your news.

Oh, and here's Chris's blog.

Alan Moore. Melinda Gebbie. Interviewed by Stewart Lee about "Lost Girls." Thursday, October the 12th, 7pm at the Logan Hall, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL. £7 tickets, concessions £5, call 0845 456 9876 to book tickets, lines open from 9am to 6pm. (Via)

Lots of photos from this year's Caption.

Joel Meadows wrote up San Diego Comicon for The Times. You can read his write-up here. (Via)

Tharg attended Caption and Jeremy Dennis was there to document the event in her own inimitable way.

2000 AD has launched a new website to host trailers for forthcoming thrills in the legendary British science fiction anthology comic. First to get the treatment is Judge Dredd: Origins, by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. (Via)

David Bishop is writing a history of 2000AD and keeping a blog on his progress.

Once a month or so, PARTYKA invites a member of its elite circle of friends to contribute sketches, drawings, paintings, comics, and whatnot. (Via)

Comic artist Sean Philips' blog. (Via)

A new strip by cartoonist Chris Reynolds is "Jenny and the Bullies", all
about Jenny, who finds herself targeted by Veronica, a new girl in town.

Chris Reynolds has been drawing comic books for over 20 years, winning high
praise for artwork and stories. Chris' first graphic novel, "Mauretania" was
published by Penguin in 1990, and Chris' work was reviewed at length during
2005 in the "Comics Journal".

Artist P J Holden writes to inform us that we can watch a short (5 miinute) interview with comic writers John Reppion and Leah Moore here.

Baz Renshaw of Engine Comics is looking for comics news for Redeye 6.

The International Manga and Anime Festival is back for a third year, taking place from Friday 10 – Tuesday 14 November 2006, at the County Hall, Westminster, London.
Along with its headline sponsor, CineAqua, the festival will play host to the world renowned IMAF 2006 Manga and Anime Design Competition and Awards and with an overall prize fund worth $85,000, $75,000 of which being cash prizes.

PG TIPS No. 4:
PAUL GRAVETT'S RECOMMENDED READING

In a regular series of PG Tips articles, Paul Gravett reviews books of and about comics from his recommended reading list.

If you missed Caption today, there's still time to head down tomorrow (provided you're fairly close to Oxford).

It's the first day of Caption. If you're reading this and you've decided not to come, change your mind. After all, if you don't make it you'll miss all of this.

Although reviewing a wider category than comics, Mewsings gives some good criticism, most recently on Alan Moore's 'Complete Future Shocks'. Other gems include a rough guide to Asian Horror and a (spot on) rant about the latest Dr. Who series. Also available as a LiveJournal feed.

This looks rather amazing:
The Guardian Young Cartoonist Competion.

Both Douglas of Strip For Me and the metaphysician and beat journalist Andrew Luke have sent me Caption-related posts.

Douglas writes: Since Saturday marks Caption...

...I should write to tell you that there is a new issue of Strip for Me
available for my no doubt adoring public to buy. Strip for Me 21 costs £1
and is all new material, featuring stories like The Lions of Venice, The
Vicious Circle and fan-favourite borders. You can see the cover and some
sneak peeks of the art at my site.

Also worthy of a mention is the fact that Daniel Merlin Goodbrey's Nomad
Church issue 2 makes it's UK debut at Caption. Previews can be found here and the cover here.

Full disclosure - I'm plugging it because I believe I have a page in the
back of that too, though I've not seen it to be able to verify that with my
own eyes.

Andrew writes: Paul Holden, Leah Moore and John Reppion will be appearing at MeCon Nine, a Queens University associated Northern Ireland SF Convention, 4th - 6th August 2006. So if you can't make Caption that weekend, why not try Mecon instead?

Who wants to be a Rocket Pirate? Be part of a mass webcomics site.

The Mighty Tharg will be at Caption!

One of the best comic artists in this country, Tom Gauld, writes with the following news:

GARDEN. Tom is creating a new comic strip GARDENING, which will appear Monday to Thursday in the Guardian for 2 weeks from the 21st of August, in place of Steve Bell's IF.

CAVEMEN. Tom's next book will be HUNTER AND PAINTER and will be published by BUENAVENTURA PRESS in the winter. It is a slightly reworked version of the comic strip produced for the Guardian in 2004.

KRAMER. You can now order KRAMERS ERGOT 6 (which includes a 21 page story by Tom) from BUENAVENTURA PRESS.

More about Tom and his work here.

From Oli Smith, who really is a very talented and promising young comic artist:

'It's Oli Smith here of Hazy Thursday fame (??!!) and I was recommended by my fellow creator Douglas Noble to give you a heads-up about my latest comic entitled I Dream of Real Life. It is an autobiographically-themed comic containing a twelve-page story from me with 'commercial breaks' in the form of short stories from such luminaries as Douglas Noble, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Modern Monstrosity boys Laurence and Oliver and Chris Reynolds (of Mauretania and The Dial and other stories. He made a movie a few years ago called Hunters of the Sun and was big in the Eghties. He is my personal hero).'

Oli will be behind the bar at Caption so buy a drink from him, buy him a drink for all his hard work and then buy his comic.

Baz Renshaw of Engine Comics interviewed here.

The Brighton-based Paper Tiger creators group has launched another appeal for contributions to a small press anthology -- this time with a serious edge. War (deadline for submissions 15 November) is a non-profit fundraiser comic with all proceeds going to Campaign Against The Arms Trade (CAAT).

An interview with UK independent publishers Stephen Robson of Fanfare/ Ponent Mon and Nadia Katz-Wise of Typocrat.

Comic artist and illustrator Ink Fetish has refurbished his website.