Tuesday 21 August 2012

Cheyenne

I'm writing this in the middle of a thunderstom with a few flashes of lightning. I haven't been keeping this up as much as I'd have liked as there hasn't been a lot happening on the comics scene as far as I'm concerned. There is some talk about a new strip but it may not come off and I don't want to say too much about it in case it doesn't. However, I may be off to Cheyenne very soon - yes, off to cowboy country - as a speaker and guest on a conference about zombies of all things. They've sent me down an rough itinerary of the festival and I see there is a section on comics. We've been talking about me speaking at that event which I'm willing to do. I haven't done much on zombie comics - although I understand that they're very popular - but as some of you knowI did work in comics and did have my own sporadic comics company in Fool Moon which produced a number of comics during the 1960s/early 70s and kept up my interest in comics. We did try to start up another incarnation of Fool Moon here but, as someone pointed out "This is Northern ireland and we don't do things like that here" and once again its not the 1960s. Things are very different now unless you're a big celebrity or sing in a band.  But I'm just being sour again. I think there may be some other comics publishers/fans in Cheyenne as well so it might be very entertaining. It might be interesting to see what some of the newer publishers are doing - particularly in the zombie market. Other than that I've been reading some of the Marvel material - Marvel Firsts from the 1960s and 1970s, which I suppose is more my era. Very good and I think it shows what comics can do if they work in the proper framewrok. Maybe we'll get back to those days again. It's just there doesn't seem to be anything comparable now - something that tells a story that you want to read. Maybe I'm being disloyal to the comics field and maybe it's my generation but I know of several people who have canceled their subscriptions to modern comics. But I'm always willing to be convinced. Maybe Fool Moon could rise again. I can live in hope. Going to something to eat and will talk again shortly. But if you happen to be in Cheyenne at the end of September come up and speak to me. It's can't hurt - much!