Blog Archives
Point Village Comic Book Festival
The first Point Village Comic Book Festival is taking place tomorrow at the newly-opened Point Village Market in Dublin, from 11am – 5pm.
There will be loads of people representing small press comics from all over Ireland, as well as workshops about comic books mostly geared at the under-18s.
Rob Curley, Stephen Daly and I will be at the Atomic Diner stand, representing Róisín Dubh, so feel free to drop by and say hello to the three of us.
Bristol Ahoy!
This weekend the Bristol International Comic & Small Press Expo is taking place – the annual comic book Mecca in the UK.
Both Rob Curley and Stephen Daly will be attending, promoting Róisín Dubh and handing out preview issues of the comic book. If any of you are going to the Expo, make sure to drop by the Atomic Diner stand and say hello to both of them.
Fingers crossed that the Icelandic ash cloud of doom decides to fume away from Ireland and the UK for the next few days!
Finally, a big thank you to screenwriter/author/comic book writer Paul Cornell for plugging Róisín Dubh on his blog last week. His kind words had us all ablush.
Comics, coffee, pint and laptop
Yesterday I went to Sub-City Comics in Galway to meet Rob at 4pm, and my first sight was his brother, and the manager of the Galway branch, Brian Curley. I had to pick up my comic book order – which included issues of Batman and Robin, Joe the Barbarian and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can’t buy as many single comics as I would like, but I always make an exception for Grant Morrison (I’ve been a long admirer of his work), and the Buffy series has been remarkably good.
After Rob arrived we ventured into the city and hunched against a freezing Atlantic breeze. By a miracle we managed to secure a snug in Tí Neachtain’s for our meeting. Alas, we had to abandon it because of the speaker pumping out music above our heads. As we were heading out the door we met local artist/cartoonist Allan Cavanagh, who through the miracle of twitter was aware of our meeting. It’s a small world.
We repaired to the back of The Quays pub – which was quiet at the time – only to have the waitress refuse to get us drinks because we weren’t eating. Our ancestral hospitality is much diminished.
After Rob kindly fetched beverages we got down to discussing Roisin Dubh. It turns out the 10-page preview will not be back from the printers before I leave for Brighton for World Horror Convention, which is a disappointment. I’m hoping Rob will be able to post out copies to me, so I’ll have something to show during the convention.
Then, I snapped open my laptop and we discussed a new project, which is still in its early stages. It’s a great concept originating with artist Terry Kenny. It involves complicated subjects such as identity, shapeshifting, redemption and immortality, so some of the elements require a lot of teasing out. I’d been up until 3am the previous night writing solutions and suggestions, but we still had a lot of work to do to sift through the various story options.
We believe we have a starting point now, and I may even meet with Terry in London while I’m over there.
I’d love to be involved in this project, so fingers crossed it works out well.
Social networking, virtual and in person
I’ve published the fan page for Róisín Dubh on Facebook. Feel free to sign up if you use the site.
Today Rob is travelling to Galway and we’re having a meeting in the afternoon. Perhaps I should take a photograph, since we always seem to forget these things.
But once we start talking about our projects, other comics and films, it’s easy to forget to immortalise the event. I work with social media almost every day, it’s part of my job, but nothing beats a face-to-face chat with a buddy accompanied by your beverages of choice.
Getting together
Today I travelled up to Dublin and had our first Team Róisín Dubh meeting in person. After months of communication with Stephen it was great to meet him finally. I’ve known Rob for a very long time, as I’ve been buying comics from him since Sub-City opened.
It was the third time we’d scheduled the meeting, because the severe ice and snow during the Christmas period and for the following couple of weeks made travel impossible.
We had a good meeting, discussed how the project was progressing, and of course talked about comics! We also referenced the recent Sherlock Holmes film, which we had all seen and enjoyed. Its look and atmosphere is similar to that in Róisin Dubh – without a 1,400-year-old neamh-mairbh of course!
Stephen had his Macbook with him and showed us artwork he’s been working on. It’s always a pleasure to see how he’s interpreted the script.
I received useful feedback on the second draft of the second chapter, which will necessitate some re-writing on my part, but it will be a better comic for it.
I left Dublin feeling inspired and looking forward to seeing the finished project later in the year.
Róisín Dubh - The Comic 