The Round Up

Because I really have nothing else to post up here due to being quite busy for a change, and today being a Bank Holiday, I thought I'd have a quick round-up of what's brewing and where you can actually buy stuff I've written.

Babble

It's chugging along quite nicely, actually. The blog is now on a weekly schedule, the Facebook page is up and running, and - famous last words, I know - everything is going quite smoothly. After all the ups and downs with the previous publisher, it's great to be finally heading for the finish line. Will it be worth the wait? Well, you'll have to wait and see...

Chosen

Still in production hell, unfortunately, and not much more to report on it.

Something Wicked

The Path by me and John Cahill is ready to roll in the next issue of Something Wicked, due in November of this year. Here's a wee taster panel:

Remember, too, that Something Wicked #5 is still available from the FutureQuake Shop priced £3.50 (+ p&p) and features Key To The Kingdom by me and Caroline Parkinson.

Dogbreath

Two strips - Best Served Cold and Enough For Good are lined up for upcoming issues of Dogbreath. Still no artists attached yet, though. However, Dogbreath #20, featuring Strontium Dog: Xtras by me and the ridiculously talented Lonny Chant is still available from the FutureQuake Shop priced £3.00 (+ p&p):

And, of course, Dogbreath #23 has the concluding part of Death To The Future by me and Dunk Nimmo, and is still available for the same price:

Predators

The much delayed anthology from Accent UK will be dropping later this year, and features Just Like You by me and my partner in crime Bryan Coyle. Here's a little sneaky peak for you:

No word on price or actual release dates yet, though - but it has been accepted by Diamond, which is brilliant news. Keep your eyes peeled for this rather lovely cover:

Zombies 2

Again, out later this year from Accent UK, Zombies 2 is the sequel to the smash Zombies anthology, and will mark my fourth appearance in AUK's themed books. I've teamed up with Valia Kapadai for a piece called Dead Harvest, a very unique little tale of the undead. Here's a preview for you:

Again, no word on official release or price, but will post when I find out. In the meantime, keep your eyes out for this here cover:

Zarjaz

Blimey. I seem to have enough material stacked up material for Zarjaz to see me through to 2012, and maybe even beyond. I'm not going into the full list (you can find that here), but issues 10 and 11 are available from FutureQuake Shop now, priced £3.00 (+ p&p) each.

Zarjaz #10 features the first instalment of Death To The Future by me and Dunk Nimmo (as well as Judge Dredd: Xtras from me and Brett Buckle). The Leigh Gallagher cover looks like this:

Zarjaz #11 is The ABC Warriors Special, and is - in my opinion - possibly the best issue of The Galaxy's Greatest Fanzine so far. It features Joe Pineapples: Tin Man by me and Chris Askham, and has a cover by current ABC Warriors artist Clint Langley:

My dalliance with the ABC Warriors isn't over, however, as myself and Bryan Coyle are teaming up once more for ABC Warriors: Broken Dreams, which is due to appear in - I think - Zarjaz #12, due out later this year. Here's a peek:

Remember, you can also grab Zarjaz - and Dogbreath - from your local Forbidden Planet International store and Orbital Comics in London (but not the website yet). Each issue costs £3.00 Earth money (+ p&p if you buy on-line).

And that's pretty much it. There's a lot more going on, some new stuff brewing, but that's all the current and interesting stuff. Well, OK, maybe not that interesting...

Dead Harvest - a sneaky preview...

Accent UK's Zombies 2 is still a ways off, but my contribution, Dead Harvest, is shaping up nicely with some rather lovely black and white artwork from Valia Kapadai. And, just because I have the pages on my screen as I type this, I thought I'd share a little sneaky preview of it...

Dead Harvest is a unique - and slightly off-kilter - zombie story, and features the return of one of my favourite characters that I had a hand in co-creating.

Zombies 2 will be ready to take a bite out of the world later this year. In the meantime, make sure you grab yourself a copy of the second edition of Valia's Twisted Visions anthology when she brings it to the Bristol Comic Expo later this year.

What's in Spock's scanner (part 2)

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Death To The Future... Part 2

I was hoping to sit on this one for a bit longer, but Zarjaz editor and ridiculously prolific writer Richmond Clements spilled the beans about it on the latest episode of Everything Comes Back To 2000AD. So...

Yes, as the post title suggests, Death To The Future Part 2 is coming. The script is written, Dunk Nimmo has confirmed he's coming back to provide the art, and, as you can hear in the interview, Rich is stupidly excited about it all (and, hard as it is to believe, I didn't pay him to say any of those things he said about the script). So, what else can I tell you about it...

How about the breakdown?

Following the events of Death To The Future, Judge Dredd has failed to return to Mega City 1.

With Justice Department pre-cogs predicting a disaster the likes of which the city has never before faced, Psi Judge Anderson takes it upon herself to track down the mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha, and the two of them set off on a journey through time to find the missing Dredd.

But when they find him, will they still have a home to bring him back to?

The story is longer this time (going up to 12 pages for each episode) and darker in tone. It's looking like it'll only be in Zarjaz this time, rather than splitting it across Zarjaz and Dogbreath, but - and this is the bad news, I'm afraid - it's currently scheduled for 2012... Given the volume of material that the guys have lined up for Zarjaz, it's literally the only time it can fit in anywhere, unless something happens and it gets moved up or pushed back.

What I can say for sure, though, is that nothing like Death To The Future Part 2 has ever been done in the pages of the Galaxy's Greatest Fanzine. Hyperbolic? Maybe, but it's also true...

Remember, Zarjaz #10 and Dogbreath #23 - which contain Death To The Future - are available from the FutureQuake Shop now, priced £3.00 (+ p&p) each.

Zarjaz #10 features the first instalment by me and Dunk Nimmo (as well as Judge Dredd: Xtras from me and Brett Buckle), and the Leigh Gallagher cover looks like this:

Dogbreath #23 has the concluding part and has a cover that looks like this:

And, since I'm at it, I may as well throw in a quick and shameless plug for Zarjaz #11, The ABC Warriors Special, which features strips by me and Dunk. I team up with Chris Askham for Joe Pineapples: Tin Man while Dunk tackles Blackblood with Eric Moore - all of which are under this rather lovely Clint Langley cover:

Zarjaz #11 is also £3.00 (+ p&p) Earth Money, available from the aforementioned FutureQuake Shop. Remember, you can also grab Zarjaz - and Dogbreath - from your local Forbidden Planet International store and Orbital Comics in London (but not the website yet).

In the meantime, though, me and Dunk will be back in The Big Meg with a Judge Anderson story, I, Death, due to appear in an upcoming issue of Zarjaz.

I'll be posting more on Death To The Future Part 2 when I can.

Chewbacca has an idea for something...

...but I'm not sure what...

Voting for the alternative

I'm not a political person. I have opinions on our current government and I don't mind voicing them to anyone that'll listen, but I'm not really a politico. I point this out because the voting system referendum is coming soon, and, honestly, I really have no clue as to which way to vote.

I know next to nothing about how the alternative vote system works, other than what I've read in the, frankly, quite patronising booklet that's being delivered to homes around the UK, so I could well be talking out of my backside here. But... On the one hand, AV seems like a good, small step toward a real proportional representation voting system, which the Lib Dems promised as part of their election manifesto (they promised a lot, if memory serves, and haven't really delivered...any of it). AV could be the leverage they need to push for that full PR system, and possibly make MPs actually work for you and your vote. On the other hand, it looks like an overly complicated process that'll probably turn a lot of people off the idea, myself included. Having just seen the "Vote No" TV advert (as well as catching some of Call-Me-Dave on the news earlier), it looks more and more like AV will lose simply due to fact that the No campaigners are making it look like AV has an overly complex system behind it.

So I'm left wondering: is it worth it? Now before everyone jumps on me and tells me that my vote is important, I want to point out this section from the booklet that's been floating around:

If more people vote 'yes' than 'no', when will we start using the 'alternative vote' system?

The 'alternative vote' system will used after a review of the boundaries of the area that each MP represents (known as their constituency) is completed. This is due to happen regardless of the outcome of the referendum.

At the end of the review, the UK Parliament will vote on implementing the new boundaries. If the new boundaries are implemented, the 'alternative vote' system will be used for all future elections to the House of Commons.

Reading that last paragraph again, it seems to be saying that if the AV system is chosen, it may never actually be implemented, rendering the referendum a complete waste of time. And we, the people of the UK, won't get what we voted for. Again.

And MPs wonder why no one's interested in politics any more...

So, really, is it worth my time voting on this? And if I do vote, which way do I vote? Neither campaign is winning me over, to be honest. Well, I say "neither" but I've only seen the ads for the "no campaign" so far. Hopefully, that'll change before the election and I can make a more informed decision after hearing the other side of the argument. If I get to hear the other side, of course. With Cameron actively campaigning against the change as he runs around the country assuring us that everything was the fault of the previous government doing whatever it is he does to do to earn his pay, it seems more likely that the "Yes campaign" will get drowned out. But hopefully it won't. We'll see.

But, I think there's one thing we can all agree on:

Original image by B3ta.com board member williamdilkes

"You shall not pass!"

Original image by B3ta.com board member Christian's Bolt and Ski

TK-421 used to hate walking door to door, trying to find the droids he was looking for...

A wee peek at Zombies 2...

This is still a ways off, but... Courtesy of Valia Kapadai, here's a sneaky work-in-progress peek at our strip for Zombies 2, a piece we had to call Dead Harvest:

Zombies 2, from Accent UK, will be ready to take a bite out of the world later this year. In the meantime, make sure you grab yourself a copy of the second edition of Valia's Twisted Visions anthology when she brings it to the Bristol Comic Expo later this year.

Transform and freak out!

A shameless re-blog from Adam P. Knave, I admit, but it just had to be done...

Up for sale...

Not completely comfortable posting this on the blog, but...

The latest round of eBay auctions are up and running. Once again, it's largely about finding good homes for this stuff rather than throwing it in the bin. This time, I've got some old 2000AD Progs up for sale, and some old - slightly embarrassing - CDs, so if there's anything there that takes your fancy, drop a bid on them.

As ever, you can find my auctions by clicking the eBay icon over on the right side of the screen, or by clicking here.

Happy bidding!

Babble on Facebook

Well, I've finally managed to swallow my dislike of Facebook and set up the Official Babble fan page.

So, if you're so inclined, please go and "like" it, and keep up to date with all the latest news and what have you. Remember, though, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for the blog and follow it on Twitter.

Oh, and if you come looking for me on Facebook, the chances are I won't add you as a friend. Sorry, but my FB page is personal, and I only add people I know. Hence the reason it's not linked over there on the right side of the screen. I am, however, still on MySpace and Twitter, so feel free to add or follow me or whatever it is the kids are calling it these days.

A sneaky preview...

Since no one asked for it (and Bolt-01 already showed it off on the FutureQuake Press Blog), here's a very advanced sneak preview of The Path by me and John Cahill:

The Path will be appearing Something Wicked #7, due out in November 2011.

Hope this isn't Photoshopped...

Giant KitKat Chunky

Lego's new line...?

Original image by b3ta.com board member brianftang

This wins teh internets!

Original image by B3ta.com board member E Dubya