a short comics bio of Vince

Thursday at 2.10.08

Here's a bio written by Vince, originally from the Ariel Press website:

" I set Ariel Press up in 1997 to publish Sapphire, a paranormal espionage story that was more influenced by the things that I enjoyed on TV rather than in comics. Prior to this my first foray into the world of comic creation was back in 1986 when I became involved in a project with Richard Piers Rayner called 'The Solthenis'.  A brave idea by Rich to self-publish in the days when there were very few people attempting it, but it sadly came to an end when Rich was understandably lured away by DC to work on Hellblazer.  

I was then offered some inking work on Redfox by Chris Bell and Fox under the Valkyrie Press banner (two other brave self-publishers) and my first paid work (not a great amount of money but very exciting!) 

From there I was offered some strip work by John Freeman who was editor of Dr Who Monthly. This was even more exciting as not only was the pay much better but I was a big fan of Dr.Who (still am for that matter). I also did a strip for the Red Dwarf Smegazine and some inking work for the Marvel UK superhero line. 

At this point my comic career hit a bit of a brick wall as my style didn't suit superhero work and that's where the bulk of professional comic strip commissions come from. Self-publishing, with all it's creative freedom, seemed to be the way forward. Sapphire was first, then an attempt at producing 'a good Saturday night's TV in a comic' with the anthology title 'Raven' and then a Sapphire graphic novel, which was the first part of a two part story. The second and concluding part is now also available.

The latest project is Harker, something that again feels like a natural next step.  Raven didn't work for various reasons  but the idea of creating 'good TV in a comic' material is still one that both Rog and I feel excited about.  It also seemed to make sense for us to work together - I didn't want to work on my own anymore and Rog is a good writer.  Between us we're finding that sticking to a monthly schedule is not a problem, something that I was never able to do on my own with Sapphire. 

For any fans of ghostly folklore there is also a book that I've published under the Blue Angel Press imprint called Haunted York.  Written by me and photoshop illustrated by Ariel Press associate Ian Forster it's a collection of some of York's best known ghost stories. Not a comic but Ian has made it look very pretty!  More details at www.hauntedyork.com."

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