two days to Birmingham...

Vinnie and I are gearing up for the Birmingham Comics Show (October 4th-5th) - by the time you read this, it'll probably be long gone, but for us it's the first test of the new Harker comic. Originally we'd set this as our 'official' launch date, but since the earliest that issue one is going to be in the shops will be January, it seemed a tad too early to be making a big noise just yet. We're producing a monthly comic (by the time issue one comes out in the comic shops, we'll be working on issue six), but one of the problems of being so far ahead is that if we sell advance copies of the completed issues one and two this weekend, our new readers won't be able to get hold of issue three until March - five months away! Such are the complicated vagueries of comics distribution.

Still, we're planning to take a few advance copies of the first two issues anyway, though we'll be telling anyone who buys them that they're very advance copies, and the monthly thing won't kick in for them again until March. We'll even have a dummy copy of issue three with us on the table - all the artwork is finished, and I've half-finished the lettering, will have that complete by early next week (as soon as we get back from the convention, basically).

And then it's straight on to writing and drawing issue four, in which we witness another gruesome murder, and the chase for the killer hots up - good thing too, since we need to wrap it up by issue six in time for the next story to begin. Have I mentioned the plotlines we have coming up? Well, issues 1-6 are the Satanic cult murders around Russell Square, London - issues 7-12 will be a series of murders at a country house (not so much Morse and Waking the Dead this time, more Sherlock Holmes and PD James) - issues 13-18 will be set in New York (think French Connection, Kojak and Starsky & Hutch) - and then... well, that's enough to be getting on with... assuming Harker survives the thrilling chase scene in the catacombs in issue six - oh no! I'm saying too much!