Banal Pig's Review of the Year 2007 (Part One)

In the spirit of many a lazy journalist at this time of year, I have decided to take a look back at the last 12 months of banal piggery, perhaps it will teach me some lessons; perhaps it will waste half an hour- we shall see.

January

January found me in chipper mood, sometimes you do get a bit enthusiastic at the promise of a new year, a new start and all that shit, even though time rolls on whatever us humans call it. I made another list of “Reasons to be cheerful” which included:

crispy bacon
Queen
unsolicited praise
rowdy blues music
puns
art that i couldnt do
snow
the smell of a pub as you walk past

aw… I am an optimist you know.

In comics, I was collating the BP Portrait Prize Anthology which was a good experience, I enjoyed the editing side of things and it was nice to put something out fairly quickly and have a mixed selection. Top Shelf’s Brett Warnock described it as “hit and miss”, which I suppose is fair enough, but I think it’s a better quality of Antho than many out there.




Also in the spirit of new opportunities, I was attempting to raise the profile of the Banal Pig brand, and I think I have done to some extent with the Web Funnies and that, but we’ve still not cracked how to engage with punters at comic expos. I think it’s impossible.

February

I did this quite decent banal pig for the web and mini comix thing anthology, but they didn’t use it for some reason. I’m not doing another one.



March

Here’s an exerpt from my report from the Web and Mini Comix thing:

"it was quite a good day, and as the punters there are our specific target market we did probably as well in one day as we usually do over the weekend at the big cons. the new anthology went down quite well and there were quite a few of the contributors there to pick up their issues. i didnt actually buy anything but there was some decent stuff there- The Sound of Drowning, Dan Locke's Green comics, Monkeys Might Puke, Beaver and Steve spring to mind - there was plenty of shite there too. Plenty of fucking awful shite. Gareth managed to get Man Man 3 out too, and we were also selling good old Oli East’s Trains Are Mint which also went down well."

We're doing it again this year, by the way.

Also this selection of Road Jokes, which I feel are worth repeating:

What does a road say when he wishes to thank you?

TAR!

Whats a Road's favourite Grandmaster Flash song?

WHITE LINES!

What does a baby road do before it can walk?

KERB CRAWLING!



But of course, March was most famous for the “Sour Grapes” post, in which I vented my frustrations about the state of british small press comics. This caused a bit of stir, particularly with those people who I (and others) vented about, and I’m not going to repeat any of it here as it is history (although you can read the post and it’s comments if you like). Maybe it was unwise to blog in such a way, but it was only the difference between me thinking it and saying it, and I didn’t think anyone would read it anyway.

April

April marked the end of the financial year, and I was contemplating my accounts thusly:

“Today i am taking stock of my comics business as the financial year is all but wrapped up. i've made a considerable loss and am wondering where my profit margins can be increased. buying a laser printer and doing the job myself is one option, not doing the big conventions, and putting up the price of the comic are all options, none of them easy. hopefully i'll get some tax back again, but i've got to start being a bit more canny, which is not the side of the business i'm interested in. any ideas?”

(Whenever I write “any ideas?” no-one ever responds. I’m the same generally. A covert blog reader but not commenter, and however I try to encourage the comments, it doesn’t make a difference.)

In relation to the above, I didn’t really make any changes, but on balance this year’s Birmingham Con was too expensive (we shouldn’t have even got out of bed on the Sunday), and I don’t think we’ll bother this year. I do feel a bit ambivalent towards money making, I am in no way a ruthless business man- I always want to give the reader value for money. This doesn’t really make my business very lucrative, but value for money is my core business plan, and it has led to repeat purchases and word of mouth and all that, and hopefully that will continue to grow.

The rest of April was Ethel Sparrowhawk previews, more of which presently.

May

Of course, May was the highlight of the comics year, the Bristol Comics Expo, the reason I busted my balls to get Ethel Sparrowhawk finished (I actually took a week off work- dedication eh?). The reason it’s my highlight is because its ten minutes down the road from my house, so there’s no extra costs and there’s plenty of people I know. Ethel went down (sold) well, and we got some nice big ups from (small press stalwart) Paul Rainey and (V for Vendetta artist) David Lloyd, and I think it was a good choice to do a change of direction at this stage, and it was a different way of working, collaborating with the lovely Jemima Von Schindelberg, to make something I certainly couldn’t have come up with on my own.



I was also contemplating a small press community website thing, where it would be easy to sell and give recommendations and that sort of thing, but to be honest I haven’t given it a second thought since then.

One thing I have learned this year is that you really have to plough your own field, do your best, work hard, etc and this brings its own rewards. No-one else is going to do it for you (me). Although I haven’t seen any tangible rewards yet, I am confident they will appear.

June



Very exciting things happened in June, yes that’s right, I won £54 on a scratchcard! Happy times.
Gareth’s website, Appalling Nonsense was created too, and I laid out my hopes and dreams for BP4:

“anyway, i was also thinking about making longer comics, and i really want to step it up a notch with banal pig 4. my current vision (sounds a bit pretentious doesnt it?) involves 2 levels of comics- i.e. a main strip and a sub-strip running alongside/under/against it, and i want to continue to develop the banal pig "universe" (again this sounds a bit poncy, but it is fairly common comic speak i think) and feature more of the peripheral characters and make the general look a bit more dense, or at least vary the layouts a bit more. this means that it wont be ready for birmingham, but i'll have JBFCSS2 and maybe another minicomic, and i've got my fingers in a few other pies.”

One thing that I always do is underestimate the time it takes to do anything. Jolly Bear 2 was just about ready for Birmingham, and I have decided to really take my time with BP4 and have it out for Bristol in May ’08, but it will be worth it- having started drawing it, it is actually still quite similar to this, but there wont be as many sub strips. I cant remember what other pies they were.

I was moaning because of my shit job, as is my wont from time to time, and I started doing the ROK comics thing, in the hope of winning $10,000 (ha!). I think all competitions are flawed, in as much as I never win them.

So that’s it for part one, the first six months, but I’ll be back soon with part two probably….

Birmingham

Hello pals.

Hopefully it goes without saying that i will be presenting my wares at the Birmingham International Comics show this weekend. I know my loyal commentators will be there, but if there are any casual pig lovers out there who fancy a trip to the picturesque west midlands this weekend, then do it! The repeatedly aforementioned JBFCSS2 is now back from the printers and looking fancy, and we'll have all the good stuff, including Gareth Brookes' new book "The Smell of the Wild".
Good old Oliver East will also be joining us, and i understand he'll be bringing not only his excellent Trains are Mint series, but some of Jim Medway's books as well.

Cor Blimey! Why would you want to go to any other stall?

finished

yes yes oh yay, Jolly Bear & Fun Coconut Summer Special Number Two is finished, and i will be whisking it to the printers first thing tomorrow. here's the cover- yes colour, and there's a nice colour painting on the back too. it will premiere at the Birmingham International Comics show this weekend, so please come and buy as many as you can afford.


p.s. this image is not a true representation of the cover, and i have no idea why it's so crazy, but i like it.

JBFCSS2 Preview

yes here he is! a picture from the hotly anticipated Jolly Bear and Fun Coconut Summer Special Number 2, which will be on sale in less than 2 weeks(!) how exciting. I'd better get my arse in gear. same old same old eh? another comic convention, another mad rush to finish. i'm not gonna spoil it, but terrible things happen, as you can see, i've done it a bit painty, like.

another piccy

Here's another one from the vaults. i didnt like it when i did it but i think its pretty good.
Meanwhile in comics, JBFCSS2 is gathering pace like a large round cheese rolling down a steep hill, and the preparations for the all new web funnies during October continue. 'citing.

ting and ting

no real news on the comics front- working and that- finishing off the nice banal pig for that gosh darned obsever/jonathan cape thing, and also i'm now looking forward to the birmingham expo in a couple of months, new jolly bear for that.
i've been reading a lot about the state of the comics industry recently, how marvel and dc and that dont make any money apart from from films and toys, and the independents are lucky to break even. it amazes me how anyone makes a living in this industry. with this in mind, i dont know where my ambitions lie- should i look towards publishing my own (and other's) work on a decent scale. what about web comics? any money in that? or should i branch out- what about animation/films/toys- yeah, nice ones with lots of lead paint made by chinese people*

you need money to make money isnt it? i'd really like to make a book with two colours with really nice covers and all the rest.

i got a few comics the other day- "Hey, Wait" by Jason which is quite an old one of his but has some really nice stylistic touches, although my heart wasnt quite as broken as the quotes on the cover promised. i also got Uptight No.2 by Jordan Crane which is decent enough, and i agree with Tom Spurgeon that the format of the comic works really well and there should be more indies that look like this- 24 b&w pages with a nice colour screenprinty cover, and its pretty cheap- £1.40.

anyway, i'll repeat my request for some paid work- i'm cheap and try really hard, and if anyone wants to make cartoons of my work (for free) get in touch....





*funnily enough, someone from hong kong or somewhere sent me an email asking if i want to make a banal pig action (or should that be inaction?) figure- i'm going to see how much it is.

chek dis right here jb fans!

so here's the latest colouring in project. all of you pig lovers will be familiar with the tale from banal pig 3, but i hope you like the pretty colours. i do. the eagle eyed amongst you will notice i've removed two "fucks" from fun coconuts dialogue to make it a bit more suitable for all ages, and the decaying corpse is obviously in good humour. consider this a teaser for jolly bear and fun coconut summer special 2, which will be ready for the birmingham expo. of course, this was done for the rok comics website, and that $10,000 prize is announced next week i think- good luck me. i'm also cracking on with the observer thingy, but the submission guidelines mean i have to draw full size, and the way i've divided up the page means the panels are tiny. oh well. i've finished my thing for the forthcoming monkeys might puke anthology, another thing ticked off the list, another thing on the bottom.

Jolly Bear drawing

watercoloury drawing as trial for jbfcss2.

Post 97- Chatterings

Yes friends it's very nearly the anniversary of this blog, and its also nearly the 100th post. so what have we learned? that i write down things that i am planning to do and then a bit later i either do them or dont bother. sometimes i cause controversy and sometimes i make up puns, and reprint stories that i have written.

by the way, when i lived in london and only used to work 4 days a week (those were the days lol! ha ha!) i started to write some novels. the first one was about a mysterious event which wiped out all but about 100 people, basically your last man on earth fantasy, but with the idea that the few remaining survivors were all bastards, like being on big brother or something. i got to about chapter three and got cold feet. the second one i though had a bit more potential. i stole the premise from an obnoxious african woman who gareth went to a creative writing course with, and the name of her novel was "fourteen intelligent men build a castle". i dont know what her story was actually about or anything and dont care, but mine was an (attempted) victorian h.g wells pastiche about this group of gents who are brought together to a remote scottish isle/loch/ whatever to build a castle for a mysterious genius recluse (you know the type), and certain members of the party start dying, you know, mysterious. anyway, maybe i'm writing this so i dont forget it forever, but if there's anyone who'd like to read either of these books, send me a cheque for £15,000 and i'll send you the manuscript, and we'll split the profits 50:50.

anyway, i was also thinking about making longer comics, and i really want to step it up a notch with banal pig 4. my current vision (sounds a bit pretentious doesnt it?) involves 2 levels of comics- i.e. a main strip and a sub-strip running alongside/under/against it, and i want to continue to develop the banal pig "universe" (againy this sounds a bit poncy, but it is fairly common comic speak i think) and feature more of the peripheral characters and make the general look a bit more dense, or at least vary the layouts a bit more. this means that it wont be ready for birmingham, but i'll have JBFCSS2 and maybe another minicomic, and i've got my fingers in a few other pies.

there's exciting things going on over at Man Man's house too. Gareth's decided that he's gonna take on a few more challenging projects, including a development of the bastard teachers thing from the portrait anthology, and an adaption of his own short story about a young boy who decides to make himself some sex dolls, with varying successes.

there's also a reasonable (unsolicited) review in the new Comics International no 202, of Man Man 1 & 2, which says it's funny and good value for money, and then gives it a lukewarm 6 out of 10.

anyway, i'm off on me holidays now, laters!

First Look! Jolly Bear and Fun Coconut Summer Special 2!!!!!

Yes, hot off the presses, or at least hot of a pen via my hand or something is a little sneaky peek from JBFCSS2. This is part one, where Fun Coconut gets obsessed by the film showgirls, and i'm hoping part two will be a bit different visually, but i'm working on it at the moment so i'll let you know when i know.