Body Work US Release Day

RIVERS OF LONDON VOLUME 1

BODY WORK

AVAILABLE NOW IN THE US

TITAN

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

Body Work: Issue 4 out 21st October

Body Work Issue #3 - Out This Wednesday

Inside This Month's Super Soaraway Issue!

 22 Pages of Rip Roaring Magical Crime Fighting Action

plus 5 Pages of Special Features

Interactive Fingermatic Page Turning System

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Due to distribution problems there may be a delay in delivery of some copies of Issue #3. Fear not they are on their to your local friendly comic book shop even as speak, although possibly some of them are parked outside a truck stop near Millwakee.

Body Work Issue #3 Out September 16th

Issue #3

"Patient Zero"

Available 16th September

Body Work Issue #2 Out on Wednesday

"GILDED YOUTH"

Issue #2 of Body Work

Out on Wednesday afternoon at all good comic book stores, at least it better be...

Also available on pre-order at Forbidden Planet.

Also also available for Indle from Amazon UK, Amazon US and Amazon Germany

And not forgetting Comixology!

Body Work Issue #2 Pre-Orders

AVAILABLE NOW

Forbidden Planet, shop of a thousand surprises, is now offering pre-orders on Issue #2 of the Body Work comic. The webpage is here.

NEXT SPRING!

Meanwhile Titan has ordered  a second story from Andrew, Lee, Luis and I - first issue to be released in Spring 2016.

Titled NIGHT WITCH it's set between Foxglove Summer and upcoming The Hanging Tree. It will be five issues long with a bound trade to follow at the end of the run. 

A third five issue story has also been agreed but we don't have a title for that one yet. This will probably feature a different artist so Lee can have a rest.

BODY WORK ISSUE #2 - OUT AUGUST 19TH

Body Work: Some Reviews

Selected Reviews
(Gosh I wonder what my selection criteria might be)

Kate MacDonald likes it - hurrah!

 Dean Fuller thinks Issue#1 is a strong start.

John Freeman is happy to report that the comic measures up mightily!

Fangirlnation things Body Work succeeds on all counts...

Karcossa thinks Issue#1 is a great first issue...

Al No thinks it's derivative and Betsey Chevron is put of by the use of the words "They say..." on the first page...

BODY WORK ISSUE #1 - OUT TODAY!

Out Today!

Rivers of London: Body Work Issue #1

Rivers of London Comic Launch Event

Where?
Forbidden Planet in London.


When?
The 15th of July at Six O'clock! In less than 2 weeks time.

Who?
Me and Andrew Cartmel..

Why?
To mark the release of Issue #1 of Body Work - 1st of the Rivers of London Comic series.

What Else?
Details of the event can be found here!

Buying Comics Is Easy

Buying Comics is Easy

While this blog concerns itself with how to buy Andrew and my comic there is excellent article at The Mary Sue on the generalities of buying a comic here.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Comic Store

Run, don’t walk, to your friendly neighbourhood comic shop. If you don’t know where it is you can use the internet which has such resources as… 

FINDACOMICSHOP.COM (The UK and North America) or Search for a Comic Shop (everywhere else it says)

Order a copy Rivers of London

Once you have co-located yourself with your chosen shop inform a member of staff that you would like pre-order Rivers of London Issue #1 (published by Titan Comics). This is known as setting up a ‘pull list’ and is the best way to ensure that you get your hands on the soon to be much in demand(1) first issue of Rivers of London: Body Work(2).

Purchase a copy of Rivers of London

Then on the appointed day (the evening of July 15th 2015 or the following day) you can turn up, hand over some dosh and they will thrust the object of your desire into your hands.

Now different comic book shops will have different ways of setting up Pull Lists but the basics are much the same – here is a fumetti(3) by Keiron Gillen to run through them again. 

Buying Digital
If you don't want to sully your pristine germ free hands with an actual physical comic then you can purchase a digital copy of Rivers of London Issue #1 from Comixology - here is the preview page for the UK and the preview page for the US.


NEW: Buying in Germany

You can buy it from Forbidden Planet International here.

Or they can be ordered from any shop in Germany that orders from Diamond Comic Distributors - this database here covers Germany as well as other countries.


(1) Hopefully.
(2) If you, for some strange reason, feel the need to order other people’s comics go right ahead it’s a free country – I wont hold it against you.
(3) Comics that use live action images rather than drawings.

So What's Going To Be In This Comic Anyway?

I'm glad you asked....

For a start there are three varient covers.

Inside each issue there will be 22 pages of hot Peter Grant action...

And 5 pages of special features...

Which in future issues will include Professor Postmartin's History of Magic, Cooking with Molly, Tales from the Folly strips and much more.

But I've never bought a comic before....

That's okay, I'm planning a blog that will help but in the meantime there are a couple of helpful links below...

Mary Sue's How To Buy Comics a Beginners Guide
Kotaku's How To Get Into Comics
Forbidden Planet: Rivers of London #1

Writing Comics Is Easy.....well sort of.

Writing Comics Is Easy

Quick let me qualify that before the other comic book writers come round my house and have words. 

Writing comics is just as hard as any other form of literary endeavour but with one caveat - your only really talking to one person - the artist. You see when you're writing prose you've got to think about how every damn word will impact your entire readership. Every damn word! This means that if you're of a nervous disposition you can find yourselves agonising for hours about the placement of every comma.

You'd think film scripts would be better. After all a script is not aimed at the general audience - in many ways it is a technical document like a blueprint or a recipe it exists to provide a framework for other, hopefully talented, crafts people to build around. Alas a script has also to excite people with money or at least people who know people with money so you've always got to write with them in mind. This wouldn't be so bad if so many in the industry didn't combine ignorance with an innate sense of certainty(1).

But comic scripts are beautiful - you write them essentially for one person only(2) - the artist. Since they're a fellow professional you don't have to entice them with your prose or come up with six new ways to say the hero runs past the camera in an exciting fashion. In fact once you've established a working relationship you can use short hand, or offer the artist different approaches in the same document and, if your imagination has totally failed you, ask the artist to make something up.

In this way writing comics is easy.

In all the others ways, character, plot etc, it's just as hard as all the other ways to write.

(1) There's a famous case of a writer pitching the true story of how Elliot Ness's, famous for bringing down Capone,  next case was the torso killer - generally considered to be America's 1st genuine serial killer. The movie executive rejected the pitch because Elliot Ness was clearly under copyright to Paramount (who'd made The Untouchables). The writers tried in vain to explain that as a real historical figure it was, in fact, impossible to copyright his name and his adventures. The movie executive was unmoved - Elliot Ness was a fictional character and under copyright and that was an end to it.

(2) Well alright there's your editor and your colourist and the letterer but in the first instance you're writing for the artist.

Comic Countdown

The beautifully drawn and coloured pages of Issue #2 are beginning to emerge so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some Jaguar porn.

BODY WORK ISSUE#1 B COVER

Want an alternative cover? Here it is. 

Based on the Wayne Reynolds' painting.

Wayne Reynolds

Titan Comics

Gospel Oak's Finest Crime Fighter

 Guleed Tease!

 Rivers of London: Body Work

Issue #1 July 15

BODY WORK - Page One In Colour!

Here's a little something to whet your appitite.

Artist: Lee Sullivan
Colourist: Luis Gerrero
Publisher: Titan Comics