Knockaround and find out.

Some Tids. Some Bits.

Good evening, folks. I had a good day. The work-life of a freelance writer/illustrator is an up-and-down one. When it rains it pours. When it doesn’t rain you can find yourself cursing the clouds. As I stretch the metaphor a little - today I found myself dancing in the rain. Finished up some big, and meaningful, jobs that will keep the wolves from the door for a bit. Meaning I can focus on things like…

Gorilla My Teams Team Up sees Big Tim’s Knockaround-Guy and Gary Dellar’s Torn cross paths in a good ol’ fashioned comic book crossover written my yours truly and drawn by Samir Simão.

Big Tim Stiles lays it all out for you here, but I am super proud of how this book is coming together. It’s a book full of action, heart, and fun! I really hope it puts up a bit of a Spedsy-shaped bat signal in the sky and more creators entrust me to tell fun stories with their characters.

If you’d like to take a look at the upcoming Kickstarter click here. Make me look like a big deal and boost that follower count :)

SPEAKING OF STRUGGLE TOWN

Struggletown is not only where Knockaround-Guy hails from but it’s where I was hanging out recently. My concentration, my ability to focus - just fell off a cliff. It made creating haaard. My paid and unpaid jobs alike require creativity, and without focus, I was a bit lost.

I think it was the amalgamation of a few things. Sluggish 3 being done and Sluggish 4 seeming daunting. Free Monkeys production slowing a little - and with it my hopes and dreams (this is the type of overly dramatic-ness we’re dealing with peeps). I’m in constant need of forward momentum. Jealousy… yeah, so apparently that’s a thing with me. A bunch of my peers were celebrating big wins - all of which were deserved and hard-earned, all of whom I’m stoked for… but then that pang of am I working hard enough, achieving enough…?

Turns out I just needed a good talking too. I got a little lost and needed a friend and fellow creative to give me some perspective and redefine success.

So, I got that goin’ for me…

FRIENDS MAKING BOOKS

Tim McEwen collects his first bunch of iconic Greener Pastures issues in a sweet looking trade paperback.

This piece is pretty old now, but here’s my then take on the classic Greener Pastures 4 cover.

My creative soulmate Ben Sullivan gets his hands on Darren Close’s Killeroo with this sweet-looking book.

Here be my take on Killeroo…

Alrighty folks, a short and schweet one this week. Because I decided that the following topic might be a little too inside-spedsyball for the more casual folks on my mailing list…… arrgh… now I’m all up in my head about this being essentially a pimping-of-wares post and putting the real stuff behind a paywall. Ok, you asked for it… sorta. Bring on the rambling overly-serious self-indulgence.

THE SLUG THAT KILLED A TOILET

Yep… that’s the heading I’m going with. It’s classic Spedsy - dramatic and disgusting.

I’ve hinted at this a little here and there and some feedback on the last blog thing was that I should expand on my thinking.

The Fate of Fallanbrier. A 3-part novel series that I’ve only written 2 parts of. The second novel All Will Fall is far better, writing-wise, than the first There Are Only Moments. As it should be… I guess. I’m a learn-by-doing type creative - for better or worse.

For people to read All Will Fall, they must first leap the hurdle that it is There Are Only Moments. This goes for publishers as well. What if they can’t clear the jump?

The Devil’s Toilet - a character I created in 1996, in a weird turn of events, would be the title character of my flagship comic book. Since the first issue was put together in 2015 I’ve drawn a veritable shit-tonne and learnt about the same amount. I’ve gotten a lot better. So putting my all into future issues of The Devil’s Toilet seems like a fruitless endeavour when readers still have to leap that issue 1 hurdle - and that’s not to say that The Devil’s Toilet hasn’t done ok for itself… but, I haven’t made a secret of the fact that I’m looking beyond helming one super indie comic book.

And it’s all Herb’s fault? Sluggish plays a role for sure. The response to that book taught me so much and began so many conversations about my future. With issue 4, Herb’s journey will be complete. Then I think it’s time for someone else to take up my headspace. Will it be a sentient toilet that escaped from hell… or something completely new? I’m just making this shit up as I go - who knows. But I’ve got sooo much I want to do… and so little time.

Did that make it any clearer? No… told you I should have put it behind the paywall!

Speaking of, I’ll put a little comic strip below for paid folks, and some other secret works-in-progress… but until then - thanks so much for reading and coming on this journey with me, folks.

Rob/Spedsy

The saga of The Man With The Head Of A Baby continues…