Well it looks like the feline is out of the sack.

If you were at the San Diego ComiCon Vertigo panel this evening (PST) or reading pretty much any comic news site on the Internet since then, you'll have heard that Vertigo just announced twelve new ongoing series.

And I'm writing one of them.

Red Thorn is a new creator-owned book put together by probably the best new comic artist in the western world, Meghan Hetrick, and me, your humble author. Colours (or colors as Vertigo demands I call them!) and letters are provided by two gentlemen and stone-cold industry legends, Steve Ollif and Todd Klein. Vertigo Godfathers Mike Carey and Peter Gross have guided us through the flaming conception of our new comic, masterfully guided by the best editor in the world, Rowena Yow, and (talking about legends) Vertigo EIC Shelly Bond. The cover above was painted by your new favourite cover artist Choong Yong. Remember the name as I have no doubt that in a few years you'll be buying a hardcover collection of his incredible work.

Red Thorn is a dark fantasy set on the rain-glistening streets of modern-day Glasgow. When forging the scripts I've poured in everything I know about the city, drawn on strands of my personal and family history and shaken it all up until it catches fire. I've spent the last couple of years scouting locations around Glasgow and studying the unique weirdness, mythology and history of Scotland, and I honestly think you'll love what we've made.

And trust me - just wait until you see the art.

Your eyes might actually melt.

While I can't share any of that with you, I want to show you this photo. It's the moment I first realised this was actually happening.

That's my script for issue one of Red Thorn (written in Glasgow and London) lying on Meghan's drawing desk in Atlanta, Georgia moments before she started work!


Our opening arc is called Glasgow Kiss and the first chapter goes on sale in the middle of November.

I'll be at Thought Bubble pimping it up, and there's even murmurs of signings around the country to celebrate the launch. (Get in touch if you're a comic shop or convention and fancy getting in on that action - contact tab at the top of this page!)

I'll leave you with a snippet from a quick chat I had with Fanboy Rampage revolutionary Graeme McMillan at the Hollywood Reporter about the series:

My goal is for the sheer Glasgow-ness of Red Thorn to overwhelm our readers, regardless of where they live in the world, leaving them all speaking with a broad Glaswegian accent.

Be warrrned!

Just a quick update about things happening last night, tomorrow and next week:

I've had a few emails today from people along the lines of:
'So, I was listening to Front Row on Radio 4 last night and I'm sure I heard someone say something about 2000AD writer David Baillie doing a new satirical comic. Is that you?'

First up - that someone was the awesome journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed, who just happened to have come across a project I've contributed to called CROSS. I'm not the driving force behind it - that would be the publishers, Conor and Lizzie Boyle of Disconnected Press - I'm just one of the writers.

You can read all about it here - it's a fabulous package, with some really interesting creators. There's a Kickstarter which looks like it might not make it, but the comic will go ahead regardless and it'll be available at Thought Bubble next weekend. (Although if you want to give the crowdfunding project a final push, I'm sure Disconnected will appreciate it - as will the other backers, who include such luminaries as Rory Bremner and Roger Langridge!)

My contribution is a furious establishment-bashing 8-page story called The Archaeology Inspector, which is drawn by the ever-incredible Ben Wilsher. Here's a peek at an unlettered page:

And yeah, that's Canary Wharf (again!) 

If I can find the time next month I'll talk about the last political story I did at 2000AD, After The Vengeance, also featuring my most local landmark - and how this scene came about:

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tomorrow I'll be at CECAF in Crouch End with my partner-in-crime Dan Lester.

Details here and a preview of attending creators at Broken Frontier here.

And next Saturday (the 15th) I'll be taking part in the S.M.A.S.H. Symposium, which is being held at The Barbican in conjunction with the Comica Festival.

And if I don't see you at one or the other I won't see you at all.

Your call!

The tumbleweed rolled through town like a simile on a quiet day, picking up dust and lost opportunities as it went. The writer hid in his cave, relishing the dark and the silence and the nearby fridge.  He knew the bell would soon ring. It had to. He typed faster, harder hoping that the noise of his writing would drown out the copper clang when it came. But it did not.

'Write a blog post!' the town crier called as he shook out the alarum. 'Blog post, ahoy!'

The writer peered out of his window, squinting at the brightness of the day outside.
'I'm on a deadline,' he mumbled.

The bellman nodded as he came nearer to the writer's porthole.
'Ye always are.'

I'm back in the UK now - but last week I was in Turkey, co-writing a thing with the costume designer from Time Cop.  It's true what they say: writing is hell.

It's been a wee bit quiet here on the blog as I've been working hard on a couple of huge projects that'll be announced soon... And when that happens you'll soon be sick of me talking about them here, on Twitter and everywhere else. I'll apologise now for that, so I don't have to when I'm in full-on Promo Mode.

In saying that it was unforgivably remiss of me to fail to write a blog post about my first ever published US work a few weeks ago: Night of the Black Stant in the K issue of Vertigo's CMYK.

Vertigo anthologies are part of my comics DNA and to appear in one was a dream come true. Art by the incredible Will Morris, lettering by the legendary Todd Klein and edited by the Coolest Guy in Comics™ Greg Lockard.

It's definitely still available in shops because I saw it in one yesterday.

One review described it as a feminist parable but I can't find it right now, so here's one from Kirkus by someone who thought our story was the best. And another from Newsarama, from someone who only figured it was top two. Meanwhile CBR thought "The revelation of the true nature of the Black Stant is an excellent surprise in the tradition of classic science fiction. However, the story tries too hard for moral clarity," which I'll take on the chin.



Also out since my last post - a quick Dredd prose story in Megazine 354, which Richard at the FP Blog described as "two excellent pages of just how unlucky a bank-robber can be in MC-1".

Multiversity gave it a very kind review:

I love that the Megazine has articles, interviews, and other text pieces in it. But I’ll admit, I’m always a little apprehensive when I come across a Dredd prose story. Don’t ask me why, I’ve never read one I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. That said, Too Hottie To Handle is probably my favorite Dredd prose I’ve read.

Baillie’s story is tight, with not one extraneous word. But at the same time, it’s incredibly robust and descriptive. It’s interesting seeing a prose story using the same type of economic sensibility that your average 2000 AD strip is so commonly known for.

The story  also bears a small similarity to this great true-life tale from today's BBC Magazine. (And the recent London diamond heist, actually, now I come to think of it.)



And now a reminder that you should pick up the excellent CROSS from anywhere on this list.
(See below for my ramblings about the story I have in there with Benevolent Ben Willsher.)

Many, many, many* years ago I wrote a monthly column for the Judge Dredd Megazine. I don't have it to hand but I remember one in which I recommended ditching New Years as the time to begin life resolutions, as chances are you'll just be distracted by everyone else's blathering and failures. Instead, my younger, more boisterous and confident self wrote, why not use your birthday as a far better occasion upon which to take stock of what you've done in the last year and figure out what you need to fix for next.

And then last week this took me by surprise**:

So I thought now might be a good time to update the blog with all the stuff that I really should have updated it with throughout the year.

Don't worry, I won't do it all in one go. For one thing I have to pack for New York ComiCon and, if previous packing projects are anything to go by it's going to take nine times as long as I think it will...


Speaking of Comic conventions and festivals - if you're currently in The Lakes / Kendal area make sure and check out the Windows Art Trail they're hosting up there. My mate Sean Azzopardi has done a fab original piece in a cool bakery and I drew this for a local estate agents:

(Photo courtesy of that project's co-ordinator, the marvellous Sandra Woods.)

Other comicsy things I've done recently include a bit of talking in front of people.


Thanks to the fab Maura McHugh I attended my first World Con last month.

I've wanted to go to an annual World Science Fiction Convention since I was a teenager, when, while reading the first ever Nebula Awards Anthology I decided I wanted to be a science fiction author. Of course the book was thirty years old and what I really wanted to be was a 60s science fiction author. (A revelation that led to me wasting more than a few good writing years trying to invent a time machine. A story for another blog post.)

Maura even managed to smuggle me onto a couple of panels. I ended up babbling for quite some time on the subjects of networking in comics, and which 21st century comics might be remembered in 50 years time. (And if you're gutted you missed it, a good summary of that second panel is up at tor.com!)


The second talking thing I did was back in July when I took part in a keynote roundtable chat at the International Comics and Graphic Novels Conference, organised by the world's biggest Misty fan - Ms. Julia Round. It was great fun, even if I did feel massively outclassed by the two Mikes, Carey and Perkins - both of whom were as gentlemanly, entertaining and informative as their successful comics careers would suggest they are.

It was great fun and also an absolute honour to be talking at such a well-respected academic conference dedicated to my medium, taking place at The British Library.

Yeah - The British Library!

(photo courtesy of Julia Round)

Anyway - that's probably enough from me. What have you been up to?

Hm. Oh, really? Well I hope they manage to sew that back on.


If you're at New York next week I might see you there, although I don't think I'm doing any panels. (I was supposed to be announcing a new project there, but it was going to require an insane rush for the team to have it ready for the con so instead I'm going to be a man of leisure***.)

If I can queue up another blog post next week you might see me here again, otherwise I'll be babbling on Twitter about my time in the large Malus domestica.

Goodbye.



* It wasn't actually that many. I'm not going to check. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't that many.

** It didn't really. I might live in a bit of a bubble, but I honestly know when my birthday is. Usually. Also - it totally fills my heart with joy when Tom Spurgeon at The (awesome) Comics Report wishes me a happy birthday. Or at least it takes the edge off my increasingly impending doom.

*** This is code for: If you do see me in New York I'll probably be in a pub.

The Writer's Blog Tour is a quick quartet of questions doing the rounds on the internet. I only discovered it when my friend, and master scribe, John Hunter took part last month. Last week the renowned gentleman and scholar Mike Carey nominated me.

(Mike's responses to the famous four questions can be found over at his blog.)

So, without further ado -


What am I working on? 

For the last couple of months I've been working pretty much exclusively on a new ongoing comics series. Unfortunately it hasn't been announced yet, so it's currently a bit Top Secret. (I know everyone is sick to the molars of folk talking about secret projects that they can't talk about, and somehow end up talking about them more than they would if there was no secret to keep mentioning. So I'll try not to do that.)

I haven't written an ongoing series before, and the process has been fascinating. I'm working with a team who really know what they're doing, which has obviously been a great help, and even though it's only been a few weeks, I've already learned a huge amount from them.

I'm writing with a particular, very talented, artist in mind which is different to my usual 2000AD work, where I often find out who drew my script when the comic itself falls through my letterbox. (Not that I'm complaining – it's been a very pleasant surprise each and every time! It's just that this is a new part of the job that I'm really enjoying getting my teeth into.)

It's also been great fun putting together the plots for the first year of the series, knowing that when the time comes to actually write those stories the characters will likely be trying to pull the narrative in different directions, and that a hundred happy accidents will carry me into territories I couldn't have imagined.

I wondered if the transition from writing (mostly) four-page stories to suddenly having twenty pages every month, 240 a year, would be traumatic, but a story is a story no matter the length and they all need beginnings, middles and ends. I'm still finding that I have to be economical with my page real estate, and find clever ways of fitting in everything I want.

I'm working on a few shorter comics pieces too, one for the publisher of the new series, and a couple for 2000AD, but the deadlines on those are more relaxed so I've been leisurely adding to their note files, using them like a pressure valve system for when the big job threatens to give me a panic attack.

I'm working on a film script with my writing partner Dan Lester. We've written two already – one of which was shortlisted for the Red Planet new writing prize last year (or was it the year before?) - and we're currently assembling notes towards the first draft of the third script.

Last year Amazon commissioned me to write a novel for their Kindle Worlds program, and I've been toying with ideas for a second book. I have no publisher, editor or deadline though so at the moment that project just sees a thousand words every now and again when inspiration strikes. (Which, I suspect, is no way to write a book.)

How does my work differ from others in my genre? 

I have no idea!

I suppose every writer's work differs from the rest of their clan just by virtue of being written in their own voice, and drawing upon their unique life experiences. I presume I'm the same.

I noticed early on that I enjoy a project a lot more when I throw something personal or peculiar to me into the pot. Even seemingly trivial things like introducing a Scottish character into a time travel tale (Boilwash McGinty in A Guide for Prisoners arriving from 2148) can be enough to make it feel like a 'me' story. (And if I find myself writing something that doesn't feel like a 'me' story, my enthusiasm can wane.)

Before writing became my job I was an engineer, then a computer programmer, I worked in markets (like The Barras and Ingliston) and markets (as in financial markets). I'm rubbish at team sports, but I used to be okay at boxing and fencing. I love sweetcorn and hate egg. It might not sound like much of a biography, but that combination alone is enough for a half dozen stories that no one else could write.

Why do I write what I do?

I want to recreate the excitement I experience myself when I read a really good story. That's been my motivation since I was four and I used to fill dozens of red Silvine jotters with my own stories about Luke Skywalker, Batman and The Incredible Hulk. I don't think much has changed since then.

Seeing the work in print is always very cool, cashing the cheque is great, but I don't feel like a job is done until I know how a story's been received. (For better or worse.)

So I write things that I'd want to read. I like a good sci-fi idea, especially something really thought provoking, or that provides a sudden insight into something seemingly mundane. (I'm thinking of stuff like Spike Jonez' film Her last year or pretty much any of Ted Chiang's short stories.) Neuromancer was the book that got me back into reading when I was a moody teenager, and I love anything a bit cyberpunky.

I'm also a big fan of dark fantasy (it's probably horror, but that's not how I'd usually describe it) like the sort of stuff that Joe Hill, Mike Carey, Clive Barker and China Mieville write.

How does my writing process work? 

I usually write in two phases.

First comes the messy chaotic part, where a hundred ideas sit on the page, contradicting each other, being rowdy and causing trouble. During this stage I'm probably anxious that the story's going to remain a mess, that it'll never work, make sense or sell. It's usually the most creative point, I think, when the silliest ideas spring up and are entertained for longer than they maybe should have been. It's not always fun, but it is usually exciting, if that makes sense. This part is fuelled by coffee, daydreaming and staring at walls, and results in many notebooks and Evernote folders being filled. It also demands a recovery period, mostly comprising of a yoga class, a sweaty run, some reading in the sun (when the seasons allow) or a glorious half hour in a quiet steam room.

Next comes the part of the process when I have to edit the nonsense down, impose some structure and have it all make narrative sense. This is nerve-racking for a different reason, as I'm terrified that I'm going to cut something that is, without my knowing it, actually an essential element of what makes the story work. It's also very satisfying as my fears about never being able to write anything ever again begin to evaporate and I slowly become more confident about showing this new thing to something else.

I have a hundred or so stories that made it to the end of phase one but never benefited from the tidying operation of phase two. I keep them in a folder on my computer (well, on The Cloud now, but you know what I mean) called The Lobby. This was supposed to be where I keep all my active projects, but every now and again I realise it's become a resting place for stuff I haven't Second Phased yet. But ideas are resurrected from there all the time, so it's actually not a bad thing to have lying around.

The film scripts I've been writing with Dan Lester have their own process. We usually spend a few months, maybe a year, making a lot of notes. Then we take the notebooks to Turkey, where we sit by the pool drinking cold beer and forming them into a hand-written script. Then we come home and, in the gloom of the United Kingdom, simultaneously rewrite and type up what becomes our second draft. Phase three of this process is where we sell the script to a friendly Hollywood mogul for a million dollars, but unfortunately we haven't cracked that bit of it yet.


I'd like to pass the baton to three writers who are interesting for totally different reasons.

As well as writing and drawing for 2000AD, and writing for Marvel and Vertigo, montynero created the brilliant, and vastly successful, six-part comic series Death Sentence. His blog is a great read and can be found at montycomics.blogspot.co.uk.

Aiden Courtney is a writer and artist, probably best known for the brilliant Irish language comic Rírá, and his blog is over at www.aidancourtney.blogspot.com/

The third writer is Rob Williams, who has written everything from Indiana Jones to Ghost Rider. He was responsible for two of my favourite modern day Dredd stories (Meat and Outlaw) and has a new miniseries out from Vertigo called The Royals. His blog lives at www.robwilliamscomics.co.uk.

I've been doing stand-up comedy for the last couple of years, and one of the first things I learned was something that you probably already know - the rule of three. Basically, if you have something to say, it makes sense to deliver it in three bits.

Okay - bit one - I wrote a book.

Last year Amazon approached me about coming up with something for their new Kindle Worlds venture. They were looking for an e-book set in the recently relaunched Valiant comics' universe. I was already reading, and loving, Bloodshot and X-O Manowar and I'd been mumbling something about writing a novel for ages and so I jumped at the chance. Fast-forward a few months and Bloodshot: Portal 666 has just gone on sale.

You can read a sample chapter or buy it here for your Kindle or Kindle-enabled device. (Actually at the moment you can only buy it if you're in the US, but Amazon are working on rolling the Kindle Worlds platform out to all other lands soon.)

I had an incredible time writing Portal 666 and I'm really proud of the final work. Bloodshot's a fascinating character and it was enormous fun writing someone whose defining characteristic is that he's thoroughly relentless. I wrote a piece about the whole process for BleedingCool.com and I'll talk some more about it here as soon as I get the chance.


Bit two: Tomorrow is your last chance to pick up this month's Judge Dredd Megazine (before next month's issue goes on sale). It's packed full of great stuff, including a cracking Dredd tale by Rob Williams and Scalped's RM Guera, the penultimate episode of Rob and D'Israeli's Ordinary and Mike Carroll and Steve Yeowell's Demarco P. I. It also features Magical Matt Badham's interrogation of yours truly. If that sounds like your cup of tea then it's Megazine #344 you're after and the cover looks something like this:

Unless you're a narcissist it's a rare thing to read an interview with yourself that doesn't make you wince every couple of sentences, but Matt's really managed it. (Either that or I'm a narcissist.) Someone remarked last week that the interview made me sound unexpectedly grown-up - which probably means I owe Matt a pint. And now to undo all that hard work I should admit that my favourite bit is the paragraph where I talk about my dislike of violent resolutions in stories, which hangs above a blow-up of a cyborg monkey punching a robot pirate in the face. (For the record, that wasn't a resolution - it was a scene from the middle of a chapter.)



Bit three: My blog posts receive about ten times as many visitors when I also post a 2000AD script. This situation doesn't appear to be broke so I won't attempt to fix it - and here is the script to a Future Shock I wrote last year called Time is the Only Enemy. This one was drawn by the uber-talented Graeme Neil Reid (who write a cracking blog post about his work here) and recently described by the Megazine's Matt Badham as 'one of [his] favourite Shocks ever'. It featured a comics-writing protagonist called David Baillie (oh no - I AM a narcissist!) leading to a confusing entry on the 2000AD wiki which seems to suggest that I was killed during an alien invasion.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!


Before I go (which probably makes this bit four) I have a couple of reading recommendations (you know - for after you've read Bloodshot: Portal 666, right?)

The Girl with all the Gifts by  M. R. Carey -
This was recently raved about by none other than Joss Whedon so it probably doesn't need my help to promote it, but it's honestly brilliant. Go get!

The Giant Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins -
This gorgeous book bucked the trend of me hating everyone's else's favourite new graphic novel of the year. I finished it the other day when I should have been working - which either tells you how absorbing a read it is or betrays how work-shy I'm getting in my old age.

I've Spring-cleaned the website a little. (Don't worry if you haven't noticed - it's my website, not yours. I rarely spot when people get new haircuts, careers, children etc. so honestly, please don't sweat it.)

To be honest, the last colour scheme was beginning to give me a headache. It got to the stage that whenever anybody asked for my business card (which obviously happens very rarely due to the hermitic nature of being a comics writer) I always felt the need to deliver it alongside an apology for my website being both out-of-date and a horrible shade of green. I'm much happier now that it's more current and not the colour of a nasty sinus infection. Anyway, I thought while I was here I might as well write a short blog.

My most popular blog posts have all featured 2000AD scripts so I'll do that again. Here is the script for a Future Shock I wrote that saw the light of day last year in Prog 1788. And for those of you interested in how these things work, here is the original pitch I sent to Tharg (the alien editor of 2000AD). It was drawn by the very talented Nick Dyer and looked something like this:

I have to run as I'm super-busy due to having a novel coming out tomorrow (Portal 666, if you're interested - although I'm not sure whether you can buy it outside of the US at the moment...) which (if I can carve out some free time) I'll blog about here later in the week.

Hope you like the script!