Wha' be happn?

Poor old blog has been neglected recently whilst comic-related activities proceed apace elsewhere, so time for an update...

The release date for the comic has been fixed for Saturday the 26th of September, with a release party to be held that evening at the Meteor Theatre in Hamilton. Punters can purchase a crisp new copy of the anthology and be entertained by musical performances from acts featuring contributors to the comic: Pumice and The Biscuits (from AK), The Goth And The Pixie and Glass Shards (from the Tron). Entry fee will be $20 which includes a copy of the comic. Much fervid felt tip pen activity recently involved in making the above poster for the event.

The deadline for contributors to submit strips was set for mid-August: made it deliberately early as most of these creative types don't get started on anything until the night before it's due (myself included). Actually received the last strip, from ex-Hamiltonian currently residing in Oz, just last week, after I had given up expecting it and the contributor had given up thinking it would be included given lateness of submission! A couple of contributors from the original shortlist of 14 didn't end up submitting, but have ended up with 12 strips at 44 pages, so will end up a decently sized slab of Hamiltron goodness. Needless to say all the submissions are 50 shades of shit-hot and more gushing editorial praise will inevitably be forthcoming.

Also had last-minute cover art dramas when original cover artist fell through (personal circumstances rather than personal politics), so had to rustle up substitute cover at short notice...couple of young local artists stepped up to the mark with an excellent design (I will post contributor bios here soon). Content now all done bar an inside front cover contents page and inside back cover ads page which am working on right now. Art currently being mastered and will be sent off to printer in the next week or so.

Otherwise much publicity-related activity, notably teaser posts on Fartbickie containing snippets of art from the strips (3 snippets from the last one featured above); drawing and printing of posters as stated; some newspaper publicity in form of a piece in the Hamilton News; and myself talking about the project to Hamilton literati at the 4th Browsers Bookstore Literary Salon held at the Meteor on the 10th September. Doing press releases for other local media outlets priority for this week. Riveting stuff eh?