Tag: thought bubble

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February 2023: Pitter Patter

Howdy, folks!

Once again, February has careened past me in a Dodge Viper with the top down, flipping me off aggressively as it screams away into the rear-view mirror. Which is to say: compared to the inexorable length of January, I am once again bemused by how quickly this month has gone past. It’s felt like a busy one!

The Usual

Most of my “creative docket” this month has again been taken up by various bits of admin and not actual writing, which is a state of affairs that I need to try and improve on. Given the number of projects that are moving towards some state of fruition and are already written, though, it doesn’t feel as urgent – I got ahead of myself last year (and the year before that), and my logic-brain is reminding me that there’s no point having another series fully written and sitting on the backburner while I can’t guarantee the funds to make it happen. Let’s clear a few other things off the slate first!

First amongst those is a Kickstarter with my good friend Professor Elemental – over the past 10 years we’ve made a lot of comics together (over 200 pages’ worth, to be exact) and the time has come to finally put together a big artbook/collection of those stories so that they’re all accessible in one mighty hardback tome, alongside a ton of other artwork that the Prof’s mini-empire has spun off. I’ve been building the campaign page for that and we’re anticipating a launch towards the end of next month, so just a heads up that you may get additional emails from me when it goes live to encourage you to take a look! As usual there’ll be digital and physical copies available, and postage will be much more affordable within the UK (sorry, non-UK readers, but it costs an insane amount of money to post a hardback book these days..!)

Brigantia #4/Vol. 2 also continues to roll onwards, with pace – Alaire is doing a phenomenal job with the pages, and I’m very excited to share them with you all. Here’s a sneaky peek of an inked page to whet your collective whistle:


Realistically, given that I’m having to take a bit of a break from Thought Bubble this year (due to a family wedding, I’d only be able to do the Saturday, so I’ve only applied for a half table), we’ll not be able to launch it at TB this year – but I’m anticipating all the inks being finished by the end of the year, so come 2024, we can finish off Brigantia’s story (for now..!)

So, some solid progress being made on some fronts! Let’s keep it going 🙂

The Record

  • 18 pages lettered for The Phoenix
  • Yet more worldbuilding doc stuff for SPACE COWBOYS

Hot on the heels of the book-length story I lettered for The Phoenix last month, I was also tasked with lettering some in-between pages to fill the gaps between that story and the other ones that will be included in the collection. This was my first real experience of a very tight deadline, and it was not a fun time at all – I worked my regular 9-5 day job, but was doing extra hours before and after work trying to get all the pages done in time while not skipping band practices. I managed it (18 pages in just over a week!) but I was absolutely shattered on the Friday after I’d turned them in and slept for about 12 hours! Hopefully it’ll be a while before something like that comes around again…

Also, the recurrence of the SPACE COWBOYS worldbuilding doc should provide some clues to what’s going on with that – I’ve found an artist for the story, and we’ll hopefully be starting work on some character designs/pitch pages next month. It’s very exciting to get to this stage on a story that’s extremely personal to me (for a variety of reasons, it’s the most emotionally-charged thing I’ve ever written) so I’ll be looking forward to sharing snippets of that as they get drawn!

The Tunes

Let’s get some music in your lugholes! An eclectic mix this month – we’re starting off with the Tallon Overworld theme from Metroid Prime, reimagined by the fantastic Metroid Metal. I’ve been pouring hours into the remastered version of Prime that just came out – it’s a phenomenal achievement, and the game looks (and plays) wonderfully. Next, and continuing the alien theme, is the opening track from the newer version of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. I love the original as well, but Liam Neeson is a genius casting for the Narrator and this remains a certified banger. Orphaned Land are a great prog-metal band from Israel, who’ve put out some classic albums (like Mabool, which is just fantastic). Apparently they have a large Arab fanbase, and this track in particular hammers home their message of peace between different faiths with uplifting choruses and a pristine guitar tone. I spent a day at work listening to an AFI best-of – my partner is a huge AFI fan, and they have some great songs (like this one, which doesn’t fuck around!) New discovery up next – Pyramid Mass play space infused death-doom, and I was drawn in by the Moebius vibes of the cover art for this release. This track twists and turns a few times, with some weighty riffs scattered throughout.

Black metal time? Black metal time. Skeletonwitch’s last album remains a surprising but wonderful thing – fantastic-sounding atmospheric BM with some savage riffs sitting beneath the reverby guitar tone. Next is another new discovery, Hekseblad – my best description for this is “Witcher-themed raw dungeon synth BM”. It’s a fun listen! I’ve been fiddling around with some chiptune stuff this month again (I still have dreams of putting together a solo release of chiptune stuff), so this track from Zef & Danimal Cannon was on the inspiration list for that. Big, bouncy electronic riffs that will make you bang your head – similar vibe to Master Boot Record (except this came out first!) Another new The Ocean track next which highlights that this new album is definitely going in a more electronic direction – and I dig it. Lastly, hot off the presses is a new Svalbard track from their forthcoming album. It sounds great, but I feel like it ends too soon – give me more of those riffs please!

The Links

This isn’t a recent link, but we’ve finally started watching the most recent seasons of Letterkenny so I’m taking this opportunity to tell you that you should also watch it if you haven’t already:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/10/11/20909844/letterkenny-hulu-review-pitter-patter

And that’s all for this month – as ever, take care of yourselves and thanks for reading!

All the best,

Chris

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November 2022: Stratospheric

Hey, folks!

I suspect this month’s newsletter is going to turn into a long one, given that it’s been a busy month, so apologies for that in advance – strap in, let’s get to it!

The Usual

Let’s do a Thought Bubble recap, shall we? This month saw me yet again in attendance at (in my opinion) the UK’s premier comic convention, Thought Bubble in Harrogate. As with every year, it was a delight to see so many pals that I spend a lot of time chatting to/interacting with online in person, and I managed to squeeze in enough socialising to keep me going for at least the next 6 months. Some highlights of the weekend:

  • Initiating several people into the Cult of the Majestic Toilets (and deciding, perhaps against my better judgement, to try and put together a toilet anthology for next year’s convention…)
  • Meeting Gail Simone, who I’m pleased to confirm is not a bear and is in fact a lovely human being
  • Drinks and good times with the Dangerous Nights crew
  • Making more money than I ever have at TB before, to the extent that I covered my hotel and table fees and got into (whisper it) actual profit! …profit which I then promptly spent on buying stuff from other tables. Oh well!


I know I say this every year, but comics people are the best people, and it’s a mantra that’s proven true every time. It’s truly a vibrant, welcoming, creative environment, and as is always the case I came home buzzing with the desire to make more comics! I don’t have space to shout out everyone who made it an incredible weekend, but you know who you are and I appreciate the heck out of each one of you 😤🖤

Since I finished sending out all of the Kickstarter packages (except for the three people who haven’t completed their surveys yet) in the first week of November, Thought Bubble also saw the official debut of Brigantia Volume 1 and it was extremely gratifying being able to show it off to people. Now that I’m out of the fulfilment woods I’ve taken a step back and can appreciate how much work we’ve put into it – I think the book looks beautiful, and I’m very proud of it. I’ve been reaching out to various comic shops (so I believe it’s now available in Gosh! Comics down in London, Travelling Man in various branches, and Destination Venus in Harrogate) – plus I’ve added the book to my online store and Comixology, so it’s officially available to the general public! If you’d like a copy (or you’re after gift ideas), it’ll be posted out in plenty of time for Christmas: https://chrismole.bigcartel.com/product/brigantia-vol-1

The Record

Even though I haven’t sat down and actually scripted many pages this month, it’s felt extremely busy! Part of that is lettering work, part of it is trying to get ducks in a row for some other projects. Anyway, here’s the count:

  • 8 pages outlined for The Black Rubric II
  • Prose piece written for a one/two-pager
  • Initial notes/plans/ideas for ‘Secrets of the Majestic’ (the aforementioned “toilet anthology”)
  • 8 pages lettered for The Phoenix
  • 3 pages lettered for Sharp Wit & The Company of Women

Phew! The lettering workload is likely to continue into next month as I need to finish the pages for “Let Justice Be My Axe“, and I’ve also agreed to letter some anthology stories for my good friend Owen Watts. Space Cowboys #4 and #5 have also gone off to my mighty editor Claire Napier – the last two issues of the story, so once those come back with notes on I can tweak them accordingly and we can start actively hunting for an artist (and try to come up with a proper title for it..!)

On top of that, one of the bands I’m in (Ba’al) have now finished writing new material – we’ve got 9 new songs, most of them epic-length ones, and the next step is to tweak/refine them and figure out any extra bits we want to add in. It’s a very different creative process to writing music or comics solo, but just as satisfying – especially when just throwing riff ideas around in the room results in an extremely heavy/catchy/atmospheric song!

Lastly, it doesn’t count as comics work, but I’ve done a load of wallpaper stripping this month and I’m getting ever closer to being able to bring in a professional to replaster/redecorate the spare room and the stairs. The tyrannical reign of the awful, textured, 80s wallpaper which fills most of the rooms in my house is almost at an end!

The Tunes

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ABZZgvR7xZRrKa88nVk6C?si=5a8c0b12f2f048df
This month’s playlist runs the gamut from “tracks which link to stuff I did” to “heavy shit I’ve been enjoying”. We start things off with a blast from the past – the World Map theme from the phenomenal Final Fantasy Tactics by Masaharu Iwata. I was struck by the sudden urge to play this game again, and overjoyed to find that my tablet will run the Android version – it remains wonderfully written and fun. Next up is a track from the recent re-release of the Dredd soundtrack, remixed by Mogwai – I went over to Leeds the night before Thought Bubble to get my hands on the vinyl for this and it was very worth it, since I got to hang out with pals Rik Worth and Alfie Gallagher and watch Jock live-paint an amazing Dredd piece! Continuing the “comics” theme, here’s a heavy metal version of the famous Batman theme by Powerglove – the tragic news of Kevin Conroy’s passing hit while we were socialising at TB, and I think my Christmas break will be spent binging the animated series in tribute. Public Service Broadcasting are up next – I go back to this album a lot (and have put this song in playlists before) but it’s just so, so good! One more nerd song before we get to the heavy shit – Steel & Silver by Visigoth is based on the Witcher and has a very catchy power metal chorus which WILL get stuck in your head. Next up are a couple of big atmospheric black metal tracks I’ve been exposed to this month – An Abstract Illusion with a monolithic song, then the phenomenal Molten Gold by Toadeater. Weird band name, incredible album! Next is a classic Borknagar song – again, I’ve been listening to them a lot this month just because they’re great and fill me full of nostalgia for my college days. Penultimately we have a track by Brazilian prog-black-metal band Papangu recommended by my pal Adam who was an excellent table assistant at Thought Bubble, and rounding things off is a new MASTER BOOT RECORD track which showcases their unique blend of chiptune and heavy riffs.

#WiegrafWasRight

The Links

I know that Twitter is on fire and slowly sinking beneath the waves thanks to a certain edgelord techbro, but here’s something delightful for you to get your teeth into – artist pal Jordan Collver, going through his process for researching and producing scientifically-rigorous comics which play with the form (and look beautiful, to boot!): https://twitter.com/JordanCollver/status/1597605358817931265?t=LRtnSYM-neP50WufEJ-rcw&s=19

And that’s all for this month! Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you have a lovely December – next month’s update will probably take the form of a yearly round-up with some recs for various things I’ve enjoyed this year and you may have missed.

All the best!

Chris

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October 2022: All Aboard

Howdy, folks!

It’s been a busy old month, so without further ado:

The Usual

It’s funny how having a project unfinished makes you feel like you’re in a kind of suspended animation – it’s tough to allocate brain space to anything else because you have that lurking, lingering spectre of “you need to finish this first” squatting up there. With that said, earlier this month I finally got the (beautiful) printed copies delivered for Brigantia Vol. 1, and as of this going out, I’ve made a start on the postage! Overseas postage is going to be a nightmare because since I ran the campaign, costs have increased exponentially and the UK government decided it would be a great idea to force small creatives like me to jump through a million flaming hoops in order to post things outside the UK… but I’m committed to getting these packages out as swiftly as possible, because I’m very aware of how delayed they are. And once that’s done, maybe I can clear brain space for something else… right?

Next month also sees me stalking the halls of my favourite comic convention, Thought Bubble in Harrogate! It’s always a fantastic weekend of meeting up with comics friends I don’t see that often, and I’m hoping it’ll be a good year with Brig Vol. 1 finished and ready to go. Even planning ways to dress up the table so it’s a bit more visually appealing..!

You’ll find me in Comixology Hall at table 136 (handy map below):

I’ll have prints from the campaign with me, and several of the artists who drew those prints (Chris Wildgoose and Will Kirkby) will be tabling so you can pop over to their tables afterwards and get them scribbled on if you fancy – Harriet will also be at the con so if you have a Kickstarter copy of Vol. 1 that you want signing, don’t hesitate to bring it along!

The Record

As a consequence of being very depressed and sad after last month’s news, and the business of Kickstarter fulfilment/playing gigs/etc, I’ve written a grand total of zero pages this month. And that’s okay, because I’ve got a lot on my plate and I need to clear some of it off before I can prioritise anything!

I did, however, get up early on a Sunday morning and spend several hours recording/mixing a little piece of music for an upcoming Kickstarter campaign being run by my good friend Alfie Gallagher. You’ll find out more about that soon, but I had a lot of fun doing it (and I think I absolutely nailed the brief!)

The Tunes

CM: Oct 2022 – playlist by Chris Mole | Spotify

Chris Mole · Playlist · 10 songs

We’re kicking things off this month with a Halloween-related track – the theme from Prince of Darkness, by horror maestro John Carpenter. I’m a big fan of his music (especially his “Lost Themes” albums) and he’s in fine form here. Taking a sudden left turn, we’re into post-black metal country with Aquilus – these guys traverse a lot of ground in one song, but never lose sight of how to craft a vast atmosphere in the process. Oceans of Slumber were a revelation when I saw them at Damnation Festival a few years ago, and they’ve gone full ‘Southern Gothic’ on their new album, capped off by this phenomenal cover of old-time classic ‘House of the Rising Sun’. Cammie Gilbert is an extremely good vocalist! Speaking of good vocalists, Devin Townsend is back with new music – I couldn’t get into his last release, the extremely experimental The Puzzle, but this is definitely more my speed, starting as it does almost chiptune/videogame-like before climbing into something bigger. Ayreon (from the mind of the mad hippie Arjen Lucassen) are one of my favourite bands, so I was delighted to see the announcement that one of their best albums is getting the full remix/remaster treatment – these songs are like a warm hug for me, and I can’t wait to hear them sounding even better and polished up. Brutus are a new discovery – I saw people on Twitter talking about their new album and decided to check it out. I’m very into it – it reminds me of bands like Ithaca, with huge sludgy riffs overlaid by a female vocalist with great range. Recommended! Borknagar are another old-time favourite, and I’ve had this track off their last album stuck in my head for the past few weeks – it’s an ode to nature and the northern landscapes from one of metal’s finest vocalists (ICS Vortex), and it’s extremely catchy to boot! New Taylor Swift was obviously going to be on this list because I’m very predictable – the new album hasn’t grabbed me as instantly as Folklore/Evermore did, but it feels like it’ll be a sneaky grower. I’ll report back next month..! Sometimes I like listening to choral music to calm myself down or while I’m writing, and Miserere Mei, Deus is truly beautiful – lush harmonies and an overwhelming sense of peace. It also flows thematically into the next track, which is what I would consider the modern pinnacle of music & worship – Florence + The Machine, live in New York, pouring her heart into an absolute disco banger. One day I’ll sell a kidney for Florence tickets, and then I’ll try not to have a spiritual/emotional breakdown at her in public and look like a complete weirdo..!

I’ll call it there for this time – next month will probably consist mostly of a Thought Bubble recap (once I’ve recovered from the convention hangover…)

Thanks for reading, and enjoy what remains of your Samhain!

All the best,

Chris

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July 2021: What is Time?

Howdy, folks!

Somehow, 7 months have passed and we’re staring at the back end of 2021 – I don’t quite know how, but here we are, I guess!

The Usual

For once, I actually have something I want to cover in this space before I dive into the usual newsletter shenanigans. As many of you may be aware, this last week has been… somewhat fraught on UK Comics Twitter, but not for the usual artist vs. writer/other recurring discourse reasons. Basically, a storm kicked up around Thought Bubble (unquestionably my favourite convention) due to them inviting Frank Miller along as a guest for this year’s con – here’s a good summary of the chain of events: https://www.comicsbeat.com/thought-bubble-drops-frank-miller-in-wake-of-social-media-backlash/

I was surprised that Miller was announced as a guest in the first place – it’s hard to argue that he isn’t an important figure in comics history, but that’s the key word – history. His work hasn’t been relevant in years, and Holy Terror (released in 2011) scraped the absolute bottom of a horrifically racist barrel. It seemed like an odd choice, one that I suspect was driven by necessity (attempting to bring in a larger number of more mainstream/casual comics fans) after the impact of the pandemic, but it gave the impression that Thought Bubble value the past (Miller) over the future of comics (represented by Zainab Akhtar), an impression that is very much at odds with the brand they’ve built over the years.

I don’t think there was any deliberate malice in the decision to book Miller, but honestly, that doesn’t matter – if they weren’t aware of his retrograde, Islamophobic views then they should have done their research rather than glossing over them and it should have been immediately apparent that inviting him was a mistake when Zainab and others first raised their concerns. The fact that the CG crowd have latched onto this as an example of “cancel culture” and “woke SJWs” (yawn) is entirely predictable but that doesn’t stop it from being very distressing for those targeted by them. I’m disappointed in Thought Bubble, and it’s absolutely going to overshadow this year’s event, so I sincerely hope they can take concrete steps to make up for this over the next few months (but that said, Chuck Palahniuk who has a lot of dodgy right-wing associations is currently still on the guest list, so…)

In less distressing news, the Kickstarter for Brigantia Vol. 1 closed earlier this month and we somehow raised a staggering £5k! It’s the highest number of backers I’ve ever personally had for a Kickstarter campaign, and the second-highest total funding amount, so I was bowled over by the outpouring of support. Now we get to the fun part – actually making the dang thing!

The Record

• Finished off the last few pages of my Big Hype Vol. 2 short (CRYSTAL DESERT BLUES) with Rosie Packwood
• 3 pages of STEEL KNIGHTS scripted, tons of worldbuilding done

Wrote some actual pages this month! It’s a lot easier when you force yourself to think of them as first drafts where the dialogue/etc will be tightened up later – my biggest challenge is that I’m a perfectionist, so I hate the idea of leaving a page half-done and moving onto the next one. The dialogue has to at least feel right – I struggle to just slap in a [placeholder dialogue] and move on.

Anyway, Rosie’s been hard at work on character concepts for our Big Hype story and they’re shaping up nicely – it’s a fun one where I think the influences are pretty visible on it’s sleeve, so it’ll be nice to see that take shape. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned STEEL KNIGHTS here before, but my annoyance at being unable to watch the new Gawain and the Green Knight movie (starring Dev Patel) which I’ve been anticipating for well over a year spurred me into doing some work on my own Arthurian mash-up. The pitch is, very basically, A Knight’s Tale X Gundam – it’s a kind of manga story in which the Arthurian knights pilot huge suits of armour in battle, built around a tournament arc. I’ve been slotting in tons of Arthurian Easter eggs and there are giants, fae magic – it’s a lot of OTT fun, and it’ll be great to try and pull the pitch together for it!

The Tunes

This month’s playlist starts off a lot mellower before gradually building into the heavy stuff. Chvrches are consistently one of the best synthy pop bands out there, with a great ear for a catchy vocal hook, and this new track has me excited for their new album – I’ve booked tickets to see them for the first time in March next year, so that’ll be great. This month I discovered that Lola Kirke, the actress who played Hayley in the excellent show Mozart in the Jungle (and who I have a MASSIVE crush on) is also apparently a folk/pop singer, and has put out some very good stuff – here’s my favourite of her songs! My partner is our household’s huge Frank Turner fan – I’m less into him, but this track is undeniably excellent (and I appreciate his ideas on how his ashes should be scattered at the end!) Next up is Doris Wilson – those who’ve watched the wild/chaotic/polarising sketch show I Think You Should Leave will recognise it. It’s a very catchy tune that breaks up some of the funniest sketches I’ve ever seen – I’ve watched both seasons through about 4 times now, which is rare for me, and they keep getting funnier. Watch Coffin Flop! Metallica have been doing something pretty wild recently – they’ve recruited dozens of other bands/artists to do their own versions of songs from The Black Album across a variety of genres. A lot of them are… well, bad, but this Biffy Clyro cover is actually genuinely good to my ears. It’s still recognisably Holier than Thou, but different enough to make it stand out as their own. Here’s where we start to get into the heavier stuff with The Algorithm (chiptuney tech-death), Unter Massif (a sludgey, atmospherey, droney band I discovered this month) and The Odious (interesting prog metal, another Spotify discovery). Next up is one of my very favourite bands, Anaal Nathrakh, beloved for their ability to combine absolute hyperspeed blasting and aggression with huge, singable choruses and an overwhelming sense of armageddon. After that mushroom cloud has cleared, we finish things off with the haunting piano and vocals of Lingua Ignota, from her new album.

The Links

I greatly enjoyed this dive into the development of gunslinger Jonah Hex (one of my favourite characters, mostly because I feel like there’s a lot you could say/do with him) by Tom Shapira over at the Comics Journal: http://www.tcj.com/asshole-in-a-hat-the-early-days-of-jonah-hex/

That’s all for this month, I’ve waffled on a lot more than usual! Thanks for reading, and have a great August.

All the best,
Chris