Archive for ‘Side Story 1: The Interview’
8 items.
And so, now that Alan has made sure his ribs aren’t broken, they conclude hiring negotiations and get down to business. If only all hiring was this awesome.
This concludes side story one. Now what seems to be on people’s minds recently is whats happened to German?! Well I can answer that question!
He’s been hard at work on issue 3 and on Friday and next Monday I’ll have some stuff to show you from what he’s done so far which has been absolutely superb. On top of this he’s been doodling the covers for the Hard Graft limited edition minibook and he also worked overtime to deliver the Kathy needed for the Comic Creators Alliance wallpaper.
Obviously though we all need our Hard Graft fix and at the same time we can work on explaining parts of the story which would otherwise be left to the sidelines. This is where Jules comes in.
In the end its a win win situation. We all get more Hard Graft from two top quality artists. Whats not to love about that?
Also got a few nice things to point out to readers!
We’ve got a Hard Graft Fan Map! If you like Hard Graft and want to tell the world where you are in the world follow the easy instructions to put your mark on the map! Its good fun but I can’t do much about the tiny map size :/
Next we have the formspring.me Hard Graft question widget! Got a question to ask either Prestwick, German or the cast? Then dump it here and we’ll do our best to get back to you. Also listed are previous questions and answers.
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The start of a new era! Makes one tear up with excitement!
Meanwhile, Alan seems to be taking exception to being hit around the ribs with bar stools while Bernadette jokes sarcastically/pervs over looking after Alan. The locals however have an altogether different view of the situation.
These Czech bars are awesome. The locals are old and surly and most usually have an angry Scottie or Westie growling at you from his own seat. Something that would send Antoine over at the Drunken Fools into raptures I’d no doubt suspect.
I do apologise for the really late running but I’ve been to Italy over the weekend for a dazzling few days of sights, food, wine and rugby including me dancing like a muppet:
…quite.
Claaaang indeed! Well if we see a bar stool shaped scar on Alan’s chest we’ll all know where that came from.
Look at that number. Its beautiful isn’t it? It was so beautiful that I went down to Oddbins (a wine shop) and picked up a H Upmann coronas major, poured myself a lovely Highland Park 15 year sat and down to watch the snooker. There I savoured the feeling of a job well done and as I puffed away happily and sipped the taste of sweet success I thought that if anyone had told me this time last year that I would have been the catalyst for a top quality 50 page webcomic I would have laughed, laughed in their faces and told them to pull the other one.
Anyway thats the reason why the comic is an hour late! Fifty pages! Woo!
Remember guys we need your help. The Comic Creators Alliance is raising money to fight the vile scourge of human trafficking which is plaguing countries as far afield as Australia and Canada. Help stop this modern slave trade by clicking below and donating and get a free wallpaper with over 80 of your favourite web and indie print comic heroines!
Took the words out of my mouth. Wait, those were my words. Awesome.
I’ll chat about the comic in a moment but first, I’d like to talk to you about something. Human Trafficking. Its something that you read online or watch on telly every day but do you really know the facts?
For example, did you know that more people today endure slavery of one kind or another than during the trans-atlantic slave trade? Thats 27 million people. Did you also know that the majority of these people are women and children smuggled into Europe and North America to lead awful lives in prostitution and the grey market?
But did you know that you could help stop this today?
Well some of us have decided to do something about it. Monday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. To participate, we formed the Comic Creator’s Alliance–a group of over eighty comic book creators (both web and print) who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause.
Together we have each donated an original drawing of our own female characters, and combined them into a single wallpaper image. The wallpaper features characters from The Phoenix Requiem, Girls with Slingshots, Earthsong, Looking for Group, Shadowgirls, The Uniques and three IDW Publishing titles: Fallen Angel, The Dreamland Chronicles and The Dreamer, and lots, lots more!
Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. Just like Lincoln and Wilberforce before us we can stop modern slavery dead in its tracks. Lets make it happen.
The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.
Anyway back to the comic. I would think this would be the best interview ever if the Boss allowed you to smack him in the face. Either Alan is very drunk (or punch drunk) or he just wants to see if Bernadette is the real deal. I’m probably going to side with the latter.
In other news, more stuff has arrived:
Its going to be the first anniversary of Hard-Graft next month so I might concoct a little competition or something to help celebrate!
My experience is that the more you try to dissuade a woman from doing something the more resolved they become to do it anyway. Silly Alan.
This focuses on yet another great debate: attitudes on women in situations what require elements of physical effort and violence. Dad, a man of the old school in the time when you still received the rum ration and jumped out of WW2 era blimps during parachute training, was and still is clear in his view: if a woman can successfully complete either P Company (the Parachute Regiment’s selection course) or the Commando course (for the Royal Marine Commando) then by all means, bring em’ on.
Alas (well, according to him anyway although I doubt he’s shedding any real tears about this) no woman has managed to successfully complete either of the above courses.
I am inclined to agree although for different reasons mostly because whoever gets the job should get it because they are of the highest possible standard rather than because of any gender or racial favouratism.
In other news, 100 of these bad boys arrived the other day. Check em’ out:
Also this week I’m expecting 50 badges and 50 fridge magnets which I’ll tweet photos of in due course. This is all for the London Webcomix Thing 2010. I’ve elected to go for cheap to make free merch and a tiny print run of books to sell. I might sell some snake oil but I doubt Rose and Steve (who will be sitting either side of me) will approve of that.
And finally, want to hear me ask Iggy of Trout webcomic for Avatar shirts? Of course you do!
Ooooh, shouldn’t have been using a phone at the bar Alan! Naughty! Christmas has been a very busy one for me and lets face it,when you have a turkey, a goose, a glazed ham and a rib joint of beef as well as the usual assortment of steamed veg, cold meat and vegetarian pies and confectionery it can be very very hard to get through. Which is where beer, port and some nice single malts of whisky come in handy.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed your christmas because I definitely enjoyed mine and I’m looking forward to my nice slippers and the books I picked up. Very excited. One is about organised crime in the East End of London.
Good news, I was on the 6th Rampage Network Podcast along with Alex who does Garanos and Iggy who does the webcomic Trout and moonlighted behind the scenes on a really small arthouse movie by a certain Mr James Cameron? Probably never heard of him I guess. Anyway much fun was had and I’ll link you guys to the podcast by twitter when it comes out!
Don’t forget that I’ll be at the Webcomix Thing 2010 in London. I’ve confirmed that I’ll be running a very limited run of books comprising of the first two issues, the first side story and some art. It’ll be a nice introduction to Hard Graft but the quantities will be small. Quite small but the margins are still astoundingly cheap for me. I’m using Fallen Angel Media for the printing.
Strong opinions abound in this strip right from the start.
Now, some of the references here may not get the most..uh..positive of reactions but to put this in perspective: these aren’t the views of either the author or the artist whoever they may be. We’re looking into some of Bernadette’s motivations and we’re getting some of Alan’s professional views into the bargain. That is worth more than its weight in gold.
If you want me to play devils advocate then yes, while both the British Army and Loyalist paramilitaries caused or committed some of the most infamous acts of death and misery in the Troubles I think Bernadette does have a point when you have groups who believe in indiscriminate killing regardless of religion or political affiliation or even nationality then you’ve officially given up the moral high ground. For those who have romantic but ultimately false visions of some sort of heroic “struggle” look no further than the women of the Bogside or Free Derry who were tarred & feathered, I say again tarred & feathered for the crime of being friendly to British Soldiers.
Everyone have their skeletons.
On a lighter note, I thought I’d re-iterate that I’ll be at table number 63 at the UK Webcomix Thing 2010 in Mile End, London on the 27th of March! I’ve already ordered 100 postcards as well as a nice display poster so you won’t confuse me for the utterly superb work that Rose Loughran does at Red Moon Rising. To find out more and to see who else is coming, click below!
So here it is, part one of the first Hard-Graft side story. Set in Prague we’re going to be following Bernadette for now. This page also sheds a bit of light into Bern’s mixed heritage, more of which we’ll see in the next few issues. This is drawn and inked by the Jules Rivera, destroyer of worlds and washer of plates! She’s actually running her very own Christmas/wintery storyline on her comic, Marsh Rocket. Go check it out and see what you think!
Meanwhile, we’ve got a vote incentive which is the draft colour of page 44. I think Rose Loughran’s colour work is absolutely superb as we can see in her comic, Red Moon Rising and when you see the completed results I’m sure you’ll agree. Again, apologies for the lateness but the results will be well worth it!
Finally, I’m announcing that I’ll be attending the 2010 Webcomix Thing at Mile End, London on the 27th of March. Tickets are only £3 and I’ll have a few goodies to give away to those smart enough to turn up in time so if you do pop along, swing by table 64 on your way to see Kate Beaton and say hi!
