Writing the Hooded Man

If you watched my recent interview with Matt Stevens you will have heard about my next comics project. I’m still pinching myself that I have the opportunity to write an official Robin of Sherwood story.

Growing up we were spoilt for choice with so many action-adventure shows on TV and like most kids my age I devoured them all. Those shows totally dominated pop culture in the 80s and they definitely occupied a lot of my time. I had Airwolf pyjamas, I sang the theme tune to The Fall Guy in a class assembly and I used to read all The A-Team novels. I also wrote a script for an A-Team episode which would qualify as fan fiction these days.

Along with Dukes of Hazzard, Knight Rider and Street Hawk I never missed an episode of these shows. One series however transcended the others and continues to occupy a very special place in my heart. Robin of Sherwood had the distinction of being a new British adventure show. It played into my love of history, it had a brilliant ensemble cast and the story was set in a place that seemed very familiar to me. It looked like what was outside my window.

I grew up in rural Dorset, so it was easy to head into the woods to pretend I was in Sherwood Forest. To this day whenever I’m in a woodland area, the distinctive theme to the show starts to play in my head. That was another big part of the show’s appeal, the groundbreaking soundtrack by Clannad.

The third and sadly final season of the show featured Jason Connery as a new Robin. Unlike his predecessor, Michael Praed, he never had an Annual to accompany his tenure on the show. So Barnaby Eaton-Jones, who has done such a great job with the full cast audio adventures and books, is creating one. And I have the immense privilege to have written a short comic story which will be appearing in it. Pre-order information will follow very soon!

My research involved picking out some episodes to rewatch on blu-ray, though I didn’t need an excuse to dive into the third season again. I also bought a copy of the original annual on EBay, so I could get a feel for how the comic story in it was done. When I was writing the story I dug out my vinyl copy of Legend and let Clannad’s music transport me to Sherwood Forest, Nottingham and Wickham. Being part of Robin of Sherwood, even in a small way, is as big a deal for me as if I’d been able to write Spider-Man or Batman. I can’t wait for it to be illustrated and then available to have on my shelf.

Annual Mock-Up Cover by Colin Brockhurst for Robin of Sherwood: The Knights of the Apocalypse crowdfunding in 2016.

New music project - Cursus 123 430

I have once again had the opportunity to work with artist Matt Rooke, following our previous collaborations for Deep Purple and Europe for Bait Studio. This time we’ve created a comic together to accompany the new solo album by multi-instrumentalist Robert Reed (Magenta, Sanctuary).

The story behind the electronic instrumental concept album comes from Les Penning (Mike Oldfield), who also provides the narration on the LP. My role was to condense and adapt his overarching narrative into a comic script, before bringing Matt on board as the artist. It was a really fun project to work on and getting to listen to the album as I wrote the script really helped me visualize what was needed on the page.

If you like Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, or John Carpenter then I think you will really enjoy the record which the comic enhances. You can hear some of the album in this promo, complete with animation by Rob’s long time collaborator Peter Pashen.

You can pre-order the album here and you can find out more in this Prog Magazine article.

Flux on hold while the world is on lockdown.

The Kickstarter campaign for Issue 2 of Flux was due to launch today, so I was expecting to be writing a post here extolling the virtues of the sci-fi series written by me and Steve Aryan, with art by Maysam Barza, colours by Pressy, a cover by Azim Akberali and letters by Sean Rinehart. However, the world and everything in it has changed beyond recognition since we completed work on the issue.

Since the CV-19 virus outbreak has taken hold of society and shows no immediate sign of loosening its grip, we have taken the decision to put the campaign on hold until things settle down. We did toy with doing a digital only campaign, but our backers preferred the idea of including physical copies still, so ultimately ,despite people being willing to wait for those copies, we felt it best to hang fire. With so many people, ourselves included, concerned about the health of loved ones, their livelihood etc it felt like the best course of action. We’ll be back bigger and better later in the year.

To give people something to read during social distancing and while staying at home we have put Issue 1 up on Gumroad as a reduced price of £1.99 . So you can pick it up there if you haven’t already and please do share the link around.

Flux success and the launch of a new imprint

The Kickstarter campaign for Flux # 1, which ended about a week ago, was a success and we ended the campaign on 168%. Getting to over 150% of our target unlocked our stretch goal, so all our backers receive a special pilot season PDF of other projects Stephen Aryan and I have in the pipeline. Sean Rinehart has been doing a great job on the pre-press design work, pulling together the print version of the book (which has now been sent to the printer) , the digital edition, digital special edition, director’s cut alternative scene and the pilot season too.

The imprint that Steve and I have set up for our first Kickstarter comic series and beyond is called Atlas Stone. My friendship with Steve got me back into watching strongman events over the past six or seven years, as he’s a big fan of the sport. World’s Strongest Man 2017 Eddie Hall’s ‘never say never’ attitude (back up your BS as he’d put it) has been a real inspiration for both of us to keep going with our creative endeavors. Here he is becoming the first person ever to deadlift 500kg.

48 Hours - with no Eddie Murphy

As I write this it’s 48 hours until the end of the Kickstarter campaign for Flux. We’ve managed to make our target and are currently sitting on 136%, thanks to our amazing 117 backers.

I don’t think we’ll make our 150% stretch goal, but I didn’t realise that our final days were on Thanksgiving and Black Friday when we launched!

If you haven’t backed the book yet and would like to there is still time. The issues is all done, PDFs are made for the digital rewards and we just need to give the printer final numbers, then we’re all go. So having copies in Dec/Jan is a certainty.

This is what our cover looks like in all its glory, with art by series artist Maysam Barza, Flux logo by Paul Nicholas, Atlas Stone logo by Zach F Evans and overall design by Sean Rinehart.

We have had a little bit more coverage too and you can hear what Come get Some thought of the issue on their YouTube indie comics special.

Ten days left to back Flux #1

There are just ten days left in the Kickstarter campaign for the first issue of Flux, the sci-fi conspiracy thriller comic written by me and Stephen Aryan with art by Maysam Barza.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve had so far, we hit our £1,000 target just before we hit the halfway mark and now we have 101 backers. Our next goal is to get to 50% over target, as that will unlock our first stretch goal an exclusive Pilot Season Preview. If we hit £1,500 all backers will receive this special digital comic packed with over 30 pages of content written by myself and Steve, previewing some of our other projects.

Thanks to all who have backed us and shared the campaign’s details.

Seven Shades and Napoleon Stone launches at Thought Bubble

Sadly I won’t be at Thought Bubble this year, which has now relocated to Harrogate from Leeds, but you can still pick up some of my work there. The Comic-Con takes place next weekend, the 9th and 10th of November.

Seven Shades - Hell’s Belles will be debuting at the show from Deadstar Publishing, this 48-page one-shot story (with an intro by Alex Ronald) follows on from Issue 1-4 that came out last year. You’ll be able to pick up a copy there and the earlier issues if you don’t have them yet. My co-creator Dave Clifford will be at the Deadstar table selling original artwork from the book too. This video gives you an insight into the book and what to expect in the Issue, filmed in Cardiff’s very own Comic Guru store.

Unseen Shadows, the genre-bending pulp universe created by Barry Nugent, has three new titles coming out at the show too. One of these is Napoleon Stone and the Army of Set  which is a Find your Fate Game Book, where the reader chooses multiple paths through the story. The story, created by Barry and Richmond Clements with art by Alex Moore and game mechanics by Ant McGarry-Thickitt, leads directly into Fragments of Fate, the Napoleon Stone one-shot comic I wrote, with art by Roy Huteson Stewart. And that comic appears reprinted in the book and you’ll have a lot of fun finding your way to it.

Flux is on Kickstarter

Sci-fi crime thriller mini-series Flux is now on Kickstarter. You can pre-order Issue 1 through the site and if we get to our target, you’ll have the book very soon indeed. We’re offering some special rewards including the script to the issue, a director’s cut style alternate scene, an early look at part of Issue 2 and an audio commentary on the issue from me and co-writer Stephen Aryan.

Here is the link to the campaign, we’ve been live for about a day and a half and we’re currently on 30% of our goal. If you are able to back the book, we’d all really appreciate it and sharing the campaign on social media will really help us too. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peterogers/flux-1

If you aren’t sure what Flux is all about, watch the video below.

Flux coming to Kickstarter

Steve Aryan and I have been friends for years, we originally met when we both had tables at comic conventions for our self-published books. In the subsequent ten plus years we’ve become close friends, not only do we podcast together (Bags of Action), we also co-write together too.

Sci-fi thriller comic book mini-series Flux was the first thing we worked on together and we realised very quickly that our differing writing approaches complimented each other very well. Skype calls helped us shape the story beyond Steve’s original idea and then we met up in person to really break the story fully. That was in Leeds for Thought Bubble one year, though I can’t remember which one of us was sitting at the laptop and which one was pacing the hotel room. Once we found artist Maysam Barza on the Small Press Commandos Facebook page things really started to take shape.

““An ongoing, complex mystery, FLUX shows readers a twisted version of today where time travel terrorism and casual homicide have become a terrifying norm. Fans of Looper and Blade Runner will feel right at home in the world Rogers, Aryan, & Barza have created.” ”

— Sterling Gates, writer/producer, The Flash

We’ve come very close to the book being picked up by a large publisher on more than one occasion, but now we’ve decided that the best way to get Flux out into the world is via Kickstarter. We’re planning to launch our first campaign in November for Issue 1, with the subsequent three issues and trade collection following in 2020 if we’re successful.

Sean Rinehart is doing lettering and pre-press on the book, Paul Nicholas designed the Flux logo and Zach F Evans is helping us with our video and imprint logo design work for the campaign. If you’re on twitter you can keep up with our progress by following FluxFi and if you like the sound of the book, you’ll be able to pre-order via Kickstarter very soon.

“Smartly using the familiar framing of a Police Procedural, Flux introduces us to a world like our own but with a serious twist: Time Travel is REAL. Time Terrorism is real. Echoing the best of Fringe and the X-Files the team take us in a world we only think we understand. Fantastic.”

— Mike Collins, artist for Marvel, DC, 2000AD. Storyboard artist on Doctor Who, Good Omens and His Dark Materials

Seven Shades of inspiration....in the pub

Last night I met up with my Seven Shades co-creator Dave Clifford (Dexter’s Half Dozen) for a few drinks and some food in a city centre pub. This isn’t a particularly rare or surprising event, as a great deal of this comic series has been created in places that serve beer. Come to think of it Dave originally pitched the idea to me in a different city centre pub over some post Cardiff International Comic Expo drinks a few years ago. Spending a few hours discussing some of our plans for the series last night did serve to remind me how different working on Seven Shades is from the other comics projects I’ve been involved in.

Dave came to me with an idea for a book, a supernatural Western series and after some back and fore over a year or two I agreed to come on board as the writer. I soon came to realise that the amount of ideas Dave had for the book was astonishing, and that was one of the reasons it took me so long to say yes to being involved. I was flattered that he wanted me to be part of the series, but I wasn’t sure what I could really offer. We started to meet semi regularly over a few pints to work out the best way to tackle the series nonetheless. Prior to this title many of the books I’ve worked on have been with artists from the other side of the world, so collaborating with a fellow South Wales creator meant getting together in person was something we were able to do. When we chatted last night and worked out some back matter for the next issue, we both came to realise these in person meet ups have played a huge part in how we’ve shaped the comic.

Not only did Dave have hundreds of ideas when we first discussed the book, he also had hundreds more that he’d dreamt up in the time that passed before I committed to working on it. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who comes up with so many ideas as Dave, he has thoughts on what we can put into the book on a daily basis and comes up with far more character, plot and visual concepts in a few weeks than most people do in a lifetime. He just needed a way to contain them into a story and at first that was my main role, listening to Dave and trying to find the narrative throughline, taking some of the more disparate conceits and working out cohesive ways to pull them together. Really, for the first few pub chats I was a story editor more than anything else.

Over time the dynamic has changed and we’ve found ways to focus on the overarching story while also honing in on what is needed for each arc, each issue and each page. Now when either of us thinks of an image or scene that is seemingly unrelated to where the series is heading we spend time to explore how to use it and if we find a way to make it work, we then create springboards to future plot or character moments. The key to our process has become breaking story together and we’ve had a great deal of our best Eureka moments while sitting in a bar, which is in keeping with the fact the local saloon is a key location in the story.

The other thing I’m glad we’ve done is working Marvel style. We leave our meet up with the next issue plotted out, then I turn that into a loose script, no panel breakdowns just a paragraph or two about each page. As Dave came up with the concept and his art is fully painted, this gives him greater freedom and it’s also helped us find ways to put more humour into the book too. It’s been great fun to build visual gags from issue to issue this way. Dave sends over some thumbnails, then the fully realised painted pages and I set about writing the dialogue, captions and sound effects. I’ve only ever done one story this way before (Seniors) and Dave has never worked from anything other than a full script, so it was a challenge for us both at first. Now that we’ve found a rhythm it works well and I enjoy the challenge of scripting this way too. I actually think Issue 3 of the first arc is one of the best things I’ve ever written.

Last year we managed to put out four issues of our supernatural Western series, with local publisher Deadstar Publishing and we took the book ICE in Birmingham and Thought Bubble in Leeds and via the publisher all around the UK. This year we’re focussing on a bumper sized one shot that bridges the gap from our first ‘season’ to our second, that’s painted and scripted and we’re hard at work on the back matter to take it to sixty pages. There will be more news on when and where that launches soon. Our ambitious Seven Shades in seven trades intention means if all goes according to plan we’ll have seven such arcs and six one shots before the series is complete. If you haven’t checked the book out yet, you can pick up the issues via Deadstar and if you happen to find yourself in Cardiff and notice two guys laughing and making notes in the corner of a pub, it may well be us.

Counting down to Comics Salopia

Comics Salopia

The festival with a difference!

This Saturday I’ll be heading to Shrewsbury for Comics Salopia , a new town wide International Comics Art Festival inspired by European events like Angouleme. Amongst those involved with the event are small press stalwart and long running UK convention organiser Shane Chebsey and former Comics Laureate and current Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard. This podcast with Geek Syndicate reveals more about what their intentions are and what they have planned.

I’ll be there with co-writer Steve Aryan attending panels, meeting up with fellow creators and editors and generally get a feel for Comics Salopiai’s inaugural event.

If you’re going along you’ll also be able to pick up issues of the first arc of Seven Shades, the supernatural Western I created with artist Dave Clifford. I’m sure I’ll stop by the Deadstar Publishing table at some point to sign a few copies too.

Seven Shades and Stephen Aryan at MCM Comic Con

If you are heading to MCM Comic Con at the Excel Centre in London at the end of this month, look out for a particular comic book and a certain fantasy author too.

If you’ve haven’t picked up supernatural western series Seven Shades by yours truly and artist Dave Clifford yet, you will find all four copies at the Deadstar Publishing stand in the Comics Village.

Although I won’t be in attendance my ongoing co-writer and podcast partner Stephen Aryan, will be there, alongside the likes of Frank Miller and Chris Claremont. If you’d like to catch him at the show, here’s where you’ll be able to find him.

Saturday

17:00pm – 17:45pm – Creator Stage: So, you want to be a writer

If you’ve ever wanted to be a writer than this panel is for you.  Moderator and Author Ed Cox (The Relic Guild trilogy) joins authors Marieke Nijkamp (Before I let go) Stephen Aryan (Magefall) Lucy Hounsom (The World Maker Trilogy) Tim Pratt (The Wrong Stars) and Jeanette NG (Under the Pendulum Sun) as they discuss what it takes to be a writer.

18:00pm – 18:30pm – Forbidden Planet SIGNING

Stephen Aryan (Magefall) Tim Pratt (The Wrong Stars) Lucy Hounsom (The World Maker Trilogy) Marieke Nijkamp (Before I Let Go) Jeanette NG (Under the Pendulum Sky)

Sunday

12:00pm – 12:45pm – Creator Stage: Orbit Presents

Orbit Authors Nicholas Eames (Bloody Rose) Tasha Suri (Empire of Sand) Mike Carey (The Girl with All the Gifts) Tade Thompson (Rosewater) Heather Child (Everything About You) RJ Baker (King of Assassins) Stephen Aryan (Mage Born) talk all things Orbit

15:30pm – 16:00pm – Forbidden Planet SIGNING

Daniel Polansky (A City Dreaming) Stephen Aryan (Magefall) Christa Faust (Batman: A Killing Joke) Tim Pratt (The Wrong Stars)

16:00pm – 16:45pm – Creator Stage: Writers Block

Authors Tim Pratt (The Wrong Stars) Daniel Polansky (A City Dreaming) Marieke Nijkamp (Before I Let Go) Christa Faust (Batman: A Killing Joke) and Stephen Aryan (Magefall) discuss the dreaded “writer’s block” and the various ways that it can be overcome.

The Interactives artist heads to Marvel's Ironheart

I worked with artist Luciano Vecchio on fantasy mini-series The Interactives, which was published by Markosia. Since then he’s gone on to work on a number of titles for DC and Marvel.

It has just been announced that he will be joining the creative team on the first issue of Marvel’s Ironheart series, spinning out of Invincible Iron Man and continuing the adventures of RiRi Williams. The news was announced on Bleeding Cool earlier this week.

I absolutely loved working with Luciano on The Interactives and I’m pleased to see his career in comics go from strength to strength. If his schedule ever allows, I’d really like to get to work with him again. For now I’ll make sure I pick up Ironheart #1 from Marvel.

Thought Bubble - the return

Comic conventions are like buses, none for some time and then two come along at once. Our publisher on Seven Shades, Deadstar Publishing, was busy at Cardiff Film and Comic Con so Dave Clifford and I took to the road and headed North to Leeds for Thought Bubble. This was my fourth time at the show, but my first appearance since 2014 and it was Dave’s first chance to experience what has become the largest comic event in the UK. Despite the Friday traffic conspiring to make our drive six hours long, a mix of metal albums and jaffa cakes kept us in good spirits.

As usual with Thought Bubble, the social side is just as important as the convention itself and it was great to spend a couple of evenings with some very good friends, fellow creators Chris Hurst, Chris Lewis, Glenn Moane (all CE alumni), Magnus Aspli and Dan Hill who I was meeting for the first time.

We were sharing a table with Huw “Lem” Davies and his Moon of Chance, who ably managed to put up with Dave and I for two whole days! Our table was in the Comixology Originals Marquee, which had a steady flow of people throughout both days. We launched Issue 3 and 4 of Seven Shades at the show, bringing the first arc of the story to a close. Over the course of the weekend, Dave and I chatted through plot points and made notes that have made us believe we will end up with Seven Shades in Seven Trades eventually! Books sold across both day, as did Dave’s original art.

I wasn’t able to leave our table that often, but I did find time to head to another of the marquees to catch up briefly with Mike Collins and Marc Laming and to finally meet Paul Allor in the flesh, but there were lots of people I didn’t manage to find time to see in the end. We also recorded a quick interview with another old friend, Jimmy Aquino for his podcast Comic News Insider.

Thought Bubble moved to a variety of city centre locations last year and when I heard that news I wasn’t sure at first about it leaving the Royal Armouries, but once we settled in I soon became accustomed to the new locations. Having the show right in the heart of the city made me realise quite how mainstream comic conventions have become, locals didn’t bat an eyelid at the cosplayers roaming the streets and there were a large number of families in attendance, especially on Sunday. My other major takeaway was that compared to conventions of yesteryear, that seemed to be predominantly men of a certain age, this was a truly diverse show on both sides of the table. That’s very good news for the future of the medium.

It was a tiring but inspiring weekend, which we didn’t want to come to an end. After another long drive home, this time helped by Queen’s back catalogue we were soon back down to earth.

Spending the weekend on ICE

I headed to Birmingham last weekend for ICE, alongside my Seven Shades artist/co-creator David Clifford and our publisher Kev Davies, from Deadstar Publishing. Dave and I were at the Deadstar table, helping with sales and signing copies of the first two issues of our supernatural western series. Like many one day conventions, the event was family friendly, inclusive and well run, as you’d expect from an event run by Shane Chebsey.

I also managed to meet up with Steve Aryan, my co-writer on a number of current projects, as we were both attending the Comics Uncovered keynote speech from Senior DC editor Jim Chadwick. It was an enlightening, realistic and inspirational talk and it was good to chat to Jim about our writing backgrounds during the Q&A session at the end of his session.

Although there wasn’t quite as much footfall as at some other recent similar sized conventions, the people who had attended were really engaged. We sold come copies of the book and had some interesting conversations about comics, art and creating. It was good to be back at a convention again, as ever half the fun is meeting up with other creators who you only get to see in this environment.

There’s no rest for the wicked, as Dave and I are representing Deadstar again this weekend, at Thought Bubble in Leeds. Our third convention of the year sees the launch of Issue 3 and 4 of Seven Shades, following a successful Issue 1 and 2 launch in Cardiff earlier in the year.

The Family Graves is Fantastic

A few years ago I was lucky enough to read the first draft scripts for Timothy Bach's The Family Graves mini-series.  Tim, like myself, is a member of the Comics Experience workshop and he posted the scripts for peer and pro critiques from other members. I had very few notes to give and I was instantly hooked, it reminded me of classic Fantastic Four stories and the other Marvel books I'd grown up with, escapist fun with iconic and immediate characters.

Fast forward to now and I've been lucky again, as Tim has let me read the first two issues (which are coming to comic shops very soon from Source Point Press and CE), with art by Brian Atkins. And now I love the finished honed comic just as much as those original scripts. The likes of Phil Hester and Mark Waid have already expressed how much they like the series too. 

You can read the first ten pages of Issue One for yourself here, and when you have I'm certain you'll be looking to pre-order it from your local comic shop, the Previews code is below. 

Prog inspired urban fantasy - Chalk

Back in 2016 I shared some art from a comic series I had in development entitled Chalk. Eighteen months on and the project is back on track, with a new artist Diego Simone. We've almost completed the first ten pages of Issue 1, with Diego providing pencils, inks and colours and Sean Rinehart pencilling. 

I've known Diego for some time, he worked on stories that appeared in our Eagle award nominated anthology Eleventh Hour back when I was part of Orang Utan Comics. He went on to take over as series artist on Starship Troopers (Markosia) and has worked on books like Alpha Girl (Image) and as a colourist on Dark Horse Presents. So I'm very excited to finally get to work with him myself, it's already proving to be a fruitful and inspiring collaboration. 

The book, which is set in and around Winchester in Hampshire, England centres around folklore Professor and former prog musician Howard Chalk. I can't say much more than that until we know the book has a home. More on this in the coming months. 

Seven Shades coming to Cardiff.

Supernatural Western series 'Seven Shades' by David Clifford and yours truly is coming to the Cardiff Independent Comic Expo. To celebrate we're offering some exclusive giveaways, find out more at the official Seven Shades site

Seven Shades shaping up

It's March already and this is my first blog post of 2018, which shows just how busy I've been. As the first quarter of the year edges closer to its finish, I thought I'd share what I've been up to, starting with comic book series Seven Shades. 

Seven Shades is a supernatural western series created by Dave Clifford (Dexter's Half Dozen), with a little help from yours truly. Dave came to me with enough ideas for a few hundred issues, and every time we meet he suggests more crazy characters and warped plot points.  So in many ways my role on this project is that of creative ranch-hand, herding his ideas like cattle.

This process usually takes place, rather fittingly, in a local hostelry.  Then, once we've broken the story together I get to writing, Marvel style, describing the page but not breaking down the panels. This means Dave can really go to town when he approaches each page, perfect for a fully painted book, before I do a dialogue and captions pass. 

Working on Seven Shades has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone and it isn't the type of book I'd have ever come up with on my own. Issue 1 and 2 are both complete and Dave is about halfway through painting Issue 3. We plan to have released the first four issues and initial arc by the end of this year. Watch this space for more about that very soon. 

Novel for a dark Christmas for Tarja

Following the recent motion comic style music video for Deep Purple, I have been working on another music based project for earMUSIC in my role at Bait Studio.

Tarja Turunen, the former Nightwish lead singer (I have a CD copy of Once in my collection), has a new festive album coming out called 'From Spirits and Ghosts' (Score for a Dark Christmas)'.  

To support the album we have created a graphic novel, inspired by and loosely based on 'Together' a new original song by Tarja. Written by me, with art by Conor Boyle (Hook Jaw), colouring by Matt Soffe and pre-press by Sean Rinehart. 

You can order a copy of 'From Spirits and Ghosts (Novel for a dark Christmas)' exclusively here.