This is a new project i’m drawing and is written by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, who does a good job of explaining what it’s all about.
And, here is the website.
Cartoons by Sean Azzopardi.

Just a quick post to say Bristol was really, really good this year. Fantastic weather, lots of hot comic action. I think this was my best Bristol, for many positive reasons. I was part of the Londonundergroundcomics table, i had a book available, and could show of my new project.
I was interviewed for radio for the first time, and met lots, and lots of cool people.
Wickedcool!
Can anyone help the lovely Jenika with some table space at next weeks Bristol con. You won’t regret having such charming and talented company on your table.
Laurence may give me some sort of panel layout or have specific ideas for actual panels but otherwise I do most of my working out on the page. Which is bad really because I end up turning the paper to shit from all the rubbing out I do. I try and use sketchbooks to work out panels and things but then I just get frustrated because I can’t get the same result down on the actual page. A lot of times I end up drawing a good panel on another bit of paper and cutting and gluing it onto the real page.
I get bored easily so I may start a page, pencil and ink bits of it and then move onto another. I usually leave tricky panels behind as well so by the time I get to the last page I end up going back and doing a sweep of all the pages, finishing bits off, adding and tweaking here and there. There may be particular pages or sequences that I’ve been dying to get to and I know exactly how they’ll look in my head so they get done quickest. On the whole though, most panels get inked soon after being pencilled. Inkings my favorite bit.
Basically a bunch of Pilot ball pens, a super-thin one which I end up having to replace every few weeks cos I’m too violent with it, some black markers and cheap pencils. That’s about it. I’ve started using grey Letraset markers which are fun too and I seem to work faster with them which is always good. Need to keep trying new things though, have never used a brush or dip pen or anything, probably about time I did. Biro’s are great as well, they’re like inky pencils. I’m one of those people who believes you can use use anything from a stick with mud on the end to a string of snot to get a good effect. You should never be held down to what some people regard as ”professional tools”. Balls to that. I don’t use a light-box either, I ink straight on top of the pencils and then rub ‘em out (often too soon, smudging the ink). There’s a certain energy you lose I think, when simply tracing on top of the original pencils.

It just adds something a little different I reckon. I usually shade using crosshatching which I’m not very good at really and it is time consuming. I’m using the usual TFTF crosshatching style on the first issue of The Dan Lester Mysteries but reckon I’ll change to grey tones with the second issue, simply because it’s faster and it distinguishes it from Tales From The Flat a bit more. With Bloc, which is so different from anything I’ve done, I just had to use the grey-scale to make it work, to add a bit of depth. Hopefully with Bloc, people who are familiar with TFTF will look at it and not even realise it was me who drew it.
I’d love to see a full colour TFTF comic sometime down the line, it’s just so damn expensive. There’s a reason one doesn’t see many, if any small press titles in full colour. But we will get around to it sometime. When we have had stuff in colour and when I’ve been the one colouring it I just use Letraset markers (they’d best see this and all the advertising I’m giving em and send me free pens), you can build up layers of colour with them and once they dry they look a little like watercolours. I’m still figuring them out really. We did a full colour two page comic for Volume Magazine which was coloured on Photoshop by our now resident colourist, Jake Harold and that looked great. I’m not a big fan of computer colouring as it is a little soulless but if done right it can look good. I just like my comics to look a little more organic. That’s why we rarely use computer lettering as well.
Well I’m useless with Photoshop so I don’t use it directly for anything. But once every-thing’s scanned in, Laurence or Jake will rectify mistakes or paste in new panels if I’ve not done it myself by hand. With TFTF#7 we started putting all the lettering on with Photoshop. I still lettered it all by hand, we just had it on there as a different layer. I’m crap at placing lettering and Laurence always shouts at me so using Photoshop to do it just gives you more options and freedom.

Y’know, thinking about it, it would be nice to work in a sort of a studio environment with other artists and writers. I’m usually at my best alone in my room at 3am but I also work well if someone’s in the room with me doing something vaguely creative. Even if they’re just playing computer games
actually. I think it’s possible to kind of feed of each other’s creative energy and create a great working space. So yea, a studio type situation where a bunch of people just knuckle down for hours on end and listen to good music would be great. No bloody TV’s. I never have the TV on while working, music only. Computer games are an exception for some reason. The sound of gunfire sustains me.
A new review over at Midnight Fiction.
yay!
Ed 4 has been reviewed by Gavin Burrows as part of his Thing 08 report.
Sean Azzopardi’s Ed 4 was the one comic actually set in Summer, perhaps a result of Sean’s deep devotion to sitting in gardens. Sean’s a great artist, and Ed an iconic-looking character, but after four issues it may be time he took Ed to pastures new. Perhaps the emphasis on Ed as an artist, battling to find motivation or follow his muse, makes things too self-referential.
I must say that Gavin has cut straight to the core with this. I should have held off putting this issue out, and combined it with the next, where Ed goes on the road.
Bookartbookshop, an independent book distributor will be hosting an exhibition of comics from the Camden Comics Stall. Regular titles such as Modern Monstrosity, Summer Ball, Tongue of the Dead, Monkeys might Puke, Ninja Bunny, Twelve Hour Shift will be displayed along with the vast talents of the ever changing table stock.
Opening night and private view will be April 11th 2008 around 6ish, and the show will run until the 25th.
Bookartbookshop
17 Pitfield St
N1 6HB

Exciting news from phatcomics. Ed 4 is now on sale. It can be found on this site, at Gosh! and Orbital. It can also be found at this weekends Thing , and the Camden comic stall.
Ed 4
£2.00 + £1 postage
Matt Badham has just published his interview with me on his overspill site.