Back to work...oh so much work
Welcome back to Burnt Barn Business, the newsletter I intend to get out on Sundays but generally fail and do it on a Monday instead.
First things first, I’ll get the flogging out of the way.
We’re into the final two weeks on Shaky Kane and I’s Kickstarter campaign for Weird Work #3, the final issue of our sci-fi noir series. If you’ve not checked it out yet, then you can find it here along with every other comic I’ve ever made - www.kickstarter.com/projects/burntbarncomics/weird-work-3.
“What else has been going on?” I hear someone asking at the back.
Well, last we spoke I was on my way to Jornadas del comic de Avilés, in my opinion, the most fun comic event going. And once again it didn’t disappoint.
As part of the English-speaking contingent I spent most of my time hanging out with Ramón Pérez, Karl Kerschl, Erik Kriek, Al Ewing, Cully Hamner and Teddy Kristiansen - all incredibly talented creators, but more importantly great people.
I strongly recommend you seek out any and all work by these spectacular humans.
PHOTO CAPTION: Just look at Teddy’s lovely face!
We all had much fun (even Erik even if he pretended otherwise) and I got to spend a lot of time watching these masters work on commissions and have spaghetti bolognese as a starter at an 11 pm dinner.
Come Thursday, the Spanish guys turned up, which meant me getting to spend a few hours chatting with some of my favourite current artists, such as the disgustingly talented, Jorge Fornés. However, it’s also where things got a little messy.
I fell foul of Iban Coello and Bruno Redondo. They got me with one of the oldest tricks in the book. They made mention of a secret club that really I didn’t want to be a part of, which of course made me have to be a part of it, and well, it ended in me downing at least three giant gin and tonics, staying out till 6:30am at which point the barman insisted me and Al Ewing really needed to go home (I was sure I was home by 4, so this was all a big surprise to me the next day), being sick in my hotel room bath, then being awoken by a very surprised cleaning lady at 1:30 in the afternoon as I hadn’t managed to put my key card in the holder to let them know the room was occupied, being sick in the bath again, deciding I could still make it down for 2 pm lunch, cleaning the bath, having a shower, heading down for the previously mentioned 2 pm lunch, then to my utter shock being led semi-comatose to the Avilés local government building where we were presented to the mayor as I did my best not to collapse onto a very expensive looking rug and then have a giant group photo to show what a wonderful collection of comic creating types had visited the small town that year.
Note, me standing at the back clearly having fallen asleep standing up at this point.
Needless to say, it’s all a funny story we can laugh about now, and it was an absolutely brilliant five days. I want to say a big thank you to all the people that make this happen every year, Jorge Iban, Angel, German, Ricardo, Rocio and the translation king, Diego. It’s a truly special event.
PHOTO CAPTION: Some of the current Spanish jewels in the crown (topical) of comics; Bruno Redondo, Iban Coello & Jorge Fornés.
Following my week of comics and misadventure (and travel troubles), I was a broken man till about Wednesday, just about managing to get a bit of corporate work done. Now I’m fit and firing again I find myself with heaps to be getting on with. Multiple pitches along with some brilliant artists, other pitches I’m working on solo, tidying up a script for a new six-issue series, continuing on with two other scripts that I know the artists will need in the next couple of months, plus the Kickstarter and my corporate work.
It’s a lot, but after five days surrounded by some of the best people making comics right now, I feel ready to throw myself into it and keep clawing out my own little space amongst these beautiful behemoths.
Finally, they’ve also added The West Wing back onto Spanish Amazon Prime. YIPPEE!
I think that’s just about all for now. I may answer some questions or something soon, so if anyone has any for me, please throw them into the comments.
Speak soon.
All the best,
Jordan