Draw Into The Shadows: Try Out For The Unseen Shadows Team At Bristol Comic Expo

Unseen Shadows's sinister Kingpin has posted this over on the Unseen Shadows website:

Unseen Shadows is currently inviting submissions from artists (pencillers, colourists and inkers) for a number of stories.

I will be reviewing portfolios at the Bristol Comics Expo (12th -13th May) from the Unseen Shadows table throughout the weekend. If you cannot make the show this year, or would like to send submissions in advance for discussion on the day please send an email tobarry@unseenshadows.com but please do not send any files over 5mb by email ( I realise that this may mean the images will be in low res but that’s fine). If the files are bigger than this please send a dropbox or largefile transfer link.

The stories in progress at the moment cover a wide variety of subject matter, and it is originality and quality that I’m looking for rather than any specific genre or art style. I would rather have something unusual, challenging, inventive, creative, and inspired than another version of something that is already out there. The writers who are currently scripting the stories will be working closely with me to select the artists we need.

There are no page rates available for Unseen Shadows work. Creators are offering their skills for free at this stage in the hope of this becoming something bigger and, of course, for love of the material. All money taken from sales is put back into the company for further development and promotion. Right now consider this a way to reach an international audience as part of an already very successful transmedia project. Take a look at some of these links to see some of what we’ve already achieved here at Unseen Shadows.

What do you need to show me?

I need  to see sequentials as well as pin ups (unless you want to be purely a cover artist – which is fine, but let me know that).

What formats you work in – traditional media, digital etc.

Whether you work in colour or black and white.

If you are submitting to be an inker or colourist then we need to see copies of the underlying pencils as well as your work.

Finally one of the most important things is to let us know the length of story to which you feel you can realistically commit. Unseen Shadows has comics projects of all different lengths from short stories to graphic novel length books.

I appreciate that indie artists are showing incredible dedication by working on their comics alongside day jobs and other commitments, but if I like your work enough to publish I will work with you to agree a schedule that suits all parties.

As an indie creator myself I appreciate that making submissions can be difficult and nerve-wracking. I will look at everything I receive, and although it may take time, respond to everyone. The important thing to remember is that your work may be great, and I may personally love it, but it sometimes will just not be what I’m looking for right now, but I will keep your details on file for when I need that just that style.

If you would like to see examples of some of the Unseen Shadows projects to date, to get a feel for the type of styles that have been used, and the levels of technical expertise needed, have a look at these previews  and the preview from the Fallen Heroes Comic Adaptation. Don’t feel constrained by what you see. The Unseen Shadows universe is vast and I will be needing lots of different styles in future.

Have a look around the website to explore some of the other transmedia elements that are being developed.

If you have any questions beforehand please get in touch at barry@unseenshadows.com

Leeds Thought Bubble

Team Hi-Ex! headed off to the Leeds Thought Bubble sequential arts festival again this year. It was well worth the two days travelling each way to catch up with friends, Hi-Ex! guests and exhibitors past and future as well as our own comics projects collaborators. Rich does a few comics that were on sale there, Vicky had drawn a strip appearing in a comic called Something Wicked ( by FutureQuake publications ) and we both had worked on strips for a book being launched ' Tales of the Fallen ' part of Barry Nugent's Unseen Shadows trans media project.

We'd volunteered to help the organisers as its important to us that we support other comic events across the UK. After all, we are all trying to do the same thing in promoting comics, bringing fans and creators together and introducing a new generation, a new audience to the massive variety and potential of comics. We had brilliant fun - all the running about without the responsibility! There is a great atmosphere there and masses of people came for the weekend convention which was a cumilation of a weeks events, workshops, talks, conference, competition, film screenings and happenings. We were on guest liaison detail and queue wrangling with the loads of other brilliant friendly and professional volunteers in our coveted red Thought Bubble t-shirts.

Manga cosplayers were out in force, some great costumes, and some...brave ...costumes given the rather cold Leeds fog, brrrr!

2000AD themed canvases were getting painted by a selection of artists throughout the weekend.

Friday night there was a pre con reception, which was a great chance to get together and meet collaborators old and new. Above is Sarah McIntyre and Gillian Rogerson. They have a fabby new book out 'You can't scare a princess' and Sarah's children activity area was pirate themed this year.

Sarah was kind enough to take and send us a rare exclusive photograph of team Hi-Ex! together captured in the wild.

Saturday night at the after show party we got grumpy that the music was too loud to allow conversation, but just prior to leaving thought we might as well join in, so discoed the night away with the young folks. It was great fun! Comics people throwing shapes, a very surreal sight to behold!

blurry pic across one of the two halls.

There was a panel to launch our anthology book ' Tales of the Fallen'- Rich hosted it, on the right, Barry Nugent in the middle with the hat on is the editor/ original creator/ boss , to his left writer Cy Dethan ( who Vicky coloured ' Slaughtermans Creed' for last year)

Left writer Dan Thomson who wrote the story ' Band of Butchers' that  Vicky coloured, Martin Conoghan ( whom she has drawn a strip with for in the book 'Spirit of Hope'), and writer Peter Pogers. Also there were artists Steve Penfold and Rob Carey .

The 'women in comics' panel. It was a rather positive up beat discussion, perhaps the days of male dominance can slowly start to be behind us? Although there are still plenty of publications which are boys only cliques... we'll work on it !  Some of speakers on this panel were brilliantly inspiring! 

The canvas artwork progresses.

The hall clearing away was exhausting! Thought Bubble is massive compared to Hi-Ex!, but manages to maintain that family and friendly vibe. Then we were done- a billion chairs stacked, tables folded, boxes lugged, stressed exhibitors packed up, rubbish cleared! 

Hurrah for the Red Army of helpers, with the lovely Lisa organiser (in denim).Thanks to all for making it so much fun.

Its given us a great boost to start prepping for Hi-Ex! Loads of new guests want to come along, and lots of fantastic people to run comics workshops... but of course a lot depends, as ever on whether we can get funding. watch this space !

Auditions Open for the Tales of the Fallen: Empire of Blood Audio Drama

So, any of you ever fancied trying your hand at acting? Well, here is your chance!
The ever expanding Unseen Shadows universe is dipping it's toes into the audio drama market.

You can find details about it HERE.

Good luck!

Fallen Heroes interview: Barry Nugent

As promised, after our review of the comic and an interview with script writer Martin Conaghan, we are delighted to present to you the creator of Fallen Heroes, Mr Barry Nugent.

Fallen Heroes started off as a novel, but did you always harbour a desire to see it as a comic?

What I wanted to do with Fallen Heroes was to try and create a modern day pulp adventure but I'll leave it up to the reader to decide how close I came to that goal. It's a globe-hopping, supernatural action adventure with elements of political intrigue, espionage and horror. The novel has similarities to shows like Heroes and Lost in that it contains numerous and seemingly unconnected characters but running in the background is a single story thread that unites them all. The main portion of the novel is about a band of heroes and anti-heroes coming together to derail the plans of a cult which has existed since the first crusade. Although Fallen Heroes is a self contained story this is the first part of a trilogy and I'm currently working on the second book 'Forgotten Warriors'.

I have to admit I harbored no secret desire for it to be a comic for me. It was a huge personal achievement to write the novel and I was happy with that. I also never believed anyone would want to adapt it as a comic so the idea never really occurred to me until I was first approached by Nic Wilkinson. In fact, I'm pretty sure I thought she was joking when she first asked me! 

Why didn't you write the comic yourself and why did you pick Martin to write the adaption?

That's a question I keep being asked both of this adaptation and now the spin offs. The short answer is  I'm not a comic writer.  I have a lot of respect for comic writers as it's a skill I can't seem to wrap my head around, it's like sorcery.  I think if I had worked on the comic myself there would have been a danger of me deciding every plot point, every character was important and must be in the comic, no matter what. I think by having someone different tackle your work they can look at with a much more clinical and less emotional eye which is what I think you need when there's so much material which will need to cut out. It's not an easy thing to do but so long as you keep yourself involved with the process, are willing to speak up if you're happy and the adaptation team is willing to listen then it should be a relatively painless process.

Martin was orginally suggested to me by Nic, when she was creative director at Insomina and it was a good fit from the beginning.  For me the most important thing was for Martin to read the book and be passionate about the project rather than doing it because he had no other projects on the go or would look good on his CV. Technical ability and experience (both of which Martin has) in anything is great but you add passion for whatever it is you're doing into the mix and you're onto a winner. Martin and I talked at length via email about the project but honestly I knew he was right for the role after we finally met at a comic convention. We talked for hours about the adaptation and I could tell he understood the characters, the story and would do both justice. From then on I was sold.

You have a spin off one shot in the works by Cy Dethan- how did that come about?

I consider Cy a good friend and as a writer he's one of the guys I look up to. His gift for storytelling, dialogue and creating believable characters is fantastic.  Cy had read the novel way before any kind of comic adaptation was mentioned and we talked at length about the book as well as chatting about each others future projects. He often said he would love to tackle one of the characters from the book. Once again we were having that same conversation earlier this week and after Nic knocked our heads together I asked him formally if he wanted to do it and he said yes. I think if you've read the novel and read anything that Cy has done then you will know that the character he has chosen to tackle in the one shot is a fantastic fit. I could not be happier.

Are there any more spin-offs planned?

There is definitely one more comic spin off being planned at the moment. I plan to announce that one at the Fallen Heroes panel at the Cardiff International Comic Expo where the comic is launching. All I'll say for now is that it's another great fit for both the character and the writer. Again it was another writer who loved the book and when he heard I was doing a spin-off with Cy got in touch and asked if there were any other spin-offs in the making and by the end of the day there was. I'm hoping that if these go well to do more. 

I would love to expand the Fallen Heroes universe even more and to that end I am now in talks to expand the Fallen Heroes into the world of audio dramas. I can't say anymore at the moment as it's early days and it's still very much in the air and may comt to nothing.

Where can we buy this fine book (comic and novel!)?

Well the comic is being launched at the Cardiff International Comic Expo with myself and the Fallen Heroes artist Steve Penfold signing copies and taking part in a panel being hosted by the awesome sidekickcast to talk about the project. 

We're a nearly at our limit for pre-ordering the limited edition first printing but if you head here you can grab some of the last copies. We are currently investigating the possibility of a second printing. Also GOSH Comics in London will be selling some issues soon, watch the Fallen Heroes Comic websitefor news for that. There is also a digital version of issue #1 coming to the Apple store soon and we are hoping to have more ways to make this comic available to people in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Barry for taking the time to answer our questions. You can catch up with him regularly by dropping by the Geek Syndicate.

Fallen Heroes interview: Martin Conaghan

As you know, we reviewed the first issue of the comic adaption of Fallen Heroes recently.

Today and tomorrow, we'll be presenting a couple of interviews about the book, first up is one with the comic writer Martin Conaghan. Come back tomorrow for the interview with creator Barry Nugent.

How did you get involved in this project?

After I had finished work on Burke & Hare for Insomnia Publications, Nic Wilkinson - who was working as creative director - approached me and asked if I would be interested in taking a look at a novel that the company had secured an adaptation agreement for. I didn't agree to do anything until I had read the book - and when I did, I knew I wanted to work on the graphic novel adaptation of Fallen Heroes. Of course, it's fairly well-documented that Insomnia Publications went to the wall, and Barry was keen to continue with the project, since I had already written 44 pages of script and several pages of art had already been produced by Steve Penfold and coloured by Gat Melvin. So, we decided to approach a few publishers, but after waiting around on decisions rom many of them, we took the step to publish it under our own steam as individual issues before compiling it in collected volumes.

Had you read the novel before coming on board?

I hadn't read it, but I had heard of it - and I was intruiged by the concept. It's not normally the kind of fiction that draws me in - but it has elements from lots of genres that I like; science-fiction, action/adventure, political intrigue and suspense. So, it was a fairly easy decision for me to want to work on it.

How different was it adapting a novel as opposed to writing your own story, or even an historically factual book (Like Burke and Hare)?

With Burke and Hare, there was a conscious effort to get to the heart of the true story, to present the facts and to dispel all the myths and rumours that had been perpetuated about the subject matter. So, in a lot of ways, Burke and Hare wasn't at all like writing a graphic novel - it was more like creating a documentary for television or radio. With Fallen Heroes, it's pure story - the narrative strands are all there on the page. So, I sat down, read the book and I loved it. It's brimming with hoards of well-rounded characters, full of mystery

and subtle plot twists. In terms of adapting it, I have to be honest and say there's not a lot to it - I just note down all the parts that I like, and I try to structure them into a narrative that works well in comic format. Often, it's simply a case of taking Barry's original text and working my way through it - removing the prose that doesn't work in a comic, but which can serve well as panel descriptions for the artist. After that, I break it down into smaller chunks that flow easily, and make sure the reader's experience is in line with anyother comic on the market, with page-turns and split narratives.

How did you decided what stayed and what was left out?

This is ultimately the biggest challenge, because the book is quite lengthy for a first-time novel - so, I've had to drop whole segments that don't serve the comic format too well. Sometimes, there's sections of the book that can be summarised quite succinctly, either with some voice-over style narrative, or by using little Watchmen-esque back-matter pages that fill in the gaps in the reader's knowledge. That's something I'm planning to use a lot of as I write more chapters - photos, articles, newspaper clippings etc. that help the reader fill in the blanks that are expanded on at length in the novel.

Did Barry have a lot of input into your decisions?

Barry has left it entirely to me to decide what to keep in and leave out. We've actually never had any conversations beyond discussing what stuff we both like about the story and the characters. I think Barry

very much views it akin to handing his project over to a television production company, or a movie studio - as long as the essence of his original work is intact, he's happy. Similarly, he seems to enjoy the parts where I've taken a specific scene and produce my own take on it. The important thing with any adaptation is to try and stay true to the original work, but not to do a literal interpretation - we've all seen how that turned out with the Watchmen movie. Prose, comics and movies all have different narrative structures, and it's crazy to try and transplant one from the other and hope it will work in the same way and provide the same experience.

How long have you been working on this project (what I'm wondering is how does it compare, time-wise, to an original book- more or less time?)?

It's definitely much quicker to work on than starting from scratch - because all the material is there, waiting for me to chip away at it and pat it into a comic-book format. I think I said before that I see myself very much as a construction manager or a carpenter - where I take the very detailed plans drafted by an architect and figure out how to build his structure. It's my job to put the foundations in place, pour in the concrete and start assembling the basic structure - so that it starts taking on the shape of a house, with doors, windows

and rooms with walls and ceilings. Steve and Gat then work their magic- plastering the walls, laying floors, wiring up the electricity and plumbing - and decorating the place so that it's fit for habitation.

What are you writing next?

I'm working on a short story for the Bayou Arcana anthology, plus I'm still writing a sci-fi series called Historika for Markosia which should really start taking shape over the coming months, after a few false starts. I'm also considering going back to writing something historical, despite swearing never to do it again after the amount of work required on Burke and Hare.

Thanks to Martin for taking the time to answer our questions.

Don't forget that you can order it into any branch of Waterstones. It's also available on Amazon in both paperback and on the kindle and it's also available on the apple ibooks store

Fallen Heroes review

You may have heard of this already. Originally a novel by Barry Nugent of Geek Syndicate fame, this is an all new comic adaptation by Burke and Hare author Martin Conaghan.

The comic itself has had a slightly convoluted history that we won’t go into here- but if you want to know, keep checking the blog, as we’ll be running interviews with both Barry and Martin over the weekend. </ commercial break>

But onto the comic. First off- lovely cover, and I appreciated the short text intro in the inside, too.
The strip itself starts with a bang- dropping the reader into the middle of an incredibly strange situation with no explanation at all of what’s happening to this characters. If you’re wondering- this is a Good Thing. Both the character and the book itself are instantly interesting as the reader asks the obvious question: what the hell is going on?

We’re then introduced to another character, and this one could not be more different- the high-octane Mission:Impossible style action that fills the rest of the book is great fun. Conaghan writes the characters well and with minimal dialogue.
I’m also a sucker for silent comics- to me (if I may get pretentious for a moment) they are the purest form of the medium, so I was delighted by the many silent passages in this issue.

While the writing it tight, the art is variable. True, it never drops below what I would consider to be a professional standard, but there are a few panels where I felt the artist, Steve Penfold, didn’t quite get where he was reaching for- but the fact that he reached at all is commendation enough. And I have to say that conveying action scenes in a dynamic and kinetic way is a very difficult thing, but Penfold manages to do so here with no trouble at all. And the art being in that slightly loose style I adore helps things along too.

All in all, this is a very good first issue, and I cannot imagine anyone reading this and not wanting to pick up the next one.

So, y’know, read it!


You can buy Fallen Heroes at any branch of Waterstones. It's also available on Amazon in both paperback and on the kindle and it's also available on the apple ibooks store