2012 - the year of the apocalypse

Though, as we well know, the end of the old world brings forth a new world.

I think that this year is the year for my Christopher Marlowe adventure story. Some say Marlowe was an Elizabethan spy. Some say that he would have been a greater playwright than Shakespeare had he not been killed. All I know is, we call him the Stig. And, there’s only one way to find out. Fiiiight!!!

But seriously, there’s a nice vein of hermeticism to mine there. And some great allegories, as Elizabethan England was essentially a police state by some reckonings.

Originally way back when I was going to submit a story to the BBC for their Doctor Who novels, in which Marlowe, the Eighth Doctor and whoever was his companion at the time, fight back an invasion from within by the Faerie Kingdom. I was partially inspired by Robert Holdstock’s Mythago cycle and by Michael Moorcock’s stuff. The Faerie would have been a highly advanced race and slightly superhuman.

All I needed to do was research hermeticism and Marlowe. (I once read a lovely essay that identified Tamburlaine the Great as a magus. Can’t give credit as it is now over ten years ago since I read it.)

And then Grant Morrison did Seven Soldiers which featured Gloriana as queen of the Sidhe, a time travelling race from the end of time, who travel back to take the world of the past from mankind. Curses.

So the idea of doing something science fiction-y (and what, RenaissancePunk?) has been percolating for a while. And this year may be the perfect time to do it.

So what happened this year?

Dogs died. I got sick of my current job and then found a new one. There was other stuff too, none of it too useful. It was difficult at times. And it killed my creativity. But I’m now nearly there again.

I’m finding my ability to look at the world and tell stories is coming back. And I feel like I know what I’m doing.

And that Doctor Who on Christmas day? Lazy work. Very lazy.

Next year…

Stories again!
I also intend to get back to drawing. I should have everything I need.
Except the one thing everyone needs.

Gangster Claus

He knows when you've been bad or good!

Patronage

I’ve just pledged toward Ashes, a follow-up to Smoke, one of those lovely dystopian graphic novels that we British are so good at. The original was by Alex de Campi and Igor Kordey of Cable, Soldier X, and New X-men. Ashes sees Jimmy Broxton of Knight and Squire take over on art duties. If you want to help the project see completion go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/563903391/ashes-a-graphic-novel-by-alex-de-campi-and-jimmy-b and pledge.

To be honest, I keep thinking that this may be the only way we get to see proper artistic striving in the near future.

Obviously I want to see this succeed so that I can read the book. Smoke, which I’m reading at the mo, is reminding me why I wanted to get stories out there. I’d also point to Rich Hall’s Magnificent Bastards as a good read, and I’m rereading Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd, which is amazing.

Reprieve

Turns out I have this domain until the end of 2012. Might as well renew the hosting! Who knows, perhaps all the good stuff happening to me will lead to renewed creative vigour!

Well folks, this is goodbye.

I’ve taken the decision that this little vanity project needs to die. Mostly as I seem incapable of producing content. Perhaps the Phoenix will arise from the flames in the near future!

Things I love, in no particular order:

Apple, rhubarb and ginger juice; Al Williamson Star Wars comics; Jason Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-men #1; Misfits; Doctor Who; Lauren; Jetcat; Anything by Jack Kirby (probably);the Avett Brothers; Tom Waits; Scallops; Going for a run; Transformers; the British Museum; Anything by Jeff Noon or Bob Shaw.

A quick word about influences…

Warren Ellis just did a bit about how Countdown was the comic that he first loved as a kid. I’m not sure which comic was my first love, I remember being enamoured of Transformers especially when they started building a mythology and Star Wars because I was mad over Star Wars (I had a Jabba the Hut bag for school and a Windcharger T-shirt), but also being obsessed by a comic which might have been LookIn or probably TV comic which had a comic strip which I think was called Drac Pack in it. Or Drak Pack if the internet is to be believed.

But it was a lot of the stuff from then that informed my loves nowadays. I was an enormous fan of Danger Mouse, and still am. Doctor Who, of course. Battle of the Planets (the anime that was Gatchaman) stuck in my head, alongside Dungeons and Dragons, Ulysses 31 (a classic) and Dogtanian (as I’ve mentioned in the past a far better cartoon than it’s ever given credit for being). The Planet of the Apes TV show, because who can resist Roddy McDowall in an ape mask? And the usual melange of those robots in disguise, the cats of thunder, Flash Gordon and the Defenders of the Earth, the Masters of the Universe.

Vicky the Viking and Sport Billy were also things I adored which no one but me remembers. And Manimal. And the Dukes of Hazzard, Linda Carter as Wonder Woman, Lou Ferrigno and the cartoon Hulk. And all the Gerry Andersons. Except Space Precinct, which was awful. Buck Rogers. Battlestar Galactica. Knight Rider. Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. Brian Blessed as Long John Silver.

And a lot of that stuff I still love to this day and make me excited when I hear about new versions. It’s weird but if I am looking back to a golden age, the 70s and 80s are where I search for. I don’t know really that things were better than there, but it felt more authentic. It felt like people were trying, rather than building kits.

And then…

I’m very surprised by how much I’m enjoying the DC revamp. I love what they’ve done to Wonder Woman. I find OMAC to be like the Hulk used to be when I was a kid. And I love the Golden Age Superman, so Grant Morrison’s socialist version of the hero hits the spot, even if the politics are being skipped over quite quickly. Paul Cornell’s Demon Knights tickles me right now, even if I’m wary that it’s a bit too much like the execrable TV show Merlin in its lack of authenticity, while Animal Man and Swamp Thing make me think of the eighties in a good way.

I’d recommend the Sixth Gun and Locke and Key to everyone. Get the collections. And the Finder Libraries.

If only telly could find a way to… Wait! Misfits is back on next week!

Crunch time/ Quick poll

Okay, renewal time is coming up. Do I renew the site?

If yes, leave a comment.