Bristol, here we come (again)

One year ago, Disconnected Press launched Disconnected Vol 1 and Lost: Boys. To be honest, we can’t believe it’s only a year. We’ve trekked up and down the country to some amazing comic cons, large and small; and we’ve published Disconnected Vol 2 and How to Kill Bears in the meantime as well.

This weekend, we’re heading back to where it all began: Bristol Comic Expo. We’ll have copies of all of our comics and we’re keen to talk again to some of our first and finest customers, those who took a chance on Disconnected Vol 1 and Lost: Boys while the ink was still wet.

We’ll also have original artwork and sketches on request from Conor Boyle. And we’re happy to look at portfolios and talk stories, share our experiences of creating our own comics and working for other publishers and just generally enjoy cake and cider with anyone who comes by to say hello.

See you in Bristol!

 

Corsham Sci Fi Day – Sketches

Hello to everyone who came along to Corsham Sci Fi Family Fun Day on 27 April. We were delighted to raise £120 for charity by selling comics, artwork and sketches on the day. In fact, we sold so many sketches by Conor Boyle that he’s still working on them..

If you haven’t received your sketch yet, don’t worry. They have all been drawn and are going to be inked and posted off to you in the next few days.

Apologies for the delay, but trust me, it’ll be worth it!

Work(s) in Progress

Spring appears to have sprung (at least for one day), so what better way to enjoy warmth and sunshine than reading what Disconnected Press are doing…??

We’re currently working on three titles which we plan to launch in Autumn this year:

• Disconnected Vol 3 – an anthology of weird and wonderful stories set in small towns: the things that could be happening right next door but would never make the big city press… The reception for Volume 1 and Volume 2 has encouraged us to stick with our small town theme (and 7 million Broadchurch viewers can’t be wrong). We’ve got some great new writers and artists to showcase in Volume 3 and we’ll be profiling them here on the blog in the coming months.

• Sentient Zombie Space Pigs – who knew that a comic built from a desire to just write and draw something a bit stupid could be so popular? We decided to Kickstart this one, with the target of raising £25 to keep us in biscuits during the development process. At the time of writing, we’ve raised over £240 and have effectively sold out of rewards. So a big THANK YOU to everyone who’s supported us thus far. This one’s going to be fun!

 

• Do Aliens Play Basketball? is the working title of our third comic planned for launch later in the year. Writer Lizzie Boyle (that’s me) has teamed up with Vashti Hallissey to produce a story that will make you laugh and cry and answer some of your fundamental questions about the shape and fate of the universe. (Over-reaching? Nah!)

Watch this space for more as the titles progress, and follow @DisconnectedPrs on Twitter if you don’t already. And if you want to say hello face to face, we’ll be at Corsham Sci Fi Day (April), Bristol Comic Expo (May), Melksham Comic Con (August), the Lakes Comic Art Festival (October) and ThoughtBubble (November). Phew.

Thank you, Cardiff, you were splendid!

A big thank you to all of the organising crew at Cardiff Comic Expo last weekend. They did an amazing job of marshalling exhibitors, speakers, cosplayers and customers around three floors of comics magic.

Some highlights from Disconnected Press:

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus pawb!

We’re heading west this weekend to the great city of Cardiff and to the equally great Cardiff International Comic and Anime Expo (CICAE).

When we attended CICAE in 2012, Conor was a punter, Lizzie was a volunteer on the door and our first comics – Disconnected Vol 1 and Lost: Boys – were still in the hands of their very fine artists. It’ll be amazing to be back with four comics for sale, three more in development and Lizzie appearing on not one but two panels….

Let’s talk panels first: Lizzie will be featuring in a discussion on Small Press Publishing – the whys, the wherefores, the pitfalls and the sheer, absolute joys of creating and publishing comics. She’s also part of a panel on Women In Comics, which features female writers, artists, publishers and journalists, and hopes to get across the many positive ways in which women are working within the medium.

Potential highlights for the weekend: it’s always a joy to watch Dylan Teague and Patrick Goddard sketching, and we didn’t manage to see the Judge Minty screening at LSCC last week, so that’s definitely on the list. We’re also ridiculously over-excited that Owen Watts will be launching The Psychedelic Journal of Time Travel this weekend.

So if you’re in South Wales this weekend, come to the Mercure Hotel on Newport Road in Cardiff and enjoy some fine comics, cosplay and company.

And a Happy St David‘s Day to you all for tomorrow!

The Disconnected Press Guide to London Super Comic Con

This weekend, the Excel Centre in East London plays host to London Super Comic Con. We’ll be there – table D134, just above the second 0 of 100 on the floor plan (!) – and we thought we’d let you know what else we’re looking forward to:

Getting ready for London Super Comic Con

Yep, we’re counting the stock, packing the tablecloth and wondering just what to expect from this week’s London Super Comic Con (Excel Centre, 23 and 24 February).

It’ll be our first time at LSCC; exhibitors last year spoke highly of enthusiastic and knowledgeable fans showing great interest in the UK small press scene. We’ll be at Table D134, nestled in between Orang Utan Comics (who we know) and Riley Creative Distribution (who we don’t – yet!).

We’ll be selling copies of both, yes, BOTH Disconnected anthologies – we’ve had a small reprint of Volume 1 done after selling out of the original, so come and see us early if you want one! Delighted to see that Disconnected 2 artists Sarah Jones and Nadine Ashworth as well as writer Jon Lock will have their wares for sale at LSCC too. And we’ll have Lost: Boys and How To Kill Bears on sale too, as well as original artwork and on-the-day sketches from resident artist Conor Boyle (here’s a picture of Conor at Bristol Comic Expo last year, along with our rather lovely banner)

 

If you don’t spot us at our table during the show, I’m guessing we’ll be in the Fox pub after hours, so come and say Hi.

Happy New Year!

A quick update on what 2013 holds for Disconnected Press (or at least, what we’ve booked so far).

We’ll be at the following Cons in 2013:

- London Super Comic Con: 23-24 February, Excel Centre

- Cardiff Expo: 2-3 March, Mercure Holland House Hotel

- Bristol Comic Expo: 11-12 May, Brunel’s Old Station

- Melksham Comic Con: 31 August, Melksham Assembly Hall

London’s a new one for us and we’re excited about being in such a Big Room. Cardiff has the second best social life of any con we know (only bettered by the inimitable Bristol).

Melksham was a surprise and a delight last year so we’re keen to go back, particularly as we’ll be selling work by local artist Bekah Withers – who we met at Melksham 2012. Proof that cons lead to comics!

Come and see us at one of the above (or look out for future updates here). If you’re a creator, bring some work with you – we love to see what people are writing and drawing and we’re always on the lookout for new talent. You can also check our Submissions page for more information about what we look for.

And if you can’t wait until one of the cons to buy our books, visit our Shop and order away.

All the best for 2013!

 

Merry Christmas from Disconnected Press

Here’s a little seasonal tribute, drawn by Neil McClements, based on his artwork for Matthew Craig‘s story Pests. Pests features in Disconnected Vol. 2, our second anthology of stories that could only happen in small towns.

Wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone who writes, draws, reads or dreams about comics – and to everyone else too (but when will you learn: you’re missing out!!).

All the best -

Lizzie and Conor Boyle

Thoughts on the Bubble

Last weekend saw Disconnected Press at the amazing ThoughtBubble in Leeds. As far as comic cons go, it’s one of the most interesting and diverse of the lot, with a strong emphasis on independent and small press publications (plus a fair share of superstars and superheroes).

We had a great reception for our two new volumes: Disconnected Vol 2, our second volume of small town stories, and How To Kill Bears, four stories about what happens when life gets in the way and decisions have to be made. Thanks to everyone who came by and bought / flicked through / touched / noticed our books. We hope you liked what you saw!

Great to see so many of our creators there this weekend:

- Our odd couple: Matthew Craig and Neil McClements, creators of Pests

- Our nasty boys: PM Buchan and Martin Simmonds, creators of All Roads Lead to Hell

- Our rocketeers: Alexi Conman and Nadine Ashworth, creators of Plans

- Jon Lock, writer of The Remarkably Normal Man

My favourite encounter of the weekend has to be meeting Anna Readman, artist on The Trap in How To Kill Bears. We didn’t profile Anna on the site before ThoughtBubble (sorry!), but she’s a real star of the future. Her artwork drew universal praise, including from David Lloyd of Aces Weekly and, um, V for Vendetta (!) and we’re convinced that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful illustration career.

Did I mention that she’s 15?

It was great to see some of our earlier creators too: Louis Carter from the Lost: Boys team, and Gavin Mitchell, Tom Foster and Richmond Clements from Disconnected Vol 1.

Last but absolutely not least – in fact, I should have started with them: thanks to Jim Campbell and Owen Watts, letterers from heaven, and to the incredible Stuart Gould of UK Comics, who makes ideas for comic books into beautiful printed reality.

Follow the links to find out more about Disconnected Vol 2 and How To Kill Bears. You can order copies from our high tech online shop.

If you want to know more about our previous publications, follow the links for Disconnected Vol 1 and Lost: Boys.

Thanks for stopping by!