The only bit of advice about making comics that you’ll ever need

Back the other way along the M4 after a heady weekend of comics chat at Cardiff Comic Expo.

It was our first outing with something concrete to say about our plans (and our beloved business cards). Words of wisdom and support came from many sources, including Eddie Deighton of Com.X, Steve Tanner of Time Bomb Comics and the wonderful Bolt-01 of FutureQuake. Best of all was the message repeated in many of the conversations, panels and foggy hangovers of the weekend: if you’re passionate about your comic, then make your comic.

Our first Disconnected anthology will be launching at Bristol Comic Expo in May. It was great to see Gavin Mitchell at Cardiff and to get sight of some of his pencils for a strip written by Greg Meldrum. Gavin first came to our attention when he won a 2000AD art-talent spotting competition at ThoughtBubble last year; he has a great way with character, and is enjoying the historical research that Greg’s story is forcing him to carry out (though don’t ask him what he thinks of Thomas Edison).

We also met Stuart Tipples, who’s drawing a strip for us written by Richmond Clements. A match made in twisted heaven! You can see some of Stuart’s latest work in his story Blood and Sacrifice in the Into the Woods anthology, launched this weekend at Cardiff (Lizzie has reviewed it here).

We’ll be posting some preview images from the Disconnected anthology in the coming weeks, as well as creator interviews. If you want to get involved with future publications from Disconnected Press, get in touch!

Go West, Young Publisher! Getting ready for Cardiff Comic Expo

All that lies between Disconnected Press and the Cardiff Comic Expo is a night’s sleep and the bulk of the M4.

Whilst not a big milestone for us (we’re not exhibiting and don’t have anything to sell just yet), it will be the world debut of our new business cards. OK. OK. I’m stretching this a little. I know, I’ll just plug the comics we do have under development:

Our first Disconnected anthology will be launching at Bristol Comic Expo on 12 May and is well under way. We’re thrilled to have a line-up including some of the finest UK writers and artists on the fringes of greatness, including writers Richmond Clements, Rich McAuliffe and Greg Meldrum, and artists Gavin Mitchell, Tom Foster and Stuart Tipples. Needless to say there’ll be a Lizzie Boyle script and some Conor Boyle art thrown in for good measure too. Look out for creator interviews on this blog in the coming weeks.

What’s it all about? Small town stories that don’t make the big city press.  Stories that are true, even if they never happened. A cross-section of life from the normal to the paranormal and back again.

Also launching at Bristol, we have a second anthology of little dark stories, featuring up-and-coming artists who we think have a lot to offer, namely Louis Carter, Neil McClements, Brian Rankin and Tony Rothwell.

Watch this space for more, including exclusive previews and details of how to pre-order!

If you’re interesting in contributing to future publications from Disconnected Press, contact us on editorial@disconnectedpress.co.uk or via Twitter @DisconnectedPrs.