Find us at Wonderlands: Sunderland, Saturday 28 May

Tags

comics, convention, graphic novel, sunderland

We’re thrilled to be returning to Sunderland on Saturday 28 May for the second edition of Wonderlands, a fantastic one-day expo dedicated to graphic novels.

Aside from our good selves, this year’s line-up includes:

• Hannah Berry, whose Adamtine frankly scared the bejeezus out of both of us
• Karrie Fransman
• Mary Talbot (must get my copy of The Red Virgin…)
• Kate Charlesworth
• The awesome Dr Mel Gibson
• Una, whose Becoming Unbecoming is on my shopping list for this trip
• Suzy Varty
• Wendy Wood
• And some guys too!

As well as selling our wares, and buying other people’s, we’ll be contributing on a couple of conference panels this year. Lizzie is part of a panel from 11.30am talking about the perks and the pitfalls of self-publishing, and both Lizzie and Conor will be appearing at 4.30pm to talk about the importance of collaboration in making comics.

We’ll have copies of our illustrated choose-your-own-adventure Secret Gardens, and Lizzie’s debut graphic novel The Heart Which Makes Us, as well as some of Conor’s books including the award-winning On Dangerous Ground, the story of the Battle of Bannockburn.

I can heartily recommend Wonderlands to you as a great place to spend quality time with some of the best graphic novel creators in the land. The focus on graphic novels means everyone has a bit more time for conversation; none of the rushing around of a 22 page floppy comic. Kick back, relax, get deep into conversation with some great people and enjoy Sunderland, a great city by the sea. Also, go and see the lion inside the Winter Gardens!!

Find out more about Wonderlands at www.wonderlands.org.uk – we’ll see you there!

More comic con news!

The calendar is getting busier as we plan our road trips for the year. Just to bring you up to date on where you’ll be able to find Disconnected Press in the flesh this year:

Forthcoming conventions…

Tags

comics, conventions, glasgow, graphic novel, wonderlands

Hello all!

Just a quick update today on some of our convention plans for this year…

We’re delighted that we’ll be going back to Wonderlands this year – it’s the show’s second year and it’s well worth a trip to Sunderland for the weekend. Wonderlands focuses on graphic novels and picks up the Lakes / Angouleme approach of considering GNs for their literary and artistic merit as well as for their entertainment value.

Exhibitors last year tended to be GN publishers and retailers, rather than single issue comics, but there was a great mix of indie and larger presses to choose from and your suitcase will be fuller when you leave than when you arrive (we were positioned next to Self Made Hero last year – that was dangerous…!).

Wonderlands is organised by the superhuman Bryan and Mary Talbot and will be held in Sunderland on Saturday 28 May. You can find more details at: http://www.wonderlands.org.uk/

And we’ll be heading north again at the beginning of July – back to Glasgow Comic Con! Glasgow last year was big, boisterous, colourful and a little bit boozy – a lovely party atmosphere among a huge cohort of new and experienced creators. Well worth a visit if you want to see the rich tapestry of comics of all shapes and sizes that are out there. The Con is in a new venue this year, which I think will bring everyone together under one roof (and hopefully has less of a hill to reach it!). Highly recommended!

The convention is on 2 and 3 July, at the end of a week of comics-related activities. Book your tickets in advance though – I’m pretty sure they sold out last year. You can find out more at: http://glasgowcomiccon.com/

Watch this space for more convention announcements and details of what we’re planning. In the meantime, don’t forget that you can order any of our comics via our Online Shop and stay in touch via Twitter: @DisconnectedPrs.

Free Comic Monday!

Tags

comics, galileo, science, space

Some time ago, Disconnected’s own Lizzie Boyle and Conor Boyle collaborated on this six-page comic. It didn’t make it into print, but we thought we would share it with you anyway. Let us know what you think… and if, perhaps, you’d like to read more…

From the people that brought you Disconnected Press…

Tags

artist, comics, graphicnovel, Reddin, UnEarth, writer

Disconnected Press is really made up of the (limited) brains and (boundless) enthusiasm of two people: artist Conor Boyle and writer Lizzie Boyle (that’s me).

Over the past four years, we have published no fewer than 12 books as Disconnected Press: four issues of Sentient Zombie Space Pigs, three Disconnected anthologies, the twin books Lost: Boys and How To Kill Bears, political anthology CROSS, choose-your-own-adventure Secret Gardens and space-trivia-weepfest Do Aliens Play Basketball?

Phew.

Not content with that, we’re also busy creators in our own rights and this felt like a good time to mention some of the work we have done independently:

Off to the races! Disconnected are heading to Cheltenham!

OK, apologies for the cheesy headline…

It’s the second ever True Believers Comic Festival tomorrow, at Cheltenham Racecourse. Doors open at 11, and the convention runs until 5.30pm, so if you’re in the neigh-bourhood (arf) then trot on over and say Hay!

Seriously…

We’re late additions to the bill, so we don’t feature on the table plan, but you’ll find us at Table J7 and J8. That’s at the opposite end to the main entrance, near that door that leads to coffee! We’ll also next door to the lovely Jess Bradley whose work continues to inspire and delight.

We’ll have:

• Sentient Zombie Space Pigs – the whole hog. Yes the full four-episode saga will be available so you can complete your collection or pick up the whole thing. Prices still just £1 per episode.
• Secret Gardens – our choose-your-own-adventure books created in conjunction with Lowther Castle. Featuring squirrels, witches, tanks, rabbits and a lot of ghosts…
• CROSS and Disconnected 3 – some of our anthology favourites. Political satire anthology CROSS seems to get more pertinent every day…
• Original artwork from Conor Boyle
• Portfolio reviews, good chat, NFL predictions, occasional dancing, plenty of hugs and probably a fine selection of horse-related puns!

What more could you want? Come to True Believers tomorrow and all your comics dreams will come true! (Warning: previous sentence may contain hype.)

See you there!

Sentient Zombie Space Pigs: the whole hog!

They’re back. And this time it’s porcine-al…

OK, enough of that. Yes, it’s the news that you have all been waiting for. We are delighted to announce that we will be launching Sentient Zombie Space Pigs Issues 3 AND 4 at ThoughtBubble 2015 this weekend.

Yes, it’s a double issue launch, with issues 3 and 4 bringing the saga of Jenny and Carl Hipstickle, Agent Fuller of the FBI, gap-toothed twins Lloyd and Floyd and some very angry pigs to its dramatic conclusion…

You can find us at ThoughtBubble in Leeds this weekend – we’re in the Marquee on Table 94 – at the end of a row, close to such luminaries as Rob Williams, Laurence Campbell, Chris Weston and Ben Templesmith, all of whom are no doubt kicking themselves for not pioneering the farmyard apocalypse genre….

By way of a teaser, here are two pages from Issue 1 answering your first question: how do you create a sentient zombie space pig?

Come and find us at ThoughtBubble this weekend.

If you’re not going to be there, you can order Sentient Zombie Space Pigs from our online Comicsy shop.

Each issue costs just £1 – to avoid lots of tiny transactions, we can only offer bundles of two or four comics from the Comicsy shop (we have to add P&P too).

If you want a combination that isn’t available there, please email lizzie@disconnectedpress.co.uk.

Welcome to the end of the Aporkalypse…

 

Kendal, here we come!

Tags

comiccon, comics, lakes

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’ll be hitting the road and heading for Kendal in the Lake District. The reason: the Lakes International Comic Art Fair!

This will be our third trip to Kendal and it’s a genuine highlight of the convention calendar.

Two reasons:

Firstly, comics really do take over the town. Shop windows are themed, hotel receptionists don superhero garb, the Brewery Arts Centre covers its walls with amazing original comic art and – most importantly – Ruskin’s Bar gets its comic theme on. We had a Viz Bar a couple of years ago, and the Bat Cave last year. This year, it appears the place’ll be dead.

Here’s a typical Kendal estate agent (with some subliminal pasty advertising for good measure):

Secondly, comics are taken seriously. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Lakes Con is a lot of FUN. But it also uses its panel programme to talk about comics in a smart and edifying way and not just as an opportunity for people to puff their latest spin-off or movie tie-in. You’ll see what I mean here.

It’s a long way to go but we always get a great welcome. We’re hoping to give something back this year, with the launch of our new book Secret Gardens. In case you haven’t read all about it, a reminder: four stories in one book, Secret Gardens is a choose your own adventure, set in the grounds of the Lakes’ own Lowther Castle.

Here’s the cover to look out for as you wander around the Comics Clock Tower in Kendal this weekend:

We’ll see you in Kendal!!

Writing a choose-your-own-adventure: or “how to make life complicated”

Tags

Lowther

Our new book Secret Gardens launches at the Lakes International Comic Art Fair this weekend. It’s part-comic, part-illustrated story book, for all ages, and it’s a choose-your-own-adventure.

The idea to produce a choose-your-own-adventure came when we met with Anna Saczek at Lowther Castle, the setting for Secret Gardens. She was keen that we explore the landscape of Lowther, looking at the amazing gardens through different lenses and finding new histories and mysteries there. We were also inspired by Knight and Dragon, published by Improper Books, a comic book choose-your-own-adventure which reminded us of how much we used to love reading them when we were younger.

Let’s get to the complicated bit:

Secret Gardens: coming soon from Disconnected Press!

Tags

books, Castle, comics, Lowther

We’re delighted that we’ll be launching our new book Secret Gardens at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (Kendal, 16-18 October).

Secret Gardens is a choose-your-own-adventure book, blending comics, illustrations and you being in control of your own destiny!

Handily for those coming to the Lakes Festival, Lowther Castle is just up the M6 from Kendal, close to Penrith. It’s a beautiful place, and a long-term favourite of Disconnected’s. History, atmosphere, incredible landscapes and some things that – so far – only we have seen….

There are four adventures in one, all set in the magical landscape of Lowther Castle in the Lake District.

We’ll be blogging about Secret Gardens over the next few weeks, giving you more insight into the history and mystery of Lowther Castle, the complicated process of creating a four-stories-in-one choose-your-own-adventure book (grey hairs, grey hairs!) and some more little snippets like this:

If you’re already hooked, you can pre-order a copy of Secret Gardens for just £5 plus P&P by emailing hello@disconnectedpress.co.uk.

We’ll have more details about availability in the next couple of weeks, but we’ll definitely be in the Comics Clock Tower at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival on 16-18 October!