Following Diamond Comics decision to not distribute any comics during the final week of 2009 a number of independant creators have banded together to create Indy Comic Book Week an event that will attempt to fill the empty 'new release' shelves for that week with local independant comix.

While it would be great to be able to shift a few copies of Stir Fried Product in that week, but I feel it would be far too optimistic, not merely due to the apparent apathy I've experienced far too often... But because I'd have to have something new to publish by December 4th and while I've already started working on SFP #4, I've only got nine of the thirty-six pages that make up an issue of my anthology magazine.

While I attempt to handle this minor problem, along with a few minor problems that arose recently: moving furniture around so power & computer cables aren't trailing across the floor, which is a health & safety hazard. I also experienced problems when I ordered a few Macross DVDs & one of them turned out to be a volume from the Animeigo release rather than the recent ADV Films version.

I've been reading a few of Viz Media's online Comix such as Mohiro Kitoh's Bokurano: Ours, Kumiko Suekane's Afterschool Charisma & Q Hayashida's Dorohedoro. In a recent interview on Japanator Layla Aker mentions that Viz decided to rely on word of mouth to raise awareness of IKKI, as the success of each series on their site is based on the number of views each title receives, if you want your favourite story to stick around long enough to make it to print, you'd have to encourage your friends to start reading as well!

I've also recently learned that I'm now able to read chapters of Rumiko Takahashi's RIN-NE!

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Today has been far from the luckiest I have experienced so far this year, which in itself seems to have been filled with misfortune. But at least I haven't been hacked to death with a rusty Machete by Jason Voorhies!!

I've been attempting to draw an illustration featuring a Walther P99, anybody who has read Stir Fried Product #3 would probably know why.  

Apparently, today is Inventors Day which is either suppposed to encourage people toward creating their own ideas to make a change for the better & remind people of forgotten inventors. Or just sit around watching episodes of MacGyver!!

It's also the time to start making your homemade X-Mas Puds & Keiki so you're all set for the end of the year. I managed to find some Gluten & Lactose free (but not Nut free) recipes last year which both turned out exceptionally well. I can confirm that the pudding was delicious, although I can't say the same for the cake as I didn't get around to cutting it (I had some Stollen instead)... How long do Cakes last anyway?!

I've recently been watching Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ on a badly subtitled DVD boxset my brother got from Kuala Lumpur. The English subtitles weren't the best in the world & they didn't even subtitle the strangely titled opening theme song It's Not Anime!

I can't remember the last time I assembled a Gundam Model kit, I have a 1/60 scale Strike Gundam that has been left untouched for some time. The 1/144 Gouf Ignited model kit is a one of the few vehicles from Mobile Suit Gundam that's painted gold, the other being the Hyaku Shiki piloted by Casval Deikun (A.K.A. Lt. Quattro Bajeena). The kit took three hours to complete, that isn't taking into account the time it took to spray the head, shield & limbs with Gold Plasticote without succumbing to the fumes...

For a while now I've been thinking about a theoretical scrap between these two characters wondering why I'd never attempted it before.

As you can see, nothing important happened today!

The end of the year is drawing closer which means shorter days & crappy weather (the five day forecast tells me it'll be raining until Thursday) which really isn't at all encouraging. Today I went out to Staples to pick up some A3 artboard, discovered that they didn't have any, I headed out of town to Creative World where I picked up 100 (two poacks of 50)!


I decided to scribble a pic of Casval Deikun (A.K.A. Char Aznable) which I found strangely cathartic! Maybe I'll get around to colouring it some time...

 Its been a while since I last had anything newly printed for the general public to gawk at, so because I'd recently had a new batch of SFP 1, 2 & 3 printed with brand spanking new barcodes in the corner, & found myself camping out in the Comics village at the London MCM Expo.

Getting up at 5:45AM, having managed to get to sleep by 1AM, I thought I would make good time to commute to the Excel Centre but due to Rail delays & Tube cancellations I didn't get to Custom House until 9:15AM & after receiving conflicting directions from several stewards, I was able to get my badge scanned then make my way to my table.

I'm not sure how long I stayed crouching behind the table, for reasons that escape me, there wasn't a chair for my use, instead I found a small screw which was more than a little odd.. Was it part of the table & without it, would the table collapse? Was I suppose to use it to pierce the heavens? Finding myself caught up in this pointless frame of thought, one of the guys on the table next to me, managed to hunt down a chair for me to use. There wasn't much else to do, so I read the copy of Akira volume 1 that had arrived through the post earlier in the week.

Because British Summer Time came to an end at 2AM on Sunday the 25th, there was an extra hour for sleep, which would be great if I hadn't woken up far too early to make use of that extra hours sleep before heading back to the Excel Centre. I cothered the table with a sheet that I'd remembered to bring, but I last used it at last years October Expo to cover a few tables & I quickly realised that I probably should have ironed it first.

I also lost count of how many times I heard Cruel Angel's Thesis playing throughout the weekend. All three issues of Stir Fried Product will be available at retail when everythings sorted out at Comics Monkey! Also many, many thanks to everyone who actually stopped by to say hi!!

I've spent most of the weekend coughing, sneezing & trying to see with my puffy swollen eyes. This all came about after I'd decided to move some furniture around to make room for some furniture, my brother who had a day off work was helping me, which was sort of a double edged sword as he'd decided to clear the hall by sweeping everything down the stairs. This forced a cloud of minute particles that had been lying dormant for who knows how long, which resulted in the aforementioned  coughing, sneezing & puffy eyes!

While there wasn't a lot I could do, other than drink more cups of Tea in a day than the average person does in a week, i decided to play some MS Sensen 0079 (to get back the mobile suits I lost when I accidentally reset the Japanese Wii a few months back) & catching up with Yen+ or rather gettting ahead as I hadn't expected the November issue to arrive until some time next month!



I haven't managed to read all of it yet, but one thing that surprised me was the fact that I found myself enjoying reading Pig Bride after an extended period where I couldn't make out what the storey was all about. The star of the issue would probably be Prom Night by George Alexopoulos which is only the second self contained short story they've included since they mentioned they were even looking last year. I've still got a lot more to read through, so there's probably a few more surprises waiting for me. United Publications seems to have the entire back catalogue of Yen+  but to make sure you get your copy, you should really reserve a copy when they're originally solicited two or three months in advance.

It's recently come to my attention that the Sci-Fi-London Oktoberfest will be screening Evangelion 1.0, Time of Eve, Sky Crawlers, King of Thorn & Eureka Seven - Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers! As tempting as it is to attempt to sit through 540 minutes of Japanese Animation, the screening starts at 11:59PM on Saturday the 24th of October through to 8:59AM on Sunday the 25th I'm not too keen to see whether I'll actually be able to stay awake & lucid for more of the 48 hours of that weekend than is at all sane or healthy!!

Having recently found myself painting a Samurai Type Benio action figure when I had an hour or half spare, I finally painted over the grey that I'd previously painted on the core figure & have found that I have actually reversed the original colour scheme that Shinofusa Rokurou created in the original illustrations for the MMS figure.

And I haven't even attempted to apply any of the modular parts to see how the completed figure looks... yet!

I still have a set of heads that have just been shipped to me, but earlier today I had a cunning plan & ordered another body in order to carry my idea out!

In less than a day Akira, the first release from Kodansha Comics will be available wherever books are sold, but  it could be Thursday before any shop in the UK that didn't place an order when they were solicited two months ago has any copies in stock. I have an order placed with Amazon, but I haven't received an estimate delivery date yet. I'm interested to see how it works out, whether they went back & translated it all again which in itself is an immense undertaking!

It would appear that Viz Media Llc. have once again opened submissions for original publishing. They have stated that they will not attempt to immitate their manga trim size & that the format their original work takes will be chosen to suit the material. As they already publish Tite Kubo, Masashi Kishimoto & Takeshi Obata, they'likely be looking for something in an original style, if anything I'd suspect they're looking for something that compliments the content of IKKI!

You can now view the comix on their site, with the exception of Children of the Sea, but that's already been published in GN form anyway! 

I recently attempted to illustrate a sequence of six pages based on a script for Frank Cho's & Doug Murray's 50 Girl's 50. The number of people who decided to try their hand is astounding & it also reportedly overwhelmed the Image message board when they all submitted their work at the same time. Because of this, it looks like submissions have been extended until 9PM this Sunday, which was mildly annoying when I stayed awake for almost 22 hours to finish the pages.
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You can see how other people have decided to tackle this project on the 50 Girls 50 message board, only ten of them will make the shortlist & of those ten, only one will go on to illustrate the 50 Girls 50 mini series.

For some reason, the opening theme has been replaced with a lacklustre piece of instrumental music.

Maria+Holic is one of the shows that I'm looking forward to getting licenced for release in thye west, the other was Kannagi, but the second volume with an exclusive 14th episode will be released by Bandai Visual this month. I'm not sure whether we'll be seeing anyone cosplaying as Mariya Shidō the cross-dressing antagonist of the show or Matsurika Shinōji his maid who NEVER changes her expression, even when stoicly insulting Mariya for being a transvestite or Kanako Miyamae for being an unashamed Yuri fanatic.

The Beatles: Rock Band has been on sale since yesterday, although I think I'll wait until a few more songs from Rubber Soul, Revolver & Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band are available.

Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows) & Doug Murray (The 'Nam) are teaming up with Newsarama to search for an artist for their upcoming Image Comics Project 50-Girls-50 by holding a talent search contest. Anyone can enter, so long as they have internet access & are able to complete the six page sample before the deadline of October 2nd 2009. Rules, notes & character designs can be found on the 50-Girls-50 messageboard.