George Bernard Shaw Makes A Joke

A true story, apparently.

London Weekend

Enjoyed my weekend in London, although it was extremely expensive. Sorry I didn't have copies of Psychiatric Tales for the UK and Webcomic Thing event. However I'm told by Kenny at Blank Slate that the book should be back from the printers around the 13th of April. So not long now.

Here's a few pics I took while in London.

Tube train.


Taxi And Quentin Blake Artwork. King's Cross.


Euston Road


Gosh Comic Shop sign.


Green shadows. Great Square, British Museum.


Empty shop.


Hotel corridor.

Bloomsbury

It's strange for me to think that I've now got an editor at Bloomsbury in New York. It's also very odd that I'm already taking the situation totally for granted. I think that this is due largely to the fact that it's taken me so long to get any success in publishing. People who know me well will be aware that I've been struggling for years (decades) to get to this point. As a result of this long, and often painful struggle, I've found that no matter what success I have, I'm still impatient for things to develop further. I don't know where this hunger has come from. I've never been particularly ambitious before. Perhaps it's always been there, waiting to be released?

My Bloomsbury editor rang me Thursday afternoon and we had a long chat about the US release of Psychiatric Tales (Feb 2011). She was extremely enthusiastic about my work. I was surprised to hear from her that she was a comic fan, having read and been addicted to Chris Claremont's X-Men comics when she was younger. Then moving on to Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and Vertigo stuff.

I was hoping that Blank Slate's edition of Psychiatric Tales would be out in time for The UK Web And Mini-Comix Thing this week in London (UKwebcomixThing), but it isn't. I'll be there at the event anyway. I hope to see some of you around.

Painting And Publishing

The good news is that Psychiatric Tales is finally going to print this week.

The bad news is that the process will take about three weeks, which means I'll just miss out on having copies for the UK Web and Mini Comix Thing on the 27th of March: UKwebcomixThing. Anyone want to buy a table off me, as without the book, I probably don't need it?

The good news is that Bloomsbury have moved forward the US edition of Psychiatric Tales to Feb 2011. Which is nice.

The warmer weather has inspired me to start painting again. Here's the first of the new batch of paintings. For sale if you're interested.



Painting under construction.

That BBC Radio Link (Hear My Voice)

That interview I did for BBC Scotland's Radio Cafe is now online. Libyan cartoonist Asia Alfasi also features. The comix bit is at the end of the show.

I had to take the train over to Leeds to be in the studio there. The other guest, Asia Alfasi, was in a Birmingham studio. The interviewer was in Edinburgh. I'm pleased that the producer thought it went well. I still can't listen to my own voice though. This link is only up for a week. So catch it while you can.

Darryl On The BBC

Having done the electroconvulsive therapy story, I'm now wondering whether a second Psychiatric Tales book is a good idea. I don't think I have enough in me for another mental health book, and I'm keen to explore other ideas. Vaguely I'm thinking of doing a book of science related story-strips with a strong sceptic stance. I'm not at all sure. But I think I should just go where the muse takes me, rather than tie myself down to a particular area. It will have some Psychiatric Tales in it, whatever. Let's just see what develops. It's much more fun that way.

Tomorrow I'll be on BBC Radio Scotland's The Radio Cafe, talking about Psychiatric Tales and comic book storytelling in general. It's live, so I hope I don't say bum or anything.

Here's two recent pages of The Streets Of San Diablo from the Activate site.