The Rainbow Orchid volume 3 preview

I have just published the first strip of a short preview extract for The Rainbow Orchid volume 3. A new strip will appear every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next five weeks. Click here to read the first one.

Also, if you like adventure films and need something to occupy your ears for an hour, my brother Murray and I have just started a short series of podcasts dedicated to ten of the best adventure films ever committed to celluloid, starting with the original 1933 King Kong. See here!

The Rainbow Orchid volume 2 - out now!

The Rainbow Orchid volume 2 is out today! It's available in bookshops across the land, but if you have trouble finding it, try Amazon UK, The Book Depository (free worldwide delivery), Egmont, or you can even nab yourself a signed and sketched-in copy from the RO website.


Thanks very much for the generous comments that have already come my way about volume 2. And to top off such niceness, Lorenzo has done a wonderful piece of Julius Chancer fan art! Thanks, Lorenzo, that made my day. (Check out more marvellous fan art here - and I'm always delighted to receive new additions!)

Rainbow Orchid Fanart

It's Rainbow Orchid day! Whoop! I'm very excited about it, as you can read HERE!

Congratulations, Garen!

Lorenzo!

The Rainbow Orchid - volume two preview

A few of the strips from The Rainbow Orchid volume 2 are now online. It's been more difficult this time to find strips that don't give anything too vital away! Click here to start reading them.

Bristol International Comic Expo - exclusive!

Here's some exciting news for Rainbow Orchid readers - Egmont (my publisher) have been completely fabulous and will have 50 copies of volume 2 available to buy at the Bristol International Comic Expo on the weekend of 22-23 May 2010. This is over a month before the book is officially released across the nation on July 5th.

On top of that, I'm totally chuffed to be doing a talk alongside one of the UK's long-time comic-creating heroes, Glenn Dakin, who has a new novel out called Candle Man. The talk will take place at the Mercure Hotel, 2pm, on Saturday 22nd May. Tickets for the weekend are going fast - so book now if you can - there's a superb line-up of guests throughout the whole weekend.

The Rainbow Orchid volume two

At the end of last week volume two of The Rainbow Orchid went off to production. The official release date is July 5th, though I'm hoping to have some advance copies at Bristol in May.

Now I'm working on volume three, which is all new work at last! Volume one was completed (sans colouring) by 2004, and all but the last 14 pages of volume two were done by the end of 2007. Volume three will see print in early 2011. Here's a little taster of some of the stuff from volume two (click pic for closer up) ...

Joyful Chrimblepop merry fellows

A very happy Christmas from myself - and all the characters from The Rainbow Orchid. Stay safe and happy and well!

The Rainbow Orchid volume 1

It's here at last - The Rainbow Orchid volume 1, published by Egmont UK, is now available. And if you'd like a copy, you're spoilt for purchasing options! Besides your local book shop (in the UK) you can order it from Egmont and get some badges, you can order it from me if you want it signed and sketched in, or you can get discounts at Amazon and Borders.

I also now have t-shirts available, and not forgetting the lovely giclée prints that have been up on the shop for a few weeks now.

There's a very nice interview with me, conducted by David O'Connell over at his Scribblehound website. I say it's nice because David asked some interesting questions that I really had to think about! And I should also mention all the events I've got coming up - but I'll just point you towards the new events page for that.

I will pick out two - if you visit Foyles gallery this week (from Tuesday, at the shop on Charing Cross Road) then you'll be able to see an exhibition of artwork and sketches from the book. And I'll be doing a talk at Caption about The Rainbow Orchid and some thoughts on self-publishing and being published - that's on the the Saturday from 5.30-6.30 pm.

And finally - don't forget you can sign up to the free Adventurers' Society and print out your very own membership card. If you see me and bring it along, I will stamp it with the official Society stamp!

Elephants. Books. Elephants and books.

A quick pointer to a couple of recent posts over on my blog. A small pile of advance copies of The Rainbow Orchid arrived in the post. It's available on general release in August.


And I have exposed my sketchbook to show some working drawings while I learn to draw elephants and snow leopards.

The Rainbow Orchid online preview

The full web version of my comic strip, The Rainbow Orchid, is going to remain online for just one more week!

Book publication of volume one is set for 4 August 2009, so after the bank holiday weekend (Tuesday 5 May) the online strip will become a preview, with certain sections removed and the full story available in print only.

You can start reading the comic here and you can pre-order volume one from Amazon.co.uk here (it'll be available to buy from my website in August).


(Cross-posted from Webbledegook.)

The Rainbow Orchid

Last week I was allowed to post online the cover of my book, The Rainbow Orchid, and today (fingers crossed) it has gone off to print. Here's the cover for those who haven't seen it...



And if you have not heard of my comic before, The Rainbow Orchid is a 1920s-set adventure drawn somewhat in the style of the Franco-Belgian ligne clair, made famous by Hergé and including other such excellent creators as Edgar P. Jacobs, Joost Swarte, Yves Chaland, Floc'h, Serge Clerc... and many more! The story finds some of its inspiration in the works of H. Rider Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne. If you like any of these things, or just love a deep story-driven adventure plot in which you can lose yourself - you might like The Rainbow Orchid too.

Volume one (of three) is published in August 2009 from Egmont UK. More info can be found on my blog.