It’s been a while since I’ve done this, and with a few more people coming to the site of late with the recently released stories, now is a good time to take stock and bring you up to date on everything that’s going on.
I’ve been lucky enough to be writing comics for publication since 2007 and been even more fortunate enough to have been a) published every year since and b) paid for it during my early ventures. It’s been full of ups and downs, as often the case with any creative industry, and continues to be so – but I’ve met and worked with some brilliant people along the way, with a lot of things moving in the right direction, albeit very slowly.
So, where are things right now? Well, here’s a potted list of fiction credits both past and forthcoming, for easy reference:
Story: The Teams (military drama, ongoing series)
Published: Currently unpublished (work conceived 2006/7)
Role: Script writer/co-plotter (work-for-hire)
Story: Bad Luck Inc. (sci-fi drama, 13 page short story, visualised and drawn by artist Yui Marr)
Published: Tales from the Plex Vol. 2 (2007, 2010 reprint) and Tales from the Plex #5 (2010, reprint).
Role: Co-creator/writer
Story: War Chronicles (sci-fi, ongoing series)
Published: Currently unpublished (work conceived 2007)
Role: Script writer/plotter (work-for-hire)
Published: Tales from the Plex #1, #2, #3, #4 (2008)
Role: Co-creator/writer
Published: eu.playstation.com/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (2008)
Role: Writer
Story: Butterflies and Moths: Fragile (magic realism drama, 12 page short story/prelude, visualised and drawn by Ariyana Vidya)
Published: Layer Zero: Choices (2009)
Role: Co-creator/writer
Story: A Twilight’s Promise (drama, one page short story, visualised and drawn by Ariyana Vidya)
Published: Tales from the Plex #13 (2009)
Role: Co-creator/writer
Published: Self published online and forthcoming graphic novel (2010, 2011 respectively)
Role: Co-creator/writer
Story: The Twilight Cleaner (horror, 12 page short story, visualised and drawn by James Daniels)
Published: Survival Stories (2010)
Role: Co-creator/writer
Published: Was to be published by Insomnia Publications, currently being pitched
Role: Co-creator/writer
I also have several ongoing projects which have yet to be revealed but should be in the coming 12 months. If you want to request samples, just drop me an email/comment and I’ll get back to you.
Butterflies and Moths, page 1 – by Corey Brotherson and Jen Gyllblad
With gamescom, stag dos, weddings, and various trips making the past couple months something of a blur, I’ve finally had time to sit down and gather my thoughts for a few seconds. Although the funny thing about reflection is sometimes you stare too long and don’t get anything done…
Right, let’s see if I can order these chaotic thoughts of mine.
Firstly, you may have seen in recent comic book news that the publisher (Insomnia Publications) of mine and Jen’s forthcoming graphic novel, Butterflies and Moths, is no longer around. There have been a lot of issues cropping up about the publisher over the past few months, most of which came to light most recently. I won’t go into it here, but you can read about it at the following sources, in order:
It’s a long and fascinating (not to mention painful) story; a cautionary tale of how not to run a comic book publisher. Sigh.
So, where does it leave Butterflies and Moths, and mine and James’ vampire short, The Twilight Cleaner (which was due to appear in Insomnia’s newest anthology Layer Zero: Survival)?
Butterflies and Moths, page 6 – art by Jen Gyllblad
Well, Layer Zero: Survival was declared dead. And The Sleepless Phoenix: Survival Stories arose in its place, featuring many of same creators looking to get their work out there. Which is where The Twilight Cleaner will now be published. The anthology will go on sale next month at the British International Comic Show (BICS), where a number of the creators (myself included) will be on-hand to sell and sign the book. We had to raise a fair bit of cash to get the book on the road, but the target has been fulfilled and so the anthology is ready to go to the printers. If you want to pledge something or check out more information on the book, pass by here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/910305588/the-sleepless-phoenix-comics-anthology. The likes of Lauren Sharp and Michael Moreci have really pushed this whole thing onwards at an early stage, and deserve massive credit for getting it off the ground, along with many others who have promoted the book hard to reach its pledge target. Expect more information on the book closer to launch, and if you’re visiting BICS, do feel free to stop by our stand and have a chat.
The Twilight Cleaner – art by James Daniels
Graphic novel Butterflies and Moths is another story altogether. Jen and I are currently polishing off the first chapter and preparing it for a few pitches. We’ll see where that takes us. We’re not taking the news of Insomnia’s demise as a negative – we’re still going to push on with what we can and hopefully see it through to the end.
Finally on the four colour front,
Magic of Myths has been doing well. With the first three free issues done, Sergio and I are hard at work on the final three issues to launch the eventual mini-graphic novel in the next 6 months. The ebook has clocked over 1,000 visits and continuing to rack up hits, which is great to see – you can check it out over here:
http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=39996. Meanwhile, the
official site will be offering previews of the forthcoming graphic novel and news in the run up to its release. Pop over and say hi…
Lastly on a whole, I recently got my hands on my long awaited (2 years!) Pandora handheld device. And it’s superb. Any machine which lets me do writing, watch some DVDs on the fly, switch to a bit of gaming from the 8-bit and 16-bit era with excellent controls (my copy of
Full Throttle is getting a lot of play right now), listen to music and go online (with touchscreen functionality and TV-out), all while fitting into my back pocket can only be good. There’s limited availability of the machine, but if you’re an older gamer who likes to have PC functionality literally in your pocket, it’s a veritable dream-machine:
http://www.openpandora.org/I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention something else in this entry, but it’s gone on for long enough anyway. Hopefully catch you soon…
Isn’t it nice to come back from a great holiday and be greeted by lots of pleasant surprises? Comic book news is coming in thick and fast, so let’s jump straight into it…
* Mine and Ariyana Vidya’s short story, Butterflies and Moths: Fragile, is finished and now part of Insomnia Publications’ May 2009 comic book anthology, Layer Zero: Choices. There were a few hairy moments where the deadline seemed to be crushing our chances of being included, but some valiant late night jam sessions from Ariyana saw the project through – and the results should speak for themselves. Her artwork is truly stunning and really brings the story to life, thanks to some expertly captured emotions. In comic books, your artist is your actor, set designer, special effects artist, principle photographer and much, much more, and it’s easy to take that for granted. It’s all very well to write a script which describes your character looking distraught yet pleading a passionate argument with just her eyes, but ever tried drawing it? Ariyana’s sterling work makes it look easy when it’s anything but.
Fragile is effectively the prelude to my forthcoming graphic novel, Butterflies and Moths – you wont need to read it to understand the graphic novel’s storyline, but it’ll give you an insight to a few things, a intriguing taste of things to come as well as a nice introduction to the character who features in it.
The bitter story of morality and mortality that is Fragile will be surrounded by a vast amount of other talented tales in Layer Zero: Choices and so far the pre-orders have been wonderfully high. You can still get your order in and avoid missing the potential sell-out by either ordering with me (discounted rate for pre-orders only) and leaving a comment, ordering via Insomnia Publications directly by emailing them at their site, or by ordering directly from various online vendors such as Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Layer-Zero-Choices-Cy-Dethan/dp/190580816X?&camp=2486&linkCode=wey&tag=insomnipublic-21&creative=8874) or local comic shops in the near future.
* My very first published story, sci-fi tale Bad Luck Inc., has been reprinted in the pages of the ever-entertaining Tales from the Plex series this month. Drawn by the superb Yui Marr, it’s a curious tale that plays on the concepts of luck, determinism, fate and office working, while being a sideward’s nod to The Matrix. It was slightly misunderstood the first time it was published, which partly led me to writing a huge expose (Part one, two and three) on this site, but I’m happy to see it getting another shout at this time. Check out the previews of the most recently released issue of Tales from the Plex HERE and buy a copy HERE.
* Similarly, my first story with Ariyana, A Twilight’s Promise, should see release either next month or after in Tales from the Plex, which will be a nice build up to Fragile‘s release in May. It’s a short one page missive about… well, how unfair and short life can be, as well as offering a little meta-commentary on the life of a story that only runs one page long. You can see a little preview HERE.
* One of my secret projects rolls on at a pleasing pace – issue two of Magic of Myths has been pencilled by consummate professional and blinding talent, Sergio Calvet, which means the entire secret project is nicely on track. You’ll see more of this and hopefully some news on what exactly this project is later this year, but in the meantime take a glimpse at the raw pencils that is Magic of Myths #2.
And that’s it for now! There’ll be plenty on Fragile as we build up to Layer Zero: Choices‘ release in May, so expect the next few entries to be looking at that with previews, commentary and more, as well as general info about Insomnia Publication’s line-up and more about Tales from the Plex.
Thanks for reading, and catch you in a few…
