CHECK IT OUT!

Time to hang up my Intuos for a while. The kids are on holiday, the goose is getting fat, and the Xmas excitement is well and truly building in the Wicks household!

It's been an amazing year for all things comics. Martin and I have made great inroads into the world of self-publishing, making rather a big splash at our first few comics cons. Talking of Martin, he too has his hands full in a sprog-sense this Xmas. His first born, a beautiful baby girl, popped out just in time for the festive season, and it was wonderful to have the Buxton family visit at the weekend, with all of them looking so well. I'm sure you'll hear all about it from Martin as soon as he can relax long enough to sit at his keyboard. :)

My two have been drawing a fair bit the last few days, and their last few efforts are definitely worthy of posting on this site. With Spiderman as the theme, I proudly present my two boys' Xmas galleries:and:Chips off the old block, to be sure :)

Last, and ever so slightly least, Jack in the Box is developing nicely. Issue 3 is printed, and looks stunning. Redlin Print have outdone themselves, and Martin and I are incredibly pleased with the result. Fans of JITB are in for a treat, if only because of the printing! It will be available to buy online on the official JITB website...coming very soon, complete with snazzy 3D animations courtesy of a Mr Richard Ellis. Watch this space, it will be worth it.

And so, before I immerse myself fully in Chrimbo matters, JITB readers might be happy (and a little surprised) to hear that we're already 25% through book 4. Here's a taste of what's on the way::Have a Merry Christmas, and we'll bring you loads more news in the New Year.

Jack in the Box is now half finished, which gives me a good (and also daunting) feeling! As I mentioned in the previous post, there's still 60 pages of strip art to complete, but then we're well and truly done.

Martin has just finished the script for book 5, which I read yesterday, and it's bloody brilliant. The story is building to a rather amazing climax, and Martin's writing is getter better with each page. Followers of JITB aren't going to believe what we've got in store for the characters. JITB 1 and 2 were scene-setters, getting all the pieces in place. Issue 3 is the tipping point for two previously background characters, and 4, 5 and 6 will take the reader into totally uncharted waters. I'm so excited to be part of this creative team, and we both can't wait for you to see the finished product!

To that end, I'm starting on bk 4 in the next couple of days, having drawn all (yes ALL) of the remaining JITB covers already. So the covers for 4, 5 and 6 are done, plus the cover for the eventual graphic novel. The latter will also double as the promo A4 poster, for both the entire project and novel (once published) and we'll be selling signed copies of it at conventions.

We've decided to go back to Redlins, our regular printers, for the printing of bk 3 and the poster, and we should be getting delivery of them in the next week. We'll keep you posted as to availabilty of bk 3.

In the meantime, here's a glimpse of all covers so far, plus the new ones which I completed last week: