Transformers the live action movie…

Robots in Disguise – A Review of the movie…

Having worked on the Transformers comics for Marvel way back in the middle eighties I thought I would revisit the characters by writing this review of the movie, something folks have been talking about since the first animated movie came out.Well I have just been to see the new Transformers movie and have to say the film is absolutely AWESOME and then some!!!

Kudos to Michael Bay and everyone that worked on the project and I mean everyone!!!The age of those in the theatre was around the late teens early to mid twenties, which means these guys and gals were there in the beginning with the toys and the animated cartoons and the comics.

It took me back to the thrills I had in my twenties myself, when I was lucky enough to cut my teeth on the comics industry by working on the Transformers comics.

Words won’t do the movie justice…All I will say is do yourselves a really big favour and go along to the nearest venue and see it for yourself…you will certainly see “More than meets the eye!”…

I won’t spoil the script by describing it, but will say that the scriptwriters did it absolutely right.

You will believe the robots are real…

I think this is the best of the films I have seen to date this year!!!

For anyone interested, there is some information and examples of the Transformers comic pages I worked on for Marvel at the Wizards Keep website.

These can be found here:

http://www.wizards-keep.com/index.asp?PageKind=CaseStudy&RefID=34644717&PageNumber=1
Again for anyone interested there is also a Transformers website www.seibertron.com, which has an interview with me which you can access through the Wizards Keep website or here by clicking on this link:

http://www.seibertron.com/people/interviews/view.php?interview_id=24

Well that’s enough “having-a-life” downtime for a while and it’s back to the drawing board and computer for me.

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
July 31st 2007

New Wizards Keep Retail Outlet at Botany Bay…

Wizards Keep – Believe in Dreams Joint UK venture announced…

I have recently signed a new deal for Wizards Keep with Botany Bay, here in the North West of the UK. This new retail venture finds me working with my wife Margaret for the first time. In the new outlet you will find all the regular Wizards Keep products plus some original artwork alongside new products produced by Margaret and also some products, which have been brought on board for this venture only.

Margaret’s new originated products are amazing and something I have never seen her do before.

The other third party products are in keeping with both the quality and also the feel of what is currently coming out of Wizards Keep Limited.

“Believe in Dreams” is a subsidiary of Wizards Keep Limited and is being used as a means to differentiate between Wizards Keep Limited originated products, which stem from my imagination and those originated by my wife Margaret and those of the third parties, which are bought in from outside wholesale sources.

These new product ranges will complement products currently produced by Wizards Keep perfectly.

I will be doing a signing over the opening weekend, more of which I will announce over the next couple of weeks or so.

So if you are in the UK and in the area, please come along and say hi…

I will be making a bigger announcement like I say over the next couple of weeks here and on the Wizards Keep website.

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
July 27th 2007

New Mattel Hot Wheels Comic published by Toontastic…

New comic work from Toontastic Publishing…

I have just signed on to produce full colour artwork for Toontastic’s new Hot Wheels comic book here in the UK.

This is the first regular comic work that I have accepted in a good few years.

I received an email from Editor-in-Chief, James Hill on Thursday the 21st of June asking if I would be interested in producing some full colour comic art for them again. It’s a few years now since my last work for them, but James is great to work with and I have accepted the commission.

The writer on the comic is: Ex-Marvel UK editor and writer, Ian Rimmer.

Ian gave me my first actual commission from Marvel UK back in the eighties.

So along with James, who was one of the first writers on Transformers back then, this brings part of the original Transformers team from the Marvel UK days back together again for the first time since the eighties…something I am really looking forward to being a part of.

It won’t affect my “Worlds End” output, and will in fact be beneficial to my production schedule on the graphic novel, as it keeps things fresh.

I am due to start work on the comic next week sometime.

I will be picking up the full art chores from issue #39 (Toontastic’s fifth issue, following on from Egmont’s run on the comic). My first issue goes on sale from around the end of September, here in the UK.

Although I have accepted a couple of outsourced commissions recently Wizards Keep is not going to be affected in any way and all the schedules are still on track.

Something as an aside: I have spoken to Harry Markos at Markosia this week, after sending off the latest pages and he has agreed to show some of the pages of the comic I am working on for them as a teaser, so look for these over the next few weeks on display here and on the Wizards Keep website.

I am still on with the pencilling of the Markosia comic and will run this alongside the Hot Wheels comic until it is completed and then it’s full steam ahead with the “Worlds End” graphic novel again, which I will then run alongside the Hot Wheels comic.

Ideally I would love to have the completed pencils for the graphic novel ready for Christmas and then I can concentrate on the paint job in Photoshop, so we can go to print ASAP in 2008…I’ll keep you posted!

I am looking forward to starting work on the new Hot Wheels comic and hope you guys like the stuff when we go to print.

Feel free to contact me and let me know what you think…

Wow it’s like the good old days this…

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
July 19th 2007

Time Out…

Well deserved break taken after two years + solid working…

Margaret and I have just returned from our holiday in Majorca, to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Wow where did all the time go and I’m not speaking about the holiday.

It’s amazing really it doesn’t seem two minutes since we first met, or got married, or had the children, (now no longer children), or I got into the comic business for the first time, or - I could go on…

It’s over two years now since I started up Wizards Keep Limited and that too has gone by so fast. I think that’s why both Margaret and I needed the break. This was the first holiday ever that we didn’t have Simon and/or Joanne with us since our Honeymoon.

I had never been to Majorca before, although Margaret had before we became an item in 1979. The break was as it says in the header a well-deserved break for us both. The nearest I came to working was reading my new Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus book occasionally.

I thought we would share some holiday photos of our time in Majorca with everyone so here we go…

Alcudia Beach - Day 1

Palms on Alcudia Beach

View across the bay

Yachts

Lots of space to lounge about on the beach

The Restaurante Tamarindo - where the Kebabs are nearly two feet long

The happy couple - Margaret and Tim

Me leaning on a Palm Tree - Day 1

Margaret doing her best Ursula Andress Bond scene

Cool Glasses, eh?

Last Evening on the beach - T-Minus 6 hours and counting until we leave

Margaret takes it easy

Tex-Mex in the Port area - Great steaks - A breeze has caught my shirt here, honest

The Pub London - My favourite haunt - Karaoke - Jimmy's Place

Jimmy Fixit - The DJ/MC - "Brilliant" and me. Jimmy kept us entertained all week

Meatloaf hits the stage

Meatloaf still on stage

Bat Out Of Hell - Middle Eight Section

Well we’re back now and it’s back to the drawing board and computers for me, and boy does it look like I’ll be paying for the break for a while too.

My workload looks a little like this at the moment:

• Finish the Markosia Project
• Start a series of Bookmarks for the guys that produce my Lithographic Printing
• Start back on with the “Worlds End” graphic novel
• Sort out the printing of some POS and leaflet graphics for a couple of retailers that have agreed to start stocking Wizards Keep products
• Sort out the printing of some POS and leaflet graphics for the new Wizards Keep – Believe in Dreams joint retail project with my wife, Margaret
• Launch the Hall of Fame section on the Wizards Keep website
• Launch the Photo Gallery section on the Wizards Keep website
• Finish off the Turnarounds for the sculptors to produce the masters so we can go into production with the Figurines range – There will be a new WIP section on the Wizards Keep website to view the production of these.
• Make sure folks are keeping up to date with the News section on the website
• Keep writing my Blogs
• Finish up the 2006-2007 Fantasy Art Unlimited course, which started later than usual last year, due to a number of unforeseen factors
• Start the 2007-2008 Fantasy Art Unlimited course ASAP
• Organise some meetings with artists, sculptors, painters, actors, dancers, theatre groups, singers, musicians, etc, around the Northwest of England to set up a conference for all the local schools to come along and speak to these creative folk with a view to hiring them as visiting arts professionals, which will go towards any of the Arts Entitlement, Artsmark and The Arts Award schemes
• Then there’s the day-to-day running of the business, emails, telephone calls, faxes – yes they still exist - and meetings.
• Oh yes and an upcoming project for another UK comics company, my first regular, on-going comics work in a good number of years, more of which I will announce in a new Blog over the next few days or so…

So as you can see my schedule at the moment is a little sparse and in need of filling, but I’m sure that I can find something to do…

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
July 9th 2007