MaltaComicCon4

Malta’s latest Comic Convention - 8^th/9^th December 2012

Hi Everyone,

Well, today it’s the turn of MaltaComicCon to get a plug!

 

Well, what can I say except it is the best organised and also the best convention I have ever attended with for its atmosphere and sense of fun. This year it takes place over the weekend of Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th of December.

It seems incredible that this lovely convention and its organisers and fans have been a part of my life for FOUR years now – where does all the time go? Over that time I have seen it grow in both statue and in what it offers to fans and creators alike.

The convention is run by a small band of incredibly enthusiastic and warm-hearted  individuals who under the guise of Wicked Comics create a convention, which is every bit as much a meeting of like-minded souls (both comic fan and creator alike) as much as it is a professional assembly of all things comic.

The guys have become a big part of my life during this time and my words cannot honestly do their work the justice it truly deserves – all I can say is they have just announced an offer in the last day or so and if you can – you really should take them up on it.

My good buddy, Chris Le Galle posted this onto my FaceBook page on Tuesday afternoon:

Fantastic Offers for Fans Travelling to the Malta Comic Con 2012!

Wicked Comics are proud to announce fantastic package deals (including discounted accommodation rates and discounted convention tickets) for fans who wish to travel to the forthcoming Malta Comic Convention from abroad.

The Single Accommodation Package:

The Single Accommodation Package includes the following:

Accommodation in a 4 star hotel in Bugibba (tourist area) on Bed and Breakfast basis for 3 nights (Friday 7th December, Saturday 8th December and Sunday 9th December).

2 Day Ticket to the Malta Comic Convention (Saturday 8th December and Sunday 9th December between 10am - 6pm both days).

Return Transport from the hotel to the convention centre (applicable for both Saturday and Sunday)

This package only costs €102 per person.

Optional additional accommodation dates available at €25 per night per person.

The Shared Accommodation Package:

The Shared Accommodation Package is even cheaper! But this is only applicable for 2 persons travelling together. It includes the following:

Accommodation in a 4 star hotel in Bugibba (tourist area) on Bed and Breakfast basis for 3 nights (Friday 7th December, Saturday 8th December and Sunday 9th December).

2 Day Ticket to the Malta Comic Convention (Saturday 8th December and Sunday 9th December between 10am - 6pm both days).

Return Transport from the hotel to the convention centre (applicable for both Saturday and Sunday)

This package only costs €87 per person.

Optional additional accommodation dates available at €20 per night per person.

Ticket holders are granted access to all convention areas and for everything happening during the Malta Comic Convention. Additional minor charges only apply for console and cosplay competitions.

Anyone interested in any of these packages is kindly requested to email us on travelling@maltacomic-con.com quoting the package of interest and indicating any extra nights might be applicable.

And if you're thinking of coming to our convention why don't you also pop over to another great convention happening just a week before ours in Madrid? The Expocomic will be held between Thursday 29th November and Sunday 2nd December 2012. More info at: http://www.expocomic.com

The Malta Comic Con 2012

Saturday 8th December and Sunday 9th December

St. James Cavalier (all floors), Valletta

Between 10pm to 6pm - both days.

The Malta Comic Con - What's all the Buzz about?

The Malta Comic Con (MCC) is a 2 day event which celebrates comic creators, comic books, books, movies, TV series, table top games, video games, role playing games, cosplaying and virtually anything that is related to the comic culture. The MCC is both entertaining and educational and on both days there will be material specifically intended for children and material specifically intended for a mature audience. However, particular focus is always given towards providing a platform for creators to meet their fans. This year MCC 2012 will be hosting the biggest number of professional creators yet. The names will be communicated shortly but one thing we will promise is that there is going to be some really BIG names this year.

- Big Guests - Short or no queues!

- Local and Foreign Exhibitors!

- Signings, Sketches, Original artwork and more!

- Workshops, Talks, Discussion Panels and more!

- Exhibitions - Emma Rios Artwork and Corto Maltese!

- Movies and animations showing continuously on both days!

- Console Gaming, LAN Gaming, Table Top Gaming & Role Playing Games!

- Cosplay!

- Competitions!

- Collectables!

- Retail Stands!

Detailed information about all things Malta Comic Con will be uploaded on our website shortly!

So there you have it, guys – straight from the organisers themselves.

It really is an incredible event, but don’t just take my word, ask any of the previous convention guests and they will say the same.

This year’s Guest list stands like this:

Calssara

Chris Thompson

Declan Shalvey

Dez Skinn

Emma Rios

Jimmy Broxton

Jordie Bellaire

Mike Carey

Sean Azzopardi

Sonia Leong

If you are new to my Blog and want to read more about the conventions, please feel free to check out my Blog Archives for November 2009, October 2010, and February, March and April 2012. You’ll need to make a brew before hand as they are quite comprehensive and maybe even some sandwiches to boot.

 I am hoping that my deadlines on Worlds End – Volume 2 – A Hard Reign’s Gonna Fall, as well as the Worlds End Colouring and Storybook Book plus a few other projects in the pipeline will allow me to venture along again this year.

Stay tuned I’ll let you know how things move along.

Until next time, have fun!

Tim Perkins…

September 26th 2012

Website and Promotion

Club Vamporama and a great offer to boot

Hi Everyone,

Today I have decided to plug the work of Liz Black and also writer, designer, cartoonist, Chrissie Harper.

First off is Liz Black's new Project - Vamporama Productions, an independent film company, seeking start-up support for a production Website and the filming of two five-minute promotional videos.

Liz and her gang have put a lot of time and effort into this project already and the start-up Flexible Funding campaign over on the Indiegogo Inc. Crowdfunding website needs as much support, both financially and via word of mouth  on all the Internet networking sites as possible. So if you can please lend a very hard working set of folks your support.

Second up is Chrissie Harper's Website building offer, which she has recently spoken to me of. For a short time only she is going to make herself available to create some lucky folks (at least those who take up the offer anyhow) a great looking website.

Examples of some of the websites she has created for such notables as Des Skinn and Bryan Talbot’s wife, Mary can be found here on Chez Chrissie, Chrissie’s own Portfolio Website.

Now, folks are always asking me about websites and so here is an opportunity for a short time only to take up this incredible offer.

The Offer (available for a short time only) looks like this:

• Sites can be run on Wordpress completely if the client wants, or just as a client-updated blog.

• A basic website (five pages or so) for £100 - remember this is for a limited time ONLY!

• No domain and hosting are available as yet, but this can be arranged for an extra £30.

• The cost for more complex sites is £150.

• For a VERY complex site the cost of creating one is as always negotiable.

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!!

Please do check out both Liz's Vamporama Project and Chrissie’s Portfolio of Website Designs – You’ll be glad I mentioned them to you when you do.

Until next time, have fun!

Tim Perkins…

September 25th 2012

Happy Birthday to the King

Jack (KING) Kirby’s 95th Birthday

Hi Everyone,

Well, those of you that know me will by now know that Jack Kirby was a massive influence on my becoming a comic creator and so like most years here is a commemorative Blog to celebrate what would have been his 95th Birthday.

As I worked on the pencils for Worlds End Volume 2 and the Worlds End colouring book today I thought about Jack's work a lot.

The master universe creator in the comic book form, who knows what wonders he would be creating today with the advent of the digital age?


I would like to share a little video created by his youngest Granddaughter, Jillian. Simply click on the picture to be redirected to YouTube to view the video.

Please feel free to pass on the message and give her your support.

All that remains is to raise a glass to the heavens, this bright sunny evening (somewhat of a rarity this year in this neck of the woods) and to say thanks for all the wonderful stories and art once again, Jack and I hope you are having a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, in which ever universe you are looking down from.

Until next time, have fun!

Tim Perkins…
August 28th 2012

Worlds End – Volume 2 – A Hard Reign’s Gonna Fall

The second instalment of the hit graphic novel series

Hi Everyone,

Well, it’s been a while since anything new appeared on this little Blog of mine regarding the graphic novel series, so here is a first look at the second page from the second book.

There will be other pages and updates from A Hard Reign’s Gonna Fall as there were for the first volume The Riders on the Storm from time to time to give you guys a flavour of this new volume.

I look forward to hearing back from you guys to ascertain your verdict on my latest work.

There will be large format versions of the pencil artwork on the Worlds End Website soon for you to check out too and you can see new information on the Wizards Keep Website, as well as regular updates via our Twitter accounts (My Tweats and Bentley's have direct links from here on the side bar of the Blog - Gweldar has his own link on the Worlds End Homepage).

Eventually there will be painted, colour versions of the pages up here to peruse too.

And if your bag includes the words to the stories you can always check out the Arcanum page on the Worlds End Website to read an on-going series of prose stories – All set on Gaeyrth of course. The first of these is entitled, "The Tar Monster of Khemis Treesett."

And for those of you wondering, yes, Bentley is here in the studio helping out with the chores once again...

Until next time, have fun!

Tim Perkins…

August 22nd 2012

Wizards Keep Back to Business

This last week has seen BT Business Phone and Broadband issues

Hi Everyone,

Just a few lines today to send our apologies to everyone that has placed orders or tried to contact us here at the Keep via telephone, or email during this last week.

Unfortunately our BT Business Phone Line and Broadband have been down for the fourth time since 2005.

Thieves stole the copper cabling for this area last Wednesday evening, leaving all the companies and residential customers without any connections and these were only replaced yesterday.

If you have placed an order with us, emailed us or called and were unable to speak to us or leave a message we are trying to get back to normal here ASAP.

We will be fulfilling all outstanding orders this week and will reply to all emails ASAP.

If you wish to contact us again via telephone, please feel free to do so at your convenience.

Until next time, have fun!

Tim Perkins…

July 18th 2012

PayPal added to the shop gateway

The Latest News from Wizards Keep



Hi Guys,

Today I thought I would share some important and exciting news - as we saw the shop section gain the addition of PayPal to the SagePay payment gateway.

This now gives customers another option for payment methods.
There is no difference in the gateway page other then the "NEW" PayPal button - which looks like the one below.

The new products due to be launched in the shop in June will now take their respective places later this month.

Until next time, have fun!

Tim Perkins…
July 10th 2012

Driving the Story Forward

The flow and rhythm in the process of Storytelling

Hi Guys,

I have been involved in this same conversation that I am sharing with you guys today, several times in the last few years.

I have always believed that the story will write itself and end when it is finished, not at some pre-appointed page. That said the publisher may have certain page counts, and/or word counts in mind when commissioning a book, due to the format, size and budget of the book in question.

The beauty of me controlling all the aspects of publishing nowadays, with my graphic novels, outside of the constraints of Marvel, DC and other major comics publishers and book publishers means the stories can unroll naturally and I do not have to conform to the decompressed style of storytelling prevalent nowadays in US comics, or indeed fit it into a page count needed for a story arc to be later collected into a trade paperback, or hard backed edition.

When I am writing a book, again that unfolds as per the needs of the story and also the age group. Thus I am aware of being more concise when writing a children’s book as against a novel.

I have to admit that my working in comic books as made me aware of being able to write in concise ways driving the story forward without having to write reams of unnecessary prose to do so. It is the same with the illustration side of things, as I am able to control how much, or how little is needed to convey the mood, atmosphere, tension and space for dialogue through the relationship of words and artwork and the pacing of the storyline(s). 

I have found you develop a gut feeling as to when the art is finished and so too the writing of the story. Comics have certainly also made me totally aware of what is needed for driving a story forward, whether it is inside of a comic, graphic novel, magazine piece, novel, children’s book, or TV/film/animation script and as to what can be left out.

Sometimes the comic writer will write down every single thing and leave nothing to the imagination of the reader, which sometimes alienates the artist from  having a totally immersed and yet involved experience. The same is sometimes the case with the editors as well as writers many of whom nowadays think that the text is more important that the graphical side of comics. A viewpoint I totally disagree with. The most important thing in a great comic is the storytelling and that is both textual and graphical. It is the perfect blending of words and pictures complementing each other to achieve a final creation of beauty.

Leave the visual side of things in the hands of an artist and let their imagination run wild and you get the best work out of them. Constrain them and, or give them all the details and you will see that in the stiffness of the work. Artists are not an extension of a writer’s hand they are, if working as part of a team, of equal importance.

That said, there are artists that prefer to work, or indeed can only work, with the story totally provided by the writer. Most, however, work at their best when asked to bring something along the table. 

The first thing ones sees is the cover, then the flipped pages of artwork, if the cover grabs your attention, at least, and then the story is read, if these pages also grab your attention.

For me the story should unfold, as naturally in written format, as it would be if being told to a group of people in a room, or around a campfire – no constraints, except those self-imposed upon the storyteller(s) themselves, made possible by their experience.

Each story has its natural length and will, like a sun, reach a point whereupon it will have expanded to such a point, as to have reached its limit and, if allowed, implode on itself, by which time it will most likely have lost the attention of its reader(s).

If the story is done right it will rise to a crescendo and then slowly let the reader off the ride at the other side of the tale. A beginning, middle and end, with characters, environment and plot all mapped out for the reader to become embroiled with and become wrapped up in totality with the exploits inside the pages of the storylines.

If the answer to the question, “does this person, or action drive the story forward” is no, then neither they nor it needs to be in the tale. Better to take the unnecessary bits out of the story early on as they are superfluous to requirement.

No one wants to be bored to death with unneeded details. There should always be a progression from the start of a story, through as many sub-plots as one deems necessary, to its eventual end.

Which brings me full circle with this little Blog. The story writes itself if it is allowed to. Looking to fit the content of a tale into a certain amount of pages is in itself a constraint. Although as I said earlier this very same process employed by comics companies taught me all about being concise in my storytelling it is, in my opinion, given the option, better to merely let the story unfold itself to you, once you have understood those rules.

Until next time, have fun!

Tim Perkins…

May 14th 2012