Hello!

Today we had a big event in the Newcastle Store which we named our Small Press Rodeo. This caused some confusion in the morning, regarding the inclusion of a mechanical bull in the days activities, which has lead us to the decision to rename the event next time it happens...ahem.

However, aside from this small disappointment the day was a huge success. The basic theme was individual creativity in the community, and the events included special guest Tom Cassidy coming to recruit local talent for his anthology 'Outline' which is available in store, and also an unannounced special guest appearence by comedian Stewart Lee who bought that very comic (and if you don't believe me we have photographic evidence!). We invited customers to come down and draw, and promoted our bi-weekly social event held in-store, The Comics Forum.

For anybody unfamiliar with the concept, the best way to find out is to come down! It's on every other Thursday night at 6:30-9:30pm, and it's used as a means  to network with other people into comics, or to hook up comics writers with artists and visa versa. We also have a book club where we pick a graphic novel and bring our criticisms and fanboy praise to the next session. There's a notice board hanging up in the shop by the Small Press section, or if you want to know more drop me a line:

tmne_smallpress@yahoo.co.uk

Anyway, back to the events. As well as having regular Comics Forum punters Gary Bainbridge, Alex Inskip, Chris Jones, Joe Douglas and Sarah Bolton there to promote the cause and give tutorials to people new to the idea, and new to small press, one of the biggest successes of the day was our 24 Minute comic. Little brother to the 24 Hour comic, our brand of spontaneous sequential art creation involves all participants writing a word or short phrase on a piece of paper, and all pieces of paper being folded  up, put into a hat and two or three of them being pulled at random to form the theme that everyone works around.

This particular draw produced the words JAM and TEETH, but could have been a combination of any of the following words/phrases:

PHOTOSYNTHESIS
TROLLEY
CHEESY BEANS
BUM
QUORN CHICKEN DIPPERS
WELLIES
LEMMINGS
PIRATE
FISH
SUPER PIE
LASSO
and...
I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER (??)

For those of us who couldn't stay long enough to take part though, I did bring along a few gems from my own collection of Small Press comics to use as a Small Press Showcase so people could get a guage on the range of material that we stock, and the massive variety of themes, styles and formats that people put out there. We also just launched a brand new contract/invoice system that makes selling your small press comic through us easy peasy, so needless to say we filled everyone in on that too! Anyway, enough of my jibber-jabbering, here are the photos:

http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/jackfallows/Small%20Press%20Rodeo%20Feb%202008/

(note: the images are in reverse order to the order they were taken, so you might want to start at the end!)

Cheers for reading,
-Jack 

We are very sorry to announce that we have had to close our Bristol and Nottingham stores over the last few weeks. We would like to thank all our great customers who have supported us over the years. We would also like to thank Dave, Matt, Tom, Luke, Rob, Jess and Jim for all your hard work. You have all been great and we couldn't of given it a try without you.

If anyone had saved items or standing orders they would still like to collect please contact us at Travelling Man Leeds 0113 2427227.

Thanks for all your support

Travelling Man xxxx 

Don't miss out on this special christmas signing. Join Bryan Talbot, Jordan Smith and Kaya (the model for Alice) for mulled wine and mince pies!

Bryan Talbot will be at Travelling man Newcastle on 22nd of December 2007 1pm for a special Sunderland christmas signing of his amazing bestseller Alice in Sunderland. Jordan Smith the cover artist who worked with Bryan on interior art and his daughter Kaya, who was the model for Alice will also be there for a special christmas celebration signing with free mulled wine and mince pies!

This will be a great event to attend and a signed copy of Alice in Sunderland would make a great christmas gift.

Dont miss out!

Travelling Man

43 Grainger St

Newcastle

NE1 5JE

0191 2614993

We are so excited! Travelling Man Leeds have a very special signing this November. Staz Johnson from the Heroes online comic will be in Leeds to sign copies of the new official Heroes Graphic Novel.

The release date is Oct 24th and the Signing will be Sat 3rd Nov. This would make an ace christmas present for any Heroes fan so don't miss out!

Make sure you turn up early to get a copy.

Scott Pilgrim   Oni Press

Review by David Smith Travelling Man Nottingham

23 year old Scott Pilgrim has met the woman of his dreams, trouble is, he has to defeat her 7 evil ex-boyfriends. Ah, the course of true love never runs smooth.

Bryan Lee O'Malley's digest sized series of graphic novels from Oni Press are a complete blast.
Hip but unpretentious, O'Malley has a knack for capturing interesting rhythms of speech that are funny without being forced and surreal without being incomprehensible.
The artwork is deceptively simple, full of character, with a great design sense for the page.
It is, one of the funniest books you should ever have the pleasure of reading.

Volumes 1-3 (containing such wonders as a girl called Knives, a rock band called Sex Bob-Omb, Vegan Magic, a skate off, Mr Silly's shoes and a few evil ex boyfriends) are available now, at your local friendly Travelling Man and the eagerly awaited 4th volume is out soon.

Planet Hulk Hardcover     Marvel

Review by Travelling Man Manchester

When the Planet Hulk storyline started it was overshadowed just a bit by the Civil War crossover. But if you missed out and are about to start following World War Hulk, I would suggest checking out this gorgeous hardback collection first.

This year long storyline follows the Hulk after Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Black Bolt and Dr Strange shoot him into space. The Hulk lands on the planet Sakaar, where he is sold into slavery and becomes a mighty gladiator known as the Green Scar. Along with his fellow gladiators, he begins a revolution that will change Sakaar forever.

It's Hulk meets Conan meets Spartacus, and a lovely dash of sci-fi. I fell for Hulk's warbound colleagues pretty quickly, the bond between the team is developed nicely. And this is a story that really made me care about the Hulk, a character I hadn't been very familiar with other than "Hulk Smash!" But I am familiar enough to know that things rarely go his way. I felt a sense of foreboding in Greg Pak's writing. The more the Hulk became comfortable on his new planet, the more I knew that the outcome of the story couldn't possibly be a good one. Despite that, I still fell completely into the story.

It's a very beautiful hardcover with some gorgeous artwork, Sakaar is a believable alien world and Hulk's warbound all look pretty fantastic. The Hulk, in his gladiatorial armour, is just awesome.

If you have read the first issue of World War Hulk you know roughly how it pans out. But Planet Hulk is a must read just for the emotional impact. For some time now I have been on edge waiting for WW Hulk to start, because I just can't wait for the Green Scar to get his vengeance on the Illuminati. This story has all the emotional development to WW Hulk and completely justifies the fightfest to come. Hulk will smash the puny humans, and you'll be completely behind him!

Invincible #42   Image Comics

Review by Abby Ryder Travelling Man Manchester

When I first started reading Invincible I had no idea what to expect. I had been told that it was an extremely funny series but I couldn't quite picture that from Robert Kirkman, the same writer behind the very grim and gritty Zombie comic Walking Dead. I quickly fell in love with this super hero series however. It's just so darn fun! It follows the life of teenager Mark Grayson, the son of Superman style hero Omni-Man. When his own powers start to develop he decides to follow in his father's footsteps and becomes Invincible. From then on has to juggle between his life in high school and saving the world. Sounds pretty basic so far? It is at first, but enjoyably so. Until the series throws one heck of a twist at you. Oh, there is drama here but it doesn't make the mistake some other teen hero books make. It doesn't wallow in angst. You do feel for the characters, it does have some real emotion to it, but it'll soon pick you back up again and whisk you off on a new adventure.

Invincible has been running for more than 40 issues now but a lot of readers tend to find long running super hero comics quite inaccessible. There's usually so much continuity you have to catch up with, hence this lovely little special. Issue 42 has been crafted especially for you and is a great introduction. Kirkman does a good job on introducing you to the title character and his life, so you shouldn't feel like you've been thrown in at the deep end. There is a bit of exposition which a long term reader won't really need, but there's also some action and humor from two typically silly super villains to keep us happy. Ryan Ottley does his usual magic with the artwork. He always tells a good story and fills the characters with personality. I particularly enjoy his sense of design, the heroes and monsters always look smashing.

The back of the issue also contains a recap of the whole series which should get everyone up to date nicely, but if you enjoy this issue I get the feeling that you'll be hunting down the trades in no time.

Antony Johnston will be signing copies of his excellent graphic novel Wasteland at Travelling Man Leeds Sat 23rd June at 1pm then Travelling Man York the same day at 3pm.

Don't miss out!!!

After Hellboy's departure from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense to explore stranger places, it was hard to imagine how the sister series to Mike Mignola's big red hero would fare without him. But B.P.R.D has proven that it doesn't need Hellboy to function and has become a fantastic series in it's own right. Continuing the original series' battle against the plague of frogs, the B.P.R.D is desperately trying to stop the world by being overrun by the Ogdru-Jahad and it's Lovecraftian offspring. After battling armies of frogs-monsters, a crazed Nazi scientist dead-set on bringing forth the apocalypse and losing one of their members, this new story arc sets about explaining the origin of Abe Sapien, something that all Hellboy fans have been ingrigued by since the original series.

In B.P.R.D: The Dead, readers learn that Abe was in fact a Victorian Scientist involved in a mysterious underwater expedition that somehow ended in his odd transformation to half-man half-amphibian. Garden of Souls expands upon Abe's origin, as well as shedding light on the past of the B.P.R.D's newest member, Captain Benjamin Daimio.

What B.P.R.D does so well is give story and character development equal footing and never tries to do too much at once. Mike Mignola and John Arcudi's storytelling is superbly paced and manages to build up to some very creepy and action-packed climaxes. Guy Davis' artwork is stunning, his wonderfully sketchy line-work creating an excellent atmosphere and his character design is second to none. Davis succeeds in bringing across a lot in so few line strokes and each issue is a visual joy with plenty of quirky detail to keep fans happy. Being a big fan of the Hellboy series, I was adamant about B.P.R.D when I first began to read it but once Mignola, Arcudi and Davis were fulling established as the series regulars, I was hooked. I would even go as far as to say that B.P.R.D is as good as, if not better than Hellboy and I eagerly await each new issue. This is one series that really must be read!