Reynard City art

I found these couple of scans on facebook.  They are teaser images for an upcoming Reynard City issue.

 

I really like them, especially the black and white one.  It's a really clear, clean art style.  My only critiques are that it might make more sense for the left hand bottom panel to be on the right hand side instead, and the pose in the bottom panel is a bit awkward.  I think her body should be more vertical and less horizontal.  But hey, she's a fox (literally), maybe humanoid foxes have different skeletal structures.

Even with those comments, it's still a pretty good comic page.  I like the layout and I love the sense of perspective and movement you get in the middle and bottom right panels.

Good stuff.

It's done by Susie Hampton, you can see more of her stuff on her deviantart account.

Reynard City are looking for sponsorship

I think I've talked before about Reynard City, a webcomic run by a friend of mine.  They are currently developing a game and a tv pilot, as well as putting out roughly bi-monthly webcomics.  Reynard City nurtures new talent and sales of merchandise bring in cash for the artists.  It's written by a fella named Will turner, and he's gotta be one of the hardest working folk I know.  They'll be at MCM Expo in May, along with another webcomic's team - DeathBoy.

Anyway RC are now offering advertising in the comics.  Not like DC's advertising, I hasten to add.  Here's the info from their site:
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In order to pay our artists and provide the best quality we need sponsorship. You may have already seen our website sponsorship options at www.reynardcity.com/advertise  However we are aware that you want the best promotion for your money, so we have decided to extend the range of options available to you so you can decide what is best for your promotional needs.

In addition to our existing sponsorship packages we have decided to add the option to sponsor specific issues. You can either add your link to the front page where people download the issue or you can add full page adverts to a new one (ideal if you are promoting a book or webcomic!)
There are various ways you could benefit from this
* Include sample pages or teasers from upcoming issues of your comic
* Get more comissions as an artist or writer by paying for an advert for your services
* Promote your company on the front of the latest issue

(Please note- prices are quoted in pound sterling. Other currencies are available. Payment can be made via Paypal or cheque. For more information regarding content rules or any other questions please contact reynardcity@gmail.com)

Issue description page sponsorship= £25
 Full page adverts= £25 for one page, £50 for three pages, £75 for five pages

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I wanted to post this in case anyone reading was interested in advertising, or if they knew anyone interested in advertising in it.

Guest post number 2! - The Big Project

This is the second of our guests post from Will aka Rob, of Reynard City.  In today's post he talks about his project, Reynard City, what it means to him and why it's important to do something you love.

I have made a number of mistakes in my life. Letting my brother cut my hair in the style of David Beckham. My brief attempt at being a postal worker, despite being not that quick on a bike, a poor sense of direction and a fear of dogs (Yes even your cute little dog that has never bitten anyone and the saints sing their praises for being so wonderfully doggy)

But one thing I can’t regret is working on Reynard City. It’s taken a number of years, format changes and general figuring things out but we seem to be getting there. And it is down to a collaborative effort with a number of different people.

One thing I realise now is that the whole “Success has a thousand fathers but failure is an orphan” thing need not necessarily be negative. It is often trundled out as a cynical response to someone succeeding and people jumping on the bandwagon.

However in this instance it is more that working together with people gets results, while trying to do things on your own is a heck of a lot harder. The range of contributors over the years has included writers, artists, costume designers, musicians and film makers, all of whom have added their creative spark to the collective fire.

While I love talking about the comic and the characters I’ve practically grown up with, it is also awesome to see people from all over coming together to work on something. The good news is that if people have an idea then there are people out there that can help.

The problem is that sometimes you may think “What if someone steals my idea?” While this can happen and there is always a danger of that, sadly risk is a part of life. I think it’s better to be inclusive and try to bring people into it as much as possible.

Inevitably sometimes it’ll go wrong, you’ll annoy people and so on. But I have found if a concept is strong enough then it won’t go away, regardless of time, money or lack of sleep. In short, if you love a project, find some people and share it.

Rob Turner (aka Will Turner) is the writer/producer for Polycomical Studios, a group dedicated to young and emerging artists. Their webcomic Reynard City (www.reynardcity.com) is currently being made into a cartoon pilot and a video game.

A guest post! 'In defence of Superman'

Today I have the first of two guest posts written by a friend, Will aka Rob.  The first one is, I am pleased to say, a look at Superman and what he means.  Take it away Rob:

I know it sounds strange to defend someone whose image on his chest is one of the most recognisable symbols on Earth. Whenever anyone is asked to name a superhero inevitably his name comes up (it helps he has “Super” in his name I guess).

However when it was recently asked on Twitter who they would rather be more people chose Batman. In some respects this is down to the way our culture has changed. The internet means less people identify with a character that is said to be synonymous with “Truth, justice and the American way.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not having a go at Batman. His character has echoes of some of my favourite American literature, combining the gothic visuals of Edgar Allen Poe with the stolen childhood of Citizen Kane and the self myth making of The Great Gatsby.

Superman by contrast seems to belong to a more innocent age. His story reflects that of his creators, two Jewish immigrants who seemed to suggest that a person could transcend where they are from to be the symbol of their adopted homeland.

For me (a man who has worn glasses since childhood) Superman and many heroes like him have that concept where you can be more than who you seem to be on the surface. That idea that one day you too could rip off your work suit and reveal the costume underneath.

Maybe that view is childish and naïve but I think it’s too easy to go to the dark side sometimes these days. More people seem to be enamoured with the badass nature of Batman, someone who won’t kill but use all his resources to spread fear amongst the criminal underworld.

Strangely enough it was the director Tim Burton, the one responsible for popularising the Frank Miller superhero noir to the masses (albeit with his typical visual flourishes) who was recently quoting as saying “Maybe it’s time for the cartoon to come back.”

I’m not saying I want to go back to the “Gee shucks” early fifties idea of comics. But while the character of Batman is iconic and helped to create a more complex idea of the superhero, Superman represents a kind of ideal that goes beyond even that of America or superheroes. And I think it would be a shame to lose that.

Rob Turner (aka Will Turner) is the writer/producer for Polycomical Studios, a group dedicated to young and emerging artists. Their webcomic Reynard City is currently being made into a cartoon pilot and a video game.

Norcon 2011

It was fab!  Organised by the Norwich sci-fi club, Norcon is a celebration of all things geeky.  The emphasis was on Dr Who and Red Dwarf but there was also comics nerdiness there, including Barry Kitson who pencilled JLA Year One (I didn't get a sketch, he was very busy and I didn't understand the queueing system, meaning that I inadvertently pushed right in to the front and then got very very embarassed).
There was also a writing fella named Simon Furman there who I didn't know, but we got chatting, and it turns out he wrote the 80s Thundercats comics.  Now that was the series that got me into comics, so you can imagine my glee at finding this out!   Anyway I told him this and also bought some signed transformers issues that he wrote as a gift for the boyfriend.

I of course bought some comics for myself too - Lobo and Black Orchid ones, and a Captain Britain one, on the recc of Anj from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary.  Captain Britain was surprisingly good, I haven't read the others yet.

I was at Norcon cos I was helping out on the Reynard City stand - we got lots of people interested in the project and even met a few fans! Some who remembered us from last year and some who met us for the first time.  Near enoguh everyone who came to the stand was postive about the comic, I got to chat comics and superheroes (DC, Marvel and webcomics) with so many people, young and older, my colleagues on the stall were brilliant.  We even made some links with industry people so the future is looking bright for Reynard City!  Professionally, it was a really successful day :D  I loved it!
Below the cut is lots of photos of Con wonderfulness.

Forgot to say...

I'm gonna be at Norcon - Norwich's Sci-Fi Convention - on Sunday.  I'm helping out on the Reynard City stall and I'm quite excited about it.  The cast of Red Dwarf will be there, along with Daleks, Sophie Aldred (Ace from Dr Who), Davros, lots of Dr Who folk and Barry Kitson.  Mr Kitson did the pencils for JLA Year One, so I'm pretty darn excited about him being there.  Gonna get my trade signed and nerd out a bit.  I will possibly get a sketch done too - I think a Black Canary/Black Cat piece would be rather good.  Or possibly an Aquaman/Canary piece, to honour Aquaman's new series.  I dunno yet.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.  The fella who runs Reynard City is lovely and quite possibly the most dedicated person I've ever met.  It's a fun universe that he's created and of all the creative people I've met, he's the only one who I think will actually go somewhere with his product.

Webcomic linky time!

I'm getting slack with real posts again.  Forgive me and please take a gander at these here links, which are my pitiful attempt at today's blog:

What's normal anyway?  - a new webcomic about being trans male.  Only a few strips in so far, but it looks interesting and the art is sweet, if a little amateurish.  I'm sure it will improve over time.

Reynard City - I've been threatening to blog about this for ages.  I discovered it via twitter (@reynardcity since you ask) and from my initial browsings it looks to be about superhero foxes who come to earth.  It's written by folks from my city, and as Norwich doesn't get enough credit for being a creative, artistic city, I feel duty bound to promote things from here.  We aint all farmer hicks you know.

Comics are put up regularly in pdf format and it looks inventive and fun.  They are also looking to get funding to make it into a TV show and seem a pretty ambitious lot.  The comic itself is done by a range of artists, some better than others.  On the whole, the art could do with more nuance but I guess that will come over time.  Check it out.

Moving away from the webcomic side of things:

Before Christmas, Girls Gone Geek did a series of posts on a Batman/Wonder Woman pairing.  It was great.  It has inspired me to collect other BatWondy pairings and I have them all saved waiting to be posted.  Some time soon.  Or tomorrow.

Fuck Yeah Nerdy Nails - oh ye gods I love stuff like this.  The adorable @smash_is_nerdy from twitter is one of the moderators of this tumblr.  Please go look at it!

Fuck Yeah Gotham Slash - Does posts of Gotham slash.  Wonderful.  There's lots of BoP and DinahxBabs stuff on at the moment.