Posts Tagged ‘Comics’

EarthWorks

Wednesday, June 7th, 2023

It was during the great bleakness of 2020, that first abysmal lockdown, that my old pal Alfie Gallagher texted to suggest that we work on a new comic together. Gentlemen Ghouls, our long running serial in the pages of Aces Weekly, had reached a state of natural (although possibly not permanent) conclusion and I’d been hoping we would work together again at some point, on something else.

Alfie suggested we both work in a looser style, something more free-flowing, more organic, and over the next few weeks EarthWorks began to take shape.

Gentlemen Ghouls had run over three volumes (four really, as Vol 3 had been split into a part one/part two format) so we wanted to do something quick this time, a one-shot, in and out, no flab, greyscale, 40 pages all in, and cram it full of good story, with an essay at the back about the origin of it all.

EarthWorks is set in rural Ireland, a strange place familiar to both Alfie and myself. Odd things happen out in those hills, birds plot and beetles whisper, and sometimes the earth itself can no longer contain the weight of secrets that it holds.

We funded it through Kickstarter and were both surprised and delighted when it hit its funding goal in just over three hours. 

We were also lucky enough to get James Doherty onboard, who kindly allowed us to use some of his amazing photographs. They brought a strange and intensely unsettling atmosphere to the book and really helped to tie the whole thing together. 

If you missed out on the Kickstarter you can grab a copy over on Alfie’s Etsy store or if you’re in Dublin just head to Big Bang Comics in Dundrum to pick up a copy.

Gentlemen Ghouls volume 3

Tuesday, September 28th, 2021

I’ve been quite remiss in updating this website. Blame it on the great creeping malaise of 2019, the working away from home, the pandemic, the lockdown, the attempted coups, the general decline and inevitable demise of western civilisation; yes, blame it on some or all of that, I guess.

Thought I’d document some of the stuff that was released in that time but wasn’t posted here.

Gentlemen Ghouls volume 3 was such an epic that it had to be published over two volumes of David Lloyd’s long running digital comic Aces Weekly, appearing in late 2020 in volumes 47 and 48.

Rumour has it (started by me) that a print edition of the entire Gentlemen Ghouls saga might be coming sometime soon.

Written by Martin Hayes.
Art by Alfie Gallagher.
Lettering/design by Bram Meehan.

Don’t Feed the Pigeons

Saturday, April 21st, 2018

Unremitting steel work has me all at sixes and sevens. Bereavements drain the heart. Now-perennial house renovations suck the very lifeblood from my neck like that mad-eyed Lugosi fella in the old black-and-whites. Time marches on and I am left behind, like so much dust-encrusted meat. Basically, I haven’t had time to take a piss let alone do anything like update the website to let people know that I had a new comic out.

Don’t Feed the Pigeons ran for three weeks in Volume 32 of Aces Weekly. A tasty little slice of near-future SF, with wonderfully frenetic art by Hugo Hughes Doherty and lettering/logo work from the always superb Bram Meehan.

You can buy Volume 32 here.

And here’s a little taste, because you’re not all bad.

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Written by Martin Hayes.
Art by Hugo Hughes Doherty.
Letters/logo by Bram Meehan.

Gentlemen Ghouls Volume 2

Sunday, December 3rd, 2017

That’s right, slags. Shut yer cake-holes and listen up while I tell you the brilliant news… the Gentlemen Ghouls are back!

It’s nine months since they kicked seven shades out of the most monstrous vampire of them all, and now things are about to get a whole lot worse. It’s still 1972. London is still awash with supernatural naughtiness. The clothes and cars and music are still better than they are now.

What Is and What Should Never Be!

Unholy plots will be revealed!

Cosmic forces will be unleashed!

Almost-new leather shoes will be ruined by vomit!

Right, I’m off for me dinner, but don’t forget that it’s all kicking off again in Gentlemen Ghouls Volume 2. Serialized from Monday the 4th of December, exclusively in the pages of Aces Weekly.

Written by Martin Hayes.
Art by Alfie Gallagher.
Lettering/design by Bram Meehan.

Alfie and Bram have surpassed themselves on this one. Just real top-notch art and lettering. So glad to be working with these guys. Here, have a little preview…

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The Corner of Some Foreign Field

Saturday, November 19th, 2016

It’s not even Christmas but here’s an eight page comic for you to read right now.

The Corner of Some Foreign Field.

Generous to a fault, that’s what everyone says about me.

Genesis: me and my old pal Alfie Gallagher were both between larger projects and looking for something quick to scratch that old creative itch. Sometimes Sudocrem just won’t do the job. It wasn’t long since we’d finished our run on Gentlemen Ghouls for David Lloyd’s digital comic Aces Weekly, and we’d enjoyed working together on that immensely, so why the hell not?

We got Bram Meehan, Santa Fe’s finest letterer and designer, on-board. He was the only choice having done such an outstanding job on Gentlemen Ghouls. And we were lucky enough to get the brilliant Chris O’Halloran to work his colour magic for us.

Alfie threw out some loose ideas: things like Moore/Bissette/Totleben era Swamp Thing, rural folk weirdness, Alan Garner, and Nicolas Roeg films. I took all that on-board, adding in my perennial WWII and folk horror obsessions before turning the brain blender up to full blast. Here’s what oozed out…

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You can read the whole thing here: http://goo.gl/owtC4Y

If you like it, give the fellas a follow…

https://twitter.com/AlfieGallagher
https://twitter.com/ChrisOHalloran
https://twitter.com/BramMeehan

Deophonic; or, The Old Sow That Eats Her Farrow

Sunday, May 15th, 2016

My next story for David Lloyd’s digital comic Aces Weekly is called Deophonic; or, The Old Sow That Eats Her Farrow.

Deophonic will run for seven weeks, launching in Aces Weekly Volume 22 on Monday, May 16th 2016. Readers can subscribe at www.acesweekly.co.uk/shop

Written by Martin Hayes. Art by Brian Corcoran. Lettered by Bram Meehan.

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I’ve had this story knocking around the old brain pan for at least five years. Never could figure out how to tie it all together. Turns out all I needed was the right location and a truly brilliant artist. Enter Mr Brian Corcoran. Brian’s pages are things of beauty. We decided not to colour this series at all, not even grey tones, because to do so would only detract from the exquisite line work.

Ireland’s been kicked around more than most these last ten years, and I wanted to take a microcosmic look at how the effects of this lunatic and injudicious austerity experiment might play out.

Here’s the info, and some samples…

Bill and Kitty, Dubliners nearing retirement age, are trying to make ends meet in their hi-fi shop on Amiens Street. But the trouble with living on the edge of a precipice is the fact that it only takes one little shove to push you into the abyss. Deophonic is a microcosmic examination of the effects of relentless austerity, an autopsy on the true meanings of love and loss, and a veracious look into the mirror of modern Ireland.

Written by Aces Weekly veteran Martin Hayes, whose previous projects include the graphic novels Abominable Glory and Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste. @martinhayes and www.paroneiria.com

Art by Brian Corcoran, who has illustrated for the Cork Horror Comic. www.briancorcoranart.com and @ _Brian_Corcoran and briancorcoranblog.tumblr.com

Letters by Bram Meehan, who has worked on titles such as Abominable Glory, Gentlemen Ghouls, and Older Than the Hills. www.bramletters.com and @BramMeehan

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That’s Amiens Street railway bridge, just outside of Connolly Station. Connolly, and the street – that exact scene which you can see in the amazing panorama above – was always (and sometimes still is) my gateway into Dublin. Some of the grandest days of my youth began with trudging off the train within spitting distance of that bridge.

The location was all-important, for reasons I can’t really explain. I just hadn’t been able to find a way into the story until I set in a real-world, tangible, touchable location.

It all started to fall into place about a year ago. I’d met my old mate Brian Showers for lunch and maybe a pint and we’d ended up down on Amiens Street searching out a basement-dwelling supplier of embossing stamps and engraved brass plaques. I forget the reason why. But that little excursion out of our way sowed the seeds. And I knew that this story could grow and thrive within that topography.

Deophonic; or, The Old Sow That Eats Her Farrow. Running for seven weeks, launching in Aces Weekly Volume 22 on May 16th 2016. Subscribe at www.acesweekly.co.uk/shop

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(The above photo taken on the day of the embossing stamp excursion. Look at that ten-ton slate-grey Irish winter sky. The kind of sky that can crush all hope and innocence from even the kindliest soul.)

Aleister Crowley Wandering the Waste relaunching at LSCC 16

Monday, February 15th, 2016

Who could’ve foreseen that a weird graphic novel about Aleister Crowley would sell well and get good reviews and have to be relaunched at London Super Comic Con in a handsome new hardcover edition with an all-new cover by Roy H Stewart. Not me, that’s for sure.

Crowley HC Front Cover

Me and Roy will be signing at the Markosia booth from 2-3pm on Saturday the 20th of February.  And I’ll be there, flying solo (but hopefully not flying low), on Sunday from 11-12. Do stop by and say hello if you can.

It was great to get a chance to go back and fix a few small but niggling errors. And I was very glad of the design skills and all-round good taste of Bram Meehan, who pulled everything together for us on this new edition. This is very much the author’s preferred edition. So if you’re going to buy a copy, make sure it’s this one.

Here’s the skinny…

Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste, the critically-acclaimed graphic novel by Martin Hayes, Roy Huteson Stewart, and Paul McLaren is re-launching at LSCC 2016.

A meticulously researched exploration of the life of Aleister Crowley, with a foreword by renowned Crowley scholar Richard Kaczynski. This new edition has been revised and completely redesigned with a new cover and additional bonus content – fully annotated and complete with bibliography and rarities.

Know then the life and times of England’s most infamous son. Occultist, artist, poet, prophet, record-setting mountaineer, drug and free-love pioneer, spy, scholar, and legendary bad egg. Summoner of demons and loser of friends. An explorer of many realms who conversed with gods and angels but ended his days labelled “The Wickedest Man in the World.” A foolish genius. A much-maligned history. A wanderer of the waste.

Published by Markosia.
ISBN: 978-1-909276-75-8

Praise for Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste

“One of the most ambitious and well-balanced experiments in comics I’ve seen this year.” Hannah Means-Shannon, Bleeding Cool.

“The ending really is something quite interesting and special.” Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet International Blog.

“Skilfully written and illustrated, leaving one almost dizzy and in mind of Vonnegut’s Slaughter-House 5.” Matthew Stocker, The Green Book.

“Deftly weaves together the spiritual and the mundane, truth and rumour, into what is ultimately a human story about one of the most ambitious people ever to live . . . a work to savour and return to.” From the foreword by Richard Kaczynski. Author of Perdurabo, the Life of Aleister Crowley

Crowley HC Rear Cover

Written by Martin Hayes. Art by Roy H Stewart. Lettered by Paul McLaren. Designed by Bram Meehan. Script edited by Martin Conaghan. Published by Markosia.

A few pages from the prologue…

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Crowley 1

Crowley 2

Crowley 3

Crowley 4

Status as of April 27 15

Monday, April 27th, 2015

Nothing happens for ages and then lots of little things happen all at once. It’s a feast or a famine round here.

Later this week you’ll be able to buy the latest issue of PUSH, a magazine edited by Joe England which continues to go from strength to strength, selling out its ever increasing print runs in record time. My story, Amelia, is in issue 16.

I’ll also have a story called Notes From Some Other War appearing in Wyrd Daze. No publication date yet. You could probably call it a very loose and vague HPL mythos story. Or maybe you couldn’t. I don’t know.

I sold another story to the world’s premier science journal Nature. (Every time I sell a story to the “world’s premier science journal” I cackle at the sheer audacious absurdity of such an event ever transpiring) It’s my fifth story for those guys. God bless ‘em. It’s called Like Buses and will probably appear in a month or two.

What else, I’ve been navigating rivers in a vain and arrogant quest for enlightenment and a story. The river in question had to be walked in three stages, from sea to source, and I’ve currently written the account of the first leg only, which came in at 6000 words. Not sure what I will, or can, do with this. It’s going to be an awkward size – too long for some venues, not long enough for others. Perhaps some journal might serialise it. Who knows. It will appear though, even if I have to just bung it up on the web.

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STOP PRESS! We’re getting the band back together. Fresh from the yeti-sized triumph that was Abominable Glory, the creative team of Martin Hayes (writer), Chris Askham (artist), and Bram Meehan (letterer/designer) are back at it with an all new comic project. Not out until September and all ultra hush-hush for now, but keep your eyes peeled because this is going to be good. A bit weird too, as it means I’m now getting emails from one of the real greats of the comic industry, whose work is one of the reasons I wanted to get into this lark in the first place. All will be revealed.

What else? I’ve been reading a lot about W.B. Yeats and his relationship with Aleister Crowley (oh fuck, not Crowley again) for a little article I’m writing. And George Russell, too, who went by the name AE. I’m beginning to see George Russell for what he really was: Ireland’s truest genius and visionary.

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Work on another project had me reading both volumes of Austin Clarke’s autobiography and, indeed, a trip to the site upon which his house used to stand was called for, way out in Templeogue. The house is now demolished, wiped from the surface of the earth to widen a road and a bridge. Perhaps embarrassed at their own impudence, the authorities renamed the bridge in his honour, staged a grand ceremony and unveiling, but didn’t bother inviting any of his family members. Ireland, my Ireland.

Clarke had lived in England for many years with his wife and three children when, in 1937, he began to grow uneasy, fearful in his bones that another war was in the offing. He wired funds to his mother in Ireland with instructions to buy a house for him to return to. Several were looked at before Clarke decided on Bridge House in Templeogue.

Clarke’s mother, a god-fearing woman, had always been dismayed at her son’s lack of faith, at the fact that all his fiction had been banned in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board, and so, she took her son’s money and bought the house at Templeogue as he’d requested. But it was only when Clarke arrived back in Ireland, ready to move in, that he learned his mother had bought the house with his money but in her name, and arranged through an arcane legal mechanism known as usufruct that he would have only a life interest in it. Upon Clarke’s (and his wife’s) death, the house would pass, free of charge, lock, stock and barrel, into the hands of the Catholic Church. To the Propagation of the Faith, to be exact.

What a nice pious lady she must have been. To do that to her son.

Clarke’s poem, Usufruct, written at Bridge House, begins…

This house cannot be handed down.
Before the scriven ink is brown,
Clergy will sell the lease of it.

Do yourself a favour, go and read some of Austin Clarke’s work. It’s all well worth a look. Here, this’ll get you started.

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Abominable Glory

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

My next graphic novel is called Abominable Glory and will be launching at London Super Comic Con on 14th and 15th of March 2015. I’ll be there, as will the artist Chris Askham. Check the press release below for signing times and whatnot. There’ll be some reviews and such cropping up in the coming weeks.

Good to see this finally creeping into the daylight. It’s a story I’ve had knocking around the mouldering recesses of my brain for a good few years. A bit of a love letter to the cryptozoology books I read as a boy, and to the war comics I grew up with; Battle Action, Commando and the like.

As always with comics this was a real team effort. A yeti-sized round of applause goes out to Chris Askham for his amazing art, Bram Meehan for his top-notch lettering and design work, and Matt Soffe, for his superlative cover.

Bonus material includes concept sketches, script-to-art samples, an essay about how the books and tv shows of my youth provided the seeds for this project, and pin-ups by Jamie Chase and Marc Jackson.

AbominableGlory_FrontCover

Abominable Glory is published by Markosia and will launch at the London Super Comic Con in the Excel Centre on Saturday 14th of March, 2015.

Written by Martin Hayes, whose previous projects include the graphic novels Project Luna: 1947 and Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste, and with art by Chris Askham, who has illustrated for Siti’s Sisters, Zarjaz, and DogBreath, Abominable Glory is 80 pages of grey-scale monster mayhem.

Martin and Chris will be signing at the Markosia booth from 10-12 on the Saturday and Sunday of LSCC.

Abominable Glory is currently available to pre-order at amazon.co.uk., amazon.com, and direct from Markosia. I’ll be selling signed copies here as soon as I get them.

AbominableGlory_flyer

Published by Markosia
ISBN: 9781909276475

Written by Martin Hayes
@martinhayes and www.paroneiria.com

Art by Chris Askham
www.chris-askham.co.uk

Letters/design by Bram Meehan
www.bramletters.com

Cover by Matt Soffe
@mygrimmbrother

Here’s the first four pages…

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Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste hardcovers

Monday, May 12th, 2014

Just so you know, I’ve got some of the Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste limited edition hardcovers in stock. Not too many of these left and when they’re gone they’re gone. Click here for details.

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Now in colour

Friday, August 30th, 2013

A long time ago, back when dinosaurs and Jesus were knocking about together and neither of us were quite so decrepit as we are today, Jim Boswell and I worked on a little four-page, grey-scale comic strip called Intergalactic Bank Robbing Teenage Space Aliens On The Run. It was a fun little mad-cap science fiction story, not the heartfelt think-piece you might be imagining from the title. It appeared in issue 12 of FutureQuake and led directly to us doing Project Luna: 1947 together.

Well, it’s getting reprinted soon, which means Jim has been busy changing grey-scale to full colour. It looks really good. See…

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It’ll be reprinted in the forthcoming British Showcase Anthology which is being put together by Adam Cheal and published by Markosia on October 1st.

I do feel like a bit of a fraud, I am not British, after all. But Jim is, and he organised it, so I get to sneak into the book like a corpulent, blood-bloated tick hiding in a fold of neck flab.

Onwards

Monday, August 5th, 2013

Since getting laid off from the shipyard in mid May I have done just about bugger all of anything. This must change. So, time to kick into gear and push on with some projects that have been malingering in the edgelands for too long.

While I’ve been dawdling things have been chugging along nicely.

The Crowley book is out in the wild. The signed limited edition sold out in under 24 hours. The regular edition is still readily available.

Project Luna: 1947 is out there in trade paperback. Still a few hardcovers knocking about too.

Get It Down & Other Weird Stories, which collects fourteen of my short stories (ten previously published in magazines like Nature, Supernatural Tales and Innsmouth Magazine, along with four stories seeing the light of day for the first time) will be released towards the end of August.

But it’s time to get a move on with the new stuff.

The as-yet-unnamed WWII/horror graphic novel is ticking along nicely. Chris Askham’s pages are always a treat to see and Bram Meehan’s lettering is consistently top-notch. We’re close to a third of the way through it. Here, have a low-res sneak-peek…

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I’ve got a few short stories out there, just need to keep them in circulation until, hopefully, an editor likes the looks of one.

There are a few other comic projects to get off the ground too, along with a couple that got off the ground only to then develop bad knees and rickets before collapsing face first into the dirt. Time to kick them back into life. Or kick them to death and have done with it. Better than having them hanging around in limbo.

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Not long now until Thought Bubble in Leeds. Roll on November. I’ll be singing at the Markosia table on both days. Times to be announced.

And it’s off to London the following weekend for what promises to be an exciting event involving my old pal and Crowley artist extraordinaire Roy H Stewart. As Roy said to me recently, “Turns out the occult is a very friendly place.” I’ll post details here once it’s all announced.

Right then. Onwards.

I’ll just put the kettle on first.

Preview – Aleister Crowley: Wandering The Waste

Monday, June 17th, 2013

Here’s a little preview of the opening nine pages, to belatedly mark the official launch.

I’m happy to report that the signed bookplate edition from Weiser Antiquarian Books sold out in a little over 24 hours. See the end of this post for details of where you can grab a copy of the standard edition.

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Aleister Crowley: Wandering The Waste. 144 pages. You can grab a copy…

Direct from the author, signed and dedicated upon request
Direct from the publisher
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
The Atlantis Bookshop in London (included with each copy is a postcard signed by Martin Hayes)
Sub City on Dublin’s Exchequer Street have signed copies

Available digitally at…

Comixology
Kindle store USUK
iTunes

Now available – Aleister Crowley: Wandering the Waste

Friday, June 7th, 2013

Finally, it’s out there.

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Diamond Comic Distributors refused to distribute it so getting it onto shelves hasn’t been easy. The book is currently available in physical form from these outlets…

A limited bookplate edition is available from Weiser Antiquarian Books. Limited to 111 copies, bookplates signed by the author Martin Hayes, the artist RH Stewart, and Crowley biographer Richard Kaczynski, who kindly provided the foreword. **8th June Update: The Weiser special edition has sold out.**

Also available…

Direct from the publisher
Direct from the author, signed and dedicated upon request
From the US printer via amazon.com
From the UK printer via amazon.co.uk
The Atlantis Bookshop in London (included with each copy is a postcard signed by the author)

Available digitally at…

Comixology
Kindle store USUK
iTunes

Project Luna: 1947 – Diamond order code and whatnot

Tuesday, May 7th, 2013

I am told that Project Luna: 1947 is listed in the May issue of Previews.

The Diamond order code is MAY13 0753. If you were to bring that number to your friendly neighbourhood comic retailer she could order you a copy. We should all do that. Yeah! Lets! The 88 page + bonus material pulp science-fiction trade paperback will breach earth orbit on July 1st.

It’s still available for pre-order on amazon.co.uk

There’s an interview with me and Jim Boswell on the Markosia website. Click here to open the pdf.

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