Do You Want To Kiss It Better?

Fun in the Summertime!

2011-06-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

After kicking off our summer sales at the Blim Community Market, we have lined up a bunch of markets and events to promote and sell Play. Very exciting! Here is a list of places we'll be appearing at over the next couple of months. Please come along and say hello!

Robson Square Artisan Market on June 19th, July 17th, August 21st (10am-3pm all days) - Robson Square, Vancouver

This is a weekend market running all summer long right in the center of Downtown Vancouver. They'll be lots of wonderful things to buy, local artists and live music.

Vancouver Comicon on July 10th (11am-5pm) - Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street, Vancouver

Vancouver's monthly comic event is held at the awesome Heritage Hall. July's con will also feature Ed Brissom, Ken Boesem and Kim Glennie.

Rooftop: An Artisan Market on July 10th (12pm-5pm) - Suite 3101, 668 Citadel Parade, Vancouver (near Stadium Skytrain Station)

One of our friends is hosting this delightful artisan market in one of those awesome Downtown towers. With stunning views of the city, and art, ceramics, jewelry and gourmet baked goods to buy, it's a mini market not to be missed! (Email us to find out the buzzer code to get in!)

Kids Market on July 30th (11am-4pm) - Kids Market, Granville Island, Vancouver

Find us nestled among the toy, clothes and kids craft stores at Granville Island's famous Kids Market! Yay!

If you would like us to come and sell the comic at your event, or want to recommend an event we should appear at then please get in touch!

Let summer commence!

Mail Order

2011-06-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

We are now accepting mail orders for play through Paypal in Canada and the United States.

It's available for $5.00 CDN + $2.50 P&P

Mail order to other parts of the world from Canada is fairly expensive but if you would like a copy we are happy to quote how much it will be, just send us an email at doyouwanttokissitbetter@gmail.com

Here is the snazzy paypal button

Let us know if you have any comments!

Blim market

2011-05-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the Blim community market to sell our wares, Play that everyone worked so hard on. It was our first go attending a local Vancouver market so we weren't quite sure what to expect.

We didn't really bring our A-game but there was a good turnout and everyone was nice. Here is what our makeshift display looked like, not many people were keen on the free Werther's it seems.

We'll be going to more events local to Vancouver over the next few months, we'll let you know the dates so you can make it.

We also popped into RX comics on Main st and dropped a few copies in there so you can also find Play there too, if you can't find them there let us know though

Finally another plug for our lulu version:

It contains more color and is available here

Please get in touch if you have any thoughts!

BUY ME!

2011-04-27T11:02:00.001-07:00

Haven't picked up your copy of Play yet? Never fear, comic lovers, there are plenty of copies to go around so check out the details below.

Play costs a mere $5 (CAD) with all profits going to War Child and is currently for sale at:

Coup Salon 524 Shanghai Alley, Chinatown, Vancouver
Book Warehouse, 632 West Broadway, Vancouver (cash only)

Or you can buy directly from us! Just send us an email at doyouwanttokissitbetter@gmail.com for any mail order enquiries. Or you can buy a digital copy from Lulu.

There are 17 awesome artists and writers featured in Play and you can find out more information about them here (listed as they appear in the comic):

Martin Eden: Cover art
Fernanda Robledo: Ocelomeh
Vera Varlamova: Dream Play
Randy Laybourne: Just Seems Like
Kevin Forbes: Happy Fun Toys
Joe Ward: Nothing Personal
Jeremy Sawatsky: The First Day of Summer Vacation is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life
Ian Arrowsmith: That’s What I Do
Diana Castaneda: Amadé, the Kid Who Played by Playing
Monika Blichar: Good Time Charlie
Joming Lau: These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For
Richard Smith: Play
Sarah Herman: Fairyfails
Cayley Malo: Robot Love Chronicles
Marcela Huerta and Konstantin Steshenko: Chickencat
Jennifer Shepit: Snort

If you would like to sell Play in your store or know of any great events we could sell at then please get in touch and be sure to buy a copy soon if you haven't already! We are investigating further options for getting the comic in places, we'll keep you posted.

3...2...1... Lift Off!

2011-04-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

'Play' has officially been launched after our awesome release party on Saturday night!

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the comic and its artists at Coup Salon. It was lovely to meet you all and chatter away while sipping on cider and eating those 'homemade' cookies.

If you didn't make it to the event and these pictures have whet you appetite then head on down to Coup (524 Shanghai Alley, Chinatown, Vancouver) where the art is still hanging on the walls till April 30th and you can pick up a copy of the comic.

A special thanks goes out to the wonderful Coup for hosting our little evening of delight. Not only is Coup a fantastic place to get your hair looking all pretty, it's also a great art space so make sure you visit their website to find out about future events: http://coupsalon.ca/

And finally, thanks to everyone who contributed their work, time and energy into the comic and the party, and to everyone who's bought the comic so far! More info on where to buy 'Play' to follow.

It's a comic!

2011-04-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

Finally, after months of organising, doodling, drawing and printing, the comic has arrived at Do You Want To Kiss It Better? headquarters! And like two proud parents, we couldn't be more delighted with how wonderful it is.

Play will officially go on sale at our launch party on 23rd April (see below for more details), but here's a sneaky look to get you all as excited as we are.

Thanks so much to everyone who worked hard to contribute to the book - we can't wait for you to see it. Start spreading the word and getting your dollars ready, because these babies are going to sell like hot cakes!

Launch Event Saturday April 23rd, Coup Salon, Vancouver, Canada

2011-03-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

To mark the launch of Play we will be having an event!

An awesome night of super fun times to mark the launch of 'Play'.

'Play' is a charity comics anthology project in support of War Child.

We will be hosting this at Coup Salon at 8pm on the 23rd of April.

To see more about the charity War Child
www.warchild.ca

To see more about where it's at: Coup Salon
http://coupsalon.ca/

Facebook event link
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=183917768319250

Play is the second charity comic from Do you want to kiss it better?
The first comic, Green, raised money for the World Land Trust and helped to preserve 5 acres of rainforest.

Play will be available to purchase on the night and the first 30 people who buy a copy will recieve a free copy of Green.

Alright lets play!

2011-03-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

So its long overdue but I present to you Play.

We've been pretty quiet about it all over the last few months.
We suffered some delays in our progress and decided it would be better to stay quiet until we actually had it all done.

So now that time is over and we feel confident talking about it again.

Play features the work of 17 contributors from a few different countries; all giving their take on simple yet complex idea of play.

To mark the launch we will be having an event at the lovely coup salon on the evening of the 23rd of April.

Mark your calenders

More details will be coming

4 in

2010-11-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

So a month later

We have now had 4 submissions in, whoop!

They are all varied in their own right so I'm pretty excited to see what other people come up with.

Still a way to go though, there's a couple we need to finish and we need to badger more people to get done too.

Are schedules are getting a bit clearer around here though so we are getting on it more though.

Get, or keep, in touch.

-->

Work hard, play harder

2010-10-07T16:57:00.001-07:00

If there's anything I've learnt about myself since moving out here to Vancouver, it's that I'm not a hard worker.

Despite having deadlines to stick to, and things I want to accomplish, I have the motivation of a flea. This has resulted in me being fairly stressed out of late as I struggle to complete a year-long book writing project that I really should've finished by now.

But when it comes to play-time I have no trouble summoning my energy. Perhaps it's not just me, perhaps I'm normal - maybe you're all fleas too, and this is one big flea circus where no one's sweeping up the mess, but everyone's happy to play on the trampolines. Ah... fleas!

But teeny tiny itchy animals aside, I must say play time is essential. The book I'm writing is about LEGO, and while LEGO itself is a true joy to meddle with, sitting down at a computer for hours a day in a dark basement apartment to write about it is far less fun. It makes me long for the days when playing with LEGO was just that and nothing more. Now, when I play, half my brain is thinking that I should be working instead.

And I'm a lazy person - I dread to think what someone who actually works hard is going through. So get out your LEGO, your paint box, and your sketch pad and get playing. Don't feel bad - play is a human right.

Oh, and this week, for half an hour, instead of working hard, I made myself in LEGO. Yay!

Your own path

2010-09-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

This week my parents were in town visiting. This brought a few conversations of what I was like when I was a kid, but I could only remember so much of what I did. Even then you only know what you know. Makes you wonder what you can't remember having fun doing or missed out on all together.

Thats why we want your stories, more perspectives on play, different things strike memories in people, we want to collect more.

In the next month I'm going to start rustling together my work, but get in touch if you have anything you would like to do. If you have previously contacted us, we'll be in touch

Catch you later

What did you do?

2010-09-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

So as part of filtering process for my contribution to the anthology I'm thinking of all the ways and things I have fun with.

Here's what I can remember for the moment. I'm sure there must be some other stuff I played with.

Lego
Transformers
Scalextric
Meccano
M.A.S.K
Micro Machines
Hot Wheels
He Man
G.i. Joe
Remote Control Cars
Balsa wood planes
Mini Golf
Football
Field Hockey
POGs
ZOIDS
Basketball
Amiga 2600
Commodore 64 ( I once spent around 2 hours programming it just for a balloon to fly accross the screen)
Kites
Body Boards

Now I have to work on how to combine all that into something.

But what did I miss, what did you have fun with?

Ahem. Talented people. Come play with us.

2010-08-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend - our feet clad in Converse, clutching a small bundle of printed flyers - we made our way to Vancouver's Heritage Hall on Main Street for Comix & Stories. This intimate gathering of local artists and writers seemed the ideal spot to spread the word about DYWTKIB and our new comic, PLAY.

We circled the room, approaching the approachable and gawking in pleasure at the indie comic delights the good folks of BC spend their spare time making (along with adorable pins, prints, and the cutest little Fimo hearts complete with arteries and smiling faces). It was an inspiring sight - warm (sometimes shy) faces sat behind fold-out tables decorated with everything from the cutesy and curious to sinister and explicit. One very friendly dude tried to sell us his first porn movie, which sat proudly next to his growing collection of meticulously drawn erotic comics.

It was inspiring to say the least.

Here are a few of the Comix & Stories peeps whose work made me feel the warm and fuzzies:

http://thejackbracken.com/works/
http://ideatopaperstudios.deviantart.com/
http://www.tiny-vices.com/
http://purplecomics.com/
http://bigfatmind.com/shop/

We picked up a few things including Jack Bracken and Reid Psaltis' delightful new comic The Malaise Trap. (See image above)

When everyone is already producing so many wonderful things, for the sheer love of it, it would make sense that they would want to donate a little of that creative time to the production of a charity project like this, so we asked away and came away feeling positive. But it's one thing to nod your head and show interest; it takes real commitment, passion, and dedication to see that interest through to some beautiful words and pictures on a page for us. So to everyone who has already agreed to be a part of the comic, we thank you, and to all those lovely folk at Comix & stories, and everyone else still deciding - what are you waiting for? Come play with us!

Er what's play?

2010-08-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

So what is play?

Thats the question striking anyone who wants to contribute, myself included.

I'm not sure yet if I will write or draw something myself yet, as opposed to just persuading other people to do it, but I have been trying to think of what I might do.

These days play for me is sitting in front of a screen twiddling my thumbs, or going outside and kicking a ball, throwing a frisbee. In some ways its not all that different from what I did 15 years ago, but go back a few years further say 20 years ago and it seems a lot more "adult".

What was it about losing myself in my imagination that was so easy and fun, maybe the fact that it was easy.

These days I have more "responsibilities" to myself and others that detract from making play easy. I'm going to need to forget about a few of them to remember what play was all about if Im going to create something.

P.S

Sorry its seemed slow, been on a bit of an end of summer holiday.

Stage 1 - Recruit

2010-08-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

The first stage of doing this is like any project, getting people to help. So far we've had some success with persuading people. But we are still a way off how many we would like.

So we've been doing some posters, some ads, some schmoozing and some talking. We might not know everyone to talk to but we are getting there.

Here is a handy poster that, if you know somewhere good, you can put up.

Any comments/suggestions/headhunting assignments welcome.

A week later....

2010-07-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

So a week later;

We have found some people to help out, and one person has even already produced something for us! which is amazing if you ask me.

But we are still looking for more, so if you know anyone that wants to contribute to a comic for charity that will be published in BC, Canada let us know

More news soon

New Brief

2010-07-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Ok so here is our new brief; I hope you can find some room in there

What does 'play' mean to you?

Charity comic 'Do You Want to Kiss it Better?' is putting together a new collection of work to raise money for War Child, and are looking for previously unpublished narrative art, sequential or otherwise, which expresses play in its many dynamic forms.

Many people, especially adults, don't get the chance to play. In a world where we're all growing up fast little time is left for our imaginations to run wild.
What was play to you as a child? What does it mean to you now? Can you even remember or is your life still one big game of make-believe?
This project is a tribute to play; what it means to you and what you would like it to mean to others.

This is a family-friendly comic, so while your work can be traditional strip art or abstract, with words or without words, our only stipulation is that it's suitable for a child's eyes.

please contact us for details

doyouwanttokissitbetter (at) gmail.com

charity's website

http://www.warchild.ca/

Where did we go?

2010-07-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

We had a good run raising money for the World Land Trust and it still does raise money for them (hint there are still copies left to buy).

After we had raised some money we were pretty drained of our energies from doing it all in our spare time, so we just rested and waited quietly until we had the desire to come back and do something again. It was never a case of just stopping we always wanted to do something again.

So now we are back from our dormant slumber in the hope of creating something again!

Stay Tuned

Raising Money! a certificate

2008-10-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Its been rather quiet for me this month as I have been busy with work and not getting to many events, but I just wanted everyone to know that we have raised money and the world land trust are now £200 better off,

We hope to have an event at some point to celebrate and raise more money so if you have any ideas for that let me know.

In the meantime tell everyone that all £2.50 from our comic gets donated to the world land trust now.

Catch you soon.

Ian

We have:

2008-09-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

We have...

Do you want to kiss it better has:

Sold comics online
Sold comics on the street
Sold comics at the Bristol comic expo
Sold comics at Orbital comics in london
Sold comics at Gosh comics in London
Sold comics at the London zine symposium
Sold comics to their friends
Sold comics to their family
Sold comics in a pub at the Pens pencils & photocopier event
Sold comics in Camden market
Sold comics in all of Forbidden Planets stores
Sold comics on Forbidden Planets website.
Sold comics at the Camden green fair.

At least thats all I can remember at the moment...

But now I have a new one!

Sold comics in an art gallery at the Artful Dodger's exhibition.

He was kind enough to invite us along to sell comics at his private view preview night. and we did!

It was a fun more relaxing way to sell comics as it wasn't so hectic as a market and I wasn't jostling for attention.

If you get a chance go and check it out as it is actually art with method and purpose rather than design, and he's a really nice guy.

More news soon!

Now Available Online

2008-08-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

Now Available Online!
Hello,

Our time for sales in Forbidden Planet is numbered, but we are now available online as a download

http://www.lulu.com/content/2421727: Some strips were given to us in colour. We have restored it to the relevant strips. Namely Leonie O'moore's work and the work of Neil Merret & Euan Richardson. Lil's strip has also had the colour put back in although it is more of a grayscale piece.

I will post previews of all those strips up soon so you can see.

So if you know anyone in foreign climes who would like to purchase our comic please direct them to our Lulu product. It will download as a PDF upon payment. £1.60 from the price (yes lulu takes 40p commission) will go towards our cause.

I'll have more news about our Forbidden Planet sales soon as I can get it.

In the meantime get yourself along to this on Saturday.

http://londonundergroundcomics.com/

A temporary absence

2008-08-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

I'll be away for a few days, so not much will be going on without me obviously. Lou may post. but I will be back with some kind of news next week. A mystery. Take care

AN EXHIBTION AND COMICS

2008-08-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hey,

check this out, its a cool exhibtion going on soon!

We've been invited to the opening night, and to sell our comics. I'll let you know how it all goes.

Low energy day

2008-08-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hey,

We've just confirmed to go along to the low energy day in camden on the 30th of august.

http://londonundergroundcomics.com/?p=120

So put it in your diaries or your white boards or blackberrys or iphones and come and say hello on the day,

the last one was pretty good, (no barcodes) so thats why we decided to go again.

I might have something else to say tomorrow.

King Blues gig! & migrating

2008-08-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Last week we went to the King Blues gig in camden,

It was awesome, the new stuff sounds good the old stuff sounds good, its all good!

We sold some comics to some people too which was ace,

Also this is a new blog, I have migrated all the blog history from myspace & our website to here as another place people can leave comments, so please do!

More news & features coming soon!

Laters

Ian

zines in a pub!

2008-07-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hello,

On saturday for a time i attended a comic and zine event http://comicsandzines.wordpress.com/

It was a nice affair with some old & new faces.

Im sure it will grow to something a bit more as it seems to take place in a good section of the year.

For now though its giving us renewed vigour for getting on with work for this project, so things will happen and I will let you know.

If anyone is about next week get yourself down to The King Blues gig at dingwalls in camden, it will be awesome.

look here for more information.

http://www.myspace.com/thekingblues

Any tips or feedback, keep them coming..

pulled comics but you can still find us.

2008-07-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Its been a bit of a quiet month for us, I haven't found a wide variety of things to do!

but our comics have now been pulled off sale in most forbidden planet stores as our sale period in them is coming to an end.

But we do still have it on sale in the London shop as well as Gosh & Orbital, just ask anyone in the shops there, they are very helpful,

You can always order online, or if you have any other requests get in touch,

Hopefully I will have more exciting news for you soon.

What we’ve been up to, a new review & special purchase

2008-06-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Allright so we have been working to sell the comic!

Last weekend we did loads of stuff!

On saturday we went along to the No Barcodes event at camden market. Organised by the guys at london underground comics it was a good atmosphere with lots of other small press creators, We sold our wares to some intrepid customers who managed to find there way in to our area of the market. Theres a mash up video of the event here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCEhqn8pXAs check it out. We didnt take part in any of the singing but viewers with a keen vision and who know what me and Lou look like might be able to spot us in the background in a few spots. Also to give someone a little plug, check out this guys site http://www.ventedspleen.com/ . If I manage to get some disposable income together sometime soon I will whack some down on some of his stuff because its pretty good, he even won an eagle award (Favourite Black and White Comicbook - British http://www.eagleawards.co.uk/ ) this year.

So yeah we were there we were hungover and it was fun,

The next day was a bit more tiring though. I had a stall at the camden green fair (http://www.camdengreenfair.org.uk/) it was kind of last minute but I couldnt turn it down. I also have some photos! exciting!

Heres some steps about how to make a stall look passable in less than a day!

make some banners

then finish them

Now pack it all up with what you got for your stall and what you got to pack it out with, when I had been kindly directed to my pitch this is what my stuff looked like

the picture is blurry because I carried that stuff up the length of regents park and my hand was shaking as it was heavy

this is what my "spread" looked like

and the final stall, Mk1

It was just me that day so I had to chat and sell to people on my lonesome, but it was pretty fun, I had the naked bike riders behind me got asked my age for no apparent reason and got to hear other peoples opinions on the planet. At one point I had a carribean steel drum band playing right behind me for a few hours and at that point it got a bit exhausting so I had to join in with the dancing.

We also had another review, this time from Stephen Holland who manages a great comic shop up in nottingham called page 45 (http://www.myspace.com/page_45)

Here it is in full:

Do You Want To Kiss It Better 1 (£2-50) by various. Published in support of the World Land Trust - and printed on recycled paper using vegetable oil-based inks on presses run on 100% local wind power by people eating dandelions and non-dairy buttercups grown free-range in their gardens - this is, like many a worthy endeavour, a mixed bag of Quorn. "Cause And Effect" by Shiro (not Matsumune) may well be lifted from - sorry inspired by - USAGI YOJIMBO or some other Buddhist tract but even if so, elevated it has been into a wonderfully fluid series of panels with some fabulous curves, superb brush flourishes and unusual and dynamic camera angles. It's an anthropomorphic life lesson whose figures Mike Kunkel (HEROBEAR AND THE KID) wouldn't have been disappointed in. "Introducing The Opossum Shrimp" by Leonie O'Moore was commendable succinct and bang on-target, whilst the rest... the rest of the people mean well and are therefore saved from my usual range of heartless, caustic witherisms. Details of how to make your purchase can be found at the link.

If you dont believe me look here

I would say we were never trying to be above criticism by doing something for charity, we need feedback so we can make the next one better! but everyone should know we persauded everyone to help us out on the strength of the idea and not paying them.

In case you missed it last week Guillermo Del Toro bought a copy of our comic

Finally I knocked up a banner for us yesterday, if you like it & us feel free to use it anywhere, If you want the html code just ask.

I'll let you know when we have more stuff planned, but in the mean time if you have any comments, suggestions, or hot tips on how to sell our comic, where to go to do it or would like to have a party, get in touch.

Catch you later

Ian

Camden comics thing sans barcode

2008-05-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Ok so we havnt posted much in a while...

Well we were in Bristol selling the comic a couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to find other things and places to go to but in the mean time I do have one to tell you about.

Taking place next saturday Camden lock market is in part going to be taken over by a load of comic people!

The organisers will tell you more about it so click the link...

LUC No Barcodes

I'll be going along to have some fun and, without being selfish, make our comic stand out!

Im also trying to get involved in some green fairs & events over the summer but as it goes we only have one thing to sell, so stall costs become a bit prohibitive. If anyone knows anyone who is going to be at a fair over the summer that is willing to sell our comic for us, or let me come along and sell our comic, let me know. I'm not work shy so I'll help who ever out with labour and contribute to costs.

For the moment I'll continue plotting and let you know,

Take Care

Ian

Catching a Train

2008-05-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note as I really have to get ready to go and catch a train for Bristol

We'll be down there for the Bristol comic Expo this weekend. If you are in the area or already going come & say hello,

I'll probably be wearing some kind of Do you want to kiss it better T shirt.

Also our comic is now available at Forbidden Planet Ltd Shops,

I've been a bit too social this week so I'll be doing lots more comic work next week

Catch you soon

Ian

This weekend...

2008-04-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend...

Ok currently this weekend I have not found anywhere to go and sell people the comic,

But fear not, this is a whole country,

Devil Monkey one of our contributors also organises the UK chapter of Drink & Draw in Newcastle. Here are the event details:

MAY MEETING!

Saturday the 3rd of May!

Newcastle University Student Union.

From 4 till 11.

Free entry.

Tell the world!

You don't have to be able to drink or draw, but it helps!

(over 18s only)
So if you are up in the region and want to do something cool this weekend go along, and pick up a copy of our comic while you are there.

Also we should be getting some reviews over the next month or so..

One from Page45 manager Stephen Holland. In his last mail shot he said this.. and I quote

"Yeah, okay, I've seen a copy, there are two great stand-out sequences amongst some lesser contributions, and I'll be reviewing it next month. In the meantime, it's a good cause, right? Do yer clicky and pay or not, depending!"

So we await the full review..

Another review should be coming from Comics Bulletin

I'll keep you posted as it happens

Bristol comic expo is coming up & we'll see you there...

weekending at the zine symposium

2008-04-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Yo yippety Yo,

Just a quick note to say how great the london zine symposium was this sunday gone, kudos to the organisers for getting it all together.

I met some nice people and sold some more copies of the comic too, so thanks to them.

I was hoping for some nice weather this week so I could do some more street selling apprentice stylee but that appears not to be the case in london town.

If anyone knows of any other events coming up that they reckon I could go along to sell some more at let me know.

Thanks!

In actuality I am really tired.

Back from the brink - Where it’ll be come May 8th

2008-04-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yo,

Lou is back from NYCC (New York Comic Con) - She sold some to copies to people there which is ace, she made some time to have some fun too though.

But we have some good news!

From the 8th of May our Comic will be in stock in Forbidden Planet shops..

So theres one of those in:
Birmingham
Bristol
Cambridge
Coventry
Croydon
Liverpool
Newcastle
Southampton
London!

You can find out where exactly they are here:

Where is FP?

Our comic is currently available in:

Orbital Comics & Collectibles
148 Charing Cross Road
London, England
WC2H 0LB

Gosh Comics
39 Great Russell St
London WC1B 3NZ
United Kingdom

Forbidden Planet Online

I also plan to make an appearance at the London Zine Symposium this weekend:
Details

So look out for it there.

Coming up we will also be going to the Bristol Comic Expo to spread the love there too: http://www.comicexpo.net/

Also we got a little mention here: Down the tubes

Im working on getting it reviewed by a few comic reviewers but in the meantime if anyone has got anything to say about it all let us know.

Take Care people!

Selling our comic: Reader feedback

2008-04-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well we had our comic on Tuesday and we've sold quite a few, both to people we know and people we dont, which is good. We still have a long way to go though, both to get it to places where people can buy it and to let people know its there.

We now have our comic available here:

Forbidden Planet Online

and the kind people at Orbital comic have some copies available.

They can be found here,
Orbital Comics & Collectibles
148 Charing Cross Road
London, England
WC2H 0LB
http://www.orbitalcomics.com/
http://www.myspace.com/orbitalcomics

We are working on getting it to more places soon so we'll keep you posted.

Also we had our first bit of reader feedback, its below in its entirety:

"Hey just read do you want to kiss it better and it was pretty f*%ing cool!!! Loved the king blues bit even tho it was very short. And all the art work was really really good loved the whole thing the message it was sending was just right especially for a comic. Cant wait for a volume 2. Cant stress enough how much I like this it really is very very cool. Keep up the good work and keep spreading the word."

(ok do I edited the swearing - you never know minors could be reading)

If anyone else has read it yet (and you werent involved with it) please let us know.

Catch you later

Our Comic is in da house! available to order & buy now

2008-04-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hello,

First of all here are the details of our comic.

Do you want to kiss it better is a charity comics anthology.

Our first issue, Green is in support of the world land trust, http://www.worldlandtrust.org. All profits from this comic will go towards their projects to help preserve some of the most precious land in the world.

The work in Green was all contributed with the intention of making people think about goes on around them in the world in entertaining and real ways.

It is 40 pages cover to cover, 35 pages of strip art. Featuring a colour cover by Phil Corbett & work from shiro, Scroobius pip, Rufus Dayglo, The King Blues, and many other talented artists & writers.

£2.50 + 75p for P&P - please see the paypal button on our profile. If you dont use paypal and dont ever want to get in touch and we can work something else out.

For the more interested among you here is a bit more to the story.

Well back in January we started doing this, the 22nd I think, anyway a few months down the line we have a finished product.

It arrived for me this morning, in an apparently carbon zero delivery (more on that another time) ,in a box that looks like this.

There were 8 of them, here is what 2 look like, note the shoes for scale.

Upon opening the box I was confronted with many copies of our comic that look like this..

They also look like this if you try to eat one, make sure you buy it first though.. note lou for scale..

I was impressed by the print quality have a look at this..

(I was never going to show you a full page was I)

So its done now, and we want as many of you as possible (well atleast as many of you as have printed anyway) to buy a copy.

If you have any questions please ask!

Thanks to everyone that helped us get this far, all the people who gave us some of their work, took an interest or answered some of my many questions. Its turned out well.

Ian Valeriesmith

Printing to be bound

2008-04-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well our comic has now been printed and is going to be bound soon…

I have also seen what our printer is going to put on the inside cover and well it surpassed my expectations a little.

Have a look,

It will be on its way soon, late this week or early next week.

40 pages cover to cover; 35 pages of strip art, all for £2.50 (plus 75p for P&P)

I’m going to try and get a real website up soon and at the least some kind of paypal button on our myspace.

Catch you later

Ian

oh yeh baby - pee your pants exciting this is!!!!

2008-03-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

hells yeh! The comic is at the printers, it’ll be back soon and we’ll be hassling you all to buy it (and to sell em to everyone you know!), and I’m gonna take some to the new york comic con... and you’ll be able to buy it online, and all kinds of wonderful places...

hopefully both of us will have a table at the bristolcon too so come on down, I’ll be the one that smells of cider and is probably trying to violate anyone who turned up dressed as batman (you think im joking, just ask geoff, he knows thats what comic cons are for, like at brum with the summer batman - the knight was shorter!!!!!! hahahahaha, he was tiny.... i digress)

it’s on 100% recycled paper, with eco friendly vegetable oil based inks, it will be £2.50 or $5.00,with 75p postage if you buy it online. there will be a downloadable pdf with some strips in colour at some point, ’more details to follow yadda yadda yadda’ said ian......

thanks to everyone who has got involved, will get involved and helped in any way.

now you just gotta buy it!

and help with issue 2...... heeheehee

sooo exciting huh?

No Thing

2008-03-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

No Thing
Current mood: satisfied

Hey,

Some of you will now that this weekend the comics thing was in London. http://www.ukwebcomixthing.co.uk/. I had hoped to go along to this to check out some small press stuff and promote our upcoming comic.

Lou & I knocked up a flyer, but basically I couldnt get a decent number printed in a good quality in time. I just couldnt get my stuff sorted in time. This was a bit of a dissapoinment for me as Id let myself down.

Those of you that know me, may know that I had a load of money robbed from my bank account recently (more than my rents worth). like most things I brushed it aside and dealt with it (cant let it get you down after all). Evidently the 2 weeks its taken to get the money back from the bank had taken its toll on my general wellbeing. I lost my focus towards the end of last week as I didnt know what was going on with it all. So yeah now its all sorted and I’ll get back into the swing...

How Lou has persuaded me to do things for the last 2 weeks..

What your supposed bed may look like after losing a load of money and your brain with it...

m not making excuses because really I should have prepared and gone but just didnt.

I know for a few weeks now we’ve been saying its nearly done and you might be wondering where it is now, well truth be told it nearly is done, we have our page count sorted but we just need to get a few spare pages nailed & sorted. Rufus Dayglo was kind enough to draw a pin up for us over the weekend for inclusion and we pretty much just need to get one more page nailed before we confirm all the details.

This is a first foray into comics producing for me and Ive been really amazed by how much people have been able to help us out in the 2 months we’ve been doing this now. To be honest though I still dont really know much. If I havnt asked you already, if you have any tips for helping us to promote our comic once we have it ready to launch please let me know.

I have had too much easter chocolate at once and now I feel queasy. Im off to do some star jumps to burn the sugar a bit...

Kudos to you all,

Ian

All in

2008-03-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

Yo,

Well over the last week we had enough strips in to put together our first issue!

Early next week I hope to confirm some of the finer points and write a bigger note!

Here’s a little look at the last strip we had in, The Last Treasure by Devil Monkey.

More details & full listing soon so keep an eye out.

Hope you all had a good week and a peaceful weekend.

Nearly done!

2008-03-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Yo!

Well over the weekend we have now had enough pages in to go to print...

We hope to finalise details by the the end of the week as there is a bit more work to go, but it hopefully wont be much longer..

Here's a look at some of the stuff we now have in..

by Neil Merrett & Ewan Robertson.

by Andy Blundell

& finally...

By Lou & me,

Did anyone watch life in cold blood? David (who hapens to be patron of the world land trust) was on top form. The last part of the last episode really summed it up, but I cant find a short clip of it anywhere, so either have a look at the whole of the last episode on iplayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00936vz.shtml - if you have a spare hour - its available to watch until the end of tomorrow.

Or a shortened version of Davids message
http://www.bbc.co.uk/savingplanetearth/flash/video/video.shtml?clip=davidintro

Take Care

Ian

Its coming

2008-03-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

Word!

Well its coming I tell you, we need to finish our strip and hopefully we will be getting a few more strips soon, then we will paginate it and get it ready for our printers. I am going to ask them to write us a note verifying that it is printed on recycled paper too.

Today was mothers day, but easter will be here soon so check out

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/easterbunnies.htm

Here is some work from another strip coming to us, called last treasure by myspace.com/77studios

Peeping

2008-02-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

I have now posted a bunch more preview pictures in our previews album, the album is now public as it should be, so please tell anyone about it so they can have a look and get interested!

This obviously means we have had a few more submissions but we are still hoping for more.

I have to go and do something related to lettering now,

Laterz -->

Tees

2008-02-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

Lou has knocked up some T shirts. To help us stay warm...

If you would like a special T shirt let us know and we can produce one for you.

They will cost £5 and the money will go towards our printing costs for the comic.

Makin some green to save the green

2008-02-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

Well you will be pleased to know I have been speaking to the World Land Trust and they have graciously allowed me the use of their logo, as you can see I have quickly knocked up a modified cover (it still a bit subject to change though).

I had to show them some samples in order to do this and what they saw they said they liked, so well done to you contributors!

They also sent me some pictures of their project areas so you could see what its all about. Please check out the www.worldlandtrust.org for more information.

------

small disclaimer.

Please note that our views & our contributors views have nothing to do with the world land trust's

A new brief

2008-02-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

A new brief,

Well issue one is coming together now so we would like to start getting people involved for issue 2. We would like to cover the issue of poverty of and development

So similar to issue 1 we would like 1-5 page strips in standard US size (170mm x 260mm) in grayscale as 300dpi Tiff files. You can submit colour versions but these will probably only be used online due to printing costs. The strips can be in any style you chose but they should ideally be at least remotely related to the issues of poverty & development, thinking on a tangent that requires people to be clever is also accepted (Lou thinks that is too wordy – but that is cos she is from cov innit).

Anyway if you want to contribute get in touch at myspace or facebook or doyouwanttokissitbetter@googlemail.com

Ian & Lou

p.s. issue 3 will be in aid of animal welfare and rights.......

A certificate.

2008-02-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

I have now moved, I am not yet networked so have to negotiate with lou to blog.

As you might have noticed I have put our cover up designed by the nice Phil Corbett, who is the author of Kitten Parasites.

I have also put up a photo of the certificate I recieved from the world land trust last year when I ran supporting them. We hope to acquire another one to save more acres.

Ian

Trashy previews

2008-02-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Well things are progressing which is good, and tomorrow believe or not I will actually be moving so the DYWTKIB headquarters will be back up and running (this will replace and hopefully improve our satellite centre situation at the moment).

Until then I have a new posted some new preview pics in the album,

They are from Den Patrick's and Sarah Langton's strip entitled Trashed. With a more sci-fi plot & japanese styled art it adds something different to the mix.

You can also check Dens blog - http://likealittlekidwithabeard.blogspot.com/ for another take and http://www.secretarcticbase.com/ for more of Sarahs workings.

Now I have to go back and persuade her to finish drawing it.

Another preview soon and maybe even a cover....

Ian

i pulled mine out where’s your finger?

2008-02-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

well i managed to get from the blobs with lines for eyes and stick legs stage to a real page of comic (no speech bubbles yet....). king blues beat you all to it with their strip, which is kick ass, thanks so much guys. lil is nearly there, and some other not so myspacey people, but eveyone else, we need some updates.... where you at?!

Love lou xxxxx

One strip in a few more to go

2008-02-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Well last week we had our first submission in from Itch Fox (of the King Blues www.myspace.com/thekingblues) & Jen McHugh (www.myspace.com/jenmchugh); Props to them for getting something done and submitted, check out there respective stuff too because its great.

In the meantime I have posted a small preview image of it in our previews album. I might post a little more if I am feeling generous.

Take Care

Ian

If I was going to buy anyone a valentines gift it would be..

2008-02-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/supporting/valentines.htm

An acre of land, a chocate bar & a certificate, she's (or he) has got to be impressed with that eh?

Reminds me of the time I sponsered a monkey for my ex girlfriends christmas present, she thought it was a great present...

and why is there a mood for Jedi but not for Sith?

Ian

A little rant - Ian

2008-02-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

"They are playing the fear card. It's time to start managing wolves as any other big game animals" Steve Nadeau of the Idaho Department of Fish & Game, who thinks environmental groups suing over a rule allowing wolf culls in the northern rockies are overstating the likley extent of deaths.

I read that in a recent copy of New Scientist the other day.

Now I have read some of the stuff surrounding the matter and now know that wolves were reintroduced to the idaho rockie environment 13 years ago and that now people are campaigning for them to be hunted again. Now ecological issues aside the main thing that struck me is: How do we have the right?

No one manages us yet we seek to manage the world; we are trying to be gods but we will only end up destroying ourselves because we cant understand eachother or the world.

To read more about the story look here:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/environment/story/276774.html

Updates & Previews

2008-02-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Well our friend lil has kindly sent us some preview sketches, I have put a couple in our albums so you eager chaps can have a look at whats been done, (please note you have to be our friend to see the folder - you know you want to if you are not already). Check them out, they look ace (better than I could do - Ian).

If anyone else has some work in progress they can send to us for previw use get in touch...

Hopefully I will have some more previews & updates for you soon,

Take Care

Images refined

2008-01-28T13:01:00.000-08:00

To clear up what I have already said….

By the way I am no expert on comic drawing I'm trying to put some information together for those of us less knowledgeable

Ok we are going for a standard US comic:

This gives us the below,

Full Size: 7" x 10.5" (178mm x 267mm)
Trim: 6.625x10.25" (168mm x 260mm)
Live Area: 6x9" (152.4mm x 228.6mm)

Basically up to the trim will defiantly get printed on the page, but you should make sure all the important stuff is within the 6 x 9 area, especially any dialogue.

Once you have done your drawing you can send it to us and we will treat it like a new born child & scan it in, or you can scan it in for us, but please use the file formats as below.

If you are drawing the picture digitally set up the full size 7" x 10.5" dimensions as the image size, (there is a handy template available - check out http://www.ka-blam.com/comic_template.psd - just paste it on top of your image and set the opacity down check http://www.ka-blam.com/index.php?page=Specs_comics for slightly more detailed )

Now make sure you set the image to 300 DPI (you should find this in the image settings) and when you save it, save it as a Tiff File.

So that is again,

Full Size 7" x 10.5"
300 DPI
Tiff File

Any questions please ask & I will endeavour to answer somehow

Once you've done your images send it over!!!

More news soon, but I have put a few pictures up to show that I have done some work.

Ian

If I can you can surely...

2008-01-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

Heyyy

So this evening I wrote something... which I will very shortly badger Lou to draw. No spoilers just yet, it needs a bit of work on layouts...

I hope to clarify a few things about image sizes / formats etc, but Ill save that for tomorrow, when my brain has recovered from an EPIC! weekend.

In other news I now have a decent camera which I will use to give some pictorial updates when we get new stuff to show you (only small previews of course).

Take Care

Ian -->

ARTISTS!!!!

2008-01-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

ARTISTS!!!!
Category: Pets and Animals

helloooooo. we're gettting a lot of feedback from writers, and most artists seem to be doing their own thing or have writers they work with. if you can illustrate something and would like us to send you a script from one of our writers please let us know, and get in touch. and hassle your arty friends to do it. and arty people you don't know. i've hassled nearly everyone in the world the last 2 days i think!!

anyway, here are 2 poems by Joeseph McGowan, which it would be nice if someone could illustrate. we also have about 3 people who want to know if there is an artist they can work with before they start on scripts, so get in touch.....

on the subject of poverty, which we aim to cover in later issues....

thanks so much to joe, lets have some artists step up for this now!!!!

update

2008-01-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

well, here we go kids. so far we have l'il gettin on with 3 pages. jim mahfood is gonna do what he can, hopefully 2 pages, but y'know, i love one page filler man. rufus, being the wonderful person that he is, is gonna give us 3 pages hopefully, and he's gonna try and sweet talk al martin into writin it for/with him. Geof says fetishman, will be making an appearance. or at least we'll get something a bit rude.... dani is workin away brainstormin' already. the collosally (i can't be arsed to work out how to spell that), cool king blues are gonna do us a 3 panel strip, which im really lookin forward to. hope zane played em on his show last night, cuz they are good, and radio one normally plays crap. which is why despite requesting it 5 times i wasnt actually listening. anyway. ian and i will be doing 2 pages he reckons, so im gonna do some pages with clare too. we've had some googlemail responses,and we have a writer called neil who may be looking for an artist, so if you don't want to write, let us know we can match you up with someone, or vice versa. my previous manager steve, will put on the largest of his thinking hats and get back to us. we've had a couple of gumtree responses too but again we need artists. and lucy is going to talk to loads of vinyl designers the weekend and see what we can get out of them. its all going pretty well really....... and i'm sure i've forgotten someone. if i have, i'm sorry havent been up long and i have to move house which is kinda stressing me. because letting agents appear to be made of stupid.

thanks everyone who's on board!!!

if you wanna take photos of youin the process so we can post some updates and have something toputinthephotos that isnt just me bein a tard, then go for it!!!

XXX
Lou

Digital image sizes....

2008-01-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

Hello again

For any artists that want to get digital....

If you want image dimensions go for 3140 X 4780 pixels, at 300 DPI - (for each page), purely because these are the rough sizes that a little project called Transformers Mosaic has been using and I think (Ian the big Transformers fan) they have done a great job. check them out at. http://transformers-mosaic.deviantart.com/

Bed time methinks...

Things to write about,

2008-01-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Well having chewed the fat we thought it would be better to let everyone know what other causes we would like to help...

So there are Green issues; ranging from wold trade deficit to saving the forests and cutting polution & consumption...

Nature conservation; save the animals in the air land and sea, as well as their habitats,

AIDS; to help with prevention, as its better than cure, but also cure, because there isnt one yet, and treatment.

Amnesty; any matter of human rights;

Its not about drawing up a manifesto, its about trying to get people to realise whats going on around them...

If you have any ideas of how you might like to contribute arty stuff or story stuff to any of the above get in touch.

Take Care

more details

2008-01-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

ok, sopeople have been asking if this is colour or grayscale. i would go for grayscale, as its going to becheaper for us to print, but we'll probably have a colour cover etc, so if you really really want to work in colour do that and we may have a bit of both. and timeframe wise, we would like to take this to nycc in april, which means we need the stuff early march at the latest,so we have time to do all the rest.

cheers for all the interest and feedback we've had, you all rock.

It begins

2008-01-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

woohoo, lovely lucy lu has confirmed she will put something cute and environmentl together for the comic, she estimates a month to do it. this is gonna work!!!! i had a depressing start to the morning, but thats cheered me right up.