Comic Cuts — 20 September 2024.

After the excitement of last week, with the news that Rebellion had signed off on THE PHANTOM PATROL and I was waiting on a final proof to turn up, this week has been the eye of the storm. I'm still waiting for the proof, at which point I will be able to start taking orders... but not until I've seen that final proof.

I'm also waiting on a copy of another book that I have been working on, not as a writer or designer, but simply guiding it through the publishing process. This is FEMALE DETECTIVES IN EARLY CRIME FICTION 1841-1920. Featured here are private detectives and, although some authors have taken liberties with historical authenticity, official police detectives. There are also the committed amateurs who would proudly describe themselves as detectives. The book is divided into entries, each of which deals with a work of fiction which generally falls into one of three categories: a novel, a series of stories or a standalone short story. Both periodical appearances and appearances in book form are covered. Each entry contains a variable blend of bibliographic information and critical commentary with the discussion focusing on the character, career and capabilities of the detective.

It's a substantial book, 460 A4 pages, and it's available at the knock-down price of £21.99 via Amazon where you can also read the introduction and a couple of entries thanks to the "Read Sample" function. If you have any interest in this kind of thing — and I do because of the coverage of Sexton Blake allies and enemies and a number of female detectives who appeared in story papers during the period covered — it's a must-have book. And cheap. And illustrated in black & white.

I've spent almost all week writing about football strips as part of an essay about a British comic strip writer Tom Tully. I started writing this last week and it has grown into an 8,000-word monster, with more to come as I've yet to cover his later strips (outside of Roy). Given how prolific he was, I'm going to have to skip through quite a lot of his shorter-run strips, but I'm trying to give space to everything more substantial... so I'm looking forward to re-reading his years on Dan Dare next week!

We went out to  lunch on Wednesday as a friend was visiting the UK from Canada and I blew my diet clean out of the water. I'm trying to lose a bit of weight as my last trip to the doctors was a bit disappointing. Too much sugar getting into my bloodstream, which isn't good for someone who is overweight and sits in front of a laptop all day.

It was a double-whammy of frustration as my blood pressure was up. I've no idea why — maybe the heat last month, which meant I wasn't sleeping properly. Maybe just stress. Anyway, it was up and that was annoying because my blood pressure is the one thing I've not had to worry about since being diagnosed as diabetic. It was at the top end of OK when I had a face-to-face with the doctor, but it had been recommended that I use a home monitor for a week to keep an eye on things. The little local surgery only has a couple that can be borrowed, so it took three weeks to get hold of one, and I've just started using it... first measurement this morning. Not great, but a second measurement was down into the OK area.

(If you've not done this yourself, the monitor is easy to use and you take two measurements in the morning and two in the evening. Then an AI does something algorithmic with the results and tells you if blood is going to explode out of your eyes. I think that's what they said.)

As for my weight, I had already lost a couple of pounds, but not enough over the summer, despite some walks and some gardening. I've been put off any heavy work because of the rotator cuff damage to my arm, which is still ongoing, despite regular exercise. Since then I've lost another three pounds, but the cold weather and dressing up a bit warmer meant I put two pounds back on! I'm now another pound down, but that might be because the weather has warmed up and I've taken my jumper off.

I think I'll have to give it a couple of weeks and see if I'm actually losing weight. I have another check up in about two months time, so the race is on!