Comic Cuts — 16 May 2025

It has been a long time coming, but the contract is signed, the license fee paid, and I'm waiting on a final set of proof copies — MYTEK THE MIGHTY is coming soon!

The reason for the slight delay is down to me rushing to get things done and not doing them right. Enthusiasm got the better of me and, while I was fixing a small detail on the covers, I forgot that I also needed to extend the artwork a smidge because the logo — deliberately kept large (he is Mytek THE MIGHTY after all) — was very close to the trim line. I thought I'd get away with it, forgetting that there can be a small amount of movement on the printing presses.

The long and the short of it is that I spent Wednesday redoing the covers because the printed proofs came back with the logo right on the edge. You would think that, after forty odd books I'd have learned to be more careful... but clearly not.

Anyway, the problem will be solved. I'll have another set of proofs done just to double check and, once they're OK, I'll start taking orders. There will be the usual discount for early orders, which I'll announce here, on the Bear Alley Books page and on Facebook, which is my only social media platform, so you'll all know about it. 

The plan is to put out the first two books together, as one extremely long story-line had to be split over the two volumes and I didn't think it fair to make people wait. Once the first two have had a couple of months on sale, I'll do volume three and, a couple of months after that, I'll do volume four. They'll all be priced at £23.00, although you may see some variation depending on where they're sold (direct via PayPal, on Ebay or on Amazon) because of the differing charges and how they charge for postage & packing (Amazon, for instance, charges a fixed rate of £2.80, but it actually costs £3.39 + 41p for the envelope + 4p for the label = £3.84). I'm getting in some book wraps that will keep the books safe on their journey. A bit more expensive than the usual envelope but worth the expense.

I've had the same thoughts too often in the past couple of weeks. I wanted to get a card reader for use at shows and I'd heard about one a year or so ago that only cost £20. Well, it had doubled in price over the past year, but I wasn't sure that it was cost effective if I couldn't log into local secure WiFi. So I went for the next model up, which included a charging bay and a better data package, and the cost quintupled once you added VAT. And I'm still not set up, because it's taking longer to verify who I am than it did for the card reader to arrive all the way from the Netherlands!

I had the same kind of problem with a t-shirt I wanted printed up. When I released BEYOND THE VOID back in March 2024, I decided to print up a t-shirt for the Paperback & Pulp Book Fair at Bloomsbury where I was planning to sell copies. It went down well I was planning to get one done for the November fair and the launch of DREAMING OF UTOPIA, but I ran out of time. So I planned ahead for this launch and... well, I went a bit mad, deciding I'd order a shirt that had both front and back printing, which I had to send off for rather than having it printed locally, adding postage. So the price ballooned from £18 to £32. I hope it's worth it.

It'll be on display at the Paperback & Pulp Book Fair at Bloomsbury on Sunday, 25 May, which I'll be attending. If you want copies of any of my books, let me know and I'll bring them along, otherwise I'm not planning to be carrying huge bagfuls of stock — I still have some rotator cuff problems and not-very-flexible ligaments from a year ago, so I'm only have a handful with me.

What I need is a job like my dentist. Three minutes I was in his room and half that time was getting the chair to the right height. After prodding my gums with a sharp probe for a minute, he tells me my teeth are fine and to keep on doing what I'm doing. On the way out they charge me £27.40 and tell me I need to come back in six months. That's a rate of about £550 an hour. Three years ago I figured he was earning £150 an hour, which means prices have soared or my teeth have improved so much it takes him less time to look at them.

I'll be showing them off tonight — smiling and laughing — as we're going to see Angela Barnes tonight. We're also off to the seaside for the day next week. Let's hope the nice weather holds.

This week's header is by Chris Foss. I've been writing a bit about the Battle for Britain as part of the AIR ACE COMPANION, so this seemed apt as I'm about to mention some of the books that helped fuel the demand for Air Ace, including Reach for the Skies by Paul Brickhill, the story of Douglas Bader who was...? Anyone? The editor of the comic ROCKET, of course. Oh, and a very famous WW2 pilot.