Friday, March 27, 2009

A triple whammy of AUUUGHH

Well, that's it - today is now officially Black Friday in the Comics bit of my brain (i.e., all of it). First off, as you probably already know, the final DFC hit the nation's collective doormats this morning. A lovely issue in itself, but heavy with gloom at the thought of there being no more. Having said that, there's so much energy in Team DFC that I'm sure there's lots of good stuff to come in the future from the space the comic occupied. However, trying to stay cheerful is a bit tough, when...

Shortly after said doormat-dropping event, I got an email from that fine fellow ILYA, editor of the Best New Manga books that my Gilbert & Sullivan strips have appeared in. Apparently the publishers are putting the BNM series on hiatus, so there will be no volume 4 in 2009, and maybe not ever again. Another outlet for my (and many other people's) work gone.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the rancid icing on this mouldy cake of a day came about an hour ago when I got an email from the editor of MAD magazine - the very gentleman who showed me round the MAD office when I visited New York in 2007, who accepted a submission from me a few months later, and who will always have my gratitude for both of those things - saying that as a result of cutbacks, MAD is now moving from monthly to quarterly and today is his last day as editor.

Have to say, I'm glad I quit the day job and took the leap into Following The Comics Dream when I did, because I'm pretty certain I wouldn't have the guts to do it right now :(

4 comments:

  1. ''
    ^
    I'm very sorry to hear..
    glad you have enough to keep going..I love your work:)

    Johnny Bean for two pages please Beano editor..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Peter, yes I am very grateful that I do still have regular work - there are many in the biz worse off than me right now. It just seemed to hit so hard to have so many things fall over in one day :(

    I wouldn't hold your breath for Johnny getting two pages, but my Beano input may be increasing soon... watch this space ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great news..
    any of your amazing hints for me to guess..
    can't be Minnie this time..
    Les Pretend.?
    Ivy the Terrible..

    ReplyDelete
  4. None of the above! I do have a 3-page Les Pretend in the 2010 annual, though. And, although this isn't what I was referring to before, I will be drawing Ratz for a while as Hunt is currently occupied with another Beano strip... but that's yet another case of Wait And See ;)

    ReplyDelete