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A statement on the future of Stiffs and The Pride

We have to take tough decisions sometimes, and this week saw not one but two of those. Our original intention was to publish Stiffs and The Pride as monthly series’ but a slew of production issues has made this unworkable. Both comics still have our full support and when complete we intend to release them in full. However, progress to date has been slower than anticipated and much of the series’ remains uncompleted. We had hoped that by delaying initial release dates we could avert the issue – we even tried a bi-monthly schedule but this also failed. Thus, with some great regret, it has been decided both by ourselves and the creative teams that the best way forward now is to place both series’ on release hiatus until the majority of outstanding work can be completed.

 

To reiterate, we are still committed to releasing both Stiffs and The Pride, but at this time we cannot say exactly when. As that changes we will let you know.

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We’ve been nominated for an Eagle Award!

Wow, this is an honour indeed. The Eagle Awards are probably the biggest and most prestigious awards in the comics industry and this year we’ve been nominated in the “Favourite Publisher” category.

On top of that, The Pride is continuing to prove popular as three of the team involved have also picked up nominations:

Joe Glass – Favourite Newcomer Writer
Gavin Mitchell – Favourite Newcomer Artist
Kris Carter – Favourite Colourist

We’d be thrilled if you would visit and vote for us.

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Stiffs and The Pride go bi-monthly

Good news and bad news today, folks. The bad news is that we’ve had to shift Stiffs and The Pride to a bi-monthly release schedule; Pride #1 is out now and issue #2 will hit stores in March. Stiffs #1 is still on for a February launch with issue #2 out in April.

We had hoped to avoid this situation, which is why the release dates were moved back by two months in the first place. Unfortunately, producing the artwork for both comics on such a tight schedule without sacrificing quality has proved unworkable for Gav and so after much discussion it was felt by all that the comics should go bi-monthly rather than being delayed even further.

There is good news though; today Stiffs crossed the finishing line with their indiegogo pre-ordering campaign. Between that and pre-orders for The Pride, you guys have shown a fantastic amount of support. Over 650 comics have been ordered and now everyone involved will work hard to make sure you enjoy them. It just proves what we secretly knew all along: Stiffs and The Pride are incredible comics and they’ll be worth the wait!

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Coming 2012

Hello all, and welcome to the new year! 2011 was a hectic year for us; we gained staff, new offices, and a lot of new friends. This year we want to build on that so in the spirit of sharing, I thought I’d offer some spoilers as to what’s coming in 2012.

Starting with books: first up this year is Not As Pointless As You Think by Lynda Nash, which will hit stores soon. We also have two other titles slated for release this year, but you’ll have to wait to find out what they are…

When Deadstar Publishing Presents Rising Stars vol #1 was released, we were awed by the combined talent of David Owain Hughes and Kevin Enhart and knew that we wanted to see more of their work. White Walls and Straitjackets is the result of over a year’s collaboration from the pair and will be out later this year as a full-length graphic novel.

On the comics front, Thackeray, Stiffs and The Pride are continuing their run and are available in ever more comics shops. For a full list of our stockists, check this page.

We’re in the process of arranging more signings at the moment, so if you’d like to see your favourite author near you, let us know. As for conventions and expos, so far we are confirmed as exhibiting at the Cardiff International Comic and Animation Expo 2012 as well as the Bristol Comic Expo. There are a few more in the pipeline, so once those are confirmed we’ll let you know about those too.

As a final point, our Facebook page is fast approaching 500 fans. When we hit that milestone we’ll be giving away a free and exclusive wallpaper to all our loyal followers.

Well, that’s about it for now. 2012 looks like it will be a fantastic year and it’ll all be thanks to you!

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Thoughtbubble 2011

Phew, we’ve been kept on our toes for the past few days. A few days up in Leeds then the start of Christmas trade… anyone would think you guys don’t want us to get any rest!

What’s that? Thoughtbubble? Yes, we spent the weekend of the 19th and 20th November in Leeds meeting, greeting, chatting to, and displaying our wares for you lovely people. This was our second year at Thoughtbubble and if you take our great experience last year, you can double that! It was fantastic to catch up with other industry insiders; Scott Stanford, Genki Gear, Dr Geof (sometimes NSFW), Com.X and many more.

Aside from those we loved meeting each and every one of you that came to our store. I’m told we have photos of some of you in cosplay… but right now I’m not sure where the files are. Once I find them I’ll put them up.

Thackeray was definitely our most popular product for the weekend, but it had stiff (pun intended) competition from Stiffs #1 which we had limited copies of as a convention exclusive. The guys from Stiffs and The Pride had their own stall in the other hall to us and they reported how positive everyone was about their comics, so they were pretty thrilled about the weekend too.

The biggest news from the weekend though is that Gav Mitchell, artist for both Stiffs and The Pride, won the prestigious 2000AD portfolio competition! That’s right, we have an award winning artist working on not one, but two of our titles.

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The Pride Launch Party

So last night we had a launch party for The Pride at Wow Bar in Cardiff.

It was the first time any of us had done such an event, but I gotta say I was really pleased with it.

We had a great turn out, lots of new faces, and was great to meet new people interested in the project, both those who’d been aware of it before, and those who only heard of it last night.

We had fun, and the comic did well on it’s first night! So I am hella pleased!

If you were there, or have had a copy and want to tell us your thoughts, we would love to hear them. We’ll keep you updated on any further events in the future.

-Joe Glass