Jikan Noon, Coming Soon...

Jikan the Demon-Slayer is back! Every week, follow the adventures of the inter-dimensional demon-hunting ronin warrior on the Paragon Blogspot! This time, Jikan finds himself in the very wild Wild West - where harpy gunslingers, demindians, and planet-eating dearth worms run rampant! Jikan Noon, coming soon from Paragon!

If a few panels of demon-slaying a week isn't enough, there's no need to travel through time and space or hop through dimensions in search of more adventure - simply drop by the Paragon Blogspot and pick up some back issues or grab the Chronicles of Jikan (featuring Jikan and the Kappa King, along with Jikan: Witch Fires and Jikan: Cave of Death, and many more stories) at Lulu.com! And, if you missed out on Jikan's last weekly adventure, you can still read Jikan and the Kappa King here.

Be sure to check out Forbidden Planet's review of the Chronicles of Jikan.

A Brief Morphology of 2010...

As I sit down to write out this blog entry, 2010 is close to its demise. I'm sitting here, alone, a few minutes before the Witching Hour. Wife's deployed in Afghanistan, so no kiss for me tonight. Kids are in bed, unable to make it to midnight. Bad horror movie is on, Demons 2 if you must know.

As much as I might try to avoid the fact that a 'New Year' is crashing down on me, I can't help but reflect a little bit on the year that is short in ending. Yeah, I could use this space to ramble on about personal thises and thatses - but really, why should I force you to pretend to care? - or I could spout out all the resolutions I won't bother to make therefore saving myself later regrets for not keeping to them.

No.

I'm going to cut to the chase and compile a list of comics and prose projects I've worked on this past year, point you to where you can buy them, or - for you cheap bastards - can read them for FREE. Enough of this blah-blah-blogging - here's that list:

Red Sands for Starscape Comics: A grim and violent sci-fi western, Red Sands is "Mad Max meets Strontium Dog meets the Dollars Trilogy". Cover by Alex Ronald, interior art by Bruce McLaren and letters by Bolt 01. Episode one is available for FREE via MyEbooks or Clickwheel. And I should mention that episode two is on its way in early 2011!

Rek Fen-Birn in Temple APA Issue 7: Rek Fen-Birn (with artist Antony Rothwell and letterer Bolt 01) is a four-page strip depicting a skirmish between several species of strange little creatures...where else can you find Beebeluns, Creeplings, Cactopillars and Rok-Shahs all in one strip (or anywhere else)? Temple APA issue 7 is FREE to read at MyEbooks or Clickwheel and will see print later in 2011 in Krazybov Comics!

Glubbleblugg, A Pleasing Symmetry and Third World/Fourth World in Something Wicked #6:

Glubbleblugg (with artist Conor Boyle and letterer Bolt 01) tells the tale of ‘an evil thing that lived under a rock…’ and that thing is Glubbleblugg, a vicious beastie with an appetite for children matched only by its rotten disposition.

In A Pleasing Symmetry (with artist Matt Soffe and letterer Jim Campbell) a man hunts the sinister creature that killed his wife – a creature that is ‘evil in its purest form, a being that feeds on the essence of others and in doing so postpones its own end'.

Lastly, Third World/Fourth World (also with artist Matt Soffe and letterer Jim Campbell) finds benevolent Martians arriving on Earth to deliver 'the secrets of the stars’...to a tribe of African headhunters

Order your copy of Something Wicked #6 at the FutureQuake Press website here.

A Monster Morality Tale in Space Squid Magazine #9: Monster kills, eats, kills, eats, learns a hard lesson. There may be a few print copies of Space Squid #9 left (contact the magazine to find out) but if not, you can view it online for FREE on the Space Squid website.

Little Yelena and the Golligugs in Back From the Depths' annual Hallowscream horror anthology: Little Yelena and the Golligugs (with artist El Chivo and letterer Bolt 01) is a short strip about the evil little creatures that deliver Night Terrors to children...view it for FREE via Clickwheel, Dropbox or MyEbooks - and look for it in print in a future issue of Krazybov Comics!

Muties on the Bounty in Tales From the Emerald Isle #0: In Muties on the Bounty (art and letters by Brigonos Mac Giolla Chomhgaill aka Professor Byah) a band of mutants stows away on a cargo ship bound for Emerald Isle in hopes of escaping the ongoing Mutant Persecution in Mega-City One; when one of the mutants kills the ship's crew, Judge Joyce is called in to hunt him down...order your copy of Tales From the Emerald Isle from Hibernia Comics.

Lugal in Temple APA issue 8: Lugal (with artist Louis Carter and letterer HdE) - a tale of terror and teleportation, aliens and alternate universes! This issue also features a small press write-up on Paragon Comics - here's your first look at my new ongoing series The Mekko-Sapiens Uprising! View Temple APA issue 8 for FREE via Clickwheel, Mediafire or MyEbooks.

An anthology comic couldn't hold him! Hacking his way out of the pages of Paragon Comics, the comic world's only inter-dimensional demon-hunting ronin has arrived in his own graphic novel - 'The Chronicles of Jikan'! Editor Davey Candlish has stitched together 99 pages - that's right 99 pages - of blood-drenched, gore-soaked demon-disembowling fury sure to have your bloodlust on the rise.

I've written three strips for the collection - Jikan: Witchfires (with artist Filip Roncone), Jikan: Cave of Death (with artist James Corcoran) and Jikan & the Kappa King (with artist Davey Candlish) - and several other writers and artists have contributed to the volume; visit the Paragon Blogspot for the entire lineup and art samples.

And click here to order your copy.

So it's midnight now, and 2010 is washed away by all you've had to drink tonight. No doubt you've kissed a girl or guy or two or both (wait, who am I kidding - most of my followers are comics nerds). Why don't you start your 2011 off right and read some comics? My comics.

Happy New Year. May yours be better than mine.

Muties on the Bounty: Last Words.

'Muties on the Bounty' is a strip I'm very proud of, and I'm happy it seems to have gone down well with readers/reviewers so far; the first review of Tales of the Emerald Isle has been posted on the Everything Comes Back to 2000AD site and it's largely favorable:

Kerrin -

'A dark and moving work that extends the recent events surrounding Mega City 1 out into the wider world of Dredd. Matt McLaughlin does a fine job of weaving a tale of displacement and woe which echoes many current stories in our own reality. My only one gripe would be that I think some of the accent is a tad off but that’s probably more in the way I’m reading it. Bryan Coyle has done a lovely job on the artwork, brilliantly atmospheric exterior scenes and shadowy interiors. Great strip.'

Richard -

'FOUR PAGES! I’m re-reading this to write the review and can’t believe the story I remembered in my head from this was told in only four pages. A really nice little companion piece to the recent Dredd arc and packs a real emotional punch. Impressive stuff with suitably moody artwork.'

Also of interest, Pete Wells has posted Alan Nolan's step by step Tales of the Emerald Isle cover creation on his very cool 2000AD Covers Uncovered blog.

There are only a few copies of Tales From the Emerald Isle left - visit the Hibernia Comics site to order yours!

Hither Came Jikan, Inter-Dimensional, Demon-Hunting Ronin Warrior...

An anthology comic couldn't hold him! Hacking his way out of the pages of Paragon Comics, the comic world's only inter-dimensional demon-hunting ronin has arrived in his own graphic novel - 'The Chronicles of Jikan'! Editor Davey Candlish has stitched together 99 pages - that's right 99 pages - of blood-drenched, gore-soaked demon-disembowling fury sure to have your bloodlust on the rise.

I've written three strips for the collection - Jikan: Witchfires (with artist Filip Roncone), Jikan: Cave of Death (with artist James Corcoran) and Jikan & the Kappa King (with artist Davey Candlish) - and several other writers and artists have contributed to the volume; visit the Paragon Blogspot for the entire lineup and art samples.

And click here to order your copy.

Pulp(y) Sci-Fi in Templa APA Issue Eight...

The eighth issue of Temple APA (cover above by Simon Mackie) is now online and can be downloaded - for FREE - at the Temple APA website, or at CLICKWHEEL and MEDIAFIRE, and can be viewed online at MYEBOOKS. So you've got plenty of options and no excuses not to read it.

In this issue you'll find my tale of terror and teleportation entitled 'Lugal', one of the weirdest-looking comic strips you'll ever bump into (thanks for that compliment Van Dom), and a small press feature on Paragon Comics and my upcoming series 'The Mekko-Sapiens Uprising'.