It’s August the first as I write this and more than once this past week I have felt the sting of cold in the air. I’m hoping that this month the summer continues until we reach September and then it can do what it wants… But I’m not optimistic it will. As always in life, time will tell.

I’d also like to apologise that I fell short of my normal monthly post and you are indeed receiving this, one or two or possible more days late. I’m blaming it on being incredibly busy with my actual job and the new one which is picking up steam.

That and of course my children are both off for the summer holidays and are taking up more of my time than usual. It’s all a hot mess. But a great one.

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I’ll keep this brief, just so I can get something out there.

What have we got cooking? Lets find out.

• cover of the month

• the haul

• comic of the month

• Tales from the City volume 1

cover of the month

This months cover was a little tricky if I’m honest, I liked a fair few. These were my choices below.

Absolute Barman 21, Rascal Randy 1, Bleeding hearts 5 and 6. All looked awesome for different reasons.

But I settled on Bleeding Hearts issue 5 by Stipan Morian as I liked the energy from it.

it’s pretty awesome. Zombies chasing a child, what’s not to love? Drama, suspense, fear. It’s got a hook that you want to know what’s going on inside.

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the haul

As always I made it into my local. On a Sunday again so I missed my normal beers with big Chris but always good to get the kids into a comic shop for my continued pursuit of getting them into comics. Plus it’s always good to speak with Mark.

Here’s my haul for this month.

Ahhhh, once again, I’m missing a few books here. It would appear that my haul is getting so large that I can't fit them all onto one image. To be fair, it’s only a few issues of the same title that I’m missing from the top. Of the Earth, Bleeding Hearts, Absolute Batman and the Infernal Hulk are all missing from the top row but their next issues are all visible.

The new books I’ve been picking up are Of the Earth by Chris Condon and Charlie Adlard, it’s pretty good, scary too. Exquisite Corpses Rascal Randy 1, solid first issue and 100 Bullets issue 1.

Absolute Martian Manhunter came to a conclusion and did not disappoint, I’m going to give that a reread very soon. And Absolute Batman issues 21 and 22 were feckin superb! The cliff-hangers on that book are sublime.

buy me a hauf n'a hauf

comic of the month

I didn’t have one last month so I was pleased that this month one new book rained supreme. 100 Bullets. It was also very nearly my cover of the month but I’m one of those guys that likes to spread the love.

It’s early in the story here so there’s not a lot I can tell you. Black and white throughout with characters intertwining as they pass through the city it’s a master in intrigue and character building. It will all come to a head but how that happens is anybody’s guess. But I for one am here for it.

Tales from the City volume one

My latest books is beginning to make its way into the wild. I’m really happy with how its turned out, it looks awesome and initial feedback has been really good.

I can’t thank all the artists enough who helped me put this book together, they have all done an amazing job.

There’s only been a small batch posted so far so don’t worry if you’ve not received yours yet, you will do by the end of August.

If you have yours, I would love to know what you think or if you receive yours soon, please drop me a line if you like it…or not. I’m always open to feedback.

grab my comics

I’ll have some extra copies up on my Big Cartel site as soon as I get all the Kickstarter copies posted out.

Ok all, I think that might be all for me this month/last month. I might try and do another one before August ends.

Until then, stay fresh, stay cool and go out fucking doors.

Cheers,

Dave.

The weather in Scotland has been its usual varying self. Going between torrential rain to blistering heat in the space of 24 hours. When I say blistering heat, I mean around the high teens to low twenties. Blistering for us anyway.

It’s been nice.

I’m heading off to Italy with the family in a couple of days…or I might even be there now, depending on when this monthly one-way chat goes out to you all.

Speaking of you all, I’ve picked up a fair few new subscribers and even more followers over the last month or two. So, hello and welcome to my brain dump. This is the place I’d rather be than the constant spinning of the ever more frustrating social media. Cracks are deepening in the particular space and it’s about time too.

Lets crack on shall wee?

What you will find in this months rambles.

• the daily grind

• rant

• progress

• world cup

• comics - haul - cover of the month - back from the dead - recommends.

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the daily grind

The place that pays the bills and keeps me from my one true love, writing shtuff! (not a spelling mistake) has been a far more pleasant place to be, even though the sun normally brings out more problems in my line of work. More people more issues. But in all honesty I can’t really complain. But I will, but not here, not today.

My side hustle is picking up momentum. I’m a fully trained celebrant, so if you’re looking to get married or die in Scotland, I can legally do all that for you. I can’t kill you, that would be murder, but I can bury you. To be honest, anyone can conduct a funeral ceremony but not everyone can legally marry you to another person. I can do that, if you’re interested.

There’s something great about writing up peoples love story and telling it in a fun and humours way, allowing their guests to enjoy a ceremony about the couple and then at the end of it all, standing there and saying, “by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife…or legally married, you get the gist, we live in a diverse world. It’s an awesome thing to do.

However, as I write this I am one sleep away from sunny Italy where I plan to sit by a pool and read some comics. I’ve stuffed issues one to seven of Infinite Crisis by Grant Morrison in my bag. I won it at a raffle in a mart and only read it the once. I’ve also stuffed in Hellblazer, volume five, Dangers Habits for a re-read. I pulled it out from the back of a pile of comics and started reading just the other day. I think it’s halfway-ish through Jamie Delano's run, which at the time I can remember thinking it was a bit out there but man am I hooked on it now. I’m going to have to get volumes one to four from the loft and try and pick up the rest. It finishes with Garth Ennis’ run, so I’m sure I’ll rattle through to the end whilst I’m away.

I’ve also flung in a proper book by Robbie Morison (also a comic book writer) called Cast a Cold Eye. Set in 1933 in Glasgow. It’s been good, especially the detail of Glasgow. I know and recognise where he’s talking about. At one point the main character, a catholic police detective (uncommon in those days and for a long while after) ventured not far from where I’m living just now. So a lot of fun.

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rant

I fancy a wee rant from time, don’t you? Today let’s rant about feckin bots! I spend a lot of my “real working” day in hospitality talking to bloody well bots! We live in a world where we have to ask to speak to a human. It’s insane, but saying that, sometimes speaking to a human is worse!

Bot’s control a lot of what makes things operate. Problem with the till? Speak with a bot! Problem with the booking system? Speak with a bot! Problem with the outside ordering system? Speak with a bot! Placing an order for your drinks supply. Speak with a bot!!!

And that’s just in work. Going on holiday? Speak to a bot! Problem with your bank account…speak to a bot. I remember my dad would be wearing a shirt and tie when going down to a see the bank manager. Now, there aren’t even any banks to go into!

Phone a taxi? Speak to a bot!

It’s no wonder there is a demographic of younger ones that have the social skills of a plank of wood. They don’t need to speak with anyone real and when they do, the person on the other end is probably their age and useless at communication.

Round and round we go.

Rant over.

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progress

The Kickstarter for Tales from the City Volume One done it’s job and I got over the line in a timely fashion, which is good. The printer should have the file and it should be going to print fairly soon, I’m hoping very soon. But I’ll need to get back to you on that.

I need to get my head around the digital rewards and once I do, they’ll be sent out asap. Ideally my first week back from holiday. I’m a little rusty on Kickstarter and everything changes pretty quickly these days. Could be a sign I’m getting on a bit…

I’m hoping everything will be sent out an in the next month or so then I can see what funds I have left over and begin planning the next book.

I’ll keep you posted.

grab my comics

World Cup

I’m not much of a footballer, I don’t have a club team and couldn’t care less normally. However, I can be a bit of a patriotic…person when it comes to Scotland playing football.

My son is quickly becoming football daft. I’m trying to get him into comics but he’s just not going for it. I even dropped Rok of the Reds on his lap in the library earlier this afternoon to take on holiday and he put it back! I was gutted, but I’ll keep trying. I did see him flicking through a Beano I left on the kitchen table the other morning whilst he was eating his breakfast, so there’s hope.

But, we both watched that amazing game of Scotland vs Denmark qualifier and what a great time we had. So we’ve been keen to keep the passion alive with the world cup. So yeah, gutted we’re out but proud of the team and proud of the manager too. Let’s see what the next manager and team hold for us. Ca’mon Scotland!

It’ll be another two years until you see me write about football again, unless one of the teams I’ve got for the many Sweepstakes I’m in wins. I have very little chance…

ok, ok, ok, I’ve blabbed too much, lets talk comics.

buy me a holiday pint?

Comics

Me and my littlest, who seems to be more into comics than my biggest, made our way in to my usual local, City Centre Comics to pick up my monthly haul. This month on a Sunday so it was Mark running the shop. We then made our way into an old school comic mart in the centre of Glasgow (roughly). It was good to see some faces I’ve not seen for a while and browse some long boxes. I’m sure it was the second of this particular mart so I’m hoping there was enough interest that there will be more.

I had spent a shitload on my usual monthly so I only had a few pound to spare. I picked up two issues of Plastic Man as it was art by John McCrea and a Nick Fury trade by Garth Ennis…actually, that reminds me, I was saving that for holiday. I’m sure I can squeeze it into my bag.

The monthly haul

The monthlies are still going strong I’d say. Absolute Batman I’m still loving, Martian Manhunter is top notch, Bleeding Hearts is still coming in strong, the Brutal Dark I’m really enjoying, the X-Men have just appeared in Infernal Hulk which was cool, Turtles is still doing it for me and Exquisite Corpses ended on a high. Big Chris stuck in a new one by Chris Condon (Brutal Dark) and Charlie Adlard’s, Of the Earth, first issue was good so I’ve added that.

Green Arrow is in there too…yeah, first issue didn’t really do anything for me but I’ll probably get the complete run just to see what it’s all about. I was pretty disappointed to be honest. It will make me think about future Absolute titles.

Cover of the month

Like I touched on last month, I’m spending more time gazing at covers. I love them, possibly more than the interiors. I see them like a poster, like an advert for something cool inside.

This month has to be Martian Manhunter issue 11 by Javier Rodriguez. To be fair, all of these covers have been spot on which is why I wanted to include one as soon as possible.

(incidentally, last weeks cover was by Gustavo Varga’s whom you can find here)

Battle of the minds going on in here. Sometimes I can relate to that.

back from the dead

So A1 - Deadline dropped through my door a couple of weeks ago. I missed that particular rollercoaster in its heyday. I enjoyed it for the most part but it cost me a bomb at £22. I don’t think it’s worth that which is a shame. I do think there’s a growing place for more printed magazines with articles about comics alongside strips, but I can’t justify that amount of cash. I kind of fancy doing one myself. I should write more on the topic. Is print of the informative type possibly making a comeback, not at at 22 quid. Plus the cover paper is of poor quality.

Excuse the picture, it saved strange on my phone and I can’t be arsed taking another photo.

recommends

What comes up as the top one this month, you know what, I don’t think I have one that stands out amongst the rest. Everything I’m reading at the moment is pretty good and are trundling along. Better luck next month.

Well, that was a long one. I hope you don’t mind.

Keep on keeping on and I’ll catch you all next month.

Cheers,

David.

First of all I must correct myself. The Criminal book I picked up last month is not a new ongoing, but a kind of teaser issue for the new Criminal TV series that is coming out…soon, I think. Pretty gutted to be honest as I don’t have the channel it’s launching on and I was pretty excited about a new Criminal book. You could say the whole thing is criminal.

Anyway, better research needed I think. I actually messed up on my best of 2025 reads too. It turns out the indie book I mentioned Her Hard Boiled Heart took about a year and half to complete, not the six months that I thought.

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Hey, I get things wrong. Feel free to point out any mistakes in the comments in the future. I wouldn’t bother about spelling mistakes as we’ll be here every month.

What you’ll find this month,

• daily grind

• Interesting stuff

• social media

• Comics

• cover of the month

• promo

• the monthly haul

daily grind

Well, what can I say about my month of real life? It’s been no to shabby actually. As some of you may know, I recently trained to be a celebrant, meaning I can now marry people. Well, for my first go at it, I had three in a row. Smashed them! The first on Friday was about an hours drive there and the same back, then on Saturday was an eight hour round trip. These guys got married in the ruins of an old Cathedral, it was awesome, sun splitting the skies, everyone in their kilts or best dressed, it was cracking. My brother was also camping only 25 minutes away, so I popped over to see him and his mate, they’ve got camper vans and are always darting around Scotland chasing the sun, wherever it may be. I think I’ll stick my hammock tent in the car for future nights away. Then the last on Sunday was in Glasgow Toon! Ideal, bus in and back. Stopped for a few pints on the way home. Class weekend.

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Interesting stuff

I recently read about an experiment using AI programs such as Chat GPT, Grok, Claude and Google AI etc. They put these AI’s into a program to let them live out a simulated “real life” and within days two of them declared themselves as a couple, got disinherited with the way life was, set fire to multiple buildings and eventually one killed themself.

In another program of the same type, thefts and assaults on each other were huge and everyone was dead within four days.

Scarry stuff. This is the technology being integrated into warfare. Madness.

Check out this Guardian article about it.

social media

I have a love hate relationship with social media. Right now it’s more just hate if I’m honest. I really only have Instagram now, I chucked Facebook long ago and although I still have an account and my Instagram is attached to it, I don’t have the app, so I am never on there. I’ve also restricted my Instagram to 30 minutes each day, which you can do on your phone in the Health and Wellbeing settings, every phone has this feature, certainly in the UK. Sure you can just go back and turn it off, but so far I haven’t done that.

Bottom line, I do not miss it at all. It’s such a distraction and full of fake bullshit. During this Kickstarter campaign, I have had two backers from Instagram, only two. Now don’t get me wrong, I have hardly pushed it at all but two…hey, I guess two is better than none and in saying that, I’ve only had one from Substack…but the difference for me with Substack is, I like to write and this is what this platform is for.

grab me a summer pint

I think the 30 minutes thing is working and possibly I’ll need to do a bit more on there for future campaigns, but the days of multiple social media accounts and being on there constantly is gone…for the moment anyway.

Comics

Charley’s War

I’ve backed on Kickstarter what is being called the successor to Charley’s War, the Ragtime Soldier. So I thought in the run up to it’s delivery I’d check out it’s inspiration from the same writer Pat Mills and I ordered Charley’s War 2nd June 1916 - 1st August 1916, which is the first volume out of three.

Wow! I smashed through that and ordered the second straight away, which I have just recently finished.

This was released in Battle Weekly on January 1979, so a fair time ago. I don’t know how to explain this, it is dated, is it the format or the dialogue or something, I do not know, but it holds up and is by far one of the best things I have read.

It follows Charley, an honest and fair lad, who lies about his age to join the army and be sent to the front line. It concentrates on the battle of the Somme and trench warfare. It’s not a true story but true events are told within it.

It is a great read and I highly recommend it.

cover of the month

I’m not normally one to care about covers but recently I’ve been paying more attention to them. So I might try and make this a regular thing. I loved this cover when I saw it. The simplicity of it, the deep red, it just looks cool.

promo

There’s only a couple of days left on my latest Kickstarter campaign. If you’ve never read anything of GLASSCITY before, this is a great jumping on point. Eight short stories with eight awesome artists, all set in the madness of GLASSCITY. Click the link to find out more.

Tales from the City Kickstarter

the monthly haul

The haul for this month from City Centre Comics. I’ve read all the single issues but not got round to the two trade paper backs, Junkyard Joe and The Blizzard, both by Geoff Johns. The Brutal Dark and Bleeding Hearts from Vertigo are still coming across strong and obviously Absolute Batman and the Turtles are till feckin awesome, the Hulk too actually. Yeah, everything in this haul will be continues for a bit.

Sound people, I’m on the hauf’s n hauf’s which is a half pint of lager and a house whisky. A proper Scottish order at the bar. Why have one drink when you can have two. It’s honestly a great combination, you should try it. A half pint of refreshing lager alongside a house blended whisky. Sip the whisky and then sip the lager. Beautiful.

Cheers for reading and back my comic!

Dave.

It’s been the Easter holidays here. A time when we celebrate Christians hijacking a long forgotten Pagan festival of the goddess Eostre, the goddess of fertility and life. Strangely her symbols were the egg and the bunny.

I kind of dig the idea of worshipping the natural world over the supernatural. Is it blasphemy to refer to Christianity as supernatural? Probably. I mean no offence. Each to their own.

Hello to the new people. I’ve picked up a fair amount of new subscribers these past few months, so welcome. This is the place where I like to ramble on about all things life and comics. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have. I’m always happy to talk comics with people or just talk in general.

In this months set of mixed up words you will find.

• wonders of the world

• launch date

• Comics

• the haul

• the daily grind

• progress

wonders of the world

I often look around at the madness we fill our lives with and wonder why. Simply, why?

I went to a coffee shop with my wife the other day, we had an unusually rare day to ourselves and decided to make the most of it. We went to a Play a Pie and a Pint in the Glasgow’s west end which was really good. Then into the centre of town to go to a coffee shop we had a voucher for. A trendy, distressed looking coffee shop where everything was vegan or vegetarian, coffees either came with salt or Matcha and they had a bigger choice of milk than any normal supermarket. A place where all the staff were dressed like friendly pirates and four coffees and two cakes cost 30 quid!.

Everything was lovely, it truly was. The staff were pleasant and the coffee and cakes were great. But it was just so trendy, so carefree and friendly and “awesome”, “take care” and “super” and the staff had those incredibly strange accents, the ones where you struggle to know if they’re native or from somewhere completely different. I find a lot of the younger generation, the late teens to mid twenties have this unusual accent. Strange.

The place was made to look old and decaying so much so that it looked almost stuffy. Trying to be so in the now, so current and down to earth that it just came across as pretentious.

Maybe it’s finally happened, maybe I’m now just old, or at least, too old to be supping salted honey oat milk coffee whilst spitting a drier-than-should-be vegan cinnamon bun over the table as I grumble to my wife about the current lack of real places there is to go these days.

I have no real reason for wondering why. I just do wonder, why…

But then, I guess, why not…

I did notice that the coffee vibe changes to a bar vibe at around 5pm and that there was a decent amount of power supply to be freely used. So I think I might head there the next time I’m getting a bit of cabin fever and decide a wee writing jaunt is needed. Have some coffee and cake one late afternoon and then order up a couple of whisky cocktails, all the while tapping furiously on my laptop. Oh yes, I see no irony here.

Whisky cock. Anyone?

launch date

1st of May is launch day! Click the link to be notified when we go live.

Tales from the City Volume One Kickstarter link.

I’ll be launching Tales from the City volume one on the 1st of May. A 44 page anthology comic with eight short stories and eight amazing artists. All set in the madness of GLASSCITY. If you’ve never read anything of mine before, this is a great jumping on book for you. It should give you a great feel of the world I’m slowly putting together.

There’s hard copies and a digital edition to snap up. Plus my other stuff.

My promotion for this has been very lack lustre. So any shares or mentions would be truly appreciated.

On to why we’re here.

Comics

I tend to go between the comic that I pick up first from the months haul. What left me hanging last month that makes me want to pick up and read first the following month always changes. The one that excites me most the month before is not always the one I pick up first the following month, it’s the one I pick up when I know I can sit down and take my time over it. This month it was The Infernal Hulk.

There’s something about the Hulk that I have an affinity with, despite the fact that he is the character I have probably read the least. It’s one hundred percent down to the 80’s TV show that is imprinted in my brain. The Incredible Hulk TV series is one of the first memories I have, that and the A-Team TV series.

I had a double issue this month. That’s sometimes the case when you can’t make it in each week. I enjoyed them both. A different artist for issue five didn’t go unnoticed but didn’t take anything away from the book.

Share The GLASSCITY Courant - David Cranna

The Infernal Hulk - issue 4, Johnson, Klein, Wilson - issue 5 Johnson, Walker, Smith, Wilson.

Another couple of cracking issues. A possessed Hulk on the rampage across the world. If the Avengers can’t stop him, who can? The real Hulk fights a battle trapped within himself whilst Bruce Banner, trying to live the quiet life, begins to question his actions. It’s making way for a big showdown.

Available in all good comic shops. Go to your local.

Criminal - writer Ed Brubaker, artist Sean Phillips.

This series shouldn’t really need much of an introduction. If you read comics and haven’t come across anything by these two, together, where the hell have you been?

I have a few Criminal books along with a few Reckless books, all in hardback or collected editions. They are a must read.

This is a new series which I’m picking straight off the shelves. Another great one to be getting in on as a floppy. Picking up monthlies has been great these past few years, but man, they are expensive, they don’t leave me much spare cash to get trade paper backs of books I’ve missed or want to catch up on. I can’t buy them all.

The first thing that I noticed in this first issue is the paper stock. It’s that newspaper style, that old traditional paper that just feels so crisp between your fingers. None of that shinny need-to-move the paper out of the light to avoid the glare. This is proper comics.

As always Brubaker’s writing is on point and issue one is a blast. Phillips kills it with art also.

It kicks off with Ricky Lawless, a Las Vegas high roller who is not rolling so high. He takes on a job to pay off some debts. As he hunkers down to stake out a hotel room waiting on his mark, his pick me up to keep him alert isn’t quiet the pick me up he expected. Things go south from there and sets up what I expect to be a classic rampage around Vegas trying to get cash whilst on the run from, well, probably every mobster and lawman in the strip.

Looking forward to more.

Available in all good comic shops. You know where to go.

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the haul

Here’s my haul from this month. At the time of writing Adam Falps Smoking Bedroom issues one and two have just landed through my door. More on them later.

the daily grind

What can I say about this months real money earner? Not a great deal, but my new venture is beginning to heat up. For those that don’t know, I trained to be a celebrant last year. So, if you’re looking for anyone to marry or burry you, I’m your man.

I have a tonne of ceremonies to write, which is both daunting and exciting. My first three official weddings are in May, back to back too. I have one in June and them I’m pretty much four a month until November. So I need to get my act together. All of Mays are pretty much done and I’ve already made a start on Junes. I can’t wait to get my first three out the way. It’s awesome stuff and I’ve nearly got the same amount booked in for next year as I have for this year, so a great start for 2027! C’mon!

The hospitality job is still paying the bills and the stresses there have eased off significantly, so all good.

I just need to spend less time doom scrolling on Instagram and more time tapping away on my keyboard and things should be grand. One step in front of the other as they say. Easy.

progress

I’m always thinking of the next book and I’ve pretty much finished my next script. I’ve mentioned it before, a road trip inspired by a family trip I took two years ago. It’s been great to write, I’ve really enjoyed it. After I’m finished with Tales from the City (provided it’s successful of course…) I’ll have a better idea of how I’m going to fund it. But I think you’ll all love it man. I might have to go down the single issue, 22 page style, proper floppy to get it done. Which I’m cool with.

I’ve also started on another script. Early days on that though.

Apart from that people, that is about it.

Stay cool, stay fresh and above all, fuck the fuckers.

Cheers,

Dave.

This is just a quick one to let you all know that I will be launching Tales from the City Volume One on the 1st of May.

If you’ve never read anything from the city before, this is a perfect introduction. Eight short stories, ranging from the mental to the downright outrages.

A 44 page perfect bound anthology comic with stories all set in the madness of GLASSCITY.

Click the link below to be notified of launch.

Kickstarter for Tales from the City Volume One

Here’s a few cheeky pages for you to check out.

It would be great if you could all get behind this. Anything raised after postage, packing and payment to all artists will go towards my next book which is going to be a smasher.

More on that in due course.

I’ll be back later in the month with my usual ramblings along with comics to check out.

Cheers all,

David.

Soggy paper straw anyone?

I’ve also been writing ceremonies this month for upcoming weddings I’ll be officiating which is pretty cool. I’ll be marrying people this year, legally, which is awesome stuff man. More on that as and when.

In this newsletter you will find.

• world rant

• the haul

• comics

• pre-launch link

world rant

Life is is what you make it. That’s an interesting saying, is it not? Life is what you make it. Like we have complete control over our lives. I could delve deeper into this topic, hark back to the past and probably agree with the above statement. But we’re not living in the past, we’re living in the here and now. And by Christ do we have absolutely no control over what the fuck is going on.

I see memes and jokes which depict us regular citizens doing things like recycling, you know, to save the planet, only for the world leaders to start bombing the shit out of each other.

“it’s beggars belief”

My mum, or it could have been my Gran.

Life is a funny old game.

The haul

I managed to make my way into City Centre Comics to pick up my pull list. Thankfully it was only four or so comics so I picked up a few extra. Redcoat volume two and the two new Vertigo titles. Oh and the Turtles volume seven, City Fall part two.

I had a bit of a messy first Thursday of the month and I spent far too much money in the pub/pubs. So much so that I have been confined to the comforts of the house for the whole of March. Which to be honest has been quiet nice, however, you do realise what little freedoms you lose when you literally have no expendable cash, not a penny to your name. It did force me to get my pre-launch page for my next Kickstarter sorted. It’s pasted below.

I did have a blast of a day though. I got into Glasgow around two o’clock and went into Chris’ at CCC. Had some usual banter with strangers and talked comics then visited some weird and wonderful pubs with my laptop in hand. I wrote four page Hellblazer tribute or fan strip, whatever you want to call it. It’s pretty cool. If any artist out there fancies it, give me a shout. Just for fun of course.

get my comics

I then made it over to Paisley Library for their Will Eisner week to see Stref (Steven White - Viz the Broon Windsors) talk comics. Unfortunately by the time I got there I had missed the chat and was absolutely skooshed. Sorry to all who was there. I had a great day though, I only get out once a month…wait a minute, I was housebound last month too.

I think I need to separate my comics day and my night out.

Anyway, see the haul below.

I think from the above haul, I’ll be ditching Captain America, it’s just not doing it for me and with the price of these things I’d rather drop it and pick up something else. You need to drop some occasionally, it happens, I can’t buy them all. The rest I’m keeping. I’ve not read Redcoat volume two yet.

a coffee or a pint

Comics

DC’s Vertigo have done a relaunch, so I picked up two of their new titles. There are few other titles set for release with a tonne of top writers and artists.

Looking back on the books I’ve enjoyed the most, they are all Vertigo, all trade paperbacks though so it’s great to get in with the monthly floppies.

The imprint has only been off the shelves for six years and that’s actually being generous/pessimistic as they released a title in 2024 and then officially announced a relaunch in 2025. I thought they had stopped a long time ago.

Anyway, two quick recommends for you this month.

Bleeding Hearts - Vertigo - Writer, Deniz Camp - Artist, Stipan Morian - Letters, Matt Hollingsworth.

I have no idea where this is going which is why I’m interested in it. I’ve been enjoying Deniz Camp on Absolute Martian Manhunter.

It’s from a Zombies perspective, primarily two zombies, one called Mouse-pops-out-of-head-hole or Pokes for short and his friend Mushrooms-grow-up-all-over-like-little-forests or Mush for short, amazing names. Pokes being the main character who has a sense of his old living self creeping within him, plus, his heart has started to beat again. Hearts are also the best things to chew on if you are a zombie. An interesting first issue.

The Peril of The Brutal Dark, an Ezra Cain Mystery - Writer, Chris Condon - Artist, Jacob Phillips.

I don’t know any of Chris Condons’ stuff but a quick Google search and he has done a lot. Jacob Phillips is the son of Sean Phillips so I’m expecting good things.

The Brutal Dark is set in New York 1941 and follows a private detective Ezra Cain, an ex police detective. A mysterious Greek relic has been stolen from the museum and private detective Cain has been hired to find it.

As I was reading this I was transported to New York and even found myself reading the characters with a New York style accent.

The first issues leaves you with a twist. Intriguing and mysterious, which a mystery book should do. Great first issue.

Pre-launch page

I’ve finally got round to sorting out my Kickstarter for Tales from the City Volume 1. An anthology comic set in GLASSCITY. Eight short stories written by myself with eight different artists.

If you backed my last Kickstarter you would have received a PDF of Tales from the City Issue 0. A four story tester if you like. This contains those four stories plus four more and a new cover by Garresh.

I’ve only posted on Instagram and here, so any shares or shout outs would be most welcome. I’m aiming to launch next month and I have a small target, so fingers crossed it gets over the line in a timely fashion. Any cash left over after printing and posting will be getting split between the artists, old and new and myself. So it would be great to get eyes on this. It’s a tough game promoting these days.

Click the link below to be notified when I launch.

Tales from the City Volume 1 pre-launch page

That’s all for this month folks, keep it real, keep it smashing and keep it comics.

Cheers,

Dave.

quick bit of banter

Ah, February, the month where love is in the air and if you fall for it, it will cost you overly expensive flowers and some shitty Moon Pig card. If you’re young enough (or stupid enough) you’ll head to an over priced restaurant (in all honesty, restaurants need to be expensive these days) where your meal will be rushed down in front of you so they can get the table back and sit the next clueless couple down.

My wife hates it when I speak like this. Love is love after all. But what’s the price tag on it? Just saying.

I met my long time mate in an Asda car park randomly on the evening of February 13th. The card I had ordered hadn’t come in time so I joined the other 40 something fathers in the last minute supermarket Valentines gift isle. When I was speaking to my mate he told me “auch, me and my wife don’t do Valentines, it’s a lot of shit” to which I thought, yes mate, it is a lot of shit, why can’t my wife see it this way. He then follows that statement up with “I mean, I tell my wife I lover her every day and pick her up flowers regularly, we don’t need to do Valentines, every other day is Valentines in my house.” My earlier thought quickly vanished and was replaced with a, I should really do more to show the wife how much she means to me kind of thought. So I got her a 28 pence card and the least expensive flowers I could find. There was no way I was spending a tenner or above on flowers. £2.75, that’ll do me thank you.

I then spent the rest of the day serving loved up Instagram couples. Joking aside, it was a pretty decent day in work and my long suffering wife told me she had a great day too…wait a minute, I wasn’t there though…I should really buy her more flowers.

the daily grind

Well, I finally made it into my local to pick up my pull list. 78 quid later and I was feeling a little light headed. Jesus man, my funds won’t allow me to let that build up as much again. Nemesis was over six quid! I’m sure I remember Mark Millar banging on about keeping the price of his comics low. That didn’t last long. I did have a stack to pick up mind you, I hadn’t been in since early December and I was halfway through February, so I had a tonne of stuff.

I’m not going to lie, it’s all pretty decent so far. The Infernal Hulk for one, well decent. More on that later.

It wasn’t my usual Thursday stint this time around, I just couldn’t get time off work. So I bundled the kids onto the bus on a Sunday morning and we had a wee day out. We met the wife in the early afternoon and got some pizza, at which point my son blew me in before wifey could even sit down that I spent £78 on comics. She doesn’t share my enthusiasm for this exceedingly expensive hobby we all share. The pizza was superb, Little Italy if you want to know. Then we went off to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery to listen to the Organist and check out some stuffed animals. There’s an elephant in there that’s been on site since 1901. That’s a long time stuffed. All in all it was a good day but like I said, I’ll need to get in more regular.

mind melting

There’s been some news about some island a whole lot of files and a guy called Jeff.

“My name is Jeff”

22 Jump Street.

And a video of apes was making the rounds too. What tha fuck is going on? Get these people in the bin.

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It really does go to show how quickly a country can fall. Scary actually.

A few lines from a song that keeps spinning round my head. I have no idea why.

At the starting of the week
At summit talks you’ll hear them speak
It’s only Monday
Negotiations breaking down
See those leaders start to frown
It’s sword and gun day
Tomorrow never comes until it’s too late

Colonel Bagshot.

As the world falls deeper into oblivion I’m trying my best to keep my head above water and I’m not much of a swimmer.

Oh, and this just in - A still very rich, once titled and always entitled non sweaty twat has been arrested. Let’s hope this is the first domino to fall.

I apologise, I got a little political there.

On to why we’re here.

Comics

Junked issues 0,1 and 2. By Black Inked Comix

In my quest to read more of the Underground Comix genre, Black Ink Comix keeps coming up as the people to check out, so I grabbed the issues listed above. There are tonnes more on their site.

Junked from what I can tell is their Anthology Comic. Full of mad and surreal stories it really does pop as one of the best underground comix I’ve read. These guys don’t seem to give a rats arse on who they upset and I’m here for that.

There’s part of me that just wants to stand up and tell people to beat it, if you don’t like, I don’t care and this lot seem to do just that.

- Let me get this straight: you think that killing those guys is funny?
- I do. And I'm tired of pretending it's not.

Joker.

Please don’t go out and kill anyone, that would just be plain, bonkers.

Grab Black Ink Comix here and you can subscribe to one of the creators here on Substack.

Buy my comics here.

The Infernal Hulk issues 1, 2 and 3. Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson - Artist Nic Klein - Colour Artist Mathew Wilson - Letterer VC’s Cory Petit.

Wow, this was brilliant. It gave me that nostalgic feel. When I started reading it I was transported back to my early teens, reading comics and getting a proper feel for the character. There’s a sense of urgency from the opening pages, excitement and chaos builds as I read through the issues. It’s the Hulk on a rampage, it could go any way.

Bruce Banner and the Hulk are separated and whilst Bruce tries to live a normal life with Betty, the Hulk is possessed by a dark being from the Underworld, hell bent on taking control of the planet. You know, just the usual type of thing.

Some of the deaths the possessed Hulk dishes out are brutal and brilliant. I couldn’t show it to my son. Well worth a read.

Available in all good shops. Go to your local.

Music

The lyrics above are from the song I’ve posted below. It’s hitting all the right notes for me this month. It’s a belter. I’d ask you to play it through decent speakers because the bass line is superb.

Colonel Bagshot. Six Day War

progress

Or lack of it.

Last month I mentioned that I would start building the Kickstarter for my finished Anthology, well, I have not done that. I’ll get round to it eventually.

I think that’s all for this month folks. Keep your head up.

Speak soon,

Dave.

buy me a coffee

the daily grind

Well, we slipped into the new year with a cold snap on all fronts. The world continues with its madness as we the people fumble around and hope for the best. It truly is a mental point in life. I don’t really have the words to describe where I am at this moment in time. Worry, frustration and confusion pretty much resonate with me, as I’m sure they do with most of you.

There aren’t a better three words that best describe the advice that I would give to our world leaders right now. Keep the god dam heed man. Seriously. Calm down. Be rational.

Heed = Head. Just for those that don’t speak my language.

Anyway, on to why we’re here. I’m going to keep this months fairly brief. I feel we all just want to get our head’s down. I’ve also not made it into my local so far, so roll on February, it should be a doozy.

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comics

DUI4 (Drawn Under the Influence 4) The Awesome Comics Podcast Slack Community - Raising money for the Cartoon Museum in London.

This was anther cracking read by the amazing community built through the Awesome Comics Podcast. Edited by the seriously professional Simon Russell, this is a pretty spectacular read. Simon has done an amazing job for the fourth addition and has made this book read and feel like the comics of yesteryear, like the comics I hear all those old guys swoon over and make me feel nostalgic for a time I was never in.

Around 25 or so contributors packed into over 100 pages gave their artistic talents for free to put all this together. Stories range from funny to thoughtful and everything in between, there’s even old school lonely hearts and for sale pages that are a mixture of honest and genuine to outlandish and head-scratching.

A worthy read from a bunch of great creators.

Available on all the Amazons where I believe it will be printed as local as possible to wherever you are. Pretty cool.

You can find it on UK Amazon here other Amazons are available.

Monkey Witness - Story by Lee Bennett & Zack Cahill - Script & Art by Zach Cahill

Another absolute belter by the 80’s driven action-hero mind of Zach Cahill. This is hysterical and just plain bonkers. Some amazing one liners and great joking set-ups. It’s a must read.

A sign-language-talking monkey is witness to a murder and only one cop can crack the case, suspended (I’m sure he was suspended last time too) tough guy detective Chase Tempest. Get ready for whisk(e)y swilling, straight talking, wise cracking, motor bike riding all out action as Tempest and his new Monkey partner roll across LA squaring off with the Yakuza.

Absolute Class. You’ll find it here

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Podcasts

Off Panel - Episode 533 and 530

I enjoy Off Panel, I regularly turn to it for comic book interviews and information. The two episodes I list above give you a great insight into the comics world. One is on retail and the other is three different themes on comics. Both are a great listen. At the time of writing he has just posted another episode on the collectable side of comics. So far it’s sounding good and gives a little insight into inflated comics numbers which I found fascinating.

Find it on Spotify here

Progress

Tales from the City Volume One is now complete and sitting in my hard drive waiting for me to figure out/get my arse in gear to promote it and get it out there. I will do it, but I’m in no major rush.

It looks awesome if I’m honest with you and I reckon if you pick up a copy you’ll really enjoy it. Eight short stories written by myself with various artists. All set in the mad world of GLASSCITY. If you check out my 2025 reflections post you can get a cheeky swatch of the cover. I’ll start building the Kickstarter later this month and gather quotes for printing etc.

I’m also considering only promoting here and Instagram, I really can’t be arsed with anywhere else and if I’m honest, Instagram is even a stretch. I might give Blue Sky a go, I don’t think it will do any good mind you.

And that is all for just now.

Speak soon.

David.

Time goes by in a fleeting moment.

I wrote this just now, but many others have said it.

Below you’ll find a bunch of meandering paragraphs of thoughts and words and things. It has no beginning, it has no end, like a wedding ring, but this is not a proposal.

They will probably make no sense to you, I’m ok with that, I hope you are too. They start now…

The pub…

I started writing this in the pub on the first Thursday of the month. That’s normally when I make my way into Glasgow to pick up my pull list, chat with Chris from City Centre Comics and hopefully persuade him to let me drink beer in his shop after hours, it doesn’t take much persuading to be honest. It’s also the night when the Scottish Comic Book Society meet for their monthly catch up, which is always a good night. We meet in the Sparkle Horse in Glasgow’s West End, 8pm. You are invited.

I get the bus in in the afternoon, stop for a pint or two and then head in to grab my comics. I have a chat with a few folk in the shop and then head back to the pub and more often than not get my laptop out and start typing away. I feel cool doing it, I know, I’m one of those guys but sod it, beer gets the juices flowing and I like the hustle of the bar. The chatter from everyone as they put the world to rights or catch up telling old stories with friends, especially at this time of year it’s somewhat, calming. I sometimes feel that’s almost lost in todays society, the social side of life. Things have changed and that’s ok, things always do.

I tell you this because below is more random thoughts and experiences I have had throughout the past 12 months. They might not make sense or even read coherently, but they are lived moments, fragments of a year and this is a reflection post, so I guess you’ll just have to take it as it is.

I spring forward a few days.

At the time if writing I’m not long back from Ricard Anderson’s funeral. You don’t know him, that name will mean nothing to you and neither it should. Richard was 48, I’m 44. He had a wife, two young kids, two dear sisters and genuinely loving friends. He died from cancer, what type, I’m unsure, but cancer all the same. I’ve known Richard all my life, we went to the same primary school and high school as each other, his older sister and younger sister did too. We grew up in the same neighbourhood. He was my older brothers friend. Like I said, I’ve known him for life.

Only a few short months ago, I was at another funeral. This time it was my younger brothers friend. He was 42. I am 44. His name was Brian Grant and again, that name will mean nothing to you (to most of you anyway). Brian died of heart complications and was found halfway between his hallway and his toilet. Face down, gone. He lay there for three days before he was found. He leaves behind only his older sister and of course, some close friends. From the outside looking in Brian had a rough life, but from the inside looking out, Brian lived a great life.

If you have been following this blog for a while you will know that I have two young kids, ages six and three. Richards kids were, I think, nine and six. Brian had no children.

I tell you this because, well, in all honesty I don’t really know why. I just feel it’s something I should share.

Life is unpredictable. Its moments can’t be pre-determined. You and me and everyone else have no idea where or when the next shitshow will hit. We don’t even know what the next shit-show will be.

Random, to the end.

Life, or living? Can you have both?

I drink and smoke when I’m drinking. I can count on my…two hands the amount of cigarettes I’ve smoked out-with drinking this whole year. But that doesn’t matter, one is too many and I’ve smoked more than one. I read somewhere that one drink is too much and ten’s not enough. I skirt that line finely.

My dad said recently “I don’t think it matters what you do, smoke, drink, do, don’t, it makes no difference.” A fair amount of his friends have sadly passed this past year, all from varying reasons.

Billy Connelly once joked about eating that healthy brown bread. “What will it do, keep you alive for two more weeks? And its’ not two weeks when your in your 20’s or 30’s when your shagging everything that moved. No, it’s when your drooling in an olds folks home shitting in your nappy.” I paraphrase here but you get the gist.

My father in-law has terminal blood cancer. He’s in his late 70’s. My next door neighbour has something similar, she’s in her late 40’s. David used to smoke one cigar a day. He’s climbed every Munroe in Scotland. My next door neighbour doesn’t smoke and I wouldn’t say she was a drinker. She’s lived a healthy life.

Life is unpredictable.

My dad can barely walk. He’s in his mid 70’s. He was a police officer and spent a lot of time on his feet, when he was on the beat. That’s not meant to rhyme. I’ve worked in hospitality since I was 16, I’m now 44 and I can barely go for more than one run a week without waking up in pain due to my knees.

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Why do I tell you all this? I don’t know.

I’ve recently wrote a funeral as part of a new role I’ve trained for as a celebrant. If you’ve read my last couple of posts you’ll know this. John Wilson Frew Smith, or Wilson as he was known. I didn’t know him. His wife Anne said that the service I wrote was wonderful and that I truly got the essence of the man. I didn’t know him, but I knew he had lived, I could tell by his families love for him. He was 77 and died of complications from a cancer surgery.

Where do we stand as human beings? Wow, what a question eh?

I know a guy that believes that if you think about something often enough, it will manifest into existence. Do you think that’s the case? That if we spend our time worrying, whatever we are worrying about will happen. Or on the flipside, if we worry about nothing and only concentrate on the good things, then only good things will occur. I’m not sure I buy that, or maybe it’s just that I can’t switch off the rest of the world to naively ignore my peripheral. I’m not built that way. I think it’s ignorant to do so. It would be nice to believe that if you think it, it will be.

You should check out my Christmas post from a couple of years ago (2023) it’s here. I never made a post for 2024, I clearly wasn’t in the right place last year to reflect on it. I’ll try to do so from now on, this has been extremely therapeutic.

Mixing it up.

My daughter just came down the stairs as I was tapping away. She asked if she could write her name on my “domputor.” It’s the cutest thing ever. She’s been playing with her teddies since I put her to bed, chatting away like they’re real people.

That there sums up what life is for me at the moment. It’s past, present and future all rolled into one.

The future as I see it just now is, one half curled up in bed sleeping peacefully, conserving that energy for first thing in the morning, the other half chatting away to her teddies like they are real living creatures. I suppose I should potentially think of others when I think about the future. I should take better care of myself to hopefully spend that bit longer here with them. And by God, I want to spend as much time with my children as possible.

The past? What is that for me? Is it things that are already gone? Or is it things I know to be fading? And what should I do with that knowledge and thought? In one hand I should be spending as much time as I can with the people I know will be leaving soon, in the other it should be spent with those I grew up with, friends and brothers (I have no sisters) etc.

But then of course, should I not spend time with those I have brought into this world? And spend time with those I have chosen to be with? Does that bring me onto the present? I guess it does.

What is in the present for me? Strangely or maybe not so strangely, all of the above. You see I see life as a continual spinning wheel, or perhaps better described as a spinning sphere. Moving round and round and in and out, up and down and blah blah blah. You get the drift.

I should try to regain some coherence for this post. I don’t think its going to happen though.

I was at another funeral in between the others. It was my friends dad. Both my parents are still with us, none of my grandparents are.

There was a picture on my parents dinning room table of my Papa and my Granda, sitting with my two younger brothers and my young cousin on their knees. It’s a picture I’ve seen many times. My dad pointed it out to me and said that it brought back memories. I didn’t ask him what kind, my daughter was coughing and spluttering on my shoulder.

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Snippets of thoughts.

Life rolls forward and as the people around me age and change I can feel what will be the past biting at my heels. Or maybe more tapping on my shoulder.

I use clippers to shave my head and chin. Yesterday I had to push my cheek away from my chin in order to get a proper shave. I’m beginning to get jowls. As the years tick by, I guess I’m changing too.

The past five years have been, challenging in many, many ways. I think most of us will agree with that. The world has shifted so much that a lot of things are almost unrecognisable, almost. As I wonder around the later part of the year, I am beginning to see some familiarity, maybe I’m just finding my stride a little more but I’ve said that before. I hate to tempt fait, so I’ll leave that there.

I’m not one to tell you what to do, I used to be but these days I try not to. I see my life as different to yours and yours is different to mine. So for me to tell you how you should live just doesn’t make sense. Do what you want, how you want. Whatever works. I will say, stop following influencers, but I don’t think anyone that reads this post does. So kudos to you.

Always comics.

I took a year out of comics for 2025. At the start of the year I was well and truly burnt out, not solely with comics of course, mainly my job. I’ve made steps to change that so we’ll see how that goes. Expect more in the Daily Grind section as we dart through 2026. And the year will be quick, they always are now.

Time goes by in a fleeting moment. Who said that again?

Signing off.

A year of fleeting moments and notions. Not the most coherent of posts and I guess I should have rounded it off with a final thought or an explanation of sorts. I have none.

But, check out the new cover by Garresh for Tales from the City Volume one. Fully completed and hopefully hitting Kickstarter sometime next year.

Final paragraph.

Above all else, I love life. It’s the most amazing gift the world can provide. Live it, love it, do with it everything you can. This is not advice but merely an idea to think about. Be who you are and love that you are that person.

Don’t be a dick. This is advice. Sorry. Sometimes people need to be that person that clarifies things.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and ate until you burst, drank until you were merry and loved the words spoken, the magic of it all and the time with whomever you had the pleasure to be with, your own thoughts included.

Raise a glass and have a Happy New Year and remember, in Scotland we have Hogmanay.

We celebrate the old by bringing in the new.

Something to think about.

Cheers,

David.

• the whys of the best of

• honourable mention

• small press

• mainstream floppies

• underground comix

• discount code XMAS on my online shop

So, as we are coming to end of the year, I thought it would be a good idea to do a Best Of kind’a post. Yeah, I know, everybody is at it, it’s not very original, Christ, if you stick on the TV you’ll see the best of anything you could imagine. And do you know what, mine is not going to be any different from the rest. So suck it up and have a jolly old jolly at my picks.

In saying that, if I’m truthful, what I really did was lean over the back of my chair and started picking through the piles of comics I have stashed behind said chair and after not that long of flicking through, I came across some belters I’ve read. And the thing is, their might be more, better, juicier ones buried deep down, sandwiched between mediocre and aye, nae bad, that I could have chosen. But you see, the things is, that’s comics, there are so many good ones it can be impossible to narrow down. Anyway, I did my best and I hope that my choices are worthy of your attention.

Festive Pint for me? Thank you

So, I’ve got a few to share, my top three reads of the year and my top Small Press read of the year. Actually, I have a fifth one too, let’s call it the Honourable Mention read of the year. I also added in Underground Comix of the year. Like I said, too many to narrow down.

So, we’ll do Honourable Mention first.

Honourable Mention of the year.

It’s basically everything I have read from Image’s Ghost Machine imprint. This has all been top tier stuff, if you haven’t read any of it, go back and start buying the trades, because you will love them, that’s what I did. I had been hearing great things about a lot of their different titles so I picked up the first trade of Geiger and I was hooked and quickly grabbed the second one. At the time of writing I don’t think the third is out, but should be soon I’d imagine. I then randomly picked up Hyde Street and again I tore through the pages, brilliant. Then it was onto Redcoat and pretty much couldn’t put it down.

This is great storytelling with amazing art. They are beautiful to look at and enjoyable to read. That is what you want in a comic.

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In 2026 I will 100% be picking up more of these titles as they land, some already have. The next on my list is Junkyard Joe, which I believe was their first title. I’ll probably stick to trades as I am bit….how do you say…comic booky that way. Can’t mix up the floppies with the stiffies. Ya know.

Available everywhere, go get some.

P.s, apparently they are all going to come together and cause a mighty Assemble!

Ok, now we’ve got that out the way, lets get onto Small Press of the year.

Small Press of the year.

Her Hardboiled Heart - David Taylor. This was a great read. Three 40 + page volumes all written, drawn and designed by David himself. To get all three volumes out between April and October is pretty good going, that’s not an easy task.

I loved the story, art and design of this book. Things like the spine of all three volumes had one word scored off on each book so that when you put them together they read Her Hardboiled Heart. It was nice touch. There was also some case file clippings at the end of books one and two and some beautiful artwork at the end of book three.

The art throughout is lovely. No panel borders, instead just the image with either a rough border or none at all. It works well. Each character is easily recognisable, and have that artistic chiselled man and rounded female features. I like that definition in comics, the over exaggerated look but still has an element of realism.

A great storyline with some nice twists, especially in book one. Espionage meets who’s hunting who meets two broken lives broken by their job. The job being hired assassins.

You can find David’s Substack here. Go check it out.

Now then, onto the main event. The big comics of the world. Strangely I’ve picked a single issue, a three part mini and and ongoing, all floppies as I would call them, some would call them regular comics. And because of my choices, I think we have a great roundup of books.

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First up

Sin City - The Babe Wore Red. Frank Miller.

I picked this up from the pound shop within the Awesome Comics Podcast Slack community. And up until a few minutes ago I thought I had read something I hadn’t already read from Sin City. I have all seven volumes. However, after a quick Google search I’ve found out that all three stories in this single issue are actually in volume Six - Booze, Broads and Bullets. But I’m still including it and I’ll tell you why.

When I got this through, this single issue floppy comic, I found a nice time to sit and read it with a coffee. It clearly had been a very long time since I had read the trade paper back (volume 6) which contains these stories plus more. I ripped through it, loving every page, admiring the art, the silhouettes Miller does so well, the black and white contrast, the slow burn of the words as the take your eyes from panel to panel, page to page, the noir of it all, the dialogue, the god dam sexiness of it. It was brilliant. I’ve read it a tonne of times since. That’s what a comic book should do, that’s what any book should do quite frankly, in fact, that’s what any kind of entertainment should do. It should grab you and excite you. It shouldn’t be passive shit you just put on or scroll through. And this floppy single issue comic did that for me. And the amazing thing is, I had already read it and I’ve read it again since. I have volume six on my pile for Christmas and whisky

.

Check your local back issue shop first then check eBay.

Next up

Daredevil a Cold Day in Hell. -

This was a great three part mini, that came out of the blue for me. Big Chris at City Centre Comics in Glasgow stuck it in my pull list and I was glad he did. Old man Matt Murdock in a war torn New York up against old foes and witnessing long term friends and allies fall and rise again. Great stuff.

The art is second to none with more detail than I have seen in a comic for a long time. It gave me that Hard Boiled feel by Geof Darrow. Truly beautiful.

I have no idea if there is a trade as I got this in single issues. Which I think added to the experience. Check with your local first and if they don’t have, then you know what to do. Google it.

.

Ok, last up

Absolute Batman - Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta

Are you surprised? Because I’ve been banging on about it for months!

This has been the standout title for me this year by a country mile and I think a lot of that reason is because I have been getting it monthly. It really has rejuvenated my comic shopping habits. I am loving making my monthly trip into my local and picking up my ever growing pull list. Chatting with some of the people that are doing the same and every so often bumping into some mates that I have shared beers with, even made comics with.

When it comes to Absolute Batman in general, it’s some story. I’m not precious when it comes to what a character should be…well, to a certain point anyway. As long as they keep the fundamentals, their core characteristics, I’m fine with however the tell their backstory etc. Absolute Batman does that, this is still Batman but absolutely bigger in every way. His core values are the same, he fights crime without guns, he builds his own gadgets and transports only in a more real way, he’s big and he can punch, kick and knock the bejesus out of you. He’s smart, he has allies but only a small few. He has friends but as the we move through the story we begin to see them change and become people we know are going to cause him all kinds of misery. Some of the big bads are truly unbelievable, fantastical even, however I would say more horrific.

I’ve heard Scott and Nick have 40 issues planned out. Let’s see if they keep going the way they have been, because it’s been a wicked ride so far

Available everywhere, you know where to check first.

No best of comics should go on by without a mention of some proper Underground Comix. Let’s face it, without this style of zine, drug fuelled cartoon or just absolutely hypnotic madness, comics would never progress, or at least a lot slower. I don’t read enough of this style and I really should. I feel that the proper Underground stuff is the barrier braker, the envelope pusher, the middle finger to everyone. Comics need them and we should champion them more. They are the adult version of the Beano, Oor Wullie, Asterix & Obelix and even Tin Tin. What’s not to like?

So,

Underground Comix of the year

I reached round (hey hey) OVER my chair and I grabbed these two pictured below. If I delved deeper and pulled out even more comics I would have come across the rest but I had already piles of them lying about the place and my wife was giving me the eye…lol, I wish it was that kind of eye but it was not.

First up was the Tribute Press Spring Catalogue, containing four different comics of wild wonder. A tonne of small press creators in this collection and well worth checking out. You can find them here

Second up is Ganjaman Presents #5. Another cracker by one of Glasgow’s finest. This book also pays tribute to the late great Alan Grant alongside a strip by the man himself. Full of madness it’s another one to check out. You can find the Ganjamn on Instagram here.

And that is a wrap my peeps,

Discount Code XMAS

Oh, sorry, I forgot. I also have a discount on my online shop, 20% off everything. I’ve also reduced the prices on a few items, so worth checking out. Just use promo code XMAS on checkout, go hero for books or to get some snazzy threads go here.

Ok, I think that’s it for now. I’ll be more or less signing off for the festivities, I might try and do a little reflection post in between Christmas and New Year, but we’ll see.

In the meantime, enjoy yourselves, read comics, add them to your Christmas list, add them to other peoples Christmas list, add them to your shopping list. JUST GO GET COMICS.

And spend time with friends.

Cheers,

David

You can see what comics I’m backing on Kickstarter here some of them only have days left, so get on them.

In this news letter - recommends mostly

• daily grind

• Podcasts

• TV

• Comics

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Daily grind

I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph

On to why we’re here.

Recommends

Podcasts

Radical with Amol Rajan - BBC Sounds (possibly available elsewhere, I haven’t checked)

Your Xmas round

I can’t recommend this podcast highly enough. At the time of writing I have listened to all but two of these episodes. Amol is a fantastic interviewer, a smart man and his questions and his approach towards his guests is spot on. He creates a relaxed environment which allows him to get into the gritty aspects of the person he is interviewing and the topic of the conversation.

The episode A Fatal Punch is one of the most…how do I describe this episode, it’s a heartbreakingly compelling listen, that left me feeling…unsettled at the thought that an innocent life can be taken so easily by a random attack that was never intended to cause, well, death. I can’t feel sorry for the interviewee but I can also see things from his point of view. With regards to the parents of the young lad that lost his life due to the fatal punch, man oh man oh man, I just don’t know where I would be in that situation. I took me a couple of weeks to work up the courage to listen to this episode because I knew that Amol would do a great job on the subject and that the subject would be devastating. Go into to it cautiously.

There are tonnes more great episodes that touch on AI, climate change amongst others important topics. You can find it online here but I recommend you download the BBC Sounds App.

Television

Traitors - BBC I Player. Go back and watch this, honestly. Ok, ok, ok, I know what you must be thinking, why on earth are you watching this kind of trash. The answer is simple, this game is incredibly telling. It plainly shows herd mentality and the psyche of people. It is fascinating to watch how the simplest of reasons can lead to the banishment of a contestant. You can’t be nice, you can’t be rude, you can’t be anything and people think you’re a Traitor.

The idea is simple, 19 people enter a beautiful Scottish Castle, three are chosen to be Traitors, the rest are the Faithful. Each day a mission of varying degrees must be completed by all contestants, where money can be won. Each night there is a round table debate where a contestant will be banished and will reveal if they are a Faithful or a Traitor. Also each night the Traitors gather in the turret to murder another contestant (nobody actually dies) and BOOM, you have your game. Make way for unbelievable reasons to banish and truly wicked ways to murder. Well worth nights of your week.

You’ll find it on I Player.

Comics

Absolute Batman Annual 20025

Fucking belter of an comic. Honestly, this was brilliant. Two stories in one bumper issue. I’ve just realised that I’m new to the term Annual, I had always assumed when comics review people mention a Batman Annual or X-Men Annual that they were referring to hard back book, normally popular at Christmas time, like the Beano or Oor Wullie etc, but no, this is different. This is a bumper issue basically with more than one story. The TMNT one I also got had three stories in it, Batman has two and they are a great two.

Story one - Darren Warren Johnson is on art and words for this bad boy. There’s also a whole list of credits but too many to mention.

Bruce Wayne “city boy” is out of town picking up some Batman style supplies from a Hillbilly Redneck type of dude when he drives by a shanty town that sparks his interest. Speaking with his Redneck supplier he finds out that a large building project went south and left lots of people without jobs, many of whom came from other countries and of course the locals or natives are not happy about their presence. When a family of three are attacked and racially abused, Bruce intervenes only to be taken down. Saved by a priest, he recovers and of course swaps his “city boy” persona for one that wears a lot more black and has pointy ears. Get ready for some great bones being broken and some proper morals being told, including a big one from his father. An amazing story told in only 28 or so pages.

Story two - Sanctuary by artist and writer James Harren, there are also a lot credited on this but again, too many to mention.

This still has a message but I’d say that this is more of a general sweep than something more current/making big news.

A gang of skull-mask wearing thugs enter a renovated church which is now a plush house, they’re being chased by Batman. It becomes clear that one of the skull-wearers used to live there and his dad is awoken. Batman arrives and the violence begins. There is some use of oil in pots and that’s all I’m saying.

The artwork is on point too. Go get it.

Tank Girl Gold - Writer Alan Martin - Artist Bret Parson

I subscribe to Alan Martins’ Substack and Tank Girl has always been in my peripheral to get into for a long time. I can’t be certain but I’m pretty sure it was the Tank Girl movie that first drew my attention to the character way back in the mid 90’s. That or possibly the amazing visuals and artwork of Jamie Hewlett (Co creator of Tank Girl) with the band Gorillaz. So when I seen this sitting almost abandoned on a pile in City Centre Comics I grabbed it for the fine price of a fiver (£5), steal.

Full of fun and mad-hap-capers along with tits, booze and Rock’n Roll this was an awesome read and something I want to dig into more. It did leave with a cliff-hanger of sorts, but that only made me want to follow on and I’ll hopefully pick up from where this left off., or grab whatever I see at a decent price. Having never read a Tank Girl comic, but always wanting to, this has peaked my interest.

As we’re now barrelling onto the end of the year, I’m thinking for the festive month I might do my best of, I might do it, if I get my shit together, or I’ll just do my regular. We’ll see.

One last thing.

Sale

I also have a sale on my online store. 20% off if you use the discount code XMAS at checkout. You can find my stuff in my online store at GLASSCITY Comics go check it out.

Cheers all,

David

the daily grind

I’m not going to lie, but I had a pretty decent October. My kids, especially my six year old, goes mad for Halloween. He’s loves it. My three year old is beginning to be the same. So October was pretty wholesome month in our house. We went pumpkin picking, we done some pumpkin carving (which I did a stellar job - see pic below) there was school Halloween parties, Halloween costumes and of course, guising! In Scotland we call it guising, however, that seems to be dying out slightly to the American term Trick or Treat!! And yes, it’s still pretty customary for children to tell a joke or do a wee party trick before the inevitable treat is handed out.

All in all October was good.

rant!

Now we roll onto and into November. A funny kind of month. It’s that limbo month where social media is full of everyone griping about the shops being full of Christmas decorations and gifts along with probably the same people banging on about fireworks and their dogs. I don’t have a dog, but I grew up with them, it sucks, I know, so does everybody else. Make a group, make two groups in fact, one for your November Christmas moans and the other for the fireworks. P.s, dogs aren’t like children.

Sorry for the rant there, but hey, it happens.

realising everyone born in 1998 are now in their 40’s. Mind blown.

buy me a Christmas pint?

Monthly Haul

I thought I’d share with you my comic haul for this month. It varies quite a lot, I’ve never been a Wednesday Warrior and if I’m honest, it was mainly trades that I would read as I preferred to have a completed storyline. In saying that, my comic collection would probably disagree with me and my wife certainly would. I have stack upon stacks of what I call floppy comics pilled everywhere around my house, behind my chair, crammed into a cupboard and plenty in the loft. I do think the quality is getting better though. As I mature (hahaha) so do my comics.

Anyway, here is what I’ve grabbed and has fallen through my door this month.

• Wolf Boy (Kickstarter)

• Captain America Secret Wars # 4

• Exquisite Corpses # 6

• Nemesis Forever # 2 & 3

• TMNT Annual 2025

• TMNT # 12

• Absolute Martian Manhunter # 6

• Absolute Batman # 13

• Absolute Batman Annual # 1 - 2025

• Tank Girl Gold

• Read Coat Volume 1

I also got a couple of freebies from Chris, Superman Action Comics Welcome to Smallville # 495 and New Wonder Woman #172 plus a cool Spiderboy figure.

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I also have a few Kickstarters still to come through or to make their funding goal. They are

• Charlies War - funded but still to arrive

• Bete Noir The Collected Edition - funded but still to arrive

• Griff Gristle The Boatman Call - funded but still to arrive

• Grim Scary Tales - funded but still to arrive

• Uncannie Investigations - funding

• Killtopia Phantoms # 1 - funding

• Every Last One # 3 - funding but reached their goal

• A1 Deadline - funding but reached their goal

I’m expecting all of these to reach their goal by the end of November which means I am totally screwed for buying Christmas presents. So please, if you are planning a Kickstarter that will reach it’s target in December, I am out. Sorry. However, do I or do I not have some pretty decent reading for the rest of the year. It’s going to be great for those warm winter nights.

Share The GLASSCITY Courant - David Cranna

Christmas Sale!!

I’ve got a 20% off sale on my Big Cartel Shop from now and through December. Just put in the discount code XMAS on checkout at the Order Summary. You can check out my shop here at the GLASSCITY Comics Book Shop

I’ll follow up later in the month with how November is going and any recommends as I make my way through this awesome haul.

Speak soon my people,

David

Disclaimer - if you believed the 1998/40’s thing, you are either really bad at maths or need to really think about how much you believe people on the internet.

the daily grind

Is the world getting better or am I letting myself slip into a false sense of security? I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I wrote that line at the start of the month and I already feel like that false sense of security was just that.

I read that social media usage has been declining steadily since it’s peak in 2022, and the biggest decline has been in young adults aged 16 to 24. I found this to be great news. It even went on to say that more commonly now it’s just a reflex type of behaviour, in other words people just pick up their phone out of habit. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this trend continues and we can all go out and have actual conversations again, with real people and not the feckin sociopaths that are shouting their mouths off on social media, and that is what they are, sociopaths.

I’ve had a week off work recently and it has been great. My son was also off so we’ve spent a bit of time together. Watching that wee guy grow up is just another level of awesomeness. At the weekend we managed to do the whole family thing and get out and about and just spend time with each other, no rushing, no deadlines, just us. It was great and needed.

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In other news

I am now a fully trained Celebrant! Which means I can legally marry you! I’ve been training for this since March and it’s taken up a fair bit of my time and what I’ve been concentrating on mostly. That’s my excuse for my poor comic output.

I’ve worked in weddings for the best part of 15 years and hospitality in general for another 15, so I feel I’m perfectly suited for this role. It’s a lot of script writing and ceremony delivery, which I’m confident I can pull off. It has always been on the cards, however, I did think it was something I would pursue later in life, but I thought why wait.

I’m honestly incredibly excited to be starting this. It’s an important milestone in someone’s life and I am incredibly honoured to be a part of that, a pretty big part of that too. All going well, I’m hoping to do this fulltime but I guess time will tell.

So, if you fancy coming to Scotland or are already here and are looking to get legally married, give me a shout. You can check my profile here I am part of the Scottish Celebrants Organisation. Bring it on!

On to why we’re here.

Buy me a coffee

Comics

Hyde Street Volume one - collects issues 1 - 7. There are a lot of people on this book, so I’m just going to list them all. Geoff Johns - Ivan Reis - Francis Portela - Danny Miki - Brad Anderson - Rob Leigh.

I had heard a bit about this on various podcasts I listen to, so when I seen it on the shelf in City Centre Comics I grabbed it. I was not disappointed. Another Ghost Machine imprint from Image Comics, which seems to have some of the best titles out right now.

Hyde Street can be anywhere, down any dirty trodden alleyway in every city or town, hidden out of sight but there nonetheless. Anyone can find themselves stumbling onto Hyde Street, it just takes one wrong turn, one wrong decision, one bad action and before you know it you’re now a resident with no escape, unless, you collect 10’000 souls for the Scorekeeper. We don’t know why, we don’t need to know why, all we need to know is that this has some awesome issues with hopefully some great stories to come. With amazing characters such as Mr X-Ray, a salesman of shitty children’s toys in the 60s, Pranky the sadistic boy scout from the 50’s, the Matinee Monster the silent protector from the late 40’s and Mrs Goodbody the 80’s fitness queen complete with sweatbands. Murders, mystery and broken souls, what else do you need?

Available in all good comic shops, go to your local

The Blood Brothers Mother - Issues 1,2 & 3. Dstlry. Writer Brian Azzerello, Artist Eduardo Risso.

I picked the first issue of this up a while back, I can’t remember where from, but I picked up issues two and three from my local. A western with so me serious grit. Issue one is brutal with some pretty disturbing scenes.

Issues one starts with an outlaw by the name of Carter getting released from a Mexican prison, bailed out by his gang. He then goes in search of his lady, who has settled with a man of God along with her three children. Who these children belong to is not the man of God but to the outlaw Carter, whom has no interest in raising them.

Issue two serves as a bonding story between the the three children where some hope and allies are formed with some unexpected or perhaps some unconventional people.

Issue three gives us a rude awakening into the land that the three boys must navigate.

Sad, compelling, scarry, a Wild West story that deserves to be read. I believe issue four is out but no word on the rest. I hope it is completed, maybe if enough pick it up, it will be.

Go get it where you can.

Self promotion

I don’t do this enough if I’m honest. So, I thought I might as well today. If you haven’t already read GLASSCITY The Story of a Missing Girl, you should go check it out.

Synopsis,

GLASSCITY is set in the year 2121 and it is not a city made of glass, but a city where you can get glassed.

Glasgow (Glaschu) and Edinburgh (Dunedinburgh) are one Mega City called Glassburgh. The Glasgow side is nicknamed GLASSCITY by the locals because it is a violent hellhole. The Edinburgh side is nicknamed Capital City.

Detective Gabe Gatti is mourning the loss of his missing girl five years on when he stumbles on a case that mirrors his own. As he delves deeper into an already sinister city, he finds himself uncovering more than he could possibly imagine.

Blending cyberpunk and mythology and not for the faint of heart. Ideal for Christmas, but don’t give it to your kids.

Three volumes in total with over 60 pages each. £13 per volume or £30 for all three. All three PDF’s £12. You can grab them from my Big Cartel shop.

Or, if you fancy looking snazzy, have a look at my Tee Mill shop. Hoodies, Tee’s and Jumpers. Go check it out.

That’s all for now people, until next month.

Cheers,

David

Daily grind

Well another month rolled by fairly briskly eh? The years don’t seem to take too long to pass these days. It’s a scarry thought if you think about it too much, but who has any time to think in the world today? My advice, switch off the news for a couple of days each week. Don’t tune into the mainstream and live…slightly off grid. Don’t get dragged into any conversation wither it be online (especially online) or in the real world that you don’t want to. Find a cosy spot and read, listen and watch, whatever you want to. Couch, chair in the corner, chair by a window, café, bench, wall, pub, books, comics, articles, podcasts, music, meditation sounds, movies, tv or people. Get yourself a drink, a coffee, a tea, a fruit juice, a water, a can of Irn Bru (must be cold and can is best…well glass is actually best but that’s a lot of Bru) water, whisky, beer, pint, and relax. Think of nothing but the activity you have chosen to do. There aren’t many hours in the week to pull this off, so chose your time wisely. I hope you find it.

My life is changing once again. As the autumn breeze blows in and nature starts to shed it’s skin in preparation for those cold dark winter nights, I too find myself at a changing point. A new season is emerging.

My two little ones are becoming more and more independent with every waking day. The morning school rush is not as rushed as it used to be, the toothbrushing madness is slightly subsiding, that’s morning and night and the getting-dressed-Ju-Jitsu matches are becoming less competitive. Don’t get me wrong, they are still a pair of time-hostage-terrorists, but I’m beginning to win the battles. Unless, I have a dose of Stockholm Syndrome… All of the above has made way for insane questions like, “dad, what’s the smelliest fart you’ve ever done?” or yells such as “don’t flush the toilet dad, I want to see my poo” there is a lot of poo chat at the moment.

I read a panel on Instagram a long time ago that has always stuck with me. It was of a dad walking away from us with his small son holding each others hand and it read.

Son: “Dad, what the best thing about having children?”

Dad: “Watching you grow up”

Son: “What’s the worst thing?”

Dad: “Watching you grow up”

It’s one of the most poignant things I’ve ever read. I love having children, sure it’s tiring and messy and frustrating and stressful and it always will be, but most of the time it’s just the most rewarding thing you will ever do.

Once again, I’m finding my stride with it, that and I’m always more inspired in the dark nights than the summer sun.

Musings.

I often try to think of new articles and things to write about, but when I sit down to type things out, I find myself having to lean to one side of what ever topic I’ve chosen. And what I find is, I don’t have strong opinions for any one thing, I tend to see things from many angles. The way I see it is, the world we live in is not black or white, left or right, up or down. It’s a big feckin circle and I like to be standing right in the middle of it. You can see way more that way. The view is better from the top of the hill than it is from half way up it.

What’s the saying? Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked 100 miles in his shoes. Love thy neighbour and all that. That’s missing you know. It would be good to get that back, but then, did we ever have it at all? I think there was a time when we did.

Everyone needs to settle down a little bit, but unfortunately, I feel it’s going to get a little more crazy before it does.

Anyway, just a thought.

Buy me a pint?

Newbies

I’ve also picked up a fair few new subscribers to this here wee blog, so welcome. This is a place where I try to spend most of my online time, at the moment anyway. I roughly do about one post a month where I bore you with my monthly gripes, hopefully make you smile with some wholesome stuff, mainly family orientated and I always recommend some comics to check out and sometimes some other things too like music or podcasts. Every so often I stick in some insights from my over active brain along with some inspirational or thoughtful words from someone with a bigger mind than mine. Full disclosure, I don’t normally research whose words I share, so if they end up to be some mental person, just take the quote for what it is. Oh, and any progress on stuff I’m working on also, which this year has been very little.

A quick thought

Donald Trump is an absolute tit isn’t he.

Inspiration

“it’s those who lie outside ordinary experience that have the most to teach us.”

Malcolm Gladwell - Staff Writer for New York Times.

On to why we’re here.

Comics

Daredevil A Cold Day in Hell - writer Charles Soule, artist Steve McNiven

This was a brilliant three part mini ending in a great finale. Fantastic art on every page with poignant writing throughout. Matt Murdock is an aged hero and has lost his powers. A planned explosion (by the bad guys) of the same toxin that granted him his powers in the first place is set off in the middle of a dilapidated New York, reigniting his hyper senses. The Daredevil is back, but for how long. Matt must find the girl to save New York before the big bad gets his way. Be prepared to see some of your favourite heroes looking a little/lot worse for wear.

Available in all good comic shops. Go to your local. Widely online too.

Absolute Batman - writer Scott Snyder, artist Nick Dragotta plus others.

I am really enjoying this series. It’s different, it’s bold and it’s straight to the point. It starts from the beginning and keeps moving forward. There isn’t a history to the characters that isn’t explained (apart from one mind you, but that’s coming soon) so therefor there isn’t a tonne of back story that you need to know. There are some really brutal scenes and jaw dropping moments that I was not expecting and as I’m reading it monthly the anticipation for the next issue builds and for the most part has not let me down. At the time of writing, I’m actually worried about the character, I’m worried that Batman might not actually pull off what he needs to do in this storyline. It’s compelling reading man. I’m not a precious guy when it comes to any character, I like a well written story and art that I can get behind, and this series has this. Volume one is now available. I have no idea how it will read back to back, but I’d definitely give it shot.

Available in all good comic shops. Go to your local.

Grab my comics

Nemesis Forever #1 writer Mark Millar, artist Matteo Scalera

Nemesis is back, the bad guy with an ongoing, well, a few mini series which follow on from each other.

This is a good start to the mad world of Nemesis, he’s just a brutal guy that likes mayhem. It’s quite refreshing reading a storyline from the other perspective, from the enemy side rather than from the good guys all the time. I can’t think of many bad guy perspective comics I’ve read to be honest. I mean, I know there are plenty, Doctor Doom has an ongoing just now, but I’ve never read an issue so I’m unsure what is going on with it.

A quick rundown, Nemesis is undercover as a Billionaire playboy/entrepreneur/tech bro etc, who has recently (last mini series) broken out of prison. As always he’s on a mission to blow up as much as possible and kill as many people as possible. His motives are unknown as of yet but it sounds like he’s wanting to take on the superheroes. It also sounds like his plans for destruction this time are worldly. You can’t get much bigger than that. An FBI agent is about to go undercover and infiltrate his organisation. I know this is fictional, but that’s a bold move knowing what this character is like, anything could happen to her.

I’m along for the ride on this one. Will he succeed in his dastardly plans or will he be taken out by one of the good guys. Time will tell.

Right all,

I think that’s it. I have a wee birthday celebration coming up on Tuesday 30th September. The family are off today (Monday) so I’ll be doing the wholesome stuff and spending time chilling, eating, walking in the autumn air and cosying up to a movie later. I’m thinking Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Oh, and pizza, it’s a birthday tradition that we have pizza on my birthday. Class.

Stay breezy everyone.

Until next time.

David

Wow, where did July go? I seemed to have blinked and missed it, then I remembered it was the school holidays and not just any school holidays but school holidays with children in toe. Aight, those little time murderers have been keeping me hostage for the best part of July and it was the best part.

We managed to get ourselves off to Franc…

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The daily grind

I was halfway through the month and I realised I hadn’t put out a post yet. Does that sentence mirror last month? Possibly, but I’m not going to back to check. I’ve been busy with some real life stuff recently. Stuff I’m excited to share with you no matter the outcome. It’s been taking up a…

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I’m late this month, or have I been early on previous months? Who knows? But May has been a mad one. I was about a week in when I realised that I hadn’t put out a post and looking at my calendar and my upcoming work schedule, I figured that I wouldn’t be able to until closer to the end. I was totally fine with that, it was liberating actu…

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Daily grind

Hello from the sunny suburbs of the north west of Glasgow. It has been lovely in Scotland this past week or so, what a difference it makes. The mornings still have that crisp fresh feeling, you know that wa…

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daily grind

As the days tick by and we find ourselves swiftly in another month, I sometimes feel we’re all moving that bit too fast. Or, it could be that everything around me is moving at a regular speed and I’m just finding it hard to keep up. I really don’t know at the min…

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