Category Archives: Podcasts

Secrets and Lies Live at Cardiff Comic Expo

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A little late posting this up, but where else would you get the chance to see me accidentally get tongue-tied and say “wank” at Paul Cornell, or Charlie Adlard get a question wrong … about himself?

Hosted by the inimitable Sidekick Cast, I present … Secrets and Lies Live at the Cardiff Comic Expo 2011.

I had great fun doing this panel. It was great to mix with such a fantastic group of creators and Dan and Bones were on top form as hosts. If you watch nothing else, watch Dan “work the room” early in Part 1 of 3. If he doesn’t have a future as a cult leader, I’ll drink the Kool-Aid.

Birds of Geek vs. Dan and Chris and why “The Dark is like Watchmen”

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to_the_shelfBirds of Geek have released their Bristol Comic Expo Special episode, featuring back to back interviews with Dan Boultwood (yes, Dan Boultwood on his own without Tony Lee) and then, later on, me.

Dan is on absolutely top form, whimsical and somewhat manic but very informative and open.

I’m … me. Same old, same old. Apparently everyone knows the story of me, Amy and the shelf. Yes, I am “The Shelfpest“.

But, if you haven’t heard quite enough from me and you can cope with me digressing into a lot of technology and science stuff in what is supposed to be a comics podcast, click here to listen to Birds of Geek Episode 51.

If you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, skip to about half way through to here the highly quotable “it’s like Watchmen” from Amy Liff. This quote will be on all of our new promotional literature, at least until Alan Moore gets wind of it.

Two wise monkeys and me: It’s the Comic Book Outsiders Bristol Roundtable!

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Last year the Bristol Comic Expo played host to a round table discussion between the twin publishing mights of Monkeys with Machineguns and Orang Utan comics, the crew from Geek Syndicate, and some hardcore comic fans, all masterfully hosted and chaired by the erudite genius Scott Grandison. The result became Comic Book Outsiders Episode 46.

This year, the round table took a more formal … form, and found itself on the official schedule for the Small Press Expo in the Mercure Hotel.

Click here to listen to the Comic Book Outsiders Panel

With another year behind all of us, Peter Rogers, Ian Sharman, and myself all took to the floor to talk about our experiences as both publishers and creators, how we got started in the industry, and where we think we are going next. The differing approaches taken by our respective publishing houses/studios hopefully made for an interesting and thought provoking panel.

If not, you will get to hear me

  1. Stretch a one beat joke about a table cloth way beyond its sell by date
  2. Somehow pull off a callback to a previous joke at the end of the panel
  3. Accuse Ian Sharman of “Saying no, but meaning yes”
  4. Accuse Peter Rogers of looking like Lynne Faulds Wood
  5. Accuse Peter Rogers of being Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote

The topic of digital comics also features heavily, and I do my best to deliver an impassioned plea on behalf of those who like to share comics. I’ll have to listen back to see if I got my point across or not.

Bristol Comic Expo Panel: “Signs and Portents”

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The audio recording of my Bristol Comic Expo panel, “Signs and Portents“, is now available from the Sidekick Cast website, iTunes, and anywhere where good podcasts can be found.

Before I write anything about this panel, I want to send out a huge thanks to both the boys from Sidekick Cast and to everyone who turned up to make the panel a success. We had some great questions, an incredible game of Secrets and Lies, and the whole process was made significantly less nerve racking and markedly more awesome by having a room full of friendly faces.

Gushing over.

If you missed the panel, other than a potted history of The Dark and MWM, some shameless plugging (including a new personal best for me), and some light hearted ribbing of a certain missing monkey, you probably missed me talking about codes, fiction, stories inside stories, fringe science, how thinly read I really am, and trying to answer some questions from people who had clearly thought about them beforehand. The swines. (Barry Nugent, I’m looking at you).

We had a lot of positive feedback about the panel throughout the show, so if you did miss it and would like to catch up, download the “Signs and Portents” podcast today.

Bristol Comic Con Panels and Talks Announced

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Geek Syndicate have scooped us all yet again with this year’s Bristol Comic Con and Bristol Small Press Expo’s Panels and Talks schedule.

I am very fortunate this year to be appearing on two panels, one at 12:00 and another at 13:00 on Saturday.

At 12:00, I will be taking to the stage alongside Gavin and Dan from The Sidekick cast for a panel called “Signs and Portents”, based loosely on my new graphic novel “The Dark”. The official blurb is as follows:

What do William Blake, symbolic code breaking, aura reading, Byron, Howard Hughes, numerology, World War Two poetry, and cutting edge science all have in common?

Find out as Gavin Jones and Dan Marshall (of The Sidekick Cast) probe the mind of Markosia word smith Chris Lynch and find out about his latest projects, including the critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller “The Dark”, available in a limited edition Expo Exclusive edition this weekend.

Then, at 13:00, I will be sitting down for a “fireside chat” with the Orang Utan Comics crew and the inimitable Scott Grandison for the “Comic Book Outsiders” panel …

Orang Utan Comics and Monkeys With Machineguns are successful small press studios putting out high-quality content for the last five years. Join them as they discuss their experiences in the business so far, give advice to others looking to produce their own titles and their view of the future for small press and independent comics in a world where digital distribution is becoming increasingly important.

Hosted by Scott Grandison of the Comic Book Outsiders podcast.

I will be flying solo this year as Stu.Art, the taller and some say better looking half of MWM, isn’t able to make it to Bristol this year. Still, I’m sure I’ll hold my own!

I haven’t been on a panel since the very first Birmingham Comic Show when I sat on the Horror Comics Panel. Anyone who was at that event might remember be likening the realistic horror of The Walking Dead to Frank Butcher turning up naked on Pat’s doorstep in Eastenders. In context, I was talking about “the horror of the real” and how brilliantly I think Walking Dead portrays the reactions of the human survivors. I think Charlie Adlard is still avoiding me though.

If you want a sampler of the sort of nonsense that I try to pass off as intellectual discourse, even some kind of pseudo-science at a push, you can delve in to the archives of yesteryear with “An Evening with Monkeys with Machineguns” and my guest appearance on “The Orang Utan Comics Round Table” from Bristol 2009.

I apologise in advance to all concerned.