To celebrate the launch of The Dark, we have arranged a very special prize draw, with our esteemed publisher Markosia, to win a signed copy of The Dark. The competition is simple to enter, just tweet our URL “http://www.thedarkcomicbook.com” anytime between now and January 31st. Every tweet will count as an entry, and a winning tweet (and tweeter) will be selected at random on February 1st 2010.

It would be fantastic if we could make The Dark a trending topic on Twitter, but I’ll settle for knowing that we’ve got the word out there to comics fandom and that someone, somewhere, will be enjoying a copy of The Dark gratis. As they say in the National Lottery adverts … Maybe, just maybe …

Full terms and conditions for the draw are available from our website.

I had the immense privilege of being interviewed by the fine fellows Comic Book Outsiders this week about The Dark as well as other matters comic and, after some fine editing of my more rambling and incoherent moments, the interview is now online and ready for your eager ears.

I have just listened to it and can indeed confirm the following …

1. I say “Basically”, “You know”, “So”, and “Um” … quite a lot, basically, you know?
2. My voice gets ludicrously high pitched when I get a bit excited.
3. I have cursed myself to decorate or fall foul of a terrible fate in October
4. There is no such thing as a dance acamdemy for bees
5. I do not own a Nokia 3210, but have done and have a disturbingly impressive knowledge of the specification.
6. My only good advice for other comic writers is to marry an English Teacher

So, if want to find out what kind of interview can possibly cover such strange and rambling ground, I recommend Comic Book Outsiders Episode 68!

Rick, Harry, and I have all been interviewed by the Hypergeek website about the forthcoming release of The Dark.

We all answered our questions seperately, and it is interesting to see the areas in which we see the book differently as well as the areas in which we agree!

A great chance to get a little “behind the scenes” peek at the workings of a trans-atlantic creative team and a trans-atlantic publisher.

And, of course, I give a few little clues away as to what the big mystery is in “The Dark” …

Read “Illuminating The Dark: Talking to Chris Lynch, Rick Lundeen, and Harry Markos About AAM Markosia’s Latest Graphic Novel” here.

The Geek Syndicate team of Barry Nugent and Dave Monteith talk about The Dark in the latest episode of the fantastic “Geek Syndicate” podcast.

Click hear to listen to Geek Syndicate Episode 144

It was great to hear such positivity about the story, the ideas in The Dark, and the twisting plotlines. Barry has only had the first three chapters to read so far, and I’m really looking forward to hearing what he has to say when he reads the final chapter in the trade.

You can now add a badge, or “Twibbon”, to your Twitter avatar to show your support for the upcoming release of The Dark from Markosia.

Twibbons have been spreading across Twitter for a number of causes, and you can even create your own at twibbon.com.

So, please add our twibbon to your profile and show your support.

I received this fantastic page from Valia today. Although the final print of the story in Insomnia’s “Survival” anthology will be in black and white, the colours were simply too fantastic for me to keep them tucked away in my inbox.

A disturbing amount of people how now joined our “I want to be killed by Chris and Valia” Facebook group and we are having great fun coming up with horrible ways to dispose of you all.

As far as I know “Survival” will be out in time for the Bristol Comic Expo.

If you cruise the comic book websites, you are almost sure to have the teaser image from Mark Millar’s new mini series “Nemesis” doing the rounds on the new sites and forums.

The series once again teams Millar with fan-favourite artist Steve McNiven and basically asks the question, the quote Millar himself, “What if Batman were a c*nt?”

Whilst the premise may not seem that original when compared to DC’s existing “Negative Batman”, Owlman of Earth 2, the few snippets available on the web do promise some definite bar-raising in terms of the level of death and destruction one man with a mask and a fancy belt is going to cause. A lot of people blast Millar for being too commercial, for writing comics deliberately for the screen, and for his general self-agrandising and publicity whoring but I am rarely one of them.

Mostly because I would be just as bad, given half a chance

So, from one comics publicity whore to another, if you haven’t read it yet, cast your eyes over this rather interesting interview at CBR … “Nemesis” Asks: What if Batman was The Joker? – Comic Book Resources.

So …

It started as a harmless bit of fun, a Twitter hashtag kick about between Valia, Rich McAuliffe, and me. Hypergraphia, you see, needs victims. Lots of victims. As Valia does a fine line in likenesses and cameos, we thought it would be funny to kill of Rich. So did other people. Then … those same people wanted us to kill them as well.

They don’t know how we’ll do it. They don’t know how the story ends. But they want in. Personally, I think that is just plain weird. Nice weird, in a “that would be cool, Chris” way, but still weird. Weird is the common demoninator in this fraction of oddness.

So …

Now there is a Facebook group for people who want Valia and I to kill them, and its growing.

I’m writing this blog post now not to promote it, the damned thing seems to have a life of its own, but just to go on record that whatever happens next … the story was already written. Honestly.

I received the first pencilled pages yesterday for my new Insomnia story “Hypergraphia” this week, drawn by the very talented Valia.

I can’t say much about the story without spoiling it, but suffice to say that this once is a heady mix of Greek mythology and Faerie lore, and should have enough little “Easter Eggs” in it to satisfy everyone. As always, I’ve had a great time going overboard with the research.

I’m hoping Valia will have time to include some cameos from my writing alumni, as there is room for plenty of extras. Of course, as this is one of my stories, and Insomnia seem to be foolishly giving me free reign again … they may not be so please to be included as will be to see them there.

I’ve put some simple letters over Valia’s pencils, so you can get a bit more of a feel for what the story is all about.

Readers of Rich Johnston’s Bleeding Cool comic news website have been given a sneak peek of the cover for the graphic novel release of “The Dark”.

Click here to see “Thanks Given 21 @ Bleeding Cool”.

Regular readers will know that I have been working on this project with Rick Lundeen for Markosia since May of 2009 and, having finished the script just a few weeks it ago, I am  incredibly excited to see the cover sitting alongside other previews for Markosia’s 2010 line.

Finishing the last chapter of the story was probably one of the toughest things I have had to do as a writer, mostly because I don’t think I wanted to let any of the characters go. I hope that’s a good thing. Maybe they didn’t want to go either. They’re tough bastards.

The Dark will be being solicited through Diamond to all good comic shops (more news on that when I have it) and will also be available through book stores, Amazon, etc. More information on that as I have it …