Hallowscream 10 Submissions Now Open

For those not in the know, I co-edit a yearly horror anthology comic called Hallowscream. Details have been released regarding submissions for the 10th issue which will be released on 31st October 2018. Full info below...

It’s the time of the year, (Beltane, apparently), when we at Back From The Depths are once again looking for contributors for our freaky free annual pdf horror comic, HALLOWSCREAM, so here are the submission guidelines…

Submissions should be horror orientated and must be weird or spooky to make the final cut.

We are mainly looking for completed comic strips between 1-7 pages in length. Anything already completed is far more likely to make it into the comic.

Script submissions should also preferably be around 1-7 pages in length.

Eerie illustrations and artwork along with interesting horror/comic articles, scary short stories, petrifying poems or anything just plain creepy will also be considered.

To get an idea of the sort of stuff we’re after, you can download previous issues of Hallowscream here.

If you’re looking to illustrate something, get in contact and we’ll give you details of available scripts to see if anything suits your fancy.

We’ll also consider material previously published elsewhere, as long as the contributors own the copyright.

Completed artwork can be either colour or black and white, and should preferably be A4 (21cm x 29.7cm) 300 dpi jpeg or png.

Submissions can be sent to merjeagles@yahoo.co.uk or ghastlymcnasty@backfromthedepths.co.uk

As this is a non-profit, small press publication, contributors will not be paid but they will retain copyright on any material submitted.

DEADLINES :

Scripts, articles and text submissions : Monday 30th July 2018

Artwork : Tuesday 16th October 2018

Completed strips : Tuesday 23rd October 2018.

The finished issue will be available online as a free pdf by October 31st, with a physical copy becoming available via Lulu.com, soon afterwards.


You can also keep up to date with Hallowscream news via the Facebook Page.

Mommy's Little Angel - WIP

I received a little slice of joy in my inbox this morning in the form of a photo from artist Darren Chandler (AKA RoboMonkey147) who is currently working on the art for Mommy's Little Angel, a 4 page horror story written by me. Check it...

This strip should hopefully be completed in time to appear in Something Wicked 2018 from the ever-awesome FutureQuake Press.

Get Woke Awakens

Need to post more, need to post more, need to post more. Posting private conversations between myself and the artist? Sure, what could go wrong. Apologies Kevin. I'm just trying to keep the content on this blog fresh and share the experience of making comic with the world.

What follows is the online conversation between myself and Get Woke artist Kevin McCullough on the ComicBookCollabs subReddit. Short version: I got lucky, mixed with right place, right time, brandishing a bad-ass fucking script.

I'm an artist looking for a fun side project (not looking to make money, at least not the primary goal), so if you are a writer who has a script ready to go then we may be a match. I don't really want to wait around for weeks/months while a writer works on a new script, as I'd like to get started asap. Ideally I'd like the project to be in the 1-4 issues, or maybe a ~100 page GN. And like I said I'm not looking to make money off this, so I do not require any upfront payment. If by chance the project gets sold or makes money upon completion then I'd just want to be fairly compensated (at least 50/50).

I'm fairly open to what type of story, can be anything from horror to superhero, just as long as its something interesting to draw and is a good, original story. I'd prefer something on a bigger scope (bigger cast, lots of locations, quick pace).

I'm an animator by day but like to draw a lot in my free time. You might recognize me from my caricatures I've done for the r/roastme subreddit for the past two years or so. But I've also done a couple reddit comic collabs before, one before this sub even existed! Samples from that comic are in my portfolio here. Here's also a link to my instagram where I post a lot of the art I do for fun.

I don't feel like I really have a distinct personal style and am open to and interested in trying new styles. My main comic influences are Greg Capullo, Sean Gordon Murphy, Skottie Young, Francis Manapul, Joe Madureira, Siya Oum and Kevin Shah.

Kevin

Hi Kevin

I saw your post on ComicBookCollabs and thought I'd get in touch. I would imagine you've been swamped with requests as your portfolio looks great and desperate writers outnumber artists by a zillion to one.

I've a 40 page 1st issue written and ready to rock, which would totally suit your style. There is a catch, the characters in the story are all real people so making money is not really an option. But hey, I make comics for the love of it.

I'll drop this link here. I had a cool artist sketch up a cover to encourage me to write the script which has turned out to be marvelous.

COMIC NAME: Get Woke
CONCEPT: Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Princess Diana, Bigfoot and the disembodied brain of JFK battle evil in a world where all conspiracy theories are true.
STYLE: Comedy, Action, Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror.

If interested, please get in touch.

Tim

Haha damn that is an awesome concept, it sounds hilarious. I'd really like to read the script if thats okay with you. You can email it to me at itstopsecretmotherfuckers

Kevin

I've attached the script plus a little character guide. Apologies if the script pages appear a little unformated but the document was written in Word and has been warped slightly as the computer I'm on has an older version.

Hope you enjoy.

Tim

Hey just gotta let you know I'm all in on this. Awesome script and I'm really excited to get started. Just going to take the next week or two to draw the crap out of the main characters to get a feel for them and figure out exactly what the books going to look like.

Just curious though about how you mentioned that its not a project that can make money, but reading the script it seems to me like it would easily fall into the fair use/parody laws that things like Family Guy and South Park rely on. Again my main goal in all this is not to make money but I think its an interesting enough story that it could at least be sold digitally. I'd be just as happy to put it up for free but I think compared to a lot of the indie stuff I see its much more accessible and original.

Cheers,

Kevin

That is absolutely fantastic news, thank you, I'm looking forward to creating something special with you.

I'm delighted with this as I think you're the perfect fit for the comic style and your skills in caricature means you'll be able to tackle a project that's filled with celebs.

With regards to the money making, I personally agree with everything you've mentioned. I did some research in to copyright and stuff and, to me, it does seem totally in the realms of parody and the fact they're all dead gives us an added bonus too. I think the problem is that these are some of the biggest icons of all time and are quite well known for having legal teams that have an 'enthusiastic' approach to maintaining the estate of the names. I've tried to keep the tone positive, portray the characters as heroes, and keep well away from casting any shadows on their names (NO Michael Jackson pedo jokes!).

That said, I'm fully prepared to go balls deep with commitment and am happy to get it printed and sell it at some conventions. It is a solid and highly accessible concept with serious legs and I think 'conspiracy theory' is so very very zeitgeist right now that it could be hit. I've no problem with indie but on the chance it does take off, (and I'm no fool, getting lucky in comics requires a miracle these days so expectations remain grounded) if the cash does start to flow, then and only then, would the lawyers step in. They have no interest in a couple of dudes making indie comics. Also, happy to go fully 50/50 on any future profit.

Take as long as you need for prep. I'm going to quickly wave the story under a few editor friend's noses to iron any issues and get it as mint as it needs to be. There's a couple of clangy bits in the script but I can't foresee any major changes and I'll keep tweaking the script until you're ready to begin. There's always new tweaks and ideas that pop in to my head on every reading.

Very exciting times,

Tim

Just checking you received my last email and I haven’t scared you off. I’ve been trying to play it cool but I’m too excited to not confirm that you’re still in.

Tim

Oh yeah I'm still in, haha, just been sketching away. I'm all good with those plans, we'll make the best book we can and see where it goes. Your're right though, if it does get to the point where a publisher is interested then thats when the lawyers can take it off our hands and figure out any potential issues.

Don't worry about me dropping out at this point, I'm just as excited as you haha.

Kevin

FutureQuake 2017

The latest issue of FutureQuake has now been launched by the legends at FutureQuake Press. The 2017 issue contains 20 scintillating sci-fi tales to get your teeth stuck in to. One of those lovely tales is a cheeky little 1 pager titled Misery Business, written by Tim West, with art by Jerome Canty. Take a googly-eyed gander at the cover by legendary comic artist Gibson Quarter...

You can purchase a copy of FutureQuake 2017 via their website.