Latest Update

The time I once set aside for writing is now pretty taken up with sheperding my new baby daughter, as you can probably tell by the lack of posts on this blog! I'm still doing some writing, and I keep active in the UK comic community, but this year is pretty much a write-off.

Don't worry though, my fan(s) (Mum), I've a few strips currently being drawn by artists that will be launched over the next year. 

First off, I have a story in this year's horror anthology, Something Wicked. A four page twister titled 'Mommy's Little Angel'. This is usually launched later in the year to coincide with the Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds. The legendary lads at Futurequake Press have also approved another story for their popular sci-fi anthology, Futurequake. This time it's a seven page vision of a dystopian Britain where advertising has taken a turn for the worse, title 'London Rocks.' I'm particularly pleased with this script but it probably won't be released until next year.

I have another script approved by the awesome team at Psychedelic HQ, titled 'Vampires and Indians', which will appear in the first of their new line, The Psychedelic Journal of the Wild West.

Of course, there's always my own anthology Hallowscream, which I edit with the weird and wonderful Malcolm Kirk. We're now on our seventh edition of this mighty tome and you'll be able to download it for free, this Halloween, here. I have two short stories included in this edition, 'Monster Vision' and 'Caught in a Moment'.

So, as you can see, the miniature sleep thief I spawned last year hasn't completely stopped me in my tracks. I'm sure she'll give me plenty of material later in life so I'll keep her for the time being ;)

Hallowscream 7 Submission Guidelines

It's that time of year again...

We at Back From The Depths are once again looking for contributors for our freaky free, annual pdf horror comic, HALLOWSCREAM.

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 : Sunday 26th July
Artwork : Sunday 4th October
Completed strips : Sunday 25th October.
The finished issue will be available online as a free pdf by October 31st, with a physical copy becoming available via Lulu.com, shortly afterwards. You can also keep up to date with Hallowscream news via the Facebook Page.

Somehow, it's 2015!?

Holy fucking shit! October was my last post! I blame the arrival of my daughter, Amelia. She's basically a time-vacuum.

To match my FAILURE to update this blog I'm posting a script which FAILED to make it in to sci-fi anthology 100% Biodegradable. This awesome anthology is now on its 7th issue and has secured itself a good reputation. Well done to all involved.

My script 'A WILD RIDE' was shot down by editor Dave Hailwood as not being original enough. Apart from his name going in my little black book of jihads, I hold no grudge. I've ruthlessly denied many a submission to Hallowscream and I'm nowhere near good enough a writer that I won't occasionally fail to make the grade.

I'm posting the script below for everyone to read. Overall, it's a damn fine tale, and if you've never read comics you'll probably enjoy it. It's a well written script (hence the reason I'm sharing). Sadly, for the '2000AD Future Shock' loving, anthology reading community, it's about as textbook and cliche a sci-fi twist as you can get, and that's why I'm not in the least bit bitter about it's knock back.

A WILD RIDE by Tim West

PAGE 1 ( 6 Panels )
Panel 1 (full width)
Wide establishing shot of a flying family car, speeding across a barren, desert like wasteland. We can see a range of rocky hills in the background, and some in the foreground. The car looks futuristic, with rockets sticking out the back and a large antenna on top.


Panel 2
Close up of the rockets on the back of the car blowing black smoke.

SFX: PHUT PHUT PHUT


Panel 3
The flying car veers downwards, smoke billowing from the rear.


Panel 4
The car comes to a hovering halt along a dusty road at the bottom of a stony ravine. The rocky walls slope away towards the sky.


Panel 5
Shot of the interior of the vehicle. We see a futuristic looking human family sitting in the car seats. Mom and Dad in the front, 3 kids in the back. Resting on the middle kid’s lap, is a paper bag with 'FEED' written on it.

Kid 1: Are we there yet?
Dad: Looks like we're stuck here until the repair droid arrives.
Kid 2: But, Dad, I'm hungry.
Dad: There are peanuts in the bag.
Kid 3: Ugh, I'm not eating those...


Panel 6
Shot from an outsider’s perspective, high on top of one side of the steep ravine. Peeping over a rock, they can see the stationary car in the distance below. It is possible to include a shadow cast over the rock by the hairy beast that is watching the car, or even include a back of head shot. Your choice artist 

Kid 2: ...they're for the creatures outside.

PAGE 2 ( 6 Panels )
Panel 1
Shot of one of the children, face pressed against the glass window of the car, looking up towards the top of the ravine. Their little hands are also pressed against the window and we can now see they possess only three chubby fingers on each hand. The passengers are not human after all.

Kid: I think there’s something out there.


Panel 2
Interior of the car. All four passengers are looking at the car's ceiling with a scared look on their faces. Mom grips Dad's arm in fright.

SFX: THUDUNK
Mother: What was that?


Panel 3
Shot out of the front windscreen where an extremely dirty and surprisingly hairy, naked caveman has appeared. As he is on top of the car he is upside down in the windscreen, grinning at the family inside.

Caveman: Ooooraawwll!?


Panel 4
Shot of all the passengers inside the car. All are screaming in a state of terror at the sight of this hideous cave dweller. A by-product of their fear is their natural defence system kicking in. This takes the form of a ring of spiky skin that appears from behind their heads ( IMAGE REF http://www.thedinosaurboy.com/uploaded_images/dilophosaurus-705604.jpg ), and an extra pair of eyeballs on stalks popping out the top of their heads.

All: Aaaaaiiiee!


Panel 5
Similar shot as per panel 3. This time the caveman is also screaming in terror

Caveman: Aaaaaiiiee!


Panel 6
Close up of the caveman’s hand snapping the antenna off the car.

SFX: SNAP


PAGE 3 ( 5 Panels )
Panel 1
Large shot the Caveman who we now get to see in full. He has leapt from the roof of the car on to the bonnet smashing the aerial down on the bonnet in a fit of primeval rage.

        Caveman: Bleeaargh!
        SFX: CRANGGGG

Panel 2
Shot of the rockets at the back of the car firing in to life.

SFX: PHUT PHUT BOOM


Panel 3
The car speeds forwards, hovering just off the ground, and sends the caveman flying to the floor.

Kids: Drive, Dad, drive!


Panel 4
Shot from the front of the vehicle’s bonnet, looking in to the car. Dad is speeding away focusing on where he is going. Mum and the kids are all looking back.

Mother: Goodness gracious! What an utterly horrid species...


Panel 5
Shot from behind the car as it zooms through a huge security gate, in a vast metal fence. A large sign above the gate reads 'CENOZOIC PARK' while a smaller sign nearby states 'YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE HUMAN ENCLOSURE'

Mother: ...it's no wonder they almost died out.

I'm currently waiting on 2 other submissions so keep your fingers crossed.

Introducing KILL SPREE

If it seems I've been quiet on the comics scene it's because I've been using my time to work on a particularly tasking project. No, not baby West, although the little monkey is pretty much sucking every spare minute out of my life, but Kill Spree, the first, next-generation web comic.

There's only so many short stories you can write before needing to stretch out to long form comics. So, like the twat I am, I've jumped in head first with a massive 8 issue epic, that, when (if) ever completed, will form one glorious 180 page graphic novel.

Issue 1 is fully complete and the first 4 pages went live on October 1st. There are now 7 comic pages up which can be seen here: www.killspreecomic.com with an additional page added each week.

I'm taking this approach to try and reach as many comic reading folk as possible. This means drip feeding weekly for the web comic lovers and a bigger launch when the final page of issue 1 goes live all to coincide with a Kickstarter campaign to attempt to fund issue 2. It's going to be a fun experience.

What's is all about then?

Created to push the boundaries of both technology and taste Kill Spree uses the latest web-technologies to deliver a unique experience. Cool features include the ability to view the comic book creation stages including pencils, inks and even the script, an additional animated version for those who like motion comics, all wrapped in a responsive website which adapts to fit the screen of whatever device it is viewed on.

There's no point having an amazing website without having an amazing comic to match! Kill Spree is a highly original action/adventure/sci-fi/horror/comedy story, beautifully illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia, and loads of fun too! The controversial subject matter instantly sets the story apart. At heart it's a story about friendship, its outer wrappings, an attack on the media, pop culture and commercialism, sprinkled with a healthy amount of puerile humour and very bad language.

The concept...

A gang of disturbed losers seize control of America’s most high-tech shopping mall and embark on a deadly game of competitive mass-murder, broadcasting the entire event live as the world watches on in horror.

Welcome to the world of Kill Spree


EDIT: I'm planning on doing some making of posts about this. Behind the scenes shit. Stay tuned.

AAIIEEE!!! Night Flight of Terror

Dang! I gone done it again and forgot to update this riveting blog! Apologies, ME fans (My Mum). You might think lack of posts means it's been all quiet on the Tim West front, but no, as always I'm balls deep in comic stuff.

I'm using these pages to update my 'Adventures in Comics' which means anything I do that's comic related will be mentioned here. With this in mind, I must mention the small press publishing powerhouse Dave Candlish's Paragon Comics, or more precisely, AAIIEEE!!! a yearly horror anthology from the Paragon stable. This 2nd issue of this spooky comic was released in August of this year and features a story by me!

WATER OF LIFE, a 4 page horror adventure about the quest for immortality, was illustrated by the awesome Pictsy (her first comic story, and bloody hell does it look amazing), and lettered by the legendary Jim Campbell.

Extremely pleased with how this story turned out. It looks aces plus.

I also had a story in the first issue of AAIIEEE!!! so technically this makes me a regular (I'll take any credit I can get these days).

You can buy this comic, in digital or print format, via Lulu.

Visit the Paragon Comic site for more of this type of thing.

Stay tuned for more comic stuff...

FutureQuake #25

The finest small press anthology reaches issue 25 in fine style with two covers! Inside the whopping 52 pages we present 12 tales featuring contributions from the finest writers and artists the Small press has to offer. The time has come to discover why FutureQuake has been consistently nominated for best British Black & White Comic at both the Eagle and the True Believer awards. Only £4.00 for 52 pages- you don't get better value than that!

Inside this issue you will find a two page story written by none other than Tim West (that's me). This sci-fi skit, entitled The Travelling Salesman features art by Matthew Harrower and letters by the legendary Bolt-01.

You can buy this lovely anthology by visiting the FutureQuake site.

Home is where the heart is

A Bank Holiday treat for you all your horror lovers, here's a story that appeared in the 5th issue of everyone's favourite Halloween comic, Hallowscream. Written and lettered by my most excellent self, and pencilled, inked and coloured by the splendiferous, The pXd.

The idea for this 5 page story came from purchasing my own house from a lovely lady called Jennifer who had lived in the house her whole life. Inspiration comes from all around.

 

Pipedream Comics Article

Here's a quick link to a small piece what I did wrote for digital comics site Pipedream Comics for a section they call 'Why I love digital Comics'.

You can read the full story over on the Pipedream Comics website.