What progress with Policy Police 2?

I'm quite pleased with how things are going with the next book. I've pretty much got the whole of the "Up close and personalised" into page form. Just a few tweaks and amends to do there. I've reduced the font size (it'll come out around 10pt in the final version) and the frame per page ratio is 3.2 as opposed 2.7 in the first book, so it's a slightly denser read. But I think it works better than the last one. Lessons learned and all.

All this means I've still got 10 pages for a bonus feature, and I've got the first two pages of that done, too. This time it's a separate comic-book story that gives a kind of alternative perspective on the Policy Police world.

I liked the idea of the kids in the boiler suits in episode 7, so I've given a bunch of them their own story. Maybe it's what is known in educational circles as "Learner Voice". These are the people who are "done to"  in this world. The object of the system. So I thought it'd be nice to hear them.

When I was at school,some of the larger kids liked to remind me, "the object suffers the action of the verb". I had a practical education. In fact a lot of our responses to being "done to" were practical. Practical jokes mainly. This way we stood a chance of winning. This was our turf, not theirs.

Anyway. I've tried to get something of that power-of-the-powerless thing over in the story.

Will the Policy Police survive public sector cuts?

Cuz of course I didn't. Right now, I'm in the Twilight Zone between working for the state, and not working for the state. Tying up loose ends etc before the Organisation ceases to be...

I did worry about whether I'd be able to carry on with the comic in these circumstances. But actually, I think it's OK. As long as I  don't get too isolated from the mad world of office politics (hint), there seems to be plenty coming up to keep our heroes busy.

In retrospect, making Gosman a subcontractor looks like a smart move. Not just some excuse to make the cop/subcontractor quip in Episode 3. So far it has allowed Gosman and Partner to move between different jobs and departments. And in the future it will enable them to avoid direct cuts, but maybe be a bit less choosy in their job hunting.

Can't remember if I've said this someplace else, but I'm already beginning to see some conflict between "the machine" and its political masters. I guess I'm going to have to become like one of those "Kremlin watchers" of days gone by. Interpreting the occasional ripple on the surface of the still waters of state.

Big Breakfast

Here we have the Bumper Fun Summer Special for 2010. Guest artist is my friend and colleague Rob Englebright. You can find the comic in THE STORIES tab, under the heading, Rapid Response.

I usually have to wait several months before I can really enjoy the ones I've done entirely myself. But I laughed like a drain when I got this one back. Partly cuz Rob is so good, but also because I don't have those niggling little thoughts about bits where I feel that with a bit more time...

And for those of you who didn't come here from there, you can follow Rob's current ongoing comic at wychwolf.com.

New look.

Thought I'd give the site a newer, more bluish look. Can't think why...

The main reason is that I'm in the process of adding some pages to the blog to make it easier to find the main stuff. (See tabs just under the new banner). I felt that the links down the side were getting too long, so I've dedicated a page to The Stories and I'm going to try and embed all the back issues within the blog, and add a short title for each episode to make the whole thing more easily navigable. Well, that's the plan anyway.

Also with more coming out in book form in the not too distant future, I thought a dedicated Shop wouldn't go amiss. Finally there'll soon also be a page called "The Beans" as in spilling... where I'll collect various bits of background info together.

About the book

I thought I'd post some stuff about the decisions I made while putting the book together. Somebody might find it useful.

I plumped for the standard black-and-white format. First because it made for a cheaper book, and second because the overall look I was after was your paperback manga tankobon. Blurb's page size here is 5"x8". This is a pretty regular mid-size paperback, maybe a teeny bit narrower than your average UK paperback.

The slide-show version was based on a 4x3 aspect ratio, so some cropping and overlapping was inevitable. I fitted the 18-20 frames for each episode on to 7 pages with a new "title page" for each episode. I made the pages in your everyday presentation software - at 10"x16" to increase my dots per inch in the final book. The text in the speech bubbles was 24pt which reduced down to a good 12pt.

Blurbs price bands are based on blocks of pages, the second band being 40-80 pages. I thought I might as well use my full quota, so I had about 10 pages for a bonus feature. I thought I'd share some of the facts that the Agency knows about some of the main characters.

Also 80 pages is the minimum that would allow printing of the book title on the spine. Well, its not a proper book without that is it? So that decided me.

For the next story, I've done some editing and gone for a more dense frame/page ratio, so that I can buy myself space for another bonus feature.  But more of that anon.

Up close and personalised episode 11

This story finally coming to an end. This one made my hair stand on end when I wrote it. Still does. You can find the comic in THE STORIES tab, under the heading, Up Close and Personalised. It is now Chapteer 10 - Epilogue.

I wrote it last October - it all came out in a big splurge. I felt that I finally got the "efficiency agenda" and why it made me feel uncomfortable. But there's still optimism there. Or at least what passes for optimism in my head.

Reaching the LEARNER in Print!

I've been playing around on Blurb.com's self-publishing site and produced a book version of the first story.  I got the proof copy at the weekend and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.  When I first thought of these things, I had a picture in my mind of the thing on paper.  This is pretty close to that original "vision".

I've added some bonus pages - all-new chapter headings plus background info on some characters. They're not available in any other format.

Anyway it's up there for anybody to buy on a print-as-you-go basis, and at not too hideous a price.

Check it out here