...and another new Policy Police book

This time it's the novelisation (or, more strictly the short-storyisation) of the original story. I did this mainly for a partially-sighted colleague who is a great fan. It's been an interesting exercise. A bit harder than I thought it would be... or maybe I just got more ambitious for it having started. But it was interesting to get inside the characters' heads.  Anyway, its been such a short time since I put the black book in the right-hand column, I'm going to leave that as it is and just point you to the SHOP where you can find all three books.

I've been getting a bit behind with the next instalment, the first of a brand new story. Lots of reasons for this, partly cuz I've been spending my time on the books, and partly cuz starting a new story requires new characters and stuff, so more thinking time... Also I'm migrating to a new secondhand computer. I have been using a laptop with an external Wacom tablet, but I've now got one of those laptops with a swizzle screen that turns into a tablet. Much more comfortable to use, but has required a bit of set-up and getting used to. So... I'm guessing closer to the middle of the month than the start.

The new Policy Police book is out!

As you can see on the right or here...

Up close and personalised all brought together in one place. Also includes a bonus feature in which the kids in the boiler suits get their moment centre stage.

Policy Police: surplus to requirements

I wrote this episode shortly after the news broke that The Organisation was being closed down. You can find the comic in THE STORIES tab, under the heading, Rapid Response.

It was going to be this year's Summer Special, but I'm glad the collaboration with Rob produced something less sombre. It also allowed some time to pass so I could make a judgement on its "rawness". In the end, I've decided to let it stand as I first did it.

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.