Thought Bubble 2014 schedule

This is going to be a big one.

This weekend 14th-16th I'll be in Leeds for Thought Bubble Festival.

Like a sugary pollen I will be dispersing myself as widely over this event as possible. Let's take it in chronological order:

FRIDAY 14TH NOVEMBER

Vince Paradise & The Kittelbach Pirates are playing a gig Friday night as part of this mad bash thrown by Assembly House and East Street Arts. It's been dubbed The Official Unofficial Thought Bubble Party by Richard Bruton.

The madness starts at 9pm, and is open to everyone, for free. If you're a comic artist you can live-draw, if you're a musician you can play. I'm very much looking forward to it.

 SATURDAY 15TH NOVEMBER


I'll be manning the Titan Comics tables # 13-16 of the New Dock Hall all weekend. Come by to check out some great new collections we've published this year. Very much looking forward to signings with Ordinary team Rob Williams & D'Israeli, Doctor Who The Twelfth Doctor team Robbie Morrison & Dave Taylor, and British Comic Award nominated The Absence signing with Martin Stiff!


12:00-13:00 I'll be signing debuting BEAST WAGON preview copies with John Pearson 12-1 table #193 of the New Dock Hall.

Raygun Roads is nominated the 'Best Comic' category at the British Comic Awards. I'll be heading along for the ceremony at 6pm (along with everyone I know).

This is a real treat, to be included amongst such impressive and quality titles. Very much looking forward to the event! 


SUNDAY 16TH NOVEMBER


15:00 - 16:00 - signing Reel Love Act One & Raygun Roads at Dogooder Comics table #161 New Dock Hall


You can buy copies of my comics at the following tables throughout the weekend:

Reel Love Act One & Raygun Roads @ table #161 - New Dock Hall

Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? @ table #46 - New Dock Hall


Beast Wagon preview @ table #193 - New Dock Hall

Matinee ashcan @ table #188 - New Dock Hall


See you all in Leeds!!

OJ
OX

ANNOUNCEMENT: BEAST WAGON

Very proud to announce this!

 

Owen Michael Johnson & John Pearson invite you to board the Beast Wagon at Thought Bubble

Preview of anthropomorphic comic book set in a Safari park includes 6-page preview and fold-out map. 

The co-creator of cult hit Raygun Roads and the critically acclaimed coming-of-age tale Reel Love has described Beast Wagon - scheduled for release in 2015 - as 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest with talking animals...' and promises 'an examination of systems and control. This preview is an intense little introduction to the book we're making. John is an honest artist. We're pushing each other, creatively, into dark waters.' 

Pearson, an illustrator heralding from Leeds and one of the contributors to the CULT exhibition at Orbital Comics in April, said 'Beast Wagon will be a debauched tale of insanity. Owen has pulled out the stops to explore madness and frustration across many complex layers. I've been scooping out my mind to put together a collection of images that feeds into the vision of hell we've had. Madagascar this is not.'

Released under Johnson's Changeling Studios imprint, the preview will be lettered by Colin Bell (Dungeon Fun) and available at Thought Bubble Sequential Arts Festival, which is held in Leeds this November. 

Multiversity Comics broke the story. More on BEAST WAGON soon.

Reel Love Screening Event & The Lakes International Comic Art Festival

On Sunday October 19th, I will be introducing a very special screening of the cult British film, Son of Rambow, at an event held at The Alhambra Cinema in Penrith, Cumbria.

 

Hosted by Chris Thompson of Pop Culture Hound fame, the event is supported by The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (more on which later), and involves a live discussion with myself about films, comics and the process of creating a comic about films. I'd also like to ask everyone about the first time they went to the movies. I will then sign and sketch books for anyone who would like such a thing to happen to their books, and then we all get to watch a great film.

Each ticket purchased includes a copy of Reel Love Act One. 

The Alhambra is the cinema I grew up with. It has a lot of history, and a very special place in my heart. I'm very much looking forward to returning to celebrate the comic book that was inspired by my visits. Matthew, Alan and the whole staff always go above and beyond for their events (not long ago they screened Backdraft to raise money for the local fire service).

I'm very much hoping people from my home town turn up, regardless of whether they are comic fans or not. Everyone is welcome!  

If you'd like to book tickets to the event, you can contact the Alhambra box office on the below details:

Lonsdale Cinema
47 Middlegate, Penrith CA11 7PT
 Tel: 01768 862400
 Twitter: @LonsdaleCinema

The event at the Alhambra will be a great way to close out the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal that weekend.


I'll be signing Reel Love in the Kendal Waterstones between 2:30-4pm on Saturday 18th October as well as appearing in The Comics Clocktower all weekend. Do drop by if you're checking out the festival. It already promises to be bigger and better than last year.

OJ
OX

Everyone's in Reel Love

Hey everyone!

Glasgow Comic Con was a total blast! Here's some rad photos taken by Guillermo Ortego 

The Art School 

This guy published my book. Which was nice of him.

The Dogooder Comics table seemed to be kicking all weekend, with Colin Bell & Neil Slorance on one side and Guillermo Ortego on the other. We sold comics and ate mama Johnson's famous mac and cheese. I sketched in the books of lovely people who bought them.

Sketchy

Then the Scottish Independent Comic Book Awards, at which Dungeon Fun swept up. Cue celebration drinks.

Left to Right: Guillermo Ortego, Roger Landridge, Pete Milligan, Me

There were genuinely too many good people to mention right here, and many people I was foolish enough to miss. You'll have to forgive me. In summation: heatwave weather, amazing staff, and one of the most supportive communities I've ever experienced: I highly recommend this show. Get yourself there next year

-------------

Here's more more great reviews of Reel Love from:

Bleeding Cool 

Broken Frontier

Comics Bulletin 

Big Comic Page 

Fan Girl Nation 

Comics Anonymous 

Also here's a HUUUUGE interview I did with Multiversity Comics for the book's release 


So overwhelmed by the support for my solo debut. It seems to really pull an emotional reaction from people, with many reviewers and readers remembering their own first experiences of going to the movies. It's fascinating and elating to hear them all.

Here's where you can currently buy Reel Love Act One.

First port of call should be the Dogooder Website

If you want to support a comic store, the book is currently stocked in:

Orbital
8 Great Newport St
City of London
Greater London
WC2H 7JA
Tel: 020 7240 0591

Imagination Station
41 Bank Street
Carlisle
Cumbria
CA3 8HJ
Tel: 01228521007

Alhambra Cinema 
47 Middlegate
Penrith
Cumbria
CA11 7PT
Tel: 01768 862400

More stores are planned but I have a few crushing deadlines so stay tuned.

Alternatively, if you want to get the comic from me in person I'll be repping Changeling Studios at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival  and Thought Bubble , with a signing on the Dogooder Comics table planned for Reel Love.

I should probably make issue 2 now, right?

OJ
OX

Reel Love launches at Glasgow Comic Con 5th-6th July

Ever feel your life is a film?

Following a visit with his Father, a young boy forms a relationship with the local cinema.

Obsessed with the silver screen, and convinced it is his destiny to become a director, he ropes a street-smart classmate into producing their first motion picture over the course of one fateful summer.

From Owen Michael Johnson – the creator of indie hit Raygun Roads – Reel Love is a bittersweet fantasy of imagination and memory, in the vein ofDaytripper, Cinema Paradiso, and Jeff Lemire’s Essex County Trilogy.

Reel Love Act One is 44 black and white pages of cine-fantastical magic, and will debut at this year’s Glasgow Comic Con on the 5th and 6th of July before going on general release in digital and print via the Dogooder Comics webstore and fine comics retailers across the UK.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR REEL LOVE: 

"I loved Reel Love. Energetic artwork and heartfelt storytelling make Reel Love a real winner." - Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Essex County Trilogy)

"An impressive debut…a raw and heartfelt tribute to cinematic inspiration bursting with ideas." - Adam Cadwell (Blood Blokes, founder: British Comic Awards)

"Frame by frame, reel by reel, Johnson has created something purely unique - a metafiction love letter to film, comics and childhood" - Laura Sneddon (The Independent On Sunday, The Beat, New Statesman)

"Poignant and endearing, Reel Love is the next step in the evolution of one of the UK’s most promising comic creators." - P M Buchan (The Times Literary Supplement, Starburst)

“Johnson’s created something genuinely haunting in Reel Love, an evocation of both the intensity of feelings unique to childhood and the spellbinding majesty of cinema, the ideas and the emotions so bittersweet and so powerful that they’ll stay with you long after the final page.” - Richard Bruton (Forbidden Planet International Blog)

Here’s a preview:

And here's some early reviews! 

Multiversity

Destroy The Brain

This is my debut as writer/artist. I am indescribably proud and would very much like you to buy it.

I'll also have some extra bits and pieces available to purchase at Glasgow, including the only remaining copies of Raygun Roads 2nd printing, Matinee ashcan, A3 prints previously only available at the CULT exhibition, and original art pages for Reel Love itself. 

I'll be guesting at the Dogooder table 59 for the duration of the show, wedged between friends Guillermo Ortego & Neil Slorance, who's fantastic all-ages collaboration with Colin Bell, Dungeon Fun, gets it's issue 2 debut. 

Glasgow is one of my favourite shows. They were the first readers to fully embrace Raygun Roads, way before it became an indie hit. I'm beyond excited to show them my new jam before anyone else, and hang out with such a great crowd. 

Lakes International Comic Art Schedule

And breathe!

The last week or so has seen everyone work like true champions in order to get Raygun Roads ready for consumption.

The book is currently with Stuart & Sharron Gould of UK Comics and bound for its launch at the Lakes International Comic Art festival in Kendal next week. Having heard from Julie how swept off their feet everyone's become with this show I'm convinced it's going to be something special and the hard work gone in will pay off. I'm also incredibly proud that the element of the festival I was privileged enough to help shape in a very small way, the Comics Clocktower, is going to be open to the world! 

Without further ado, here are the details of my appearance at the show.

Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th October 

You can find me all weekend on the 1st Floor TABLE 53 between some of my favourite people in the world, Orbital Comics, and Andrew Tunney who has produced this brilliant limited edition Raygun Roads print, which will be available to purchase all weekend.



Sunday 20th October
Countryside Comics event w/ Lizzie Boyle of Disconnected Press.
Time: 11-00am-12:00pm
Venue: The Brewery Arts Centre: Screen Two, Kendal
Box office: 01539 725 133

Myself and the wonderful and horrendously talented writer/editor Lizzie Boyle will be discussing a broad spectrum of topics in this event on Sunday: artistic work in the context of its geographical point of origin; magic and the otherworldly and how many stories of this kind are couched in a remote or countryside setting; distribution and location in small-press comics; isolation and creativity; history and relevance, and . And we'll probably talk a lot about ourselves and our own work. Just 'coz.

There are still some tickets left for this event so if you fancy hearing us wax lyrical, give the Brewery box office a call or order online.

If they'll have me I also plan to drop by the Accent UK and Disconnected Press tables to sign copies of 'Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist?' and Disconnected Vol. 3 respectively, the latter of which is available for the first time at the event.

Monday 21st October
Raygun Roads signing
Time: 11-12
Venue: Imagination Station, 41 Bank Street, Carlisle, CA3 8HJ

A flying visit before I hit the trail back to London. Store-owner Tommy has always been super supportive of my stuff so will be the first to receive copies of Raygun Roads. I'll be scribbling between 11-12 so if you're stuck for something to do after the festival drop by before disbanding across the country. Imagination Station is a fantastic comic store to visit if you haven't done so yet.

Hope to see many friends old and new over the course of the weekend!

OJ
OX

Thaddeus Mist reviews

Some lovely reviews for 'Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist?' 

The Speech Balloons one from Paul Birch I meant to share eons ago, the Richard Bruton Forbidden Planet one dropped last month. Here are some pieces:

"With regards to the writing, yes, you can tell the differing styles - some more purple prose others more pulp styled as they mimic a Victoriana narrative, but they also appear to have been edited into a generally coherent to read, as one voice - or many voices coming together in a crowded room and us as readers picking up on different aspects of the various conversations going on." - Paul Birch, Speech Balloons

"Each individual tale is insightful, adding a little to the man each time, building up our image of him, and every single tale works, story and art all doing really well. There’s genuinely not a thing I can pull the book up on, it’s something I’ve read three times now, and each time, I’ve gone cover to cover without a break, captured and entranced by the tales spun within. Most enjoyable stuff." - Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet International Blog

My sincere thanks to Paul and Richard for taking the time to read and write about the book in such depth and detail.

If you'd like to get hold of a copy, the book is available at Travelling Man Newcastle, Imagination Station Carlisle, Orbital Comics London, or from the Accent UK website.