FOR THE RECORD INKS: Beatles on Compact Disc

Inks on the Beatles compact discs page. Pens and brushes used. Scanning and tidying up next.

FOR THE RECORD PENCILS: Beatles on Compact Disc

Finished up pencils on this page today, regarding the marketing by companies of compact discs to the public, music media coverage of the format, and the coming of The Beatles on CD in 1987.

FOR THE RECORD INKS: Five Christmas LPs

    

Inking this page today featuring Big Country, Duran Duran, Ultravox, and Now That's What I Call Music. 

Although this is the second page of the music based comic I've drawn, I am keeping it open which order they will be in, in the final printed version.

FOR THE RECORD PENCILS: Five Christmas LPs

Pencilling this evening; five Christmas LPs, featuring Big Country, Duran Duran, Ultravox, and Now That's What I Call Music.

FOR THE RECORD INKS: Adam and the Ants

I've been inking the Adam and the Ants page today.

I'm aiming for a bit more of a DIY/grungy feel for this next comic book. As such I've eschewed my usual ruler lined panel borders (which I always find to be essential).

FOR THE RECORD PENCILS: Adam and the Ants

 I was pencilling today. It was good fun drawing Adam Ant.

WEATHER WARNING

Workplace closure brought on by the weather warning gave me a bonus day to work on comics. I finished writing my next book.

YOU GET WHAT YOU GET at BROKEN FRONTIER

Andy Oliver has reviewed You Get What You Get over at Broken Frontier.

"What has always marked out Robertson’s comics to me in the past has been his ability to make small, existential moments seem very human and very relatable. Nodding your head to the universality of some of the experiences depicted here is one of the anthology’s great appeals... "

Have a read of the whole article here.

YOU GET WHAT YOU GET at COMIC TROPES

Chris Piers has posted his latest Comic Tropes After Dark video: "Indie Showcase: Mailbag for January 2025"

He has a look over You Get What You Get around the 1 hour 11 minute mark.

Have a watch here.

FRED EGG COMICS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2024

This has been another year greatly enhanced by taking time and making an effort to work on comics as much as possible. It’s not the easiest or most comfortable thing to do, but I’m glad to look back and see I’ve achieved what I have. 

I started off 2024 with an appearance in Pocket Thoughts Annual #6. This US zine from Ryan Ewing has become a regular project for me over the years, and is always a pleasure. This latest effort portrayed a real event where I was witness to a child’s genuine excitement about fruit being educated out of them by their parent.

This story was added to others I wrote and drew specifically for my comic book You Get What You Get. I also wrote stories for 26 guest artists to illustrate. They were: Emre Altındağ, Claire Brown, Clio Ding, Zu Dominiak, Joan Edam, Helena Edwardson, Fraser Geesin, Andy Hanks, Rozi Hathaway, Olivia Hicks, Rebecca Horner, Iain Cranford Hunter, Tim Kelly, Marc KZ, Francesca Mancuso, Nando, Paterson, Iestyn Pettigrew, Alex Potts, Ludi Price, Neil Scott, Mike Sedakat, Tom Stewart, Sam Stovold, Andy Strachan, and Cherish York. Thanks again to all of them for their sterling work. 

The comic launched at Dundee Zine Fest in November. I have wondered about the effectiveness of Zine oriented events as opposed to comic centric ones, but found to my surprise that the DZF was successful for me. Perhaps the sheer variety of topics covered and formats included in zine culture meant they were open to the comics I make? In any case, and whatever the reason, I had more sales there than I’ve had at any other comic con. 

Something else that came from that event was that a few weeks after, one of the people who bought my books contacted me to ask me questions regarding making comics. Turns out they were a student, and looking for quotes for their latest essay. Have a read of the Q&A session here.

Now, That Comic Smell. After our episode on comics available in local shops, you may have seen Tom’s video announcement that the podcast has ended. While this is true, there’s a little more to be said. Firstly, we are still meeting up regularly, just not recording the chats, so I sometimes forget we’ve “stopped”. Also, there are many episodes still in the can that will be put online (as Tom mentioned in his statement). And, we do plan to record further podcasts on a particular recurring topic we’ve been covering over the years. Lastly, we are still working on a third edition of our That Comic Smell Comic. So, although we’ve finished, there’s still more to look out for from That Comic Smell.

Towards the end of the year, it was a delight to guest once again on the Marvel Star Wars Explorers podcast. Their enthusiasm for Star Wars / Lucasfilm / Marvel / Disney keeps the show going past them having covered all the original Marvel Star Wars comics. At this point they are on to The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones 1980s comics, while also discussing the 1990s TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and the current Star Wars Skeleton Crew TV series. The podcast is always an enjoyable listen.

Next year I am going to be concentrating on a couple of longer stories. The first is provisionally planned to be between 18-24 pages, and I aim to have it published this year. The other is around 60 pages and I’ll work away on that until it’s finished. In the meantime, I’ve done another page for the next Pocket Thoughts Annual, so hopefully that will be out soon.

Thanks for your interest. Wishing you all the best for 2025!