A Christmas Zine Social at Housmans

I'll be selling my comics at 'A Christmas Zine Social' organised by SW Zines. The event will take place at Housmans Radical Bookshop in King's Cross on Saturday 7th December, from 7pm. There'll be loads of other zines, zine-makers, cake and festive cheer. Definitely worth coming up/down for! Click on the flyer below for more info.

The latest collection of Earthling Brains comic strips will be available along with my very first set of EB badges (numbers are limited!). Here's a grainy picture:

Earthling Brains on four week hiatus

Hi there. This is just a brief notice to say that the Earthling Brains comic strip is now on a four week hiatus. I’ve just completed the third collection of EB comic strips and I’ve got a lot on at the moment, so after a year and a half, this seemed like a good time to take a break.

I plan to make up for the lack of comics during this period by uploading the eight or so ‘lost strips’ in one go when I return. I’ve got some plans for a slightly longer story… so this might result in the longest EB arc yet.

See you in a few weeks.
Joe

The launch of a brand new comic strip: Sounds Behind The Wall

I’m pleased to announce the launch of a brand new comic strip, Sounds Behind The Wall, on Friday 16th August 2013. It’s another diary-style comic, this time focusing on the trials and tribulations of making music and starting a band.

I hope that it will provide insight into juggling a creative pursuit with full time work (and how those two things co-exist), the DIY ethos, and all the bizarre and ridiculous stuff that happens when you try to make music. I don’t know of too many comics like that, especially not ones that document things in ‘real time’. I always find books/comics/music documentaries about the origins of indie bands interesting (even if I don’t like the music that much) so making a diary comic seemed like a good idea. The way I see it, rather than periodically getting a photo or news update from the band, you’ll get a comic instead!

I plan to upload a new six panel comic every two weeks and see how that goes (obviously material for the comic comes down to the activity of the band). I’ll review the frequency after a month or two. That said, I’m going to upload a number of comics over the next week or so, along with some demos and stuff, as it’s not every day you launch a new strip (and it’ll bring things up-to-date).

I’m not really sure how this is one is going to pan out… maybe it will finish after a few strips or maybe it will keep going indefinitely; it all comes down to what the band does. It should be an interesting ride!

(nb the Earthling Brains comic strip will continue to be published twice a week. As this site will now report on band activity as well as comics it’s likely to get a bit confusing if you just want to read one or the other. I’m going to go through the archive and label everything properly so that you can filter by whatever you want to read - bear with me whilst I sort this out!)

Video for 'You've Got Nothing Left To Get Off Your Chest'

Hi there folks,

The brand new video for my song 'You've Got Nothing Left To Get Off Your Chest' was released this morning. Check it out:



The video was jointly directed by myself and Alex Bird of Model Railway Exhibition fame. The song is taken from Earthling Brains' debut album I'll Leave A Light On For You, which comes out on 10 June on Forward Defensive Records. The album is accompanied by the comic The Long Night Is Over, which is the inspiration for this video.

The album is available to pre-order on Bandcamp now.



Let's Celebrate Our Victory With Pizza - Earthling Brains Volume Two (#51-100)

I've collected #51-100 of the Earthling Brains comic strip into a physical volume entitled 'Let's Celebrate Our Victory With Pizza'. Because pizza rules! Each copy is hand numbered and is 19 pages long.

Copies will be available from the Earthling Brains Comics table at DIY Cultures 2013, this Sunday at Rich Mix, E1 6LA. It's on from 12-7pm, it's free entry and there will be loads of other awesome comics and zines.

Let's Celebrate Our Victory With Pizza looks like this:

DIY CULTURES 2013

I will be appearing at DIY CULTURES 2013 next weekend (Sunday 7th April). The kindly folk at DIYC asked everyone invovled to design a 'DIY IS...' poster for the event, which could be interpreted however we fancied. Here's my poster:

(Yes, I have a problem with the undead stopping me getting shit done - okay?).

THIS IS THE NEWS!

Hello there!

As promised, I have some new comic and music related announcements. I intend to post more information about each individual project at a later date, so consider this more of a summary of new releases and news:

• Earthling Brains #51-100 will be collected in a new physical volume of comic strips entitled Let's Celebrate Our Victory With Pizza. Its release will coincide with the one year anniversary of the Earthling Brains comic strip and website.
• I'm putting the finishing touches to an album and comic that tell a single story, with each medium filling in some of the blankets left by the other. The album is called I'll Leave A Light On For You, and the comic is called The Long Night Is Over. 
• I've got a table at DIY Cultures 2013 on Sunday 7th April, where copies of all of the above will be available to buy, along with some old classics.
• As the Earthling Brains comic strip and website is nearing its one year anniversary, I intend to spruce the place up to make way for additional content, maybe even an online shop (gasp!). If the formatting goes to pot, that'll be me completely in over my head.

Tempting as it is to waffle on about all of the above and more, I think I'll leave it there for the time being. More detail will emerge over the coming days and weeks. Keep you eyes peeled.

Cheers,

Joe

News update - A start in (Off)life

It's been a busy start to 2013, so I thought it was time for a quick update. 

My comic 'First Gig' appears in issue three of Off Life magazine. This is the first time someone other than myself thought one of my comics was worth printing so it's pretty exciting. Off Life is available in Bristol and London, at a whole bunch of different stockists. Alternatively, you can check out the digital version here. I'm on page 10.

I've also got a table at the 2013 DIY Cultures Fair, to be held at Rich Mix, East London on the 7th April. This is another first for me. DIY Cultures describes itself as 'a day-long festival of zines, artists books, comics, artists-run spaces, talks, films animation, video art, exhibition, workshops'. More importantly, however, you'll be able to buy some copies of my new comics. Expect a new volume of the Earthling Brains comic strip and a new fictional comic/album tie-in. Find more information here.

Oh, and speaking of the musical element of this comic, you can check out some of the demos for this in the embedded player on the right of the blog. 

Lastly, I'm also planning a bunch of things to coincide with the one year anniversary of this site (April), so stay tuned for more info.

That's HOW for NOW.

Joe

A festive message

Yup, it's that time of year when rather than focusing on buying presents, writing comics and generally getting your house in order, you go and record a miserablist Christmas song instead. I was going to do a short comic to go with it about the reality magic of Christmas but I ran out of time. (That said, there is a comics Christmas treat in the pipeline - more info over the next few days).

Anyway, I leave you with 'Blankets' which you can find by clicking on the image below or pressing play on the player to your right.

I Had Hoped To Be Stubblier - Earthling Brains Volume One (#1-50)

I've collected the first 50 Earthling Brains comic strips into a physical volume called 'I Had Hoped To Be Stubblier'. Each copy is numbered (out of 100) and is 19 pages long, give or take.

It's now available from Orbital Comics in central London for £2 and looks like this:

For those not based in London I'm working on setting up an online shop... watch this space.

Agree In The Dark #3 available for one day only tomorrow!

Hi there,

The third edition of Agree In The Dark - the zine I edit and contribute to - has been printed up and will be available tomorrow at the event of the same name in the Griffin. There are 50 copies and they'll be given away FREE on a first come, first served basis.

Here's a taster:

Incidentally, if you're like me and like making comics and zines, and aren't too precise about production value (read: don't understand production value) then send me a link to your site/blog/comics and maybe I'll be able to include something in the next edition: earthlingbrains[at]gmail[dot]com.