Marc Ellerby

I am pleased to inform you that the art and tones for Love The Way You Love #6 is now complete. I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out and failing any mishaps should be in stores in June. That's it. Done. THE. END.

I can only apologise to the fans who might be reading this who have had to wait so long for it to come out. As you might know I suffered from an extreme case of R.S.I in around October/November last year which caused a complete halt in my drawing. The problem actually wasn't in my wrist but was due to a muscle build up in my neck which then caused the rest of my arm to...well...not work. Major thanks to Toby my physio who ironed out my problems and there's still some irritation there but I can work through it.

Today also saw the new episode of Panel Borders go up here which is a podcast about the UK comic scene. This particular episode talks with some of the exhibitors at the UK Web & Mini Comix Thing that was held in March. I'm not in it, but Oliver, the guest host, interviewed Anna, my girlfriend about her experience at the con. And not me. Really. Hilarity ensued at the time. Adam's on there too. For all of 5 seconds.

Now, fair game, I was in the loo at the time when they started and I think Anna makes some great points regarding the outsider interest of comics, however I do have a bit of a problem with the part where he calls Anna my "booth babe" which I do think is a bit condescending and degrading for her. She's a major part in helping me put my minis together and her time and effort means much more to me than just some girl who brings in punters at my stall. Would Liz Greenfield's boyfriend Rob be classed as "table totty" or be implied that his sex brings in punters? No of course not, it's only because Anna's a girl and that's why she's a booth babe. Truth be told she was sat on the floor when she was at my table because there were no seats! Plus the majority of my customers are usually girls.

Also, if she didn't help me out I probably wouldn't have been able to keep drawing LTWYL and put 250 minis together. It's probably meant to come across in a tongue in cheek way, but I just needed to get out there that she's a vital part of me being able to do this.

Anyway, the podcast talks about the difference between the UK Web & Mini Thing and the "rival" event being held on the same day in Camden, The what would appear to be The Second Coming Of Christ Underground Comic Stall. The background here is, the Thing put up their table prices and the guys behind the Camden stall (which has been running for about 6 months I think?) invited people who were not happy with the Thing to come and sit at their stall which was going to run anyway because it runs every Saturday. Sides were drawn up, etc.

For me personally, the UK Thing was a huge success and I certainly don't think I would of taken £180 from exhibiting on the Camden stall. Yeah the Thing hall was freezing cold, charging people for entry was really shit, the organiser didn't introduce himself only when he was shouting from the stairs and the price of the table for one day was the same for the whole weekend at Bristol (who haven't raised their prices in 9 years) but the irony is I had a better con than I did at Thought Bubble where, the table was cheaper, the hospitality was amazing, the room was warm but I made a loss. Swings and roundabouts, kids,.

So yeah, give it a listen. Mike Rouse Dean makes some good points (as always) plus it's always good to keep up to date with what the UK scene is up to. I'm intrigued about the Camden stall and want to try out my stuff there...if they'll have me, that is.

But yeah, Love The Way You Love = DONE.

Hello. I got a Twitter which seems to be another thing for me to press F5 every 5 seconds...



Also, my friend Lizz has a new T-Shirt for sale on Threadless. So check that shit out!

Also read the interview with her and then buy her comics yeeeeeaaaaaaaah.

This is from John Cei Douglas' Fuckr page and is a shot from Gosh's self published section, What I really like is spotting not only my own Polar Opposites on the bottom shelf, but Anas Awad up the top and John himself on the second shelf down.



This has got me thinking about the small press scene in England. There's a lot of stuff that I'm really enjoying at the moment, I just wish there was more of it. Stuff like Lizz Lunney's books. They're so innocent and crudely drawn but there's something hilarious about them, Lizz has perfect comic timing mixed with a obscure and out there sense of humour, it's a bit like Harry Hill's stuff mixed with Simone Lia, but they're totally her own and I love them to bits.



Steve Larder who does Rum Lad, which isn't a comic, but does have little blasts of narrative throughout, is another little gem. Essentially a collection of single page illustrations/sketchbook stuff with hand written diary entries detailing what he did on a particular day, his Duncan Fergredo-esque style is at times, both rough yet refined. I really enjoy the parts (in #3) where he d draw band scenes and then that would drift into shots of boating towns and docks. From the extreme and heavy use of black ink to the quiet and gentle nature of empty towns, it's really effective.



Liz Greenfield really isn't English, she's from some...where...European? Dutchland? I dunno...but anyway, she lives here so whatever, I really fucking love her new auto bio stuff. She used to do Stuff Sucks, which my girlfriend loves but I never really got into, but with her new stuff is genuinely hilarious, in a 'lol' way. She put out a collection of these recently, so go to her store and order it, I think I've read it a thousand times now.



Thom Dowse's stuff is also stunning. Whereas he's pretty precious about his work, his line work is rough and spontaneous. His work mainly deals with his surroundings, though this is from a strip that he worked on dealing with some guy getting sunstroke and then going mental thinking he's a hunter. You can't buy any of his stuff and he doesn't put anything out nearly enough, but man, that's pretty, right?



I'm liking Adam Cadwell's journal comics, The Everyday, too. He puts out these really nice minis that are printed on lovely textured paper and he sells them for a fucking pound! A POUND! And there's my little penguin strip book going for £2.50...the swine's undercutting me! Anyway, yeah there's like 8 of these mini collections available and they're always worth checking out. I dunno why, as he's a totaly nob.

Anyway, I just wish there was more of us, we'd be unstoppable if we just got our arses in gear and put out more stuff on a regular basis. There's a guy from Norway who I used to go to uni with called Martin Ernstsen and he's put out like 3 or 4 minis this year. Puts me to shame, absolute shame. I hope to god the Mini comic thing in Mile End in March isn't a total shambles and we all come out the wood work and go TA-DA!!!!

Ugh, this took too long...but yeah, check out the links and spend some money, they all totally deserve it.