Deadline DOOM!

Depending on when you read this- the deadline has now passed for all strips that are to be considered for the new titles. In this case it is for FutureQuake 16 and Something Wicked 06, both of which are to be on sale at the BICS gig in October.

What happens next is that I have to actally build the comics. Normally this is a doddle, strips slot in as they arrive and that is it. However, this time there has been something unusual happening- More strips are actually being delivered by deadline!

Usually, what happens when I commission a strip is this- I tell the writer and artist when the deadline for the next issue is, and then I sit back and wait. Quite often, for reasons that are many and varied, the strip will not make that deadline; after all this is free work we are talking about here, I'm not in a position to get heavy about something I'm being 'given'. So with that in mind I normally 'over' commission for any given issue- in the solid expectation that some of the strips will be arriving late, and therefore roll on to the next issue.

So far so good. Except that for the current crop I've had a very good group of artists. One or two have even pulled all-nighters in order to hit the deadline. This has resulted in me having more strips 'in' than usual.

FutureQuake and something Wicked are both 48 page titles. I've 'currently' got 63 pages COMPLETED! for FQ16, with more awaiting final print files. Something Wicked also has 63 pages in.

My point- I hate telling folks that I am bumping the strip to another issue- but I've got a lot of it to do. However- I reckon that next year I'll be easily able to put out three issues of FQ

Thanks for reading- and if you are one of those fine and wonderful creators I've let down- remember- your strip was fantastic, and it is purely logistics that has caused the delay.