The Abandoned Blog

Change of address.

2011-09-04T02:14:00.001-07:00

I figured a change was in order so you can now follow me over on word press.

Zarjaz, Zombies Hi and Nestor Issue One news.

2011-08-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hey

I have some news to put up on here. Firstly the Judge Dredd story that I am working on with Owen Watts for Zarjaz is coming along nicely. Owen is about half way though the comic now and he has sent me on the first two pages which look great.

I am going to have a story in Zombies Hi. It is a three page story and it will be drawn by the very talented Kevin Logue. Here is the Zombies Hi F aceboo k page and you can also pick up a copy of Issue One and Two over on Kevin's blog.

And finally we have a bit of a change up on the Nestor comic. Issue One will not be drawn by Mike Ball as I said before. Mike is now gonna be working on a story set in the Blackstar Universe which will appear in Issue Four of Ri Ra. Taking over for Mike will be Paul McCallan. I have worked with Paul on a past issue of FutureQuake and his art is excellent.

Here are a few sketches that he has sent me of the main characters in the book.

BlackStar will return

2011-08-12T09:59:00.001-07:00

Hey

So BlackStar is a comic that I started working on about three years ago and for different reasons it didn't get finished. During My interview with Dave O Leary for Irish Comic News he asked me was the comic going to be finished or not. I think that might have been the kick in the arse I needed to get this one up and running again. So here is what I have so far. Black Star will be a 32 page full colour comic published by Coimici Gael (the same publishers behind Ri Ra) and this time it will be drawn by Dwayne Moloney. I am also pleased to say that Ger Hankey the artist behind Short Sharp Shocks will be working on the cover too.

Also a story set in the Black Star universe will be in Ri Ra Issue 4 before the one shot comes out next year.

Here are a few sketches done by Dwayne during the week.

Nestor Issue Two cover by Robert Elrod.

2011-07-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

Hey

So here is the cover for Issue Two of Nestor by Robert Elrod. Robert has done an incredible job on this cover.

ICN Exclusive and the pencils for the cover of Issue Two of Nestor.

2011-07-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hey

Here is the pencils for the cover of Issue Two of Nestor which has been drawn by the very talented Robert Elrod. This looks great and I can't wait to see the finished piece.

Also the first page of Issue Two is up on the Irish Comic News website and the link for that is here.

Calling all Artists.

2011-07-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hey

I am looking for an artist or artists not too sure yet for a new project myself and Martin Greene are working on at the moment. It is a sci fi story and we are looking for someone that isn't afraid of a challenge. We hope to have this ready for May/June of next year so if there is any artists out there that are interested in working with myself and Martin on this one you can send an email to blackstarcomic@gmail.com.

I do have a bit more news we have our artist for the second cover of Nestor. It will be drawn by Robert Elrod. Rob is an excellent horror artist and you can check out some of his work over on his blog.

Some more Nestor Sketches from Anthony O Neill.

2011-06-30T12:17:00.001-07:00

Hey

Well, we have settled on the designs for the vampires in Nestor and Anthony has sent me on some sketches of how they will look.

First up we have Nestor in all his vampire glory.

And here we have the Feral vampire sketch. These look excellent. I'll post these up on the Nestor Facebook page tomorrow. I do have some more news about yet another comic I'll be working on for Coimici Gael but I'll say no more until I get some new designs from the artist.

Rough cover for Nestor by Kevin Logue.

2011-06-26T12:48:00.001-07:00

Hey

A quick post. Here is the rough cover for Nestor Issue 1 drawn by Kevin Logue. Just got this a few minutes ago looks great.

Interview and articles over on ICN.

2011-06-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hey

I have done an interview for the new site Irish Comic News. It's been set up by Tommie Kelly and it aims to promote Irish Comics. The interview is here.

There are also two articles on the site one for the Wire and Gas Anthology which features some art by Mike Ball and an article with some of Anthony O Neill's sketches for Nestor.

The cover for Issue Three of Ri Ra is also up for people to check out. That's over on Aidan Courtney's blog.

One final thing the scripts for Nestor are finished and I have set up a Nestor Facebook page. I'll be updating it with sketches and art from the comic. We are hoping to have it ready for Halloween. I am also pleased to announce that Kevin Logue will be working on the cover for Issue One and once that's finished I'll post that up here. The rough sketch for the cover is over on the Facebook page.

Nestor Sketches.

2011-06-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

These are some sketches for another new comic we've just started working on called Nestor. It is based on a story by Martin Greene and will feature art by both Mike Ball and Anthony O Neill. The sketches below are from Anthony. We are still just working on getting the look right for the vampires in the story but some of these were so good I had to post them.

We'll be setting up a Facebook page too shortly for anyone that wants to follow the progress of the comic.

A page from Bait by Mike Ball

2011-06-18T03:54:00.000-07:00

So it looks like there will be a bit of a delay with the War Comic it will out in July instead of June. In the meantime here is another page from one of the stories in it called Bait drawn by Mike Ball.

2D Festival

2011-06-11T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hey

This is way too late but just wanted to say we had a great time at the 2D Festival last weekend. It was my first time going to anything like that and I must say it was an excellent few days. It was great to finally meet other comic creators that I known through the interwebs. For the majority of comic book creators it is a solitary job and it was cool to spend a few days just talking to like minded people.

We've got a busy few months ahead of us. The World War One Anthology is nearly ready to be released and I have just started working on a two issue story for Coimici Gael called Nestor based on a story by Martin Greene. That won't be out until the end of the year but we have our two artists on board now Mike Ball and Anthony O'Neill.

Hopefully we'll have them on our table at next year's 2D Festival.

A page for the war comic by Anthony O Neill.

2011-05-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Well here is another page from our War Anthology called Wire and Gas. This is from the story 'Good Boy' and is drawn by the very talented Anthony O' Neill. We will have more pages to show at the 2D Festival in Derry at the start of June. So if anyone is heading up to that they can stop by the Coimici Gael table and see the pages for themselves.

I'm also currently working away on a pitch with a very cool comic creator called Alfred Paige.

Alfred's latest comic is called PinPoint and is available to buy here. The story we are working on is called Daisy Chain and I am at the minute writing the last issue. It's early days for that project but we'll see how it goes.

Judge Dredd story for Zarjaz. Art by Owen Watts.

2011-05-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

A while back I mentioned that I was working on a Judge Dredd story for Zarjaz, I do have some more news about that story. The very talented Mr Owen Watts will be working on the art for that story and he has started to work on his look for Judge Anderson. His art work and his take on Judge Anderson was recently featured on the Forbidden Planet website. The link for that is here if anyone wants to check that out. Really looking forward to seeing the story later on in the year.
Also here is the Zarjaz blog too.

Wire and Gas Anthology.

2011-05-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

I know I said I wouldn't put up anymore pages from our World War One Anthology up but screw it. Here is the pencils for the story Bait drawn by Mike Ball. These pages look great. We've got three very different styles in this comic and I think they complement each other very well. Not too sure if we will have the comic ready for the 2D Festival we might just have some preview pages at our table for people to take a look at instead. We are planning a launch for the comic in June in Ennis instead.

Art for one of the Wire and Gas stories complete.

2011-04-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

So here is the first page from the story Good Boy which I picked up yesterday from Anthony O Neill. Like Mike Ball this will be Anthony's first time being published. The rest of the art in this strip is excellent but I don't think I'll post anymore pages from the book on here. It is a very small anthology so I don't want to give too much away. Ye will all have to pick up a copy of the comic when it comes out in June. It is great to see Martin Greene's stories in comic form for the first time. Myself and Martin are working on a few other projects and we will hopefully have some news about those soon.

Once we sort out the cover which is being worked on by Aidan Courtney I'll post that for ye to take a look at. I'm very proud of this one and that's mostly down to the new people that have gotten involved, they are a great bunch of very talented folk.

Wire and Gas Anthology.First page from Bait.

2011-04-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey

I have just received the first page for another one of the stories that will appear in our War Anthology. We've got a name for it now which is Wire and Gas. This page is from a story called Bait and is drawn by the very talented Mr Mike Ball. This will be Mike's first comic book strip to be published I don't think it will be his last.

First look at the new comic coming from Coimici Gael.

2011-04-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hello

Well here it is, the first page for our new World War One comic being published by Coimici Gael.

Like I said in the last post these are all Martin Greene's stories that have been scripted by me.

The artist for this strip is Aidan Courtney, anyone that reads Ri Ra will know Aidan as the editor of that excellent book. Once I get more art for the other strips I'll put them on here so keep an eye on here for a sneak peek of the other strips that will appear in the anthology. Here is a link for Aidan Courtney's blog if anyone wants to check that out.

New War Anthology and some more Home Land Pages

2011-04-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hey

I do have some good news to report. We are putting together an anthology. This will be a very small three story anthology with stories all set in World War One. The three stories come from the mind of Martin Greene and have been scripted by me. We have been busy over the last week or two getting the artists for each strip and now we are good to go. The artists in question are Mike Ball, Aidan Courtney and Anthony O Neill. We plan to have this ready for the 2D Festival in Derry at the start of June. Once I'll post some art from the book up here once it starts to come in.

I've also just got some more pages from Dwayne Moloney for the Home Land comic (got to find a publisher for this one) These pages are really shaping up.

Strip for Ri Ra Issue 3

2011-03-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hey

The strip for Ri Ra Issue three is nearly complete. Dwayne Moloney has been busy working away on it over the last week. Here is one of the pages from that story. Aidan Courtney the editor of Ri Ra tells me the strips are starting to come in for Issue Three so it shouldn't be too long now before it goes to print. Here is the Ri Ra face book page if anyone wants to join. It is the best way to find out more about the artists and writers that will be featured in Issue three and also the page will feature a sneak peek at some of the art work that will be in the next issue.

More Homeland artwork.

2011-03-04T11:13:00.001-08:00

Hey

Here is some more art work that I got today from Dwayne. As you can see he has started colouring the pages.

Ri Ra Issue 3

2011-02-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hey

I just found out that Ri Ra Issue 3 is going ahead and myself and John Cullen are going to be working on a three page strip for that issue. Ri Ra is the comic that first published us and also helped us get our Eagle Award nominations so it's great to see it going from strength to strength. There are still some issues of Ri Ra Issue 1 and 2 available on their website if anyone wants to pick them up the link for that is here. The comic has gathered some of the most talented people working in Irish comic today and with your support it will keep doing so.

Here are some sketches from John for the story 'Once upon a time'

HomeLand Pages

2011-02-24T11:32:00.000-08:00

Hey

I have some more art from HomeLand for people to check out. I'm very pleased with what Dwayne has come up with so far these look great.

This is the first page of the comic it's not completely finished yet.

Here is page two SHEP fighting one of the lizard creatures. Like I said these are just early roughs but I'm very happy with the way this comic is coming long.

Home Land Sketches

2011-02-20T12:25:00.001-08:00

Two posts in a week that must be new record for me. I just thought I'd put up some of these sketches I received during the week for a pitch I'm putting together with the very talented Dwayne Moloney for a comic called Home Land.

It is the story of a human colony that gets hit by a natural disaster and is forced to fend for itself. These are just some very early sketches but I think they look excellent so I thought I'd put em up here to see what people thought of them. We don't have a publisher for this one yet that's gonna be the next thing we have to get working on.

This is the first sketch for Home Land itself and one of the creatures that inhabit this now hostile world. Also the armor for the militia.

Here is the design for one of the characters called SHEP and a sketch for one of the vehicles that the colonists use.

Also here is a link for Dwayne's deviant art page for you to check out.

Eagle Awards and Zarjaz

2011-02-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hey

It has been a while but I have been busy. It is that time of year again the Eagle Awards are upon us again. Last year was fantastic for Ri Ra it managed to get two nominations and we want to try and go for it again. We want to get Ri Ra nominated for Favourite New Comic Book and Favourite European Comic Book. If any one wants to help us get there again that would be excellent. The link for that is here.

I do have some more news. I am working on a Judge Dredd story for that excellent comic Zarjaz. I grew up reading Dredd so it's pretty cool to get the chance to create a story for him. That won't be out for a while yet but once I know more I'll post something up here. The link for the Zarjaz blog is here if anyone wants to check that out.

2010-12-05T06:02:00.000-08:00

Future Quake Reviewed at Comic Related.

2010-11-30T12:23:00.001-08:00

Hey

Just a quick post to say there is a an excellent review of Future Quake Issue 16 over at Comic Related.

Enjoy.

FutureQuake Issue 16 and The Eagle Awards

2010-10-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hello, just a quick post to say that Issue 16 of Future Quake is out now with a story written by Myself and art by the brilliant Paul McCallan. Paul contributes art to two stories in this issue.

You can grab yourself a copy here.

Also just wanted to say the Eagle Awards are on this weekend. I want to wish John Cullen, Declan Shalvey and the Editor of Ri Ra Aidan Courtney(who will be representing Myself at the awards) the best of luck. Four lads from Clare all up for the awards has to be a record right?

I also want to thank everyone that voted for us and has gotten us this far.

Mike

4 Eagle Award nominations for Ri Ra

2010-06-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is a bit late it's old news by now but myself, John Cullen and Ri Ra have been nominated for Eagle Awards. I'm down for Favorite Newcomer Writer. My good buddy John is down for Favorite Newcomer Artist for his work on Black Star and Ri Ra is up for two nominations for Favorite European Comic Book and Favorite New Comic Book.

I just want to say thank you so much to everyone that voted for us. I also want to say congratulations to everyone that worked on Ri Ra. There is a fairly talented bunch out there that put in the time to work on it.

So congratulations again if any one wants to give a vote for Ri Ra in either of the two categories that would be great.

Here's a link for that and cheers again for every one that has got us this far.

Reviews for Issue 2.

2010-05-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

We have had a couple of reviews of Ri Ra Issue 2. The first one is over at Comic Related and you can check that out here.

There is also another review on the Comic Cast Podcast and the link for that is here.

The page above is from Alma O'Carroll's story in Issue 2.

Issue 2 has arrived,

2010-04-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

Time for an update I think. Ri Ra Issue 2 has landed it arrived back from the printers last week
and it is available on the website. We re also trying to get the comic an Eagle award nomination for Issue 1 so if anyone wants to give us there vote they can do so here.

Behold, BlackStar

2010-02-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a good week. I started off being off work and getting another issue of a comic I plan to work on with Mark A Saxton called Homeland finished and then getting a phone call from My good friend John and the artist behind our strip that we have been asked to do an interview for Nationwide. We had the interview on Tuesday and I think it went pretty well. I'll put up the exact date when it's on when I find out.

Spent most of Wednesday evening working on Character designs for a graphic novel that I'm working on with the very talented Robert Elrod which we plan to pitch to a few publishers.

Lastly in the wee hours of this morning I received an email from John with a picture attached. The first color picture of our character Black Star which will appear in the Nationwide episode I am told. So that sum's it up and it's not even Friday yet. Like I said I'll put up the time and hopefully a link to the R T E Player once the show is aired but until then here is that picture of Black Star enjoy.

New Project

2010-01-23T10:25:00.000-08:00

I have a new artist for you to check out. Alex Alderete is a Boston based artist who has worked on the Terminator Salvation sketch cards for Topps and Archie Comics/March of Dimes Charity Auction sketch cards. He has also worked for World at War sport a multi media gaming company.
I will be working with Alex on a new project that I have been writing on for the past few months.
The comic is based on a story by a friend of mine Martin Greene and I have been working with an excellent writer by the name of Aidan Courtney on this one.

You can check out Alex Alderete's website here.

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. A little over a month since I've updated the blog. I knew I'd run out of stuff to put up. I have good excuses though really I do. I've spent the most part of December working on two new comics that I hope to finish very soon. Once that's done then comes the fun part of the process trying to find some one to firstly take a look at them and secondly publish them. I'm still new to all this so the next few months will involve some trial and error. I'll do my best to keep ye up to date with how it all goes. There are still some more artist's I want you to check out and some more comics I want to recommend so I'll do my best not to leave it so long til the next post.

Until next time.

Dark Entries Review

2009-11-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try my hand every now and then to writing a review. I have been trying to get my hands on every kind and style of comic book. Now I like the Super Hero stuff just as much as the next guy but sometimes the capes and over the top bad guys don't cut it. I have always liked Hell Blazer I suppose it was one of the first books that I read that wasn't covered in bright colors and spandex. John Constantine is such a good character and in the right hands he becomes an excellent character. Which brings me to Ian Rankin's book Dark Entries. This is a classic Constantine story. The story centers on a reality t v show that at first appears to be set in a haunted house. Constantine is dragged in to help the housemates get to the source of the problem. Rankin is known for his crime fiction and he makes the transition from novels to comics very well. he crafts a great story. The art work is done by Werther Dell'edera making his debut with this one. The art style works well with this one, very simple and dark. This is one to pick up especially if your a fan of Andy Diggle's run on Hell Blazer they have approached the character much the same way giving Constantine his sharp wit and sarcastic sense of humor. Another thing that I think is key to a good Hell Blazer story is the atmosphere of where it is set with Andy Diggle's work you got a feeling that the city of London was a character itself. A place steeped in so much history and myth that is just fuels the story so well. That same atmosphere is found in Dark Entries from the Big Brother style house to the streets of the city this is a very well crafted world that we have been dropped into. Have a look see what you think and let me know what you think.

Another day, Another Artist.

2009-11-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

Hi I'm back. I have another artist for you. Robert Elrod is an award winning illustrator and graphic designer based in Colorado. His illustrations focus mainly on Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction. He is also working on his first graphic novel. If you are a fan of Horror check this out.

That's it, check out his website and blog.

Artist to check out.

2009-11-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

Hello Have had a busy few days not been able to put anything up here. I want you to check out an artist portfolio. The guy's name is Andrew Dawe-Collins. At the moment he is working on his own title called BlackFeather which is a five part horror mini series. He is also working on a kids book for Livingdead Press called Children of the Void. Check the guy's work out some excellent stuff there. I have a couple more people for you to check out over the next few days. Some up new artist's and a few established artists that I think are worthy of your attention so check out Andrew's portfolio and I will be back hopefully tomorrow with another artist for you to check out.

A page from Andrew's book The Zombie in the Basement for LivingDead Press.

I messed up.

2009-11-19T10:47:00.000-08:00

O k I messed it up. I thought that Havoc 21 had an issue out I was wrong. The editor was in contact with me and he was telling me that the next issue of Havoc 21 will be released next year and hopefully it will be distributed in America as well as here in Ireland. I have also been sent the complete art work for the Quarantine story by Andrew Dawe-Collins looks excellent.

It's the end of the world.

2009-11-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

Another day another post. Today it is about a story I managed to get published in a comic book called Havoc 21. The story is about a future where a terrible virus has spread across the globe. In order to contain the infection a series of under ground plants are constructed to house the sick. The story centers on an escape attempt by one of the inhabitants of one of these plants.

The art for this story is done by an artist called Andy Dawe-Collins. The issue is available from Wolfman-Productions International.

Future Quake Press

2009-11-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

I like my sci fi. I really like my sci fi. I have a few sci fi books that I want to work on but I suppose baby steps for now. I have been lucky enough to get a couple short stories into the pages of that excellent comic Future Quake. I got a one page story entitled 'Ambassador to the Stars' drawn by Ed Traquino into Issue 12 of that comic. I will have a story in there next issue set for release in Spring 2010 drawn by Belfast artist Paul McCallan.

Here is a panel from the Ambassador to the Stars story I worked on for Issue 12 of Future Quake. Art by Ed Traquino. You can still pick up a copy of this issue if you head over to the Future Quake website.

Lucky Break

2009-11-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

O k so I have been writing screenplays, plays and comic book scripts for a while now with some varied success. I have been lucky enough to make a few short films which were fun and challenging and also expensive. Let's say you want to tell a big science fiction story well that's not going to happen unless you have some serious investment behind you. That is what I love most about comics with a talented artist you can tell any size story you want from a character driven story to an all out Star Wars size epic. You are limited only by your imagination.

I got my break in this medium just over a year ago. A friend of mine Aidan Courtney was in the early stages of setting up his comic book publishing company. He was looking for some unpublished artists and writers for the sample issue of his Irish Language comic called Ri Ra.

I knew a very talented artist by the name of John Cullen who like myself was interested in getting into the comic book business. So Myself and John made a one page science fiction story called the Beacon. The sample issue launched at the Dublin City Comic Con last year. We shared the sample issue with some very talented people such as Bob Byrne, Declan Shalvey, Alan Nolan and Ian Whelan to name a few.

We did a good enough job on this one he kindly invited us back to tell a much bigger story.

It Begins

2009-11-15T13:44:00.000-08:00

Well this is it, after much debate I have decided to set up a blog. I have no idea how often I can update this but sure I'll give it a go.

My Name is Mike Lynch. I am a comic book writer based in the West of Ireland. I know what your thinking 'Who is this Mike Lynch guy? I've never heard of him' Well don't worry too much about it.
So far I have been published in a grand total of two publications but I plan to get into a few more over the coming months.

So that's it for now. I will post a few links and a few samples of my work all two of them over the next few days.