Cosmos Review

The Quiet Life

| rozihath

Good afternoon all!

So, it’s Wednesday, and for the first time in longer than I can remember.. I haven’t worked on any comics in the past week! Yikes!

I love creating work, and I love working on multiple projects at once, but after three years of constantly making new work at university – even over the summer break with things like Sneaky Business vol. 1, the Broken Frontier Small Press Yearbook 2016 and submissions to anthologies including Dirty Rotten Comics – it’s been pretty non-stop. After finishing my degree last summer I’ve carried on working on a variety of things – Sneaky Business vol. 2 and Ø took me up to Thought Bubble 2016, and Cosmos & Other Stories came directly after. Now with the contributions to the Broken Frontier Small Press Yearbook 2017 and Dirty Rotten Comics Issue 10 complete, for the first time in my near history I have no comic projects on and it’s giving me a chance to debrief and rest.

Ahh… Free time.

…

But, don’t despair. I have plenty of illustration-led projects in the pipeline and I’m gently nurturing the beginnings of some ideas for future comic projects, so me and my ramblings aren’t going anywhere!

In comics-related news, Dirty Rotten Comics issue 10 is now available for pre-order from Amazon! And even more exciting, it’s on sale in both paperback and in Kindle format.

The cover art pictured above is by Lucie Ebrey – revealed as the book was formally announced on Broken Frontier last week. DRC 10 will be out on Friday 19th May, so pre-order your copy now or pick it up at one of their stockists after the launch. As I mentioned last month, my piece for the book is a two-pager and I’m really excited to see what you all think. It’s a pretty monumental moment for DRC to be releasing a full colour book, and I for one can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Postcard Par-tay

In other exciting news, I’ve stocked up on some more postcards for selling at events and online! A little while ago I sold some postcard packs on my Etsy store and they sold straight away, so in the coming week or so I’ll have a fresh pack going up including these five designs! So keep an eye out…

Also, those cape-clad gents at A Place to Hang Your Cape have reviewed Cosmos & Other Stories!

Indie creator Rozi Hathaway is back for more on AP2HYC with her latest offering Cosmos & Other Stories. Those of us fortunate enough to have read her previous entry here, Ø, will know that Hathaway is more than capable of bringing out the lonely 11-year old inside all of us, and her newest book is no exception. The story is a collection of comic vignettes that run the gambit of human loss and anxiety before leaving the reader on an uplifting note about seeking the wonderful things that exist in the world.

– Bard Brehon, “Cosmos & Other Stories is a Heartbreaking and Uplifting Journey” on AP2HYP

This review sits nicely next to AP2HYP’s coverage of Ø, which went up on the site last month. Thanks guys! Don’t forget, you can still pick up all my titles over on the ol’ Etsy store, and at selected small-press friendly stores around the UK.

Cosmos and Njálla available at Travelling Man Manchester!

And that rounds it up for now! Keep an eye out next week for the release of the new Dirty Rotten Comics… I might even show you some pictures of my comic in it’s colourful glory.

 

x

The Launch is Nigh

| rozihath

Good afternoon folks!

So, it’s nearly launch time! That’s right, the long, hard evenings and weekends of working away lovingly on this collection are done, and the final editing (when you think it’ll take half a day and it actually takes a whole Sunday and two more evenings..) is complete, and the book has been printed. Now all that’s left is a few sleepless nights worrying over whether anyone’s actually going to like it or not.. Y’know, those sensible thoughts that come into the front of your mind just as you turn out the light. Helpful stuff.

It’s just three days now until Leamington Comic Con 2017, held in the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington Spa, and those Good Comics gents and I are flocking from our various corners of the country to come together and launch Cosmos & Other Stories.

Aside from joking (totally not joking..) about the nerves, I am really excited to bring Cosmos into the world. It’s been a largely whirlwind ordeal, given that I started talking to the Good Comics guys about potentially releasing a collection of short stories with them when I was their table neighbour at Thought Bubble Festival back in November. It then took approximately a week to start writing.. Meaning it’s taken me four months to make this collection of six short stories, whilst working full time, and dealing with a whole load of other life things. FOUR MONTHS! Not even I can believe it.. what a workaholic, am I right? Jeez, take a day off already! -maniacal laugh-

Lisa, co-organiser and co-owner of Leamington Comic Con and Spa Town Comics pop-up store was kind enough to say nice things and interview me about Cosmos & Other Stories! You can read the full interview on the Spa Town Blog! And see the nice things Lisa had to say..

I’m personally very excited to meet Rozi and see her work. I’m probably a little late to Rozi Hathaway fan club, given she won last year’s Broken Frontier Breakout Talent Award, but, as soon as I saw her uniquely expressive and dreamy paintwork I knew my bank balance was in trouble.

– Lisa-Marie Nelson, “A not so lonely launch at Leam Comic Con” – Spa Town Comics Blog

Good Comics

For those coming along or thinking of coming along to Leamington, there’s a full schedule of guests including Mark Laming and the Awesome Comics Podcast folks, and you can also find a full list of the exhibitors here. Leamington Comic Con is open for advance ticket holders from 10:30am, with on-the-day tickets being sold on the door with entry from 11:30am. Tickets are still available online, £10 for adults and kids get in free! To find out more and buy your tickets online, click here. There’s also a whole load of activities happening at the con, with a full breakdown available here (if you can’t find me at 3pm, I’ll be having my face painted in the style of Munch’s The Scream…)

Cosmos & Other Stories has also had it’s first review this morning from Tony Esmond of Awesome Comics Podcast and Down the Tubes fame. I’ve been totally blown away by this review, and here’s a snippet that absolutely made my day:

It’s not often that a piece of art touches you in in such a profound way. I speak as a cynical forty something who up until March the 21st this year hadn’t really found a gem in the small press and was worried that it was sitting back in it’s collective armchair ready for retirement. This comic changed my mind and did so with grace and a gentle whisper.

– Tony Ez Esmond, “A Little Review of ‘Cosmos & Other Stories’ and I find out it’s a lonely place”

You can read the full review here! And please do! And don’t forget you can still pre-order your copy of Cosmos on the Good Comics Shop until Friday with a bonus print from the book, with the comic being on general sale from Saturday.

In other similar news, Cosmos & Other Stories is Broken Frontier‘s Staff Pick of the Week! Here’s what Andy Oliver has to say..

I’ve had the benefit of a preview copy and can assure our audience that, without a doubt, it’s some of Hathaway’s strongest work to date. Simultaneously subtle yet potent, fragile but resonant, it’s a compilation that speaks to the reader with the profoundest empathetic connection.

– Andy Oliver – Staff Picks for March 22, 2017 – Cosmos & Other Stories, Underwinter, The Interview, Fire!!: The Zora Neale Hurston Story and More!

And that’s about it! If you’re in or around Leamington Spa on Saturday then please do come along and say hello to us at the Hathaway/Good Comics tables. If you can’t make it, be sure to follow me, Good Comics and Leamington Comic Con on Twitter for regular updates on the day – and also the event hashtag #LCC2017. AND, read all about it on the blog next week! Until then..

 

x