From its proud owner over here.

She’s certainly a mover, our Penny. It’s funny – she was never a character I had much else to do with in Phonogram, but seeing her like this and I do miss her.

Go read.

My old friend and musician Joshua Ellis mails me, saying that he’s recorded a song inspired by Silent Girl, complete with Julia Indelicate on backing vocals. It’s available to buy, and you can listen to it below.

You know it’s onto something when it starts with the Be My Baby drum-beat. You can almost hear Seth Bingo’s cry of anguish. Good stuff. You can go and buy it over here.

While we’re talking about buying things…

You know comrade Rossignol has been doing a games company? Well, their first release is out. It’s based on an instillation design by programmer/artist/musician Tom Betts, and is a nifty puzzle/music/thing. Let’s cut and paste Jim-words.

AVSEQ = audio-visual sequencer. As you play through the pretty-looking visual atom-linking element of the game you also activate the sequencer grid, creating musical loops. This process is random, so each level playthrough will create a different loop, based on the grid of sounds you are able to unlock on that level. Each AVSEQ level has 2.2300745198530623×10^43 possible audio permutations, thats 22 tredecillion in total. No, honestly, that’s a real number, we looked it up.

And here’s a video with it all moving around and stuff.

So hurrah for that.

You can go and get the demo on PC and Mac over here. You can buy it over here for five dollars. Generally speaking, just go over here.

In other notes, Chip Zdarsky’s Watchmen 2 is quite the thing.

But that’s irrelevant. Here’s a video he did.

This is lots of fun, with him plugging the softback and US Kindle edition of his latest. I haven’t read my copy of A Serpent Uncoiled yet, but I dug the hell of his previous Contract.

Just back from the Marvel Summit, which was the most invigorating of the three I’ve been to. Lots of exciting stuff ahead, none of which I can talk about. However, I can talk about this…

Finally, the first Journey Into Mystery trade is out. I’m especially happy it’s got the second issue’s cover, which is absolutely my INTRO TO JIM cover. It’s the Hard-back edition, so is a higher price, but since the softback is a little down the line (I don’t know exactly), you may want to jump in. There’s certainly retailers who sell trades at a discount you may want to nose at, for example.

Anyway – this is the start of my best reviewed work for Marvel. I’m enormously proud of it and don’t think there’s anything quite like it currently being published. It’s turned up in a fair few end of year lists, and collected more than its fair share of rhapsodical essays. I’ll nod you towards Comics! The Blog, which is a good one. Here’s Alex Spencers, which is another. And here’s Bleeding Cool having a rave about how we operate.

Buy the fucker. You want the hard-back. We’re that good. No, really.

Anyway – coming off the cocaine, I’ve also got another book out this week…

Where we go to the Savage Land for the 21st Century, TABULA RASA, and have Star Trek away team fun.

Preview here.

Hurrah!

*****

Oh – I was also the X-position interviewee over at CBR, so I faced the X-readers’ questions. You can read it here.

In other notes, I am made of tired.

Ta-dah!

It totally is. A new arc starts, making it an ideal place to join, if you weren’t tempted by the Christmas one. It is… well, I’ll be interested to see what people make of it all. I’m doing about forty things at once with this arc.

• The Son of Satan guest-stars!

• Fallout from Fear Itself leaves thousands trapped in deadly fever dreams around the world.

• Why is it Loki’s fault? Again.

• And Leah of Hel discovers the wonder and consequence of milkshakes…

Preview here.

In other notes, I’m not sure whether I’ve caught Delightful Wife’s cold, or that I’m merely tired because she’s tossing all night with her cold. I should set up a poll widget or something.

Details here on the book of face.

Where?

Travelling Man
43 Grainger Street,
NE1 5JE
Newcastle upon Tyne,
United Kingdom

Who?

ANTONY JOHNSTON (not me)
DOUG BRAITHWAITE (also not me)
KIERON GILLEN (me)

When?

3-6pm

Basically, since the first volume of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY will be out by then, this is a fine chance to get it signed by both myself and Dougie. Antony can sign it too, if you want, but he didn’t work on it.

Come! It’s been ages since I’ve been to Newcastle.

*****

Some reading for you. Delightful Wife has been learning some more about comics due to relationship Osmosis, and wrote about how bits of comics theory seem to also apply to Poetry over at the Rialto.

Click through to see other stuff. Go Amanda, etc.

Also, Clayton, JIM’s awesome letterer, has done some JIM art of his own…

Journey Into Mystery by ~misterclayton on deviantART

And damn the formatting, eh?

Yes.

And here’s next week’s Journey Into Mystery’s preview.

And the X-perts are back on, wherein Nick, Victor and I have a gabble on about Colossus. There is at least one joke in here I was happy with. You may be able to spot it.

I’m informed that the This Week At Marvel podcast are very sweet about Uncanny 4. Also includes the story of how the issue came about. Bless them.

I’m informed that Comics! The Blog’s new Podcast! The Comics podcast is terribly slanderous about me, but they also say nice stuff, and they’re probably joking. Probably. Bless them.

I contribute a little to the Beat’s end of year chat thing.

Have a good weekend, folks.