Leeds Alternative Comics Fair
March 19th, Nation of Shopkeepers, Leeds

Toronto Comics Art Festival
May 7th-8th, Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, Canada

London MCM Expo
May 27th-29th, ExCel Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, London

Birmingham Zine Festival
July 9th, We Are Birmingham Shop, Birmingham
TBC

Manchester MCM Expo
July 31st, Manchester Central, Manchester

Thought Bubble
November 19th-20th, Royal Armories, Leeds

Hello all!

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged on this old webcomic, so I hope there’s people still subscribed and reading this out there. I’d like to introduce you to or remind you of the 2010 Eagle Awards, the UK’s only comics industry awards which have been running since 1976. They are currently in the nominations process right now which means that anyone can nominate any comic, artist or writer they want. Nominations with the highest votes go on to be shortlisted. This means that popular webcomics with large audiences can get noticed much more easily. If you’ve enjoyed my work over the years it would be wonderful if you could show support and nominate The Everyday for ‘Favourite Web-Based Comic’ or nominate The Everyday Collection 4 in the ‘Favourite British Comicbook: Black and White‘ categories. Or you could even vote for me in the ‘Favourite Writer/Artist’, though I’m sure you have other favourites.

Oh, and please fill out as much of the form as you can, so no votes get dismissed as a ballot stuffing attempt. Thank you.

I’ve also recently received a rather good review on the podcast Tales from the Parent’s Basement which is running a show called The Indie 500 wherein Doc Zane aka Jim Schwitzer attempts to review 500 indie comics. This first episode starts off with 11 reviews including The Everyday and other notable British comics such as The Rainbow Orchid, Granville and Some People by that Luke person. Click the link banner above to go to iTunes and download it for free!

Lastly, I’ll be announcing my convention schedule for the year pretty soon, so please stay tuned to this old blog.

“Cadwell just gets better and better as the series moves along, so that these final 50 strips approach something sublime… very special stuff.”
- Richard Bruton

What better way to wake up to a grey, bleary Monday morning than to see a wholly positive review of your work? Today, Richard Bruton posts his review of The Everyday Collection Four on the Forbidden Planet International Blog and says very nice things indeed. I’ve long subscribed to the FPI blog and feel it’s a must read for anyone in the UK with any kind of interest in comics and graphic novels. Thanks again to Richard and the guys at FPI for their continued support of my work.

Here it is at last, The Everyday Collection Four, the final comic collecting the last 50 strips of The Everyday!
WITH
Guest comics from Marc Ellerby, John Allison, Joe Decie, Joe List, Andrew Tunney and the lovely Kayla Marie Hillier!
AND
An Hourly Comic Day minicomic!
PLUS
a badge or two if you’re lucky!

£4 and it’s yours!

Too many exclamation marks? Too many exclamation marks.

Click the cover above for a closer look and then ask me, “Adam, where I can purchase such a fine piece of comics?” and then I’ll charmingly reply, “Why, at this weekend’s MCM Expo in London, of course! Or, you know, on the new Everyday online store.”

So yes, there’s a fancy new store on the site and the news that this Halloween weekend I shall be in London’s Docklands for the cosplay chaos that is the MCM Expo. The Comics Village section of it grows and grows each time attracting some really big names and is now as big as most other comic cons in the country.

I’ll be there sharing with wonderful Marc Ellerby, selling the new collection as well as NEW BADGES (which you can also buy in the Store) including two badges that match the cover of the new Collection. Mind blowing, eh?

And I’ll once again be doing Little You Portraits for a mere £5 a pop on A5 card. Here’s a nifty slideshow of the ones I did last year:

Please note that if you order anything from the Store I won’t be able to post them out until next week after the show, because I’ll be a panicky mess ’til after then. Thanks.

So, hopefully I’ll see some of you at the show and you’ll be able to spot me because I’ll either be dressed as Adam from The Everyday or Skeletor, one of the two.

Hi all, just a quick and last minute note that I will be at the first Leeds Alternative Comics Fair TOMORROW in the delightful Nation of Shopkeepers pub in Leeds city center (map here). I will have what’s left of my stock of comics, plus some Little Adam badges and some postcards. There will be lots of other Northern comics people there too like organisers Steve ‘Banal Pig’ Tillotson, Hugh ‘Shug’ Raine and more. Personally I am looking forward to seeing Gareth Brookes’ ‘Sherlock Holmes versus Skeletor’!

See you there.

—

For the most part I’ve loved drawing The Everyday, getting better as an artist, learning about my approach to comics and writing, getting comments every week from readers and meeting other artists through it has all been a big part of my life for the last 3 and a bit years. So now that the last comic is up, I’m not about to forget the whole thing and move on.

For a start there’s still Collection 4 to put together and print. I’ve no idea what I’m going to draw for the cover yet but I know there’s going to be a lot of really fun back up material as well as the last 50 comics. I should have this ready for the MCM Expo in October.

I also want to put together a book of The Everyday, all 200 comics in one place. I will approach a few small publishers very, very soon about this though I’m willing to self publish it too. I’m very excited about this and I’ll let you all know about it as soon as I can. I’m hoping to get the book on sale in the first half of next year.

I’ve got some interesting ideas for some new merchandise too which I’m thinking of including in a pre-order bundle for the book. As well as new badges and a mini comic of my Hourly Comic Day comics, I’m thinking about clothing but not your normal t-shirt designs. For now let’s just say polo shirts and slip-on trainers!

And the site itself will be getting fiddled with soon, as I re-jig it to be easily understood by new people coming to a webcomic that’s already finished.

—

Now that I no longer have the weekly deadline of drawing The Everyday, the theory goes that I will have more time to devote to my other, long running projects. The biggest of these is easily Blood Blokes, a 7 page preview of which is up on my main website’s blog.

This slacker vampire story set in Manchester at the turn of the Millennium will be my first full-length comic series and will run for 6 issues. Though most people know me for my autobio comic work, I’m sure this fictional work won’t be too far removed from the everyday observational style that I’ve developed. The life of young vampires set against the trials of sharing a house and modern city life is where a lot of the humour comes from. I can also assure you that my vampires don’t twinkle, fly or run faster than the speed of light. Blood Blokes #1 will be released in one way or another at Thought Bubble this November.

Add my main blog to your RSS reader to keep informed about future Blood Blokes news.

—

I will not be abandoning autobiographical work completely however. I’m looking forward to drawing more longer autobio tales like ‘The Tears of Tommy Cooper’ which I contributed to the Solipsistic Pop 2 anthology earlier this year. Recently esteemed comic critic Paul Gravett reviewed the anthology in his ‘Great British Comics Now’ round up and said:

“Adam Cadwell confirms himself further as simply one of our most acute autobiographical stripwriters currently active.”

Which needless to say I was pretty happy about. I’ll be contributing another story to Solipsistic Pop 3 which will be a child-friendly volume and will also be released at Thought Bubble in November. When I have enough short autobio stories I’m sure I’ll put them together in a print comic.

—

The last project I’m working on is called Stiffs, a zombie comedy comic set in Wales for which I am providing the colours and lettering. We’ve just sent the pitch package off to Image and will hopefully hear back soon. Here’s the mock cover:

You can follow the comics progress on the Stiffs Facebook page or on my blog until the official Stiffs website is set up.

—

And as for you guys, what are you going to do now that my face won’t be on the internet every week? Well, I was going to direct you all to follow Ellerbisms and Bellen! but both have hopped on the ‘quit your webcomic’ bandwagon and have announced that they’re ending too. If you haven’t read them already get on over to their sites and enjoy them just as they are both winding up with their final stories.

Readers of Kayla’s Galavant will soon be getting a weekly dose of my face as I’m soon to make my appearance in her travel diary. For those who have been nosy about my personal life, which if you notice I rarely touch upon in my own comic, Kayla will write about us meeting, dating and living together.

Other autobio webcomics I’d recommend are Inkdick which despite it’s name is brimming with gentle observation of daily life’s highs and lows, and of course the ever present American Elf which, along with Harvey Pekar, was a big influence on The Everyday and just about every other autobio webcomic out there.

I’ll also give a nod towards the wonderful work of Luke Ferenc Pearson, a very talented young British artist. His comics about music festivals and discussing bands ring so true that I liked with his work right away. I hope he makes a lot more.

—

So, don’t unsubscribe to The Everyday quite yet, I’ll be posting news about Collection 4 and changes to the site really soon and please subscribe to my main blog for news of my other comics.

Thanks for reading, see you soon!

Adam

Ste Hitchen:

This wonderful, full colour comic comes courtesy of the impeccable Ste Hitchen. You should really check out his Ste-Regular webcomic, colourful slices of autobio comics every darned week. Fun fact: Ste lives in a post office! AND Ste even sent me this bonus sketch via the magic of Twitter:

Graham Johnson:

This is probably best explained if I just link to this set of photographs from Sweden last year. My comics about our trip to the Swedish Small Press Expo start here. Thanks Graham, I like the Scott Pilgrim style point in panel 3.

Haroon Mustaq:

Haroon is a good friend of mine who has said “Put that in your Everyday!” to me perhaps every time we have ever met. I tried my best to squeeze him into the comic before it ended but he’s such a big character that I couldn’t. He will have to console himself and wipe his tears away with his spare copies of Batman & Robin #13 in which he appears as a police man.

So, that’s all the alternate endings as far as I know, apart from my friend Rich’s ending which I will post when it’s done next year. I’ll be making a special section of the site for these soon(ish) so keep an eye out for that. Thank you again to everyone who sent these in, I loved them.

This is rest of the endings I’ve received so far but feel free to keep sending them in, I’ll wait to the end of the day and see how many I’ve got and post more either tomorrow or on Monday. Also if you’ve sent me one and I’ve not posted it yet, email me again about it. Details below.

John Allison:

Oh John, always with the vengeance! Mr John Allison was in #130 but likes to pretend that it never happened. Don’t worry John, I’ll make you a vampire in Blood Blokes. I think you’d suit a cape.

Dan Baxter:

I was completely surprised when my friend Dan sent me a comic for The End, and even more surprised when I scrolled down the email and discovered 2 more. That first one cracked me up. Dan has always had a wry, barbed sense of humour and I think it comes across really well in the third of his entries. Either that or he hates me.

Shieka Lugtu:

Another thing The Everyday has been missing is rampaging dinosaur women, thanks Shieka!

Adam Everett Beck:

Adam Beck aka King Adbeck has been a regular commenter on The Everyday which I’ve always appreciated. I’m extra pleased to see his take on the ending and I’m chuffed to see the old Spidey bag make another appearance.

Joe Glass:

Joe is referencing the very first Everyday here and getting Kayla and Little Adam in there too wraps it all up really well. Joe Glass happens to be one of the writers of one of my upcoming comic projects. Read more about ‘Stiffs’ in the next blog post

Eric Wirjanata:

You can only keep a secret so long.

Lee McEvoy:

This surreal adventure kind of reminds me of the 1982 film Forbidden Zone featuring Danny Elfman as Satan and some midgets. I can only imagine the outrage that would ensue if a Miss Webcomic Contest was announced, hee hee.

David Parkinson:

And I thought I drew my head big! David is a Manchester based Illustrator with a love of background design. Here he’s drawn part of the area of Manchester that Kayla and I have just moved to. Cheers David.

Benedict Molefe Jones:

I met Ben back in February at the We Are Words + Pictures Drop in + Draw event, and was instantly taken with his work. If he keeps going with comics, I think he’ll be one to watch.

Lizzy Green Peppers:

And lastly we have this wonderful entry from Lizzy Green Peppers. She said she was almost too shy to send it in but I’m glad she did as I think it’s great.

If you’d like to send me your ending to The Everyday please try and get it in over the weekend, the latest I’ll post more entries is Monday 16th of August so let’s say the very last deadline is midnight Sunday 15th August. Send your comics to adam(at)adamcadwell.com, in black and white or colour as a 600 pixels wide jpeg at 72 pixels/inch.

Thanks so much for all the entries, I’ve chuckled at every one of them and it feels good to get such a warm response from my friends and readers. Cheers guys!

Marc Ellerby:

I bloody LOVE this! I laughed my head off at the note! I was thinking of actually ending the comic with something to do with me and Kayla moving in together but it felt like I’d be stretching things out on purpose, so I’m glad Marc worked it into his. I love that man.

Marc’s copied me and he’s ending his comic soon. If you don’t already, go and and read Ellerbisms while you still can.

Kayla Hillier:

Kayla is perhaps the only person who could base her ending on something that actually happened to me, and so she did. Instead of a fantastical ending she records a moment of me driving her mad in an episode of Ikea-caused confusion. This is also the first time she has ever drawn me, but be prepared for a lot more of me in her travel diary comic Galavant.

Lizz Lunney:

Haha! I’d kill for a Little Adam Pez! Little Lizz Lunney knows that I’m a fan of Pez, Vimto and my own face so this may be the perfect gift for me.

Joe Decie:

Joe also knows I love the Vimto. I’d always loved the deadpan, down to earth observation of Joe’s comics and so I thought his rendering of the Chinese Vimto factory was hilarious in it’s dullness. Thanks Joe. If there’s any webcomic you should be reading now mine has ended, it’s Joe’s.

John Cei Douglas:

If John came to my party with a Moomin I’d be out of there like a shot. John drew a comic himself once you know. It was about Buffaloes or something. Anyway it was pretty good. Let’s all bug him to do more, eh?

Bonus: Andrew ’2hands’ Tunney (again):

Andy sent me the black and white version of this a week ago and I posted it in The End: Part 2, but he’s since coloured it in wonderful Mignola style and I needed to share it here. Thanks Tuntun!

It’s not too late to send your endings in! I’ll be posting a huge post later today of all the other comics and drawings I’ve received and I may even do one next week if I get any later entries. So, send your comics to adam(at)adamcadwell.com, in black and white or colour as a 600 pixels wide jpeg at 72 pixels/inch.