09-04-07: Hi! Welcome to The Matthew Craig Dot Com.
Inside, you'll find just over three hundred pages of bespoke comics, by artists as far afield as Belgium and California - as well as plenty of stories ilustrated by your humble host. There's a wide range of stories for your consideration, from one-page vignettes to forty-page novellas. Click the COMICS link above to start reading.
If you prefer paper to pixels, I also sell print editions of many of my stories. Click through to the SHOP to see what we have on offer. All UK prices include postage and packing, and all books come with (some very understated) freebies, such as stickers and sketchcards.
If you've never read a comic before - or are returning to comics after a long absence - then you're in for a treat. There are whole worlds - universes, really - just waiting to be discovered. And once you've devoured the stories to be had on this website, you might find yourself wanting more.
But where to get it? And what to read?
You could just visit your local library, bookshop or comic shop, and pick the first thing that looks interesting. But if you'd like some more specific recommendations, then please click through to the PROSE section of the site, where you will find reviews of some of my favourite comics of all time, as well as essays on all aspects of comics and comics culture. There are more such essays to be found here.
I hope you enjoy what you find on The Matthew Craig Dot Com. A lot of love, hours and ink have gone into making the site you see before you. Thanks for dropping by, and I hope to see you again soon.
Best Wishes,
//\Oo/\\
SITE UPDATES
27-07-08: I'm going to be on the radio today - BBC Radio WM's Carl Chinn Show, to be exact. Myself, Donato Esposito and artist Jack Davies are going on "Chinny's" show to discuss our upcoming Midlands-themed webcomic BOSTIN HEROES. Carl Chinn is a historian and broadcaster of some repute, with a deep and abiding passion for the Midlands, so he should be as enthusiastic about the Bostin Heroes as he was about Trouble Bruin.
The Carl Chinn Show is on Radio WM, 95.6 FM, from 1pm to 4. Our interview should be on around 2pm. If you're outside the West Midlands, you can listen to the show online, live or for seven days after transmission, by going to the BBC WM web page and clicking "Listen Live" or "Listen Again," as long as you have the appropriate RealPlayer plugin.
Bostin Heroes should be up and running within the next few weeks, and to whet your appetite in the meantime, you can click here to read the teaser material I created to slowly introduce the characters and their world. The first 16-page story is already in the can, and it looks great. I know you're going to love it.
We will, of course, be at the Birmingham International Comics Show, in order to both promote the strip and sell the first print collection. I will also have my full range of comics, including a new Trixie Biker novella (scroll down for preview pic).
Finally, my interview with the Shropshire Star went quite well. I'm not happy with the photo, but it's not...you know...their fault. Click here to read the interview, and I'll see you soon.
28-06-08: An article on my new, upcoming webcomic BOSTIN HEROES has gone online today at The Birmingham Mail. It's got a couple of factual inaccuracies in it, but it's a pretty great first article. The piece appears on page three (!) of the print edition of the Mail, and we're hoping that this will only be the first bit of press for the new project.
It also seems likely that I will be appearing in the pages of the Shropshire Star sometime next week. I took part in a phone interview this morning, and the reporter seemed most interested in the notion that I gave up a career in science to write comic books. Well, I wouldn't be the first...
The first Bostin Heroes teasers have already gone online at BostinHeroes.com, and more will be added over the next few weeks. I've seen the art for the first strip, and it looks just lovely.
It's nice to be finally getting underway with this project. I know you're going to love it, and I'm hoping that it will lead to a great many fantastic things in the very near future.
26-06-08: I've begun a very gradual (and very late) spring cleaning of this site, in preparation for all the braw new comics I'll be adding in the autumn. The new Trixie Biker story is well underway, and I'm hoping to have both it and a new Hondle story ready in time for Brumacon
I've also decided to retire some of my earliest print comics. I have a lot of love for books such as Darwin Is My Co-Pilot - so much so that I may spend some of next year producing strips for a second volume - but I feel that it's time to leave some of that...less refined work behind. Onward and upward. So when they're gone, they are GONE. Two copies of Darwin left. Yours for £1.00/US$1.75!
Before I get back to work, I'd like to direct your attention to this website. Bookmark it, then check back regularly over the next few weeks to watch as...something wonderful begins to reveal itself.
04-06-08: Richard Bruton of the Forbidden Planet weblog reviewsHondle and Trouble Bruin and gives them both big thumbs up:
"I even sat down with Molly, 8 years old and desperate to have a dog. By about halfway through [Hondle] she cuddled up tight and started wiping the tears away and by the end she was sobbing."
"...when he needs to, Matthew turns the tale from straight retelling of a life into a heartfelt and touching recounting of a hero’s death and all the emotional fall-out that comes along."
It's nice to know that these stories are being read and appreciated. As I approach my 33rd birthday, it feels fantastic to be able to say that I'm doing something that truly makes me happy.
22-05-08: Well, that was a long rest, wasn't it? The doctor has finally given me the nod, which means I'm able to start drawing again. It's been a hard few months: I've felt completely lost without my sketchbook, and my typing has been s. l. o. w. w.. I still have to take it easy, mind, but I'm (nearly) back on track.
I hope to be able to bring you at least two, maybe three new comics before the year is out, as well as a very minor bit of merchandise, and a very major ongoing project. But if I'm honest with you - and I can be honest with you, right? - I'm just glad to be drawing again.
While you wait for my hand to catch up with my brain, please enjoy this new short: Mickey Roark's School Days. Created as part of a new anthology comic assembled by the irrepressible Dan Lester, Mickey Roark's School Days is an oddly affectionate tribute to the Hollywood legend of the (similar) name. I hope you enjoy it, and I certainly hope you pick up a copy of the complete anthology from Dan's website, or his various comic stalls. Other contributors include site chums Douglas Noble and Chris Shipton, and the lads from Modern Monstrosity and The Sound of Drowning.
In other news, I'm currently suffering from a bad case of RSI. It's going to prevent me from starting my new TRIXIE BIKER comic for a few weeks, but I've got plenty to be getting on with, without having to fret about that.
I've recently begun work on a script for a new superhero novel (female leads, character-driven, self-contained), I'm still working on ABLE SEAMAN & FISHWIFE, and I'm hoping to have a new HONDLE story ready by mid-summer. I am, of course, always available for paid writing work, and hope to do more of that this year.
18-11-07: Well, it's been a busy day. I've been at Wolverhampton's Festive Flair today, at the Light House, and...
I sold eighty-five comics. EIGHTY FIVE. I only gave away three freebies. That's more than at last week's Thought Bubble Festival, in Leeds - and more, even, than on day one of the Birmingham Comics Show. And that had 5000 attendees!
It appears as if Wolverhampton Loves The Comics. And god love'em, I've plenty to give. Also stickers. Wolvey loves the stickers, too.
My biggest sellers today were Trouble Bruin, the original Hondle story, and (of course) Vitale. Sadly, Vitale didn't sell out, today. I'm almost glad, because it meant that people were buying some of my other comics, instead.
Clearly, Wolverhampton has a discerning palate, as well.
Anyway, I have a brand-new comic for you, today: DROP, a tale of futility and frustration on the eve of some nameless conflict. The story was finished some time ago, but for one reason or another, we've been sitting on it. But no longer!
Art for DROP was provided by Wolverhampton's own Dave Hilliard. Dave went above and beyond the call of duty on Drop; we hope you enjoy it.
I'll be appearing at another Wolverhampton craft fair in a couple of weeks. Will I have a new Trixie Biker story for you by then?
Only time will tell...
Oh, and here's a crazy thought - I've sold nearly three hundred comics since Caption. OH. MY. GOD.
