Heads - Spiral of Lies; Rik Jackson talks!

I won't be at True Believers comic festival this weekend but I wanted to mark the event in some way - as luck would have it friend of the blog Rik Jackson was in town so we caught up...

'Heads - spiral of lies' - give us the elevator pitch

Three girls in giant animal heads are committing crimes all over London and private detective Steve Datsun is tearing himself apart finding out why. He’s just hunted down a client who was kidnapped by a sinister doom metal band who have been inciting mass suicides and is now determined track down La Trin, the underworld kingpin he believes is the golden thread to all of these despicable activities. While his police friend questions the recovered kidnap victim Datsun corners La Trin and discovers an unnatural surprise as all secrets prepare to be revealed.

It’s the forth issue in the Heads! mystery and the web of deception is spreading at an alarming rate. I’m currently writing issue five, which will close this story arc.

It's live on Kickstarter now - how's it doing?

It funded in the first 24 hour, so I’d say its doing pretty well! Each Heads! Kickstarter that I’ve run has set a new record for me one way or another. Issue three gave me my highest number of backers, which I’m very proud of as backer numbers climbing on a third issue is very rare. This time round I hit the target so quickly which totally took me by surprise. (you can back it here)

2019 was a busy year for you comics-wise - you put out, what was it, 3 comics? 4 comics? For anyone who's missed out on these what did you produce and where can people get them?

I actually released four books in 2019. Issues two and three of Heads! were released, sticking to my release schedule of getting an issue out every six months. I did my first ever Inktober this year and compiled the sketches into a book. I decided to do my own theme and went for horror icons, so I got to draw characters from my favourite horror movies, like Michael Myers, Killer Klowns from Outer Space and Critters. And I also released Three Panels Of What?! which is a mini comic collaboration with my son, Dylan. All of my comics are available from rikjackson.bigcartel.com

Do you have conventions that you're planning on attending this year?

I’ll be at NICE in Bedford this autumn and hope to return to BAM in Bath if they’ll have me (Rachael and the team curate the exhibitors to get a good range and rotation of talent). Both of these events were excellent experiences for me last year so I’m keen to get back to them. I’m planning on hitting an MCM or two. I have three kids so the longer comic cons are sometimes hard for me to get to, but maybe I can make a family weekend of it.

For anyone who backs this Kickstarter when do you expect issue 5 to be ready to go?

The plan is an issue every six months, so I’m aiming for August 2020 for the fifth and final issue of this story arc. It’s going to be a challenge though. When I released issue one I has nearly finished issue two, so I had a huge buffer to play in. But issue three was a beast and Spiral Of Lies has been an unexpected challenge too, so I’ve burned my buffer! But at NICE last year I promised punters I’d be back at the September 2020 event with the final issue, so I can’t let them down.

You contributed to 'The whore chronicles' anthology comic - any more plans to work with other collaborators this year?

That was such a great project to be part of. It was a very difficult piece to do. If you’ve read it you’ll know that most of us were asked to draw three pages of four panels which portrayed a working girl sitting in a chair speaking to camera. Sounds easy, but its actually very tricky to keep so much continuity while adding subtle changes to each panel as the story plays out. There’s some great artists in there and I’m humbled to have my name on such a talent-filled credit list.

I’m going to be continuing work on Unfortunate Tales, which is a horror webcomic strip published on the Attack From Planet B website. Site owner Ken Wynne writes them and I’m on art duties. He’s great to work with and it’s a brilliant art challenge for me. Because each strip riffs on a classic VHS horror movie its like getting a surprise commission to do every month!

My friend James Clarke is doing colour work on some Heads! pieces. He’s designed and coloured the comic cover, coloured the stretch goal print and is making me some promo images from my line art and concept pieces. He’s new to the comics scene and I hope to see him doing more comics colour work as the year plays out. I’m really impressed by his skills so will definitely be working with him on some new strips later this year.

You've worked with your son on a couple of comics now - that a fairly unusual arrangement - how does that dynamic work?

Yeah, I suppose it is! Dylan is twelve years old and wanted to give comics writing a go. So we worked together on a four pager for last years Little Heroes Comics Anthology. He’d worked on play scripts at school but never a comic script, so we studied some comics to find a technique that worked for him. He actually dissected a Nick Prolix strip at one point by writing a script for it so he could get used what he needed to write to make a comic script work.

The idea for Three Panels Of What?! came about when we started setting each other three panel challenges at comic cons. Dylan helped table with me at most of my conventions in 2019. On the train journeys and in quiet moments at the events we challenged each other to come up with three panel comics. Dylan would write three panels of undirected dialogue which I had to interpret with images, then I would draw him three images that he would have to write dialogue for. The result is never what we expect and has a subversive humour to it which we’re really proud of.

What Kickstarters are you currently backing or looking forward to?

I just backed Atomic Hercules by Tony Esmond and Adam Falp. What a great combo – those two are bound to come up with something insane! The 77 looks awesome as well, if you are into retro 2000AD style awesomeness. There’s a new Penned Guin collection running at the moment which is well worth a look, and in a slightly more mainstream arena I’m quite taken with Jimmy Palmiotti’s Creator Owned Heroes Collection.

You ca back 'Heads - Spiral of lies' right here, right now

Thanks for your time Rik!

Heads - into the Vortex

Heads! Into the vortex is the new comic from comic artist, writer, convention organiser and all round comics enthusiast Rik Jackson (@gojacksongo). I've known Rik since he organised the Wimbledon Comics art festival and loved his last comic 'Heads' so when I heard the next issue was coming to Kickstarter (here) I had to check it out and share it here..

The target is a very modest £150 to allow Rik to print the first 50 copies (plus some cool badges, natch)

The reward tiers are pretty straightforward and the entry price for a printed copy of a comic is £3 (plus postage) - £3! That's less than I paid for a copy of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the other day! Too many Kickstarters have a really high price for a simple physical copy of the comic so £3 is a great entry price for a 36 page (black and white) comic. It's here by the way

Anyway, what happens in this fine comic I hear you ask? 

In the second outing of the Heads! universe, Datsun becomes embroiled in the mysterious and seedy underworld surrounding a metal band who have kidnapped a young man. Shrouded in myth and rumour, Vortex Face are renowned for shows which end in death and mutilation. Has their victim already become a corpse, or is he being brainwashed to join the band and help them carry out their murderous plot?

All the while, Datsun and his partner Higgins are on the tail of the elusive Heads! gang. Three girls in oversized animal heads are pulling off heists across London to steal the most obscure items, including a methane producing waste digester and an indeginous staue on loan from the British Museum. The truth under their masks is alluding Datsun, but that is the least of his worries. A muscle bound, skull faced murderer is on the loose and could well be protecting the Heads! gang to aid their dasterdly cause.

Can Datsun find the missing man, stop Vortex Face before they kill again and escape the clutches of this skeleton-masked thug? Are the Heads! gang behind it all? Find out now!

Try before you buy - There is an eight page preview of Heads! on my website that you can read for FREE. 

I recently caught up with Rik...

Ok, so for anyone who hasn't come across your work before this is what, your 3rd comic? Bring us up to date on your earlier work

Heads! Into The Vortex is the second comic in the Heads! series. The first book introduces private investigator Steve Datsun and the notorious Heads! gang; a group of girls with oversized animal heads who are pulling off unusual heists across London. Into The Vortex follows Datsun in his investigations but focuses on a related new case about a villainous metal band called Vortex Face. These

guys first appeared in Rock In Purgatory, my other comic. Rock In Purgatory is a heavy metal horror comic where I kill off fictional rock stars in outrageous comedy style. It’s full of dark humour and tons of exciting characters with loads of potential. Vortex Face were the band I felt would be great to start building on, so I brought them into the Heads! universe.

You got some great feedback for Heads #1 - tell us about that and what sort of feedback you got?

I was really blown away by the reaction to it. The people who’ve picked it up loved the black and white noir style and it seems that the London slang is going down a storm in the States – phrases like ‘toerag’ and ‘have a butchers’ appear to be firm favourites! The two things that have really puffed my chest out with pride have been comments on my art levelling up and my storytelling working

well. The longest piece I’ve written previously was twelve pages, so this is my first crack at a long form series. Hearing that I’ve written a great first issue has been a real confidence boost, and I’m aiming to make each subsequent comic better and better.

How long has it taken for you to create Heads into the vortex...how long to write? How long to draw?

I had the idea back in 2016, tinkered with it a bit and then left it to ferment. I’m glad I did, because when I dived into it properly the plot had matured and my art style had improved. When it comes to each issue, I am trying to get them done quickly so I can put them out fairly regularly – ideally three books a year if I can pull it off. I draw it all at actual size, which means I can take pages with me and draw whenever and wherever I like. I write and draw simultaneously; kind of a one-man-Marvel-method. I know the scenes and outcome for the issue and roughly plan it out. Then I start drawing and scripting at the same time, tweaking images to fit the script and the script when I decide on images that have better

storytelling or look more dynamic. If I don’t have any commissions to do, I can write and draw an issue of Heads! in about three months. Lettering takes me ages though, so I do that in bits and bobs while I start the next issue.

You're going to ICECOMICON in March - I think this is your 2nd con? What can people expect from you at a convention? Badges? Sketches?

I can’t wait for ICE! I missed out on the last Brighton edition and this one has people like David Broughton and Rachael Smith in attendance so it’s going to be great. I’ve done True Believers, Watford ComicCon and MCM London, as well as running and tabling at Wimbledon Comic Art Festival, so this will actually be

my fifth convention. I’ll have copies of Heads! and a re-print of the sold out Rock In Purgatory, plus prints and original art on the day. I like my table to be a bit different so I’ll be bringing my guitar along for the RIP display and I also made models of the Heads! gang to help promote it.

Have I imagined a Heads cosplayer from MCM? There was definitely a fan...so how did you find your first experience of a BIG con?

That’ll be those models – I was snapping photos of them all weekend! MCM was great. They don’t get much bigger than that in sheer scale but its fantastic to see such a huge section dedicated to indie comics. It’s a tough one to get your head around though, as there are so many people who don’t come near it. But once you

accept that some people come exclusively for certain other things then it’s easier to handle. The volume of people is a blessing and a curse. At smaller events you may get less people but there's a much higher percentage of them who are willing to stop and chat, even if they don’t buy your comic. As long as people have a look, if they decide my comic isn’t for them they’ve at least made a proper decision, but if they just walk past without glancing at it they may be missing out. That said, the people at MCM who stopped by my table were awesome and very much into the medium, so it was great to meet new people. And I like to run a tally of which characters I can find people cosplaying as and get a fist bump off them – MCM was off the chart for that!

You and your son are doing a 4 pager for the next LittleHeroes comic...how did that come about? How are you finding working together?

My son Dylan is a huge comics fan and is always writing and drawing stuff, so I suggested last year we do something together. We actually put a pitch together for The Phoenix which they didn’t go for, but that didn’t stop us doing more stuff. When Little Heroes Comics announced ‘science’ as the theme for this years anthology we both jumped at it (Dylan loves science and aspires to work for NASA one day). We’ve really enjoyed working together on this. Dylan is writing and I am drawing.

He’s never written a script before so we spent time looking at scripts from his drama class to understand how they work. Then we took some time to compare live scripts to comic scripts, how they have to be different and what the most important things are that they need. We even turned one of Nick Prolix’s short strips into our own version of a script to see how it all fit together. Dylan’s picked

the skills up really well and I can honestly say I was very impressed with the quality of his first draft. We’re currently refining a couple of panels, but I’ve started the art for and its going well. Plus Dylan has a great sense of humour and has come up with a brilliant final panel which finishes it all off on a hilarious note.

What comics are you currently reading?

The new Green Lantern from Grant Morrison is top of my list at the moment. I love Green Lantern and Grant Morrison so it’s a great combo for me. Liam Sharp’s art is sickeningly good – some of those cityscapes and space shots blow my mind! I’ve also been following the Dick Tracy mini-series from IDW and have just picked up Blossoms 666 from Archie Comics. Cullen Bunn and Laura Braga doing an Archie Horror – of course I want to read that!

What Kickstarter projects have you backed recently?

The latest one is Sliced Quarterly from Ken Reynolds. This is the final edition, so I urge you all to get a piece of it while you can. I’ve got my eye on the Gallant & Amos collection from Little Heroes publishing arm Fairspark.

Thanks Rik

Rik Jackson - interview & Kickstarter campaign

Introducing indie comics creator Rik Jackson

In a first for the blog, I'm delighted to present an interview with indie comics creator, and organiser of last year's Wimbledon Comic Art Festival, Rik Jackson, so without further ado let's here from the man himself...

Who are you? Tell us a bit about yourself - what you do, where you work?

I’m Rik Jackson, comic creator and illustrator from south London. I’ve been in the comics game for a couple of years now. I out started doing occasional illustration work and commissions, but wanted to have a go at doing comics for real. I’d toyed with ideas in the past, but it wasn’t until 2015 that I made a proper go of it and published my first small press comic. Since then, I’ve just thrown myself into it - from attending and tabling at cons, bothering publishers and generally making a massive load of comics noise on social media. I don’t like to do things by halves, so I even tried my hand at convention organising last year, resulting in the successful Wimbledon Comic Art Festival.

Here's Rik at Wimbledon Comic Art Festival 2017

I’m currently Kickstarting a print collection of Rock In Purgatory (here) - my heavy metal horror comic - and getting ready to launch Heads! an ongoing title I have been planning since last summer. I’m also drawing commissions like a demon right now, which is great. Ideally, I’d love to be a full time illustrator - or at least earn enough from it to make changes to my life. I have a day job, like most small pressers, but would love to be able to either draw or manage comics events for a living.

We first met at the Wimbledon Comic Art Festival (WCAF) - tell us how that came about? 

I was so pleased to have people like Dan Butcher, Matt Garvey, Gareth Brookes and David Broughton exhibiting at the event. I had the chance to give newbies like Heather Chapman and Kaylee McHugh a chance to showcase their work for the first time at a comics event. Plus, I managed to get indie publishers Centrala and Avery Hill down, which I was really proud of. I remember spending a day wondering how best to approach Avery Hill about coming, and all of a sudden they emailed me asking to be part of it!

I used to run a live music promotions company in my early twenties, so I’m an old hand at organising public events with lots of people and groups to manage. It was only a matter of time before I decided to apply my event skills to comics and have a crack at running a con. However, this involved booking twenty exhibitors, negotiating with a different type of venue and doing promoting in a new way for me, so it was quite a challenge. But I got the Deputy Mayor of Merton to open it with me, had a fantastic response from local press and managed to get the attention of a lot of comics groups, such as London Graphic Novel Network and The Manga Forum, so I must have been doing something right.

I was really lucky to form a great relationship with the team behind the venue, Merton Art Space. It’s a Merton Council venue which forms part of Wimbledon Library. They were looking for exciting new events to showcase what the new venue could do. I pitched my ideas, including the workshops I ran on the day, to the head of Libraries and Heritage. He loved it, and agreed to give me the venue for free as a one-off. This meant I was able to offer free tables to all exhibitors and not have to charge an entry fee.

What lessons did you learn about putting on that sort of event?

Having run a lot of events in the past, I was well prepared for a lot of issues that occurred on the day. Thankfully, they were very few! The main trouble I had was getting support from local businesses. I asked many for their help in promoting the event, offering advertising space and promotional space at the event in exchange. I think most businesses didn’t really understand what the event was or how it had the potential to reach new customers. Sadly, I didn’t have a similar event under my belt as a success story to show off, so that made it harder to get businesses involved.

Would you do it again?

Yes! It was hard work, very stressful and my family and friends had to put up with my diva strops getting worse as the day grew closer, but yes, I’d do it again. I think I enjoy organising and hosting events like this more than just having a table at a convention, strangely enough! I am currently looking at ideas for one or two 2018 events. Merton Art Space are interested in having me back, which would be great, but I’ve also had a lot of people asking for me to put on a similar event in Epsom.

Small Press day was announced for 7 July this year, so I am also considering doing a small pop-up event for that, possibly in Kingston or Croydon. I want to keep things interesting though. My favourite part of WCAF was the workshops, and whatever I do events-wise in the future, I want it to revolve around that. I found that I spent a lot of my time at WCAF speaking to parents whose kids had wanted to do one of the workshops. We ended up with kids drawing comics all day while parents had the chance to look around at stuff they never thought existed. It really helped as an icebreaker to get people who think comics are just for kids to discover there is so much more that the medium - and small press in particular - can offer them.

How did you get into comics initially? What comics did you read growing up?

I started out with Transformers and He-man comics as a kid and just kept picking things up and trying them. By the time I was in my teens I was an avid Batman fan, and still am. I used to draw a lot back then, and tried my hand at creating my own, original comics as well as fan comics of Batman and Green Lantern.

I dropped out of the comics scene for a while after that though. This was mainly down to money. I was spending about £45 a month just to keep up with all the Batman storylines (including crossovers and specials). I just couldn't sustain it anymore and started to feel a bit ripped off, to be honest. Looking back, I can see the business objective of pumping out overarching story arcs and guest appearances, but it put me off in the end, as it became harder for me to stay abreast of the stories I wanted to follow. I still have a massive collection of old Batman comics, which I do love to bits. Knightfall was the story that completely sucked me in and I have every issue from each title which made up the whole story, including a few issues signed by artists and writers.

Who are your favourite writers and illustrators etc? Who's had the biggest influence o on you?

One of my favourite comic artists is Kelley Jones. I utterly adore his gothic style and it was his work on titles such as Batman, Venom and Deadman that made me get seriously into drawing comics.

Brett Blevins is another big influence. I didn’t think I liked his work at first, but I was drawn to it over and over. There is a grotesque elegance to a lot of his art, and his 90’s run on Shadow of the Bat was a wonderful take on Batman, in my opinion, particularly the villains.

Conversely, I’ve fallen in love with Laura Braga’s art. Often drawn digitally, her work is crisp and clean, but has such life in it. I’ve been a fan of hers since she worked on Witchblade.

In respect of writers, I have to tip my hat to the likes of Paul Dini and Grant Morrison for being master storytellers. Then there’s Garth Ennis, who’s dark and dirty writing has always given me an obscene amount of pleasure. And I’ll give Doug Moench a shout too; I feel his writing is sometimes overlooked as his work often feels so effortless, letting the panels breath and the beats fall effortlessly.

What comics are you buying at the moment? Where do you buy them?

From a mainstream point of view, I’m more into mini series than ongoings, as you can probably guess from my previous comments. I’ve been reading the new The Demon: Hell is Earth series, as I absolutely love Etrigan. The only ongoing title I’m picking up at the moment is Bettie Page from Dynamite - it's a great take on pulp spy and sci-fi comics.

I’ve got a pull list set up with my local branch of Forbidden Planet, which has these titles as well as my son’s Power Rangers and Doctor Who titles, as he’s a huge comics fan too.

Small press is hitting the mark for me more and more these days. I prefer one shots and anthologies, mainly because of the long wait between issues of ongoing small press titles. It’s understandable that it takes a long time, but I can see why this puts some people off indie comics. I don’t get out to conventions as much as I want to, so luckily creators tend to have good online stores. I’ve also recently discovered the Comicsplus app, which my library provides. It’s a bit cumbersome to use but has a great range of trades and individual issues available; I’m reading the Batman / The Shadow mini series on that at the moment.

What do you like to do when not creating comics?

I do as many creative things as possible. I’m a singer and guitarist in a metal band (look up
Circus Diabolica on Spotify if you dare!). We haven’t played shows for a little while but we are planning to get back on stage this year. One of the reasons I put on workshops at WCAF was because I love the idea of passing on skills and knowledge to people. I used to work as a volunteer at the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill and the main duty I had was showing people objects and getting them to work out what they were. It was fantastic working in such a creative and engaging way. I absolutely love anything immersive and educational like that. 

Ok, so you have a Kickstarter running at the moment - tell us about it
The campaign is for Rock In Purgatory (and can be found here), my heavy metal horror comic. The book is a collection of short strips which feature the outrageous death of hapless rock stars. Rock In Purgatory has been published in Popcorn Horror magazine, and the book collects all the published strips plus loads of unpublished ones from the series. The book is full colour, comes in as 48 pages and is presented as a cross between a comic and a parody of a music magazine. So, as well as the strips, you’ll find a poster pull out section, articles about bands who have influenced the stories and a backstage section where I show off concept art and creation processes.

Have you run a Kickstarter campaign before?

Yeah, I ran one for my first ever comic, Brutal Bombshells. That was a six story horror anthology in an EC Comics style, focusing on femme fatales. The campaign went well but didn’t fund until the final day, which was fortuitous! I learned a lot about the foibles of Kickstarter as the campaign went along and was lucky enough not to end up worse off by the time it was over. I have to say, though, I didn’t get the sense of stress that most people talk about. It would have been a frustrating waste of effort if it didn’t fund, but I didn’t get hung up on what would happen if it didn’t fund.

What's your favourite reward that you offer for backers?
Since the comic is all about heavy metal, I decided to go for metal themed rewards. My favourite is probably the gig tickets and backstage passes. These are souvenir items, but I loved the idea of having something live music related for the fans. And since I’m a guitarist, I personally can’t wait to get hold of the branded plectrums when they are made up.

Recommend someone else's Kickstarter campaign that we should back (and why)?
If it was still running, I’d have suggested the Sliced Quarterly campaign, but that just funded. The new Merrick book by Tom Ward looks good, if you love Mignola-style art and the idea of the Elephant Man as a protagonist! I’ve also heard that Flintlock by Steve Tanner is going to be good, but I’ve yet to properly check it out.

Where else will people be able to see you work in print / online
All my comics work is on my website www.rikjackson.co.uk. You can read all the published Rock In Purgatory strips, some samples of Brutal Bombshells, and other projects I have worked on. There’s a gallery showing off some of my other illustration work. There are also links to buy copies of my comics and prints from the site too. I post loads of stuff on Twitter @gojacksongo – I’m always putting up work in progress as I am creating comics and have started doing live streams when I’m drawing pages.

What's next for Rock In Purgatory? Is it a one-off? A continuing story? Ideally, when would you like to release another issue (of RiP or another title)?
I could keep going with Rock In Purgatory for ages, and probably will. I decided to cap it as a first series for now and get a collection out there, but I have loads more ideas for it. I’ve been getting approached by lots of people who want to pitch stories to me for it, or collaborate on a Rock In Purgatory strip. It’s awesome to have people so into this comic that they want to get involved! Actually, my son – who has read some of the less adult and more slapstick RIP strips - came up with a brilliant idea which I have promised him will be included in the next series.

In the meantime, I am working on a new title. My next project is called Heads! and is a sci-fi private detective story. If you like The X-Files, They Live and Dick Tracy you are going to be in for a treat when Heads! comes out. I plan to release it in May as a webcomic with weekly updates. However, I love having things in print, so will likely look to get a run done before the year is out.

How long does a page of art take to produce? Explain a little bit about your approach
The Rock In Purgatory process is fairly time consuming but oddly efficient. As every page is built on a strict nine panel grid, I have created each panel on a sheet of A4 bristol board, before editing them all together. If I lay an entire page out physically, it’s huge! It’s quite satisfying seeing it all jigsawed together on the living room floor at such a scale. The idea behind A4 pages for each panel was that I could carry them around really easily and work on them whenever and wherever I was. So, despite each panel taking quite a while to draw because of the size, it also meant I could get through a few panels a day no matter what I was up to. Colouring took forever – apart from a few plain backgrounds, every panel of every page was coloured by hand.

What other small press titles have you read recently?
I’ve just read The Devil In Disguise by Matt Garvey. Great first issue – so many twists and a great cliff-hanger in such a short space of time! Matt’s stuff is generally great. I’m a big fan of his Chunks books, but this new title really impressed me. I liked El Marvo from Ben Errington and Dan Butcher. Dystopian future with a cryogenically frozen luchador as the hero – obviously going to be good! I’ve also got into the Shaman Kane and Gallo books by David Broughton. His stuff is well written and drawn with such enthusiasm that even if it’s not your cup of tea you can’t help but enjoy it.

Are you expecting to be at any conventions this year? How can people meet you and see RiP for themselves?
My event appearances hinge on the success of the Rock In Purgatory Kickstarter really, as it will be a stretch for me to afford a print run and table fees. I have my eye on Brighton ICE and Nottingham Comic Con right now, and if South London Comic and Zine Fair returns this year I’ll be bothering them for a table. I want to try out some horror conventions too. Popcorn Horror host a horror event in Glasgow each November, so I am hoping to be a part of that this year.

If you like the sound of all of that you can find Rik on Twitter as @gojacksongo