You may've noticed our last episode of Sidekickcast Presents... was ably hosted by a young Welshman by the name of Joe Glass, he kindly went to MCM Expo for us and reported back on all the fun with some great interviews. What you may not have known is that Joe is also a comic book writer in his own right, his book, The Pride was on the flip side of Stiffs which we reviewed just after Cardiff Comic Expo (incidentally, Joe also writes for Stiffs). We thought we'd take the opportunity to grab a 6 page preview of The Pride (scattered in order through the post) and run a few questions by Joe, especially regarding the more unique elements of the project.

Sidekickcast: Let's start at the beginning, what exactly is The Pride about?

Joe Glass: The Pride is a six issue comic miniseries. It’s a superhero story about the formation of a team, who then get drawn into a global threat, and they may be the only heroes capable of saving the day. Oh, and they’re all LGBTQ heroes…lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, trans, post-gay, queer, but all heroes.

The main thrust of the story, besides the obvious action, explosions and kicks in the face, is about representation. They’re not getting the best representation as heroes in their world, so they seek to change that by showing how great they are.

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It was announced yesterday that Rob Williams and Simone Bianchi would be the creative team attached to the Fear Itself Uncanny X-Force 3-part mini series released in July. As we are lucky enough to have met Rob due to his appearance on our recent Secrets & Lies panel and we know he's a big fan of Uncanny X-Force we thought we'd ask him for his personal feelings on writing for characters currently being handled so well by Rick Remender. Read Rob's comments just after the jump:

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Not only can you listen to the podcast of our Secrets and Lies Live show from Cardiff International Comic Expo but now thanks to our sidekick camerman, Matt Pease you can see it in moving pictures. Watch as Chris Lynch, Paul Cornell, Rob Williams, Stuart Tipples, Charlie Adlard and Mike Collins take on the Sidekicks in the comic book news quiz with a twist.

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Over the past few months I've gotten to know Daniel Clifford pretty well, either through listening to him lose his mind on his and co-host Lily's excellent podcast; North East Geek Feast, enjoying a Halo: Reach wild ride in true Mr Toad fashion or endless twittering back and forth. So when the opportunity came up to talk to Daniel about his latest project with the Paper Jam Comics Collective; Sugar Glider I jumped at the chance to delve deeper into that wonderfully weird mind:

So what is Sugar Glider all about?

Sugar Glider is a costumed crime-fighter comic based on Tyneside but like all the superhero comics I like best, it's more about the person in the costume than it is about the crime-fighting. And the person in the costume is Susie Sullivan; a teenager with no clue what to do with her life. Everyone around her has a clear path in life - her mam is a nurse, her sister is a mother and her best friend is a sports prodigy. But no matter what Susie tries, nothing ever sticks. She's done all the dead-end jobs you can think of and tried out fashion design, wildlife photography, filmmaking, judo, athletics, etc etc. But she can't commit. I really think this is a story people can relate to - everyone's under so much pressure to decide one thing to do for the rest of their life - it doesn't even matter that the 'one job for life' thing just doesn't happen anymore. But then there's the escapist part of the story - she's found herself with this gliding suit and is trying out something a lot less ordinary - super heroics!

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Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/910305588/the-sleepless-phoenix-comics-anthology

If you're a regular reader of this blog I'm sure you will be aware of our coverage of the untimely fall of Insomnia publications and the fate of the creators and their books. If you need reminding, Chris Lynch has a particularly thorough, personal and heartfelt description of events on his blog or you can read my first optimistic outlook here and then my particularly vitriolic piece here.

Well it's not all bad, as from the ashes of Insomnia rises The Sleepless Phoenix anthology: Survival Stories; a collection of stories from established indy and up-and-coming creators all formerly attached to Insomnia in some way. The story doesn't end there though, in order to get this book published there is a Kickstarter campaign aiming to raise enough money to get the book into print. Michael Moreci, one of the book's creators and instigator of the Kickstarter campaign was kind enough to give us a short interview to tell you what it's all about:

So, tell us about this book The Sleepless Phoenix anthology, how did it come about?

You know, it’s one of those things that developed organically. The creators have been in close contact over the past few weeks, which has been great. We’ve become a collective, more or less, and I say as much on the Kickstarter page.

One of the things we discussed was “well, what now?” I think something that often gets overlooked when you see produced work coming from self-publishing or independent publishing is how deranged the individuals involved really must be (and I mean that jokingly—kind of). You really have to be a tenacious person to put in the work required to put out a book, any book, be it prose, journalism, or comics. There isn’t much money involved. So you’re doing this work on top of whatever you do to provide yourself with income, when you could be spending time with friends, family, or playing X-Box. So you have this group of creators who have just had a substantial part of their lives put on indefinite hold; it’s only natural to find something to fill that void.

But it’s more than that. We all know each other’s work, and we also understood that this was the only material available to us that wasn’t under contract. So releasing the anthology made sense, and we knew exactly what we were getting into because we know each other.

As for me, I was in the fortunate position to have been behind a successful Kickstarter drive just recently with Reading With Pictures (a non-profit organization working to get comics in the classroom). I know how it all works, and what we needed to do in order to be successful (and I had the ability to start the page, which is helpful). We soon realized that the monetary goal we’re after is very reachable, so we decided to go for it.

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Link: http://www.spexpo.co.uk/

This year's Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo 21-23 May will be the best so far. A bold statement, I know, but I can back it up. Nevermind the legendary Chris Claremont, Pat Mills, Ramon Bachs, Robin Furth, Paul Cornell, Charlie Adlard, John McCrea, Andy Diggles or Sean Phillips. Don't get too excited by the Eagle Awards 2010, the DC Universe panel, live music from Music Power Cosmic, The Losers panel or Claremont and Davis together again. The only place you need to be is at the Mercure Hotel Saturday 22nd May at 12.00pm for the Signs and Portents panel with Chris Lynch writer of the Markosia hit book; The Dark and hosted by none other than myself and fellow Sidekickcast host Dan Marshall. That's right, we're stepping out from behind the curtain to make a rare appearance in the real world, don't miss out.

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Just one more short interview left from BICS 2009 (please excuse the sound quality as this was done on the convention floor right at the height of Sunday morning), this time from Bearded Skull Comics. Jamie Lambert and Dave Clifford; two of the nicest men in comics presenting the third issue of Dexter's Half Dozen which covers the exploits of a kick ass commando squad going up against Occult Nazi forces during World War II. Sound good? Well it is and well worth going back and picking up the first two issues, I'm sure if you contact the guys at their Facebook group they'll be able to help get your hands on them.

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Whilst at the British International Comics Show 2009 (BICS 09) this weekend I was lucky enough to sit down with Martin Conaghan and Will Pickering; writer and artist respectively of graphic novel Burke and Hare from Insomnia Publications' new Vigil historical imprint. The book tells the ghoulish true story of serial killers William Burke and William Hare in early 19th century Edinburgh.

During the interview I was truly blown away by the level of enthusiasm both creators had for the story of Burke and Hare, not just the story everyone knows but the real truth behind the murders and their historical significance. These guys have lived and breathed this story and it shows in every part of this chilling and macabre production.

Direct Download of Interview