A bit of silliness. :0)

Okay, I am so busy and stressed right now that I figured this day called for a bit of silliness.
Enjoy! :0)

Ghost Pirates Update



I really should write a blog about priorities, since you may be wondering how I choose what to work on and when. For instance, it's been a while since I've mentioned the Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, and with good reason.  I've been quite busy with other projects, and although I've been working on Ghost Pirates, I'm witholding the new material so that it doesn't spoil the ending.  Most of the story has been free online, but now that I'm putting together the final comic book, we don't want spoilers.

Also, as some of you may recall, Ghost Pirates started out as part of The Inquiring Minds comic strip, and so was not in comic book format.  You'd think I would have learned from 3 Knights in India, but no, I didn't.  More about that in my upcoming post about priorities.

Anyway, much of the early material from Ghost Pirates has been reformatted, digitally remastered, and in some cases redrawn.  I've also added new material to enhance the story or improve the layout, and have created my own 'handwriting' font to make the text consistent throughout.  Quite a lot of work, I must say, which explains the lack of recent updates.

I now have about 26 pages completely finished and am working on completing the book.  Originally it was to be 32 pages, with advertisements, a letters page, and a page for Fan Art, but it now looks like it could run longer than that.  I'm wondering if I should make it a two part series, or a larger comic book?  What do you think?  Any opinions?

As for the letters page and Fan Art pages, I already have one nice piece from a fellow artist.  I'll have to dig through my fan mail to see what applies to The Inquiring Minds, but meanwhile, take a chance to read through the archives, and send a letter in. Who knows, it may get published? :0)

And any cartoonists out there who'd like to have a shot at the Fan Art page, send me a small drawing of The Inquiring Minds, doing something pirate ride related.   Of course, how and what gets published are completely at my discretion, and the only compensation would be a copy of the comic book when published, and depends on space left in the final issue.
I'm really proud and excited to have another long term project coming close to completion!  Of course, that's just the art and writing... lots more to go, including some exciting news, I hope. :0)

Thanks,    JOHN :0)

Press Release: Biggest Summer Adventure Ever!

For Immediate Release: July 10, 2008

Cartoonist John Steventon and HappyGlyphs comics are proud to announce The Inquiring Minds' Biggest Summer Adventure Ever!

It's summertime, and The Inquiring Minds are not about to rest! Quite the opposite in fact, as Bobby, Albert, and sometimes Iris embark on an adventure of the most grandest proportions, a project so big that it's crazy to assume that it will actually go anywhere. But this is a comic strip, so therefore anything can happen, including miracles. Stay tooned to HappyGlyphs.com for the whole story, beginning now.

"This is what The Inquiring Minds are all about", says Creator John Steventon. "I love this strip, but did not pursue Syndication because the syndicates were not looking for a strip that told stories, and I was not interested in a 'gag a day' daily strip with these characters. Finally, I'm taking them on a grand story on my terms, and it is going to be a lot of fun."

For the first time in a long time, The Inquiring Minds will be updated regularly throughout the summer of 2008. Visit often and get caught up in their biggest scheme ever to achieve fame, fortune, and fun.

Here is the first strip to get the adventure started. For reprint information, please contact John Steventon and HappyGlyphs Comics.

Click this sentence to see the rest of the strips as they develop.

Cheers, JOHN :0)

Free Comic 2008!!

Traditionaly, once upon a time, to a small group of us, May 5 meant National Cartoonist's Day... a day on which folk heaped praise upon their favorite Cartoonists. and thanked them for the joy that they bring others.

For some reason, though, a day of praise for Cartoonist's just couldn't compete with another country's holiday that Americans celebrated with much drinking of beer, and the eating of many Mexican foodstuffs, including heaping plates of Nachos.

How to compete? Somebody, somewhere, had an idea. A great idea. Let's take National Cartoonist's Day away from May 5, and place it on the weekend closest.... and give away FREE COMIC BOOKS!!

Yes, a new Holiday was born, and you, the reader, get free stuff.


Not to be left behind, we here at HappyGlyphs Comics have once again decided to offer you FREE stuff: Our first true comic book story!


HappyGlyphs Comics is proud to announce the completion, and immediate availablility, of The WOlfman of Beckenham, Kent! Yes, it's been over a year in the making! Okay, it's been over a year of procrastination, but we've been busy. But here it is, in full black and white 7 page glory, the first in a collection of stories collectively known as "John's Shorts", The Wolfman of Beckenham, Kent takes you to a small town in the south of England where things are not quite what they seem. There's a mystery here, and it's up to you to gather the clues, and solve it. You'll have fun in the process, we'll promise you that.

So, here it is:

The Wolfman of Beckenham, Kent .



While you're there, you may want to check out our other fine offerings, including the very beautiful cover to our new story, which is available as a fine poster print. Here's a small preview of that cover.



For more of the back story, please check out our other blog, The Travelling 'Toonist.

Cheers, JOHN :0)