Greetings weary Internet traveler. Welcome to Papercuts & Inkstains.  Feel free to pull up a pew, rest your weary bones and have a tall glass of organic comic-juice. 

I'm your barkeep, Rob, you'll know that though since you felt intrigued enough to sign up to this irreverent newsletter. Our specials this time and, well… Every time I send this out to you… are comic book lettering and design, and maybe a pinch or two of comic book writing. With added musings, tangential nonsense and probably a dollop of Warhammer 40k. 

A newsletter is a weird concept to me. I've written blogs before (from which I have pilfered my newsletters name from…) and fiction and comics etc, but never something like this. I mean, do I lead an interesting life? Not really. Do I go on exotic adventures in strange locales with sexy companions and Pina Coladas? No. I generally wear slippers and use an electric blanket whilst lettering comics. Do I mingle with the rich, famous and more powerful members of society, whilst I learn their secrets via nefarious and sexually charged ways? Nah. I live in Doncaster. 

But…I have something that no other late 30's (for the next four months at the time writing as I stare down the barrel of the big 4-0), cis, white male comic creator has… a beard -- goddammit… 

So, whatcha been lettering?

I suppose a regular feature should be a lovely list of books I am currently lettering or have lettered and are now available to buy/order and perhaps any recent news articles about books which have just been announced.

POWER PALS - DARK HORSE

W - Duane Murray A/C - Ahmed Raafat

ONEPATH - MAD CAVE STUDIOS

W/A - Greg Broadmore (w/ Andy Lanning & Nick Boshier)

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD - AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY COMICS

W - James Khouric & S.A. Check - A - Andrea Arcari

And finally…A little indulgence. Broken Frontier did a wonderful write up of a book I lettered last year called Blinded by Joe S. Farrar. It’s an entirely artless book, and my lettering had to tell the story and showcase the tradition staples of a comic book, panels, directing the eye etc. Here’s a double page spread from the book and a click through link to Andy Oliver’s review of the work. This also garnered me a nomination for Best Letterer in Broken Frontiers 2024 Comic Awards… Results are yet to come out, but I am unsure of when I am sending this, so won’t pimp the link, plus the book was named one of Broken Frontier’s Top Ten Indie Comics to own of 2024!

Whatcha been up to, Rob?

I have mostly been working as of late, clad in an electric blanket and every jumper I can possibly find within the house. It’s been Christmas, so I’ve watched a lot of festive favourites like Halloween (2018), Event Horizon, The Mouth of Madness, Annihilation and Reanimator… and Hook. When working, I often listen to either Distractible, Last Podcast on the Left or The Dead Meat Podcast. Occasionally, I centrist-dad it and listen to The Rest Is Politics if I fancy getting irrationally angry at the world with no real way of directing it anywhere, but often enough, that’s pretty futile and just leaves me with extra grey beard hairs. So that doesn’t happen often.

I actually haven’t been doing much Warhammering recently… BUT I do have all the elements of a VERY choppy Blood Angels army ready to put together once the ADHD kicks in and the hyper-fixation on it starts again. I was very much influenced to build a Blood Angels force by the following Youtube video from MidwinterMinis:

Guy’s very honest and frank discussion of the loss of his Dad and how his father would encourage his engagement with the hobby really spoke to me, and brought me to tears to be honest, as my own father was just as supportive of me and my love of the plastic crack. I’ll talk more about that in a future newsletter, as I would love to explore my love of all things 40k and how my 13th Birthday party and a prize my dad secured for it (It was a 1v1v1v1 Warhammer party) has also influenced my career in comics.

And finally…

Didn’t want to over do it in newsletter one and basically jettison all the nonsense in my head at once. Gotta drip feed that stuff out over time, I guess and keep you wonderful people coming back for a little more each time. However, to finish things off, here’s a link to my first kickstarter of the year, and for those who have followed me for a good while, this is a massive milestone for me. Not only do I letter comics, I also write them sometimes. And this year sees the first collection of Griff Gristle coming to kickstarter.

For those not in the know, Griff Gristle is our only protection from the nightmares of the deep and it seems as though the nightmares are rising. GRIFF GRISTLE: THE BOATMAN'S CALL is a 150+ page Supernatural/Adventure Graphic Novel that takes the tropes of the horror and supernatural genres and puts them all at sea… Collecting all of Griff's previous adventures, 'Here Be Monsters', 'The Siren's Song' and 'The Endless Voyage', plus all new, never before read short stories set within the world that Griff inhabits, THE BOATMAN'S CALL is packed to the gills with horror, humour, heart and high stakes! Below you’ll see Rory’s cover for the collection, minus any text or logos, as it is GLORIOUS! Below is a link which will take you to the pre-launch page so you don’t miss out on when we set sail!

And that is the end of Newsletter One. Yes, it’s a little scattershot. Yes it’s a little informal, but I am also a little scattershot and definitely informal, so this is about as organised as I can be! Thank you so, so much for signing up, reading and indulging me and I hope I can keep you entertained as we go on this comics journey with one another!

PORTFOLIO

BLUESKY

ALL CHIBI ARTWORK BY NATDRAWSSHIT