In Search Of Moebius.

Just because I got my hands on a copy of Madwoman Of The Sacred Heart by Jodorowsky and Moebius this Xmas, I thought I’d end the year by posting this Moebius documentary I often watch on youtube. I wish the BBC made more comic-book based films like this one.

Merry Christmas 2015.

I think if any image shows you shouldn’t mess with Krampus, it’s this one… Jeez… If you wake up tomorrow morning, and your ears hurt and you’ve got a wet, sticky forehead, you’ll know you weren’t a good boy\girl this year. 

I’ve got a couple more presents to wrap, but I’m more or less ready for Crimbo now. 

Here’s an early Xmas present for all Babayka-Lives tapastic readers, as if you head over to my page this Christmas eve, you’ll see I’ve just uploaded the final instalment of Brides Of Babayka on there today. Enjoy.

So let me just end by saying Merry Christmas to all readers. I hope you’ve all enjoyed Babayka-Lives during 2015, and hope you have a great Xmas this year, what ever you’re up to. And I hope your all comeback in 2016 for Book Two: Babayka Land.

Babayka-Lives: Second Year Anniversary.

With today being the second year anniversary of Babayka-Lives, I have two treats for readers to celebrate.

Firstly, fresh from the drawing board this weekend is the above photo of the very page from Book Two I’m working on right now. You’ll spy a familiar sinister face, and a couple of new ones from my latest sequential page, which is currently only pencilled, and not yet even inked.

And secondly, to celebrate Babayka-Lives entering its second year, here’s a quick bite-size bit of info to wet your appetites for Book Two. Just a little clue as to what to expect in 2016.

Since we’ve met the Brides Of Babayka, and Babayka himself/itself, and we’ve even seen inside their gruesome lair, Book Two will be more about building up the world that surrounds them (hence why Book Two is called Babayka Land.) We saw a little of it in Chapter Two of Brides Of Babayka, but in the forthcoming second Book, I don’t think it would be a big spoiler to say we’re heading outside this time for this misadventure. I didn’t want to do another ‘Brides Of Babayka’, where another group of unlucky tourists are tricked into visiting the hotel, and are picked off one-by-one by the Brides and Babayka. My aim is for readers to find Babayka Land just as surprising, scary and exciting as Brides Of Babayka, and not to just remake Book One.

Thanks to all Babayka-Lives readers who have been tuning in and supporting this web-series during 2015. I’m a little nervous, as it wasn’t long after my first year anniversary that my site got hacked, and I had to rebuild Babayka-Lives from scratch again during the first few weeks of this year. And then not long after that setback, that I had massive problems with my internet provider, and was offline for nearly a month, so I’m hoping the start of 2016 will be a bit kinder to me and my webcomic in the coming new year.

I’ll be posting the date that Babayka-Lives returns and Babayka Land (Book Two) starts very soon, so keep watching this space. Now if you’ll excuse me… I need to go finish pencilling the page above.

Tap Happy.

I have to confess I’ve recently been worried I’ve be ignoring my Tapastic readership lately on this blog, so to make up for it, today’s post is aimed solely at you guys. If you head over to my Babayka-Lives tapastic page today, you’ll see Part 26 (the penultimate instalment) freshly uploaded and waiting for you guys. Finally find out the fate of Ronald Blake, as we head towards the end of Brides Of Babayka. Enjoy.

For The Readers.

Since the end of 2015 and the start of 2016 for me will be spent working on Babayka Land (the second Babayka book after Brides Of Babayka), and getting pages of it ready to post in the New Year, I thought until then it would be a good time to hear from the readers of Babayka-Lives. Now Book One is at an end, and Book Two is waiting in the wings, and people now know what the Books and webcomic are about, it would be a great time to hear from people, plus I have a special treat up my sleeve for those kind enough to get in contact. I’ve been experimenting with trying to make artwork look old timey and creepy lately, and so took my latest Babayka character sheet, and try to make it look like something people might have drawn up in the Victorian era, when trying to depict Babayka. A mouldy, old piece of rotting paper, where a survivor has drawn the monstrous Babayka to warn others, perhaps, as seen in this candid photo above of it on my laptop screen.

But this bit of artwork is exclusive, and only available for a limited amount of time. So what do readers have to do to get a digital copy, you may be asking. Actually… very little… it’s not that hard. There are a few ways you can get yourself a copy, and they are as follows.

Feedback: I’m not looking for a vast essay or anything, but if you’ve read Brides Of Babayka and wanna share a couple of thoughts, please do. Did you enjoy Book One? Maybe who’s your favourite character or favourite death scene? Did you find it scary? Did any scenes really freak you out? How’d you feel about the ending? If you’re a female reader, do you think you look like any of the Brides, maybe? Did you find Babayka and his reveal scary?  

A Question: Got a thought\question you wanna throw at me about Book Two (Babayka Land) that you think other readers might also share, then let me hear it. Hopefully it’ll be something you won’t mind me publicly answering over on my blog, if it’s a good question that needs addressing. If I get a lot of people asking the same question, then I’ll know it is something that does.

Fan-Art: For readers who are arty, why not depict Babayka or your favourite Bride? Doodles, drawings, paintings, computer renderings, however you make art, I’d love to see your take on any of Babayka-Lives characters. Maybe you’re a creator yourself and wanna show your character going one-on-one with Babayka in a Death Battle, perhaps? Or maybe you wanna draw a deleted scene from Brides Of Babayka? What did happen to Colin when he met Babayka that first night? Etc…

Own The Graphic-Novel: I figure anyone who was kind enough to buy the book should automatically be eligible for any freebies. Just send me a photo of you with the graphic-novel (or just the graphic-novel itself if you’re shy) to get a copy.    

I’ve tried to make it as open and fair for everyone who wants an old timey Babayka character sheet as I could. I think everybody can do at least one of the things listed above, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get a copy. Just basically sending me a nice, non-troll-y Email will probably get you a one, to be honest. I won’t be a dick about it. The best way to get in contact is via Babayka-Lives’s Email address, but by all means feel free to get in contact either on Deviantart or Tapastic if you prefer. That said, I will need an Email address to send the artwork to. The Babayka-Lives Email address can be found as always HERE.

Looking forward to reading and maybe seeing what readers have to offer over the next couple of months. A big thank you to anyone and everyone who does get in contact.

The Name Game.

Well, the name of Book two has just gone up on Babayka-Lives, which means I’m gonna have to call time on this week’s competition. Congratulations to any and all smarty pants who figured it out. Just to show I did sneakily name drop the title of Book two on this very blog back in late September, and for those folks who missed it, check below where all will be revealed.

And as it says over on Babayka-Lives today. Please keep checking back for all the latest updates and previews of the forthcoming second Babayka book. Or Babayka Land to give it its official title now.

James Bond Style.

If all goes to plan, I should be dropping the name of the second book in the Babayka series this coming Saturday over on Babayka-Lives, as well as roughly when readers can expect it. As the title to this blog post might suggest, I decided for fun I was going to announce it James Bond style (I’m sure a lot of you can figure out what that means), so drop by to find out what Babayka’s next misadventure is going to be called this weekend.  

Bonus game: I’ll give a free signed copy of Brides Of Babayka to the first person who can guess the name of Book 2 before Saturday (the 28th of November). Hint… I’ve already sneakily name drop it in a blog post within the last three months on this very blog, so happy hunting. I swear it on here somewhere, folks.

Comment below or by Email at the usual address if you think you can find it. Or just try and fluke it and guess, if you’re feeling jammy, and don’t forget to tune into Babayka-Lives this Saturday to find out if you guess right, and the name of the second Babayka book.

The Dead Walk.

Just had to post this photo of the cover of the local paper which I stumbled across this week and thought was very cool. It reminds me of when people in zombie games\movies come across a paper in the middle of a empty street with a photo of a zombie on the front cover and a headline like ‘The Dead Walk’. The scene when they show what the last ever newspaper front cover would look like in a zombie apocalypse.

So that’s the end of Brides Of Babayka, folks. Hope you all enjoyed reading it. Feedback is as always welcomed at the usual Email address. I’m hard at work on Book 2, and will be letting details slip about it very soon, so watch this space.

A Quick Thank You.

As the final page of Brides Of Babayka goes up this coming Saturday, I’d just like to put out a quick thank you to a certain group of people. Namely all those folks who both kindly bought the graphic-novel, and also didn’t post any spoilers online. You people will forever have my thanks. As we reach the end of Book 1 on Babayka-Lives, I feel it’s nothing short of a miracle that no one did. With troll culture being the annoying, itchy rash of the internet age, I thought it was only a matter of time before some faceless swine did, to be honest. It seemed like ‘low hanging fruit’ just waiting for some bitter, attention seeking troll or trollette (or whatever a female version of a troll is called) to come along and do so. There’s more than enough copies of the book floating around both the UK and the US, that I really did think it would be more a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ someone did go online and leak the storyline, so the fact that this didn’t happen is very cool, and shows how awesome readers are.

So again, thank you to all those that bought the book and stayed tight-lipped about spoilers. It says good things about you as human beings that you did. I wish I knew the identities of more of the people who are buying copies of Brides Of Babayka in these early years. I sometimes secretly wonder if maybe it’s the curse of being a horror writer, that people are therefore less inclined to approach you?

So soon we’ll be moving on to Book 2 (the title of which will be announce James Bond style very soon, so keep an eye out for that), but for now, hope you’ll all tune in this Saturday for page-100 of Brides Of Babayka, your last bit of sequential Babayka action for 2015. So check out the action at Babayka-Lives this weekend.

Happy Halloween 2015.

Wishing all readers of Babayka-Lives are very Happy Halloween.

As you can see from the above image, I was very pleased to do a Babayka themed Halloween Ecard this year. I haven’t had a chance to do one since 2012, and the nice thing is this year, I get to do one and put my own monster out there (which is very cool.) I’ve been wanting to do a Babayka themed Ecard for a few years now, so this year I get to live the dream. I had planned to do a Yana one last year, but time got away from me, as it was my first year of running the webcomic. This year I did it bit-by-bit slowly over the summer, so I’d know I’d have something to post today. I went with a Babayka ripping out the page and coming at you look for this image. I think Babayka looks scary when he’s on a rampage. When he’s on the attack.

Also, because this Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, readers get a double treat (with no trick) as if you head over to Babayka-Lives today, you’ll see a brand new page waiting for you. The Brides will be spending this Halloween weekend cat-fighting over Blake.

Stocked Up For Halloween.

I thought I’d try and sum up my plans for this Halloween in one photo. I always think Halloweens (like birthdays) are better on the weekend, as you can really make a day of it. I have something to read, watch and Halloween sweeties all ready for this coming weekend. I’ve been trying to get my hands on some Dennis Wheatley for ages, so I was amazed when I came across this 702-page book in a second-hand book shop last week. It was both cheap and looks pretty much unread, which is amazing, considering how hard I’ve found it in recent years to find any of Wheatley’s books. The mini-butter finger bars were kindly picked up for me by a friend who’s just got back from the states.

Housewives’ Favourite.

While there’s a certain sadness to the fact that the only people to Email me with offers of sex are all fictional scammers, out to screw me over… I do enjoy checking my Junk-Email folder from time-to-time, and laughing at the dodgy grammar these scam Emails use. By far, my favourite one recently has been this one. Is this sexy or bordering on animal cruelty, I wonder.

Also, I’ve notices in most of these scam Emails, the sender always seems to be a 'Mrs', rather than a 'Ms'. All I can say is that all the other men on earth need to get their Wives Emailing habits under control, because my Junk-Folder is overflowing with these. Especially you, Mr Yoshiyama.

The Clowns Are Closing In.

Was watching this 1974 BBC documentary on Dracula last night on iplayer. Differently worth a watch if you’re either a Dracula fan (like myself), or just want something semi-spooky to watch to get you in the mood for Halloween. Also worth watching just for the awkward divorced lady in the bookshop scene (it around the 28-minute mark.) I also like this documentary because it’s both po-faced and a little sleazy at the same time.

Speaking of getting in the Halloween mood… was a little spooked myself to read this story earlier in the week. The internet is packed with stories of creepy people dressing up as clowns to scare the public, but it’s even scarier when it’s happening just up the road from where you live. I’ve just gotta hope they don’t head south to the coast. I’ll just have to hope that like the aliens out of Signs, hopefully clowns are for some reason scared of water.

Get Your Creep On.

We’re in the build up to Halloween period of the year right now, when people are more and more looking for something spooky to indulge in as the nights grow longer. Tastes tend to turn to the macabre at this time of year, and things from the horror genre like books, comics and movies, tend to be a little more popular around now, as people get their creep on for Halloween.  

I should say, while Brides of Babayka is winding down, it won’t be finished by the time Halloween rolls around at the end of this month, sadly, for readers who might this year want to sit and read the whole of Brides Of Babayka as a Halloween indulgent. Should this have been your plan, however, and you feel like treating yourself (as well as supporting independent comics at the same time, and the future of Babayka-Lives.com), you could always order the graphic-novel for yourself as a Halloween treat, to go with your favourite horror film, and spooky sweeties (or candy, for American readers), so you can enjoy this year’s Halloween in style. The book contains both two extra pin-ups (a creepy Babayka one, and Yana and Vera and friend in the bath one), only to be found in the graphic-novel. And also book exclusive is the original Babayka character sheet. See how he was initial designed to look, which varies slightly to how he turned out in the book. Have a really scary Halloween this year and invite Babayka into your home, as well as up your Babayka-Lives geek cred at the same time. Details on ordering Brides Of Babayka can be found HERE.

Speaking of helping to support Babayka-Lives this Halloween, just a reminder to readers that shout outs always help greatly. If you’ve been reading and enjoying Brides Of Babayka lately, and wanna show the series some love, a link and a quick review really does help. In fact any support from readers is very welcomed (especially at Halloween.) If this spooky time of year has got you in the mood to draw, write, make, or digitally render something scary, I’d love to see any and all Yana, Brides or Babayka fan-art\fic if anyone wants to be awesome and do some. I’ll be posting my own spooky Babayka pin-up for readers on the 31st, so watch this space. In fact, I may even have a couple of Halloween surprises up my sleeve for readers this year (insert spooky laugh here.) If you are kind enough to do something Babayka-Lives related and want me to see it, the best way is to send a link or copy to the webcomic’s email address, which can be found HERE.

Speaking of scary treats, it’s Saturday, which means it’s time for the latest instalment over on Babayka-Lives. Has Blake’s luck finally run out? Did Blake even have any luck to begin with? Maybe the real lucky ones, were the ones who died first?

Bye, Bye, Blake-y.

I continue to dance around possible spoilers, so as not to upset lagging readers. But what I will say, is if you haven’t checked out Babayka-Lives for a couple of weeks now, do yourself a favour, and get up-to-date. This very blog itself will get very spoiler-y when Halloween rolls around. Plus there’s the danger you may come across spoilers online (although I doubt you will, unless you go looking for them), so why risk it? Tune into Babayka-Lives today, and check out recently posted page-94, which may be the scariest page from the whole of Book one, that’s all I’m saying.    

If you have checked out the webcomic this weekend, and are looking for something a bit extra, here’s another character who will be appearing in Book two. Who he is, and what his relationship is to this guy, will have to remain a mystery for now. But I will give you one little clue about him. This is the guy who brings the fire in Book two.  

Look At Me Dance.

As I mention earlier today on a journal entry over on my deviantart page, right now I’m kind of dancing around recent revelations that have been occurring over Babayka-Lives so as to give readers who are lagging behind a chance to catch up without spoilers. I’ve given myself a self-imposed deadline of Halloween, before I’ll let myself openly blog about what’s going on in Brides Of Babayka, so I don’t ruin it for more casual readers. But that said, I do strongly recommend that everyone be up-to-date by Halloween, as the spoilers will no doubt flow from then on. So if you haven’t check in on Babayka-Lives for a while, please do try and do so before the end of next month, or risk falling foul of dreaded spoiler.  

For those of you readers who tune in a bit more regularly, I hope you have been enjoying what’s been going down in Babayka Land of late. If you think recent instalments of Babayka-Lives have been intense and horrifically scary these last few weeks, I think you’re gonna be really pleased with this weekend’s episode. As an early treat, here’s a snippet from the forthcoming page-93, which will go up this Saturday. Clearly poor Blake’s ordeal is just getting started.

Word To The Wise.

If you’re not currently caught up on the latest goings on over on Babayka-Lives, now would be a really bad time to fall behind, that’s all I’m saying. Things are gonna get extremely intense and creepy over the next few weeks. I’m gonna be keeping all info and updates to a minimum over the coming weeks to avoid spoilers. I’d like readers to just read and experience it as the story unfolds.

Fun Fact: I think panel 3 of page-92 is probably my favourite shot of that particular character from the whole of Brides Of Babayka. I was reading a lot of Junji Ito at the time, and I think it shows.

Stick The Landing.

I remember deciding a while ago that I should take more behind-the-scenes photos for Babayka: Book 2 for my blog, and then completely forgetting to do so. So with that in mind, here’s some artwork I was working on yesterday. Rather than finished pencils, I thought readers may get a kick out of seeing a panel that’s only been mapped out, before I’ve gone in to do the final pencils. Because they’re only roughly done pencil-line lay outs, I’m not sure how well they’ll show up on your screens, and people may need to enlarge this photo to pick out the details (it doesn‘t help that it‘s a crappy camera-phone photo.) But basically, that’s my rough pencils before going in and adding detail. I build up the shape of the figure like head, torso and limbs before adding clothing and features. A trick I learned years ago as a teenager after reading How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way.

Over on Babayka-Lives tomorrow. No spoilers or clues as to what’s going to go down on Saturday, but I will say I think it’s the page most readers have been waiting for and not to be missed. I’m sure a lot of people are waiting to see if I can ‘stick the landing’ when it comes to wrapping up Brides Of Babayka. All I’ll say is I’m very proud of the ending to Book 1, and hope readers will enjoy how the story resolves itself. Like all good horror stories, I tried to save the scariest bit till last.

Pick Your Poison.

This weekend Babayka-Lives readers are spoiled.

If you follow the main site, head over to Babayka-Lives right now, where you’ll find Page-90 waiting for you. What does the return of Conner mean for Blake, and will they escape? You can find out by heading over there right now.

For readers who are following the series on Tapastic, if you head over to my page this weekend, you’ll find pages 83-85 waiting for you. Rejoin Blake, as he wakes to find himself the last Bachelor standing.

Enjoy, folks.

A Deleted Scene (Sort Of…)

So I’m guessing by now that everyone is up-to-date and has had a chance to read Page-89 of Babayka-Lives, and has (SPOILER ALERT…) witness the return of Barry Conner. Yes, we last see Conner towards the end of Chapter three, as he drunkenly slinks off to check on Colin on Page-64. As we found out last weekend, it’s while on his way to do this that Conner is ambushed by the Brides. Beaten, overpowered and then taken to the room at the end of the hall. While we as the reader never see this scene actually happen (as I thought it would just be scarier to have an eyeless Conner come unexpectedly lumbering out the shadows), I did briefly play with the idea of drawing this scene. Although I think the story works much better without it, the reason I considered putting it in is because I had a subplot in there about how the Brides took down larger prey like Conner. In my head, I had planned to show how the Brides suit up in a makeshift kind of armour, made from things like riot gear, protective sporting pads, and so on that they have accumulated (probably mostly online.) Safely padded up against any defensive attacks, they then subdue their intended victim with cattle-prods and riot-batons and clubs. This scene would have been a lot of fun to draw, and would have answered how the Brides deal with big, burly guys in the past like Conner, but would have made the Blake and Conner reunion scene less frightening, I feel, and so had to be chopped out the final story.

I was sad to lose this scene, as I could see it clearly in my head, and would love to have drawn a scene of a small group of Brides in their makeshift armour ambushing poor Conner in some darken hallway in the hotel. Luckily, this idea does kind of live on as a pin-up. A deleted scene, if you will. Depicting just seconds before the attack happens and Conner is taken. A little peek at why he looks so bad on Page-89, although why Conner is missing his eyes…? well… that will have to remain a mystery for the time being.

Heroes Or Villains?

Who do you prefer and why?

Lately, I’ve been pondering this question more-and-more. With my own work, by far the two characters I’ve created who I like the most (Babayka and Yana) would be, I guess, labelled as villains. Not that I see either of them that way really, but if you were to boil it down to good-guys and bad-guys, I guess most people would consider them bad-guys. I don’t know why, but I just find it easier to create and write villains rather than heroes. It not that I dislike heroes, but I do find them a bit bland and samey sometimes. Whereas I’ve always enjoyed villains that you like, even though you really shouldn’t. While people in real life who are selfish and opportunistic infuriate me greatly, and I try my hardest to keep them out of my life, somehow when they’re fictional, you don’t feel so bad for enjoying their sinister escapades so much. You can close the book\comic or switch off the TV\computer when you’ve had enough of them and they‘re gone. You have some control over a fictional bad guy\girl.

I guess this is a longwinded way of saying I lean more towards villains (well… certain villains anyway) rather than heroes. Don’t get me wrong, I can happily read\watch\play something with a good hero\heroine as the lead, and often do, but maybe it’s just the horror writer in me that likes a good villain or monster better. For the record, I don’t consider myself a bad guy, by-the-by. I’m a live-and-let-live kind of person. I feel both guilt and empathy, two things real life bad guys often don’t. I think the act of reading, writing or playing in a fictional world can be a kind therapy, and just as some people believe that every person in your dreams represents a part of you, I also think the same can be true when someone creates a fictional world and characters. So the idea of good-guys and bad-guys shouldn’t be taken too seriously, in my opinion.

Again, I don’t dislike heroes. I would hate for people to think I’m saying I do, because I don’t. But on the other hand, I am saying when push-comes-to-shove, I do enjoy writing villains more.

From The Darkness.

Big thanks to everyone who tuned into Babayka-Lives last weekend for its return. I have to confess, I was a little worried readers wouldn’t come back after the summer break, but I was very glad to see that wasn’t the case at all. Both Saturday and Sunday saw people tuning in to watch Blake cross that threshold, and I’m very grateful to all those that did. I hope you all enjoy what’s coming your way this Autumn.

I can’t believe it’s almost time for another update all ready. Just two days left until you find out who or what is calling to Blake from the darkness. FYI, If you’ve got a sinister feeling something nasty’s gonna happen in this weekend’s episode (SPOILER ALERT…) You’re right.

The Last Bachelor Standing.

So this is it, folks. It’s finally the 22nd of August and the summer break is over. If you head over to Babayka-Lives right now, you’ll see the long awaited Page-88 waiting for you. It’s officially the beginning of the end of Book one, and it starts today. Hope readers enjoy the coming chaos this autumn.

As anyone who’s been keeping a beady eye on my deviantart page this week can tell you, I posted a pin-up surprise on there a couple of days ago to get readers in the mood for more Babayka action this weekend. I made a throwaway gag on this very blog earlier in the summer about making a Yana action figure, and the idea tickled me so much, I decided to draw it for fun. Complete with tiny Bladder and Foot-pump accessories, this was pretty much what I saw in my head when I made that joke. If my model making skills were better, I might of actually had a go at making a real Yana toy, but instead I thought I’d just play to my strengths and draw it inside. I think it looks pretty cool. I’m not sure if the world’s ready for a Yana action figure just yet, but no comic book character is truly complete until he\she has been immortalize in plastic.

While sadly a Yana action figure is still only a pipedream right now, you can pick up a print of my Yana toy artwork over on Deviantart. Any and all money raised goes towards keeping Babayka-Lives running and really does help this web-series.

Yana Says…

Yep, it’s officially just under a week now until Babayka-Lives returns on the 22nd. Tune in next Saturday for the beginning of the end, as it were. The wait is nearly over, folks. Come see how book one ends and meet Babayka.

I’d love to get as many people as possible checking out Babayka-Lives when it comes back next weekend, so if you’ve been enjoying the previous 87-pages of Brides Of Babayka, and you want to help the web-comic out, there’s one very simple thing readers can do. Just give Babayka-Lives a quick shout out online, and let people know it’s a web-comic you’ve been reading and enjoying. Just a quick review (even a sentence or two will do) and a link to www.babayka-lives.com would be a massive help (and may put you on the radar of other Babayka-Lives readers, too.) Show some love for this web-series by giving it a shout out on your Blog, Twitter feed, Facebook page or however you put yourself out there online. Just a few kind words and a link would help big time, and probably take seconds to do. You can even re-blog\re-post your favourite page, scene or pin-up from Babayka-Lives (just be sure to include a link back to the web-comic, though.) Basically, any shout out would be great and most welcome.

I may have a treat for readers (if I can get the timing right) over on my deviantart page at some point this week before Babayka-Lives returns this Saturday. So keep an eye on my page over the next seven days and you may get a surprise. I’m also currently trying to put together the pieces of my 2015 Halloween Ecard at the moment. I notices Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which is cool, as it means I can upload a Babayka-Lives page on the big day itself.

A Hefty Recap.

With Brides Of Babayka both returning and concluding in a couple of weekends, before then, readers may wanna take some time to get up-to-date on the story so far for when it returns later this month. The best way to catch up on the previous 87-pages is either over on the main site at Babayka-Lives, or on Tapastic. But for those who don’t have time to reread what’s gone before, I’ve updated my previous lengthy recap from earlier in the year (after the first incarnation of Babayka-Lives was hacked, and had to be rebuilt from scratch back in January.) So enjoy, and get ready to re-enter the terrifying world of Babayka.    

Previously on Brides Of Babayka…

Chapter One: A small group of six English men are met at a Russian airport by a mysterious and beautiful young girl named Yana. The men are four bachelors and two company chaperones visiting Russia for the weekend in search of potential Russian Brides. Yana herself claims to be working for a small Russian business called ‘Brides Of Babayka.’ Taken deep into the wilderness, they find themselves arriving at a large secluded house, tucked away at the bottom of a hillside quarry. The men are shown to their rooms and told they will be guests at a party later that night where they will be introduces to the girls, and that the hotel only has one other guest who resides in the room at the end of the hall. While preparing for that night, one bachelor (Kevin Moon) finds a human tooth on the floor of his bathroom after retrieving a dropped razor blade. The party starts, and one of the bachelors called Ben Plug introduces himself to a pretty blonde girl named Alina, who he has been corresponding with over the internet. While another one of the bachelors (a very young, good looking man called Julian Webb), appears to be a big hit with the ladies. Later that night during the party, the forth bachelor (an elderly man named Colin Mack) is suddenly taken ill after accepting a drink earlier from Yana. Senior company chaperone (Barry Conner) instructs the younger chaperone (Ronald Blake) to take the old man to bed, but Yana quickly offers to have two of her girls handle Mr Mack for them instead. Weak and dizzy, the old man is led upstairs by two of the girls (Vera and Zoya), but is not taken back to his room, but rather the room at the end of the hall where their mystery guest resides. Once locked inside, the old man is set upon by something sinister hiding in the shadows.

Chapter Two: The morning after the big party finds Ben waking up next to Alina after spending the night together. The bachelors are meant to be going on a hike and picnic with the girls, but Ben quickly blows off the offer to spend the day with Alina. Blake tries to check on Mr Mack to see if he’s feeling better after falling ill the previous night, but is intercepted by Yana, who says she has just spoken with the old man, and he’d rather stay behind and sleep in and join them later. The girls and bachelors set out for their picnic, and much to the annoyance of Kevin Moon, the girls are again swooning and ganging around the young Julian Webb. The group treks through a broken landscape of deserted homes and abandoned farm land until they find a clearing to have their picnic. Back at the hotel, Ben and Alina decide to get up and get some breakfast. While heading downstairs, Ben informs Alina that he has already booked a room at his favourite Sci-Fi TV show themed convention, which they could use, if she accept his marriage proposal. Rather then answer him, though, Alina shouts out to a figure standing behind Ben in the dark. Zoya, clad in a plastic bodysuit, emerges and violently strikes and kills a shocked Ben Plug with a sledgehammer. Meanwhile back at the picnic, a rainstorm breaks out, forcing everyone to start fleeing back to the hotel, as Alina and Zoya take Ben’s body into the room at the end of the hall, and try and clean up the kill scene. The group returns to the hotel all wet, and Yana suggest they get dried off, and get ready for the Bachelors leaving party that night. On his way back to his room, Kevin Moon again finds a human tooth (this one having belonged to Ben Plug), but Moon is unaware he is being watched by Yana and Vera as he studies it.

Chapter Three: The leaving party is in full swing, and again Julian is centre of attention amongst the ladies, and openingly mocking Kevin to the amusement of the young girls. Blake meanwhile tries to check on Colin, but finds his door locked and can get no answer from inside. While leaving the party briefly to use the urinal, Julian in the meantime is ambushed by Kevin Moon in the bathroom. Intent on beating Julian up for stealing the limelight and mocking him, Kevin is left furious when Julian quickly talks his way out of any walloping with the threat of legal action, and Moon storms out the toilet in a foul mood, his bloodlust unabated. Leaving the party, Kevin finds Alina creeping about upstairs and decides to take his anger out on her, after it transpires that Alina had ignored Kevin’s attempts to engage with her over the internet before this visit. Kevin’s attack is short lived though, as he is knocked out from behind by Yana with a glass bottle. Yana instructs that Moon be taken to her room, and that they also “fetch the bladder.” Back at the bar, Blake approaches Conner and insists he helps him try and get an answer out of Colin. Begrudgingly Conner agrees, leaving Blake to supervise a now Bachelorless party. Up in Yana’s room, Moon starts to wake. While he was passed out, the girls have tied him to a chair sitting in the middle of a large sheet of plastic wrap. Yana berates Moon over his un-gentlemanly conduct, before using a knitting-needle to force a leather bladder up inside Moon’s head through his right nostril. Any pleading from Moon is ignored, as a foot pump is used to inflate the bladder, crushing Moon’s brain against the inside of his skull and killing him. Yana instructs that the girls wait a couple of hours, before cutting up and moving the body to the room at the end of the hall. Elsewhere in the hotel, Julian is caught by Zoya exiting the hotel’s kitchen, but she is quickly pushed aside, as Julian flees back to his bedroom, still shaken and angry after his encounter with Kevin earlier in the night in the Mens’ toilet. Upon returning to his room, he is shocked to discover Vera inside, going through his belongings. When she confronts him with evidence to suggest he may not really be being truthful with them about his reasons for being in Russia looking for a Bride, Julian loses his cool, and produces a knife he has just stolen from the kitchen to protect himself from Kevin Moon, and proceeds to wildly threaten Vera with it.  

Chapter Four: Vera escapes by clawing at Julian’s face, but he gives chase, and runs after her into the hallway. Meanwhile back in the bar, Yana approaches a lone Blake, and offers him a drink, much like she had the night before with Colin. Vera hurries into the sister room at the end of the hall, with Julian not far behind. Thinking she has run into a dead end, Julian approaches, when suddenly from behind he is attacked by some unseen figure, who kills him by thrusting his giant hand through his chest, much to Vera’s amusement. Blake lays motionless on the barroom floor, after passing out from whatever Yana spiked his drink with. The other Brides are instructed to take Blake upstairs. Sometime later, Blake awakes, minus his glasses and tie in his own room. Unsure what has happened to him, he ventures out into the hotel to seek help, only to find it empty. After searching high-and-low, Blake can still not find anyone until he notices that the other mystery guest’s room door is ajar, and decides to investigate. Blake gingerly approaches the room at the end of the hall... and enters...

Find out how the story ends on Saturday the 22nd of August at Babayka-Lives.com

My Weekend.

I can pretty much sum up my plans for this weekend in one photo.

I’ve heard a lot of people call Cold Fear a Resident Evil 4 rip off. But considering Resident Evil 4 is my favourite game of all time, somehow playing an imitator of it strangely appeals to me. As you’ve probably no doubt guess by now from reading Babayka-Lives, I’m a big fan of survival horror, so I’m very much looking forward to this game (I’m also very much looking forward to the white, chocolate buttons, too.)

By-the-by, it’s officially less than a month now until Babayka-Lives returns. Something else I need to do very soon-ish is update the Brides Of Babayka recap from earlier in the year, to give return readers a chance for a quick catch up before the story gets going again on the 22nd next month.

Summertime In Hastings.

Sub-headline: Boo clouds.

There’s something ironic about living in a seaside town that doesn’t get much sun. It’s like the God of clouds is punishing us\me or something. I live about a 5-minute walk away from the local park, and about a 15-minute walk away from the beach, it’s the middle of summer, and I can’t enjoy either right now. It’s very frustrating. At least it’ll give me a chance to stay indoors and do some much needed inking, I guess, but I’d like to think we’ve got a few more sunny days to come yet this summer.

Here’s how things look out my window as I write this blog.

And here’s how that makes me feel.

Nothing To See Here.

Just a quick post today to say if you’re subscriber of Babayka-Lives and you got a message today to say there’d been an update… just ignore it. One of my many tasks this summer (because I can assure you, just because the web-comics on a break, doesn’t mean I am), is to try and sort out and get early pages from Babayka: Book 2 ready to be posted when Brides Of Babayka concludes later in the year. So yes, today I did do a test run and post the first page of Book 2 to make sure it looked ok (you only have to look at the less-than-perfect quality of the current Summer break image that I did a little too quickly for its own good, to see if it’s not done right, you get resolution problems), thankfully, it looked great.

I doubt anyone did snag a copy of Page 1 from Book 2 while it was briefly posted, but if by some jammy chance you have, please keep it to yourself. There no real danger if by some chance it did leak onto the internet, as it has no spoilers to the end of Brides Of Babayka, or any other real spoilers, anyhow, but I’d be grateful if any AWOL copies could be kept offline.

Hope everyone’s excited about Brides Of Babayka returning next month? Not much longer to wait now until we find out who-or-what resides in the room at the end of the hall, and what will become of poor Blake, the last bachelor standing.

Something Or Other.

One thing I’d like to do more heading into 2016 is maybe try and utilize the awesome power of Email more in regards to my web-comic. Both using it to get information about Babayka-Lives out there into the world wide web, and also as a quick and free way to maybe send some kind of extra bonus material out to readers. What this extra content would be, I don’t know yet, which is why I’m throwing it out to readers to get their input. If you have an idea of something Babayka-Lives related you like to receive via Email, let me know, as I’m open to all suggestions and ideas about online bonus content. I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while now, and so far, these are the best ideas I’ve come up with myself.

1: A Babayka-Lives desktop wallpaper image. A high-resolution, black-and-white, screensaver mash-up featuring Yana and co (and maybe even Babayka himself), as a background for reader’s computer screens.  

2: A short character profile PDF. A small PDF feathering shots of your favourite Babayka-Lives characters (they’ll probably be mostly of The Brides themselves) with maybe stats and unknown background details to read and get to know these characters better.

3: A quarterly Babayka-Lives Email newsletter. A four times a year newsletter that readers can subscribe to, and get updates and the latest news about all things Babayka related sent straight to their inbox. I’m not sure if in the age of blogs and online journals, if Email newsletters ain’t a bit out of date, but if readers show an interest, I’d be open to doing one.

4: An Email exclusive Babayka-Lives pin-up. A piece of one-off artwork featuring Babayka, or The Brides, or both, only available to readers via Email. This pin-up would not be available online anywhere. Readers would only be able to get a copy by having it Emailed to them.

I’m in no way committing myself to any of these ideas yet. It’s all still very much up in the air at the moment, but I would like to do something Email related soon, so all ideas and suggestions at this point are very welcome. All ideas do have to be something I can do via Email, though. Something like ‘post all readers a cool, free, bonus mini-comic’ wouldn’t work, as apart from the vast amount of time it would take me to draw and put together a mini-comic, it would also cost me a small fortune to post them all out to people (and I’m poor enough as it is), so no ideas involving big spending, please, or anything that would take months for me to draw or make. This is content I’d like to put together while working on Book 2, that shouldn’t be overly time-consuming.

I’d also like suggestions on what you think would be a fair deal for readers to have to do to receive this extra content. Should someone who’s just sending in feedback get it, or should readers have to do a little more for bonus extras, do you think? And if so, what should that be? Maybe extra content should only be for people who send in fan-art or fan-fiction? Or as some kind of reward for people who send in pictures of themselves with the graphic novel as a thank you for buying the book? (it should be noted at this point that the book does already have exclusive pin-ups and the original Babayka character sheet included, as bonus content that can not be found anywhere else, as a thank you for buying the book.) Or maybe you even think it should be handle like a competition? I put out a clue or question, and if you get it right, you get Emailed a prize of some sort?          

As I say, nothing’s set in stone yet, and at the moment I just want to throw a few ideas around before I settle on any course of action. If you like the sound of any of the options above, or maybe have one of your own, please Email me at the web-comic’s Email address HERE.

A big thank you in advance to anyone and everyone who does get in contact. I promises I will read and consider all ideas sent my way.

Ascending Zombie.

Considering June and July are my worse months of the year for getting artwork done, I’ve got a bit of a treat for readers today. I tend to stay away from drawing classic monsters like Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies, as I kind of feel they’ve all been a bit played out in pop culture these days, but that said, I do find myself returning to them once in a while. I haven’t done a zombie pin-up since 2013 with my Ned Kelly Vs The Undead faux horror comic cover. While Zombies are everywhere now-a-days, I couldn’t resist doing this recent image. I like that it feels a bit like a throw back to old EC comics of the 50’s, too. I always like peril pictures where the main character has no idea something sinister is slowly moving in for the kill. I find that concept very creepy.

A couple of quick updates to end on. Firstly I’ve recently just posted pages 69-72 on my Tapastic account this week. Head over there if you want to re-read the conclusion of the infamous ‘bladder scene’, if you’re feeling brave. Also, I’m happy to say that I’ve finally finished doing this year’s Halloween Ecard. All I’ve gotta do now is find a spare couple of hours before the end of October to scan it, and put it together in photoshop. Like most of my artwork, I spent way longer working on it then I originally thought I would.

Summer Halloween Havoc.

Yep… it’s mid-June and boiling outside, and yet I’m currently working on this year’s Halloween Ecard. Over the Summer is the only time I see myself having any free time before the end of October to do it, and I really wanna do one this year staring Babayka, so it’s weird, but it’s gotta be done now. I think readers will get a kick out of it, plus it will be good to get Babayka out in the limelight more later in the year.

Frustratingly, this is my second only ever Babayka pin-up. There’s one I did exclusively for the Brides Of Babayka graphic novel, and that’s about it. I have done two Babayka character sheets, however. The original and slightly different design one, which is also exclusive to the Brides Of Babayka book. And a second one I did fairly recently, which I’ll no doubt post later in the year when Babayka finally comes out the horror closet.

The Hulk With Herpes.

Continuing our sneak-peek at Book 2 this summer, today I’ll be officially releasing the first ever character sketch and name from the second book in the Babayka-Lives series. 

A lot of character designs I just have in my head pretty much from inception. I know what I want to do with that character, and how I want them to look, and it’s just a case of trying to sketch their design down. That said, in both Book 1 and 2, there have been a few characters I’ve not been a 100% sure what I’m after with their look. I know what their characteristics are, but I can’t see them clearly in my head yet. Baransky (a new character in Book 2) is a good example of that. I knew I wanted him to be burly and mean looking, but I couldn’t quite get a fix on how his face should look. I think he was the last character I designed for Book 2, and it took a couple of goes to get him right. I like my character designs to be interesting, so I don’t get bored of drawing them over the years, but Baransky always seemed to come out a bit plain looking when I tried to doodle him down. I saw him as a kind of Bluto like character, minus the beard and the sailor aspect, of course, but I just couldn’t zero in on what I was going for. Then it popped into my head that I should draw him like a more human version of the incredible hulk. I just wanted to draw that hulk style massive chin and bird's nest hairdo, as I’ve always thought it was a cool look. Plus making him hulk like fitted with him being burly and tough looking. This bruiser hulk look worked for me, but I felt like something was still missing, and the design was still a little plain. I then remembered at one point I was going to draw one of the other characters with a gross herpes infected lower lip, but didn’t for some reason in the end, so I recycled that idea, and thought it suited Baransky look a lot better. Once I’d done that, I really felt his look was complete. In recent months, I’ve notices he’s fast becoming one of my favourite characters to draw in Book 2. He’s maybe more of a background character in the story, but I thought readers might get a kick out of knowing his look is human hulk with herpes inspired. I enjoy drawing him in the same way I enjoyed drawing Kevin Moon in Brides Of Babayka. I really like characters with unique facial characteristics. 

So there it is. Our first official character from Book 2. I’ll probably post one or two more over the summer before Babayka-Lives returns in august, so stay tuned for those.

Jonesing For More Babayka.

Should you be finding yourself missing new updates of Babayka-Lives recently during this summer break, why not head over to my Babayka-Lives Tapastic account and re-live freshly uploaded pages 65-68 (the first half of the infamous bladder scene.) Re-read the downfall of Kevin Moon, and again see the Brides at their most sinister, in this notorious instalment. I’d be quite interested in hearing who readers thought had the grisliest death scene so far? Ben? Kevin? Or Julian? No spoilers, but I’ve already had to draw a couple of gruesome scenes in Book 2 recently. I think the second book may actually turn out to be gorier than the first. I guess time will tell on that one.  

Maybe one day I’ll put out a little Yana action figure, complete with tiny bladder and foot-pump. She could have a string on her back you pull to make her say “Fetch The Bladder!”

Book One Vs Book Two.

Wasn’t a 100% sure how to kick off this Babayka-lives less summer, so I thought the best thing I could do was simply just take a picture of the latest page I’m working on right now, and post that. Yep… Here’s a half-inked page from Babayka: Book 2. I won’t go into detail for fear of spoilers, but I think it gives a pretty good feel of what Book 2 will be about and where the storyline’s heading.

I think for Book 1 (I.E. Brides Of Babayka), having a little more reserved, cloak-and-dagger style set up was very much called for. I feel one of the jobs of Book 1 is to create an enclosed, spooky atmosphere for readers, and introduce the characters of The Brides and Babayka to the audience. But once the Babayka out the bag, as it were, later in the year, I think that type of storytelling would start to feel very old, very quickly in the second book. With Book 2, I want to widen that spooky atmospheric net a little bit, and maybe introduce a bit more action into the second story. It’s ok for the characters in Book 1 to be clueless about Babayka, because the reader him\herself is also for the most part keep in the dark in the first story. I don’t think that would work for a second instalment when the reader him\herself is more wiser to what’s going on. I want to move things forward for Book 2, not just do a retelling of Brides Of Babayka.

A big thank you to everyone who tune in last Saturday over on Babayka-Lives. I’m pretty sure it was the site’s biggest turn out of return readers in its history to date. I don’t think a lot of readers knew the comic was going to start its summer break last weekend, sadly, but hopefully with the little Book 2 titbits I’ll be putting out over the summer, plus the fact that Babayka-Lives will shortly return this autumn, readers won’t be too disappointed. We’ll be a taking a one way trip into that room at the end of the hall before you even know it, dear reader, have no fear.

Kebab Pizza.

One of my side-missions in life is to try as many different bizarre pizza toppings as possible. Last Easter, for example, I tried a cheese burger pizza, which was good, but not great, as I remember it. And last week myself and a friend finally got around to trying a kebab pizza. That’s a pizza topped with doner kebab meat. This pizza I actually enjoyed more. While the meat was maybe cut a tiny bit too thick for something going on top of a pizza and was a little over cooked, I would recommend it (providing you like doner kebab meat, that is), and unlike the cheeseburger pizza, I probably will order it again sometime. Maybe next time I’ll see if I can get one with jalapeno chillis, sliced red cabbage and mayonnaise.      

Just a quick reminder that Babayka-Lives starts its summer break next week, and will return shortly in august. I myself will not be taking a break this summer, however, so feel free to drop by this blog over the next couple of months, as I’ll be talking Babayka: Book 2 as well as other stuff, no doubt.

Summer Break Schedule.

I think it’s only fair to warn readers there will be a short break coming soon over the summer at Babayka-Lives. There’s a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, one of the many things I learnt over my first year of doing a web-comic in 2014, was that readership takes a hefty drop during the summer months. This is understandable, as the sun’s out, and nobody’s really in the mood to sit indoors and read a horror web-comic anyway. People want to be off their computers, and out in the sunshine. I myself wondered why so many web-comics take a break over the summer, and now I’m guessing this is probably why. The second reason is we’re heading towards the end of Brides Of Babayka. We’re down to our last character, and I think it’s pretty clear something big is about to go down, and I don’t really want to be posting the best, and scariest part of the story, and wrapping up during the summer months when less people are reading or caring. I know some people might counter with I could just post the end of Brides Of Babayka during the summer, and then readers could go back themselves and read it as a whole later in the autumn, but I’d rather do it when everybody’s in the mood and people are tuning in. Plus I just think Babayka-Lives as a web-series works better in the colder, darker months of the year. I’ve notices that’s when readership tends to be at its highest. It harder to scare an audience on a bright, lovely sunny day.

So what’s the plan for the summer, you may well ask. Page-87 goes up this Saturday as normal, and then the break starts on the 16th. Page-87 ends on a hell of a cliffhanger, so don’t worry. Over the summer, I’ll be sure to keep updating this blog. To keep readers going during the forthcoming Babayka drought, I’ll be dropping hints and info about Babayka: Book 2 (let me start by dropping a quick hint now… Babayka: Book 2 isn’t going to be called Babayka: Book 2. For what it is going to be called, keep watching this blog over the summer.) I may well also post a couple of sneak-peak photos of the artwork from Book 2 and maybe the odd character profile shot, too, until the web-comic itself returns around mid-august. Not sure what I’ll do over the summer in regards to updating my Babayka-Lives Tapastic account. I probably won’t take a break from that, but I might slow down a bit. I haven’t a 100% decided yet. We’ll see. If nothing else, it would be nice to have somewhere else where readers can get up-to-speed on Brides Of Babayka before it ends in August. I also hear Tapastic comics look very good on smart-phones (not owning a smart-phone myself, I wouldn’t know), but I hear they do.

Hope readers won’t be too disappointed there’s to be a break this summer. We are nearly at a whooping ninety-pages into Brides Of Babayka, and this is the web-comics first hiatus in two years (not including the three weeks at the start of this year, when the site was hacked, and I had to rebuild it again from scratch and move it over to tumblr.), so I promise the series won’t be left hanging, and will be resolved in the autumn. Anybody left super fuming by this news, and don’t wanna wait till August for Brides Of Babayka to be concluded, well you could always just simply buy the book. After 86-pages, you must have a pretty good idea of if you’re enjoying the story or not by now. Plus the graphic-novel contains extras that can only be found in the book. If you’re someone who likes reading creepy horror stories even in the sunny weather, why not treat yourself this summer, and help support independent comics, to boot.    

Here’s an interesting fact to end on (well… I guess you’ll be the judge of that.) It’s only early May, and I’m already about to make a start on my Halloween Ecard this year. I’m so backlogged, the only way I figured I’d be able to fit it in, is to start super early in the year. I’ve thumb-nailed a design I like, now I just need to draw it. And yes… Babayka himself\itself will be the star of this year’s Ecard, as promised last year.

Squashed Vampire.

Just thought I’d share this photo I quickly snapped on my phone the other day. It an old Halloween vampire mask squashed in a pile of comics, magazines and other bits-and-pieces that sit on my desk.

There’s a big part of me that would love to get back into photography. I kind of got into it at college, and do very much enjoy it. Right now, though, the web-comic seems to take up any rare free second of time I might get, but maybe one day. I did buy myself a funky new camera a few years ago, and I still haven’t really tried it out yet.

Global Readership.

The eerie ‘quiet before the storm’ continues over on Babayka-lives this weekend. Has Blake’s luck finally run out, and he doesn’t even know it yet? And just where is everybody, anyway? You ever get the feeling something sinister is brewing?

I always try and avoid talking numbers and figures of readers on this blog. Partly because I think a web-comic should be judge on artwork and content alone, not whether it’s in style that week online or not. And partly because I imagine it wouldn’t really be a very interesting subject for anyone reading this blog. Plus as we all know, just because something’s popular, doesn’t actually mean it’s any good. But that said, I did think today I’d share this screen grab below of Babayka-Lives audience stat showing readership from around the world. I am very lucky in that the comic does seem to attract readers from near-and-far, and for anyone wondering, here’s what Babayka-Lives worldwide readership looks like. By far, the biggest audience of readers can be found in the Untied States. I guess that’s probably no surprise, as they are the biggest English-languages speaking country in the world. They’re also a country big on both horror and comics. I’m guessing America are probably most web-comic’s biggest readership audience. Second and third place seems to be an ongoing battle right now between the Untied Kingdom (my home country, if you were wondering) and the Philippines (who are apparently big into web-comics at the moment.) Right now it’s the UK holding second position, but up until recently, it’s been the Philippines. It’s almost neck-and-neck at the moment. Honourable mentions should also go to readers from Canada, Russia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Australia and many others. It’s very flattering to know people are tuning in from around the world to follow this web-series. With so many, many web-comics out there right now competing for reader’s attentions, it is nice to know people are following this web-series and wanting to know where this series is going (not to mention I probably lose a vast amount of readers on account of I don’t draw a web-comic that’s either Manga-y or Cartoon-y, like 99% of all modern web-comics currently. Like with Superhero comics dominating floppy comic-books in the last century, you do feel a bit left out right now in web-comics if you’re not a drawing a series that’s heavily Anime inspired, bright colours, and wacky with everyone having big cartoon eyes… Not that I’m against any of those things, you understand, but it’s pretty clear that’s not really where my artwork’s coming from.) So it’s nice to know it turns out there is an audience for what I do. Not being a colourful manga\cartoon inspired web-comic, it can also mean it’s hard to get any love from media\web-comic websites (plus being a horror web-comic can bring out the skittish in some reviewers, sadly.) So a big thank you to those readers that recommend Babayka-Lives to other people, either online, or in person. It truly is a massive help when readers (from wherever you are across the globe) show this web-comic some love. Just recommending Babayka-Lives to a friend, or saying a few kind words about it and posting a link on Blogs\Facebook\Twitter\Forums is such a massive help.

It’s only recently I’ve really began to see where this web-series can start to go over the next couple of years. While Brides Of Babayka will be coming to an end very soon, I do have plenty of plans for these characters, have no fear. I guess it will come down to whether readers are interested in seeing future adventures of The Brides Of Babayka, and Babayka himself (when he finally bloody turns up) when Book one is finished or not. I hope people will.

Hit That Button.

Tune in tomorrow over on Babayka-Lives to see the fate of Ronald Blake, as he continues his misadventures trapped deep in Babayka’s lair. What will become of poor, old, lone Blake? How long will he remain the last Bachelor standing?

Also, if you have either a Tumblr or Tapastic account, why not subscribe to Babayka-Lives? Never miss an update by simply hitting that subscribe button. It also gives me a chance to get to know some of my readers, to boot, and helps support the web-comic. A massive thank you to those who have already subscribe via Tumblr\Tapastic. It’s always awesome when readers show some love and hits that subscribe button. It’s the highlight of my day when I get an Email informing me the comic’s got a new follower, so a big thank you to those that do.

Blogger Quest.

Decided this week to spice things up a bit, so I turned my blog into a interactive, live-action, roleplaying game. To play, simply pick up and roll a six-sided dice now and follow the instructions below.

Roll a 6 or a 5: You must travel to the part of the internet where the dreaded Babayka-Lives and witness the fate of poor, lone Blake, as he finds himself last man standing (or not, as it were) after last week’s horrific events.  

Roll a 4 or a 3: Quest you must over to Tapastic, where you will find pages 45 to 48 freshly uploaded and waiting to be discovered. What riddles do they hide, brave traveller?

Roll a 2: Your path is unclear. Player must roll again.

Roll a 1: You are eaten by a smelly Orc. Game over. No Babayka action for you this week, unlucky knight. You must return in seven moons time and try again with your quest.

Double Jinkies.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in this weekend over on Babayka-Lives for your first (but by no means last) brief glimpse of Babayka. Yep, that’s right SPOILER ALERT: He’s humanoid-ish shape. Every week we get a little bit closer and closer to the big reveal. I’m saying as little as possible at this point.

Spent some time last week re-watching the Millennium trilogy. While I haven’t read the novels, I’m a huge fan the Swedish TV movies. I always feel bummed out after watching the third one, though, knowing there’s no more Lisbeth\Mikael adventures after it. It’s very ambiguous as to what kind of relationship (if any) they’d have had after the events of the third film. I really love both characters and their partnership, and the Millennium trilogy just left me wanting to see more of them, or at least a tidier ending to their partnership. That said, I’m not sure how I feel about other writers carrying on the characters after Larsson’s death. I guess you could argue great characters have a better chance of living on if new writer keep them alive with new material. Also, as mentioned, the Lisbeth\Mikael relationship feels unfinished and lacking closure (although I can see some people actually maybe liking how their partnership is left open to anything happening at the end of part three.) But to be honest, I see all novels, movies and comics staring famous characters not written by the original author as almost glorified fan-fiction anyway. It’s just whether they’re good glorified fan-fiction or not. I think canon splits off the moment the original writer ends his\her run. We get a new branch every time a new writer tackles classic characters, but the original work should always be the never changing trunk they grow off. That way you get new offshoot classics like Skyfall, Anno Dracula and the Hannibal TV series. I probably will check out any future Lisbeth\Mikael books or films, in the same way I always check out the latest Bond movies, but I just wish we could have seen how Larsson would have wrapped up their storyline (again, some people might say it doesn’t need wrapping up and is better left open ended.)

Speaking of weird offshoots, non-canon, but still pretty good offerings. I watched and enjoyed this last night.

Wolf Bait Inked.

Just for anybody who enjoyed seeing my pencils in the last post, I thought I’d follow up by posting this picture of that frame now it’s inked. I can never decide if I like the way I draw wolves or not. Sometimes I do, sometimes don’t. I was fairly happy with the results the one time I tried to draw a werewolf, though, a couple of years ago.

I should also say quickly before I wrap up, there’s a rumour going round that this week’s instalment over on Babayka-Lives on Saturday has the story’s first ever glimpse of Babayka himself. I will neither confirm nor deny that rumour. You’ll just have to tune in this weekend to see for yourself.

Wolf Bait.

Here’s a quick treat for all Babayka-Lives readers. I thought I’d take a snappy, candid mobile phone pic of a panel I’ve been working on this week for Babayka: Book 2. I thought some people may enjoy seeing my artwork in the pencilling stage before inking. I’ve cropped the photo, so as not to give any spoilers on who or what’s getting chomp on by this hungry wolf. This panel I’ve been working on recently might be the goriest thing I’ve ever drawn. It’s pretty gruesome stuff. Differently something for the gore-hounds (pun well and truly intended.)

Return Readers.

One of the nice things about changing from Wordpress to Tumblr recently, is that it’s put an end to one of my biggest fears I’ve had since starting my web-comic. All throughout 2014 I was getting hits through advertising and word-of-mouth, but I would always return to the same nagging thought whenever I would look at my web-comic’s stats. “Sure I seem to be getting hits”, I’d think to myself. “But what if they’re all just spam-bot hits. What if all my site’s visits were from annoying non-human computer programs, scanning my site for a place to unload tons of unwanted spam. What if I didn’t have a single returning reader and nobody was really following this web-series.” In other words, what if my audiences was nothing more than a bunch of nuisance spam-bots and zero real people. The website stat software I was using during 2014 was very light on details. All I knew for sure was I was getting hits from somewhere. The fact that I would often have to remove so many nuisance spam comments from my old site only fuelled my nagging doubt about having any real readers. But when I moved Babayka-Lives over to Tumblr, I also change website stat software, and I’m so glad I did. Using the new stats program, it soon became clear I did indeed have real life returning readers. Sure, I get my fair share of attention from spammers (mainly from Russia), but looking over my stats, it’s clear I do get plenty of real life readers returning to read this web-series, too, and for that I am very grateful. I’m very glad to be able to put that nagging fear to rest at last and know my readership isn’t all just soulless spam-bots. To show my point, here’s the readership stat from yesterday after I posted page-78.

It very cool to finally know that real people are tuning in and enjoying the comic.

Sewer Snatcher 2.

Well first things first. It looks like my new internet services has kicked in a little sooner than was expected. So tune in tomorrow to see Page-78 posted on time over on Babayka-Lives. (HINT: we’re be returning to Julian’s room, as Vera is held at knifepoint.)

I also promises to post my go at the Draw This Again Meme challenge a few weeks ago, before my internet again cruelly cut out just after midnight on Friday the 13th last month, and I had to switch internet providers. So here it is posted above finally. Give yourself a pat on the back if you guess I’d be redrawing Sewer Snatcher from 2010. I was always a little disappointed with how the girl and monster came out in the 2010 original. So here was my chance to put that right after five years. I change the hippy looking super heroine to a sultry streetwalker this time around. I always regretted putting in a superhero element in what should have been a horror pin-up first time around. I was glad to get a chance to fix that. I also was never happy with the way the sewer monster came out in the original either. I think the creature’s design was lacking a little in the first pin-up, so I change it to a gross giant bug. It fits the theme of the artwork a lot better, I think. I also added more tentacles this time around. Make it look like she’s got less chance of escaping this time around. I think the background works a little better in the 2015 pin-up, too. I tried to make it a bit tidier, and more space out.

Hope people enjoy this rare chance of seeing me redrawing an old piece of artwork. If you’d like to see the newer Sewer Snatcher pin-up in more detail, head over to my deviantart page now, where I’ve just posted it on its own.

Also for all Tapastic readers, I’ve just uploaded pages 33-36 on my account tonight for people following Brides Of Babayka on there.

It’s feels very good to be back online.

Next Instalment.

Even though my dongle says it’s dry, somehow I still managed to post pages 76 and 77 today over on Babayka-Lives, and if you’re reading this, update my blog, too. I used up most of the credit on my dongle cancelling and trying to get hooked up to a new internet services during the week, so I’m fully expecting my dongle to conk out at any moment, so I’m gonna have to keep this update brief.    

I also have to warn you that the posting of Page 78 could be a bit tricky next weekend. Right now, as I mentioned, I’m in the middle of changing internet providers, and my new services isn’t meant to kick in until the end of next week, so don’t be too disappointed if there’s isn’t an update on Babayka-Lives next Saturday. As soon as my internet comes back, I’ll post Page 78 ASAP. But it’s more likely it’ll be updated on Sunday or Monday, though, if there’s no hiccups (and with my luck concerning the internet and technology lately, I’m sure there’ll be one-or-two.), so maybe even a bit later than that. I will update as soon as I can, but I can’t be a 100% sure when that will be, now my dongle’s dead. Probably around early week after next, would be my guess.

I’ll also be sure to update my Tapastic account and finally post my ‘Draw This Again’ pin-up when I’m back online in just over a week, too, so hang in there, readers.

Back To The Dongle.

Yet again my internet provider has left me high-and-dry and with no internet access. Again, just before the weekend, my broadband went dead with no warning, like it did last October for nearly three weeks. So I’m again having to update this blog via my newly topped up dongle.

So apologies to anyone who tuned in Saturday expecting to see Page 74. If you head over to Babayka-Lives right now, you’ll see the first thing I did when I got my rejuvenated dongle out and slipped it in today, was upload this week’s page. Hope people weren’t too disappointed about the lack of comic on Saturday. I have to confess I feel a bit jinxed these last few months. Between Hackers and poor internet services, it’s been a real uphill struggle to keep updating my web-comic recently.

Hopefully, now my dongle has credit on it, I won’t have to miss updating Babayka-Lives for the next few Saturdays at least. My online present is probably gonna be minimal for the forthcoming weeks, though, until I can get my regular internet sorted. Thanks to some crappy built in mature content filter on the dongle, it won’t let me sign into my deviantart account, sadly. I was a little worried for a moment that it wouldn’t let me sign into Tumblr today either, but thankfully it did, so I could update my web-comic. I can however still easily check my Emails (in fact it’s about the only thing I can easily do right now online) so anyone who needs to get a hold of me can do so at babayka-lives@outlook.com if you wanna get in touch. I do try and reply to all troll-free correspondence.  

So to sum up, tune in this coming Saturday to witness the final page and cliffhanger of Chapter Three. I will try my hardest to keep things business-as-usual while I try and get back online.