The stall keeps going from strength to strength. We've been joined at various markets by local self-publishing cartoonists Miguel Martin (The Weekly Woe), Stephen Maurice Graham (400 Facts), and Dale Mawhinney (Drawn Out), so there's a nice wee Belfast small press scene coming together.

At the next Black Books, we'll have some new additions. Already arrived is ...These City Walls..., the latest Mr Maximo and Rabbit comic by Bridgeen Gillespie, on the subject of the walls of Derry. We also hope to have a 10-page preview of Róisín Dubh, a forthcoming 19th century horror comic by Rob Curley, Maura McHugh and Stephen Daly (as well as some of Rob's other comics, like Freakshow).

If you have a comic you'd like us to stock, email me on patrickbrown40@hotmail.com.

And finally, Tommie Kelly has asked me to pass on the following message:

"Looks like things over at Road Crew are speeding up. Not only has Tommie Kelly got his new Book collection NOTHING'S SHOCKING up for Pre-order from today but you can also pre-order Issue Two of the New Bi-monthly Road Crew comic FOR SALE! The Pre-orders are open for one week only and in this time you can a host of free bonus's including Ecomics, Music downloads, free miniposters and all books/comics come signed. Not One to be missed, especially as the VERY SPECIAL EDITION of Nothing's Shocking will only be available in this one week window. It contains ten extra pages, a variant cover and a nice big inked sketch from the author. You can get more details at http://www.roadcrewcomic.com."

Well, we had a livelier Black Books at the weekend, selling out of some more works by Phil Barrett and some of my own! It's nice to see the event pick up the same sort of pace the Black Market boasts.

There's a new page here. The Black Panel Diaries is a monthly feature, part of my column output for Alltern8.com relaying my experiences at the Black Box. I provide some comics world context, and will write about something going on at the Black Market/Black Books which has nothing to do with comics.

There's no Black Market event in April and Black Books returns on Sunday 18th April. I've chosen this date to release the print version of 'Absence'. It's a 24 hour comic about my life living with epilepsy and local blogger Danny Pongo had this to say,


"Fantastic! A perfectly measured mix of poignancy, humour, and what i took most from it was its informative, educational aspects. should be essential reading for anyone coping with epilepsy, along with their loved ones, and makes for a far better more aunthentic experience than those dry boke NHS screeds you find." -

This is my 25th self-published comic book, so I hope to make it a bit of an event. Spread the word!

Black Books for March

Our next stall is at Black Books on 21 March - go join the Facebook Group. New to the stall will be two books by insane Dublin cartoonist and writer Archie Templar: From the Pants of Archie Templar, a collection of his comic strips (cover blow), and In Articulo Mortis, a collection of his illustrated short stories.

See yez all there I hope.

Black Market this Sunday

The Black Market is on again this Sunday, and it's even got a Facebook Group! Andy and I will of course be there with our stock (and we've just got a restock from one of our best-sellers, Phil Barrett, including the new-to-us Matter Summer Special from 2006, created when Phil was in Canada, and a new batch of the sold-out Black Shapes).