When I was a kid, I used to create my own comics, which were stitched together with my mam’s leftover wool. As printers and photocopies were not a familiar sight in the 70s, I only ever produced one copy of each comic. Therefore, I had to knock on doors of my hometown of Wallsend (a then shipbuilding town on the banks of the coaly Tyne) and hope that any friendly folk would want to ‘loan’ my copy for 5 pence per day. Sometimes, after a week, I’d get enough money to splash out on a can of Top Deck, a packet of Tudor crisps and sometimes even a Texan Bar from the offy at the end of the street.
Today I received a ‘Big Box of Chaos’ (as my publisher called it) with multiple copies of my new set of 12 graphic novels (as the cool kids call them). Luckily, they have not been illustrated by me, but by the AMAZING Amit Tayal. It has been such a team effort, especially with my editor, the fabulous Zoë Clarke, dealing with my stories constantly drifting randomly from the synopsis which had gone through rigorous approval meetings with the High Council at HarperCollins!
These are now going to go ALL OVER THE WORLD for, admittedly, a little more that 5 pence a pop, but you do get to keep them.
The best part is that I don’t even have to knock on any doors!
Sooooooo happy!!!!