Writing

I’ve done plenty of writing in various forms. This page reproduces the best of it, or rather, it will when I’ve finished converting the articles - other times, you’ll be sent to the originally published location. My main area of interest is comics, but you’ll also find reviews of Computer Games, DVDs, and whatever else I felt like putting in the spotlight that particular week.

In addition to the material below, my work can also be found in Micro Mart, the popular computer enthusiast’s magazine which I freelance for.

Features & Interviews

Created in Birmingham
Most recent feature for 4Talent interviewing Pete Ashton about his blog, Created in Birmingham, which won a mediaGuardian Award for Innovation.

The Hell With It
A second feature for 4Talent (see below) covering the 2007 Birmingham International Comics Show, in the form of an interview with Mike Mignola and coverage of his appearances there.

Heavenly Motion
A feature written on commission from 4Talent about the relationship between motion capture and acting in computer gamers, focusing on the PS3 game Heavenly Sword and featuring an interview with Lydia Baksh, an actress in the game.

Alternate Cover: Phonogram Interview
An Interview with Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, the British writer and artist team of Image Comics’ series Phonogram: Rue Britannia. (co-written with Seb Patrick)

Top 10 Deaths in Comics
A feature examining ten of the best deaths written in comics, including discussion of why they were great and whether or not they lasted in a field notorious for resurrecting characters. (co-written with Seb Patrick)

Gaming Museum: History of the Commodore 64
An article commissioned by the site manager of ClassicGaming.com, where I am news editor, detailing the history of the CBM C-64 machine.

Alternate Cover: The Den of Geek column
When the editorial team at Den of Geek asked me to contribute a weekly comics column, I naturally resurrected my old NTS column, Alternate Cover. Originally, it was for reviews, but with my comics review blog more than filling that particular mental gap, I’ve opened it up to wider comics commentary, and these are the results.

My First Comic - It’s said in the industry that “Every comic is someone’s first.” This column is about mine.
Comic Collecting - Get rich quick collecting comics! Did I say rich? I meant poor!
A Second Superman - A recent court ruling means that Jerry Siegel’s estate could license out the character of Superman - but what would that mean?
Licensed Comics - Seriously, why are they almost always terrible?
Crossover Fatigue - Remember when you could buy a comic that just told its own story? Me too!
How I learned to stop worrying and love Brand New Day - in which I out myself as an apologist for what might well be the most universally hated Spider-Man story ever.

Reviews

Lost: Season 4 reviews
I am one of two regular reviewers of popular TV show Lost for Den of Geek, reviewing every episode in Season 4 which began in February 2008. New reviews go up the Monday after an episode is aired:
Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 |

Lost: Via Domus Review (PC)
In tandem with the Lost episode reviews, I also took a look at the game based on the show which released in February ‘08. Though I sometimes wish I hadn’t.

Criminal Vol. 2: Lawless
A review of Brubaker and Phillips’ crime comic, originally released by Marvel’s Icon imprint. I went in sceptical, but came out converted.

DS Review: Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
A review of the frankly horrible Mario and Sonic game on the DS, which I played so that you don’t have to.

Alan Moore’s The Black Dossier
A review of the latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume for Dennis Publishing’s cult-focussed website, Den of Geek, which I was invited to contribute to based on my unfortunate amount of expertise in the field of being a nerd.

Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World DVD Review
The magic of a Den of Geek review copy gives me pause to rekindle my childhood love of the paranormal. Pity it wasn’t very entertaining the second time around, really.

The Raccoons, Season 1 DVD review
I was sent a review copy of this so it seemed fair that I gave it a chance even though I couldn’t stand the Raccoons when I was a child. Oddly, I found a lot to like about it.

Game Review: Joystick Johnny - A review of the PC game Joystick Johnny by independent developers, Flea Circus Games, conducted as part of my ongoing position at Classic Gaming.

Review: Retroport Adaptors- A hardware review of Retroport’s NES/SNES to Wii controller adapters, conducted for Classic Gaming based off sample products sent, unsolicited, to me by the manufacturers.

DVD Review: Are You Dave Gorman?
A review of the DVD of the TV series of the stage show as performed by Dave Gorman, one of the men for whom the term “Documentary Comedy” was originally coined.

DVD Review: Pinky and the Brain. Vol. 1
A review of the Region 1 release of Pinky and the Brain, volume 1.

Block to the Future: A Tetris DS Review
An in-depth review of the Tetris remake for Nintendo’s latest handheld system, the Nintendo DS.

New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
A review of the latest 2-D Mario Brothers game, also for Nintendo DS.

David Ford @ The Borderline, London, 29-08-2006
A review of a gig by singer-songwriter David Ford.

Gargoyles #1 Review
A review of Slave Labor Graphics’ in-continuity revival of the cult Disney cartoon series, Gargoyles.

Superior Showcase #1 Review
A review of Adhouse’s Superior Showcase #1, preceded by a discussion about the relationship between independant and mainstream comics.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane - Issues #1-4 Review
A review of the first 4 issues of the Marvel Comics all-ages title, Spider-Man loves Mary Jane.

jPod Review
A review of the 2006 Douglas Coupland Novel, jPod.

You Can Choose Your Friends
A review of the ITV1 original drama, written by and starring Richard Herring. I write the lead part of double-shot review, with the second opinion by Rachel George.

Sonic The Hedgehog (Xbox 360) Demo Review
A fairly candid (read: even more profane than usual) review of the next-gen continuation of the Sonic Adventure series, entitled Sonic The Hedgehog, for Xbox 360. (co-written with Josh Barton)

Ongoing Projects

Comics Daily
In November 2007, pleased with the success of CDNP as a writing project, I launched Comics Daily, a review blog which puts up a new comic review of around 300-500 words every weekday, with a classic comic reviewed every Wednesday and op/ed & news column on Sundays. I am ably assisted in this endeavour by frequent collaborator, Seb Patrick.

Crudely Drawn Naked People
CDNP is my blog dedicated to reviewing, weekly, the work of award-winning cartoonist and comic creator, Jeffrey Brown. The project began in the first week of July 2007 and is still ongoing as of September 2007

classicgaming.com
I am currently the news editor for IGN/Gamespy’s classicgaming.com and provide near-daily news snippets, as well as contributing other articles. This assignment was offered to me based on good response to my work on Planet X-Men (detailed below).

Completed Projects

Alternate Cover (Noise to Signal archives)
My Den of Geek column, Alternate Cover, was originally a comics review column I wrote for Noise To Signal. Published (roughly) every Thursday in 2006, largely as an exercise in deadline-keeping. After writing roughly a year’s worth of material, I canned the column realising I didn’t really have anywhere else to go with it. A few months later, I created the aforementioned Comics Daily, which seems a far more appropriate format.

Planet X-Men
I worked as Site Director on IGN/Gamespy’s Planet X-Men for the 8-month lifespan of the site, which was created to promote the cinematic and DVD release of X-Men: The Last Stand. My role at the time included writing copy, news items and articles, as well as editing submissions and managing a team of 2 other contributors.