The road to Macc-POW!

How I got a kick up the arse to finish a comic book

I’ve been going to ThoughtBubble for years now, it’s become a bit of an annual tradition to meet-up with my buddy Xander Myles and spend the day geeking out about comics and art. Among the many artists I stop to chat to every year is Marc Jackson, the brains behind Macc-POW, a comic festival in Macclesfield.

For a couple of years now, he’s consistently asked “How are your comics projects going?” and my answer has been “Still not finished for [insert a mixture of valid reasons & silly excuses]”.

Last year when we had this chat, I think he’d got a bit sick of hearing it as much as I’ve got sick of saying it. Instead of the usual sympathetic response such as “juggling work, kids and personal projects is hard” this time he said “Y’know what you need? A solid deadline and I’m gonna give you one. If you promise to finish a book, I’ll put you on a table at Macc-POW in 2024”. We shook on it and that was it.

Fast-forward to today, we’re just over a week out from Macc-POW and my first book of comics is in the process of being printed and should be here early next week.

I know it shouldn’t need someone else to give me a deadline in order to finish projects, and it’s something I definitely need to get better at. The excitement of finally seeing my work in a finished book will spur me on to get more work finished and into print.

Perhaps I need to set myself a deadline for my Splorers comic which is currently lost in procrastination limbo?

Oh go on then, Splorers issue 1 will be out in October 2024.

—

Don’t forget to come see me at Macc-POW on 22nd June!