Ah yes,

Deviantart journal.

News: My perennial comics angsting has been legitimatised as I have managed to achieve a position in an august institution, namely the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. I'll be working there for six months starting July as an Artist in Residence - specifically a COMICS ILLUSTRATOR. Yes, I get to play in the V&A, AND draw comics. As you can imagine, dear reader, I am veritably a-quiver with excitement. My work is going to involve more myths and legends based work, and probably drooling over various samurai swords and ukiyoe prints among other things.

Other news: I'm currently being exhibited as part of the Manga Jiman 150 exhibition at the Japanese Embassy in London, until April 3rd. Come along, it's pretty cool. [link]

Other other news: Leek and Sushi's Manga Show is out, which features a bunch of the entries from Manga Jiman 150, and is on sale from Itch publishing. Mine and the Smith's Tales by Ghost Light is featured in that. Bakemono, comedy, Victorian gents running around terrified. Could you ask for more in an eight page comic? There are a whole bunch of other artists' work in there also. [link]

Guess that's it. Ciao.

Hmm... actually. I had a kind of epiphany yesterday as I was watching Red Dwarf: the episode called Gunmen of the Apocalypse. In this episode, Kryten willingly contracts a computer virus in order to find a way of negating it's effects on Starbug. His subconscious plays out the scenario as a Western as he battles the virus from within to find a solution. In the end the other Dwarfers hack into his dream and help him realise what he needs to do to. In the end he discovers the solution within himself and defeats the virus.

Well, Motherf***er.

Substitute Starbug with 11th century Japan, and a computer virus with a demonic venom and you pretty much have the whole of Tsuchigumo. (Gay samurai subtext and tengu aside.)

I can't believe I subconsciously ripped off the plot of this episode! Ah but the world works in mysterious ways. I hadn't seen this show for at least, what, ten years, yet somehow my mind subverted it first into the plot of my Tsuchigumo dream, and then into the story itself.

Even the use of the bird motif to represent the end of the hallucination was similar (Kryten had doves, Kintaro had a crow, but y'know X-D )

O.o;;;