Pirates of Pangaea Checklist

I've had quite a few people lately asking about when the next Pirates of Pangaea book might be out and, while I don't exactly know (although I could point you to some excellent books you might enjoy in the meantime), it's worth pointing out that for anyone eager to follow Sophie and Kelsey's further adventures, there are several which are uncollected as yet but can be tracked down in back issues of the Phoenix. To aid in this, and to help you satisfy all your Pirates Riding Dinosaurs needs, I thought I'd put together a little, in-reading-order...

PIRATES OF PANGAEA CHECKLIST!

Volume 1: The Golden Skull 

20 episodes

Collected as Pirates of Pangaea: Book One. 

ISBN: 978-1910200087

Available in good bookshops everywhere!

The Ghosts of Mathrak Chu

4 episodes

Available in The Phoenix, issues 33-36

Start here!

Volume 2: Escape From Razorbeak Mountain

20 episodes

Available in The Phoenix, issues 53-72

Start here!

Racers of Riverbed Run

4 episodes

Available in The Phoenix, issues 79-82

Start here!

The Treasure of La Sirena

1 episode

Available in The Phoenix, issue 100

Start here!

The Blue Devil

4 episodes

Available in The Phoenix, issues 110-113

Start here!

I believe, at time of writing, that all issues are in stock, please address all enquiries to orders@thephoenixcomic.co.uk!

Summer Reading Challenge

I'm delighted to report that The Pirates of Pangaea has been included in the list of titles for this year's Summer Reading Challenge! Hot-foot it to your local library and spend your summer holiday in a hazy sun-drenched land of bloodthirsty pirates and magnificent prehistoric giants.  

To kick things off I'll be doing a free Piratey Dinosaury Comics Workshop at our local library, specifically:

Oxford Central Library 

Saturday 11th July

2-3pm

More info on the library's Facebook page.

It's a FREE event, so come along and sign up for the reading challenge, draw some dinosaurs, and help set a new world record for awesomeness!

Pirate Dinosaur Roadshow!

I'm going to be at lots of book festivals and comics events and such over the next few months, so if you would like to come and say hello and get me to draw pictures of dinosaurs for you: you have MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO DO SO! I've just updated the 'Upcoming Events' section of my website with details of some, and there's a load more to be announced soon, I just wanted to draw your attention to a couple in particular here:

Pirates of Pangaea Day at Gosh Comics, London - 16 May! 

My co-pirate Daniel Hartwell and myself will be at Gosh Comics on Saturday 16 May from 1-3 PM, drawing with kids and running competitions and painting giant dinosaurs in the window and all sorts of fun things like that. If you are about and in London and have kids, or just really like dinosaurs, please come along, and indeed spread the word!

Phoenix Comic Festival, Oxford, 2-3 May!

It's the third year of the phenomenally good fun Phoenix Festival at the Story Museum - tickets are going super fast so if you have any young Phoenix fans in the family, BOOK NOW! It's a fantastic day - a whole weekend in fact, this year, they're extending it - and I really can't overstate how fun and positive and exciting an event it is for young comics readers (and creators). I'm doing workshops on the Saturday, and a whole bunch of amazing cartoonists are there over the whole weekend.

If you can't make it along to those, or indeed any of the other events I'll be at this year, there is still a way to get me to draw on your books! I'm offering through my website a special Custom Dinosaur edition of Pirates of Pangaea, in which I will happily sketch for you the following proposition:

ANY CHARACTER (living, dead or fictional), riding ANY DINOSAUR.

I hope you will take me up on this as, frankly, they are super fun to do and I love drawing them. Here are a few examples:

Alex and Freddy on a Chronosaurus (?)

Gandalf on a Stegosaurus

Batman on a Triceratops 

A Pirate on A Dinosaur (the 'default setting') 

Upsy Daisy on a Hadrosaur

Astronaut on a Velociraptor

You get the idea. You can order your very own Custom Dinosaur at from my web shop at: http://neillcameron.bigcartel.com/ 

Challenges welcome!

The Pirates of Pangaea: Book One

The Pirates of Pangaea - a graphic novel concerning pirates, dinosaurs, and adventures thereupon by Daniel Hartwell and myself - was published recently, and it occurred to me that I possibly ought to mention this fact on my blog. The book collects the first big story arc from the now rather hard-to-find issues 0-20 of The Phoenix, along with lots of special new bits and pieces and cool fun stuff like maps and faux 18th-century dinosaur guidebook pages and that kind of thing. It was a huge amount of fun to make and if you know any kids who like comics or dinosaurs or pirates or ALL OF THOSE THINGS I hope you'll consider grabbing them a copy. We've been getting some lovely reviews, which I am now going to proceed to shamelessly share with you...

"The Pirates of Pangaea is absolutely the best comic strip being published for children in the UK, possibly the world. 10/10” -Starburst Magazine 
"Pirates! Dinosaurs! Every bit as wonderful together as you expect to be, every bit as brilliant as you wanted it to be." - Forbidden Planet
"Superbly engaging and utterly enthralling, this astounding all-action romp is a riotous delight of astonishing adventure." - Now Read This! 

...but, as ever with comics, there's not a lot of money for advertising on the sides of buses and so forth (which is a shame because OH how I would love to see dinoships on the sides of buses) and we really do rely on word of mouth, so please... say words with your mouth? Thank you!

You can see a bunch of art from the book and find out all about it over on my website, at www.neillcameron.com/pangaea, or read a preview on my tumblr. And look, you can now buy from those nice people at the Phoenix an exciting BUNDLE containing all three of my books (that's Pirates as well as Mo-Bot High and How To Make Awesome Comics) for a cut-down bargain price. I am mostly just excited to have somehow done enough books to constitute a bundle.

The Phoenix Century

Guess what just made it to 100 issues?

That's right! The Phoenix, the weekly story comic for children that for some reason continues to let me write and draw things, is 100 issues young this week. Fire the party poppers! Ring the bells! Cut the cake! Actually that's a good point, we should have cake.

As others who are better on facts and figures than I have noted, this is quite the notable achievement, as it's the first UK independent kids' comic to reach 100 issues in the last 40 YEARS. Which I think we can all agree, is NIFTY.

I am just hugely proud and still kind of surprised and delighted that I get to be a part of such a fun amazing thing with such extravagantly talented, brilliant people.

Anyway, I thought I ought to mark the occasion somehow, so here as a SPECIAL TREAT is some behind-the-scenes art from the very early days, when we were developing Pirates of Pangaea in the first place, and hadn't quite figured out what colour Cornflower should be...

...or, I guess, that she was called Cornflower.

Anyway, huge thanks to Will and Tom and Liz and Caro and Paul and Charlie and everyone who actually manages to make this extraordinary thing happen on a weekly basis, to Dan for coming up with the rather fine wheeze of sticking pirates on dinosaurs, and to David and Ben for letting me join in with it all in the first place. And most of all, the hugest of all thanks to everyone who's bought and read and supported and TOLD THEIR FRIENDS about the comic. Please keep doing so, we're off to a fantastic start but there's a whole world out there still to conquer.

If you've dilly-dallied about checking out the Phoenix, why not give it a try? You can buy the bumper-sized Issue 100 here, or in your nearest stockist, or find some excellent Christmas gift ideas HERE!

Here's to 100 more! No wait, 100,000 more! LET'S AIM HIGH.

Thoght Bubble Week, Day 3: People Who Work For The Phoenix Riding On Dinosaurs

"Put the Bunny in the cargo hold".

So far in these What Happened At Thought Bubble Recaps we've covered Awesome Robots and Awesome Creators of All-Ages Comics. And, speaking of awesome all-ages comics: ANOTHER fun thing I was doing was hanging out with the guys from The Phoenix! It was a lot of fun, and it felt a bit different from last year - there seemed to be a lot of excitement about the comic amongst readers and other creators already, so we weren't having to always start from that point of "Hey, Have you heard of the Phoenix? Okay, well. Remember how weekly comics for kids used to be a thing...?"

Anyway, lots of Phoenix creators were hanging out, sketching and chatting with young readers, and it was great to catch up with a load of 'em - Matt Baxter, Gary Northfield, Dave Shelton, Zak Simmonds-Hurn and Karen Rubins all took turns hanging out at the table, and those were only the guys I saw. (And we had Kate Brown and Paul Duffield and Adam Murphy over in the other hall, and... look, it was a whole scene, man.)

Quite a lot of this sort of thing, essentially.

I wanted to say a quick thanks to Team Phoenix for all their hard work and dedication over the weekend, spreading the good word on kids' comics. And so, I allowed myself to be bullied into drawing them all on dinosaurs.

Tyrannosaurus Charlie.

Parasaurolophus Zara (and her Trident of Power)

Triceratops Lizzie

As instances of workplace bullying go, it was pretty fun.

I just feel bad because Editor Will was off manning the table in the other hall, and therefore didn't get a dinosaur to ride. Next year, Will. We have already picked out a dinosaur for you.

Hey, did you know the Phoenix ISSUE 100 comes out THIS WEEK? And that Pirates of Pangaea is coming back for a Very Special Adventure to celebrate the occasion? And that it is going to be SUPER AWESOME? Here you go, have a sneaky preview:

Did you also know you can buy single issues, subscriptions, graphic novels and all kinds of Christmas-present-appropriate Phoenixy goodness HERE? 

(Because you can.)

Bundles of Fun!

Hello! Because it has been a while I thought I would alert you to a couple of FUN NEW WAYS you can buy my comics!

Firstly, Ghosts of Mathrak Chu - Dan and I's second Pirates of Pangaea adventure, a thoroughly ripping yarn involving GHOST PIRATE DINOSAURS - is available to purchase as a complete 4-issue bundle from The Phoenix Comic Shop. Please do go and have a look, it's one of my favourite things we've done so far. Look, here are is the ENTIRE FIRST EPISODE in all it's excitingly spooky glory to convince you.

SECONDLY, those selfsame fine fellows at the Phoenix are also now stocking Mo-bot High in its nifty new paperback edition, so why not go and buy that too? Look, here is a preview to convince you.

Or hey, why not buy both! Make a day of it on your nice internet-shopping excursion.

Look, what can I say. The kid just had a birthday and I felt a pressing need to implore people to PLEASE BUY SOME COMICS! Thank you. You may go about your business now.

As long as you bought some comics.

Rrracers of Rrriverbed Rrrun!

Hey! Pirates of Pangaea came back this week in The Phoenix (issue 79!) and it would have been remiss of me not to yell dementedly at you all from this blog to go and buy it! Here is a bit of preview art:

And here is the pitch! (via DigitalSpy):

"The newly discovered island of Pangaea, the most dangerous place on earth, just got even more dangerous..." said The Phoenix. "Sophie and Kelsey along with their tame Tyrannosaur, Cornflower, are on an epic journey to find their way home, however Pangaea still has a few surprises in store.

"This time it's the notorious 'Riverbed Run', the most exciting event on the island and where the greatest dinosaur riders in all of Pangaea go to race! Fortunes are won and lost, but how will Sophie and Kelsey fare?"

And HERE as a blogtacular bonus feature is a look at the inks for that first page!

So yes, please do go and buy a copy (In print! On iPads! By subscription!) and tell your friends and all that good stuff. I'm a bit busy actually drawing the thing to go in about it much more, but I think it is a REALLY FUN COMIC and that you will ENJOY IT. There's some proper, all-out, may-actually-finish-me-off-to-draw-this-stuff craziness coming up in the next few weeks, don't miss it!

Pirates of Pangaea STORY CHECKLIST

We recently finished our third series of Pirates of Pangaea in the Phoenix and are already hard at work on the next one (and indeed the next next one, whilst even starting to think about the NEXT next next one...)

Anyway, because a few people have asked, I thought it might be useful to put together a handy checklist of the Stories So Far, and which issues of the Phoenix they appeared in!

THE PIRATES OF PANGAEA
(20 episodes)
Appeared in The Phoenix, issues 1-20
7th Jan 2012-19th May 2012
(Plus one-episode prologue in The Phoenix Issue 0.)




GHOSTS OF MATHRAK CHU
(4 episodes)
Appeared in The Phoenix, issues 33-36
18th Aug 2012-8th Sep 2012



ESCAPE FROM RAZORBEAK MOUNTAIN
(20 episodes)
Appeared in the Phoenix, issues 53-72
5th Jan 2013-18th May 2013



You can buy all these as individual back issues from the Phoenix shop, here:
http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/shop/

Or get digital back issues (from issue 53 on) via the Phoenix iPad app, which you can download free here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phoenix-weekly-story-comic/id583824799?mt=8

I hope that is helpful! And I hope we will able to give you some good news about other, easy and convenient alternative ways for you to read these stories.... soooonn....

Pirates of Pangaea FINALE! And MORE!

Couple of EXCITING UPDATES!

First off, the current issue of The Phoenix marks the senses-shattering SEASON FINALE of Pirates of Pangaea: Escape From Razorbeak Mountain. Do they, in fact, Escape From Razorbeak Mountain? Pick up this issue or you'll NEVER KNOW!

Here is the cover (sans title etc):

And here is an interview Dan and I did with fine comics website The Beat, talking about the finale:
http://comicsbeat.com/the-phoenix-presents-neill-cameron-and-daniel-hartwell-on-the-pirates-of-pangaea/

AND here are some nice words from the marvellous Forbidden Planet blog about the issue:
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2013/the-phoenix-weekender-11/

Any concerned fans of Piratey Dinosaury shenanigans need not worry: we'll be back soon with our next story arc, Racers of Riverbed Run, which may actually be the Piratiest Dinosauriest Shenanigansiest one yet.

HEY ALSO Lauren Bennett of Random House publicity just tweeted a couple of photos that made me jump up and down with excitement:

DFC Library Paperback Editions! Which will be available in bookshops across the land this August 1st, I believe. They look fantastic - I love those comics and I'm really looking forward this chance to bring them to a whole new audience. COMMENCE EXCITEMENT!

iPirates and iDinosaurs

 

Gosh, has it really been a year?

Well, it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the launch of the Phoenix and the start of Pirates of Pangaea, and... no wait a minute, it doesn't seem like yesterday, it seems like an entire year ago. Because it was! Yes, here we are at the beginning of The Phoenix: Year Two, with this week's issue #53 heralding not only the return of Sophie, Kelsey and Cornflower in m'colleague Dan and I's latest piratey dinosaury magnum opus, Escape From Razorbeak Mountain, but also - and possibly even more excitingly - the launch of a brand new iPad edition of the comic!

I've been looking forward to this for ages, and I'm super excited to see it all go live. Distribution and geography are obviously huge challenges for a small company like the Phoenix, and I'm really optimistic that the iPad edition will allow lots of new readers, all over the world, who'd previously been unable to get access to the comic (without fairly herculean efforts / dedication / substantial shipping fees, anyway) to join in the fun. It helps that the Phoenix app - developed by Panel Nine and available through Apple's Newsstand - really is a great digital comics-reading experience. It's as smooth and intuitive as you could hope, easily standing up against something like ComiXology's interface but I'd argue even better, due to some of the top-level navigation features (index / ability to 'favourite' strips) which work wonderfully in the context of a children's anthology comic.

 

The index page. Screenshots via Comics Alliance because, um, I have no idea how to take screenshots on my iPad.

Also, the 'Something Cool' pop-up bonus content, designed specifically for the app, allows for story recaps / character profiles /  development art, and all kinds of cool extra bits n' bobs you'll see popping up as the weeks and months progress. Then there's the little touches, like the fact the editorial pages have all been designed / reformatted to suit the iPad edition, and the fact that web, e-mail and twitter links etc. work direct from the app. You can now e-mail Adam Murphy your suggestions for what corpse he should dig up next, or have a quick go on Professor Panels' Awesome-o-Tron, direct from reading the comic! It's all indicative of the level of care and attention to detail that are being put into it, by both the guys at Phoenix HQ and over at Panel Nine, and it really makes the difference.

Why yes that IS something cool, I agree.

It's pretty good, is my point. If you've got an iPad, go download the app. It is free and you get a free comic to read, what's to lose? And also, the app is launching with what I can frankly only describe as an INSANELY good one-week launch offer, whereby you can get SIX MONTHS - yes, SIX ENTIRE MONTHS of the weekly comic for just £9.99. That'll take you through the entire 5-month epic run of Pirates of Pangaea book 2, for example, and out into whatever lies beyond. As well as giving you approximately 425,780 pages of other awesome comics to read.

It's a pretty good deal, is my point. Anyway, initial reaction to the app seems to be really positive - here are some write-ups from Comics Alliance, Paul Gravett, Down the Tubes, George Shiers - and on launch day the app made it straight to #1 on the Children's Magazines chart on iTunes.

 

The adventure begins! Again.

Anyway, I hope people give it a try. I think it's a great thing, but I'm really glad that it exists as an alternative / supplement to the print edition, rather than replacing it. (My son prefers the physical comic, and I'm not sure anything can ever quite replicate the joy of getting that brilliantly hefty, colourful envelope thudding through the postbox every Friday.) Regardless, whichever way you choose to read, I hope you enjoy our new run of pirates. A few people have asked whether Book 1 is also available digitally, and while this is a 'not yet' (you can track down print copies of back issues but that's about it currently), Dan and I have worked pretty hard to make this a very clean start to the new adventure. There are a couple of kids and they have a dinosaur and, pretty much, that's all you need to know to get started. Much fun awaits. Hop to it!

The Pirates of Pangaea: Escape From Razorbeak Mountain

Starting on 5th January 2013 in issue 53 (I think) of The Phoenix is the second FRANKLY EPIC run of m'colleague Dan Hartwell and I's Pirates-and-Dinosaurs-and-Pirates-RIDING-Dinosaurs adventure tale, The Pirates of Pangaea. It's another big one. OH MAN is it a big one.

Here are a couple of not-too-spoilery choice panels of the inked artwork, to give you a taste.

Such fun stuff coming up. To make sure you don't miss out on a single teeny tiny pterosaur, why not rush out and subscribe to the Phoenix? Go on. This Christmas, give the gift of PIRATES RIDING DINOSAURS.