Sunday, 3 May 2026
Abbey Con 2026
I'll be a a guest at Trooper Events Abby Con, on 27th September at the White Horse Leisure Centre. Other guests include John Altman, Sandeep Mohan and Christopher Ryan. Come see me!
Friday, 3 April 2026
Blackpool Comic Con
I'll be a guest at Creed Conventions Blackpool Comiccon later this month on 26th April at the Norbreck Castle. I'l be signing and sketching all day. Bring one of my books and I'll sign it for free and increase it's value by as much as 25 English pence. See you there...!
Details below...
Jack Kirby / Fantastic Four comiccon talk 2025
The nice people at Gallifreyan Gambit have uploaded a 4K half hour video of a Jack Kirby /Fantastic Four comiccon talk I gave last year at Bridlington Comiccon. Watch it here!
Wednesday, 26 March 2025
2025 Comic Conventions
2025 Convention Schedule
The comic conventions I'm a guest at in 2025 year so far.
If you're a convention organiser and you'd like me as a guest at your convention, I'm trying to do a few new ones this year, so just get in touch using the contact form on the right, or message me in the comments on here or on Twitter. I can sketch live all day, do panels, and also bring a bit of a "Jack Kirby Museum" display promoting the work of that excellent organisation. I live in the North West, so doing a few more local cons might be nice! London is a long drive!!
10th May
Newton Aycliffe
CLIFFECON – SATURDAY 10TH MAY 2025
https://cutefox.co.uk/cliffecon-guests/
22nd June
Chester Sci-Fi, Comic & Toy Fair
MSE events
5th & 6th July 2025
London Film and Comiccon
Showmasters
https://londonfilmandcomiccon.com
20th July 2025
Frodsham Sci-Fi Comic & Toy Fair
MSE Events
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577385952372
16th & 17th August 2025
Film and Comiccon Glasgow
Showmasters
https://www.filmandcomicconglasgow.com/guests/comic-creators/
31st August
Star Wars Meet-up
Cleveleys, Venue (filming location for Andor)
https://www.facebook.com/StarWarsMeetUp
7th September
District 14
Bridlington Comic Con
Monday, 2 December 2024
Cyber Monday offer on "A Collaborative Failure" by Russell Payne and J.G.Watson
My latest heartbreakingly funny book "A Collaborative Failure" co-written with Marvel/DC artist John Watson (X-Men, Hawkman, Civil War:Frontline) is OUT NOW!!
Available TODAY ONLY at 30% off if you follow this link & use the code HOLIDAY30Thursday, 29 August 2024
"A Collaborative Failure" by Russell Payne and J.G.Watson.
Writing a book with someone is in many ways like a marriage. It takes commitment, compromise, patience, and it helps if one of you is rich. Like many marriages, these relationships often break down, anyone who successfully completes a creative collaboration should be greatly admired because it's certain the journey was not without it's challenges.
Back in May 2016, I wrote a blog post about how I had “nearly finished writing the first in a series of novels, co-authored with John Watson”. This was an exaggeration of epic proportions, even by my standards. It wasn't nearly finished, in fact it never did get finished. My writing marriage had a difficult honeymoon, then several years of throwing accusations and crockery at each other before we both moved out, and burned the house down. The kids though, the characters we created, they were the real victims, left homeless and unloved, crying in the gutters of our imagination. Watson went on to write the first two books in "The Generation" series incorporating some bits of the failed book, I concentrated mostly on eating biscuits and staring out of the window.Looking back, I didn't find the process of collaborating easy. There were a few things I really enjoyed about working with John on the book, enough things to fill a small box, maybe a matchbox, or even a shoebox. There were many, many more things about trying to write a book with Watson that I did not enjoy, cities of things, enough things to fill a planet, one of the bigger ones, like the entire surface area of Jupiter. Collaborating with Watson was genuinely one of the worst and most painful working experiences of my life, and I spent time stacking shelves at B&M Bargains in Cleveleys. We remain friends though, the scars left by trying to write a book together have healed over, leaving just some residual trauma and the occasional bitter comment about historical accuracy.
Despite this, and against my better judgement, and at Watson's suggestion, we have now actually written a book together... about how we failed to write a book together. It includes the first and last drafts of some of our chapters, and the back and forth comments (bickering) between us as it descends into an unworkable relationship, including unedited original notes and equally bitter retrospective comments we've written this year. So it's a sort of a “how not to write a book together” book, an insight into our writing process, or lack of it, and the dynamic between two writers with completely different working practices, one of whom is brilliant, one of whom is an absolute freaking nightmare. I'm not saying which is which, read the book and decide for yourself.
The new book is called “A Collaborative Failure” and I'll be taking a big box of them to the To Be Continued convention in Bedford for an exclusive book launch in a couple of weeks, where John Watson and I will be signing, sketching and bickering live.
We may have a protective screen between us.
Here are just some of the designs I went over trying to get Watson to approve a book cover...
You can read some of Watson's less than complimentary comments on my cover designs on the back of the actual book. Please don't buy the book though, if it sells well he might want to do a volume 2.
Thursday, 6 June 2024
2024 Comic Conventions
2024 Convention Schedule
The conventions I'm a guest at this year so far. If you'd like me as a guest at your convention, get in touch using the contact form on the right, or message me in the comments on here or on Twitter for details.
28th Apr 2024
Hull Comic-Con
Allam Sports Centre, Hull
Hull Comic-Con
Allam Sports Centre, Hull
1st Sep 2024
York Comic-Con
York Racecourse, York
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