This month we've got an interview with regular IndieReview columnist, Moonface Press owner, and comics writer Andy Winter. We cover most of his comics, and have a good chat about some of his big upcoming projects for 2008. He's got a lot coming out this year, so we took the time to see what he's got planned, and see where this year will lead Moonface Press and Andy.

I stopped reading comics in the early 90s and, apart from the odd comic store browse, only really started again seven or eight years later. Incredibly, this whole new world of self-publishing had popped up in Britain in the years I’d been away and a lot of it was just great. The first thing I saw was Dave Hitchcock’s Spirit Of The Highwayman graphic novel and it really inspired me to get off my arse and create something of my own, which turned out to be Devilchild.

Devilchild was about a very ordinary guy called Troy who, on the occasion of his 21st birthday, discovers that not only is he the AntiChrist but that his best friends - Lucia and Beatrice - are warrior angels sent to Earth by God to protect him from his dear old devil of a dad. It started off as a satire on things like The Omen and got a bit more serious as it went on. I did three graphic novel volumes featuring the characters between 2002 and 2005 but it's unlikely to return. The main reason is that since Mark Millar did Chosen and Garth Ennis did Wormwood I'm not sure there's any room left on the AntiChrist bandwagon. One thing I've toyed with is using the odd character from the books in some of the other stuff I do even if it's just as a cameo - we shall see...

I’ve always found that whole “Do It Yourself” aesthetic very attractive – as a kid a lot of the music I liked seemed to pop up on these weird and wonderful indie labels that I’d hear about in NME or on John Peel’s radio show. I think that really shaped my thinking when I decided to write comics. I’d also done fanzines, so I guess indie publishing has always been in my blood.

I’ve never approached any bigger companies to publish my work, mainly because it took me a long time before I felt my writing was good enough but also because I just really enjoy publishing my own books and fussing over them every step of the way – from the writing right through to the marketing and advertising. However, I think I’m getting to the stage where I might need to seriously think about submitting my work elsewhere because it would be great to have a bigger audience. Because of budget limitations, I’m never going to be able to afford to market my books particularly well or publish full-colour on a regular basis, and that concerns me.

Back when I first started writing scripts I’d have to scout around for people to work with but I’ve been doing this a while now and know quite a few artists pretty well, so it’s got a lot easier. Usually when I write a script I have an artist in mind for it these days – Will Sliney was always first choice to draw forthcoming mini-series Brothers and I’ve recently spoken to Keith Burns (my collaborator on {ln:Blood Psi}), about teaming up on something called The Utopians, that I’ll be writing later in the year. That said I always like hearing from new artists who might be interested in collaborating with me. It can take a while to get organised though – I’m currently writing a one-shot called Kurse that I first mentioned to artist Duncan Nimmo at the Bristol Comics Expo in 2006!

Beyond the story that wasn’t completed in time for Accent UK’s Robots anthology (it’s called The Saboteur) I haven’t given it much thought really. I guess the idea is to get more people looking at the Moonface website and offering up some exclusive stories in a bid to make that happen. I just think it might be a nice idea to publish most of the short story stuff I do from now on to the web where the potential audience is so huge. I think it ties in to what I said earlier about finding a bigger audience for my work.

Tim Skinner is about a character that can literally step into any comic-book story and have an adventure there. Unfortunately, Skinner is a scumbag of the highest order – although moderately charming with it – and uses his travels to the “comicverse” to exploit, demean and generally abuse the strangely familiar characters he encounters there. Skinner first appeared in a one-shot I did, called Shriek!, a couple of years ago. In that story he tricks a character not totally dissimilar to Lois Lane into giving him, er, “oral relief”, which should give you some idea of the level of sophistication and class you’re likely to discover in the Skinner one-shot! The artist on Skinner is Declan Shalvey (of Hero Killers and Freak Show fame), it’s going to be the first full-colour book I’ve worked on (Dec’s colouring it too) and we’re hoping to have it finished in time for a launch at the Birmingham International Comics Show in October. Brothers is a two-part mini-series with artist Will Sliney. It’s a bottom-kicking superhero book featuring a dysfunctional super team called The League of London. Expect death, destruction and all kinds of government subterfuge. I’m not sure when Brothers is likely to hit as Will is currently in the middle of drawing the massive Richard III for Classical Comics but sometime this year, hopefully.

In Septic Isle I take an ageing Bond-style hardman – MI5 agent Jacob Marley – completely screw up his life and then just unceremoniously dump him into crazy, confused 21st century Britain – a place he has little experience or knowledge of. The result is something that isn’t very much like Bond at all – there isn’t a hint of glamour, exotica or sexy secret agent stuff in there. In fact, it’s all a bit downbeat and rather bleak. It’s about the dirty, nasty, shitty stuff that secret service agents do to defend the state. They go up against some astonishingly nasty bastards and are astonishingly nasty bastards themselves. In many ways Marley is a sympathetic, even heroic figure – but that’s only really because, in this instance, he’s up against people who are genuinely abhorrent. If his superiors at Thames House told him to whack the leader of Greenpeace or destroy the life of some leftie trade unionist then he’d do it without a moment’s hesitation.

Septic Isle isn’t political with a capital P but there’s certainly a subtext there reflecting how I’ve fallen out of love with Britain over the last few years. At least during the Thatcher years there was a big organised resistance to the hateful old bag that refused to go away, but these days you get the impression the government could do just about anything and people would probably let them. There’s a sort of jaded fatalism abroad in Britain at the moment and I think there’s definitely a sense of that in the book. Whether Septic Isle will be popular or not, I have no idea. It’s very different to anything I’ve written before – more grown-up. The dick jokes and snark will return in Skinner, though, so fear not!

The Septic Isle and Tim Skinner books are the best things I’ve so far written, but I’m probably proudest of Hero Killers. Winning the Eagle Award for Best British Black and White Comicbook last year is not only my best moment in comics so far but one of the best of my life, and I know Declan feels exactly the same way.

I think it worked well because readers realised that at the same time as Hero Killers was celebrating grim and gritty superhero books it was taking the piss at them a bit too. A few people have said they didn't like the ending but the idea there was simply to do the most over-the-top and ridiculously shocking thing I could think of - it was meant to be as daft as it was horrific. Dec's art is also lovely and I was pretty pleased with most of the writing - especially the way Mona Saint came over. I'd love the chance to write her again.

1) It’s a thriving, ridiculously exciting underground scene that exists totally off the radar of most mainstream media. 2) Most of the people involved in it are lovely and welcoming to just about anyone who wants to join in as either a creator or fan. 3) The quality of the work being produced has improved hugely in the last few years and continues to get better and better. 4) The sheer range of comics and subject matters explored in those comics is mind-boggling. What’s not to like?

There are people whose work I always keep an eye out for. I like Twelve-Hour Shift, Strangehaven, Brodie’s Law, Accent UK’s anthologies and anything featuring Dave Hitchcock, Laura Howell or Ben Dickson. Oh, and that guy who drew Malcolm Magic and Moon – Lawrence Etherington – fantastic!

Just a small plug: artist Mick Trimble and I will be launching the Septic Isle one-shot at the Bristol Comics Expo on May 9. Initially, we’re going to be doing a special limited edition of 100 that will only be available at the Expo itself before the book gets a proper release later in the year. So be sure to make the Moonface Press table your first stop and bring money!