His new series from Walker Books has now been announced, with Volume 1 out in March and Volume 2 due late in the year, where Watson’s heroine faces off to …. “The Tentacles Of Doom“:

The first storyline will be serialised online at the new Gumgirl website.

And of course, there’s the ongoing Princess At Midnight webcomic, currently reprinting the original, but soon to start publishing new material.

On the schedules – the first volume in Watson’s Gum Girl series gets released by Walker Books 1st March. I think this may well find its way into the school library:

“Gum Girl might be pink, but she’s got bite, she’s got bubbles, and she’s not afraid to use them. Grace Gibson has just moved to Catastrophe where her dad is the new head teacher at Calamity Primary School. It sure is no ordinary town. This is a place where disaster rules the day.”

But that’s not all…. there’s this:

Yes, Princess at Midnight is a previously published comic, but Watson’s dusted it off, given it a splash of colour, and promises fresh adventures when the initial published storyline finishes:

“I’m going to be putting up PaM as a web comic with the Saturday Morning Webtoons crowd, a bunch of creators who’re putting out kid-friendly web comics every Saturday starting this weekend. …. I’m putting up a page a week in colour. I have 50 new pages of material to follow the previously printed stuff.”

The Saturday Morning Webtoons site looks very nice, must investigate further. Meanwhile, here’s page 1 of the newly coloured Princess At Midnight:

Andi Watson’s new series gets a cover, a release date and at least some details.

It’s called Gum Girl (but we knew that). It’s coming from Walker Books in March 2012, and will be in a series of 4 volumes, with at least the first one; Catastrophe Calling, having three short stories in its 64 pages.

“Gum Girl might be pink, but she’s got bite, she’s got bubbles, and she’s not afraid to use them!”

“Grace Gibson has just moved to Catastrophe where her dad is the new head teacher at Calamity Primary School. It sure is no ordinary town. This is a place where disaster rules the day. Meteors fall from the sky. Volcanoes erupt. Giant robots roam the streets. Villains are on the loose. And evil geniuses are plotting revenge on a daily basis. What’s more, no one seems to care. Least of all the girls in Grace’s class who would rather primp and preen than help a victim in distress. But, one day, a chance accident up in the loft with an old chemistry set and a stick of bubblegum leads Grace to an extraordinary discovery. It’s going to save her life. In fact, it’s going to save the lives of everyone in Catastrophe. But she has to keep it a secret. And, for that, she will need a whole new identity…”

Now, how wonderfully, magnificently cool does that sound? I can see this one being on permanent loan from the school library when we get our copies in (and believe me… we’ll be getting copies plural). Just as with Glister I’m expecting Watson’s storytelling and his gorgeous artwork to really get our girls buzzing about comics.

All images from Andi’s Flickr… all rights reserved.

Andi will be appearing at “The Big Draw” at Worcester City Museum, next Saturday – 8th October.

and there’s one for writers as well.

First volume coming in early 2012, this is the teaser image from Watson’s next series from Walker Books. See, it’s not just Marvel and DC who do press releases with extensively blacked out characters!

This years Hay Literary Festival takes place from 27th May – 6th June. And it’s rather embraced comics this year – or perhaps, looking at the comic related events it’s more accurate to say that the book publishers who have a hand in Graphic Novel publishing have decided to heavily promote their comics at the festival.

The big exception to this big publisher rule is SelfMadeHero, a small but thriving publisher who regularly punch well above their weight. They have two events at Hay this year:

Ian Edginton & Ian Culbard: The Hound of the Baskervilles (Friday 4 June 2010, 2.30pm). Weird coincidences time – Hound Of The Baskervilles was written just across the River Wye at Baskerville Hall in Clyro. (Event details)

Martin Rowson – The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Thursday 3rd June 4pm). This adaptation of Sterne’s comic masterpiece by one of Britain’s premier cartoonists is released in May. (Event details)

Two more favourites of the FPI blog also make their Hay debut:

Andi Watson – Glister (Sunday 30 May 2010, 2.30pm). “A really quite astonishing event! Meet the creator of the charming Miss Glister Butterworth and help him make a brand new adventure, comic-style. 6–9 years”. Hopefully if you’re a regular on the FPI blog, you’ll be aware of how wonderful Watson’s young heroine is. (Event details)

Garen Ewing – Rainbow Orchid (Saturday 5th June) - who’ll soon be unveiling the second volume of his Ligne Claire series The Rainbow Orchid, published by Egmont. (Event details)

Other comic related events picked out from the huge programme include: Ian Beck and Glen Dakin (Monday 31 May 2010, 2.30pm, event details), Ben Haggarty’s Tales From Mezolith (Monday 31 May 2010, 2.30pm, event details), John Harris Dunning – author of Salem Brownstone (Saturday 29th May 4pm, event details), Tim Quinn (Tuesday 1st June 1pm, event details) and what would a comic event be without Paul Gravett? He’s appearing alongside Gerald Scarfe and Brian Griffiths for the  Tate @ Hay2 – Rude Britannia discussion (Saturday 5 June 2010, 5.30pm event details).