The Lengths 3 Previewed on Forbidden Planet

Our friends over at Forbidden Planet have run a preview of Issue 3 on their blog. Here's some of the kind words they have to say about the issue. 

These first few pages show young art school dropout Eddie meeting his maybe boyfriend Dan, always fearful of the shadowy double life he’s leading being discovered. Personally I think Hardiman’s art here is the best of the series so far, with really solid storytelling, some neatly detailed body language and great backgrounds.

Very, very good stuff which should be which should be released in the first week of September and available from The Lengths webstore.

The Lengths is available here.

Laydeez Do Comics

Photo by Mike Medaglia: http://www.facebook.com/taoistartist

Last Monday, I gave a short talk at Laydeez do Comics in London, which is quite possibly my favorite comics forum at the moment, with a varied range of speakers, a very relaxed atmosphere and exceptionally good cake. It's also the first time I've done a question and answer session about The Lengths, rather than an interview for broadcast, so it was really refreshing to be able to face questions I think I might have shied away from on air or in settings where I don't know who's listening.

Talking quite openly about the degree to which The Lengths is emotionally autobiographical and is based around my own experiences in the sex, drugs and muscles section of the gay scene was surprisingly cathartic, given that the comic isn't directly about me. To be asked questions about how the masking effect of using the dogs in the comic allows me to be more honest was disarming and started a conversation about how so many of the themes in the comic that are stereotypically gay - the attitudes to sex, relationships, drugs and self-esteem - are nothing to do with being gay or being a prostitute, but that they're actually pretty standard.

So between that and the wonderful discussions around the other artists' work there that night, I've been in the studio this week and setting up my exhibition at Camberwell with a renewed sense of resolve and clarity about why I do what I do, which is a brilliant place to be.

Just a quick reminder: The discount code ILOVELONDON for 15% off at the web shop ends tomorrow.

"Raw, powerful and very real" Forbidden Planet on The Lengths

The second issue of Hardiman’s The Lengths continues his dark and emotional story of one man’s descent into a shadowy world of sex and drugs. It couldn’t be further from his adorable, all-ages Badger, but it’s proving to be a challenging and powerful series.

Forbidden Planet International

It's funny; in my mind I don't actually see Badger and The Lengths as being that different, with both stories dealing with urban isolation, depression and survival and with Badger having a not-so-all-ages stabbing sequence in it that leaves him sleeping rough in an alleyway among a heap of bin bags after chasing off a failed mugging attempt, but I take his point that The Lengths is much more up front about the territory it inhabits.

Nevertheless, I think he says some very encouraging things in the review, what do you think?

The Lengths 3

I've just received Issue 3 of The Lengths back from the printers and I'm really, really pleased with how it looks. I'm once again happy that I went with a printer who took the time to make sure I got it done by a litho process and that it was made with eco and ethical credentials I'd be comfortable with. It looks and smells great and I'm proud for taking the time I took with it.

I'll have it at my MA show and at the Laydeez Do Comics talk I'm giving next Monday and there'll also be an open studios event as a part of Deptford X that I'm taking part in that I'll put details up for when I have them, but it'll be in shops at the beginning of September and you can put an order in through my shop now and you'll get it by then as well.

Until the end of August, there's a sale on in the web shop; if you use the code ILOVELONDON you'll get a 15% discount off your purchases, too.

Dog whores love London. I love London. Who doesn't?

Coming Up

It's a bit of a strange time for all of us at the moment. I can't quite get myself out of that graveyard of hashtag tombstones of areas I love proclaimed scorched by the fires of the last few days. I could type and delete a hundred meaningless things while I'm tired, but instead I'll just get back to the things I do know.

I've handed in a big chunk of the work for my MA and it's almost finished and even though college was closed yesterday, I'm enormously proud of everyone on all of the MA Visual Art courses for the work we've all done. You're very welcome to come to the show. On the private view night, I will have copies of my comic, including issue 3 of The Lengths, for sale.

I'm going to be speaking at Laydeez Do Comix at the Rag Factory in E1 on the 22nd of July about The Lengths, again, I'd love to see you there. Apparently I need to make a Powerpoint for it, but I'll try not to laugh at myself too much.

Other than that, just as a little thing, for the rest of August, I'm offering a 15% discount on all items in the shop if you enter the code ILOVELONDON at the checkout where there's a little box to let you enter that, just because I think we all could do with a little bit of love right now.

Orders including issue 3 will be sent out in the first week of September when it's released - it's also going to be available then in your local comic shop, so be sure to support them by getting in and getting your copy locally if you can, especially at the moment.

Issue 4 Cover and Release Date Announced

This week, I send Issue 3 to the printers, ready to have it back in time for the MA show at Camberwell, which will be where I'll be launching issue 3. It should get to retail outlets across the UK at the same time, so if you can't come along to that to get it from me then, you should be able to get it from your local comic shop. It's worth putting in an order now, though; quite a few places seem to have run out of issues one and two. (I still have them in the web shop if you want to pick them up, though!)

If this is the first you've seen of The Lengths, it's a comic that's based around male prostitution in London, drawn from interviews with men who sell sex to men and from spending a lot of time hanging out in that crowd. As such, there's a bit of autobiography in there, but a lot of authenticity.

In issue 4, the first part of Eddie's story reaches its conclusion in Pay As You Go. Nelson takes him on his first job as an escort, while the older Eddie makes some awkward, poor choices about honesty and love, despite the advice of Peter and Tony.

Issues 1 and 2 are available from UK comic shops or from the web store. Issue 3 is released at the beginning of September and Issue 4 will be out at the beginning of December.

http://www.thelengths.com

The Lengths is a self-published, creator-owned comic by Howard Hardiman.