First: I’ll be in Helsinki for Heroes Comic Con this weekend! I’ll be signing every day of the con and hosting a storytelling workshop at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday. Would love to see you there!
(Last time I was in Finland, I noticed that everyone automatically spoke English to me everywhere I went. It became so obvious that I finally asked a girl in a shop how she knew I wasn’t local, and she curtly replied, “It’s the smiling.” Gotta love the Finnish!
Anyway. I’ll be the smiling Norwegian in the comic village. Come by and say hi!)
Battle Action #8 giveaway
Battle Action #8 is out now! Alongside the main story by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns, Patrick Goddard and I are back with a new Nina Petrova and the Angels of Death story—and I got to paint Nina for the cover! It’s the first time I’ve ever painted a comic book cover, and it was a fucking joy. The issue is already available in both the UK and the US—but I’ve just received my comps, which means I’ll be giving a few away to you.
If you want a copy, tell me in the comments, and I’ll pick out a few, sign them, and ship them out to wherever you are.
This issue also marks the 50th anniversary of Battle Action, and Garth takes a look back at its history here—like most of his writing, it’s worth reading.
In other news:
We reveal a bit more about the upcoming Spider-Girl #1 here.
I went on 2000 AD’s In Orbit Every Wednesday to talk about Battle Action and Nina Petrova, yet somehow we got to fairy porn. (I blame Molcher.)
I quit Twitter, which feels nice. In fact, I highly recommend it. But I’m still sporadically on BlueSky and Instagram.)
I wrote a story called Bastian for 3 Worlds 3 Moons, with art by one of my favourite artists and people in the world, Dave Acosta. I’ll talk a bit more about this next time, but meanwhile, here’s a preview!
What are you reading these days? Watching? I’m savoring the mercy of spring and doing my best not to let the world’s stupidity get the better of me. This year feels like one long test of our mental faculties, doesn’t it? Or a really bad, tedious joke. I’m coping (“coping”) by burying myself in work, painting, and reorganizing the studio. How are you doing?
(Please enjoy this before/after spring cleaning TikTok I made during the height of procrastination.)
The Smiling Norwegian would make a fantastic title for a story!
Dear Torunn,
congratulations on an amazing work. Your portraits live, breathe, feel.
I agree that it feels that whole world is speeding towards the bitter end ... and that it cannot be stopped. So work, books, music, bicycling and concerts. And the amazing people that come with all that.
I would love a copy, if you still have a spare signed one, as I do enjoy it, plus a friend is a life long fan of airplanes, comics and a collector, so i think it would be a perfect present too.