Ravage and Rumble.  Those are the two Transformer figures I remember ever wanting to buy.  Well, let’s be honest, I wanted to buy Megatron and Optimus but those two were way out of my pocket money range.  The cassettes on the other hand…  I used to journey to the toy store almost every day when I was saving up just to take another sneak peak at my soon to be purchased treasures.  This year I got to feel something very similar, walking into a toy store to purchase a Transformer toy but this time one I’d had a hand in creating. [Read more →]

It’s been a CRAZY middle of the year with writing, traveling, speaking and general tomfoolery. I’d hoped, as always, to keep this site updated constantly but as life would happen that’s a big fat no.

However, prepare for the blog flood. It shall commence shortly.

Prepare yourselves, I’m slipping on the Ranty Pants.  That’s right, it’s time for a hardcore rant dealing with something I’m extremely passionate about, something I hold dear and cherish above all else (yes, even more than Chicko Rolls).  What is it that could raise such ire? (pretend you can’t see the huge picture above and that you haven’t read the terrible pun fueled title, I’m building suspense)  What is it that would cause me to slip on the awesome power of the Ranty Pants?  Tea.  That’s right, I’m here to rant about tea and how 99% of cafes and restaurants with their snooty coffee blends and high tech coffee makers can kiss my ass when it comes to ordering it from them. [Read more →]

The question I get asked the most (other than, “Are you British?” and “Do you draw the pictures too?”) is easily, “How do I break in?” (and by that they mean “into the comic industry”, not “into some old pensioner’s home”).  I was lucky enough to receive some great advice from some very helpful pros years ago (Warren Ellis, Phil Jiminez and Ashley Wood, take a bow) and wanted to pass on the gesture by talking about breaking in from my perspective; namely as a foreign writer.  Read on with the understanding that this is all just from my point of view, it’s based on what worked for me and that I offer no guarantees that any of this will ‘get you in’, ‘get you famous’ or ‘get you laid’ (the last one will make more sense later…or not).

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Next week I’ll be in Sydney as a guest of the exciting Supanova convention and then the week after that I’ll be back home in Perth for the Supanova Perth convention.

The Supanovas are really an outstanding event and I’m really excited to be there as a guest.  There’s all kinds of TV, animation and comic stars taking part (although Felicia Day couldn’t make it which I’m seriously disappointed about).

Nevertheless, check them out if at all possible and if you do make it, pop over and say hi.

Can you believe it’s June?  I can’t.  Seriously, if you stood in front of me right now and said, “Shane, it’s June.”  I wouldn’t believe you.  I’d also ask you to get off of my coffee table and leave my house…you scary, calendar obsessed person you.

The last few months have been outstanding for your good ol’ Mr Mac.  I spent a wonderful three weeks in Germany where I did some sight seeing and managed to pick up some really great stuff (he says drinking from his gorgeous Tintin mug).  I was even lucky enough to be handed the German translations of my Batman work.  Amazing!  It’s really amazing seeing your work in another language…especially when it was done so long ago and you can’t remember anything they’re saying.

Other than touring around foreign countries I’ve been hard at work and loving every second of it.  Onto the last script of my final Transformers work for the foreseeable future.  Drift has been a lot of fun to write and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.  In addition to that I’ve finished the first script of a new project I’ll be talking about soon and also made forays into the world of Television writing (I’m off to Sydney for a TV script conference next week).

On top of that I’ve managed to lose an incredible amount of time playing the sensation Red Dead Redemption.  What other game in existence makes you look forward to sleeping out on the plains and hunting deer…seriously?!  Also I’ve finally caught up on my Naruto watching and I’m happy to see the blonde haired ninja kicking some arse rather than being a general disappointment (I’d seriously love to see Sasuke get his face punched in but that’s a whole other matter).  Oh and I’ve recently bought the entire run of the Last Air Bender; looking forward to watching that one.

I’ll be posting some more info on where I’ll be in the next few weeks and I’m also thinking of a little ‘breaking in’ post for those thinking of hitting San Diego Comiccon.

Oh!  And if you’re not watching the latest season of Doctor Who you’re really missing something incredible.  Matt Smith is something that needs to be seen to be believed.

We all need goals in life. For some it’s saving up for that much needed trip to Bali (with some extra casholla for those Bali DVDs). For others it’s as simple as remembering to hang out your washing after it’s done rather than leaving it there for days on end and having to rewash it…three times. Goals are great. However there are some goals in life that rise above the rest, goals that stand up and demand to be heard. Goals that say, I’m so important it’ll take an entire human life (or big part thereof) to achieve. These are life goals, or as I like to think of them MEGA GOALS (MGs for short).

In my life I’ve achieved a few MGs. Some I’d worked hard to achieve, others I really didn’t know I had until I achieved them and thought, ‘Oh! Well, good for me then.’ However there’s been one significant MG that’s avoided me…until now… [Read more →]