The plot concerns an ingenious method for accumulating gold from the sea, and an even more ingenious method for encoding that secret. Needless to say, nefarious forces want to get their hands on it, and Daisy, and her little brother, Co, get entangled into proceedings, determined to make sure that things turn out right.

The story was written by Trevor, an architect and founder of the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford. Eileen is a children's illustrator; she pencilled the artwork and then Trevor would make a clear-line tracing - an interesting collaboration!

The artwork is very much in the school of Hergé and has a lovely kinetic quality to it - the detail is absorbing from first page to last. And the story keeps you going, with equal measures of humour (whether puns or physical comedy - plenty of both) and drama, excitement and suspense.

Have a look at their website here, and go and get yourself a copy of the book right here. And the good news is there's more to come as a second book is planned, The Souvlaki Mechanism.

Back then, in the early days of the story, I hadn't really mapped out the room which is something I now quite often do, so this time I sketched up a plan on a page of the script. Even if I have a good idea of how a room looks in my head, it still helps with consistency when you're changing the direction of view, so I find putting it down on paper enormously useful.

You can see a related post on planning interior locations here.

A couple of other links for you - here's an interview with me at The Beat about the new Julius Chancer adventure. And if you want to get hold of the first episode of Samurai, then it is now available as a back issue from The Phoenix online shop.

By the way, following on from last week's Tintin tribute - do you recognise which comic this little fellow, who sits on the sideboard in the breakfast room scene above, appears in?

It also features a wonderful spread of other brilliant comics - Bunny vs Monkey, Simon Swift, Gary's Garden, Troy Trailblazer, Von Doogan, and a fabulous Corpse Talk featuring yet more samurai - and ninja (plus a rather amazing board game!).

Here's a little spot for you - a teeny-weeny tribute to Tintin ...

There's also a terrific competition in which you can win a copy of The Complete Rainbow Orchid, as well as a fantastic bundle of Phoenix comic goodies.

You can take out a subscription to The Phoenix here. Alternatively, if you have an iPad, you can get the digital version with The Phoenix app. You can also wait for the individual issues to become available in the back-issues section of the online shop and buy them there (The Secret of the Samurai will appear in issues 75 - 78). The Phoenix is available across the UK in various book and comic shops, as well as many branches of Waitrose - find a stockist here (there's even one in Dublin). If you're in the US then you can contact Big Planet Comics who will order The Phoenix in.

Will The Secret of the Samurai be available as a book?

That is my intention, but as Samurai is just a 20-page story I have a 'stand-alone sequel' in mind to join it in order to make a complete album. This means a book will be some time off yet. Samurai will not be the next book - that is already planned and I will be starting it soon.

Will The Secret of the Samurai be available as a webcomic?

I'm hoping to make the first couple of pages available as an online preview, but I doubt it'll be much more than that. Its main home is The Phoenix and I do urge you to try and read it there - you'll discover a whole host of great British comics alongside Julius. Don't worry though, there are plans afoot for new Julius Chancer online.

Does The Secret of the Samurai have all the old characters again, Lily, Nathaniel, Evelyn Crow etc?

No - this story takes place a couple of years before the The Rainbow Orchid. The only characters you'll recognise are Julius Chancer, Sir Alfred Catesby-Grey, and Charlotte, the housekeeper.

What is The Secret of the Samurai about?

I don't want to give too much away, but I will say it has a bit of a detective story feel to it, a dash of mystery, and - of course - some good old historic artefact adventure! Locations include the Victoria and Albert Museum, an old library, some cavalry barracks, a women's ju-jutsu class, and a misty forest. All in twenty pages!

In other news, I'll be selling, signing and sketching at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal, which takes place 19-20 October. I'll also be at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival - taking part in three events on Sunday 25 August - more on that soon.

Right ... back to the drawing board!

We both love the name Felix - it means 'lucky', and we both feel incredibly lucky to have been able to have a second child (our first was two years ago). James is a Ewing family name - it was my grandad's name, my g-granddad's name, my ggg-granddad's name, my gggg-granddad's name, and my ggggg-granddad's name. And Howell was Elyssa's gramp's name and gg-grandfather's name.

So, please excuse me if I'm a little slower than usual with emails, work and book orders for a while - I'll try not to be!

This is a shorter adventure (20 pages), though my plan is that one day I will do a connected but equally stand-alone story of the same length, so there's the possibility they could be published together as a complete book. I will try and post more art and more details over the next few weeks. This will not derail the full-length (60-80 pages) adventure I have plotted and ready to start - hopefully this summer.

Some recent Rainbow Orchid press has included a lovely review at Dancing With Skeletons, and an overview of the Spanish edition at Lina Clara Hoy. The French language edition has been out for a month now and I've seen mentions on Klare Lijn International, BD Zoom and Génération BD.

They were for some kind of monster book for the Crystal Palace Book Festival, though I never managed to get a copy so can't offer any more details. I only submitted the top one, but I think now I prefer the bottom one - especially as it seems to catch spiders!

1) Script. I tend to plot out the story in a notebook and then type it up. I use Scrivener to type up and revise my notes and final scripts.

2) Thumbnails. These are usually sketched out as I script and are used to rough out the page layout and general composition of panels. Very rough!

3) Master artboard. I use A3 Goldline Bristol Board. Here you can see all the panels ruled out for this page. All I have to do now is simply fill in each box with a complete drawing ... easy!

4) Lettering guide. I scan in the empty-panelled artboard (3), put on the lettering in Photoshop, and print it out so I know how much room each speech balloon will take up. If I have more time I sometimes draw a second set of roughs on this sheet as well, but often the thumbnails (2) are enough.

5) Ballon guide. Each of those cut out square corresponds to the space a different size speech balloon will take up - 2 lines, 3 lines, 4 lines etc., as dictated by (4). I use it to mark out the space on the master artboard (3) so I know how much room they will take up in the panel.

6) Sketchbook. This is where I will work out difficult poses and compositions etc.

7) Tools. This is where I keep in-use pencils, pens, erasers and rulers. I use a clutch pencil with an H or HB lead for drawing the first stage of the finished art. I use an Edding 8404 Aerospace marker for most straight (ruled) lines, including panel borders (this is also the pen I use for sketching at conventions). As well as block erasers (usually a Pentel Hi-Polymer) I also have an ultra-fine eraser 'pen' (currently a Tombo).

8) Ink. Just above the number (8) you can see my inkwell - an antique brass holder with a hinged lid containing a ceramic well-pot (ceramic is easy to clean). I refill it regularly from a large 250ml bottle of Winsor & Newton black India Ink. On the far right of the number you can just see a tin pen-tray where I keep my dip pens. I have recently changed from using a Hunt 107 nib to a Hunt 102. There are also two or three water receptacles, for black ink and for coloured inks and an old jam jar with an assortment of pens and brushes - I use the brushes for solid black areas on the art (mostly a Royal Soft Grip SG 250 no.2).

9) Nibs. Above the number (9) is a little tin box for new nibs (Hunt 107 and 102), a scalpel, and another tin tray of various pens, spare pencils, pencil leads (H and HB), sharpeners and extra erasers.

Not numbered, along the top, are additional items such as coloured inks, reserves of India ink, compass, dividers, stapler, glue, and various shape guides (flexi-curve, circle stencil, etc.). I have a small low table next to my art desk where I stack in-use reference books (often piling up on the floor as well).

Not much other news at the moment except to say that I am busy drawing a new (20-page) Julius Chancer story - more details to come in a month or two. In the meantime I'll point you to this very nice review of The Complete Rainbow Orchid by Lew Stringer on the final post of his Blimey blog (and do check out his new blog here).

See more here!

It was made in Jingdezhen sometime between 1690 and 1700 (Quing Dynasty) and depicts the tale of Xi Xang Ji (The Western Chamber) in a remarkably bande dessinée-like four tiers of panels. There are similar vases of the same period but many of them have panels designed as nested petal shapes and don't tell any story, just showing scenes of ladies on terraces and flowers. This one in particular, complete with panel gutters, looks as though it could have been transferred directly from the pages of a Tintin album (see it in more detail here).

Far Eastern objet d'art have long been adorned with traditional folk tales. I remember studying my grandparents' Willow pattern tea set through the glass of their 'best china' cabinet, with my mum explaining to me the tale it told of two lovers transformed into birds. Of course now, thanks to Wikipedia, I discover that particular story and design was an eighteenth century English invention, an imitation made to cash-in on the popularity of the real thing.

The Western Chamber - the real thing - also tells the story of two lovers, with the young man having to overcome the adversity of tradition, bandits, a civil service exam, and - worst of all - the girl's disapproving mother. The Jingdezhen vase is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, though is currently in storage.