Monday saw another tasty meal, this time lunch with a couple of Ellie's work colleagues at Wildfire, and then it was off to the Adventure Comics Workshop - my first event of the festival. This, amazingly, had sold out within 12 hours of tickets becoming available, and it was a packed festival tent that kept us out of the rain for an hour of creating heroes, villains and treasures with which to build a story. I even had three parents join in, which was marvellous. This was only my second workshop and, as with the first one, I came out feeling as though my brain had been whisked! I went straight into a book signing where it was great to meet a few long-time Rainbow Orchid readers who had come along to get their volume twos signed.

That evening Ellie and I made our way to the Pleasance Courtyard to see Tim Vine's Joke-amotive, which was brilliant. So many comedians resort to nastiness and moaning about life, which can all-too-often be an easy route to cheap laughs (I can't bear programmes such as Mock the Week!) - Vine's material is clever and fun, and by the end my face ached from laughing so much.

Tuesday couldn't have started out in a nicer fashion - a lovely breakfast with multi-festival comrade Sarah McIntyre and her husband, Stuart, who were staying at the same hotel as us (preview copies of Sarah's brilliant comic, Vern & Lettuce, were available to buy in the children's bookshop). Just after lunch it was off again to the author's yurt to meet up with Jenny, from Egmont, in time for my schools event, brashly titled Comics with Garen Ewing!

I was a little apprehensive about this as I had to talk about the history of comics and there was no accommodation for any audio/visual equipment - and you can't really talk about comics without pictures! My solution was to spend a large part of the previous week making up a series of A3 boards to show - as well as giving myself a crash-course to brush up on my comics history. The result was better than I'd expected, the kids seemed really engaged and asked lots of questions. I kept the history aspect fast-moving and down to 25 minutes or so, and then used the rest of the hour to explain how I made a page of comic strip and answered more questions. As an example of a simple comic style I'd introduced the class to Lewis Trondheim's Mister O, and ended up giving his book a bigger plug than my own!

The signing afterwards was brief (school kids don't have much money!) but enjoyable as they were funny and seemed like a really bright and interested class. Thanks so much to everyone who filled up both my events.

Next up we had tickets to Steve Bell interviewing Alan Moore (I sat two seats away from Gary Trudeau) which was very enjoyable, though I didn't learn anything particularly new having read most of his recent online interviews - except it was more positive in tone. Frankly, it was enough to bask in the presence of the author of some of the greatest comic strip material this country has produced, and I got even closer to him afterwards in the author's yurt - though not brave enough to approach and say hello!

Our last evening in Edinburgh saw me being far more sociable, however, as we met up with various comics people and ended up eating at the surprisingly good Wannaburger in the excellent company of Jeremy Briggs (Down the Tubes reporter, and more), Joe Gordon (master of the Forbidden Planet International blog) with his mate, Brendan, and Graeme Neil Reid (ace comicker and illustrator). Elyssa and I had thought of taking in one more event - our friend Martin White's musical, Gutted, but we were disappointed as Tuesday turned out to be its night off.

Wednesday was a lovely sunny day as we made our way along Princes Street to the station and eventually back to London where the heavens were in the process of soaking everything in sight. One more train journey south saw us home at six, where I had an hour before I was off to karate, ensuring that I slept very well that night!

Thanks Edinburgh Book Festival, and thanks Egmont for a fabulous few days. See Sarah's report here and Joe's report here for more.

I've also come back to a clutch of extremely nice reviews for The Rainbow Orchid volume 2, which is just about as lovely as having a fabulous holiday!

Down the Tubes (full review here):

"Ewing continues to bring his growing readership a superb adventure story that leaves you guessing wildly at how that many plot threads will be resolved in the third and final volume..."

Pornokitsch (full review here):

"This is a heart-warming book crafted with painstaking devotion."

Christchurch Kids Blog (full review here):

"I have just discovered my new favourite graphic novel ... If you love old-school adventure stories, with detailed illustrations, quirky characters, narrow escapes and car chases, then you should try The Rainbow Orchid."

Mirabilis (full review here):

"This is a book worth a million dumbly hip, smart-aleck zombie-killer comics. Because the author takes the trouble to make his characters live and breathe, we connect with them and so we care what happens next."

Bear Alley (full review here):

"Like the work of his European influences, Rainbow Orchid is one of those stories that can be enjoyed by children of all ages, the action and humour broad enough for youngsters to enjoy and the plot complex enough for adults."

Sunset Over Slawit (full review here):

"It lives and breathes and stands proud on its own two feet - Garen's book deserves to win every award going for graphic novel artwork and storytelling. Truly, if you don't like The Rainbow Orchid, you don't like life!"

I'm so grateful to have such nice things said about my book, it's a privilege to have such support. And if that wasn't enough, there's a fantastic twenty-minute section on The Rainbow Orchid as part of the latest Small Press Big Mouth podcast (33 minutes in) hosted by Lee Grice and Stacey Whittle (warning: somewhat-more-than-fruity language occasionally present - not for children!). Ginormous thanks to everyone for these reviews - they're a real boost.

On September 26th I will be appearing at a comics festival in the Netherlands for the launch - I believe this is De Stripdagen in Houten. It'll be a somewhat hectic weekend as I'm at the Bath Children's Literature Festival the evening before! (So, fingers crossed again...)

I'm delighted to be working with Silvio Van Der Loo and his team at Silvester Strips, and I understand that I'm lucky enough to have one of their best translators, Mat Schifferstein, working on the books. A huge thanks to Oliver Munson, my agent at Blake Friedmann, for making this deal happen.

You can read the press release here.

Richard Bruton wrote up a lovely review of The Rainbow Orchid volume 2 for the Forbidden Planet International blog (I should say another lovely review, here's his piece on volume 1), and there have also been really nice mentions by long-time supporter Jez Higgins and also over at Robot 6 on Comic Book Resources.

This week the Bath Festival of Children's Literature programme went out, and amongst all the many fantastic events is a panel on comics (Graphic Novels: The New Revolution) where I'm lucky to be appearing alongside two amazing names in comics - Dave McKean and Robin Etherington. It's on Saturday 25th September from 6-7pm at the Guildhall, and is accompanied by this fabulous description:

"A very special and exclusive event celebrating the best artists and authors at work today in the genius world of graphic novels and comics. Dave McKean is an award-winning artist whose distinctive illustrations have graced several children's books including The Savage by David Almond and The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman. Garen Ewing's Rainbow Orchid series represents cinematic artwork and classic storytelling at its very best and Robin Etherington is one half of a brotherly duo that has contributed Monkey Nuts to the DFC Library and to the Transformers and Star Wars comics. If you like comics... you'll love this event!"

I work in the genius world of graphic novels! I like it!

At a more local level, I will be doing an Adventure Comics Workshop at East Grinstead Library on Tuesday 10th August from 10-11.30am. It's a free event but with limited numbers, so you'll need a ticket (available from the library). I'll be rustling up some promotional stuff for that next week, so more details to come!

Lastly, I want to remind you to pop over to the Super Comics Adventure Squad blog, the home of all the marvellous comic creators who were - and are - involved with The DFC. Despite the last issue appearing well over a year ago, everyone is still as busy as ever. Apart from the recent releases of the first wave of DFC Library books, and news of sightings of advance copies of the second wave, many creators are still working on all kinds of exciting projects - have you seen Emma Vieceli's Dragon Heir, Patrice Aggs' Midnite Owl, or the Etheringtons' Lore of the Things? See, it's worth keeping an eye on!

To end off, I just thought I should mark the occasion as I'm currently writing the last few pages of script for The Rainbow Orchid volume 3 (it'll be finished in time to watch the world cup final on Sunday), bits of which have been floating around my head for the best part of 14 years. I wonder how my readers will react when I reveal the fact that Julius and Evelyn are brother and sister, and Sir Alfred is their father? Only joking! Right - back to the genius world of graphic novels!

Thanks very much for the generous comments that have already come my way about volume 2. And to top off such niceness, go and see this fabulous Julius Chancer drawing by Etherington brother, Lorenzo - lovely! (check out more marvellous fan art here - and I'm always delighted to receive new additions!)

The Rainbow Orchid volume 2 is out on Monday - 5th July 2010. Order from Amazon here.

The Rainbow Orchid volume 2 is out on Monday - 5th July 2010. Pre-order from Amazon here.

You can also read a new interview with me over at Sketch Maven.

The Rainbow Orchid volume 2 is out on Monday - 5th July 2010. Pre-order from Amazon here.

They're the full-bleed cover illustrations for the first two volumes, A3, and on a nice shiny paper. These aren't the quality of the giclée prints (thus they'll be a much lower price), but they are very good indeed - I wouldn't put anything in the shop unless I'd want it myself!

My next big event is at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. On Monday 23 August I'm doing an Adventure Comics Workshop at 5pm in the RBS Workshop Tent:

"Discover the tricks of the trade and design your own classic adventure with this hands-on comics workshop led by Garen Ewing, author and illustrator of The Rainbow Orchid series. His books are often compared with some classic adventures we all love, from Conan Doyle's books to old-school Belgian comics like Tintin - come along and discover your own style."

And on Tuesday 24 August at 1pm, also in the RBS Workshop Tent, I'm doing a schools-only event rather brazenly entitled Comics with Garen Ewing. I'm not entirely sure what this is about yet, but going by the description it looks like I've got a bit of work to do!

"Garen Ewing's The Rainbow Orchid series of comics combines the visual look of Tintin cartoons with the excitement of Indiana Jones-style adventures. Join him for a tour of the world of comics, looking at how writing, illustration and design has developed over the years."

For slightly younger readers, make sure you check out Sarah McIntyre's workshop events (Monsters and Aliens Let Loose!) on Tuesday 24th August. Moving into September, I will be appearing on a panel about comics at the Bath Festival of Children's Literature on Saturday 25 September. As they haven't published the programme yet I won't give any more details, but I am rather excited about the other creators with whom I'm sharing the table!

In case you're not aware, earlier this year SFX Magazine launched a new periodical all about comics called Comic Heroes, and the second issue has just come out. This edition includes a little supplement titled Sidekick, previewing a number of new comics including Bryan Talbot's new Grandville book, Ben Dickson and Warren Pleece's Not One Minute of Silence, Karen Rubins' Urban Beasts and the first five pages of The Rainbow Orchid volume 2, among others.

I should also mention (only because I'm drawing attention to the publication) that there is a rather so-so review of volume 2 in the main magazine (3/5 stars). The reviewer's criticism echoes that of the three or four other less-favourable reviews I've had, citing the slower pace and many plot strands. I'm totally fine with that because I happen to love such stories, but not everyone does, and we all have our own tastes. I'm actually pleasantly overwhelmed by the number of people who have cited these same elements as things that they also like, which gives me faith that not everything is going the way of stories told in a series of bite-sized hooks, an explosion every other page and nothing more complicated than a lumbering zombie or a man with a drink problem and a gun. Multi-stranded storytelling is fine, as long as it's told clearly, and I take great efforts to do that. Comics are a great medium for stories of that nature, they give the reader plenty of time to digest everything they need, and not all adventure comics have to be Tarzan rescuing Jane - the reader can cope! I must say, however, it was a thoughtful review, and I do take it all on board.

(To balance things out a bit, here's a lovely review by Kim Harte that appeared in Inis, the magazine of children's books in Ireland, and here's another nice mention by Neil Elkes over at Speech Balloons. And there are more reviews here.)

I do sometimes wonder if three volumes was the best way to go with The Rainbow Orchid as it's meant to be read as a single book with its story-flow steadily rising throughout. If I'd have planned it as three separate books the build-up and pace would certainly be different for each volume with a more rapid rise in each. But with the three separate volumes, at least it's available right now and with volume two imminent, time will fly by. Before you know it, volume three and the story's exciting conclusion will be upon us.

I'd better get on with it then!

Ellie and I had been to Hay-on-Wye about four years ago, as part of a few days away in the Brecon Beacons, but this was our first time at the festival. To describe it as a collection of tents in a field just outside the village wouldn't do it justice - it's like a little village in itself, with walkways, stores, play areas, lounging-about areas, cafes, flags rippling in the breeze, and the venues themselves, which are more like little theatres, function rooms or lecture halls than tents. The atmosphere was extremely laid back and pleasant.

My talk was in the Oxfam Studio. At first I balked at the size of it (my main worry was that no one would turn up) but as it turned out enough attended to fill the space more than not. Despite that, it probably wasn't quite the right venue for me - my talk relies on showing art and pictures on a slide show, and rather than a nice big projection screen (as at Cheltenham, and even Bristol) I had two television screens either side of me that got slightly lost in the light of the tent. But, if not ideal, it worked fine, and I was certainly able to do my talk as intended.

The other thing I was somewhat wary of, was the fact that this was me, on my own, talking for an hour - to (predominantly) kids. The majority of events at Hay were interviews, panels, or teams of creators. It's quite a tall order to stand there on your own and talk, and children are not generally thought to be the most patient of listeners (certainly not for that long). But again, it all went very well and the audience were fantastic - I didn't stay too long on each slide and I put the emphasis on how I make comics and therefore how you can make comics, and on making up characters, drawing animals, writing and sketching, and on researching things such as revolvers so I know how many 'bangs' a .32 Mauser can make before the bullets run out. This was the first time I'd made my slideshow this long, and somehow it lasted just the right amount of time for 15 minutes of questions at the end. I needn't have worried about that either as there were plenty of really interesting questions from both parents and children of all ages. All in all the talk went well, and I know which bits definitely worked, and which bits could do with bit of fine-tuning, so next time (the Edinburgh Literary Festival, I think) should be better still.

The next thing I knew I was being whisked off to the festival bookshop where I sat at a table and signed books for just over an hour. This was really enjoyable because I was able to talk face-to-face with those who came along and hear their enthusiasm for the talk, the book and for comics in general, which was lovely. It was also great to have such a variety of people, a few older readers, and a great mix of boys and girls (in fact, probably more girls this time, I'd say). I'm really grateful for everyone who came along - thanks very much! And Ellie and I were so well looked after at Hay, so a really big thanks to Mike Richards from Egmont, and also to Sophie Lording and Rhiannon from the festival - I couldn't have been made to feel more welcome or had a nicer time.

After a rather filling dinner in the artists' area of the restaurant, Ellie and I went to see Paul Gravett who was on a panel about the current Tate Britain exhibition, Rude Britannia, along with Gerald Scarfe, Brian Griffiths and Tate Etc. magazine editor, Simon Grant. While Griffiths made a case for his bits-and-pieces sculptures being an art-equivalent of The Office or a Carry-On film, yet also using that oft-used defence of modern art, 'it means what you want it to mean', it was Scarfe who stole the show, and who should have had a lot more time to talk about his work. Paul Gravett was rather under-utilised, and I think another hour of this interesting subject wouldn't have been amiss. Afterwards I had a nice chat with Paul in the artists' lounge - he's currently working on Comica Argentina which will be taking place in London throughout June.

We went to one more talk in the late evening - Alex Butterworth talking about his book The World That Never Was. I wanted to see this purely because the subject sounded intriguing, but I knew nothing about the book - and to be honest, by the end of the talk (which was a bit like part two of a lecture), I still knew very little about the book! Alex leapt right into the depths of his subject - he certainly knew his stuff - it was complicated but did hold my interest. I also felt for him as, like me, he had to talk on his own for the hour. Being given the five-minute signal from the back, he seemed to skip three pages, and then only had time for one brief question. A book I will certainly be having a closer look at.

We left the festival that evening (it had one more day to run) and drove to Hereford, spending a lazy Sunday morning in the town before heading for the comforts, and tea, of home. It's nice to go away and do these things, but it's lovely to be back home again.

But that is one of the things that does make it seem less like work - meeting readers who have sought you out to tell you how much they enjoy your book is hugely gratifying, and is really the part that makes all the hours sitting alone at your drawing table wondering if what you're doing actually has any value, if anyone else will care about it, totally worth it. I know what I'm doing with The Rainbow Orchid is good, just the kind of comic I want to read, but I still feel that slight sense of amazement that other people think so too, and I'm enormously grateful for that.

This was a slightly new experience for me in that I didn't have my own table, but was on the table of my publisher, Egmont, along with another of their authors, Glenn Dakin. Many of you will recognise Glenn's name as one of the UK's most influential independent comic creators, especially active in the 1980s with strips such as Abe and Temptation and contributing to titles such as Escape and Deadline, high points of the British comics scene. His latest work is Candle Man, a novel for children and young adults - and very good it is too.

We were scheduled to do a talk on the Saturday, which we discovered rather late was entitled 'Breaking into Comics', not quite what we were expecting. Glenn joked that I could talk about breaking into comics and he could talk about breaking out of comics. Our event was very well attended (I was worried as it was on at the same time as Pat Mills' talk) - so special thanks to everyone who came along. We each gave illustrated introductions to our books and talked about our experience of working with a mainstream book publisher, which I hope was interesting and useful. The thing about breaking into comics is that everyone has a different story, but in the end it all boils down to one thing - do good work!

Although volume 2 of The Rainbow Orchid is not released nationally until July 5th (just over five weeks away now), Egmont had generously supplied 50 advance copies for sale at the Bristol Expo, and we sold nearly all of them. I would probably have sold the final few had I not had to leave at noon on Sunday, thus missing half a day's sales. As well as talking to lots of interesting people visiting the Egmont stand, and as well as Glenn's company, I also had the excellent company of my commissioning editor and comics champion at Egmont, Tim Jones. It was great to chat with him in something other than a publisher's meeting! Elyssa, my wife, was also in attendance (these events serve as rare away-breaks for us), to help out and - as usual - take some great photographs. I really couldn't do these things without Ellie, or at least I'd only be functioning at half-power!

One thing I missed was getting over to the Mercure to see the 'small press expo'. Despite being with Egmont, I still feel like an independent comic creator, I still operate on 'small press values' (having my own stock and online shop, carrying on with my own promotion and marketing as if nothing's changed!) and so felt the pang of separation from what is, in a large part, the life-blood of the British comics scene. But there was plenty of coming and going between the two venues to demonstrate that, in the end, we're all just part of the same fantastic world of comics, many of which were evident in both venues of the Expo.

Big thanks to Mike Allwood and his team for putting on an excellent event, and to Egmont for looking after me and Ellie so well.