Small Press Spotlight: Go Check Out the New Mister Amperduke Website

The Small Press Spotlight is a semi-regular feature on Hypergeek where I dedicate an article to all the excellent small press and indie publishers out there, as well as self-publishing artists. This is accomplished in the form of company/creator profiles, highlights of key works, reviews of the company/individual’s latest releases, and general articles about the small press scene.

You may remember that in last week’s Small Press Spotlight I pimped out a couple of upcoming collections that feature in this month’s edition of Previews Magazine. These books being Whatever Happened to the World’s Fastest Man? by Dave West & Marleen Lowe (Accent UK), and Mister Amperduke, by Bob Byrne (Clumnut Comix).

This week, in preparation for the international release of his silent epic, Bob Byrne relaunched his Mister Amperduke Website, with all sorts of cool new content.

The new site includes:

Previews of two stories from Mister Amperduke - The First being a new story, and the second being the very first Amerduke story Bob ever wrote!

The Making of Amperduke – A Four-page comic about the epic struggle Bob had to endure to bring Amperduke to life!

Amperduke Fan At Gallery – A Gallery of Amperduke tribute art, with contributions by Guy Davis, PJ Holden, Declan Shalvey, Stephen Thompson, Wil Sliney, Stephen Mooney, and many more!

A Sneak Peek inside Mister Amperduke 2 – Bob is currently working on a new Amperduke book, titled Tourist Trade, and has posted several concept sketches and images from the upcoming sequel!

The site also includes a store section, where you can buy a signed version of the book directly from Bob (with free original artwork), or pick up a downloadable PDF version of the book for a bargain price!

So head on over to the site, and spend some time getting to know Mister Amperduke, trust me, you’ll fall in love with this book instantly. Don’t forget to pre-order your copy of the book if you are planing to get it from your local comic store, here’s that ordering information again:

Mister Amperduke GN
Written by Bob Byrne
Art by Bob Byrne
B&W
180 pages
$17.95
Diamond Order Code: NOV090705

The tiny citizens of Mister Amperduke’s miniature city must battle a giant marauding insect as their benevolent master and the Panzer Meister race to save them in the dark and compelling adventure. Since its debut as a 6-page story in Judge Dredd Megazine this story, told silently without words, has been acclaimed, with appeal to LEGO collectors. The compelling adventure offers a new mode of visual storytelling to long time comic fans and new readers alike.

Told without words, through over 2,000 comic panels Mister Amperduke is a fast paced, dark and compelling adventure that offers a new mode of graphic storytellling.

Amperville is a miniature city built and maintained by Mr. Amperduke in his basement as a hobby. The tiny inhabitants (called Snodules and not unlike Lego men) live a blissful life in their manufactured utopia until Mr. Amperduke’s cruel grandson drops a large, vicious insect into their world.

The aging Mr. Amperduke is hospitalised while the enraged monster unleashes a devastating rampage on his model society.

The citizens desperately band together and leaders emerge. It’s a race against time as their benevolent master struggles to return home through his injury and gridlocked traffic while the giant insect relentlessly devours the trapped Snodules.

But there is a secret weapon lying in wait and ready to do battle…..

The whole book uses no dialogue whatsoever, the reader is involved in a different way than a normal Graphic Novel. There are themes and details waiting to be discovered by the reader as they interpret the emotions and actions at their own pace.