
There's No Time Like The Present is the long
comic strip or 'graphic novel' I have been working on since September
2005. The opening 39 pages can read on-line starting
here
Meanwhile, I have been serialising the strip
since I began drawing it in 28 paged comics. So far, the first ten parts
of this are available for sale.
To purchase any of these comics and other
items by myself, please visit the shop to order using paypal or
email me for details of
alternative methods of payment. Each issue costs between £2.50 and £3.00,
which includes postage and packing to the UK. For non-UK residents, an
extra pound is charged to cover the price of the extra postage.
Paul Rainey

Reviews
-
There's No Time Like The Present is one of Paul Gravett's "top tips" as
mentioned in his book Great British Comics.
Parts 1 & 2:
"expertly
crafted dialogue", "exquisite panel layout"
Parts 2 & 3:"I honestly can't recommend it enough."
Redeye 5 Mar 06
Parts 1 to 3: "...a very good, very economical narrative." Dave Sim,
writer and artist of Cerebus.
Part 3:
"There’s
No Time Like The Present
could well be the Holy Grail of comics."
"...thrives on his wonderful
observation of people's thoughts, actions and interactions. An enjoyable
read." Comics International 189 Oct 05.
Parts 1 to 4: "Absolutely f*cking awesome!" Ilya, writer and artist of End
of the Century Club.
Part 4: "Good dialogue, humour and interesting characters make this
comic really work".
Comics International 194 Mar 06
"It’s
wonderfully drawn. It has rich characterisation. It’s funny and has an
intriguing plot. It’s domestic and naturalistic in its style, but it also
has a surreal science fiction edge. " Darryl Cunningham
"...you can thankfully pick up
all 8 issues in comic form, something I wholeheartedly recommend you do."
Richard Bruton,
Forbidden Planet Blog.
""There's No Time Like The Present
stands quietly, unassumingly, as one of the most intriguing and affecting
long-form British graphic novels in recent years."
Paul Gravett.
Copies are also available for purchase from...
Gosh
OK Comics
Forbidden Planet International
or directly from the
author.
Mailing List: To join my mailing list please
e-mail your details to here. |
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Did
you know that the character of Cliff is inspired by a real person? Meet
The Real Cliff
here.
Baffled by any of the cultural references that appear in There's No Time
Like The Present? Then why not visit and contribute to
The Glossary
here
Interested in sampling There's No Time Like
The Present but don't want to
spend money on ordering any copies incase it's rubbish? Then read the
opening 39 pages online for free here.
TNTLTP; Best of 2010
Orbital Comics
in London have included
There's No Time Like The Present
in their highly selective and otherwise tasteful Best of 2010 list. My
comic is in there with the likes of
The Walking Dead
and Bulletproof Coffin.
Tom says, "The strength of Paul Rainey’s ‘There’s Time Like The Present’
lies in it’s ability to juxtapose relatable personal drama with lofty
cosmic science concepts". Copies of all thirteen parts are still available
to buy from the shop section of my website or
directly from
Orbital.

Orbital Comics
like my work enough to have invited me to take part in an event in their
shop with Paul Cornell
on Saturday February 19th. Paul is a highly regarded writer whose work
includes Captain Britain,
Action Comics
and episodes of Doctor Who.
Details can be found on
Orbital's
website and I'll remind you here nearer to the time.

Paul B. Rainey 13/01/11
TNTLTP Extras
At the
end of last year, I had the honour of contributing to the
That’s Novel
exhibition curated by
Paul
Gravett. The theme was
graphic novels and for it I produced four exclusive pages which are
supposed to work as extras to
There's No Time Like The Present.
Now that the exhibition is finished, I'm happy to post them to my website.
Please click the image below so you can navigate your way through the four
strips. I hope you enjoy them.

Paul B. Rainey 05/01/11
Updates
A
couple of updates for you. Firstly,
SFX magazine's
Comic Heroes features a
review of
BASTARDS
2, the high quality small press anthology to which I
have contributed. Matthew Badham says the book had him laughing out loud. "Dr
Kyle, a
Doctor Who/Jeremy Kyle mash-up, is a tour de force." I still have
some copies of
BASTARDS
2 available for sale in
The Shop. It costs £10,
which includes postage to the UK. If you order it now, you should receive
it by Christmas... 2011.

Secondly,
Rob Jackson
features
There's No Time Like The Present
on his
best of the year list. "Now this 13 part series is finished I am
definitely putting it on my best comics of the year list. It's great." All
parts are still available and can be ordered from
The Shop.
Paul B. Rainey 18/12/10
Comica Comiket
As part
of this years
Comica
Festival, as well as taking part in the
That’s Novel
comic art exhibition,
I will be exhibiting at the
Comiket
Independent Comics Fair taking place on Sunday. I will be sharing my table
space with
Spandex's
Martin Eden.
Comiket
will be taking place at The Royal National Hotel between midday and 5 PM,
so if you're in the area please pop by and say hello.
Comica
is run by highly respected comics authority
Paul
Gravett who recently
included
There's No Time Like The Present
in his seven entry long
Great Comics Now List.
Paul wrote, "There's No Time Like The Present
stands quietly, unassumingly, as one of the most intriguing and affecting
long-form British graphic novels in recent years." Read the full review
here.

Paul B. Rainey 04/11/10
TNTLTP Upadtes
I have
some
There's No Time Like The Present
updates for you. Firstly,
Paul Gravett, the curator of
the
That’s Novel
exhibition, recently wrote about it
here. There's more information about the exhibition along with a
sample of one of the pieces I drew exclusively for it.
Secondly, TNTLTP was name checked in the latest
Utter Shambles
comedy podcast hosted by
Robin Ince
and
Josie Long.
They were talking to
Mark Gatiss
about some of their favourite films, TV shows and actors when my name and
the Ultranet are mentioned. I was out walking and listening to the show on
my ipod and I was so surprised to hear my work mentioned in this context
that I laughed into the face of a passing woman. The podcast can be
downloaded for free from
here.
Finally, as well as being able to buy the entire series of TNTLTP from the
website shop, it also available from the following
real world venues -
GOSH,
Orbital
and the
London Print Studio in
London,
OK Comics
in Leeds,
Nostalgia and Comics
in Birmingham,
Worlds
Apart in Liverpool and
Forbidden Planet
in Manchester.

Paul B. Rainey 30/10/10
Comica;
That's Novel
The centrepiece of this
years
Comica
Comic festival is the
That’s Novel
exhibition taking place at the
London Print Studio.
The theme is Graphic Novels and on display is up to date work from some of
the best creators working in comics today including
Charlie Adlard
(The Walking Dead),
The
Pleece Brothers
(The Great Unwashed)
and
David Quantick
(Louis Wain).
I’m very proud to be able to tell you that I will also be displaying art
from
There’s No Time Like The Present
as part of the exhibition. I have also produced four pieces of
artwork spinning out of my strip exclusively for the show. Go
here to
learn more about the exhibition and this years
Comica
Festival including a full
list of everyone taking part.
That’s Novel
runs from 22nd October to 18th December.

Paul B. Rainey 19/10/10
BICS 2010
Once
again I am exhibiting this weekend at the
British
International Comic Show
2010.
BICS
must now be the county's largest comics event featuring publishers,
creators and fans from both ends of the spectrum and everywhere
in-between. I will be sharing table space with
Peet Clack
and selling copies of
There's No Time Like The Present,
Book of Lists
and BASTARDS 2.
If you're attending the event, please pop by and say hello.

Paul B. Rainey 13/10/10
TNTLTP 13 Reviewed
Richard Bruton
writes another astute review of the final issue of
There's
No Time Like The Present
for the vital
Forbidden Planet Blog
and provides an overview of the series as a
whole. "That was quite lovely and a perfect way to finish."
Read the review
here.
Copies of the entire series are available to buy from
The Shop.

Paul B. Rainey 17/09/10
TNTLTP 13 Roll-Out
The
Roll-Out of the final part of
There's No Time Like The Present
continues this week. Copies are already available to buy from
GOSH
in Central London and
OK Comics
in Leeds, the main two outlets to support the 'project' since its
beginning. Strange as it may seem now that the strip is finished, every
part is now also available from
Nostalgia and Comics in
Birmingham,
Worlds
Apart in Liverpool,
Forbidden Planet
in Manchester and
Orbital in London. All of these outlets are also selling
copies of Book of Lists.
There's
been a lot of positive coverage of the conclusion to
There's No Time Like The Present.
Forbidden Planet
blog mentions it
here,
Down the Tubes
here, Rob Jackson
here and
Rol Hirst
writes a review
here.
If you
don't live near to any of the stores mentioned above, then all copies can
be purchased from my website shop here.

Paul B. Rainey 03/08/10
TNTLTP 13 is go Go GO!
The
final episode of
There's No Time Like The Present
is now available. Part 13 is the super-sized (well, a little bit longer
than usual) conclusion to the long comic strip, or 'graphic novel', I
started work on in September 2004. Because of its length, part 13 costs
£3.25, but if you order from me using the Paypal button below, that price
includes post and packing to the UK. (International customers, please
visit The Shop.)

Paul B. Rainey 20/07/10
TNTLTP Finished
I drew
the final page to my long comic strip, or graphic novel,
There's No
Time Like The Present on
Tuesday. After six years of obsessive work, I have finished the biggest
project of my life so far. I am currently going through the process of
getting the final issue, part 13, ready for the printers so that it's
available for sale at this years
Caption. In the meantime,
here's the black and white artwork for the cover.

Paul B. Rainey 02/07/10
TNTLTP 300
When I
started work on
There's No Time Like The Present
in 2004, although I had a clear idea of the overall story, I didn't
imagine that that it would run for this long. Recently, however, I drew
the 300th page! Page 300 will appear in the final issue of TNTLTP
available in a few weeks time. In the meantime, here's a panel from it to
tide you over.

Paul B. Rainey 04/06/10
MCM
Expo
This
weekend I am exhibiting with my table buddy
Peet Clack
(or 'Clackers' as he's now known) at London's
MCM Expo. I will be selling
all twelve parts so far of
There's No Time Like The Present as well as copies of my actual reality diary strip collection,
Book of Lists. If you're
attending the event then please pop by our table and say hello. I will be
easy to recognise because, once again, I will be partaking in the activity
of 'cosplay' and dressed up as one of my own creations from
Book of Lists.

Paul B. Rainey 26/05/10
TNTLTP 12 Reviewed
Richard Bruton
reviewed the latest part of
There's No Time Like The Present
over at the start of the weekend on the
Forbidden Planet Blog. "It’s
genuinely a pleasure to be able to say that (unless issue 13 is
unbelievably awful – which is highly unlikely) this sci fi soap opera with
it’s varied and unusual, non-stereotypical cast of characters lives up to
every bit of early promise it showed." All twelve issues so far can be
bought from my Shop,
GOSH
in Central London and
OK Comics
in Leeds.
Also,
there's been some lovely coverage of the end of the
2000 AD Prog Slog Blog
on the
Forbidden Planet Blog,
Down The Tubes and
Pete
Ashton's website.

Paul B. Rainey 17/05/10
2000
AD Prog Slog Blog to End
In November 2006, after
an impetuous ill-thought out bid on eBay, I won the first 1188 programmes
of 2000 AD.
Rather than just have them sit piled up in my bedroom collecting dust
tormenting me about how much money I had spent on them, I decided I was
obliged to read them all. I thought, rather than just read them why not
blog about the experience too. So, I started the
2000 AD Prog Slog Blog
where I review every other issue of the Galaxy’s greatest comic and many
of it’s associated publications.
Well, after three and a
half years of thrill power intensity turning my mind into a boggled mess
and over 700 entries , the blog is due to come to it’s intended conclusion
this weekend. Of course, I would like to tell you how proud I am to have
got this far but there’s a part of me that feels ashamed at having used up
so much time on a project which, let’s face it, is obsessive and stupid.
All I can say for certain is, ‘it’s been emotional’ and ‘thank God it’s
over’.
If you ever read 2000
AD when you were younger or have an interest in the blog then you can read
all entries so far here. The
final prog is scheduled to be reviewed early tomorrow evening while the
farewell entry will appear sometime over the weekend. Finally, if you’re
one of those people who think that the
2000 AD Prog Slog Blog
should continue then you will be pleased to know that David Page is
picking up where I will be leaving off on his
blog.

Paul B. Rainey 13/05/10
TNTLTP 12 Update
Copies
of part 12 of
There's No Time Like The Present
are now available to buy from
GOSH in Central London and
OK Comics
in Leeds. If you can't get to these great stores then, of course, they are
still available from my online shop here.
Rol Hirst
has posted a review
here describing it as "brain-meltingly wonderful" and
Rob Jackson
has one
here. Rob also mentions me in an interview for
The National Post
arts section in answer to 'Who's
the most under-appreciated comic artist working today?' Well, of
course I am; it's just not for me to say, that's all.

Paul B. Rainey 05/05/10
UniComics
This
Saturday, I am exhibiting at the new
Unicomics
Festival taking place at The
University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. I will be sharing my table space
with
Peet
Clack and
Andrew Cheverton
where I will be selling copies of
Book of Lists
and premiering part 12 of
There's No Time Like The Present.
Also, during the afternoon, I'm appearing on a panel about
Autobiography
in Comics. The event looks pretty good so if you're in the area please pop
by and say hello.

Paul B. Rainey 21/04/10
TNTLTP 12 is go Go GO!
Part 12
of my long comic, or 'graphic novel',
There's No Time Like The Present
is now available for sale for
£2.50. This is
the penultimate issue to years of hard, and not so hard, work. To buy a
copy, please use the Paypal link below. Or contact me
here for
alternative methods of payment. To buy previous parts or if you're an
international customer, then please visit The Shop.
Price includes P&P to the UK.

Paul B. Rainey 17/04/10
Penultimate TNTLTP Nearly Here
The
penultimate part of There's
No Time Like The Present is on
its way to the printers and should be ready in time for the first
Unicon
event at the
UniComics Festival taking
place in Hatfield on April 24th. In the meantime, here's the finished
cover for you to look at.

Paul B. Rainey 07/04/10
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