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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 six 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 £2.50, which includes postage and packing to the UK. For non-UK residents, a single issue including P&P costs £3.50.

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

Copies are also available for purchase from...
Gosh
OK Comics
Travelling Man Newcastle
Forbidden Planet International
Small Zone

or directly from the author.

Mailing List: To join my mailing list please e-mail your details to here.

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.

Out Take

You might recognise this panel from There's No Time Like The Present part 7 which I decided to redraw. Originally, I drew Beth wearing a bra despite her appearances in earlier panels suggesting that she wasn't wearing one under her dress. Just before going to print, I realised that being embarrassed at drawing bare breasts was ridiculous and redrew it. Anyway, here's the self conscious original.

Paul Rainey 06/09/08

There's No Time Like The Present part 7 Reviewed

Craig Johnson writes an astute review of There’s No Time Like The Present part 7 for Comics Village. “it's top quality, it's as moving, tragic and interesting as ever…

 

Paul Rainey 21/08/08

More Part 7 Reviews

There have been a couple of reviews of There's No Time Like The Present on the internet recently. One by Andrew Cheverton here in which he says "Filled with excellent facial expression and moments of quiet detail, this is beginning to seem like a masterwork", and another by Rob Jackson here

Paul Rainey 17/07/08

Mini Reviews of TNTLTP 7

A couple of mini reviews for There's No Time Like The Present part 7 have started to appear. Rol Hirst has one on his blog and Factor Fiction Press on theirs.

I'm still in the process of rolling out Part 7 and Dear Robert and Partner to retailers. In the meantime, you can order copies directly from here by visiting the Shop or by other methods. Contact me directly for details.

 

Paul Rainey 26/05/08

Part 7 is GO!

Eighteen months in the making, Part 7 of There's No Time Like The Present is now GO! You can buy a copy directly from me using the Paypal button below (non UK residents, please visit The Shop for your button). Alternatively, you can contact me directly for details on how to order a copy via the post. It will be rolled out to retailers, such as OK Comics in Leeds and GOSH in London, over the next fortnight or so. I will also be selling copies at this year's Comics Expo event in Bristol on May 10th and 11th.

If you're new to There's No Time Like The Present and feel a little bit interested then you can sample the opening pages for free here. If you like what you see then parts 1 to 6 are kept in print and can be ordered from The Shop. You can even subscribe if you want to ensure that you don't miss an issue (the free copy of Dear Robert and Partner offer is now closed, I'm afraid.)

 

Paul Rainey 04/05/08

Actual Version of Dear Robert

I am currently putting the finishing touches to a printed version of my comic strip Dear Robert and Partner. The actual reality copy will include behind the scenes extras and a new colour cover. My intention, in addition to selling it from here and at events, is to send a free copy out to subscribers to There's No Time Like The Present with number seven to thank them for their patience between issues. I'll let you know when it's ready but, if you would like a free copy, now is a good time to go to the Shop and subscribe to TNTLTP before they are both available.

Paul Rainey 24/04/08

Part 7; Nearly there...

Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! Part 7 of There's No Time Like The Present is finished. Eighteen months in the making, part 7 took so long because of a couple of side projects and other distractions. It will be another fortnight or so before it is available to buy as I have the preparation and printing to do yet but, in the meantime, here is the cover in glorious black and white for you to look at.

Paul Rainey 12/04/08

pbrainey News Blog

Even long term visitors to this site might be surprised to learn that I refer to this column in which you are reading this entry from as the "News Section". Well, I do. Recently, however, my attempt to enable visitors to set up a RSS feed to it proved unsatisfactory so, as an alternative, I have started a pbrainey news blog.
The idea is that you can visit here for all the latest news and, if you like your site updates fed out to you, then you can arrange that by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.
Most posts in the home page and the
There's No Time Like The Present News Columns will also be made there and visa versa at around the same time.

Paul Rainey 26/3/08

Borderline Returns

Before There's No Time Like The Present, before Book of Lists even, I drew a strip called Comics 2040 for Borderline. Borderline was a magazine about comics published in the .pdf format at the start of the centaury and available for readers to download for free (in general).
My contribution,
Comics 2040, was meant as a satire of the comics scene at the time, but because I usually left it close to deadline before producing the strip, often it wasn't very good and, to this day, there remain episodes that I am mortified by. However, the reason I mention it here is because three elderly characters I created for it go on to become early versions of those that appear currently in There's No Time Like The Present.
If you're interested, or a
TNTLTP completist then you might like to know that old issues of Borderline are being rolled out for download here for free. As I say, much of my work isn't up to standard but the magazine itself remains a remarkable  achievement featuring some great work by Phil Hall, Martin Shipp, Jay Eales, Andrew Cheverton and others.
(Above is a rare sample from one of the
Comics 2040 strips I did that I'm not too embarrassed about, coloured especially for here.)

Paul Rainey 25/3/08

Part 7 News!

I'm ashamed to say that during 2007 progress on my long comic strip, or "graphic novel", There's No Time Like The Present has been slow. This has been down to other projects and not due to a loss of enthusiasm. The good news is that those projects are finished and I'm now back at work on TNTLTP with an enthusiasm equal to when I first started it. Below is a panel from Part 7 which will be out during the first quarter of 2008. Thank you for your patience.

Paul Rainey 28/11/07

TNTLTP in Colour

This is a panel from page 52 or, for those of you buying the serialisation. Part 3 Page 4. When Paul Gravett was putting together the book Great British Comics, he contacted me and asked if I would provide him with a coloured version of this page for inclusion. I was totally delighted, when months later, I saw it reproduced in the book when it was published. Yes, the actual size of the artwork might seem quite small but it is disproportionately large when you consider TNTLTP's role in the history of British comics...so far. You can see the whole page by clicking here.

Paul Rainey 02/06/07

Midnight Fiction Review

I came across this review of Part 6 of There's No Time Like The Present on the Midnight Fiction website. If you would like a copy then please visit the Shop section of the site.

Paul Rainey 17/05/07

Redeye review

In the recently released sixth issue of Redeye magazine, parts 4 to 6 of There's No Time Like The Present are reviewed. "The storytelling is never short of classic, simple storytelling coupled with sharp witty dialogue. I can't think of a better example of the quality to be found today in independent UK comics." Issues of There's No Time Like the Present can be ordered from the Shop section of this site.

Paul Rainey 20/03/07

Sim Ditty

Comic writer, artist, creator and cartoonist Dave Sim has always been supportive of my comic work and There's No Time Like The Present in particular but I think that this might be the first time that he's gone public with it. Or as public as this. In case you're unaware of his work, Dave wrote, drew (with background artist Gerhard) and published all 300 issues of the monumental Cerebus between 1977 and 2004. Although Cerebus is now complete, he continues to have a presence in publications such as Following Cerebus and his Collected Letters. The fact that I consider self publishing as valid as I do and have any sort of discipline in cartooning at all, I put down almost entirely to him. Dave writes, "Paul is definitely in that category of doing a book that's so distinctive, no matter how long the wait is between issues." You can read the rest at his blog here.

Paul Rainey 01/03/07