Jay Gunn teases “Coal Face”, his latest illustrated project

By John Freeman on July 30, 2022

Coal Face - The Devil in the Smoke by and © Jay Gunn

Artist and writer Jay Gunn, best known, perhaps for his incredible eco-thriller graphic novel, Surface Tension, has just teased some incredible art from his new illustrated book project, Coal Face – The Devil in the Smoke.

Described as a cautionary supernatural horror story, the new book – comprising some 250 illustrated pages of prose – is a reworking of a story that Jay had in development some years ago, and he is currently seeking a publisher.

In Coal Face, both written and illustrated by Jay, a demon appears before a divided and beleaguered mining community in the form of a dragon offering salvation and victory. But at what cost?

Jay Gunn is the writer/ artist nom de plume of Jason Wilson, who started his career working at the National Coal Board, where he was tasked with drawing some rather gory safety comics to teach children the hazards of playing on industrial sites. He then joined the burgeoning home grown video game development scene in the late 1980s, where he spent over 25 years making everything from arcade conversions to original Bafta award-winning games for Sony, the best known, perhaps, the MediEvil series.

Surface Tension, an absolutely stunning sci-fi fantasy with a tinge of horror, was published by Titan Comics in 2015 to plenty of deserved acclaim from many quarters, myself included, an environmental eco-thriller influenced by authors as diverse as Nigel Kneale and Japanese film maker Hayao Miyazaki.

Jay is now seeking a home for Coal Face, a project for teenagers and up that he’s clearly invested a huge amount of time and energy into, alongside his continuing work in gaming.

If there’s an independent, established publisher out there who might be interested, you can contact Jay via Twitter.

Let’s get this into print, shall we?

• Follow Jay Gunn on Twitter @gunncomics

• Surface Tension was released as a collection by Titan Comics in 2016 | Buy it here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

• Read our 2015 interview with Jay Gunn about the Surface Tension project

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.