RIP Neal Hefti

A quick sketch of the 'Clown Prince of Crime', which I'd like to offer as a small tribute to the memory of Neal Hefti; jazz musician and composer, who died on Wednesday. Among many things, he gave us the iconic theme tune to TV's Batman.

A tune that instantly takes me back to a happier life and a better world.

Art up for Auction on eBay

Planned, but failed, to have some new prints for sale at the Brum Comics Show, paying work, sleep and feeling ill came first.

Here's one of them, a familiar furry face and friend of the family, which i never tire of drawing.

The black and white original art, along with two older pics are up for sale on eBay. Click on the link to your upper right.

The Brum Rush

Describing my BICS 2008 is best summed up as trying to pour 3 pints of Guinness into an eggcup - bloody frustrating!

I didn't make the Friday launch party, still had the lurgy, and a deadline to meet. We set out early Saturday. Never visited the Think Tank before, told it was easy to find, so the fella who promised 'less than five minutes' walk from the train station, turned out to be a BIG FAT LYING BASTARD!

Or maybe i was trippin on Max Strength Flu Plus, i had exceeded my limit.

Anyway, i wandered around, said a quick 'ullo' to a few familiar faces then went looking for the toilet. Walking past the open door to the Theatre i spied my very good chum Mark Fables Buckingham, standing next to BICS 2008 organizer, comic artist and nice bloke, James Hodgkins. Then i spotted the microphone in James hand, then next second i was the 'special guest' at the 'Comic Artists Flip Out'.

So, desperate for a piss, dazed and confused, I'm standing in front of a BIG drawing pad and asked to draw pictures in front of a ticket-wielding crowd, if the number an artist chooses matches ticket number, then they win the art. But see, i didn't 'get' the whole, ahem, 'high-concept' of the event, i thought the idea was like having a race; the first artist who finishes his drawing is the champ, sorta thing. So Staz Johnson, and Bucky are only part way thru their skillfully rendered mini-masterpieces, and I've done three!

So, my apologies to the winners of my scribbles, and yes, little brain damaged Timothy, your 5 year old cousin CAN do better!

But i had a good laugh, violated the sacred image of a few Marvel characters, and got a little Rolf 'Can-you-see-what-it-is-yet?' Harris buzz on.

I didn't manage to meet/find half the people i wanted to, but among the blurring moments, myself and Suzanne went to lunch with Bucky and cheeky wife, Irma. We are now converted to the drool-bucket filling delight of WAGAMAMA.

And the rest, was mostly a series of tooing and froings, pushing and shovings, with me, John and Leah, even getting lost on our way to do our signing.

I also shared a pint with my new editor Alexander Finbow(sorry i helped you miss your earlier train), a lovely chap with big ambition and big plans for his new comics line, and one of its first titles is the Alan Grant scripted Channel Evil . More on that soon.

I DIDN'T get to buy a copy of David Hitchcock's Gothic, a newspaper-sized beauty. Rush over to Dave and feast your eyes and open your wallet at; http://www.blackboar.co.uk/

And neither did i get a copy of The Picture Of Dorian Gray , a new illustrated version by the ever-so-brilliant Ian Culbard, check it out at his blog; http://strangeplanetstories.blogspot.com/ and order a copy from http://www.selfmadehero.com/classical_eye/podg.html

Finally, thanks to all who came to the signing, and my apologies to anyone i missed. A real big sorry to my mate Gary Crutchley, who wasted time trying to find me, when i was in a restaurant stuffing my face. And although Gary's got nothing to sell(only bottled souls!)he has finally got down with the kids and started a blog, and most splendid it is;
http://gcrutchley.blogspot.com/. He likes to hide his talents in a quiet lonesome corner, go visit and make friends.

Another zombie, another cover...

Art to Zombie Tales #9, due in time for xmas - Ho!Ho!Gak!

See you at the Show?

Although I'm too busy, skint, and still got a crappy cold(thank you Ryanair for your freezing, filthy plague-ridden recycled air)I'll be at this weekends Birmingham International Comics Show. I'm on a table with me good chums Leah Moore and John Reppion, 12 noon-till-1 in the theatre lobby. If you'd like to have anything signed, get a quick sketch(i don't charge!)or buy original artwork, please come and say 'ullo'.

I'll be at the launch party too, so if i owe you a drink, or you owe me one, let's form an orderly queue.

And...

A few of the better sketches i did in Spain. Done with Zig, Faber brush pen and Letraset markers, and a little messing in Photoshop.

Cool Forever

Gracious. Charismatic. Gentle. Rebellious. Unpretentious. Tough. Funny. Kind. Strong. Cool.

Actor, husband and father, who was sincerely dedicated to life and the movies. A rare breed, a giant talent, RIP Paul Newman.

From Spain with a Double-barrel Boom!!

Not long got back to dear old Blighty, after a leisurely loll-around in Spain. And though it was good to get my pale arse outta my cobwebbed studio and walk in the sun and sea air, i must confess i'm rubbish at relaxing, and do 'nothing' very badly. I'm not a sun-worshipper(though it's preferable to a grey, wet and miserable English summer), i don't like the typical tourist sight-seeing stuff, and i don't drink gallons of lager and stay out whizzing-of-me-tits to German techno.

I suppose i just never really 'switch off', I like to have my brain engaged with something.

And just before we left for our holiday, it was firmly engaged with three very exciting projects. One, which is already scheduled, is a horror-thriller mini-series written by the masterful hand of Alan Grant. Which I'll be starting before the end of the year. Another is a 16-page colour adaption of a story by Louisa May Alcott for Graphic Classics. And the third, just came outta-the-blue. It's a pitch collaboration with an amazing talent from outside the comics industry, it's in it's early stages, but its one of those projects you dream about and fall in love with - and I'm head-over-heels!

More on all, soon. Meantime, a sketch from that pitch and the logo-less covers to Cthulhu Tales #9, and Zombie Tales #8, both out in early November.

Sketch stuff

Good news for all lovers of naked three-eyed tentacle-headed Lovecraftian she-things...

Cover art to Cthulhu Tales #8 is up for auction over on eBay, five days to go. Spend before the recession leaves you without any pocket money.

Zombies, tentacles, etc.

Two covers from BOOM! and moi. Both should be on the shelves in time for Halloween.

Peace

In between the blood, monsters and dead-things, i do enjoy a day off, and a coupla Sundays back we were blessed with full-hat-on sunny weather. So we piled into my mums car for a belated birthday trip to Biddulph Grange Gardens.

Biddulph Grange was 'created' over 150 years ago, as a series of gardens within a garden, each with it's own distinctive theme and character.

I know, i know, that might sound REAL scary, all walking sticks, varicose veins and hearing aids, and hardly where you'd picture a skulking 'lord of the dark ink', especially in daylight. But, Biddulph Grange is one of my favourite places in the whole world, well, the whole world I've seen.

First time i visited was around 10 years back, just after I'd met me gal, Suzanne. She used to live 20 minutes from the gardens, knew it well. Me, lived in Staffordshire all my life, and never heard of the place. So Suzanne took me for a visit, and it was one of the most non-illegal-drug highs I've ever experienced.

Walking around it's eccentric landscape i forgot about the drab and ordinary, and felt like i was walking into a Lewis Carrol story; an Egyptian Courtyard complete with sphinx and pyramid and obelisk-shaped trees; an oriental garden, temple, bridge and Joss House, a Dragon Parterre and a Golden Buffalo; tunnels, stone stairways, hidden paths; a lake, and brooks snaking thru plants and flowers from all over the world, and quiet. Lots of quiet.

Like there was a giant muffler over the grounds.

No noise, no litter, no fat mums with crap tattoos and 6 squawking kids, no chavs in shellsuits swigging cheap cider, just folk soaking it all up, and letting the day just take it's time...slowly.

And the place was still THAT place, just more in bloom.

A blissful day, made all the better since we spent it with my parents, who i don't see as much as i should.

And the tea room serves killer scones!

Normal service will be resumed next time, y'know, zombies, tentacles, etc.

A Pitch from the Vault!

Just before the Albion mini-series happened, i was busy bombarding publishers with pitches, left, right and centre. Most were in collaboration with a writer, but a couple i was hoping to write and draw myself. Had very little response, which i think was down to my over-stylized art and the ever-so-particular tone of my stories: i was pig-sick bored with 'deep and meaningful' and 'grim and gritty', and wanted to do something that was more joyfully escapist... something a little old fashioned.

My aim was to do a character that may have existed, if, back in the early 70's, Dennis Wheatley and Nigel Kneale had wrote for the British comics industry. Occult sci-fi mysteries in a world that's a mix of  The Avengers, Adam Adamant and Dr. Who.  All brimming with that kinda invention, eccentricity and macabre menace you'd find in Valiant and Smash!.

Obviously it never happened, but i was able to channel a lot of that energy/enthusiasm into Albion.

And in a selfish way i was trying to push for that feel and attitude when working with Alan, John and Leah, cus I thought readers might've bin more receptive to Albion if it had jumped right into that weird dreamy 'otherplace', and, y know, just had more fun with it. But maybe not...

I did many drawings for this particular dream project. Here's a few... and, yes, he's supposed to look like Grimly Feendish.

 

 

 

70 Years of The Beano

The Beano - launched on the 30th of July, 1938, and still going strong.

In this age of PlayStation addicted, web-surfing, happy-slapping, text-crazed, i-podding, chain-smoking, knife-wielding, goth-bashing, booze-guzzling kids, that really is a BIG deal.

And the fact that The Beano has not pandered to it's readers - like the more cynical and grubby publishers that swamp the shelves - for 70 years, is cause enuff for celebration - bravo!

The Bash Street Kids were a personal favourite, and especially Plug, the face that broke a mothers heart...

The Dead are Hungry!

However hard i try, i just can't stop drawing them, with others it's gambling, drinking, whores or heroin, me, it's zombies, well, probably drinking, too.
The b&w originals to these three will be up for auction on e-Bay, from Monday.

More Hammer

Two spot illo's i did last week, for Little Shoppe of Horrors #21. It's the first time(and not the last) I've contributed to Richard and Nancy Klemensen's lovingly produced magazine, a personal favourite, and required reading for anyone who cares about Hammer, or British horror movies in general. It's a fanboy thrill to participate.

#21 will focus on The Curse of Frankenstein , out in September.