Crazy Comics!

This April 1st, Fools' Day, see's kids humour mag, TOXIC#137 giving away a free 16-page comic supplement, with 8 brand spanking new strips/characters, and one from the 1970's dusty IPC vaults, cleaned up and reworked.

The idea is for readers to vote online for their favourite, and the winner returns , potentially, as an ongoing feature in the regular TOXIC. The revamp strip, is Werewilf, a character that made his debut in Whoopee!, March, 1976, and disappeared not long after.

Me and my old mate, sometimes comic strip-scribe, ex-viking-gone-to-seed and bass-thumping rock god, Paul Birch, decided the great pun-ish name should not go to waste. So we gave Wilf a modern polish, but soaked him in an unashamed rose-tinted bubble bath of nostalgia. Something that captures the feel and look of comics we grew up with, and a Britain that's terraced houses, allotments, garden sheds, bangers and mash, fat women-in-curlers and grandads in nice suits.

Along with co-scripting, I'd planned to draw the two pager, but my commitment to Channel Evil meant we had to find a replacement, and we chose the more-than-capable John Erasmus, an artist that had mostly left comics to pursue film making and storyboarding, but Werewilf shows he's definitely not lost his touch - all panels HAND-COLOURED with marker pens - take note photoshop fiends!

There's some other smart stuff in their, two by my Zombie Tales artist partner and good egg, Paul Harrison Davies. Read more about Crazy Comics full content at; http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2009/03/crazy-comics-is-coming.html

Below is my character sketches for Wilf and a coupla panels from the strip. Obviously, I'm biased, i want you to vote for Werewilf, if just so we can see more of John's gorgeous cartooning, and more can be found at; http://johnerasmus.com/

Satanic Rites

A Chris Lee pic i did for Little Shoppe of Horrors #22, which spotlights the 70's set Hammer Dracula movies. A very groovy issue, have a viddy over at; http://www.littleshoppeofhorrors.com/

A Whistle for the Deep

Cthulhu Tales #12 IS the final issue. Seems not enuff comic readers enjoy anthology books, and most comic shops don't/won't give em the space, cus DC and Marvel bring in the BIG numbers, and your average comic shop manager couldn't give a toss about the indy guys who don't.

But the final issue is cause for celebration, behind a variant cover my moi, there's a 10 page strip i wrote last year, drawn by the criminally ignored/unknown Dave Hitchcock. It's called A Whistle for the Deep, and in contrast to the strip i wrote for Zombie Tales #7, this is me doing it straight, serious hat on and all, and I'm pretty chuffed with it.

It's beautifully, hauntingly drawn, and hopefully, this tale of a monstrous heritage and a boys dark destiny will leave you a little spooked. It's on the shelves, in any comic shop that offers choice and variety(good luck with that one!). Please go and buy it.

Meanwhile, marvel at Dave' s latest stuff at http://davehitchcock.blogspot.com/

Below is the first page, unlettered and uncensored.

Boom! were concerned that too much bare lady was on show since the book was not labelled 'mature readers'. And it just might end up a target of the stateside overzealous loony 'moral majority'. Mostly these are concerned parents who usually don't blink a righteous eyelid at copious comic book bloodletting and gratuitous punching and shooting. But they exclaim horror at the sight of two consenting adults making/about to make love, since this just might drive young readers to underage sex, rape, general debauchery, and a reckless abandonment of wholesome American family values.

A bible in one hand and a gun in the other, they take this shit seriously; they boycott, and threaten, and they get people arrested for selling 'obscene' material to minors. That's partly why the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund was set up, which you should support; http://www.cbldf.org/ .

So, not wanting to be awkward and provocative, we covered up the rude bits. No matter, not like it's damaged the integrity of the story. And it's a gorgeous page, either way.

PS; the letterer buggered up on the third page, the caption 'three weeks later', should be in the second panel, NOT panel one.. Makes a BIG difference.

Jez and the lads

Shots from Channel Evil #1. More art, along with some words from me, at http://www.renegadeartsentertainment.com/

Complete pages posted soon.




Got your order in yet?

GASP!

Nothing but tumbleweeds on this ere blog...

On the final leg of inking up Channel Evil #1, and also on my last legs; eternally laid up, tired, undernourished, muttering in tongues, screaming at blank sheets of paper, drooling, hallucinating, giving it up, not giving it up, loving drawing, hating drawing. Am i coming? Am i going? Not sure. But I've put every ounce of what I've got into this book, and I'm hoping it will show.

Not surprisingly, I've got problems with my new A3 scanner, so no full pages until i get some decent photocopy reductions, and anyway, I'm not even supposed to be sitting ere fannying around - i have NO SPARE TIME!

Be careful who/what you channel...

Character sketches of BA'AL from Channel Evil. He's not very nice.

Pencilled pages next post.

Channel Evil

I want your money! Well, not literally, what i want is for you to go to your local comics store and order the first issue(or all four!) of Channel Evil , it's the new comic I'm working on with Alan Grant, and #1 is due at the end of March.

I'm having a ball drawing it, and it's a thrill and pleasure finally getting to work with Alan, who, if you didn't already know, is something of a 'living legend' in these parts, especially for his early 2000AD work, fan-fave fragger Lobo, and Batman and Judge Dredd crossover(co-writing with John Wagner) Judgement In Gotham. And currently, along with Simon Bisley and Glen Fabry, he's knocking readers for a six with the zombie epic The Dead;Kingdom of Flies, have a look over at http://www.thedeadcomic.com/

I know right now, times are hard for a lot of folk, and money is tight, and there's a helluva lot of product on the shelves, and comics ain't cheap. And the worse thing is Marvel and DC choke out the smaller guys when the economy is fucked, the 'independents' don't get much of a chance. But, if you want to show your support for the NEW, if you're not hooked on mutants, if you fancy something a little different, if you like your horror - horror with wit and bloody relish, or just like seeing me draw some spooky freaky shit(and lots of it!)then put in that order now!

I thank you in advance.

I'll be showing and sharing plenty of art along the way, meantime learn/see more over at http://www.renegadeartsentertainment.com/

The Last Post

Some sketches done over December, with brush pen, Zig, Promarker, grey wash, Photoshop, and a little Chet Baker.

Here's All the Best for Chistmas!

This year, for Xmas, Tiscali left us without an Internet connection for 6 days, buggering up most of my plans for sending work off and blog-posting. Frustrating, annoying, maddening and just a general pain-in-the-arse. But, I'm letting the rage go, it's Xmas Eve, and i aim to enjoy it, since, it comes and goes so quick, it's easy to let work/problems swallow all the joy.

Tradition is the beating heart of Xmas, whether it's those you still practise, or those you remember dearly. For me, that pathway of memory to Xmas past is what adds the real kick and potency to the 'right now', makes it richer, more valid. My memories are set alight whenever i dust off a bunch of old English comics, most especially the Xmas editions. When they turned up on the hallway mat, they made the whole Festive thing 'official'.

So, ere's a selection of old Xmas comic covers for your enjoyment, and a complete Spellbinder strip - with the obligatory slap-up feast - from Lion(still one of the best strips of the time, and a character who was sadly misused and underused in Albion).

To Suzanne, friends, family, fellow bloggers and regular 'visitors', i wish you all a most splendid Christmas. Stay safe, be nice, and make it count.

Save, don't throw!

Like many of you, i collect stuff, i collect a LOT of stuff, always collected a lot of stuff, and always have trouble throwing things out. Some would say it's not good 'feng shui', some would say it's a fire hazard, some might even say i shouldn't live in a cocoon of memories, and that gazing back at the past isn't a healthy or progressive pastime..

I won't tell you what I'd say, cus it's the season of good will.

But here's a small selection of Xmas cards I've saved, a couple going back to the end of the 80's.
I do have quite a bunch, most i can't locate, which is a shame, since the earliest ones are ALL hand drawn. Maybe they'll turn up once i get around to that feng shui...

From Matt Brooker(D'israeli).

Gary Crutchley.

Mark Buckingham.

Ryan Hughes.

Alan Moore.

Be Golden and Light

We lost Oliver Postgate last week, writer, artist, animator, pioneer and dream-maker.

Along with Peter Firmin he gave us some of the best-loved children's programmes of the 60's and 70's; Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine and The Clangers. All from a disused cow shed.

They broke new ground with their animation techniques, partly born from a need to work cheap and fast, and the results, however 'low-fi' compared to CGI wizardry, were - and still are - magical.

Growing up, my earliest memories are of watching Pogles Wood and Noggin, both different worlds, both instantly captivating. Simply told and beautifully constructed, they swept you up, soothed a troubled brow and flexed a hungry imagination. And to this day, when i hear his narration, that very distinctive voice, i get a shiver of joy.

See, and learn a lot more at; http://www.smallfilms.co.uk/

Thankyou, Oliver Postgate, my childhood would've been a duller one without you.

From the Grave

Cover art to Zombie Tales #11. Out in February.

Some more pre-production sketches

Dead Short

Always a serotonin-boosting pleasure when there's a parcel man at me door, arms holding a box of free stuff, but it's especially so when it contains the unexpected(though not so much when it's a ransom note and body parts of a close family friend).

Lurking behind the cover of Zombie Tales #7, is my first written story for BOOM! I scribbled it down in response to my increasing disenchantment with the ever-uninspiring glut of zombie movies/comics. The genre ran outta ideas a long time back, and really, the majority haven't moved past Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Same story, same idea, same stock characters. Stories that seem to take an age just to lead you nowhere, and stories that deliver nothing but a dreary sense of deja vu.

So, i wanted to have some fun with the undead, play around, try to add a little invention to the genre, and do it quick(only six pages), with no military experiment gone wrong, no social commentary, no pretension, no soap opera filling, no heroes, no apologetic scientist, no gung-ho soldier/cop/homeboy, no creepy, twitchy sleaze/coward with a gun who gets his just desserts, and no dialogue. In fact it's probably taken me longer to talk about the strip that it does to 'read' it.

It's drawn by the talented hand of Paul Harrison Davies, and it's a little firecracker; full of dinosaurs, buckets of blood, war, gore , and of course - ZOMBIES!

And, go - right now! - and take a good long drooling look at Pauls lovely(and ghastly)pictures, like this Captain Kronos pic, over at http://paulhd.blogspot.com/