Nowt so funny as folk

A few weeks ago I put some of my old Buster and Viz pages up for auction on eBay. Lots of artists do this. I've got 30 years worth of pages, they're taking up a lot of space, so I thought I'd sell a few online.  They found good homes, and my thanks to those of you who bid and bought them. I'll be selling a few more soon.

As you can see here, I joked "Zip over to my eBay page, check out what's on offer and help pay my mortgage".

Now I see that someone online actually took that seriously and amongst other nonsense about me is claiming "he regularly has to sell pages of his old art so he can pay his mortgage".

It's hard to believe that an enthusiast of comics could be so humourless, but there you go. (And if anyone thinks I'm being harsh over a misunderstanding he also said I was a "smug, obnoxious prat" and "out of touch with reality", so I won't be feeling any guilt over calling him humourless.)

Anyway, all next week I'll be outside Tescos selling chalk drawings of Combat Colin so I can buy a private yacht. You might need a fork lift to carry the slabs home though. 

UPDATE 14/7/2012: I'd hoped I'd be allowed a right of reply without any further repercussions. Sadly not. On the blog where the quotes came from the webmaster has chosen to portray himself as the victim, seemingly thinking he's justified in posting more insults about me. Such as this:

"Perhaps he should stick to drawing his second-rate strips for an ever dwindling audience. For someone whose career has depended on more skilled cartoonists being too busy to draw everything, he should perhaps be a little more humble and less uptight. Let's hope he discovers women soon - perhaps then he'll relax a bit." 

Now he's gotten that off his chest let's hope this is the end of it. 

Introducing... The Dark Newt!

He's all-new and he's all-newt! He's The Dark Newt and he's coming to The Dandy next Wednesday (July 18th)!

You may remember me mentioning that I was working on a new series? Well this is it. The Dark Newt runs for six issues, in full page adventures starting in The Dandy No.3590 next week. 

This is the first time I've solely created a character for The Dandy. (Kid Cops and Postman Prat were created by the editors and passed to me to develop.) I'm very proud to have created a new strip for one of my lifelong favourite comics in The Dandy's 75 anniversary year but I'm also a bit apprehensive about the reaction. I'm hoping readers like it. I certainly enjoyed writing and drawing it. 

Meet The Dark Newt, - next Wednesday!

Pencil rough version, prior to inking.

Mythbusters

Last week, The Spectator featured a well-intentioned but surprising article by Paul Abbott bemoaning the apparent lack of a UK comics industry:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/blogs/book/2012/july/wanted-a-british-comic-book-industry

Today, James Hunt responds for The New Statesman explaining that we do actually have a comics industry thanks very much, if people take the trouble to look: 

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/comic-industry-british#comment-238960

Unfortunately there's been a handful of people online over the past year or two claiming the British industry is either failing or already dead. Sometimes it's just the rants of bitter individuals who are no longer working in the industry, or nostalgic people who wish the type of comics of their childhood were still being published. Unfortunately their comments can influence a few people who, without checking for themselves, go on to repeat the myth that UK comics are a thing of the past.

To a certain extent the critics do have a point. The mainstream UK comics industry is far less healthy than it was 40 or 50 years ago and I doubt we'll ever see a return to those glory days. But it's certainly not dead. Comics have broken away from solely using the traditional weekly-in-newsagents format and branched out as graphic novels in bookshops, subscription-only comics, or online models. Just because WH Smith no longer has shelves creaking under the weight of dozens of comic titles doesn't mean they're not out there. 


Check out the sidebar on the right for the websites of all the mainstream comics currently available. For up to date news about other exciting developments in British comics visit Down the Tubes and the Forbidden Planet International blogs to name but two.

I'd say more but I have some pressing deadlines for all those comics that apparently don't exist. Back to the drawing board...
 

Commando 4511 to 4514

  
Four more issues of Commando should be in the shops now. Here's the info kindly supplied by deputy editor Scott Montgomery...

Commando No 4511 – The Secret Saboteur
The Allies were gearing up to invade North-West Europe and the Germans knew it. Everyone was on high alert, with the Gestapo ruthlessly rooting out saboteurs and meting out rough justice to the civilian population.
   In one area, though, they were plagued not by sabotage but by a series of — for them — unhappy accidents wrecking their war machine.
   But were they accidents? One ex-Hamburg policeman — Tomas Merkel — wasn’t convinced, no matter what his Gestapo boss thought.
Story: Mac MacDonald
Art: Keith Page
Cover: Keith Page


Commando No 4512 – Thunder In The Jungle

The Far East, 1944. It was widely believed that tanks could not cope with jungle warfare but the British were determined to prove this notion wrong — and were equally determined to regain Burma from the clutches of the Japanese.
   Second-Lieutenant Peter Wright had been an infantry officer but he and his unit had retrained as a tank crews. Now they were under pressure to deliver results…and their M3 Stuart light tanks would soon clash with the metallic might of their Japanese Type 95 counterparts.
   Could the green British tankies work as a team and survive the
THUNDER IN THE JUNGLE

Story: Mac MacDonald
Art: Morahin
Cover: Janek Matysiak

Commando No 4513 – Knife For A Nazi
Up and over the cliffs they called unclimbable, swiftly and silently across country, deep behind enemy lines they came, the fearless men with blackened faces. These were the men they sent on a mission when all else had failed — These were the Commandos.
   On this raid it was not the enemy they feared, but the stranger in their ranks, the explosives expert who was the key man of the whole operation, and who by his inexperience and rashness became the danger man!
   Here is the story of how that man won the admiration and respect of the world’s finest fighting men.

Introduction

A new boy having to prove his worth to an established group, and in particular its leader, is a well-used theme in all fiction, although in just issue 16 it was new to Commando comics. Here author Elliot uses that set-up to bring an extra tension to an action-packed Commando special mission and in so doing makes it more than just a war story.
   Mind you, he had to do something a little bit special to live up to the promise of Ken Barr’s super-menacing cover. Can you feel how sharp that knife is?
   The black-and-whites from Salmeron have wonderful British-ness — the Commando CO’s ‘tache in particular. This Spanish artist served Commando for many years, and this example shows you why.

Calum Laird, Editor

Knife For A Nazi originally Commando No 16 (January 1962)

Story: Elliot
Art: Salmeron
Cover: Ken Barr


Commando No 4514 – Roll Of Honour

Jewel theft and murder — not the sort of things that would bring glory to a regiment’s roll of honour if any of its men were suspected of such crimes. That’s why someone was determined to keep a very big secret to himself.
   But there was someone equally determined to get at the truth, no matter what the cost!

Introduction
A neat little story this. At the heart of it is a murder mystery that spans the last few years of world War II and, as the title suggests, the honour of a regiment is at stake — but also much more…
   Writer Cyril Walker spins a good yarn as always, while Terry Patrick’s art is a little bit different for Commando, with almost cartoony faces and thick black lines. It’s well-suited to this character-driven plot.

   Finally, there’s Ian Kennedy’s cracking cover to finish things off. Incidentally, It’s one of those chosen by Carlton for their oversized reprint volumes of our classic stories. This one is on D-Day — Fight Or Die!
Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Roll Of Honour, originally Commando No 2143 (December 1987)

Story:  C.G. Walker
Art: Terry Patrick
Cover: Ian Kennedy




 

 

The return of Julius Sneezer!

  
According to Amazon, The Dandy Annual 2013 should be available today, and I understand it should be out in shops this weekend too, weather, distributors, and shop staff willing. (Or not, see update at the foot of this article.)

Cover by Nigel Parkinson

Anyway, as the books are supposed to be out today I'll now reveal that one of the strips I've drawn for The Dandy Annual 2013 is... Julius Sneezer, The Sneezing Caesar! This character originally appeared in The Dandy Nos. 332 to 348, waaaay back in 1946/47! The artist was the brilliant Allan Morley.

I drew three single page Julius Sneezer strips, from scripts supplied by editor Craig Graham. Reviving a character from the golden age of comics was an engrossing but very enjoyable experience. I was free to use my own style although I tried to "ghost" the character design of Allan Morley as best I could as his original version was so perfect. I didn't have any examples of those 1940s strips but Craig (and, presumably, D.C. Thomson archivist Morris Heggie) kindly sent me scans for reference.

As mentioned on this blog two months ago, the other character I've drawn for the Dandy Annual is The Smasher. In that instance I wrote the scripts as well, and I tweaked the character design to bring my own approach to the strip. It seems to have divided opinion from the brief glimpse I showed before, but I hope the readers will warm to it. 

The Dandy Annual 2013 celebrates 75 years of the world's longest running comic by bringing back loads of old characters, drawn by today's artists. I haven't seen a copy myself yet, but I'm really looking forward to seeing my fellow Dandy pals putting a new spin on such favourites as Greedy Pigg, Winker Watson and Keyhole Kate. I'll be looking out for it in the bookshops from today. 

Alternatively you can order it from Amazon. (Which I've done, to make sure of a copy.)

UPDATE 7th July 2012: Unfortunately the annual wasn't released on July 6th, and Amazon are now claiming it's not in stock. Hopefully shops will have copies soon. My apologies if I wasted anyone's time. In future I'll ignore proposed publication dates and will only promote items that I physically have or those I know have definitely been published.