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.)
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| Cover by Nigel Parkinson |
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.
