Pete's Pimple could be Yours! (UPDATE: NOW SOLD!)

UPDATE: ITEM NOW SOLD! Thanks for looking.

This is my ORIGINAL ART for the Pete and his Pimple strip that was published in an issue of OINK! comic in 1987. The artwork is drawn in black ink embellished with a grey wash and grey pencil. Drawn on Bristol board and then affixed to a sheet of cartridge paper underneath with Spray Mount, although the art can be easily removed from the backing sheet if required. (Personally I'd keep it fixed to the backing sheet as it's survived perfectly well for over 30 years like that.) 

I signed it in the last panel. See photos for more detail. 

Size 37cm wide by 32cm high. 

The art will be securely packaged between strong card for posting and wrapped in parcel paper. 

This item will only run until December 15th to try to avoid Christmas post delays so buy soon if you want it. Thanks. 

See listing here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-ART-PETE-AND-HIS-PIMPLE-from-OINK-comic-1987-Lew-Stringer-SIGNED/202849939157

Yes, that's Loose Brayne, Brickmam making an unannounced cameo!

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Convention(al) thoughts

Illustration for the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention booklet in 1988.

Numerous comic conventions take place around the UK these days. I've done 12 this year, and I did 11 last year. I've enjoyed travelling around the country (and over to Northern Ireland twice) over the past two years. Here's a few thoughts...

The first UK comic con was in Birmingham in 1968. I've been attending them since 1979, and have been fortunate enough to have been a guest since 1984. The style of the events has changed since those early days. Back then, the guests were there to take part in panel discussions, and signings were in the minority. Therefore, as a guest, you might only be called upon to take part in one or two of those panel discussions (usually lasting up to an hour each) and the rest of your day would be your own, often spent in the bar, or sightseeing around the area. Unsurprisingly, guests paid for their own expenses, as no one expected the organisers to fork out for hotels or travel for doing an hour's talk on a panel. 

As for the dealer's hall, that would be full of tables selling back issues and a few with the latest American imports. Cosplay? We called it fancy dress back then, and you might have a dozen at most take part for a fancy dress contest at the end of the day. Some very cheap-looking home made outfits, but it was all good fun.

Today, guests are given a free table and are basically available all day for signings, sketching, and selling our wares. Sometimes panel discussions are involved too. It's a much more interactive experience, and as such we tend to have some, or all, expenses covered by the organisers. It's a win-win situation. Guests get to spend more time meeting the readers and that's a good thing. Freelance cartooning can be a lonely job, isolated at home, working strange hours to meet deadlines, not knowing if your work will be appreciated or not. I'm in the fortunate position now that, because I've been working in comics for over 30 years, I get to meet people who read my stuff when they were growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, to the new readers of today. 

The dealer's room is a completely different beast to what it was 30 or 40 years ago. Most tables are selling merchandise; toys, statues, and related material, and very few sell comics. Cosplay has become a huge part of the events. (We don't dare call it "fancy dress" now apparently.) Most participants spend hours, weeks, making their costumes as accurate as possible, and using professional-standard makeup. Instead of just hurriedly getting into costume for a show at the finalé of a con, they now spend all day in costume, and have become an attraction on par with the guests. (Some cosplayers even have guest status now.)

The big change in comic cons though has been their transition into multi-media cons. Thankfully, there are still quite a few events such as ICE that are 100% devoted to comics, (and cater to guests exceptionally well), but the rise of shows such as MCM and the Showmasters events has established the format of actors and cosplayers dominating the show, with comics creators sidelined in a ghetto-type "Comic Village". That said, some shows, such as the very enjoyable Preston Comic-Con, ensured that actors and comics creators had equal billing and were equal in number, and this year's London Film and Comic Con treated its 50 comics guests very well.

Doing so many events over the past two years has been a learning experience, and there are some that worked better than others. The main thing I've learnt is that one can't predict how well an event will go. Some can be a success for a colleague, and a disaster for others, or vice-versa. The multi-media events tend to mainly attract non-comics readers, but on the other hand those same people might recognise a character from their youth (eg: Combat Colin) or the Beano style, and purchase a sketch or comic. 

What I've concluded is that, although I prefer the comics-focused events because you're guaranteed to have comic fans there, the multi-media events can be just as busy for comics guests (sometimes more, in main cities). In short, they're all worth accepting an invite to attend as a guest, and worth your time as a visitor if you like who's on the bill.

I'll conclude my reiterating what I've always said; that I've always had the highest respect for the organisers of these events, because the comics community wouldn't even exist without them! These people are putting on shows, often out of their own pocket, and it's always a massive gamble. It's most certainly highly stressful, and involves a hell of a lot of work and planning. It could be argued that there are simply too many events these days, and we'll eventually see some collapse. I sincerely hope not. When I started out, we had one convention a year (maybe two if you were lucky). We're living in a golden age of comics events right now. Let's hope it continues for a good while yet. 

The next event I'm a guest at will be Bath Comic-Con on Saturday March 17th, 2018. Hope to see you there!
https://en-gb.facebook.com/bathcon/

John Freeman has compiled a very useful calendar of upcoming comics events for 2018 which he's updating and adding to as news comes in, so check it out at the Down the Tubes blog here:
http://downthetubes.net/?page_id=24642

Original art auction

Just a quick post to let you know that I have a few of my old pages of original artwork up for auction on eBay at present. They include a couple of Pathetic Sharks pages from The Pathetic Sharks Bumper Special (1991), a Pete and his Pimple page from Oink! (1987), a huge A2 double page spread from Know How! magazine, and pencil art from a Cartoon Network commission. (Click on the images here to see them larger.)

Bidding ends on Sunday. All bids much appreciated. See here for more info:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 

A piggin' good read

One of the new British comics blogs that joined the Internet during Blimey's hiatus was The Oink! Blog by Phil Boyce. Dedicated to the cheeky humour comic Oink! that ran from 1986 to late 1988 the blog is a great trip down memory lane for readers and creators. 

Every fortnight Phil looks back at the issue of Oink! that would have been on sale exactly 27 years ago. This week's post reflects on issue 15 which was a bit of a mini-revamp issue featuring a batch of new stories (including the first Pete and his Pimple and the first episode of Ham Dare - Pig of the Future). You can journey back to 1986 here:
http://the-oink-blog.blogspot.co.uk/

Pimples for sale

If anyone's interested I have a few more pages of my original artwork for sale up on eBay. This selection includes the 1987 Pete and his Pimple Christmas story from Oink!, a Combat Colin penciled page from Transformers, and the first Specky Hector's History of Comics from Buster. 

Auction ends on Sunday. Good luck! 
See the items by clicking HERE.

Tom Thug! Pete's Pimple! Batman! and more on eBay

I'm selling a few more of my original art pages on eBay this week. There's a Tom Thug page from Oink!, a pre-Christmas full colour Tom Thug from Buster (see image above), a Pete and his Pimple page from Oink!, and a Norman the Doorman page from Viz No.100! All signed by me, and I'll add a dedication to the buyer if requested, at no extra charge obviously. 

There's also a genuine original Batman page from a 1975 issue of Detective Comics. Not by me of course, but by Ernie Chan and Mike Royer. I bought it many years ago and it's been carefully stored away until now.

Bidding ends this coming Sunday, 12th August. All bids appreciated. Click here to be taken to my eBay page.

Pete's Pimple in Buster... before the merger

Remember the blog post I did a while back about how Tom Thug once appeared in Whizzer and Chips to promote Oink? Well, I've just found an issue of Buster I'd forgotten about which guest-starred Pete and his Pimple as part of the same promotion. 

Buster issue dated 26th March 1988 featured a half page Pete and his Pimple strip I was commissioned to do, which makes this my first Buster strip. (How could I have forgotten?) Not only did they let a then-relative-newcomer like me loose in the pages of this fine, well established comic but I even got to co-star Buster himself in the story, - although as you can see, I didn't show him a lot of respect! 

As most comic readers of the time know, the promotion sadly had little effect on Oink's falling sales (no thanks to WH Smith top-shelving it well away from other comics) and Oink! actually merged into Buster later that same year, bringing Pete and his Pimple into the comic on a regular basis. 

Art by Tom Paterson. Colours by John Burns.

Interestingly, although I was able to do a full on gross strip for the advert above, editor Allen Cummings didn't want any pimple pus bursts seen in the regular Pete and his Pimple strip when it became a fixture in Buster. I think it took the edge off the strip but I completely agreed with Allen's point as such gross humour was fine for Oink! but not suited to the tone of Buster. 

As it turned out, Pete only had a run of six months or so in Buster. Whilst Oink's older readers had voted it one of their favourites, Buster's younger audience didn't really go for it. (Well, what seven year old can relate to zits?) 

On the other hand, Tom Thug, which had also transferred from Oink, shot up the Buster popularity charts. I guess kids of all ages always like to see the bully become the butt of the jokes, and long may it be so.

Christmas Comics: OINK! (1986)

On sale 25 years ago, the first Christmas issue of Oink! unusually featured a photo cover spoofing the design of the TV Times as it was then.

A few issues earlier, the comic had received a boost with the addition of new characters. Therefore this issue featured the final section of a three-part free gift in the form of a giant poster calendar illustrated by Ian Jackson.


Ian Jackson was always very prolific in Oink! and I'd consider him their main artist. He designed Uncle Pigg and Mary Lighthouse and also contributed numerous other strips such as Hadrian Vile. Underneath this example is Weedy Willy, drawn by Mike Green. Both strips were written by one of Oink's editors, Mark Rogers, who sadly passed away years ago. A fine bloke and a great loss to comics.


I contributed a fair bit to the run of Oink! myself, appearing in every issue, both as a writer and artist. One of my most enjoyable tasks was creating the Dan Dare parody Ham Dare, Pig of the Future, illustrated by the late Malcolm Douglas. Here's episode three (read across the spread, not one page at a time). I'd considered that this chapter would appear at Christmas so although it wasn't set around that season I managed to write a frozen Swinefleet HQ building in the opening shot...


The same issue also featured the third episode of my Pete and his Pimple strip. I enjoyed using a grey wash on this strip as it gave a mono page more depth. Incidentally, a mistake in the production department deleted the dialogue in the penultimate panel, but all you're missing are a few "Aarghs" and "Yuks"...


Davy Francis lent his distinctive and always funny style to the complete story Blue Xmas written by Mark Rogers.


On page 27, the hilariously inventive Hector Vector and his Talking T-Shirt by Banx.


Finally from this selection box, the very first Christmas with Tom Thug. As with Pete and his Pimple I always provided both script and artwork. In my original script I'd had Santa blasted out of the sky for real, but Mark Rogers suggested, quite rightly, that it might be too traumatic for the younger readers so it all turns out to be a... well, see for yourself...


At the foot of the Tom Thug strip you'll notice a spin-off strip starring Tom's cat Satan. When Tom Thug moved to Buster in 1989 I thought Satan wouldn't be an appropriate name to use (as Buster was a far less edgier comic) so he appeared anonymously a few times in the background then I phased him out of the strip. Don't worry though readers, Satan is still out there somewhere (the cat that is).

Another snow-topped festive comic soon!