The Day the World Went Dandy

It's the comic everyone's talking about and the next issue is on sale tomorrow! That's The Dandy No.3594 with 36 pages of fun every week for £1.99. (Still one of the cheapest comics around.) 

This week sees the fifth episode of The Dark Newt. Can Gnat Girl be trusted? Find out tomorrow!

Log on to the Internewt

This week in The Dandy, the third episode of my new series The Dark Newt sees our hero discover how to use the Internewt, and later he encounters his first villain... The Tiddler! Don't miss The Dandy No.3592, on sale Wednesday 1st August.

Raw Newt

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing how the first episode of The Dark Newt looked when it was in the rough pencil stage prior to inking. The photo above was taken on April 30th as I was starting the series. 

You can also see the script to the left in the photo. Even when writing my own material I still do a full script, as it has to be approved first by the editor. Some artists draw their scripts in pencil first, but I've always preferred to type it out. I've always worked this way. 

As you can see, this is only the first half of the page. As I draw the pages almost twice the printed size I prefer to do them in two halves for comfort. After they're inked (and lettered, if I'm doing my own lettering), I then scan them into Photoshop to paste the two halves together, tidy up the art, make any corrections, add solid blacks, colour the page, and add the logo banner. 

You can see the finished result in The Dandy No.3590, in the shops now!

It's arrived! The Dandy Annual 2013

  
Here it is! The Dandy Annual 2013 with a great cover by Nigel Parkinson. Time was when comic annuals came out in early September, but now they have a longer shelf life to hopefully maximise sales. (It's certainly worked for The Beano Annual, which has been the top selling annual for the past couple of years.) 

Traditionally, annuals were given as Christmas presents, and I know some of you won't be receiving yours until Christmas Day so I'll only show a brief glimpse of some of its pages here to avoid too many spoilers. 

This edition of The Dandy Annual is somewhat special as it celebrates the comic's landmark 75th birthday (coming up in December). To mark the event the book brings back a load of classic characters in brand new stories, - Brassneck, Winker Watson, Greedy Pigg, Owen Goal, The Jocks and the Geordies... and even a new adventure with Black Bob! 

The Black Bob story is drawn by Steve Bright and he does a fantastic job of ghosting the style of Jack Prout, the original artist. The story is in four single page chapters scattered throughout the book, so each chapter ends on a cliffhanger as the original series often did. 

Another classic character making her return is Keyhole Kate, in a nifty modern style by Laura Howell whist retaining the classic character design...

...and I've done a couple of characters too, - The Smasher and Julius Sneezer.

All in all it's a very good annual. Packed with strips that often have around 10 panels a page, which gives a bit better value for money than the average 6 panels a page that many annuals used to offer. 


Despite the plan to get it in the shops early, I haven't actually seen it on shelves yet, but it is available to buy from online booksellers Amazon, Speedy Hen Ltd. and The Book Depository (and hopefully others soon). Follow this link to buy your copies (and The Beano Annual, which I believe is also out now):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dandy-Annual-2013-Annuals/dp/1845354877/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342643880&sr=8-1

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Today also saw the beginning of my new six-part strip in The Dandy weekly. The Dark Newt tells the saga of the Protector of the Pond and this week's issue features his origin. That's in The Dandy No.3590, on sale now!

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.