The Storm Comics Blog

God Help the Guilty

2012-01-15T10:31:00.003Z

As a long-time fan of the short-lived series The Shadow by Howard Chaykin and later, Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker, it is great news to me that US publisher Dynamite are reprinting the four-part series, Blood and Judgement, by Howard Chaykin. This was the one which brought The Shadow up-to-date into the (then) 20th century. It was a great, self-contained series that paved the way for the ongoing series by Helfer and Baker (the first six issues were a tour-de-froce from Bill Sienkiewicz). It was very violent, satirical, bonkers and entertaining but came to a sudden end just as The Shadow (literally) lost his head and gained a robot body (I did say it was bonkers). I believe the owners pulled the publishing rights, presumably boggle-eyed at what was happening to their pulp fiction property. Alas the promised DC special to round the story off never came.

The fact that Dynamite are publishing Chaykin's revamped version and not one of the multitude of 1930's-set pulp series is a good sign that maybe, just maybe, we might see a day where the series is properly concluded. Either way, Dynamite have a good track record of taking licensed properties (The Lone Ranger, The Bionic Man and suchlike) so it will be interesting to see where they take their new addition.

The Shadow is back...God help the guilty!

Christmas in a Security State

2011-12-10T13:03:00.006Z

This is a two page strip I did a few years ago for a satirical journal. I came across it recently and enjoyed seeing it again. I think there's a bit of Judge Dredd influence in there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and wish you all the best in this festive season.

In Review: Feynman

2011-11-14T14:05:00.003Z

Everyone has heard of Einstein but not so many are familiar with Richard Feynman. Feynman was a physicist par excellence, a straight-talking, no-nonsense scientist who had an inate ability to impart difficult concepts in a simple and unfussy way. He led quite an adventurous life travelling around the globe, getting involved in such things as the Manhatten Project and the enquiry into the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. He was also the author of numerous books and essays aimed at layman and professional alike.

Feynman has long been a science hero of mine even though I don't grasp much of what he did. Here though, from Second-First Books, is a new biography of the man that not only relates his life, his friendships, his work and his legacy but also tries to impart to some extent the meaning and ramifications of his research. It is a wonderfully-told story, drawn in a kind of Herge TinTin style. The story is told by Feynman himself based upon many of his own works and the book constantly flits from one place or time to the next. It is bright, breezey, at time complex and manages magnificently to exude Feynman's own enthusiasm for science and the ability of absolutely anyone to grasp the basics of even the most complex ideas.

The book thus works on many levels but never stops being entertaining and thought-provoking. While undoubtedly he was capable of upsetting people with his opinions and ideas, his greatest legacy is to bring scientific fields such as quantum physics down to a mundane, everyday level that applied it to everyone's lives.

This is a great book and well worth reading. Indeed I think it is the sort of book that repays going back to again and again. And if you're even a little sceptical about the big ideas in science, this is a book that will open your mind and expand your horizons. And we all need a bit off that from time to time. Highly recommended.

Long John Silver, vol.3: The Emerald Maze

2011-10-21T10:53:00.002+01:00

Of All the comics and books I follow, Long John Silver published by Cinebooks is one of the ones I really cannot wait to read. Volume 3: The Emerald Maze has been no less anticipated and more than lives up to expectations.

Set some years after the titular character’s source novel, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Long John here engages in a quest for untold riches in a far off land and acts as a kind of first officer aboard the hulk, the Neptune. The books are populated by an engaging cast of characters and it is their relationships and interactions which is really the driving force in these stories. Each book can be read as a standalone but the main quest arcs throughout the series as we learn more and more about the devious nature of our protagonist and the lengths these men (and one woman) will go to fulfil their ambitions.

The Emerald Maze takes us into the mysterious lands of Guiana-Capec in scenes reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark with lots of decaying statues and building being subsumed by the immense jungle around them. Men venture off into the jungle never to be seen again. Tales of treasure abound and yet is never found as the Neptune is gradually whittled away bit by bit. Eventually the treasure party return to base only to find it sailing off in the eerie green fog. And from there we have to wait with them for volume four sometime later.

The dialogue is very sharp, the characters all very individual and the sense of menace and intrigue grows with each turn of the page. The art more than emulates the same sense of drama and scale and as such this is a book I end up flicking through over and over again as a result. It is rare, I find, for a comic book to consistently carry with it a heavy sense of atmosphere but this one does so with panache.

Cinebooks have produced some great lines of translated books from Europe and while series such as XIII and Blake and Mortimer seem to draw the most attention, this series for me is the real highlight. Long John Silver is a true classic and easily a match for the original novel. Robert Louis Stevenson, I think, would be proud.

Here Comes... Daredevil

2011-09-23T11:44:00.002+01:00

Some time ago I wrote about my disappointment with Marvel's continuity-laden storylines and how they had finally drag their characters into long drawn out sagas for ages afterwards. My favourite, Daredevil, was recently brough into the fold. For me, part of the reason I've always liked the character is that he was a part of the Marvel Universe without becoming too involved in all those epics like Secret Invasion that weighed other characters down in endless continuity for months or years afterwards. Daredevil was an outsider and I liked it for that.

Then came the build-up to the thankfully short crossover series, Shadowlands. Daredevil, having become almost megalomaniacal in his control over Hell's Kitchen was finally exorcised of the demon that had possessed him and that had taken him to darker places than most superheroes ever experience in their pages. I almost gave up on the series by that point and the only thing that stopped me was the four-part standalone series, Daredevil: Reborn by Andy Diggle. This story which I won't spoil for you here but comes out shortly in one volume, came as a breath of fresh air after the darkness before it. Here, Matt Murdoch escapes the city in a kind of journey to find himself and rid himself of the Daredevil mantle. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men.

Needless to say his sojourn was brief and in the meantime, another Marvel character, Black Panther, arrived in Hell's Kitchen to take over the role of the Man Without Fear. That has also been a really good series despite my initial reservations. After a few months break, Daredevil has finally returned as one of Marvel's Big Shot characters, alongside Moon Knight and The Punisher. I have really enjoyed all three of these series so far but Daredevil, for me, is back up there where it belongs. Mark Waid has reinvigorated the character, and with his superb art team they have instilled a sense of fun back into the strip. Daredevil has become like the superhero who came in from the cold. Mark Waid is doing for him what Grant Morrison is doing for Superman (Action Comics #1).

At a time when all the comic news forums are going on about DC's new 52, Daredevil seems to have slipped under the radar a bit. I really hope that this new approach continues a while so that we can just enjoy a good character in proper stories and minus all the baggage that comes with those big crossover events. Unfortunately Daredevil has now been taken in as one of the New Avengers so I'm not overly optimistic about it but for the moment, the title is one worth savouring for a bit.

In Review: Alan Moore - Storyteller

2011-09-07T10:38:00.008+01:00

Having finished and thoroughly enjoyed Grant Morrison's very personalised account of superhero history in Supergods, my attention has been turned to Alan Moore - Storyteller by Gary Spencer Millidge.

This is a great looking book split into several chapters and each chapter broken down into themes or comic titles upon which Alan Moore has cast his pen. It is mostly chronolgical so we begin with Moore's childhood, his emergence into comics via the local newspaper and music magazines, through to 2000AD and the so-called 'British Invasion' of comics talent to America which hasn't stopped since.

It is an easily digestavle book to read. I could spend hours (and probably have) poring over the samples of art from his various works, quite a few I am familiar with (Halo Jones, Swamp-Thing, Watchmen, V for Vendetta and even Maxwell the Magic Cat) through to popular titles which for one reason or another have passed me by (Promethea, Vigilante, The Lost Girls and Supreme). Even less well-known works find a place here including a long-time favourite of mine, Brought to Light, a secret history of the C.I.A.

The book is almost a bible to Moore's incredible output and his cultural influence which extends well beyond comics. The breakdown of titles though are largely summaries of the content with occasional quotes from comic luminaries. Most of the quotes from Alan Moore himself seem to have come straight from The Mindscape of Alan Moore, a DVD released by Snakedance Films some years back. So for afficianados, there probably isn't going to be much new in this book. It is nevertheless a nicely produced book, well-written and illustrated and a nice compendium of the work produced by a modern master. Less personal than Grant Morrison's book but worth having if you're fan. And if you're not an Alan Moore fan then you might be after reading this.

Now it's about time I took a look at Promethea and see what all the fuss has been about...

In Review: Grant Morrison's Supergods

2011-08-15T10:31:00.006+01:00

I had shied away from Grant Morrison's new prose book about the history of the superheroes. This was not because I don't like superheroes as such, more that I have not really enjoyed Grant Morrison's take on them and assumed the book would make me feel similarly. In fact I could not have been more mistaken. Needing/wanting some holiday reading, I took the plunge, bought the book and immediately became hooked.

This book is so much more than just a chronological history of the quintessential American genre. It deftly weaves Morrison's unabashed love for the comics medium with memories of growing up, the emergence, at least intellectually, into adulthood and the cultural and historical significance of things going on in the world at any given time. And surprisingly, he shows us that the fortunes both in reality and within the fiction of superhero comics often mirrored those events. And so, as Grant Morrison recalls how his mother cried as first, JFK, then brother Booby and Martin Luther King were assassinated, the superheroes became darker, and the "flower people" awoke from the often drug-induced haze of hippydom, awareness growing that there was something dark and brooding "at the end of Penny Lane". There is the sad and so often repeated story of Corkerhill Rail Station where Grant's family had moved to, resplendent with its award-winning flower arrangements, its model village appearance and the prospect that with a few years, architects would have swept it away to replace it with "concrete crack houses", done by men with "no understanding of romance, only function".

As Morrison's narrative sweeps us through the decades, these constant cultural references take us along on the ups and downs, the optimism constantly crushed by pessimism and reality. But most of all, what comes through is Morrison's unconditional love of comics, and of superheroes in particular. His love of The Flash, the effect of discovering Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock and Marvel Comics, the power of comics to move us, astound us, a love letter to the medium. He gives us a new appreciation of people like Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Jim Starling and all the others who have stamped their mark on the medium.

Anybody could read this book and find something to enjoy, regardless of whether they like comics or not. And who wouldn't after reading this? Quite simply one of the best books I have read in a long time. Thank God we've got people like Grant Morrison waving the flag for our favourite medium.

Free comics on the new-look Storm Comics web site

2011-06-20T18:24:00.001+01:00

As promised recently, the results of a 3 month update of the Storm Comics web site are now up and running. Available to view for free are various comics and strips I have produced over the last few years.

Included in one place for the first time is Blackfriars, a 10-part saga of Vikings versus Vampires in 793AD produced as a hommage to 80's comic Scream. The first episode originally ran in last year's Hallowscream from the people at Back from the Depths with the remaining episodes published weekly on my blog late last year.

Then there are Thief-Taker General isues 1 and 2 telling the true-life stories of 18th century London criminals, Jonathan Wild and Jack Sheppard along with my one-off sci-fi story, Afterlife.

There are a number of shorter strips including a 5-page Dan Dare story in the style of 2000AD's reboot, two tales from the travels of Marco Polo and a comic called Genghis Ken that I submitted for Scott McCloud's original 24 hour comics' challenge.

Please do take a look and make those late nights' of toil after work be worthwhile. Cheers!

Normal service will be resumed...

2011-06-11T17:39:00.006+01:00

Okay, so it has been a few weeks since I last posted a blog. Truth is, life has just been getting in the way. All the usual things, plus I've been doing an Open University course which is a bit more time-consuming than I had anticpated.

Comic-wise though, I have been busy redesigning and improving the main Storm Comics web site. Very soon I will be publishing the finished results which includes lots of free comics I have produced over the years including, for the first time, all of the material previously published in hard copy. There will also be a Blackfriars page containing, in one place, all the pages of the Viking versus Vampires saga that appeared on this blog over the latter part of 2010.

So I will be back, and I'll let you know right here when the new site is up and running. Of course the old site is still there so please do go and take a look if you haven't already. And then later you can tell me whether the update is an improvement or not! Fingers crossed!

In Review: The Complete Bad Company

2011-05-09T13:13:00.003+01:00

A band of misfits fight alongside Earth forces to battle the cruel Krool in the wastelands of the planet Ararat. Meanwhile the Earth has only 15 years of life left in it. That in short is the premise behind Bad Company by Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy recently published by Rebellion in one complete volume.

2000AD’s Bad Company has many similarities to Battle Picture Weekly’s earlier strip, Darkie’s Mob (reviewed last blog); a brutal war story, character driven, partly narrated inb the form of a diary and with a violent, battle-hardened commanding officer with a mysterious past. But these similarities aside they are very different stories.

The aforementioned commanding officer is a Frankenstein’s-monster type figure called Kano. Once tortured by the Krool, he now has a half-human, half-Krool brain which allows him to share their madness. He lives now only to kill Krool! The narrator is Danny Franks, a naïve young Earth boy who quickly turns from innocent soldier into a shadow of Kano.

Large tracts of the story are philosophical delving into questions of humanity, morality, etc. Itr also has plenty of traditional war action and as such can be read on several levels. I can remember the strips original 2000AD run back in 1985 which ended with Danny Franks becoming the new Krool Heart, a kind of godhead. Aside from a 10 part solo outing for Kano, the strip did not return until 2001 with a short series bringing the whole saga to an end (I won’t divulge anything here in case you haven’t read it before). Reading it at the time it all felt a bit rushed and I felt a bit short-changed. With a bit more maturity and having read the whole saga again recently, I have a different feeling about it. It seems like a slow-burner as more and more background fed into the story culminating in a satisfying end and a logical finish. It was a worthwhile read and remains a classic of the period.

The majority of the art is by Brett Ewins and he has never been better than here. Some of his imagery is very striking and remains in the mind long after reading it. All-in-all then, The Complete Bad Company is a satisfying volume and well worth reading again, or for the first time if you have not read it already.

In Review: Darkie's Mob

2011-04-27T13:23:00.012+01:00

At its heart, Darkie’s Mob is a fairly grim adventure strip set in the jungles of Burma during World War 2. The men who join Darkie choose to stay and fight the Japanese forces rather than rejoin their own troops and go home. It has all the solid storytelling, both in text and graphics, as we expect from writer John Wagner and artist, Mike Western. Indeed I would suggest that this is some of the finest work that Mike Western ever produced.

Darkie’s Mob first appeared in 1976 in the pages of Battle Picture Weekly. From a time when most war stories were gung-ho adventures with little consequence, Darkie’s Mob showed the brutal reality. Just about every two or three episodes one of the mob would be killed in a variety of ways; fever, suicide, decapitation not to mention the usual gunshots and explosions of which there is no shortage.

The strength of this strip lay in the variety of characters, the camaraderie they forge and in the shared desire they all have to find out just exactly who Joe Darkie is. It is made clear early on that he has never been a member of the British army so what is he doing in a Captain’s uniform, marching men around the jungle and training them in guerrilla warfare? From time to time, Burmese natives reveal they know of him from before the war, so to do one or two of the Japanese forces. Darkie holds a deep hatred of the Japanese and this drive adds to the building menace.

It is true that the dialogue and actions in the strip have dated; the language quite badly shows its age and indeed the back cover warns that some readers may be offended. It should be read in context though and not be allowed to overshadow the fact that this is a very strong, clearly defined story with a level of characterisation that was quite unusual for its time. That’s not to say this is a literary epic but it is a graphic epic. I spent hours going back and forth through the pages, studying Mike Western’s art. He had a fantastic eye for layout, choosing optimum angles and a strong command of chiaroscuro. I guess acknowledgement should be made of the excellent scanning and book design that Titan have put into this; it really does pay off. And John Wagner’s use of Private Shortland’s diary to conduct us throughout the story is a masterpiece of storytelling, quickly establishing events and making the reader feel complicit in the goings on.

Highly recommended then, one the best British war stories ever published in comics.

Long John Silver, volume 2

2011-04-17T08:21:00.003+01:00

Some time back I wrote a short but rave review about Cinebooks Long John Silver volume one. Well I've recently read volume two, Neptune, and my enthusiasm for this book has not wavered one bit. This really is the best thing I've read all year (and I've read a lot).

Not strictly speaking a sequel to Treasure Island, it takes place many years later. This volume resumes with our dysfunctional crew now several weeks out on their voyage to the Americas aboard the Neptune. Once again this volume focusses upon the characters rather than the plot but not to the detriment of either. We find out more about Captain Flint and the ruthless lengths he will go to in order to expose Silver's motives. And then there is Long John himself who gets more of the limelight this volume. We meet him here as he paints himself as the jolly old boy, regaling the crew with colourful stories of times past. Flint suspects the facade and wants to know what is Silver is hiding. And that pretty much sets out the stall for this volume.

Tensions rises, suspicions grow, a murder is committed and Flint and Silver allow a cabin boy to be brutally flogged beyond endurance in order to keep up the facade. This is very powerful storytelling by Xavier Dorison with some equally powerful, slightly old-school art from Mattieu Lauffray. The art is very atmospheric and given a nice muted colourscheme which serves the story well. Letterers don't often get much credit and it isn't clear who did it here but it complements the art nicely and unlike some translated books, it reads very clearly.

The denouement at the end involves Flint and Silver ina classic duel, clashing swords on the decks of the Neptune as a storm rages about them and giant waves crash down upon them. It is a stunning set piece, crying out to be made into a movie. But even if it isn't, this book alone is a stunning epic, every bit as classic as its source novel.

Yuri's Day: The Road to the Stars

2011-03-21T08:23:00.002Z

As we approach the sixtieth annivesary of the first man to go into space, Spaced Design brings us a “graphic story” of the events leading up to that momentous journey.

Yuri's Day: The Road to the Stars by Andrew King, Peter Hodkinson and Piers Bizony tells the story of Yuri Gragarin from rural farmboy to space pioneer and his trip into space in Vostok on 12th April, 1961. It also follows the life of Sergei Korolev, architect of the Vostok spacecraft, from his brutal treatment in one of Stalin's Siberian gulags, to mastermind of Russia's rocket program.

The black and white artwork is simple and perfunctory though technically accurate. It serves the story well which itself follows events in a strictly chronological order. Taken altogether, the books 64 pages work well as a documentary narrative and is packed with lots of information, much of which I didn't know. It is not really a comic story or drama though; the short length means we never dig deep enough into the lives of the protagonists to form any emotional bond to them. It is however a powerful document of a world-changing event that was for so long shrouded in secrecy from the West.

If you enjoy the comic documentary form, or are a space geek like me, then this book could be for you. It is a fascinating and little-explored period of history and deserves to be known. Find out more here.

Greysuit: the Return of MACH 1?

2011-03-12T07:27:00.006Z

Regular readers of this blog will probably have guessed that my very favourite comics tend to be from the IPC stable of the 1970's, notably Battle Picture Weekly, Action and 2000AD. And one of my favourite stories from that period was MACH 1 (Man Activated by Compu-Puncture Hyperpower); basically we're talking The Six Million Dollar Man, an agent (John Probe) given superpowers by having an internal computer controlling his every action. The strip degenerated fairly quickly into your average secret agent story although it did end on a high in prog 64 when MACH 1 was shot dead by his own side; we hadn't seen that happen in British comics before and to 2000AD's credit, they never brought him back to life. Mind you, we did later get the ever-more bizarre stories of his Hulk-like predecessor, MACH Zero.

So around 4 years ago, I was quite excited by the thought of a sort-of return for our hero. More a re-imagining by original series creator, Pat Mills. Greysuit was a story about British agent John Blake, trained (tortured) from childhood to bear extreme levels of physical and mental stress and to produce massive levels of adrenaline that essentially gave him MACH 1-like superpowers. All this was related in the first story, Project Monarch.

Now I had thought that this was simply Pat Mills exercising his imagination, building on his original premise and giving it a more modern, believable air. It was not until recently when I bought Rebellion's excellent collected edition of Greysuit and read Pat Mills introduction that I began to get an inkling that this was all more than just his imagination. I did as he suggested and looked up Project Monarch on the internet. There are all sorts of pages out there, some a bit bonkers, others looking all too legitimate. What I found amazing is how many of the ideas Pat Mills incorporated actually seem to have a basis in reality. That governments like Britain's really are capable of torturing their own agents in order to try and create a better one. That the different classes of agents, Omega, Theta and suchlike genuinely existed (exist?). And as for the Arizona market, I think that is probably a bit too unpalatable to cover on a comics blog but lets just say Mill's Greysuit does not exaggerate!

Pat Mills gets bashed by some fans for his sometimes heavy-handed, leftist leanings but taking a look at some of the facts behind his stories I can see where he's coming from. I found reading Greysuit was a far more enjoyable strip read in its entirety than it did as short weekly episodes and credit too to John Higgins' very consistent and excellent art. Knowing some of the realities behind the story does lend the whole thing some gravitas and its down to Pat Mills' masterly storytelling that he can take all of that and still shape it into something which is a more than worthy successor to MACH 1.

Ideas Left Behind

2011-03-05T10:21:00.005Z

A number of times in the past I have got so far with my ideas for comics only to realise that I'm simply creating something I've already read. It may be a single thing or an amalgam of source ideas but once I've realised the fact then the impetus kind of goes out of it for me. I know there's no such thing as absolute originality but even so, some things are just too close to keep going with it.

One such was a story I've been sketching ideas for and writing down outlines for a while now. With a provisional title of 'What We Leave Behind', it was about an ageing man who was once writer and artist on a famous British comic strip pulp hero called 'The Soldier'. Now in a nursing home suffering from alzheimers, reality and fiction merge as he and the family around him struggle to comes to terms. His daughter had been much neglected by him as a child as he locked himself away in his studio to work through much of her childhood. A kind of icey hostility would manifest itself through both her visits to the home and through the pages of 'The Soldier'; I intended to distribute the pages of a 'Soldier' comic through the actual story where characters in the present-day and in the faux strip would interchange and react.

And then I happened to catch an episode of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective and realised I was rewriting it in comic form. I don't know why I hadn't realised it sooner but there you go. I did labour on for a while; perhaps no-one would notice; perhaps I could rework it; perhaps I should just do a pulp-style comic of 'The Soldier' and froget the rest of the story.

In the end I just felt I was no longer going anywhere with it and decided to lay it to one side as an unused idea and focus on something else. Somewhere there must be an afterlife where old and unused ideas go to live out eternity, the eternal 'what if?'. Anyway, I might as well show off the pages somewhere so here you go, the first two pages of what might have been...

Happy Birthday, 2000AD!

2011-02-19T09:40:00.003Z

I’m sure I must have written about 2000AD here before but given that it is 34 years ago today that it arrived on Earth and you can’t talk about a good thing enough, I will do so again.

2000AD was a seminal moment in my life. At 12 years old and with Star Wars just around the corner (the first one), I was just the right age for Tharg’s awesome comic of the future.

I was already a keen comic reader with the likes of Yogi Bear, Mickey Mouse, Look-In, Warlord, Battle Picture Weekly, Action and Bullet already behind me. Warlord was a great moment for me but there was and is nothing that compares to the surge of excitement I had when perusing my first issue of 2000AD. I was unaware at that age of all the back history of British comics, of the new wave of editors and creators moving in to shake things up. All I knew is that this comic excited me like no other and I couldn’t pore over those pages enough. I remember even now scouring each page in detail, getting to the back cover then turning it over and going through it all over again. Over and over, I must have looked at that first issue a hundred times in the first week. I loved every story though in the early days it was Flesh and Dan Dare that really did it for me. Judge Dredd took a little while to grab a hold but after a year or so and the arrival of The Cursed Earth, I was well and truly hooked.

There’s a kind of excitement and thrill you get from some things as a kid that no matter how much you may wish to, you can never recapture as an adult. I’ve enjoyed many comics since but nothing matches that first prog of the Galaxy’s Greatest! The old boy has had it’s ups and downs over the years (I remember the 800’s being a bit patchy) but it still remains a must buy for me. Even nearing middle age it can still hit the heights from time to time.

So Happy Birthday, 2000AD. 34 years on and I’m still right there with you!

A Pirate, a Crusader, a Scorpion and Outcastes

2011-02-12T14:31:00.008Z

This week, a quick round up of a few of the things I've been reading recently.

First off are three soft-covers published by Cinebooks, widely publicised and reviewed on the pages of the Forbidden Planet International blog, one of my daily reads. The first title was volume one of 'Long John Silver' and I was blown away immediately. The art is very slightly old-fashioned and yet still fresh and dynamic, nicely coloured and easily conjuring up the style and sense of dark brooding of Treasure Island, the source novel for this title. But this is no sequel and there are new characters to engage with our protagonist as they embark on a voyage to the Americas in search of fortune. The story is a rich and involving one and all of the characters, whatever their prominence, feel like they have back stories and histories that colour their actions. In flavour it has something of 2000AD's Nikolai Dante about it and in places the art has touches of John Burns. The second volume is out very shortly and I can't wait. At £6.99 this European-translated volume is a bargain.

The other two volumes from Cinebooks I read this month were 'Crusade' volume 1 and 'The Scorpion' volume 4.

Both nice books with Crusades having a very modern look and again both engaging stories. I had not read the previous 3 volumes of The Scorpion but it is easy to pick up with a nice ensemble cast, again touches of Nikolai Dante about it. British comics never seemed to me to dabble with history much. During the 70's and 80's we had war, sport, action, sci-fi, horror, etc. but aside from WW2 never a historical title. I don't know why as both British and world history are a rich source and these Cinebooks give a good account of that.

Finally, I have just read issue 9 of Tony McGee's 'Outcastes' and once again it does not disappoint. There is a fair bit of exposition and flashbacks this episode but it's told in Tony's usual fluid style. At last the bits of the puzzle begin to fall into place and all the strange goings on begin to be understood. I'm not going to say too much as I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet but this has been a really enjoyable and well-executed series which I would happily recommend to anyone. Independent publishers like True Stories Comics deserve supporting and that means sales so if you haven't already taken a look, go and buy a copy.

1991: The Comic Relief Comic

2011-02-02T08:01:00.004Z

Back in March 1991, Fleetway released a one-off title which I think probably stands unique in comics history. The title was, in full, "The Totally Stonking, Surprisingly Educational and Utterly Mindboggling Comic Relief Comic". What made it unique was the sheer number of artists, writers, publishers, comic and TV characters that featured within.
A fundraiser for the famous charity, the CRC was a 60 page, full-colour comic strips featuring such luminaries as Batman, Superman, Judge Dreed, Dan Dare, Doctor Who, Dennis the Menace, Roger Mellie and many more. The story (if you can call it such) is linked by cartoon version of Lenny Henry, Jonathan Ross and Griff Rhys Jones and centres on a modern version of Blackadder as he is taken on a journey to open his eyes to the needs and neglect of our world. The various comics segue in and out like a sketch show and showcase a range of talent in a wide variety of styles. We have everyone from Hunt Emerson, Alan Davis, Phillip Bond, Arthur Ranson, Dave Gibbons, John Ridgeway, Rian Hughes and many more.
It is astonishing that so many publishers and creators were willing to forego both payment and copyright in order to pastiche and often lampoon their properties in the name of charity. Where else would you find a big chin competition between Judge Dredd, Dan Dare, Captain Britain and Desperate Dan? Or a red nose confrontation between seven Doctors, Dan Dare, Digby, the Mekon, Treens, Ice Warriors, Cybermen and more besides? Or Wonder Woman hitching a ride on the back of Judge Dredd's Lawmaster?
The CFC is bonkers, largely nonsensical with a small dose of worthiness, a complete mish-mash but it is a fun read and bounding with enthusiasm and energy. OK, it is not high art and it had a few detractors but it held its own and if you haven't seen it before then I think its worth seeking out if you can find one (I gather they are pretty rare). There has been nothing like it before or since and somehow I doubt there ever will be again.

Review: The Comix Reader #1

2011-01-18T13:42:00.001Z

The Comix Reader #1 is like one of those old-fashioned, underground comics I can remember buying from a slightly seedy back-street comic shop many years ago. It is like having a little secret treasure that only a favoured few can share. In some ways it reminds me of Alan Moore’s Dodgem Logic in comic strip form, an anarchic mix but without any of the new age gobbledygook.
There are a fair variety of strips and styles on show by a plethora of creators. At only £1.50 for 24 tabloid sized pages, about half in colour and printed on newsprint, The Comix Reader is an absolute bargain.
Highlights for me include The Magnificent Orb and The Man Who Wasn’t There that both have that slightly-crazed cartoon look so favoured by the now defunct DFC. As a wannabe comic creator, Waste of Time struck a chord with me. A Classy Dress is a good-looking take on The Emperor’s New Clothes and Treetop Singers: an Ode to Man beautifully captures the balance between gadget obsessions and the natural world. Top of the bill for me though is Sabrina, a one page colour biographic, capturing a whole lifetime in just a few frames and yet giving you a real feeling that you know and understand something of this now mostly-forgotten celebrity, one who deserves to be remembered more than many.
For such a low price and the sheer range of creative talent, there seems little reason to me not to buy a copy. For a nostalgic feel, modern humour and a tabloid you can happily hold up and read in public, my advice is to go and buy a copy of The Comix Reader#1 right now. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

How I Draw Blackfriars

2011-01-09T10:45:00.011Z

This week I am posting a few images from Blackfriars that I scanned during the working process. Sometimes I will write up a script in full but in the case of Blackfriars I had the whole story mapped out in my head and simply began with a thumbnail sketch of each page, leaving adequate space for captions and dialogue. The following image is my thumbnail (actually a rough A4 size page though I often draw a quarter of this size) of the final page of episode ten. As you can see, it is pretty rudimentary, literally a rough outline of things.

Next up is the pencil stage. Depending on what type of story I'm doing, I may do complete pencils with shading resulting in an image not far off from the final inked version. For Blackfriars which was intended as a fairly rough and speedy adventure, I settled for looser pencils, omitting the shading and background detail. This page is basically just a large version of the thumbnail but a bit tidier, drawn at A3 size.

Finally, the inks. I always start top left and work down to bottom right to avoid smudging and mucky drawing. I usually start by outlining figures and background objects using light and heavy lines as appropriate. Next I'll fill in the details. The block inking (areas of heavy black) I leave to last. Sometimes when I'm doing close-ups I will start with facial details and work outwards as this just feels more natural to me. The block inking I sometimes leave blank until I have scanned the image and then fill in the blanks on screen using CorelDraw version 12. I will also use shades of grey on some pictures where I want to add depth of definition; I see this as a susbtitute for the old half-tone shading of years gone by. This image is the final inked version.

Next comes the text. I use CorelDraw's drawing features to create caption boxes and dialogue balloons. The text is AnimeAce, point 7 to 9. Then the whole image is saved in both JPG format (300dpi) for printing and PNG (200dpi) for uploading to the web. And that pretty much is how each page of Blackfriars was put together. The next image shows the completed page.

Blackfriars - the final episode

2011-01-02T08:52:00.015Z

Well this is it, the final episode in my small tribute to the black and white strips of IPC's classic Scream! comic. Here at last is the final face-off between vampire and Viking. A casket of native soil, a stake through the heart, a forbidding mountain castle and a new-born baby! Who could ask for anything more?

Next week as a little bonus I'll be posting a few images of thumbnail sketches, pencils and inks and a brief summary of the way I go about producing these strips for those of you who are interested. See you then.

Blackfriars, episode 9

2010-12-26T09:06:00.011Z

The penultimate episode and a change of pace this week. It was a bit of an experiment of mine to try to inject a level of emotion into the story. Although the story is called Blackfriars, they have not really been a major element despite a few appearances. As servants of the Dark Lord, I wanted here to give them some back story and create some empathy before their final release. I quite like it and feel it slows things down prior to the big finish next week. Hope you like it too.

Blackfriars, episode 8

2010-12-19T08:20:00.007Z

One of my favourite episodes to draw this week as we build up to the conclusion in two weeks time. I hope you're enjoying the read and maybe even getting that nostalgic yearning for weekly episodic b&w strips, just like those boys' comics of old? I'm enjoying it anyway! See you next week.

Blackfriars, episode 7

2010-12-12T08:59:00.010Z

Only three weeks to go for the big finale but first things first, we have a wedding and some funerals to get through. Actually they are not really funerals, the dead this issue are already dead! That's another thing I used to love about those classic IPC comics, nothing was too much, just keep on chucking everything into the mix. Next week the hunt for Golgoth is on as we begin the final arc in this Vikings vs Vampires saga. See you then.

Oh, and the little advert at the end has also been made to look like an old 70's/80's ad but it is genuine (except the newsagents bit). 'Afterlife' was my first published comic and got me some good reviews and favourable responses; issues still available at www.stormcomics.com - please do give it a try.

Blackfriars, episode 6

2010-12-05T09:49:00.007Z

Onto the second half of the saga. This time around we get a closer look at the vampire Lord Golgoth, the Blackfriars themselves get a piece of the action and the final hunt begins. The first page of this episode is one of my favourites as it reminds me of the kind of dynamic splash pages that 2000AD used to go in for in their early b&w days. I hope you like it too.

Blackfriars, episode 5

2010-11-28T09:01:00.009Z

Four weeks on and here we are with episode five, the half way point in this little saga of Vampires against Vikings! There's a touch of humour this week to balance the bloodshed to come and the signal for that comes in the form of a death of another Viking! The forces of evil and not-so-evil are gathering. Let the battle commence! And be back here next week for that very event.

Blackfriars, episode 4

2010-11-21T09:37:00.018Z

Episode four and time for a little bit of backstory. This is what I think of as the lull before the storm, the gathering of forces before the chaos breaks out - not long to wait for that! And just for an extra treat, this week I've included the mock-up 'Blackfriars' cover in Scream as I like to think it might have looked.

Hope you enjoy it and be back here next week when the onslught begins!

Blackfriars, episode 3

2010-11-14T08:06:00.008Z

Another week has flown by and here we are with episode three already. In the first few episodes my intent was to build up an air of creeping menace, to add an unsettling air to proceedings. By now I have got my three main characters in; Sgard, one of the three Vikings, the Anglo-Saxon boy who appears this week along with The Shaman who turned out to be my favourite character to draw. What happens to them and their comrades you will have to wait and see. And be here next week for the history of the enemy that they seek.

By the way, the Viking script that appears at the bottom of the first page is genuine, in use here up until about 800AD when it was modified somewhat. I'd been reading a history of the Vikings called 'The Hammer and The Cross' by Robert Ferguson. I learnt so much it seemed a shame not to use a bit of it.

Blackfriars, episode 2

2010-11-07T08:53:00.009Z

No sooner has episode one been published than here we are with episode two. Again I've attempted to catch the tone and style of classic British comic Scream. I loved drawing these wolves although it took a lot of practice. I don't know how well my artistic influences show up in my art but for the record, my style here was a kind of mix of Dave Gibbons, Carlos Ezquerra and that master of the 70's horror strip, Eric Bradbury.

Come back here next week whenthe saga continues in episode three, 'Village of the Damned'...

Blackfriars, episode 1

2010-11-07T08:42:00.009Z

Well here we are, as first mooted and promised some months ago, the first episode of the ten part Vikings vs. Vampires saga, Blackfriars. This first episode appeared as a complete story in the second edition of online fan publication, Halloscream, as reported previously. The second episode will also appear today with further episodes appearing weekly. As a tribute to the much-missed Brfitish horror comic, Scream, the weekly episodes should hopefully instill some of that old comic-reading experience that so many of us brought up on the classic British comics of the 1970's and 80's yearn for.

So without any further ado then, here we go with episode one...

Hallowscream #2

2010-11-01T08:42:00.005Z

The second annual edition of Hallowscream is ouit now and available to download for free. With over 80 pages of original work froma variety of creators, Hallowscream is an affectionate tribute to the short-lived but classic British horror comic, Scream. Contained in its pages is the first episode of my very own Vikings vs. Vampires strip, Blackfriars. I will be publishing that episode and the second episode here next week and episodes will go online weekly thereafter for the next nine weeks. In the meantime, pop on over and download a copy of Hallowscream.

Comic Cats

2010-10-17T15:18:00.006+01:00

A quick blog this week to introduce my new cat, Cookie, who was well chosen. As seen here, Cookie, it turns out, is a comics fan (here enjoying 'I Flew with Braddock' from the recent Best of Victor volume). Being a discerning cat he also enjoyed the latest volume of Modesty Blaise when he insisted on sitting on my lap and perusing the pages first! With luck he might enjoy my own strip, Blackfriars, which begins being published here for free downloading each week from Halloween. I'll let you know,

All-action, all-picture war stories

2010-09-28T16:55:00.003+01:00

The date of 28th September always gives me a slight feeling of excited anticipation. It's a bit like that feeling you have as a kid when your birthday is fast approaching. 28th September isn't my birthday but the date resonates with me for it represents one of those seminal moments in life. For 28th September 1974 was the cover date for issue 1 of Warlord, the comic with "All-action, all-picture war stories".

As a child that was one of the most thrilling days of my young life. Aged 9 I had been reading various titles, three of which spring to mind; Mickey Mouse Weekly, Yogi Bear and Friends and la-la-la-la-laa-Look-In. These had largely been ordered by my mum but by age 9 I had a bit of pocket money, just enough to buy a comic of my choice. And as if by magic, Warlord arrived!

It looked dated pretty quickly by the time Battle Picture Weekly arrived a few months later but just for a while I got seriously excited about reading new adventures of Lord Peter Flint (code-name Warlord), Union Jack Jackson, Bomber Braddock, Spider Wells and Wingless Wonder amongst others. The summer specials were a particularly exciting event because they were oversized, some of the strips in colour and with plenty of content to keep a Warlord Secret Agent club member happy during the hols.

My strongest memory of that first issue though was of me and best best friend finishing our school day and racing down the four or five long streets to the newsagent, each wanting to get there first to secure a copy and start arranging stick-on medals in the gatefold medals folder. For the record, I got there first. Where a comic was involved, I always got there first.

As you we get older we lose that sense of childish excitement about such ephemeral things and yet, 36 years later, I still feel that slight tingle whenever 28th September comes around.

There's no thrills like old thrills

2010-09-23T13:13:00.005+01:00

I read news this week that a new comic publication, Strip Magazine, to be launched early next year will not only feature new work but a few restored classics too. A fully coloured and restored reprint of Hook Jaw from the pages of 1976's Action, and possibly Dredger too.

Both of these were firm favourites of mine before 2000AD arrived on the scene a year later. 2000AD too though featured strips that could have come from the pages of its earlier stablemate. One such was Shako, a killer polar bear carrying some sort of top secret nerve capsule which he'd foolishly swallowed and was subsequently hunted by the CIA ("He's the most dangerous bear on the CIA's hit list"). It sounds completely bonkers and I suppose it is, but the energy, action and body count of the story very quickly rated high with me. I'm a sucker for a dumb action strip (you'll be able to tell when I start publishing my new Viking vs. Vampires strip, Blackfriars here from the end of October).

I'm pleased to see Strip Magazine will be airing some of these old strips once again. It'll be interesting to see how the new strips compare.

With 2000AD, CLiNT and Strip Magazine sharing shelf space, things are looking pretty good on the British comics front.

The Day the Cradle Rocked

2010-09-17T15:41:00.004+01:00

Some years ago I wrote quite a few features for another review web site about various comics, graphic novels, creators, etc. Reading through them again recently reminded me of one graphic novel which has sat on my bookshelf almost forgotten since. And yet going over it again now, I am reminded that the book is a colossus of modern comics and as such I think the review is worth going over again. What follows then are my thoughts, then and now, about Raymond Briggs' When the Window Blows.

Back in the 1980’s, fear of ‘the big one’, the devastation of the world by nuclear war reached a fever pitch. It was particularly noticeable in TV dramas like Threads, and even in the distribution of government leaflets about how to protect your family in the event of a nuclear attack (paint your windows white and hide under the table basically). We live in a new century now, indeed a new millennium, and all of that has changed now, hasn’t it?

Well actually, no, not really! The threat still exists. A growing number of politically unstable countries now have access to a nuclear arsenal. The true threat is probably bigger than ever. But it’s a new millennium and we don’t want to think about that, do we?

So let us settle down to a nice little picture story by that nice Raymond Briggs chap. You know, the bloke who wrote The Snowman, Father Christmas, Ethel and Ernest and the one that we’ve going to look at here, When the Wind Blows. They look like a nice old couple on the cover, don’t they? Ah yes, we’re on safe ground here.

Not quite sure what the American and Russian generals on the cover are there for though! And what is that big white flash behind them? It looks like a giant mushroom. And hang on, why is there a picture of a missile on pages four and five? Must be a printer’s error. Ah, here we are, back on page six. Nice English countryside and old James coming home from work to potter about in the shed while his ‘ducks’ tends to the kitchen. Bit old fashioned, still, they probably still have their old wartime home front sensibilities. Which should hold them in good stead because there is a picture of some A10 Thunderbolt warplanes on pages ten and eleven. And a nuclear submarine on pages fourteen and fifteen. And on pages eighteen and nineteen … nothing! Nothing but white.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, When the Wind Blows is the story of how one couple struggle to survive and overcome the enormity of nuclear war. No snowmen or Santa Claus here. This is a moving, emotional and ultimately devastating look at the pointlessness of such a war and just how inadequate we would all be in the face of it. There are no villains here, no words exchanged across the political and cultural divides. We never get to find out what the war was all about, but then given the consequences, it doesn’t really matter. The love of the Jim and Hilda Bloggs shines throughout the story and there are nicely added depths of humour. As the Daily Mail commented back in 1986, “this is the most eloquent anti-bomb statement you are likely to read”. And the Sunday Tmes; “a visual parable against nuclear war: all the more chilling for being in the form of a strip cartoon”.

The book is charming in places, disturbingly bleak in others. It is engrossing, but if you are after a happy story, look elsewhere. There are no happy ever afters in this tale. One critic commented that this was a book that we should all force ourselves to read. That is no less true now than it was back then when it was first published. This is a horror story in its very truest sense.

It is hard to sell a book with this sort of content but I can assure you that it is a worthwhile read. It has a great depth of humanity and moments of levity which help alleviate the bleaker tones of the book. It may seem like an out-dated idea now but it still holds many truths about the world we live in. Not that it could ever come true, of course. I mean, that was the 1980’s. We’re living in the 21st century now. Times have changed.

Haven’t they?

Clint vs. Tharg

2010-09-06T13:21:00.013+01:00

In a week that saw the arrival of new-kid-on-the-block CLiNT #1 and a slightly new-look for sprightly eldster 2000AD reaching prog 1700, I thought I'd make a quick review of the two and see how the state of modern british comics fared.

Hats off to Mark Millar for his bold attempt to re-energise British comics. The lads mag-style cover tries to update consumers' notions of what a comic should look like but there's a danger many browsers might just put it back when they see the comic content and realise it isn't the sort of magazine they may have thought it was. On the other hand, they may not otherwise have picked a comic up and so at least it's a start. Having said that, I'm not sure how much appeal it will have to the boys it's aimed at given the various positioning of it on newsagents shelves; clearly they, and I mean you, WH Smiths, have no idea who to aim it at and in most cases I've seen it (just) piled up behind other magazines such as SFX, Nuts andTotal Film!

So what about the content? Well it didn't grab or excite me the way 2000AD prog 1 did back in 1977 but then it is clearly not aimed at me and besides, I'm getting too old to get excited about such things. I hadn't read any Kick-Ass before and this short episode of book 2 was nicely told even if it isn't clear where it's headed yet. Turf I have written about here before; I love this story, striking art and verbose writing and it is easily the best thing in this first issue. Rex Royd left me cold as it wasn't clear to me who the main characters are supposed to be nor what sort of world it is set in; I'm guessing an overpopulated with superheroes, Martial Law-style backdrop but either way, there was nothing much here that grabbed me. Nemesis part 1 was like a wide-screen cinema blockbuster, well-told, violent, epic but ultimately just felt like a load of other well-worn blockbusters. And Hue Edwards' Space Oddities was a nice little short even if it was a bit predictable.

The features seemed ill-placed to me with articles on TV's hot mums, the Charles Manson murders, a Chinese voice-over artist for Tom Cruise and an interview with Jimmy Carr about stand-up comedy. All-in-all then, things have got off to a reasonable, if low-key start, but there is promise and I hope Clint goes on to bigger and better things.

Comci fans might have been forgiven for thinking that granddaddy 2000AD was about to get its first competition in years. But whereas Clint owes much to the American school of comics, 2000AD is British through and through. Prog 1700 got off to a great start with classic John Wagner-scripted Judge Dredd. In six pages, we had some great characterisation, solid storytelling and the introduction of a seemngly ordinary but obviously complete fruitloop criminal whose hobby is skinning people to make clothes. Defoe is back fighting zombies in a solid story, not a great favourite of mine but gloriously illustrated. The same goes for Low Life, with artwork that looks like it should be gracing the pages of a deluxe European graphic album. Age of the Wolf is a new strip, nicely told and illustrated, a kind of cross between 28 Days Later and An American Werewolf in London; not ever so orginal but a welcome addition to the anthology. And finally, the return of Nikolai Dante following the aftermath of his stripping of the weapons crest and his descent into oblivion. Like Dredd, this story is always well-told, structured with great characterisation; this new episode is no exception.

Overall then it has been a good week for British comics and here's hoping it leads to a lot more. For my money, Clint #1 is worth a look if you're curious but 2000AD prog 1700 provides proof of why it has been around for so long; constant high standards, top creators and not afraid to try new things now and again. Zarjaz indeed!

Clint is coming!

2010-08-25T17:47:00.003+01:00

I'm looking forward to seeing the first issue of Clint on Sept 2nd. It'll be good to see if it can wake up the British comics industry and maybe give 2000AD a bit of competition; there's plenty of room for both of them.

Not too sure about the name. And given the fact it can look like a four letter C word from a distance (intentionally), it must only be a matter of time before someone complains and WHSmiths withdraw it from their shelves. That's if you can spot it on the shelves in amongst the thousands of other titles they cram their stands with. And where will they put it? Probably with Loaded, FHM, Nuts and the like, or maybe the film magazines as it has that look about it.

I wasn't sure at first why they weren't using any established writers on the comics as a draw but realistically, most people browsing the shelves would never of heard of Pat Mills, John Wagner, etc (the philistines). Jonathan Ross and Frankie Boyle will be bigger names to draw on and in fact that might be what comics needs, creators who don't necessarily have a background in comics and who can bring something a bit different to the table. Plus they should bring in some media attention which can't be a bad thing. Time will tell. Whatever the case, I wish it well.

Jive, Baby, Let's Play Aeroball

2010-08-19T11:42:00.004+01:00

Much as I enjoy modern comics and graphic novels, my real love of comics is with the classic 70's / early 80's boys’ comics from IPC. They always had so much energy jumping right off the page and characters that really had you rooting for them. In retrospect many of these stories (Dredger, The Running Man, Shako, Lofty's One-Man Luftewaffe and tons of others) were at best, silly, and at worst, downright daft. I was reminded of this recently as I read Rebellion's collection of The Complete Harlem Heroes which includes its sequel, Inferno.

These strips had exactly the kind of energy and excitement that I craved as a kid and I still feel the same pang when I read them today. Both Dave Gibbons and Massimo Bellardinelli did some sterling work on these strips and while the sequel was essentially a rewrite of the first story, I didn't much care then or now; I couldn't get enough of players being smashed up by bizarre-looking motorbikes, exploding jet packs and the grotesque gallery of opposing teams.

Inferno though is by far the sillier of the two stories. Take the instance where John 'Giant' Clay having been beaten to within an inch of his life once again by arch-foe Artie Gruber, has an android replica of Gruber made to remind him that his foe might still be alive somewhere! What sort of mad logic is that? But the point is these stories were driven by one dramatic incident following another with weekly cliff-hangers upping the ante and keeping the anticipation going. 2000AD is still (I think) a great comic today but modern strips don't seem to have the same energy. I suspect we think we have more sophisticated tastes these days and want more plot and characterisation but personally I'd clamour for a bit more of the plot-less and the daft! For my money, The Complete Harlem Heroes is well-worth the entry price.

I will end by drawing attention to Dave Gibbon's stunning artwork of the revived and mad Artie Gruber as he storms off in search of Giant. And his glorious cover to prog 9, one of my favourite ever covers. It reminded me of the cover to Battle Picture Weekly no4 where Mike Nelson (code-name the Eagle) has his gun sights set on the Fuhrer with the words 'Target: Adolf Hitler'. That one seared itself into my young mind as I stared at it through the newsagent’s window one Bank Holiday Monday in the days when all the shops shut. It was agony waiting for the next day to go in and buy it. It was painful but I almost wish I could feel that same agony for comics these days - I guess that's just old age for you?

Scream! for the Blackfriars

2010-08-11T08:52:00.005+01:00

As a prelude to the launch of my Blackfriars strip in Hallowscream in October, I had a go at mocking up a cover based on the original Scream comic. I've tried to do it in the 1980's style of IPC comics and am quite pleased with the result. As the strip itself is my hommage to those classic boys' comics of the period, it seemed only right to give it the classic cover treatment too.

Tight Jocks

2010-08-04T12:44:00.003+01:00

Falling back on well-worn stereotypes about Scottish people and their money, this series of strips originally ran in a rather subversive, underground publication I edited at work for over fifteen years. We hads a lot of Scottish people coming south and taking over a lot of our project work and this strip was my little bit of rebellion.

Dangerously cliched but I still kind of like it!

Outcastes #8

2010-07-26T16:53:00.006+01:00

I’ve been a bit lax with updating the blog the last couple of weeks but rest assured I haven’t gone away, I am just way busy with one thing and another. While I don’t have time for a more thorough review, I didn’t want to miss giving Outcastes #8 a plug.

I’ve written about Outcastes here a number of times in the past and if you’ve read them then you’ll know that I have no hesitation in recommending the latest issue. Things really kick off in issue 8 with the various strands starting to come together. This series has been great from the outset with a good story, rounded characters and some stunning artwork, very fluid in style. The story doesn’t give easy explanations and requires a bit of thought on behalf of the reader. That’s not to say it’s a difficult read or anything, far from it but it is what I would call an intelligent read. All in all it is building into something special. Price-wise it is very good value for money and Tony McGee is a creator that deserves our support.

Blackfriars coming to Hallowscream

2010-06-28T12:04:00.005+01:00

This October sees the online publication of the second Hallowscream special from those people at Back From the Depths. Hallowscream 2010 is made as a tribute to that short-lived but classic IPC comic, Scream.

This year I have a five page strip being published there called Blackfriars. Appearing here as a standalone story, it will in fact form episode one of a ten-part strip which I intend to publish in weekly episodes on the Storm Comics web site. Blackfriars is essentially a Vikings vs. Vampires story, partly inspired by one of my favourite ever strips, 2000AD's Fiends of the Eastern Front. The strip, as reported here about a year ago, originally began as a completely different sort of Viking story but I kind of lost the plot a bit as to where it was going and abandoned it. I had been a bit fed up about it at the time because I felt quite pleased with some of the art I'd done. So when I read about submissions to Hallowscream, I revisited my original ideas and replotted it.

Since then I have been turning out a page or two a week and am now four episodes in. By November, it will be published weekly as a free download. And keeping in the spirit of the source comic, the episodes, next issue blocks, Scream credits logo and suchlike will be maintained. For readers who have a nostalgia for those old IPC comics, I hope it will bring back some of that old excitement of looking forward to the next episode.

I'll let you know here as soon as start publishing online or you could just keep an eye on the main homepage here.

Alan Moore in the Monkey Cage

2010-06-21T14:04:00.005+01:00

Aside from comics and a few other things, one of my great interests is in the sciences, especially astronomy, geology, cosmology and suchlike. Now it seems that the worlds of science and comics will briefly collide in the new series of Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage. This is a show about science but done in a light-hearted way and hosted by Professor Brian Cox and the comedian Robin Ince. Robin Ince has collaborated in performance art in the past with none other than Alan Moore so it should be of little surprise that one of the special guests for this new series is the self-same Alan Moore. I think this should be interesting because whether you agree with him or not, Moore always has plenty of interesting and often provocative things to say on a range of subjects. It is a good little series and well worth catching (currently broadcast on Radio 4, Mondays at 4.30pm). The Infinite Monkey Cage is also available as a podcast.

Radio Times a little erroneously labelled Alan Moore as a science fiction author. I'm not sure how he would feel about that job description but suspect he might get a bit huffy if his comments in Comic Heroes #2 is anything to go by. As I said, Alan Moore always has plenty of worthwhile things to say but I think he might upset a few people with his views on current comics and what he sees as the death of the industry. He makes a number of interesting observations and is, I believe, right in his view that comics and comics creators are very insular on the whole. The dominance of superheroes in American comics is a case in point where crossovers and storylines get bigger each year and every now and then there's a cull, heroes are reset to year one and the whole process begins again. I have long enjoyed Daredevil precisely because he seemed to exist outside of the main Marvel universe without any of the usual crossovers that hamper other titles. But now we have the growing Shadowlands storyline which looks like being Marvel's big event for the year and all of a sudden I find myself wondering whether to give the title up or not; I have no interest in following all the spin-offs just to keep up.

Back to Moore though and another interview that I found very interesting is featured in Mustard #4 and covers a multitude of subjects (Moore doesn't do short interviews). I must admit that I love some of Alan Moore's work and loathe others but I can't deny I always find reading interviews with him wortwhile and thought-provoking. Mustard incidentally for those of you who don't know is a very entertaining little comedy magazine, very funny in places and currently has a two page slot in the pages of Dodgem Logic.

So there's plenty of Alan Moore to go round this month and whether you catch one or all of them, I think it will be time well spent. Alan Moore may well keep his promise to have retired from the comics industry for good but for someone with as many views as he has, I'm sure we won't have heard the last of him from one quarter or another. I certainly hope not.

More 2000AD Dan Dare

2010-06-14T17:15:00.005+01:00

For those of you who read my previous blog on the short history of 2000AD's incarnation of Dan Dare, and maybe read my 5 page comic strip hommage to said Space Hyper Hero, then you may be interested in another 2000AD-inspired strip that polishes off the saga left hanging in the comic back in 1980.

I am indebted to Gavin Aslett for sending me a link to his six-part finale, Journey Through Time, which wraps up the whole Servant of Evil / Crystal of Life storyline while finding time to incorporate elements of the original Eagle hero. It is a satisfying read, nicely drawn and giving a sense of closure to the story which I'm sure many of use who remember it were left waiting for. While Tharg may have reneged on his promise, Gavin fulfills it. It is good to know I'm not the only fan who rates the 2000AD version of Dan Dare highly - despite the strips' shortcomings, and there were a few, it was an enjoyable run and the main reason I bought 2000AD in the first place.

So if you fancy a quick trip back in time to those halcyon days, why not take a look at Gavin's Journey Through Time? Don't worry if you have forgotten the story or missed it the first time around, Gavin has included a two-page trailer utilising some of Dave Gibbons' fine artwork to recap events.

New-look Storm Comics web site

2010-05-27T05:48:00.003+01:00

The main Storm Comics web site has just had a spring clean with a bold, new look, simpler layout and easy access to all areas from the home page. The latest blog headlines are featured, alongside the store and links to the galleries of art and comics available for free downloading. Why not take a look and come into the Storm?

Escape 1 & 2

2010-05-19T10:00:00.003+01:00

Way back in 1983, my comic horizons were expanded considerably by the appearance in my local comic shop (Mr Tomorrow's Norwich) of a small, a% fanzine. Called Escape, it was edited by someone called Paul Gravett, came wrapped in a double-sided cardstock cover drawn by Phil Elliot and contained contributions by numerous creators, several of whose names were completely new to me; Glenn Dakin, Hunt Emerson, Atr Spiegelman and Eddie Campbell, amongst others. And there were features on comics and artists I'd never heard of including Serge Clerc, George Herriman and Krazy Kat and Wilson of the Wizard. Escape was branded as UKBD, the British version of the French Bande Dessinee ("Avoid the tripe-trap! Think eclectic!"). Suddenly comics had a European dimension.

Now I had just left school, was making my way into the world of nine-to-five working and was still as passionate about comics as I had been when 2000AD hit the scene a few years earlier. But my exposure to comics was limited mainly to the diminishing British boys' titles and the American marvel and DC titles that turned up in local newsagents. I'd make the odd trip to comic marts in London but the concept of graphic novels or of comics beyond Britain and the US was largely an unknown. Escape changed all of that. I can remember reading andre-reading the first two issues over and over again trying to take it all in, my mind suddenly exposed to this wider world of comics. I couldn't get enough of it. I would journey to other cities and trek for miles searching out what seemed like obscure bookshops and comic stores in an attempt to lay my hands on these treasures that I had read about. In fact it was down to Escape #1 that I first came across Bryan Talbot's work beyond 2000AD and began collecting those first issues of The Tales of Luther Arkwright. And I remain a fan of the works of Rian Hughs, Eddie Campbell and the glorious work of Hunt Emerson to this day.

I was never able to lay my hands on further issues after that until Escape went big and glossy. As a squarebound magazine, it starting appearing on the shelves of newsagents like WH Smith and for a while it seemed like comics had finally come to be seen as a valid and respectable artform offering something different from the usual staples to be found with the funny papers. Alas it didn't last and Escape disappeared. This was a blow to me at a time before the internet when finding out about such things was some much harder than it is now. Deadline came along at more or less the same time but that was more of a mix of comics and music and its populist approach was not to my taste. And great though Escape became, I still have a soft spot for those first two issues that I've held onto ever since. Their appearance was a seminal moment for me, a lesson in expanding your horizons and trying new things.

I hear on the grapewine recently that there are plans to bring Escape back. I really do hope this comes to pass as there has been nothing like it before or since. Even with all the information available on the internet, I still prefer my reading matter in printed form and if Escape does make it back to the shelves, I will be putting in my order.

Terror Behind the Bamboo Curtain

2010-05-14T16:58:00.007+01:00

Whenever articles appear harking back to the days of Battle Picture Weekly, the classic strips mentioned aren invariably the same; D-Day Dawson, Rat Pack, Day of the Eagle, Major Easy, etc. As an avid 10 year old reader however, one strip stood out for me; The Terror Behind the Bamboo Curtain.

While most strips involved the hero/s getting in one gun battle to another, week after week, 'Terror' went at a more sedate pace, less action-packed but, dare I say it, slightly more thoughtful than the usual gung-ho approach of the others. Not that it was in any way deep or meaningful, it was just a bit different. Centering around our hero, 'Big' Jim Blake, this story was set within the confines of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the Burmese jungle. Many of the strips that featured in Battle and it's later sister title, Action, drew their inspiration from the movies. In Terror's case, the closest big-screen equivalent would be The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Like the film, the strip had an air of psychological menace about it, terror suggested rather than overt. For example, we had the camp commandant, the sadistic Colonol Sado (the name says it all) who would place prisoners within his bamboo curtain, allow them to escape and then laugh and gloat as invariably they would perish in his hideous man-traps set out especially for the spectacle. And as if to suggeest this cruel overlord had a soft side, he was accompanied by his pet Siamese cat, Suki. Somehow the cat's prescence just added to the air of meance.

Unlike many PoW stories, this was no more story of men trying to escape. Terror had far loftier, if daft, ambitions. Colonol Sado was brainwashing British prisoners in order to form a private army who would obey only his command. The story was short-lived, just twelve issues running from Battle Picture Weekly #1 to a length of 36 pages. But is was tautly told and well illustrated by several artists in similar styles that at times remind me of the great Hugo Pratt (Corto Maltese). The story inevitably ended with Big Jim ending Sado's plans and regrouping with British forces to continue the fight in the jungle. And there was a wonderful closing image as Jim heads off as we see Colonol Sado's hand as he sinks into one of his own swamp tramps. And casually looking on is the cat. This was a strip with a sense of irony.

Terror doesn't seem to get mentioned much these days but it holds strong recollections for me and having reread it again just recently, I feel it stands up well to the test of time. Perhaps it's short length will see it reprinted in its entirety in one of the upcoming Best of Battle editions. It certainly deserves another look.

Jonathan Ross' Turf #1

2010-04-25T16:06:00.002+01:00

TV and radio presenter Jonathan Ross is well known for his love of comics. He owns a substantial private collection of comics and presented an excellent documentary for BBC4 last year in the search for his hero, Steve Ditko. So it is probably no surprise that like many comics fans he has toyed around with sketching out stories and characters of his own over the years. And now, alongside top US artist Tommy Lee Edwards, Jonathan Ross has published his first professional comics work, part one of the five part Image series, Turf.

Of all the comics I bought this past month, Turf has been my favourite. The story employs an unusual mix of genres (gangsters, sci-fi and vampires), each familiar and yet drawn together in a new way. The thing that struck me most when I first opened the issue was the wordiness of it, it looked quite text heavy. This is something that used to be commonplace in comics with Alan Moore having been a prime example. These days most comics are rather more lightweight and can be read in a matter of minutes; Turf makes you sit and take your time and was all the more rewarding for it. There is something modern and fresh about it while managing to have an old-fashioned comic sensibility about it.

I was disappointed recently when I heard that Jonathan was going to be giving up his broadcasting career for a while, especially his Radio 2 show which I've enjoyed over the years, however that could be to comics' gain. His storytelling was very strong and had touches of Stan Lee about it, especially when the spaceship appeared; it was kind of epic but kept in on a domestic, everyday level (everyday for 1920's New York anyway).

Turf #1 really is worth a bit of any body's money and I really do look forward to the rest of the series

Reviews: Harker #11, Outcastes #7, Zarjaz #9 & Mustard #4

2010-04-13T15:11:00.004+01:00

Having a bit of time off work, though not by choice, did at least give me a bit of time to ctach up on a pile of reading material. Amongst the smorgasbord of titles were the latest independents, a couple of which I mention here regularly. So let's kick off with those...

Yes, kick-off was the first pun as Harker #11 moves into Roy of the Rovers territory. Having found his man, the DCI and his right-hand man pursue their quarry to a charity football match between staff of the Whitby Gazette abd a team of Goths called Real Gothic. It seems a bit unlikely but then this is North Yorkshire, who knows what goes on there? Either way, it is an entertaining episode, well written and drawn to the usual high standards, even if nothing much actually happens this time around. We're just working our way up the field towards Harker scoring his goal as things get wrapped up next issue. Recommended.

Next up, Outcastes #7 steamrollers along as our small gang of jmisfits head for the end of the line. Yes, a couple more puns, this issue being set on board a steam locomotive. Like Harker, Outcastes moves along at a steady pace and is produced to the usual high quality that has remained remarkably consistent for the entire run so far. This issue sees a further plot development as Geo really goes off the rails; is this his move to the dark side or is there still a chance of redemption? He's certainly letting the opprtunities go. Highly recommended.

Another title I don't think I've mentioned here before is Zarjaz, the 2000AD fanzine now reaching its ninth issue. As you can probably guess if you don't alrady know, Zarjaz's strips are all based on 2000AD characters (with permission from The Mighty One). The mix of writers and artists is a good one and while none of the stories are particularly outstanding, they are nevrtheless executed well. Father Figure is a Dredd strip that seems to be an excuse to cram in a load of knob gags, Orlok is a prologue to the events of The Apocalypse War and my old favourite, Shako gets a look-in too. In fact one of the nice things Zarjaz does is to focus on lesser-exposed characters. I'm not sure there's much here to appeal to non-2000AD fans but for those who are, worth a look.

Finally I should mention Mustard #4. This is a comedy journal and a very good one at that. Not comics-related particularly except that this issue contains a lengthy interview with Alan Moore who manages to speak at length one a variety of subjects in an intelligent, unpatronising manner. It really was a fascinating read and worth buying for that alone. It is especially interesting to read his views about his attitudes to ownership, both corporate and individual. But the other features are a delight and I loved the spoof film poster for Dirty Harry Krishna ("Did he sing six veses, or only five?"). Highly recommended.

New 2000AD Dan Dare (kind of)

2010-03-30T14:12:00.004+01:00

While writing my recent blog about 2000AD’s version of Dan Dare, I went back over some of those old episodes as drawn by Massimo Bellardinelli and Dave Gibbons. I’m afraid nostalgia got the better of me and I began drawing an early 2000AD-style DD strip of my own, just for a bit of fun. The result is a five page story, in colour which sees the 2000AD DD having memories of his classic Eagle days. I’ll admit it is not the greatest Dan Dare story ever told but I think it’s reasonably entertaining. It was fun just using some of those old 2000AD faux-swear words, Drokk, Stomm and my favourite, My Dok! Whatever did that mean? Now obviously DD is a copyrighted character and I’ve no wish to illegally profit from it so I’m putting the pages up here to be read freely as my small tribute to a childhood hero. I hope you enjoy it and let’s hope one day someone will reprint those old strips and maybe even finish the 'Servant of Evil' storyline off.

John Hicklenton

2010-03-23T12:57:00.001Z

I was sad to hear that John Hicklention passed away last week after his long battle with MS. His illness and attitude towards it were brilliantly captured in the C4 documentary, Here’s Johnny, available on DVD.

Hicklenton’s art, it has to be said, wasn’t to everyone’s taste. His style tended to polarise readers between those who loved it and those who hated it. I remember being a bit uncertain at first when I saw his work in the pages of 2000AD drawing Nemesis the Warlock but I very quickly came on side. That saga, The Two Torquemada’s, remains one of my favourite comic series to this day. There were many memorable images that stick in my mind but the one that originally captivated me was that scene of the Casa Santa; that scratchy building in all its detail with the rocky foreground and the trees picked out in white silhouette mesmerised me then as they still do now. The story was perfectly suited to Hicklenton’s anarchic style and he captured the feel and tone of the story perfectly in a way that a colour strip could never have done. Having said that I also loved his colour Rogue Trooper strips that appeared in a couple of the Yearbooks. We don’t often see mainstream artists who break the mould as much as Hinklention did and he will be missed.

By way of an anecdote, my sister and brother-in-law met his father some years back at a local fair selling signed prints of John’s work (of which I am the proud owner of a couple). His father was very proud of him but when my brother-in-law asked him about the rather dark and violent tone of some of the images, he confessed he didn’t understand it as his son was such a quiet and gentle boy; that dual nature, I feel, comes across very strongly in the documentary

Dan Dare - Space Hyper Hero

2010-03-10T17:05:00.010Z

One of the earliest boys’ picture strips that really fired my imagination as an impressionable 11 year old was 2000AD’s reinvention of the classic space hero, Dan Dare. I’d heard about him and his arch-nemesis, the Mekon, from my parents who remembered the original from the pages of The Eagle. Amidst the excitement of those early progs, Dan Dare quickly established himself as my favourite strip after Judge Dredd.

Dan Dare's appearance in the pages of the weekly boys' comic, 2000AD, back in 1977, came about, as writer Pat Mills readily admits, “in a moment of possible insanity.” It was during discussions over the proposals for a brand new science fiction comic that Mills suggested including Dan Dare “as a way of boosting sales”. It was a clever idea to utilize an existing character with a proven track record and widespread respect in the industry as a way of attracting attention to the new comic. Dan Dare's adventures in 2000AD were not to prove plain sailing however.

The idea for a weekly science fiction comic to join the stable of IPC magazines' existing papers came about as a result of the slow reintroduction of sci-fi into the public arena. What had been a niche field suddenly gained widespread attention and acclaim, especially in the movies with such films as Rollerball, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. The idea to base a comic on this premise was, quite simply, a marketing ploy, an attempt to jump on the bandwagon. 2000AD of course outlasted this movie boom and continues to appear each week over thirty years later. Dan Dare was not so fortunate.

The proposals and scripts for this new Dan Dare went through several drafts. Although there might have been disagreements over what form the character would take, what was agreed was that modern (70's) children would not accept the old Eagle version which would be seen as old-fashioned and staid. Pat Mills worked with writer Ken Armstrong on the scripts, unsuccessfully trying out a couple of foreign artists along the way. While the hunt for an artist was on, IPC Youth Group publisher, John Sanders, recalls that this new Dan Dare would have “a leaner jaw, more piercing eyes, and a disposition less blandly goody-goody.” 2000AD's version would be “much more human and realistic … even falliable.”

Eventually a third artist was given a try-out. Italian artist Massimo Bellardinelli drew the first episode for free in an attempt to secure the job. The attempt worked. Although his depiction of Dare was not universally liked, his general artistic style was dynamic and exciting. Doug Church, called in to help visualise the scripts and art for the new comic recalls that they had wanted the new Dare to look like David Bowie. Bellardinelli was not overly-familiar with Bowie however and Church says that what came back was “very impressive spaceships and things but, unfortunately, Dan Dare looked like the usual stock comic character. I was very disappointed about that.”

Despite the teething problems, Dan Dare remained the prominent feature of the new comic, even as other strips were put on hold, re-jigged or dropped. The real test came during the week of 26 February, 1977 when programme 1 of 2000AD hit the newsagent stands. The new-look Dan Dare must have been something of a shock to old-time fans but he proved a hit with a large section of the target audience as the strip had a fairly straight run through to prog 126 two and a half years later.

The main problem with the strip, aside from creative differences made obvious by the changing styles and storylines during that time was that Dan Dare, no matter how updated, still seemed a bit old-fashioned. 2000AD had arrived at the dawn of the punk rock phenomenon and like its musical counterpart, 2000AD became something of comics' equivalent of punk. This flavour was typified in such strips and characters as Bill Savage (“Laugh this off, twinkletoes,” firing off a shotgun with a smile on his face), Judge Dredd (“I am the law and you'd better believe it”), Flesh (man hunting dinosaurs for meat) and such grisly future sports as Inferno. Against that, Dan seemed a little anachronistic.

The first two 'sagas' by Mills, Armstrong and Bellardinelli has Dan saving Earth from the invading Biogs from the planet Zircon who had developed a taste for Earthmen. This was followed by the return of the Mekon, now with a grotesque Saimese-twin style sidekick called The Two of Verath. Theirs' was a straightforward plot to destroy the galactic council and take control. They failed. The main strength of the strip at this time were the backdrops drawn by Bellardinelli whose dynamic layouts commanded attention.

Dan Dare took a break for a few weeks before returning in a slightly friendlier-looking guise, written by Gerry Finley-Day and drawn by Dave Gibbons. This Dare was a softer-looking version than Bellardinelli's and now sporting the fur-collared RAF jacket of the old days. Recalled by SASA, the Solar Astronautics and Space Administration (2000AD’s equivalent of the old Eagle’s Space Fleet), Dare now commanded a giant, planet-busting ship called the Space Fortress manned by a bunch of convicts and sent to solve the riddle of the Lost Worlds. Essentially the strip became a kind of Star Trek as they encountered various monsters, empires and mysteries in their ongoing quest.

Gerry Finley-Day recalls taking over as chief writer for the series. “They wanted us to make Dan Dare a bit different to the 1950's style, less middle-class, less a public schoolboy character. We had to make him grittier … having him move around planets, getting very military and gritty.” While Gibbons remained as the primary artist, the strip did introduce a small rota of alternate artists to help out including Gary Leach (Marvelman) and Brian Lewis (House of Horror). Gibbons ploughed on despite his feelings of antipathy towards the strip's development. “I tell myself it's going to get better. It's a great basic idea, it's going to get better.” Veteran comic artist Kevin O'Neill, then an art editor on the comic, admits that “I've always felt it let the comic down … We could never make Dare popular, somebody was always going to say it was better in the old days.” The story lasted about a year before Dan was apparently killed off, left floating in space amongst the wreckage of an Eagle patrol ship.

When Dan Dare next returned in prog 100, it was to become The Servant of Evil. With a loss of memory, he was tricked by a dying Mekon into believing that he was a law-enforcing space marshal and together they embarked on a new quest to find The Crystal of Life. These stories were longer sagas, written by veteran comic writer, Tom Tully. Tully introduced what was probably 2000AD's most consistent run of Dan Dare as the character returned more to the mold of the traditional hero. During this time, despite some doubts about the stories, Dave Gibbons produced some of his most stunning work. There were some great scenes as the aging Mekon got to the crystal first and was restored back to his former glory. Dan also acquired the powers of a superhero as fate paired him up with Eternicus, the Cosmic Claw, essentially a sci-fi glove which could fire devastating energy beams. Dare's collaboration with his former enemy and failure to stop him saw him branded as a traitor by Earth and a manhunt was launched. Prog 126 saw Dare valiantly swearing to clear his name and find the Mekon but alas, it was not to be. The story was dropped mid-point and despite the promise of his return soon, the promise was never fulfilled.

To many schoolboys reading the strip back then, it was reasonable enough fare but looking back now, it was an anachronism. The strip just wasn't in tune with the comic's wilder excesses. 2000AD was sweeping away the old notions of class heroes and stirring, stiff upper-lipped Englishmen. As Kevin O'Neill succinctly points out, “if you sweep that away in Dan Dare, you're left with nothing, just the odd title and the eyebrows.”

The last word on 2000AD's rebirth of a space hero goes to Dave Gibbons who recalls meeting Dan Dare creator, Frank Hampson. Upon being introduced to Hampson, Gibbons began apologizing for getting involved in drawing the strip, feeling it substandard to Hampson's original run. Gibbons remembers Hampson saying, “'That's alright, son, we all have to make a living.' He graciously absolved me.”

So 2000AD’s Dan Dare was probably not a huge success for the comics’ creators, but as a pre-teenage schoolboy, I adored it. In no small part that is due to the artistic talents of Massimo Bellardinelli and Dave Gibbons. The art was always first-rate often with echoes of Frank Hampson and Frank Bellamy’s influence shining through. Who knows, maybe one day we will even get a collected edition of these strips and a conclusion to that saga left hanging all those years ago?

Quotes in this article have been taken from the excellent volume, 'Thrill Power Overload: Thirty Years of 2000AD' by Dave Bishop.

Welcome to Hicksville

2010-03-02T18:40:00.004Z

I've been reading quite a few comics and graphic novels lately and while they have all been pretty good, there is one that stands head and shoulders above the others. It's funny because it is not a new graphic novel, in fact it was first published back in 1998 yet despite thinking about it on numerous occasions, I never took the plunge to buy it before. It is one of those titles of which most people are aware but it kind of sits on the periphery of vision, kind of put to one side because there are other enticing candies in the store. The book I am talking about is Dylan Horrock's Hicksville and I love it.

The art style is simply drawn in black and white, cartoony and mostly rendered with the same line weight throughout giving it a uniform, consistent look. In conjunction with the story and text, it reveals itself to be a richly-layered tale with a multitude of memorable characters. The story which takes place on a small island off New Zealand is centered on the town of Hicksville where it seems that everybody is reading, writing and publishing comics, young and old alike. Here, everybody regards them as an art form and treat them with the respect they deserve. And yet as out hero discovers, there is a cloud hanging over the island.

The book is both a kind of love letter to comics as well as revealing what a dark and deceitful business it can be. The hero's quest is to track down the island roots of comics; biggest superstar, Dick Burger. Fact and fiction are deeply entwined in this story which features cameos from Stan Lee and a thinly disguised Todd McFarlane who is only ever heard on the phone and referred to only as Todd. But mention of Dick Burger in Hicksville brings nothing but stony silence and an undercurrent of hostility. I won't give anything away here in case you haven't read it yourself but this story just sings and anybody who loves comics in whatever form won't fail to recognise some of the thoughts and feelings that this graphic novel brings to the fore. It is a story with enough depth and character that will be well worth re-reading again in the future and I for one shall start looking out for more of Dylan Horrocks' work, even if I have come aboard a little late.

Outcastes #6 and Harker #10

2010-02-02T12:31:00.006Z

I haven't had much spare time recently to write up some of the blog ideas I've had but rather than let things slide, here's a quick review of two titles I received in the post last week.

Regular followers will know that these are my two favourite independently published titles. Of the two, the one I enjoyed the most this month was Outcastes #6. Tony McGee continues to produce a top-notch story with a small cast of characters that are both engaging and memorable. The story which I have related before in previous blogs continues to evolve and develop and it is good to see the story driven by the characters rather than just dropping them in on a plot. Of all of them, it looks like Geo is the one to keep an eye on; you can't get past the feeling that that one is heading for the dark side! Both the backdrop, the search for family and the cast of odd secondary characters continue to give this ongoing title an air of uncertainty and mystery. And top marks for the art; those borderless images and the playful way in which they see-saw on the page really adds to the unsettling feeling that pervades the strip. The timing incorporated into the panels designed as egg-timers both drives the story and demonstrates the ability of a writer/artist who really knows what he's doing. Buy it here.

Harker #10 continues to be a much more straight-forward affair but no less rewarding. Both the art and the writing are consistent and the two protaganists are a likeable if odd couple. The strip comes across to me very much in the mold of such duos as Holmes and Watson, Morse and Lewis, Mitchell and Webb; well, maybe not the last two. In other words, if you like series' which basically remain unchanged throughout but in engaging stories and with a nice cast of changing background characters, then this comic may be for you. Buy it here.

Both titles are at the top of the game and deserve to be supported with our money. They both offer content which is a world away from the usual superhero tosh and with a very British feel to them. For me they are as much a representation of modern British comics as 2000AD and the Megazine and deserve the recognition of such.

Stand and deliver!

2010-01-12T12:32:00.003Z

Last year saw the publication of two issues of my comic, Thief-Taker General. Based on the true stories of two men, it was centred on the criminal underworld of London in the early 18th century. What I didn't know then but do now is that one of my 5x gt. grandfathers lived there at the time and was himself sent before the Bar on three occasions, the first for highway robbery.

This came as a surprise to me. Not that I had a criminal in the family (as it happens there have been quite a few) but highway robbery! A highwayman? It still sounds quite glamourous and impressive to have a gentleman of the road in my family tree. But of course, the reality was very much different. In a city that basically had no law, a great many poorer people, and a few rich, turned to various crimes to provide or supplement their lifestyles. My gt. grandfather was one of the poor ones and his case was covered in some detail in the proceedings of the Old Bailey, available freely on line. It goes into some detail about who said or did what. It's quite evocative to know that my ancestor pointed a pistol at a man and told him, "Turn around or I'll blow your bloody brains out." Not sure I've wanted to know him though!

It all gives Thief-Taker General extra meaning to me and enthused my love of history still further. I've often thought of doing a kind of comic strip history of my family tree as it is full of convicts, soldiers, whalers, emigrants, immigrants and even a slaver. But I get put off because it is all so big and vast and complicated I am not sure I could do it all justice. I have however written it all up with a few photos at http://www.stormcomics.com/uklocalhistory/search.html should you want a read.

In the meantime it does all provide grist to the mill. Personalising history puts it all into a more meaningful social context and also leaves you to wonder how our part in it will be seen in the future. I still have copies of both issues of Thief-Taker General available to buy here. And for the record, my gt.grandfather, William Sherburd, was found Not Guilty; it seems one of the key witnesses couldn't remember whether he (the witness) was blind drunk or not. Two robberies later William was not so lucky and was sent off to Australia where he made good, raised a family and contributed towards his community. Even real life can have a happy ending sometimes.

A Happy New Comics Year

2010-01-05T16:05:00.006Z

So a Happy New Year to everyone and on we go with another round of comic blogs. As promised previously, this time around I am reviewing a book I bought recently called Comic Book Design written by Gary Spencer Millidge, best known for his work on Strangehaven.

The book is exactly what the title says, a series of chapters focussing on the way in which modern comics are published and presented. What it isn't is a book about how to create comic strips and get published; the assumption, and it's a good assumption, is that the reader has already acquired that knowledge. What this book does is to go through the pages of a comic book or graphic novel and explore the multitude of ways in which the flow, design and presentation can add to the reader experience and really add to the overall product. And this squarebound volume does not skimp on examples either; there are pages and pages of full-colour examples from just about every genre and creator you can think of, each carefully chosen to amplify the messages being discussed. For art lovers the book would bve worth the cost of just looking at the pictures alone. For any publisher however, I cannot recommend it enough. There have quite a few professional comics that could have used some of the advice proferred here.

Gary's text is short but pithy and packed with useful information to any budding designer. The book covers every coneivable aspect of comic book design from page layout, the use (or not) of panel gutters, fonts and lettering, the use of colour, logos, cover design and more besides. One spread takes a look at D'Israeli's method of producing 2000AD cover art for his very distinctive work on Stickleback; the sheer lengths he goes to are astounding. With striking examples, predominately the graphic novel collection Persepolis, Gary even goes as far as to show how the use of blank end sheets, inside covers, introductions and other front and end pieces can accentuate and enhance the finished product.

Throughout I found myself jotting notes and ideas down for future reference. I think there is much to learn or be reminded of here and I only wish I'd been more aware of design issues when I published my first comics. I have been looking back over my own work and analysing it all in regard to what I've learnt here. If there is one downside it that is now going to cost me a small fortune for a pile of comics and graphic novels that had previosuly escaped my attention. Then again, that's not so bad.

Review of the Year 2009

2009-12-18T12:33:00.008Z

Note to regular readers; I know I said I'd take a proper look at the book Comic Book Design in this blog but, seeing as Christmas and New Year are almost upon us, I've moved it forward to the next blog. Meanwhile...

The Storm Comics Blog Review of the Year

A short, completely biased collection of my favourite comic-related things of the past twelve months.

Favourite comic title: Captain Britain
When the rest of Marvel seemed to be drearily going on about who was or wasn't a Skrull, Paul Cornell successfully revamped Captain Britain. Although rooted in Marvel's Secret Invasion, Cornell chose not to follow the obvious path but to focus on the Skrulls plans to vanquish magic, the roots of which are found within our very shores. It was an enjoyable though short-lived series that went from strength-to-strength. A nice cast of characters was built up and developed and Pete Wisdom is a much under-used character in the Marvel pantheon. The final Vampire State storyline was another twist on the usual blood-sucking saga as Dracula and Doctor Doom appeared to join forces to make Britain a nation of vampires. There was more going on in fifteen issues than normally goes on in a hundred of some other titles and despite a reasonably large cast and some complex ideas, the whole thing held together and was very enjoyable to read. Even Gordon Brown got a look in as widely reported in the British Press at the time. This series will be missed (by me, at any rate).

Favourite 2000AD Thrill: Cradlegrave
I am one of those tedious old bores that have been there since Prog 1 and nothing will ever tear me away from my weekly dose of thrill-power! Cradlegrave however seemed to be one of those strips that polarised its readers. I was clearly on the side of loving it even though it was a rather disturbing and twisted addition to 2000AD's ouvre; at times it felt slightly illicit as though you were reading something you shouldn't. John Smith is, I believe, very good at the limited series (Leatherjack, Cinnibar) and in Cradlegrave he built a very believable world and cast of characters. The art was consistently good throughout and this is probably the closest to the real world that 2000AD has ever ventured, a world of lost souls with no money, no jobs, living on a sink estate and with no hope or aspiration for anything better. It really was one of those strips people either love or hate in equal measure but either way I think it was abrave attemnpt by The Mighty One to try something different. I'm still not 100% what it was all about though; I don't know what that John Smith is on but I don't want any!

Favourite comic magazine: Crikey!
Now that Comics International seems to have vanished off the radar, Crikey has well-and-truly picked up the baton and run with it. Every issue gets bigger, glossier and jam-packed with interviews and features. It improves every time having reduced the nostalgia-quotiant to concentrate on the histories and development of British comics across the ages. It is good to see the likes of Pat Mills wrting for Crikey! as well, shedding light on some of the less-remembered people whose careers were steeped in comics in the days when it was an industry. Its only failing for me is in some of the editing where paragraphs get repeated from one page to the next, or dropped altogether and some of the illustrations which don't always bear any relation to what is written. But overall this is a terrific title and it is good to see it making it onto the shelves of high-street newsagents. It gives hope that public interest in comics is still there bubbling away beneath the surface; we just need to tease it out.

Favourite independent title: Harker
A tricky one this as it was a very close tie with Tony McGee's Outcastes. Harker won out simply by being the more easily accessible of the two to a wider audience.A fairly straight-forward tale of a quirky detective and his sidekick as they unravel the slightly unusual murders that come their way, the strip is deftly told with some very striking artwork. Anyone who enjoys any number of the cop dramas on TV will be more than familiar with the format and as such I believe anybody could pick this comic up and follow it, regardless of whether they normally read comics or not. I could easily see this sitting comfortably alongside the Vertigo range of titles. Outcastes is similarly good but its slightly twisted fairy-tale style and its use of comic-specific storytelling probably makes this cleverer but less easy for a non-comics readership to follow. Then again, who ever said it was for them? It is a great title, very different from anything else I can think of at present and both these comics are worthy winners.

Favourite comic-related book: Blazing Combat
Tricky, this one, as I was engrossed in the book 'Strange Days' about Steve Ditko earlier in the year. I enjoyed Marvel's omnibus edition of the old Marvel UK Captain Britain strips and recently I've been poring over Dark Horse's collection of Martha Washington in the 21st Century. However, the title that won out for me is Fantagraphic's volume collecting the four issues of the 1960's title written and edited by Archie Goodwin, Blazing Combat. Apart from being a great collection of stories told from many different angles, it wins out simply by being the one I keep going back to to gaze at the varied art styles contained within. It is a collection of work by some of the great artists of the period and shows what American comics might have been like had they not got so tightly wrapped up in their spandex. And it is worth reading for the Martin Gaines and Archie Goodwin interviews in the back that demonstrate how powerful comics can be in shaking those in power. Anti-war comics have never been better than this.

Favourite TV: Torchwood - Children of Earth
A kind of comic strip on TV and the Titan volume of strips was very enjoyable so I make no apology for including it here. The first series was very silly, the characters were all over the place and the series looked very uncomfortable, not really seeming to know where it belonged. By the second series, the characters were much more consistent and bonded, the stories had upped the ante and the finale was a real tear-jerker with the deaths of not one but two main characters (and one of them had already died once). And then they upped the ante even more when this year we got Children of Earth, a story that unravelled over the course of five nights on BBC One. And I found it completely engrossing. It was a powerful story with lots of layers, a complex cast in which even supporting characters would come to the fore and with the most chilling suggestion of what a government might sacrifice to save power. Peter Capaldi was fantastic playing a government pawn who got trapped within the moral dilemmas thrust upon him; the scene where he quietly walks into his two daughters' bedroom, closes the door and all we hear are several gunshots made our hearts go out to him despite some of the evils he had perpertrated in the name of government. The survivng team drifted apart at the end but If the BBC has any sense it will bring them together again for another TV event next year.

And so on into 2010...
Well that's my review over. Next time I promise I'll get around to Comic Book Design which if I'd read it earlier in the year might have made it to Favourite comic-related book. Maybe next year.

Unti next time, may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May Santa bring you all the comics you desire and if he doesn't then head along to stormcomics.com and take advantage of our three for £8 only offer.

Ho, ho, ho!

Lettering sins

2009-12-15T12:23:00.001Z

I have recently been reading a tome called Comic Book Design by Gary Spencer Millidge, more of which in my next blog. For now though, one aspect I hadn't given much thought to was the fine art of lettering. It looks like it should be the easiest part of comic book production but having tried it I can assure you that it isn't.

My own attempts were done on PC and while readable and clear were perhaps not as well laid out as they might have been. Although I would quickly sketch out a thumbnail outline for each page of art, I didn't usually hone it down enough and frequently found myself filling the frames or placing figures in positions that made it awkward to squeeze in text. In the Marvel style I often wrote the text afterwards to balance the page as much as I could but I confess that didn't always work.

One thing the book mentioned is that many people consider the crossing of tails between speech balloons to be a lettering sin. Although I used balloon tails I did on the whole manage to avoid crossing them although I am probably guilty on one or two occassions.

I was reasonably happy with my choice of font, pretty much a neccssity for me as some macular degeneration in my eyes has made precision work difficult so lettering by hand would be quite a strain. Even so, I may try experimenting with creating a handwritten font to use in future.

We're lucky in that a large majority of comics make use of lettering by hand rather than standard font faces. There have been some comics I have given up on through the difficulty of trying to read them (2000AD's Dafoe often uses a fine, hand-written font which I find particularly difficult, so much so I don't tend to read it much these days - a shame as I love the art). I also find some magazines and comics use bizarre colour schemes with their letting such as blue or red on black or somesuch heading into migraine terriorty.

The point of all this is that it is making me rethink my approach and pick my gamne up in future. The book is a goldmine of design tips and ideas and it is something I will write up more fully next time round. Hope to see you here then.

Where do my old comics go when I die?

2009-12-03T12:39:00.001Z

Funerals and wills have been on my mind lately! Following a number of funerals my mind has been contemplating life and death and all the stuff in between. I've begun to realise just how much stuff I've accumulated over the years and got to wondering what on earth I'm going to do with it all. Some things, such as the stacks of family history research I've done I hope will stay in the family. A lot of it can be given away, sold off or whatever. But there are a few treasured things which I would like to give a good home too after I'm gone.

I'm talking here of my comics, graphic novels, limited editions, some original artwork and suchlike (this is a comics blog, what else would I be talking about). But where will it all go? My family and friends take a polite interest in my comics work and interest in the media but I hardly think any of them would want to be lumbered with any of my collections. The early issues of Battle, Warlord and 2000AD might hold some nostalgic interest but their value and importance in British comics history would almost certainly pass by unnoticed. Unless I leave some instruction then the chances are they will end up in a recycling bin - I'd be turning in my grave!

I could have them buried with me for something to read on the way to the afterlife but since I don't believe in such things it is more likely they will end up like me, as worm food - no less an ignominious fate than recycling which I suppose it kind of is in away.

Then I got to thinking a bit more about this. There are all sorts of repositories for collecting everything from books, records, CDs and cassettes to dead insects, clocks, post cards and even mobile phones and computers. Many accept donations, albeit often of the rarer items, in order to keep a comprehensive collection for posterity and future study. But is there such a place that accepts people's comic collections? Is there, like the books of the British Museum Reading Rooms, a place that collects together copies of every single comic ever published? I've done a basic search on the web but have not found anywhere that fits the criteria yet (perhaps you know otherwise). If there isn't then perhaps we should get one started. After all, every passing year must see a few more old issues crumble to dust or get piled into a recycling bin. Then the day will come when no more such issues of a title exist anymore, a fate which must surely have befallen some comics already?

It would be some kind of irony if my first self-published title, Afterlife, should have no afterlife except decomposition into the earth. In the long-term future that's inevitable (dust to dust, and all that) but it would be nice to think there were a few around for a while after I'm gone. Of course, you could help out here by purchasing a copy from my main web site and thus ensuring a greater chance that an issue might survive some time into the future. Even death is no barrier to business!

White Space

2009-11-23T12:54:00.001Z

There can be few things more intimidating to any writer or artist than the white space. Whether it be canvas, watercolour board, Bristol board, cartridge or typing paper (or even a blank PC document), the white space staring back must at times daunt even the most hardened creator.

I find this moment generally hits me when I start work on a new page after having had a marathon stint of reading other peoples' comics. All of a sudden all the old niggles and doubts about the validity and worthiness of my own work start to chatter away at the back of my mind. No matter how well prepared, those niggling doubts can often creatively paralyse me. Sometimes it is a case of forcing myself to put pen and pencil to paper and seeing what happens. Occasionally the act of putting down a line can break the spell. At other times the result can just confirm what my inner voice is telling me; it’s a load of old rubbish!

One experience that is possibly worse than that though is the one I had recently as I began work on page seven of my latest comic. Looking back, the previous six pages had gone very well and I'm still feeling quite proud of the first page, and pretty pleased with page two as well. But the more I look at the successive pages the less I am happy with the results. It's not that they are bad or don't work with the story, it's just that – well, they don't excite me. They don't give me an adrenaline rush that pushes me on with further pages. And the more I examine those pages and my script, the more I begin to realise that the story isn't working.

I'd spent several months researching elements of my story, finding visuals to aid me in getting the look I wanted. And I'd sketched out the story in words and thumbnails to a point where the final art was just a matter of completing the circle. And yet somewhere along the way it was just not working. And I don't know why. It looks good; it reads well; the premise is good. So where am I going wrong? Usually I know when a story isn't going to work before I get to the point of starting the final art. This time however I face a choice; abandon it now and put it down to experience or press on and hope I can make things right as I progress.

It’s a tough decision. It might work out and no one wants to see days of work go down the pan for nothing. There comes a time however in all things where you have to decide whether to press on or cut your losses before you lose any more time. It’s a bit like that old quandary of going to see a movie and realising its rubbish. Do you get up and walk out or do you sit it out because you’ve paid your money? In fact if you stay then you have lost your money and a couple of hours that you could have been doing something else with. It can be a touch one.

I won't bore you with all the details but suffice to say I gave it up! It left me unhappy for a few days; it had been a lot of work and I like those first two pages. But like a good meal, if you haven't got the right ingredients then you either give it up or make something else. Luckily I am now back on track and working away on another idea (you can never have enough of those). I'm not going to reveal anything about either story though. After all, I may reuse the first at a later date and as for the second, you'll find out in good time.

Unless I give it up!

Vampire knights and acerbic cops

2009-11-17T13:30:00.003Z

Over the past week or so I have been catching up on some of the comics titles and graphic novels that have been awaiting my attention for a while now. Amongst the ones I read, the standouts include both volumes of Panini's collection of Requiem: Vampire Knight by Pat Mills and Ledroit.

These are classic-looking European albums, fully painted, richly detailed, very stylised and thick with Mills' rich characters, story layers and topical issues. I was a little put off by the look of it for a while; it doesn't look like the typical kind of comic book we're more used to but in fact it read very much like a 2000AD strip. Indeed it contains a number of elements and figures familiar from other Pat Mills strips although done differently here. We're talking Torquemada, Beserkers, zombies, vampires and more. In some places the story bares some resemblance to earlier Slaine strips but overall I would say it is closer in tone and style to Nemesis the Warlock, and particularly book 3.

The story of Requiem is set on "Resurrection - a dark and twisted world where evil souls are reborn as monsters. When Heinrich Augsburg, a German officer fighting on the Eastern front, is killed he finds himself reborn into this corrupt reality as one of the vampire elite. Renamed Requiem, he explores the bizarre world of Resurrection and its terrifying vampire society - all the while looking for his lost love and one hope of redemption".

Having a Nazi officer as a lead figure is a bold move but allows for the kind of back story we don't normally expect from our heroes. Set in a world called Ressurection, this is essentially Hell, peopled by all kinds of abominations doing abominable things (war mainly) though no less abominable than things that go on in our own world. Requiem is the reluctant vampire whose tries to find redemption from the sordid, bloody past he made for himself. Both books comprising four chapters were a surprisingly easy read. If you like Pat Mills' wilder ideas, his talent for world-building backdrops and the kinds of subjects covered in things like Nemesis the Warlock, then these books could be for you. I certainly

hope that Panini publish more of these albums in future.

At the other end of the spectrum is the latest issue of Harker from Ariel Press. Following a straightforward and traditional path, it is about as far from Requiem as you can get. Issue 9 continues to maintain the same high standard and consistency as previous issues with a detective yarn that I am enjoying more than the first arc. Partly this is due to the setting. I love Whitby and have visited quite a few times. Roger Gibson has used a fair number of actual locales in his well-crafted story and Vince Danks does a spot-on job of rendering them; every one is instantly recognisable to anyone who knows the coastal town. The characterisation is particularly good in this story arc and I am finding myself warming much more to Detective Harker this time round; his slightly acerbic manner and penchant for disappearing on his own adds amusement and there is a very good rapport between his two cohorts in this story.

Highly enjoyable stuff.

The Godfather of British Comics

2009-11-08T16:31:00.004Z

I have been a big fan of Pat Mills since I first became aware of his name in the pages of early 2000AD. With one or two exceptions there has barely been a piece of his work that I have not liked and I have always enjoyed reading his thoughts and opinions whenever the chance arose. The latest chance appeared in the interview published in the new issue of Crikey #12 (The Godfdather of British Comics) alongside a feature by Mills in which he argues the case for D-Day Dawson being a more important figure in British comics history than is generally accepted. I have to concur with his thoughts; D-Day Dawson was one of my favourite strips in Battle Picture Weekly (alongside Lofty's One-Man Luftwaffe, Terror Behind the Bamboo Curtain and King of the Fortress, for those of you who remember them). One of the issues which Mills returns to in this feature is the subject of creative rights and I must admit I still find it amazing that even today the majority of comic characters and strips are owned not by their creators but by their publishers. It is one thing independent creators have over their professional counterpoints.

Think about it! What other media is there where the creator does not own the rights to his creation? Does J.K.Rowling write a huge-selling book only for the publisher to assume sole rights to the work so that she earns no more money other than her initial payment for the work? Do Arctic Monkeys produce an album only to own none of their own records nor earn subsequent royalties? When Stephen Poliakoff writes a new award-winning play for television, does the broadcaster become owners of his scripts? Why then, when it comes to our beloved comics, that creators are not afforded the same rights as creators of other media?

I don't really see what publishers fear. With a few exceptions you don't often see a loved TV drama switch from one channel to another because the writer has switched allgience. If a creator is happy with a regular publisher then I see no reason why he/she would not continue to stay with them. And its not as if publishers do much to license their characters in other media; in fact these days it is more often the other way around. I'm sure the comics industry would be more prolific if creators had more say in the way their strips were marketed, packaged, etc; Brian Talbot proves this over and over again with his distinctly individual output. I guess that is one area where those of us who publish our own work win over on our professional counterparts.

Either way, Crikey continues to evolve and improve, moving away from the nostalgia-fest of earlier issues to become the best (only?) magazine of its type on the market now Comics International seems to have disappeared. Well worth anyone's time and money and featuring amongst other things a nice interview with Frank McDaiarmid, artist on such strips as Mustapha Million, Frankie Stein and Cheeky Weekly. And on top of all that I discovered that my love of Pat Mills' strips went further back than I thought; amongst other things he wrote one of my childhood favourites, Bumpkin Billionaires for Whoopee.

Night Witches & Wallpapers

2009-11-01T20:51:00.010Z

Way back when I used to follow the adventures of Johnny Red every week in the pages of Battle Picture Weekly. John Cooper did a great job during his years on the strip and as a kid I was always drawn to the gritty, dark stories. One element that has stuck in my head over the years were the all-women squadrons of fighter pilots in their biplanes, fighting like furies in the name of Mother Russia. Little did I know back then that such all-female squadrons did actually exist. Garth Ennis recently revisited this in his series, The Night Witches. This was the contemporary name given to these women.

While drawing away this Saturday gone, I was listening to a variety of reports from around the world in Radio 4's excellent From Our Own Correspondent. And in that very collection of stories was that of the Night Witches and the women survivors who still live to tell the tales today. They speak of the great terror, that of being burnt alive in your aircraft. An extra bullet was always carried in their pistols so that if they crashed behind enemy lines they could shoot each other, then themselves, before the Germans could get them. It is, to me anyway, a fascinating and horrific period of history and if you want to hear a bit more about it then the programme is currently available to hear again on the BBC's iPlayer and all the programmes are regularly available as podcasts. Look for Saturday 31st October's podcast here.

On another note, and not particularly comiccs-related, is the November 2009 desktop wallpaper now available from the Ordnance Survey web site. Shameless plug, I know, but it's one of my photos. If you want to brighten up your desktop this month, then do please pay a visit and download a copy here. Promise I'll return to comics next time around.

Night Witches update: There is a BBC slideshow and audio commentary available here and Radio 4 will be broadcasting a documentary on Monday 2nd November at 8pm. Both feature contributions from Garth Ennis and there are some pictures from the graphic novel and series on the slideshow.

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman

2009-10-26T19:48:00.003Z

For the past two or three weeks I have been engrossed in a large, coffee-table sized volume called The Art of Harvey Kurtzman. Kurtzman was from the depression era (the 1929 depression, that is, not the current one) school of comic creators alongside Severin, Bill Eider, Will Eisner and the like. The book, as well as being a critique and a showcase of Kurtzman's prodigous output is also a hefty biography of the man, and of the development of the comics industry from sweat shop to freelancers.

Kutzman's life follows much the same template as other artists of that era, i.e, he came from a lowly background, made his way into art school, got packed off to the army during the Second World War and more by luck than judgement ended up in comic art. Although in Kurtzman's case the path was a bit more deliberate than that. Initially he found work with Stan Lee in the years before Marvel arrived on the scene but despite his best efforts, he never seemed to be a big hit with readers despite the best efforts of his girlfriend to rig the reader voting in his favour. But talent eventually won the day and after success with the EC line of war comics (Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales), Kurtzman hit the big time with Mad.

The book goes to decent lengths to set the story within its historical context and covers in some detail the seminal events and titles such as those mentioned above. Harvey Kurtzman comes across as a very likeable, serious guy who clearly knew what he wanted to achieve. He had an usual talent for writing, drawing and editing and was widely respected in the industry despite never really making it rich on the back of his output (such a common story). Some of those who worked under him didn't always appreciate hsi tight control of the comics he edited; he would draw out page layouts with compositional instructions for artists to follow, Many of his peers felt frustrated by their lack of artistic freedom but understood the reasoning and were able to, like the readers, marvel at the collective results.

There is something about that era or poverty and hardship, and the resigned determination to just get on with things and keep trying that I find appealing to read about. I also find the whole story of the comic shops, groups of writers and artists working in a production line, often in cramped rooms, engaging. There was a kind of camaraderie and fellowship between all those involved; they were all in the same boat and exercised their considerable talents just to survive.

Kurtzman had a very unique art style, almost impressionistic. Often his figures and objects were pared down to the bare minimum of lines and shade, with not a straight line in sight. Upon a casual look they can appear quite simplistic and easy to copy but having tried it myself, I can say that the style is considerably more complex and difficult to pin down. It takes a great talent to understand all the rules of drawing and composition, and then to be able to break the lot of them while making it appear natural and effortless. This is a great book and there is a lot to appreciate and learn from its pages. Or you can just sit and gaze at the pictures for hours on end. I did.

Outcastes #1-5

2009-10-14T12:32:00.004+01:00

Having written about the Ariel Press series, Harker, two or three times over recent blogs, suffice to say that issues 6 and 7 more than live up to the first half dozen issues. The story has all the hallmarks of the first arc coupled with a loving spoof of Agatha Christie murder mysteries and some really excellent illustrations of Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. I have been to Whitby a number of times and can testify that these illustrations are spot on. It's a great series and well worth anybody's time and money.

Another independent series I have been following but haven't mentioned in my blogs thus far is Tony McGee's Outcastes from True Stories Comics. This series can be read individually but collectively make up an intriguing on going story with a slowly growing cast of characters. Describing the story is quite difficult as it is quite unlike anything else that I can think of. It has an almost dark, fairytale quality about it coupled with the kind of mystical, haunting stories found in old comics like Misty. Basically we have twins Summer and Winter who emerge from a cave and go on the run meeting other waifs and strays including Geo, the son of a rather odd magician and a girl called Armida who has strange powers. I'm not quite sure where it is all going but it is highly enjoyable. The time period is uncertain too as we have medieval villages, wandering gypsies, rather unusual steam ships and Mark IV tanks from the First World War.

The storytelling is very good and well served by Tony's bold art. The panels have no borders and this lends the pages a kind of motion, especially noticeable in the closing pages of issue 5 where fire breaks out on the deck of a steamship; the angled panels add a feeling of sea-sickness to the whole. The series is highly original and distinctive and at only £1.75 an issue is very good value for money. The strips are all in black and white although mentioned should be made of the distinctively, sepia-toned covers which greatly add to the surreal and fantasy tones of the series. Definitely a series to look out for.

Storm Update

2009-10-05T12:41:00.004+01:00

I had thought about posting a blog about my memories of Warlord following its recent 35th birthday. Warlord was the first boys’ comic I was able to choose and buy for myself. I was about 8 years old and prior to that my mum and dad ordered whatever comics they thought were suitable for me. So it was that I initially grew up on Yogi Bear Weekly, Mickey Mouse Weekly and Look-In (during Martin Asbury’s Six Million Dollar Man years, surely a classic period for the comic?). Then Warlord came along and after that it was a regular diet of Battle Picture Weekly, Action, Bullet, 2000AD and StarLord. I bought many others too when I could afford them but Warloird was really the one that kicked it all off for me and gave me a love of comics I’ve never shaken. Anyway, I’ve decided not to wax lyricial too much on the subject and instead mention one or two things I’ve been reading lately.

First up is a fantastic coffee-table book called The Art of Harvey Kurtzman. He was one of the first American comic artists that I became aware of at a young age. I’d learnt about him in the pages of a book called Masters of Comic Book Art which I’d picked up at a bargain book store. Friends hated his quirky, impressionist style of art but I devoured it. Some of the strips he did for Frontline Combat look quite surreal, as far from the detail and horror of Joe Colqouhun’s Charley’s War art as you can get and yet it carried with it that same sense of bleak isolation and horror. Side-by-side, the two demonstrate the power of both art and comics to convey the same feelings while appearing on the surface to be entirely different.

The book is an interesting tale of Kurtzman’s life, of the obstacles he faced and the long, arduous climb up the comic book artist ladder. He was easily as innovative and forward-thinking as Will Eisner and yet does not have the same cache, I guess because ultimately he was not as much of a businessman and never able to capitalize on his talent the way that Eisner did. There is something about that period, of artists being on the cusp of something new and the idea of the comic shops, production lines where teams of artists worked in a single room sharing assignments as they came in. The book is a joy to read and great just to pore over and gaze at the lovely art on display.

Aside from that I recently read Harker #7 from Ariel Press (link on the right). Another strong issue as a new story arc begins. I love Whitby and easily recognized a number of the locations that feature throughout this strip. It was also nice to have Harker on his own for an issue. Initially I found his character a bit irritating but after this issue I’m beginning to think he works better without Critchley. Either way, this was a good example of how to build up a story, set a location and introduce a series of characters without seeming clunky or holding up the flow of ther story. All credit to Roger Gibson and Vince Danks and I eagerly await the following issues.

Other than that, I have been busy with preparatory sketches, scripting and the start of art duties on my next comic title, tentatively entitled Blackfriars. It’ll be a while yet before its ready for release so I’m not going to give too much away yet except that it is partly historical, mostly contemporary and was inspired by the art of Eric Bradbury in the recent Bear Alley Books’ Cursitor Doom volume. I’ve long thought that Eric Bradbury is one of the unsung heroes of British comic books, a man who produced so much work over the years that maybe we just got used to him being around; I always viewed Ron Smith similarly. The book has certainly made me start searching out more of his work; I seem to remember him drawing Doomlord for the new Eagle and one of my favourites, the unfinished The Dracula File for Scream. It is one of the joy of comics that so much work still exists that we can go back time and again to review and learn and enjoy what has gone before while anticipating what is yet to come.

A week of nostalgia

2009-09-21T13:25:00.004+01:00

The past week or so has been a slightly nostalgic one for me, as well as a time for reappraisal of some of our older British comics. As reported previously, The Guardian and The Observer newspapers published a series of classic British comics over the past week and all-n-all, they did a very good and thorough job. Each comic was proportioned and printed on paper stock in keeping with the originals, so much so that you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the original and the reprint. The selection was varied although I’d like to have seen one or two boys comics in there (Victor, Hotspur, Bullet, for example). It was weighed fairly heavily towards the girls with Jackie (hardly a comic), Bunty and Tammy, the other titles being The Dandy, The Beano, Whizzer and Chips and Roy of the Rovers. Overall there were some half-decent stories there and some reasonable art (my favourite has to be Slaves of War Orphan Farm; parentless children, a world war and child slavery, that one had it all going on).

I also picked up a copy of the Misty special from Egmont as I remember sneaking a read of this off my younger sister from time to time. Not bad, the sort of complete stories that would have fitted into the pages of Scream quite well. I was especially taken with the artwork of Jesus Redondo, a past stalwart of 2000AD and other boys titles but with art that I’ve never seen better than here.

My final dip into nostalgia this week was the collected edition of 2000AD’s Flesh. There are some comic stories that I never tire of re-reading and this is one of them. Earl Reagan, Claw Carver, time travel, bad corporations and the best-looking dinosaurs ever to appear in comic-strip form. Old One Eye alone goes down as my top comic villain of all time; villain isn’t really the right word but I can’t think of anything better right now. Besides, I’ve always tended to think of the 120 year-old hag Tyrannosaur as one of the good guys. She was there first, it was man who invaded her world and ultimately it was the dinosaurs who won out. It is great, rip-roaring stuff and mention should also go to some of Belardinelli’s best work in Flesh book 2 even though a dinosaur called Big Hungry doesn’t sound quite so intimidating.

The two things I’ve enjoyed most about the past week’s reading have been how much I love black and white comics and wish they were more common today than they are, and second, how much I prefer British comics and storytelling to the American ones. I enjoy them all but the cover to the Flesh volume just shouts out the joy of British comics to me.

Nostalgia is not what it used to be!

2009-09-07T12:34:00.001+01:00

From Saturday 12th September, The Guardian are giving away a free classic comic a day with every paper for a week. These include such titles as The Beano, The Dandy, Tammy, Whizzer and Chips and Roy of the Rovers. Whether these will be facsimile editions or, as I suspect, smaller glossy reprints I don’t know but either way, anything that keeps comics out there in the public domain sounds like good news to me.

My main problem with it though is that it pigeonholes comics still further into the nostalgia bracket. There’s nothing essentially wrong with that; I myself have enjoyed Bear Alley’s reprints of The Phantom Patrol and Cursitor Doom as well as Titan’s reprints of Charley’s War. Even so, the mass market does seem to be unfavourably weighted on the side of nostalgia as though comics were a something only found in the past.

Now you and I know that that is not the case but a quick look around any newsagent quickly supports that view. What comics there are tend to fall into the licensed, quick cash-in variety, full of glossy posters, puzzles and free gifts but little in the way of actual comic content. Many (non-comics) people I chat to about it maintain that the comics of our youth are old-hat, that the new generation only like electronic stuff and aren’t into the comics we enjoyed as youngsters. But how do they know that? Has any major publisher tried to launch a new anthology of humour, sport, adventure or whatever and tried to find out if an audience exists? Okay, The DFC tried but was curtailed by a slightly restrictive approach to sales. I passed a few old titles onto children in my family and they quietly sat for a good half hour or so and read them. Although a bit dated it was clear they quite enjoyed them, especially the more humourous ones. And apparently The Guardian have done the same thing with their giveaways, showing them to schoolchildren and assessing their reaction. Again the result was fairly positive.

The only reason, I maintain, that kids today are not interested in comics is because they have little or no access to them, there simply are not a decent variety of proper comics being published for them to enjoy.

The nostalgia market demonstrates one thing; that there is still interest out there in the non-comics fraternity world for comics. With a bit of self-belief, a good set of writers and artists and a commitment to push them hard through advertising and shop displays, I personally have no doubt that they could still be a success. I simply don’t buy the hollow argument that comics have had their day and that the industry is dead. The industry just needs regenerating. Hopefully The Guardian’s ploy will at least generate some interest and debate about the subject and plant the seeds of an idea into people’s heads.

The mass-market comics industry is not dead, it’s just sleeping. Isn’t it time to wake it up?

The best of British: Captain Britain and Doctor Who

2009-09-02T12:40:00.001+01:00

I am currently enjoying Marvel’s omnibus edition of Captain Britain, a book that collects together all the strips by Dave Thorpe, Alan Moore, Jamie Delano and Alan Davies. They come from a riotous time for Marvel UK when they held a real power and command in British comics. It has been many, many years since I last saw these stories and what comes from them now is the sheer sense of fun, an attitude of anything goes. The mundane, the macabre and the completely mad mix and vie for attention and yet it is all rooted in the issues of the day; the real world is the basis for everything that happens.

That got me to thinking how similar it is in tone and style to the re-launched Doctor Who. From Christopher Eccleston’s triumphant debut the series became rooted to Earth, to ordinary life. We saw the Doctor reluctantly becoming involved in domestic life, slapped by Rose’s mother, becoming a Big Brother housemate, eating chips having just seen the end of the world. These are all things that would easily have had a place in any part of this run of Captain Britain.

An example is my favourite chapter, Tea & Sympathy. The Captain arrives at the front door of a poor but proud council house to apologise for the accidental death of a mother’s son during a recent battle. The Captain is wracked with guilt but the mother assures him that she is not bitter, that she understands the enormity of what happened. And then they sit down to tea and biscuits. Picture it; a huge, powerful man, dressed in red, white and blue garb and a mask, sitting down on a sofa drinking tea from a cup and saucer. It is a bizarre, amusing and powerful image that says a lot about the British attitude towards superheroes. Just like the Doctor facing up to the consequence of Margaret Slitheen’s impending execution, here one of the world’s most powerful beings is treated to tea and sympathy as he tries to atone for his past. And for an encore he gets into another battle and smashes an outside wall of her house. Her reaction? She smiles and says, Oh well, now the council will have to move us!

These aren’t scenes you see very often, if at all, in the US superhero titles. Indeed the ordinary and the domestic rarely impinge upon the activities of the spandex brigade. I don’t know if Russell T Davies had ever read Captain Britain, although being a comic fan he may well have done. If so then perhaps some of that rubbed off on him when it came to rooting Doctor Who down into the ordinary, everyday world where epic things happen. Compare the upheavals of the political world in each case when The Master and Mad Jim Jaspers arrive. Both are completely insane, both intent on creating and destroying a warped future world for no other reason than that they are mad. Surely these two must be cousins?

It does all suggest to me that Britain has a unique perspective when it comes to this kind of storytelling. Perhaps it is our small island nation, the feeling of being packed in together that lends itself to telling huge stories that never lose sight of the small details. In many ways I would suggest that Russell T Davies is to TV drama what Alan Moore is to comics; whatever your view there’s no denying they are both unique voices. Now there’s a meeting of minds I’d like to see!

The Captain Britain Omnibus is a tour de force of British comics and well worth a look. There’s a lot to be gleaned about sharp, pithy storytelling and characterization be it an ordinary housewife, a mystic-powered superhero or a dimension-hopping band of misfits. And lest I forget, Alan Davies clean, crisp artwork has never looked as good as it does here. It would be a sad day if comics were to die out from British culture for, as in the above examples, they can say so much about us.

Learning lessons from reviews

2009-08-19T13:40:00.004+01:00

Getting my first review for Thief-Taker General #1 & 2 was very pleasing for three reasons. One, it is always nice to have your worked acknowledged by an unseen audience. Two, it by and large gave a big thumbs up to my work. And three, it had practical criticisms that genuinely made me rethink what I’ve done and how I might address those in the future.

One criticism was that the reviewer got slightly lost as to who was who in the second issue. I fully understand that feeling; it’s one I’ve had with a number of mainstream comics in the past. I had taken some pains to give each character a different look or distinguishing feature but with all those 18th century frock coats I can see why it might get a little muddled. On reflection I think my main failing there was giving the lead characters a change of clothing every now and then, from say a light-colared coat in one sequence and a black one the next. When you look at most characters in the media, they tend to remain in the same outfit throughout regardless of how whiffy or sweaty they might become in the course of events. Does Judge Dredd ever change his outfit or is it always the same one? And Doctor Who has only two suits which he wears all the time! Even Dennis the Menace has never been without his striped jersey and black shorts! Whiffy maybe, but distinctive.

Lesson number one; give characters a certain look and stick to it.

In the same review it was felt that I may have hurried things a little “as if setting himself a challenge to meet a self-imposed deadline”. Spot on with the deadline bit, which was just me trying to follow a professional line when as an independent publisher I could have published it any time I wanted. I don’t agree that I rushed as it took me longer than the first issue but I did experiment a little with style and with the pens I used. In retrospect that was definitely a no-no. All-in-all I think the second issue keeps the same overall style and look of the first but on closer inspection I can definitely see the change in media in places.

Lesson number two; choose your media and style and keep to it throughout.

Having background detail and establishing shots sometimes distracting, I guess, is a kind of back-handed compliment. It does suggest consideration over whether in a particular scene it is the establishing of the backdrop or the importance of the characters that should be given prominence.

Being reviewed is quite scary when you have put you’re heart into something. It is great to get a considered review like this that is so positive but highlights any faults or concerns in a practical way. I will definitely bear all these points in mind on future work and hopefully see improvements as that work evolves so my thanks to Down the Tubes for their kind words. And to have Thief-Taker General described as “an impressive piece of work” is certainly something to feel proud of.

Rahan – le courage et la peur

2009-08-16T13:59:00.008+01:00

This time around I'm going to look back over another of my surviving French comics, a collected edition from September 1982 of a character named Rahan. Now I have to confess I have done no research and have no idea whether he is a well-known character, or even French, neither do I know anything about the writer or artists except one.

First off then, Rahan appears to be a kind of prehistoric Tarzan with a very 70's hair-do! The cover to this 76 page album has a very dramatic painting of our hero being swept up by the horns of a charging Triceratops. The painting is by Romero, better known as a long-time artist of The Evening Standard's Modesty Blaise strip and Axa for The Sun.

Of the four strips inside, all in full colour, only the last is drawn by Romero. There is some very nice artwork here too as Rahan faces off a troop of hostile chimpanzees and rescues a falling baby from a tree (I'm not sure what it was doing up there – I only look at the pictures, I can't read this stuff)! The other strips are drawn by an artist named Andre Cheret although the style of each seems slightly different, the second drawn with heavier lines and bolder images. My guess is these were drawn at different times as his art was evolving and that this is probably a later reprint edition collecting past strips. The first story features the cover image as Rahan saves a tribe from the rampaging attacks of a rogue Triceratops; naturally it is no contest for our hero. The second strip has Rahan enter a secret lagoon where a hostile tribe attack and try to see him off. He sees them off instead and then leaves anyway; this isn't cerebral stuff! The other strip in the collection sees Rahan being put in a cage and dropped into a sea full of sharks. Octopuses, flesh-eating fish and so on for reasons I cannot fathom (see what I did there?).

All the strips are written by the same author, Roger Lecureux and while I cannot claim to read them as such, the power of comics means that reading the images to discern the story still elicits a sense of the adventure and trials of this French hero. There is back up feature about the evolution of early horses which at least seems to be themetically linked to the time period of the main stories. And the album also came with a free gift which I no longer have, a plastic skeleton model kit of L'Homme de Neanderthal complete with club. I read recently that Pat Mills has said that Slaine is by far the best-selling 2000AD strip in the European markets and I guess Rahan, while less darker in tone, fits that style too.

Thief-Taker reviewed

2009-08-15T11:52:00.003+01:00

Those folk at Down the Tubes have kindly reviewed issues 1 and 2 of Storm Comics' Thief-Taker General. If you haven't bought copies yet then please do read the review for a completely impartial opinion and then hop over to our web site where you can buy both issues and the sci-fi tale Afterlife for just £8, a saving of £1.25. Or you can buy individual issues as you wish.

Le French adore ... Marvel Comics (and so do the Germans)

2009-08-04T16:09:00.008+01:00

As a kid, whenever I knew anybody was going abroad for a holiday then I would invariably ask them to bring me a comic back. I don't know why as I couldn't read them, I just had a thirst for anything comic-related. I used to have a fair collection of foreign comics but many of them haven't survived the passage of time. I remember that most of them were glossy and in full colour (imagine that at a time when the majority of British comics were cheap newsprint in black and white); it really did seem like we were hard done by.

Of the few I have left is this German reprint of Spider-Man, here called Die Spinne from 1977. The same size as a regular US comic, it was full colour, glossy (US comics were still badly produced newsprint editions) and only one advert. What is more there was not just one full length strip but two. The first was Die Spinne and the issue I have has him battling a sequence of villains including the Vulture, the Sandman and Doctor Octopus. There's some nice artwork by Gil Kane in a story written by Archie Goodwin. The other strip was The Incredible Hulk or as here, Der unglaubliche Hulk and a story by Len Wein with art by Sal Buscema and Ernie Chan. Here he is in battle with the rather odd Jack of Hearts. The back page colour advert was for Super Sea Monkeys, strangely not translated. These ads were common in the US comics although I've no idea what they actually were.

Strange is a French comic again reprinting Marvel material but on a rougher paper but again in full colour in a 92 page edition with card stock cover. This edition is dated 5 April 1983. The cover is not a Marvel reprint but a new painting of Daredevil being attacked by a swimming pool; certainly not the Marvel house style but a nice curio. The comic is subtitled Le Journal de Spider-Man although Spidey is only one strip amongst several. The thrills kick off with Iron Man paying a visit to Wakanda and a meeting with the Black Panther. L'invincible Iron Man was by Peter Gillis and Ralph Macchio and was followed by L'Homme Araignee (not sure why the cover calls him Spider-Man and the strip renames him). In this strip by Denny O'Neill and Alan Weiss old Spidey faces off with Kraven the Hunter. After this we have L'Intrepide Daredevil and an early example of Frank Miller's work on the strip (I seem to remember seeing this episode in black and white in the British Marvel anthology, the Daredevils. The last Marvel strip in this collection is Rom, the Spaceknight, or as he is much more romantically called here, Rom, le Chevalier de l'Espace. I used to love Rom and thought he was far superior to other Marvel superheroes and the art here again by Sal Busecma is a joy to look at as Rom meets up with Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, down in the inky depths of Atlantis. To round things off is a black and white text feature running to several pages about the history of the printing press; fascinating, I'm sure, though it doesn't seem to fit very comfortably here. Finally is the single advert on the back page showing other French reprints of Marvel comics and I have included a scan of that here to give you a taster.

That's it for now. In the not-too-distant future I'll write up a bit about my remaining French comics one of which includes some great art from Romero. Be seeing you.

Storm update

2009-07-27T17:36:00.003+01:00

I've been catching up with all the odd jobs recently and as a result have got the regular web site bang up-to-date a bit. Not that it was being neglected but I like to keep it fresh. As a result I've changed the masthead, altered one or two of the links and brought the smallpress pages up-to-date with my current reading. I hope to get some new artwork and sketches on there in the next couple of months too and maybe a hint of my next release. Until then I hope you'll take a look and maybe bookmark it for future reading. There might be a credit crunch but that isn't going to stop the Storm!

Review: Harker, issues 1-4

2009-07-21T21:26:00.003+01:00

Okay, okay, so I may have said before I wasn't going to use these pages to review comics but a blogger can change his mind. Besides, when you hit on a comic as good as Harker, a review would seem to be in order.

I may have already given the impression that I like this comic. I like it a lot. I have often said to other people that they should just take a gamble on indy comics, put their money down and see what they get. I've done a fair bit of this in my time and on this occasion, basically on a recommendation from Ace Comics, Colchester, I sought out Ariel Press and ordered all four issues published so far. And boy, was that money well spent.

Basically what we have here is a Morse and Lewis, a Holmes and Watson and a hint of John Constantine. A pair of detectives with a classic car, walking the corridors of the British Museum, the streets, pubs and houses of London not to mention a few occult bookshops. It all revolves around what appears to be a crude, ritual murder. There's lots of interviewing, theorising, police procedurals and the like and I admit that description probably makes it sound a bit dry. It isn't. What marks Harker out from the crowd is the well-rounded central characters, the sparky dialogue, the playful scripting and the art. Roger Gibson clearly has a gift for well-paced storytelling and in tandem with the art of Vince Danks, the pair have a good thing going.

Artist Vince Danks does a good job of drawing a series of distinctive characters with a good line in facial expressions. The architectural backdrops are extremely good and I can only imagine the trepidation of being faced with drawing and inking all those scenes of built-up London skylines. What seems even more amazing to me is the fact that this pair of talented creators are aiming (and succeeding) at producing a full-length indy comic on a monthly basis. When book one ends with issues six, another arc starts so clearly Harker is going to be around for the long haul. How they manage it I've no idea; it takes me about 5-6 months to produce a similar length comic. It's a phenomenal undertaking and deserves our support.

If I have one minor grumble it is with the central character, DCI Harker. With the kind of quirky, idiosyncratic personality so beloved of TV detectives, he comes across (to me, anway) as not a little bit irritating with his slightly cocky, self-important banter. Thankfully he is kept in place by the more sympathetic DS Critchley. Critchley in fact often seems like the central character and for much of the investigation seems to be the one in charge. The gripe is a minor one though and there is much to enjoy here. I escpecially liked a sequence of one-page panels in issue 3 where the pair are discussing the case in a pub. I took a while to get past these brief pages as my eye was constantly drawn to watching people in the background who all seem to behave in a way that real people in real pubs do, getting up, disappearing, coming back, etc.

A final word should go to the covers. Slightly offbeat, they kind of sum up the feel of an issue rather than trying to replicate a scene from said issue. They work very well and give the series a very defined look, eye-catching and well-designed with a distinct lack of the usual gunfigihts, explosions, car chases and so on that are so often part and parcel of detective fare. A fantastic series and well worth spending your cash on.

Be independent and try an independent

2009-07-06T13:49:00.015+01:00

I wasn’t really intending to use this blogspot for reviewing comics although I have done so on one or two occasions. This week though I thought I would use this space to recommend some indy titles that I’ve enjoyed over recent months. As an independent publisher I know how valuable getting advertising space is be it word-of-mouth, review sites, blog spots, etc. We all need YOUR support if we are to keep the thriving UK comics scene alive.

My first pick is Dick Turpin and the Restless Dead by Time Bomb Comics. This is a great little story from Steve Tanner and Andy Dodd which crosses highwaymen with zombies and does so, I think, with some panache. The art is heavy on the blacks and the story romps along at a fair old pace. Like many indy comics, it stands alone with no pre-knowledge required so can be easily enjoyed for its own sake. Well worth a look as is the sci-fi tale Ragamuffins by the same publisher.

Outcastes is an ongoing series from True Story Comics and is a great looking strip with an unusual style (the closest analogy I can think of is David Lloyd). The story by Tony McGee about mysterious twins gets slightly weirder each issue (in a good way) and reminds me of the sort of mystery strips I found in my younger sister’s old Misty and Spellbound comics (not that I would have let her I know I read them at the time). It is a slow-burner, nicely told and illustrated with some very striking covers. I have read a couple of Tony's other titles too and they all stand up very well, definitely worth a few quid of anybody’s money in my opinion.

PJANG! is published by Rol Hirst and the first two issues have been very good. The comic itself (People Just Ain’t No Good – PJANG!) is an anthology and all the stories so far have been entertaining and thoughtful, drawn in a variety of artistic styles by different artists including Tony McGee mentioned above.. With striking covers and high production values, PJANG! sets the standard for independent anthologies. A bargain for the price.

Black Boar Press publisher David Hitchcock has been plying the trade for a long time now and has produced some fantastic, very individually-styled work. I'm not entirely sure of his creative process but it looks like a combination of pen, ink, washes and pencils. It produces a wonderfully toned effect that makes his work stand out from the crowd. You won't need to look to far to find samples of his work as he seems to be much in demand for antholgies for publishers such as Accent UK. Look out for titles such as Spring-Heeled Jack or the newspaper-styled collection of strips in Gothic. You won't be disappointed – he isn't in demand for nothing.

Finally, just to plug my own line a bit, there are three titles now available from Storm Comics (at a discount rate if you buy all three). I won't have the audacity to review them here, hopefully someone else will do that, but I reckon they're pretty good and worth the small asking price. Go on, you know you want to! Go on, go on, go on...

The UK comics scene is full of very talented people producing comics for the sheer love of it (certainly not for the money, a great many are made at a loss). The ones I've mentioned above are just a few personal favourites but there are a great many more to seek out; use the links (top-right) to start exploring a few. One of the joys of independent comics is taking a chance on titles and creators and being rewarded with a plethora of subjects, styles and characters.

Go and take a chance today!

New release from Storm Comics

2009-06-12T13:59:00.011+01:00

Thief-Taker General #2 has now been released and is available for purchase. What's more, if you buy all three Storm Comics titles together you can make a saving of £1.25.

Thief-Taker General #2, subtitled The Triple Tree (referring to the three sided Tyburn cross upon which convicted felons were hung), concludes the stories of Jonathan Wild and Jack Sheppard. These real-life characters of the early 18th century were both criminals, but Wild styled himself as a Thief-Taker, selling captured criminals to the courts for trial but in a crafty move he also became kingpin of a vast network of criminals operating in a lawless London. When his own crimes were eventually exposed, the public turned against him. Jack Sheppard meanwhile was a petty thief who refused to work for Wild. Sheppard became legendary for his audacious and incredible escapes from various prisons (covered in issue 2) establishing him forever as a London folk hero.

This two part story features a wealth of real life figures and is largely based on accounts of the time with a little bit of rejigging for story-telling purposes. Please do take a look at the web site store and try an issue. Remember, buying all three titles together qualifies for a discount of £1.25; it's a steal!

Review: Blazing Combat H/C

2009-06-09T12:55:00.002+01:00

Amongst a batch of recent purchases I received was a copy of the long-awaited collected volume of Blazing Combat published by Fantagraphics. This US publisher has long published books and comic collections that are a little off-kilter to the usual American fare and with Blazing Combat they’ve come up with a real jewel.

Blazing Combat was originally published back in the early 1960’s but lasted for only four quarterly issues. This was due to a perceived impression that the comic was somehow anti-American or anti-war, mainly down to a story in issue 2 called Landscape which follows the (ill) fortunes of a Vietnamese villager just trying to live his life. At a time of high patriotic fervor (this was before Vietnam became a weight around America’s neck), retailer and a closed distribution network refused to carry the book and it was unable to survive. Clearly critics had not read the whole issue for the stories are told from many angles and viewpoints often reflecting the conflicting values of war.

This classy hardback volume collects together all four b&w issues of the short-lived war comic and includes old interviews with both the publisher, Bill Gaines (Warren Publishing) and with Archie Goodwin. These are very interesting placing the whole endeavor into an historical context as well as highlighting the many issues which befall those entering the world of publishing. The war stories themselves cover various conflicts including Vietnam, World War 1 and 2, Korea, the American Civil War and so on.

Each issue of Blazing Combat was a gem with a series of stories of usually 5-7 pages in length, written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by a selection of some of the top US artists, then or now; Wally Wood, Reed Crandall, Severin, Joe Orlando, Alex Toth to name but a few. If these names mean little to you then trust me that these are all top-notch artists at the head of their game. Their styles are all very different from fine line to thick, bold layers with others almost painted in shades of grey. To study them is a real master class in what can be achieved with a pen and some paper and poring over this tome is well worth it.

The stories themselves are all very good and although penned by the same author (Goodwin), his experience and eye for detail shine through with each story having its own voice. The writing styles here really are as varied as the artwork itself. US comics aren’t known for their short stories but here we have a first-class example of what can be achieved within such a tight remit. Many of these war stories would not have looked out of place in many European and British war comics and that for me really is the most astonishing thing about this book. Published just as superheroes began to take the forefront of US comics, this book shows the direction that writers’ and artists’ might have gone before the industry closed in on itself and gave the men-in-tights pre-eminence.

Whether you just want to read good war stories or to study a master writer and top class artists showing off some of their best work, a purchase of this book will be well-worth your money.

Not for the Nervous

2009-06-02T12:39:00.003+01:00

I don’t know how other independent publishers get on but I always find the moment my latest beloved project is winging its way to the printers and the process of publicity starts that my nerves start to jangle! Have I done a good enough job? Could it be better? Is it any good? Butterflies, stage-fright, first-night nerves, there are all sorts of euphemisms for this kind of fear but hopefully it is a good fear, one that ignites us and makes us strive to do our best, to do better.

I’m willing to bet that even the most famous creator always thinks he/she could have done better, that maybe their latest isn’t quite reaching the peak they hoped it would. After all, if any of us reached that peak then what incentive would there be for giving it another go? Why not just quit while we’re ahead?

I have no doubt that my latest offering, the 32 page comic, Thief-Taker General #2, could be improved upon. I look at it every day and think about what I could have done differently, and if I’d done it differently would audience reaction be any better? Ultimately though I feel I’ve done a decent job of it and each page shows an improvement upon the last, each comic I produce an advance on what has gone before. That’s what drives me on as I enjoy the process of experimenting and learning, of finding new ways to do old things. And hopefully that shows in the results.

So after the publicity is done and the issue is out there for the world to see comes the next anxious time; will anybody read it, will they tell me what they thought of it, will reaction be good or bad or worse, indifferent? I’ve spent a fair whack on posting out review copies to those who offer to review them. The result is, I hope, two-fold. One, a bit more publicity to an audience that might not have heard about my work elsewhere, and two, a review that hopefully gives me something to work with in the future. Feedback is very important to this process. Although I have had a few encouraging emails from readers, none of the aforementioned review sites have actually reviewed anything I’ve sent them. Which begs the question, are they just in it for free comics or were they such rubbish that they weren’t worth writing about? More anxious tension.

It pays to be thick-skinned in the business of self-publishing and whilst I wouldn’t want to put anyone off giving it a go, I do think they need to be prepared for the good, the bad and the indifferent (or silence). My own self-belief in what I’m doing is strong enough to believe the work I’m turning out has merit and value so the non-reviews doesn’t play on my mind much; that’s more of an annoyance about the financial outlay I’ve made in sending free copies out.

I firmly believe everyone has a story in them and comics seem a very natural and self-expressive way of telling them. Self-publishing can also be an enjoyable end itself but it is an arena to be entered with some caution. In the words of Ghastly McNasty, it’s “Not for the Nervous”.

Review: Torchwood – Rift War

2009-05-28T11:50:00.002+01:00

It was a brave decision by the Torchwood Magazine editor to take a quirky and unique artist like Paul Grist (Kane, Jack Staff) and give him artist duties on a licensed product. Torchwood: Rift War is the first collected comic album from Titan and the editorial decision pays off handsomely. That’s not to say the other artists on show here (D’Israeli, St. Gallant and Brian Williamson aren’t equally as good but for me, Grist’s laid-back, easy-going style seems perfectly suited to the material. There’s no attempt to recreate perfect likenesses of the major protagonists, not to overwhelm the reader with lots of detailed background. Instead the essence and style of the show have been captured in a simple and joyful way that makes this collection accessible to just about anyone. And that goes for people who think they don’t like the show.

For those not in the know, Torchwood is a group of disparate drop-outs, each highly talented in their own field, using alien technology to track down aliens and send them back home via the rift. The rift is a split in space/time through which things disappear or appear from any time or place and the Torchwood Hub sits right on top of it in the middle of Cardiff (long story but that’s where they make the series).

As a television series, Torchwood: Rift War is a bit of a mixed bag. Good all the way through, sometimes superb and every once in a while, brilliant, it has much of the same energy, flavour and ingredients as its parent. The stories by Simon Furman and Ian Eddington pretty much stand alone as single stories as well as containing the threads of a larger arc. This arc tells the tale of an alien race, the Sanctified, their shock troops, the Harrowkind, and their attempt to take over our world by destroying Torchwood’s grip on the rift.

Things are not what they seem in this story and there is some doubt throughout as to Vox’s part in events, Vox being an alien found living in a limbo between times and brought to our world to assist the Torchwood team in protecting Earth from future threat. I think anyone could enjoy this book whether they like the series or not. Indeed the more adult tone of the parent show is all but absent here, replaced in favour of a more enjoyably breakneck romp containing some quirky sci-fi concepts that never comes over as geeky or pretentious,

The characters for their part are well written with Ianto getting some of the best one-liners. Likenesses are in keeping with the characters if not trying to be spot-on drawings of them with the exception of the story, Jetsam, which is almost photographic in its realism. The story is decent enough but seems a bit of an outsider having nothing to do with the rest of the book.

There are no extras such as sketches or creator-discussions of the work which is a bit of a shame but overall I can recommend Torchwood: Rift War as an enjoyable read that should put a smile on your face.

Unfinished Business

2009-05-19T11:53:00.008+01:00

How many times have you been enjoying an ongoing comic strip when suddenly it is shelved for no apparent reason? Sometimes these stories are picked up at a later date but sometimes they never return, their conclusions inhabiting a void cut off to us forever. Are there any you still yearn for, any that you hanker to know what ending the authors actually had in store? Today I am going to relate three such stories which are my personally most-missed stories.

I’ll kick off with one that brought this whole subject to mind, the recent release of Marvel Comics collected edition of Dragon’s Claws. This series was set in the far future in a post-apocalyptic world in which an retired sports team called Dragon’s Claws are the government-sanctioned police. It was written by Simon Furman and drawn by Geoff Senior and the comic was the first Marvel UK title to try to emulate the US format. For me it had a sort of naïve charm about it, not especially original or outstanding but telling a good solid story with a cast of characters that seemed to become more rounded with each issue. It ended with issue 10 leaving several plot threads unresolved; the fate of Dragon’s family, the underhand activities of Dragon-wanabee, Deller, not to mention the whole job of cleaning up the planet. Despite a feeling of being slightly-shortchanged, Dragon’s Claws did at least make a consistent and solid story of its short run. Which cannot be said for my next choice!

I have loved Dan Dare in all his incarnations but the one I grew up with and was first introduced to was 2000AD’s run of the character. From the glorious art of Bellardinelli through to Dave Gibbon’s solid run, I avidly read it week after week as he was first apparently killed, brought back to life by a dying Mekon to whom he became the Servant of Evil. Then he fought old Mekky for The Crystal of Life before being branded a traitor and hunted by his own people. And just as Dan Dare joined up with some new and bizarre companions, swearing to prove his innocence and hunt the Mekon down, it stopped. Just like that! An announcement was made that he would return but alas he never did. And so the saga remains uncompleted forever, never to be collected, never to be put to rest, my fifteen-year old mind lost forever in wonder at what would come next.

Even an incomplete Dan Dare saga doesn’t come close to the near-pain I felt when the run of one of my all-time favourite tittles was unexpectedly dropped. For 19 issues I had followed Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker’s run of The Shadow, an old pulp character reborn into modern times by Howard Chaykin with a uniquely black-humoured series of ever more outrageous storylines. It seemed so un-American in style and storytelling, much more in tune, I thought, with the slightly twisted sensibilities of a 2000AD strip. Yet it all came juddering to a halt after The Shadow, dead for six issues was brought back as a living head placed on top of a robotic hulk of a body. The caption promised the start of the next saga, Nuts and Bolts featuring the new Full-Metal Shadow. Alas, yet again, the story was never concluded. It stopped mid-strip, presumably becausae owners’ Condénast couldn’t believe what DC were doing to their classic pulp hero. DC at one point did promise a Shadow Special to tie up all the loose ends but over 20 years later, the promise remains unfulfilled.

This last title still pains me in part. It was so different to anything published before or since and unlike so many re-born characters, Helfer and Baker made a real stab at overhauling the strip and giving it a place in modern comics. History must be littered with ideas, concepts and stories that either never made it to start with or died in the process of being executed. There must be an ideas graveyard somewhere in which these old tales quietly rest in the distant, probably forlorn hope, that they might yet one day be revived.

I’m guessing they probably never will.

We Don’t Need No Education…

2009-05-05T20:07:00.002+01:00

…but there are a few people out there who do! I’m talking about understanding and appreciating comics as a medium akin to cinema, TV, etc. I’ll qualify this with an example that I overheard in Waterstone’s recently.

There I was browsing through a copy of Joe Sacco’s Palestine when in walks a man of about thirty with someone I presume to be a new-ish girlfriend. He looked a bit sheepish as though embarrassed to be seen browsing comics in public but duly picked up a graphic novel and began flicking through it. At which point, girlfriend piped up, “So you’re into comics then?” “Yeah, some of them are pretty good,” he replied. To which she added, “So you’re into The Beano and stuff?”

There was no humour or gentle-goading in the question, it was a straightforward, serious enquiry. A few moments later the bloke hurriedly put back the graphic novel and shuffled out of the store even more sheepishly than he had come in.

Why do people, mainly British and American, view comics as juvenile? I’ve known people who come back from a superhero movie thoroughly enthused by it and yet balk at the idea that they might read the original source material. Somewhere in their heads is a barrier that divides comics from any other media they might enjoy. I’ve encountered this attitude recently with Watchmen, a book that recently featured in the New York Times list of 100 greatest novels ever (not just graphic novels – novels!)

Does it not occur to these people that comics is a medium like any other, capable of telling stories covering any genre and aimed at varying age-groups, just as films, TV drams, novels and so on do? It seems to be a constant struggle to break the stranglehold that this idea has on the majority of the public. And while it is great that stores like Waterstone’s now stock large and varied supplies of comics and graphic novels, I can’t help noticing that these shelves are often found at the back or tucked away in some dark corner.

We should be rightfully proud of the diversity of comics that are published, with the range of styles, voices and characters that come from them. One day, maybe, we will have a grown-up attitude to our cherished media just as they do on many parts of the continent (France’s Ninth Art, for example). Until then I guess we just have to carry on in the face of the juvenile attitude possessed of those who accuse us of the very same.

Anyway, what’s wrong with The Beano? Hunt Emerson draws for it and that’s good enough for me!

*With apologies to Joe Sacco and The Beano.

Books I'm Loving by Brian Woods

2009-04-28T13:42:00.012+01:00

Aside from reaching the final pages of Thief-Taker General #2 and keeping on top of the day job I have been reading through my usual diet of comic books and graphic novels. My regular titles include Northlanders, Captain America, Daredevil and 2000AD to name but a few. Graphic novels I’ve recently bought include Joe Sacco’s Palestine, Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg vol 1, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and The Dylan Dog Case Files. My indy titles you can find about from the Smallpress link on the regular site. But for today’s blog I thought I’d write a bit about my growing love for the work of Brian Woods.

The first book I came across by this US creator was Local. Published in a lovely hardcover edition and drawn by Ryan Kelly, it has the appearance and feel of a professionally made independent comic and is miles away from the usual superhero/detective noir/ magical mumbo-jumbo themes of many American comics. Here the authors focus on 12 years in the life of Megan McKeenan with each chapter representing a moment of each year as he hops from one state to another to both escape and to find herself. We watch as she evolves from a naive, emotionally insecure girl to a mature and sorted young woman, ready to return home and take on the responsibilities that will take her into adulthood. In so doing she becomes an unusually rounded character, one whom you can feel you almost know. The art is rendered in heavy blacks and lends itself well to the story. It is tribute to both Woods' and Kelly's talents that the stories remain in the head long after reading them and I moved from initially disliking Megan to eventually caring for what happened to her. This is a great book and definitely one I will be returning to again and again.

On the basis of that I picked up Demo volume 1, very similar in tone to the sort of stories told in Local but much more fragmentary. By that I mean that each chapter stands alone and features a different cast of characters, all of them rounded and well-drawn both in a literary sense by Woods and in the literal sense by Becky Cloonan. The catch here is that one of the characters in each of these stories has some sort of secret power and is attempting to find ways to live with it bar dressing up in a leotard and cape and saving the world. These stories are rooted in the real world and concern themselves with the day-to-day affairs of ordinary people that we can all relate to. Unlike Local, each story is drawn in subtly different ways, some of them dark and bold, others lighter and some with hints of manga about them. Again another top read that rewards repeated reading.

Earlier I mentioned Northlanders, a series about the world of the Vikings, published by Vertigo and again written and drawn by Brian Woods and Ryan Kelly. Stories vary in length; so far there have been two six-parters and a two-parter. Each tale follows its own theme with its own set of characters, something which appears to be a hallmark of this creative duo. The stories are weighty, bloody and very dynamic to look at. Despite any stereotype images we have of the Vikings and their world, these characters are again very well written and drawn out. In the six-part ‘The Hammer and the Cross’, our perceptions of the three main characters and their motivations are constantly challenged and questioned; by the end of the tale our allegiances have almost (but not quite) reversed as the true nature of events is revealed. Unlike their other work this series is in colour rendered in muted tones that suits its subject. And the painted covers are some of the most glorious and eye-catching ones currently being produced anywhere.

I would heartily recommend any of the above titles and I for one will certainly be looking out for more of their new and previous work. All of the above mentioned tomes are available to by on Amazon.

The Triple Cross

2009-04-16T11:57:00.003+01:00

The second issue of Thief-Taker General is due to be published in the next couple of months and work is currently underway to finish off the art, add text and format the pages for printing. It features the second and concluding chapter in the true stories of 18th century London crime lord, Jonathan Wild and petty thief and escapee-extraordinaire, Jack Sheppard. A draft version of the cover has been posted below to whet your apetite. The 32 page comic will be on sale at the regular web site here.

The Final 52 Secret Civil Invasion Crisis Wars

2009-04-07T13:47:00.015+01:00

I enjoy the odd superhero title much like most comic readers but one thing that has always put me off, at least for the past decade or so, is the myriad annual crossover events. These stories contrive to tie in dozens of regular titles, produce spin-off mini series and usually result in the comics’ universe never being the same again. Except of course that it always is.

Such events (52, Final Crisis, Secret Invasion, Civil War, etc) can be entertaining enough and the odd tie-in title can often produce new light onto a familiar character or setting. All too often though the whole thing gets mired in continuity, things happen in one title that seem to contradict another and characters often seem to be in umpteen different places at more or less the same time.

Spider-man is a case in point. Following the events of Brand New Day, years of storylines and continuity (not to mention Peter Parker’s entire marriage) were undone at a single stroke. Time was rolled back, characters and scenarios reset to square one. It was a bold and understandable move by Marvel and a great way of clearing the decks. But a little nagging thought kept chattering away at the back of my mind; what about the New Avengers? Spidey was a current member of the line-up and was engaged half-way around the world with his team-mates. Shouldn’t he have forgotten them? Should he not be a member of the New Avengers any more? And wouldn’t they wonder what had happened to him?

It raises more questions than it answers although the stories were generally so well-told that any discrepancies and contradictions could easily be forgotten while reading them. Even so my natural urge for order had a gripe with the whole thing. It would have worked so much better, to my mind, if Spidey had been operating purely within his own universe rather than the wider Marvel one with its myriad of contradictions and connections.

The point I am trying to make here is that while it might all be great fun for the creators and regular fans, it doesn’t seem to me to be a clever way of attracting new readership. And year after year, each ‘event’ is a little bit diminished by the growing number of events; they begin to lose their unique appeal by being so numerous.

I suppose really superhero comics will struggle for new readers anyhow. I’ve often wondered why superhero titles are termed ‘mainstream’. Look around any bookshop and you will struggle to find a comparable genre that appeals to a mass audience mainly because there is no mass audience. Mainstream appeals only to a majority of comic readers who form a very small part of the wider publishing world. In book terms, thrillers, historical sagas and romance would be considered far more mainstream.

Back to superhero titles, I much prefer titles such as Captain America and Daredevil that by and large skirt by the main events following a continuity of their own. I would much prefer my superheroes to lead more solitary existences and maybe reserve the big crossover events for something really major on something like a five-yearly basis. Another problem is events often crossover into new events (Civil War into Secret Invasion into Dark Reign and War of the Gods) which further boggle the continuity and confuse anyone who isn’t already following such titles regularly.

I may be alone in this view as clearly there are sufficient numbers of the comic buying public picking up these event titles, otherwise why produce them. But isn’t it time for a little more plot and characterization and a few less events?

Come and join the Temple APA

2009-04-03T17:31:00.013+01:00

Issue three of the Temple APA is now available and free to download - Temple APA issue three (48mb)

The Temple APA is a digital showcase of British Comic Writers and Artists both amateur and professional (also including a Smallpress Comics directory). The group are looking for people to contribute to the next issue, even if it's a couple of pages, it can be anything - comic strips, scripts with no artwork, sketchbook pages, a plug for your own comic... pretty much anything. Temple APA has a proven track record and they like to get a broad cross-section of all the talent out there.

You can visit the website here http://www.templeapa.ning.com/ or email templeapa@googlemail.com

The Beginning or The End? Where to start...

2009-03-31T19:03:00.005+01:00

Something that's often interested me about fiction be it TV, film, audio or comics is where does the story start? A quick look at a few examples quickly establishes that very often they do not begin at the beginning.

Take the Daredevil movie of a few years back. When the film opens, our first sight of the Man Without Fear is of him crashing through the roof of a large, gothic, Catholic church. He lands on the floor, hurt both physically and mentally. The local father approaches and DD confesses to the events that have brought him to this point. We have in fact entered the story at the end. We know roughly where things are going to lead but not yet how. And so the film can now head back to the beginning of events while we wait for the inevitable fall. Apart from that it also cleverly tells us something about Matt Murdoch's catholic upbringing and where both his and DD's moral values are based.

Take Watchmen as another example (I'm thinking purely of the graphic novel here). The opening pages show a police murder investigation intercut with scenes of The Comedian battered and bloody and finally thrown through the plate glass window of a high-rise block. Jump forward several hours and we have our first sight of Rorshach climbing in through the broken window to carry out his own investigation. Immediately we know we are in the realm of costumed vigilantes and the core questions that set the story rolling are asked; who has murdered the Comedian and why? Again the story doesn't begin at the start of events but rather after the event. Little do we know at this point that what we have witnessed in retrospect will come back and be seen in the context of a far bigger chain of events. The point is that we are straight in at the action looking back at events that occured before the story we are reading began.

In 2000AD's first series of Shakara we are also thrust straight into the action as strange alien races embroiled in galactic war descend on the earth. And to lull us out of any sense of thinking we know where this is going, the earth is destroyed and humanity wiped out on the first page. Within a few panels the strip has quickly set out it's stall and immediately we have seen the first and last prescence of a human being in this story.

The reason I have been thinking about all of this is because I have often wondered in my own writing where best to begin a story. I love the big stories of Will Eisner (To The Heart of the Storm, Family Matter, The Name of the Game, etc) and note that he often told his stories with a prologue to events, sometimes even a little potted history. This would then be followed by a very chronological sequence of events. Looking back over my own writing, this tends to be pretty much the path I follow. Even so, I love a story that starts in the middle of things and leaves the reader to work things out. In my (currently) two titles published under the Storm Comics banner, I have tried both approaches. The sci-fi tale Afterlife is told in a very straight-forward fashion with events progressing in a very linear fashion. With Thief-Taker General I attempted to tell the story by jumping back-and-forth in time as I tried to tell the true-life story of criminal overlord, Jonathan Wild. It was important to me because I wanted to show Wild's background and show the sort of world he lived in and the kinds of things that shaped him into what he was to become later on. I must admit this wasn't the most comfortable way of writing for me; when you see other writers do it well it looks so easy but then creating comics is a whole lot harder when you actually give it a go yourself. Despite mixed feelings I think the attempt largely worked. Whether readers think so or not I don't know (why not pick up a copy and let me know).

Is it important where a story starts? I think it is. It should at least raise a few questions, entice the reader in and set the forthcoming story into some sort of context. That's one thing all of the examples above share; it doesn't matter whether these stories are science fiction, fantasy, contemporary, superhero, football or anything else; the important thing is to have a strong opening that clearly shows into what world the story is set. None us live in a world of costumed superheroes (a real world, that is) and yet those opening pages of Watchmen do not feel remote or disassociated from our world. We have quickly been shown what kind of world the story inhabits and we accept it and understand it on those terms. It is something I think about everytime I read a comic, a book, watch a film or TV drama and toy with in my own work.

I guess it comes down to perosnal taste at the end of the day but one thing is certain; if there is no interest at the beginning then we're unlikely to stick around for the end.

The DFC - a new life online

2009-03-27T11:52:00.002Z

Well there’s me starting my first blog (British Comics – a new hope?) with an optimistic missive on the future of British comics when along comes life after The DFC. While issue 43 is now definitely the last published title, the creators of the various strips have banded together to form The Super Comics Adventure Squad. The DFC is also running continuation of a number of strips online for completists. If that doesn’t prove that there is vision and a will out there then I don’t know what does. It will be interesting to see what develops from here but this surely isn’t the end? I wish the whole team great success in keeping this whole venture alive.

Perhaps 2000AD might pick up on something like Phillip Pullman’s John Blake – it would easily fit in with the style of the comic, bring wider public attention through an association with Phillip Pullman and attract younger readers (surely something it needs to do if 2000AD is to survive in the long term).

Whatever happens, we live in exciting times.

British Comics - a new hope?

2009-03-26T17:54:00.007Z

As bright young hopeful The DFC looks like biting the dust, there might yet be some hope on the horizon. Egmont, previously Fleetway, previously IPC Magazines, still own many of the classic British comic titles and characters that last saw the light of day back in the 1980’s. From April 2009, downthetubes.net report that they are releasing several classic comics collections, a bit like the old Summer Specials some of us older readers will remember. The titles announced so far include Roy of the Rovers, Battle Picture Weekly, Misty and Buster.

Now this could just be a marketing ploy, an attempt to make a fast buck out of the current public taste for nostalgia. But if that is really the case, why not just publish a hardback collection as has been done with Look-In, Jackie and 2000AD amongst others? Perhaps it is me seeing hope where there is none but could it be that Egmont are tipping their toes in the water, publishing a range of comics (sport, war, girls/supernatural stories and comedy) in an attempt to judge reaction and interest. Maybe these will be the first in a series of such titles or maybe it is a way for Egmont to assess modern readers’ tastes, and then who knows? New comics, new collections, a revival of titles and strips long thought dead?

I think there has been quite a strong, unspoken consensus for many years that British comics are dead or dying, that the new generation don’t understand them and only want computer games and suchlike. I have never believed that to be true. Take television. In the book, ‘Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale’, Russell T Davies comments how he believed television was a dying medium for the youth generation until the e4 series Skins came along. Written by a group of writers, some under 20 years old, the series has been nominated for BAFTAs, been lauded by critics and more importantly shown that teenagers still have an appetite for good quality TV drama. I don’t think comics as a medium is any different; it just needs reenergizing, a rethink on the way it used to be done. My main concern is that is after 25 years in the wilderness, we may have forgotten how to put together decent comics for a broad range of readers. Then again The DFC was a bold attempt that partly assuages those concerns.

Most comics on the shelves are aimed at very young readers and are largely based on licensed products. They usually come bagged with umpteen throwaway free gifts while the pages are usually large images festooned with garish graphics revealing very little content (especially comic content). These titles are made for no other reason than to earn their publishers that fast buck. British comics, I’m certain, can do a lot better than that. All it needs is a bit of vision.

Perhaps Egmont’s latest venture is just about making a fast buck but as an eternal optimist, I do wonder if they may perhaps be opening up their eyes to the possibilities of what they own. Within the comics fraternity there is still a thriving little industry of comic titles out there but it really does need a major player to open it all up to the public at large. For all the critcisim that sometimes comes its’ way, 2000AD has shown how it is possible to change and evolve and yet still stay true to it core essence. With decent production values, great art and intelligently-told stories, I see no reason why any genre should not still be a success. It is all about great stories and over the millennia, mankind has never tired of those.

The DFC was a brave try at an anthology title and has shown that there is a taste out there for a diverse range of strips. I’d really like to believe that publishers with the capital and weight might finally be realizing what some of us knew already – that comics are brilliant!