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Friday 27 September 2013

The Wanbies

Huzzah, it's Friday! Let's celebrate it with a lovely comic strip. The Wanbies first appeared in issue 4 of Hallowscream and is drawn by the awesome Neil McClements. Like a knight in shining armour Neil stepped in at the final hour after the original artist was forced to drop out due to personal reasons. What a ledge!




Yours truly was on lettering duty for this bad-boy. Done in Photoshop. Skillz.

Saturday 14 September 2013

Teddy Bears Picnic

As a writer of scripts, there's nothing better than snagging a badass artist to draw your story. For this two page tale of terror I was lucky enough to find Glen Ostrander, a gloriously talented penciller. I'd been saving this story for a while as it required an awesome artist to pull it off. It appeared in the 2011 edition of Hallowscream.




When starting off as a writer, you're blind to many of the faults within your own scripts. It's a bit of a Dunning-Kruger situation; you're not aware of the errors within your story, because you're not skilled enough to see them. With this story, I could tell I was on to a sure fire winner.

Short one or two page horror stories are the best so it ticked that box. Taking a classic such as the Teddy Bears Picnic song and giving it a twist also works because EVERYONE knows it. Tick. The familiarity is already there so I could just concentrate on telling yarn as quickly as possible.

The length of the words I was using from the song dictated the number of panels and length of strip. The rhythm of the six lines of the song worked perfectly as six panels on the first page, with the seventh and final line demanding it's own splash page.

It was like the coming together of pieces of stone tablet, an alignment of planets, the formation of Girls Aloud - just pause and take in the full horror of the artwork on that second page. Proper nasty, love it.

Me in the Meg

Here's an article from the Judge Dredd Megazine dating back to November 2011, where I get a name check and a couple of quotes, in an story about 80's IPC horror title, Scream! As the creator of the Scream! fan site www.backfromthedepths.co.uk I was contacted by a chap called Matthew Badham who wanted to ask a few questions about the site. I'm fairly certain he didn't mention the Meg at any point so it was a lovely surprise when I received am email from a friend letting me know I was in this awesome publication.


Wednesday 11 September 2013

Pirates

Really should have added an exclamation mark to the title of this comic!!!

Pirates, arted by the skilled Nathan Allen, appeared in the 2011 issue of Hallowscream.

Like the previous comic strip, I'd mark this script down as one from the 'early years'. By that, I mean it's more of a mind-vomit script writing style, rather than the more measured writing approach that I have no adopted, that involves thinking more, checking spelling, editing and re-editing, and generally being increasingly mature and considerably more poncy.



Friday 6 September 2013

2000AD Forum Art Competition Entries

I like the 2000AD forum. Apart from being the home of the galaxy's greatest comic and full of enthusiastic comic loving perps it is also a location visited many of the UK's indie comic creators. It's a sweaty, thrashing, hotbed of talented comic folk.

One of the most enjoyable sections of the forum is the monthly themed art competition. Each month a new topic is decided and everyone gets busy drawin', sketchin', scribllin' a piece of art for the comp. Prizes are at stake but I'll never win because some of the people who enter are really fucking good.

You've got to be in it to win it. Here's 3 attempts by me, one of which did win me a Tharg's choice award and a free GN.






You can see some of the more recent, and better, competition entries by visiting the Facebook Page.