Rok on a roll

21/009/2020 Rok of the Reds is a crowd funded comic illustrated by Dan Cornwall, colours by Abigail Bulmer, and produced by Alan Grant and John Wagner ( each with credits too many to list).  Rok, its titular hero. is an alien hiding out on Earth who becomes enamoured of the game of football. A cross then between Spawn and Roy of the Rovers. more...

Deed-A-Day Danny

14/09/2020 Deed-A-Day Danny , drawn by Hugh McNeil, first appeared as a half-page black and white strip in The Knock-Out Comic No.1, dated March 4th 1939. Later retitled Knockout Comic the publication ran until 16 February 1963. Deed-a day Danny, promoted to the front cover in issue 15, lasted until 1954. more...

The Out

06/09/2020 The Out is a strip that has been running in 2000AD since Prog2187 June 24th.Written by Dan Abnett, illustrated by Mark Harrison, lettered by Annie Parkhouse. And all doing a grand job. I hope Annie Whitehouse is being paid an above normal page rate for what is a very wordy script. Very wordy in this case not a complaint since the words, like the art, are charming. If charming seems like an unusual word to use for a space opera this is an unusual space opera. more...

Fletcher Hanks

28/08/2020 Being a sucker for the different I was much taken when I first came across Fletcher Hanks. The first comic book artist to write, pencil, ink and letter all of his own stories Hanks worked in comics from 1939 to 1941. more...

More words

19/08/2020 There is a kind of drawing referred to as ‘comic book’. There is also a kind of writing that might deserve the same description since it consists of combinations of words that would exist in no other literary form. Here some examples. Love this stuff for its evocative, unique and innocent nature., more...

Wisconsin Funnies: 50 Years of Comics

10/08/2020 Exhibition at the West Bend Museum of Wisconsin Art and at Saint Kate — The Arts Hotel in Milwaukee. The exhibition covers the major themes, innovations, and publications that characterize the state's contributions to comic culture both Mainstream and Alternative. more...

R.I.P. Denny O’Neil

Dennis ‘Denny’ O’Neil.  May 3rd 1939 – June 11th 2020 Having written about comics Denny O’Neil contributed his first stories to DC.in 1968. In 1970 he and artist Neal Adams saved Batman. From a time when Batman featured stories in which he was pestered by a Bat-Mite imp, threatened with outsize domestic appliances and where the Joker had a ‘Sky-Sled’ they created the grittier gutsier Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham City we all know and shudder at today.  more...

Gary Larson in the net

20/07.2020 Gary Larson’s cartoon set ‘The Far Side’ was syndicated in almost 1,900 daily newspapers from 1980 to 1995. more...

New look

10/07/2020 I don’t imagine anyone will be as excited by the new site as I am, but here it is. Not just a different in appearance the up-dated site should load more quickly, run faster and be simpler to navigate. It will also give the ability to properly view and use the site on mobile devices such as tablets and phones, with adaptive fonts that adjust to the screen resolution of the site it is viewed on more...

Button Man anybody?

15/6/2020
If anyone is still interested, I’m kind of weakening myself, it was October 2019 the last time a Button Man Netflix movie was mentioned here. It is not something that keeps me awake nights but some small flicker of interest was shown at the last mention, so, for those who might still care . . . .

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Lock-down relief

06/06/2020
With comics un-available from shops Rebellion, with its reputation for good works, their commitment to boredom elimination and with their major characters embodying neighbourliness and community service, have stepped up to soften the blow by presenting some on line.
You can sign up at -

https://2000ad.com/newsletter/

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Look-in back

30/05/2020
Recently I received, curtesy of Dale Jackson, lots of scans of Danger Mouse and Duckula pages from long ago Look-in.
I know for some people my drawing Danger Mouse was the most significant thing I ever did, coinciding as it did with a particular time in their life.
With lock-down and all giving rise to a good deal of trolling through the past it seemed that a little nostalgia could do no harm and my plan was to put a complete story here in a blog.
However, when reducing the images to the 300kb needed to load them here the quality was too poor. The words couldn’t be read.

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VE Day

08/05/2020
Victory in Europe Day, or VE Day is a day celebrating Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, and the end of World War II in Europe.

Here some the WW2 British comics we were ( i was) reading.

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Bored? Do a Rich Johnson

27/04/2020
Rich Johnson had this good idea.
The picture he made a tribute to one of the many people in the kind of work long taken for granted and in the current situation now recognised as essential and important - those who serve in some capacity to keep us clean, fed, watered and cared for in the present trying, and risky, circumstances. We can manage without some things but not without bin men or . . . . . . . ( complete as you see fit with unsung hero of choice.)
If you have the materials you could follow Rich Johnson’s example and draw your choice of individual or profession.

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Lockdown

18/04/2020
Having seen so much in various media about newly house bound suffering from boredom and seeking ways to fill their days I thought to make some suggestions. That they have taken the form they have is probably an indication that it could be getting to me too.

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Tough times

14/03/2020
Due to the current virus crisis comics producers and sellers, like most everybody else, are struggling. It seemed difficult to produce a blog about comics which could be anything but a bit on the gloomy side. With the idea that if one has nothing useful to say one should say nothing my intention was to do just that. Then it began to seem a odd to ignore it.
There has been talk here in the UK of “the Blitz spirit” , , , , here presented are some posters from the 1940’s with possibly useful advice.

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R.I.P. Albert Underzo

25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020),
French comic book artist and writer, best known as the co-founder and illustrator of the Astérix series in collaboration with René Goscinny,
Astérix is a warrior living in Roman-occupied Gaul in the year 50 BC. With super strength given him by a magic potion, he and his fat friend Obelix, keep their village safe from Roman invasion.
The Asterix series sold more than 380m copies, in more than 100 languages.

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Not Ronan the Accuser

15/03/2020
Long ago there was a drawing on the sketch page which was for a proposed make-over of Ronan the Accuser. It was never used.
This picture is kind of how I imagined he might look. I saw him as a warrior coming from a civilisation that did not mind throwing its weight about.
Done for no good reason, this image was made in the Paint app. There were a number of earlier versions.

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I Kill Giants.

01/03/2020
While ago I saw on Netflix the film ‘I Kill Giants’ directed by Anders Walter and starring Madison Wolfe - which I enjoyed.
Few days later I found in my library the comic book by writer Joe Kelly and artist Ken Nimura from which the film had been adapted.
I read and enjoyed that.
It got me to musing on how we read comics.

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The Flying Lesson

21/02/2020
Exhibition of the work of Polish born cartoonist Andrzej Krauze.
22nd February - 17th May.2020

Though you need to be in Poland to see it.
It is on at Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw.
Poland has a long and distinguished history in graphic art.

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Library offer

12/04/2020
Result. Dundee University are to take the entire collection
The university has graduate and post graduate courses in Comics and Graphic Novels in both design and in literature degrees.

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Superheroes Never Die

30/01/2020
‘Superheroes Never Die,Comics and Jewish memories'

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Library offer part 4

22/01/2020
Here listed the comics that are part of the collection over 500 publications I would like to give to anyone who can collect, care for, and make them available , ,

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Library offer part 3

14/01/2020
Here a list of the graphic novels that are part of the collection that is on offer to anyone who can collect, care for, and make it available to folk with an interest in comics and comic history.

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Library offer part 2

05/01/2020
So far there has been no response to my offer to give my comic book library to any worthy recipient. Worthy in this instance meaning an establishment that will make them available to the public and/or students.
The list of books on comic history appears a few blogs over.
As further enticement below is a list of the ‘Collected Editions’ that come with this amazing offer.

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