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This isn't really what I wanted to talk about in this post, but venting your frustrations on the Internets is generally something that can lead to trouble. So, instead, I thought it was past time to get another old, out of print strip up and out to the world.This time, we have Whole, by me and Mick Trimball, which first appeared in FutureQuake #8 (one of
two strips written by me that appeared in that particular issue). I have to hold my hands up here and say that this wasn't written for FutureQuake; it was originally submitted to 2000AD as a Future Shock and was rejected. Twice. Yep, it was that good.Whole was an attempt at writing a different kind of SF story, something more personal and intimate. Looking back at it, I can almost see that it was the very early seeds of where I've been trying to push some of the comics scripting I've been doing lately.Anyway, here's Whole. Hope you enjoy...Remember, this ebook will be available on the Read Me page, too. If you're having trouble with the ebook, then the strip is also available to read on my ComicSpace page.
Every 6 months, Work Club invites someone to decorate their blackboard. They got someone to come in and write every single line that Bart Simpson has written on the blackboard at the beginning of each episode of The Simpsons...
Chris Askham continues his prep for our ABC Warriors collaboration with another take on the ever changing faces of Joe Pineapples...
Frankly, seeing these sketches, I am even more ridiculously excited to be working with Chris on this. However, there are, apparently, more Joe sketches to come, and I, for one, cannot wait.
ABC Warriors: Tin Man by me and Chris will be in Zarjaz #11 - The ABC Warriors Special, which is due for release in early 2011.
A friend just sent me this pic:
Yep, that is a scratch built Mek-Quake from The ABC Warriors, with a Deadlock miniature.
No idea who made it, but sometimes, peoples geeky obsessions can just produce the best stuff.
I used to love mucking about with Sim City 2000 way back when. It was a great way to pass the time, and I found myself losing hours while playing it. I don't know why, because I'd get bored after a couple of days and go and play something else that involved killing aliens or something.
Vincent Ocasla, however, spent four years building a totalitarian city called Magnasanti, populated by six million people, which, he claims, allowed him to beat an otherwise unbeatable game.
Vincent isn't a nutter, though. As the original article on Viceland reveals, he's a normal 22 year old former Buddhist.
I literally cannot tell you anything about this, because I have absolutely no idea who made it, but LEGO? Get on this and get Strontium Dog licensed right now!
Chris Askham is preparing himself for our first (but hopefully not only) collaboration for Zarjaz #11, with this rather tasty pic of an old school Joe Pineapples...
So, on Polling Day, I got some fantastic news from the guys at Zarjaz (that kind of distracted from election results in a small way): both of the Judge Dredd scripts I submitted to them were picked up for publication!
Getting those e-mails just put a massive, inane grin on my face that I wore most of the day, because, well, Dredd is one of my all time favourite comic characters, and it's been a long held dream to write him one day in some capacity. I'd love to think that these Zarjaz strips are the first, fateful steps in following John Wagner's lead and one day taking over the helm... Yeah, I know, but I can dream, can't I?
Anyway, the two strips, Video Nasties and The Taking Of Mopad 456, are in the Zarjaz files awaiting artists to be assigned as I type this.
Both of them are attempts at going for an old-school Dredd vibe, as opposed to the more modern, "realistic" tone that permeates the series now - not that there's anything wrong with that! Personally, I prefer it, but given the format and limits of Zarjaz, it seemed more appropriate to go for something old-school. And, you know, I was reading The Dredd Case Files when I was writing them... Still, they were a lot of fun to do, and one hell of a challenge. Yeah, there's 30+ years of Dredd stories to draw on, but because there's 30+ years of stories to draw on, it's bloody hard trying to come up with something that hasn't been done before. Hopefully, I've pulled that off, or, at the very least, come up with some new spins on old tales. Either way, you'll be able to see the results for yourself soon.
Needless to say, I'll be posting more on these when I have news.
Thirty years ago, Paul McCartney was arrested in Japan for possession of cannabis and held for ten days. During all the furore and upset over the arrest, Lee "Scratch" Perry wrote this to the "Minister of Justice” in Tokyo:
What a star, eh?
You can read the full story of Macca's arrest at Chained and Perfumed.
Keep watching the ticker on the bottom of the screen...
A brilliantly clever advert this...
Original image by B3ta board member Damocles
A bit NSFW, but still quite funny.
Tempting as it is to go and look at pictures of pretty ladies on May 6, it'll be better if you take a few minutes and go and vote.
This is most definitely NSFW...
As you may have noticed over the last few weeks, I've been throwing up some political piss-taking pictures as blog filler, but as the election looms ever closer, it's nearly time to decide who to vote for.It's a well used cliche to say that the televised leaders debates have re-engaged people with politics, and how their country is run; Nick Clegg has stepped out of the shadows and people actually know who he is now, David Cameron has been forced to lose some of the sheen and Gordon Brown... Well, he's, you know, Gordon Brown. All the rhetoric and soundbytes about change have been spewed across the media ad infinitum and many people are now beginning to think twice about heading along to the polling station and putting their mark next to the same party they've been voting for for years. And that's all well and good, don't get me wrong. Personally, I'd love to see a huge overhaul to the political system in this country, something that will make things more fair and balanced; I think it's a real change that's long overdue, frankly.However, the whole "bigotgate" event of last week brought something home, something that I realised quite a while ago. It's all well and good to jump on the bandwagon and called the woman a bigot for her single comment while completely ignoring the bulk of her conversation with Brown was centred around the economy and the deficit. I mean, yeah, we can all do that, but that's ignoring the bigger picture: the "bigoted woman" approached Brown with concerns about her area, her constituency and all he did was recite the party line at her.
OK, so he's the PM, that's what he should do; he's got the entire country to oversee rather than just one little town. Fine. But, it's happening everywhere, with every politician. I've had leaflets through the door for six local candidates, and not one of them has done anything but recite the party rhetoric.* As a potential voter, I want to know what the candidates are going to do for my area, not what the party will do for the country. Come to that, I don't even know who my candidates are (over at Angry Mob, they posted something far more insightful about that than what you'll find here). Local candidates aren't engaging with their constituents, they're not getting out there and meeting people, finding out what's important to them; all they're doing is toeing the party line.I am, for all intents and purposes, a floating voter; I genuinely have no idea who I'm going to vote for. Of the six candidates in my area, I can easily get rid of three. Under the Labour government, I was one of the thousands that was made redundant when they introduced the unitary councils (and don't get me started on the Digital Economy Bill fiasco they pushed through parliament), so that's them out. Being from the north east, I can't bring myself to vote Conservative and watch the region get shat on again, and the BNP is obviously out because I'm not a massive racist (if I was, I'd just vote Tory). So, that leaves Liberal Democrat, Green or the independent.As we all know, any mental case can run as an independent candidate, so maybe I'll give him a miss. After that, there's the Green Party and Liberal Democrat candidates, none of whom do anything in their literature but spout the usual party rhetoric. I'll admit, I've been tempted to vote Liberal Democrat this year, so, at the behest of a friend (and some loads of help from him), I e-mailed the local candidate, Simon Reed, asking him what he would be doing for the area. This was "his" reply**:We have 4 key themes in this election, all based around one concept - fairness.
Fair taxes, so that you don't pay any tax on the first £10,000 of earnings, giving most people £700 back each year.
Fair start for our children in school, with £2.5billion extra for schools to reduce class sizes or provide extra tuition or catch up classes.
A rebalanced, green economy getting back to making and selling things again, not centred on the paper economy of the city of London.
A fair, decent political system, giving people the right to sack corrupt MPs, reforming Parliament and introducing a fair voting system.
We are the only party to have detailed in our manifesto how these priorities will be paid for in these difficult economic times, and the Financial Times is today saying that our tax plans are the fairest.
If you follow one of the side bars from my website you should be able to link in to the national party website or click on this link www.libdems.org.uk and you will find a lot more detail on our policy areas that might be of interest to you as you make up your mind on which party will get your support.
See? The party line. I wanted to know what he was going to do for the community, for the region, not what his party was going to do for the country. My constiuency, Wansbeck as it now is, is marginalised, forgotten about, and one of the most unimportant seats in the country. I understand that, but I live here (at the minute), and I want to know what any of the candidates are going to do for the area.Is that really too much to ask?Yes, apparently, it is. Just go and ask Gillian Duffy.* This was characterised beautifully by the BNP leaflet. A friend who lives in Gateshead received a leaflet from them through his front door. The next day, I received a leaflet from them through my door, which was exactly the same, apart from the name and the picture of the candidate.
** I say "his" response because, looking at the bottom of the e-mail, I saw this:
Published and promoted by Andrew Tebbutt on behalf of Simon Reed
Yeah. Couldn't even be arsed to reply to one his own constituents. What a way to win a vote, eh?
