Catching up...

I seem to have pretty much fallen off the radar over the last couple of weeks due to some construction work; the old PC has been packed away, and I managed to get a loan of a laptop to try and keep up with everything, but, as is often the case, things haven't gone according to plan, hence my vanishing act. Pimpage for Death To The Future has fallen by the wayside, e-mails have been stacking up and some potentially cool things have had to be put to one side until sanity and normalcy can be restored.

However, things are starting to look up a bit as the construction work nears its end. Kev Levell keeps sending me awesomeness in preparation for our upcoming Zarjaz collaboration, Dunk Nimmo has signed on to do a Judge Anderson strip with me for the same publication, I've seen the completed artwork for two more strips due for publication next year (one from Chris Askham and another from Bryan Coyle), and I've maybe got the chance to do something with an artist I've wanted to work with for a while. And there could well be some news on Babble on the horizon, but more on that later. So, once I'm able, I will be back at all this with a vengeance and my plans for world domination will be firmly back on track.

And, y'know, maybe I'll be able to write something, too.

Kev Levell shows off

As Kevin Levell continues his prep for our upcoming Zarjaz collaboration, he decided to follow his Mega City 1 scene with a Mopad built in Google Sketchup:

Now, seriously, Kev, that's just bloody showing off.

More pimping...

OK, so I've kind of fallen off the map this past week or so, and haven't really got the chance to do some more pimpage for Death To The Future, but, given that the Secret Project was finally revealed this week, it seems like a good time to pinch borrow this from Dunk's blog and show two of Carlos Ezquerra's least known characters together:

Death To The Future was originally conceived and greenlit before the news about Carlos broke, but it didn't stop us squeezing in a wee tribute to the man himself, which you'll see when you buy Zarjaz #10 and Dogbreath #23 - you are going to buy them, aren't you?

Both of these fine publications will be officially launched at the British International Comic Show in Birmingham in October, as well as being available to buy from the FutureQuake Shop, and your local Forbidden Planet International stores. So, really, you've got no excuse.

For all your Zarjaz and Dogbreath news, check out The Quaequam Blog - but remember to set your browsers for maximum Thrill Power!

A pretty mega Mega City 1...

As previously mentioned, I'm working on Judge Dredd strip for Zarjaz with the mighty Kev Levell. For me, working with Kev on this was enough, but then he went and completely outdid himself by making this in Google Sketchup:

You can see a larger version of this, along with some notes about it, over on Kev's blog.

Tharg, I hope your watching this guy closely...

Death To The Future!

A slightly ominous title for a blog post, maybe, but it also happens to be the title of a very special story that will be appearing in Zarjaz...and Dogbreath!

Yes, you read that right: this October, you'll be seeing the first ever Zarjaz/Dogbreath crossover with a story so jam packed full of Thrill Power it couldn't be contained in a single comic! And it gives me great pleasure to announce that myself, Dunk! Nimmo and Bolt-01 will be the ones spearheading this momentous event!

Dunk!, Bolt-01 and I first worked together on a piece called Gifts, which was originally printed in Something Wicked #2 - which you can read for free on the freebies page of this here blog - and it's a great, great pleasure to be working with them again, especially on something as special as this. Believe me when I say that both Dunk and Bolt-01 have really brought their A-game to this, and I'm pretty sure their work will absolutely blow you away. And, in case any of you were wondering, all the stuff we've been posting on our respective blogs was from this. Ain't we a bunch of stinkers?

Here's the official breakdown for you:

When Johnny Alpha returns to Mega-City 1 on a routine pick-up job, he comes face-to-face with Judge Dredd - who's determined to bring in the mutant bounty hunter dead or alive! What neither are aware is that Alpha's target is about to unleash one of the greatest villains in Mega-City 1 history on an unsuspecting future...

Death To The Future is a time-spanning mini-epic that teams 2000AD's two most popular characters in a deadly race against time - with the fate of humanity itself at stake!

If there's any geeky media types reading this that want a preview, drop me a line at lee at imaginary stories dot co dot uk, and I'll ship one straight out to you.

Now, don't worry: yes, Death To The Future is a crossover, but each strip will be a stand alone story, so you won't have to buy both comics to read the whole thing (but it would be really cool if you did). So, if you only buy Dogbreath but not Zarjaz - or vice versa - you'll still get an extended, action packed story featuring 2000AD's two biggest guns that'll overload your Thrill circuits and leave you gasping for breath!

Part 1 will be appearing in the extra-sized Zarjaz #10:

And part 2 will see the light of day in Dogbreath #23:

Both of these fine publications will be officially launched at the British International Comic Show in Birmingham in October, as well as being available to buy from the FutureQuake Shop, and your local Forbidden Planet International stores. So, really, you've got no excuse not to go and buy them.

For all your Zarjaz and Dogbreath news, check out The Quaequam Blog - but remember to set your browsers for maximum Thrill Power!

"She knows what you're thinking..."

I'm pleased to report that myself and Dunk Nimmo will be teaming up again for a Zarjaz strip, this time starring everyone's favourite Psi Judge, Cassandra Anderson. As a wee taster of what could well be on the cards, Dunk's posted an old Anderson sketch on his blog:

Our strip, I, Death, will be out sometime in 2011.

The Avengers Movie from 1952...?

For Sale: My Life

Not completely comfortable posting this, but needs must as the devil drives, or whatever the saying is.

I seem to have accumulated a lot of stuff down the years, most of it I now look at at and wonder why I still have it. So, I've decided to see if I can get rid of some of it on everyone's favourite auction site eBay. It's a case of trying to get rid of as much as I can in a very short space of time, and I'd prefer to send this stuff to good homes rather than the bottom of the bin. So, so, over the next couple of weeks, there'll be a good load of stuff added as I, basically, put my entire life up for sale. Or chunks of it, anyway. And stuff for other people.

I've temporarily added an icon to the links over on the side, so if anyone's interested, they can go and take a look and what I'm getting rid of.

"Spread The Word!"

Got sent these images a while back, and, since I've recently found my interest in the ABC Warriors re-ignited, I thought I'd share them with the world at large. So, here we have a scratch built - and painted! - Mek-Quake...

More teasers...

Over on his blog, Dunk Nimmo shows off another panel from our Zarjaz collaboration:

"I AM The Law, Creep!"

Dunk Nimmo's been showing off some new panels from our upcoming Zarjaz collaboration:

It's great to be working with Dunk again, especially on some Dredd stuff; he captures the Grand Old Man of Justice brilliantly, I think, and I'm grateful he liked my script, and had a gap in his schedule to accommodate it.

I'm reliably informed that this strip will be making it into Zarjaz #10, due for launch at BICS, so you'll be able to see the finished product then. I think we may have a strip lined up for Dogbreath, too, so you'll be able to see our take on Johnny Alpha before long.

And, don't forget, you can now read Gifts by myself and Dunk here.

A sneaky peek...

As yet more artwork for Zarjaz drops into my inbox, I thought I'd show you something from it.

I've got another Dredd strip lined up for the Galaxy's Greatest Fanzine, this time with the ridiculously talented Dunk Nimmo. Over on his blog, he's showing a step-by-step process of how a page of my script went from this:

to this:

The post is well worth a read to see Dunk's working process.

I think the finished strip will be seeing the light of day in Zarjaz #10, but I'm not 100% sure; the final running order for the issue is still being decided, so I should be finding out soon.