Into The Woods - Available Now!

At last, Stacey Whittle's anthology Into The Woods is finally available to buy!

The book brings together some of the finest small press comic creators around today to give their own unique takes on fairy and folk tales, including Richard McAuliffe, Sarah Dunkerton, Matt Gibbs, Alice Duke, Scott Harrison, Daniel Clifford, Bevis Musson, Alexi Conman, Connor Boyle, and, er, me.

Myself and Simon Wyatt (with Filip Roncone on lettering duties) have done our own version of the Northumbrian folk tale The Lang Pack (or The Long Pack, for all you Southerners), a bizarre little tale that I don't think has been told in comic form before.

In the Winter of 1723, a peddlar leaves his pack with the skeleton staff of Lee Hall in Bellingham while he sought other lodgings. However, during the night, the pack begins to move of its own accord...

The book is complemented by this rather tasty front cover by Andy Bloor (with colours by Steven Howard):




Into The Woods is available now from Aye Saw Comics' Big Cartel Shop, priced at a paltry £5 (+ p&p). So, go on! Buy a copy!

A Sneaky Peek at Judge Dredd: The Taking Of Mopad 456

On Christmas Eve morning, I got a rather lovely little surprise from Kevin Levell in my inbox: the completed art for our Zarjaz collaboration Judge Dredd: The Taking Of Mopad 456! I've been sitting on it for a while, but now it's all been lettered and locked down for printing, there's a wee preview of it at The Quaequam Blog - and looks a bit like this:

Kev has posted a little something about the process for that teaser over on his blog.

The story was an attempt at a shamelessly old school Judge Dredd tale - so much so, that I was adamant it had to have been done before, and the guys at Zarjaz would reject it. But, to my surprise, they loved it (editor extraordinaire Bolt-01 said he could imagine it was something drawn by Ron Smith - which is still one of the nicest compliments I've had about anything I've written). And, then, when Kev agreed to do the artwork, everything just fell beautifully into place in that way that life has a habit of doing sometimes. Anyone who's familiar with Kev's work will know he's a 2000AD art droid in waiting, destined for great things in the world of comics, and to get the chance to do something with him was an utter joy; he really made this strip his own, infusing it with a classic feel that's just so perfectly pitched. I just hope the script matches up...

The completed strip will be appearing in Zarjaz #15, due for release in July 2012, and will feature a cover by yet another 2000AD Art Droid.

Into The Cardiff Comic Expo

Stacey Whittle's anthology Into The Woods is finally getting it's official launch at Cardiff Comic Expo this weekend. The book brings together some of the finest small press comic creators around today to give their own unique takes on fairy and folk tales, and includes an adaptation of the Northumbrian folk tale The Lang Pack (or The Long Pack, for all you Southerners) by me and Simon Wyatt (with Filip Roncone on lettering duties).

For anyone unfamiliar with the original story, it's a tale about a pedlar with a mysteriously long package who pays a visit to Lee Hall in Bellingham. Leaving the pack at the house with the servants, he heads off to find lodgings. However, during the night, the house staff swear the package begins to move... It's an interesting  tale, but one made all the more interesting by the mysterious gravestone at St Cuthbert's Church in Bellingham:

Image copyright © Major_Clanger and used entirely without permission

Click that image for a version of the story of The Lang Pack, if you're so inclined. Alternatively, Linda Stratmann has a more detailed version on her website here or England's North East has a slightly different version here. Alternatively, you can buy Joseph Crawhall's book about the story from Amazon here. I'm pretty sure the story has never been told in comic format before, so we could well be breaking new ground here.

Anyway, to whet your appetite for our version, here's a little taster panel, Simon's rendition of Lee Hall:

And here's our lead character, Alice:

And here's the rather tasty cover from Andy Bloor (with colours by Steven Howard):

Into The Woods also features work from Richard McAuliffe, Sarah Dunkerton, Matt Gibbs, Alice Duke, Scott Harrison, Daniel Clifford, Bevis Musson, Alexi Conman and Connor Boyle. Priced a paltry £5, it'll be available from Cardiff Comic Expo this coming weekend. So y'know, go and buy a copy, if you're there. After that, it'll also be for sale through Stacey's very own Big Cartel Shop.

I'm reliably informed that Stacey will be sharing a table with the FutureQuake team at the Cardiff con -  who will advance copies of the latest issues of Zarjaz and Dogbreath, both of which I'm in, too!

Zarjaz #14 features Devlin Waugh: A Night In Casablanca by me and Jaye Franklin, and comes with a Colin MacNeil cover:

Dogbreath #25 has Strontium Dog: Best Served Cold by me and Simon Bennett Hayes, and features a cover by Stewart Moore:

Both comics are priced £3.00, and will be available from the FutureQuake Shop soon. The FQ team will have more of their usual high quality output available to buy - some of which you can see on the right side of your screen. So, y'know, go buy them and discover some of the finest small press comics being produced today.

A Sneaky Peek at Strontium Dog: Best Served Cold

This one kinda snuck up on me, I'll admit, but it looks like I'll have a piece in Dogbreath #25, Best Served Cold, with art by Simon Bennett Hayes:

It's often been said that there's not a lot Strontium Dogs won't do for money, but how far are they prepared to go for revenge...?

I have to come clean here and admit I'm not the biggest Strontium Dog fan in the world, and, outside of Death To The Future, this is my first real foray into writing Johnny Alpha. Whether I've pulled it off, I'll leave it up to the readers...

Dogbreath #25 (and Zarjaz #14) will be available from the FutureQuake shop from March, but the FQ lads will have some advance copies available to buy at Cardiff Comic Expo at the end of the month. It features a cover from future collaborator Stewart Moore that looks a bit like this:

More on both this and Zarjaz later.

"What's in Spock's scanner?" - The Complete Trilogy

At last, the series "What's in Spock's scanner?" is complete...

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3: