D for Dennis, M for menace!
Dennis the Menace, Gnasher, Walter the Softie, Gnipper, Rasher and Dasher are all copyright of DC Thomson, floggers of dead horses extraordinaire. I have fond memories of this character but the attitude he is famous for is an anachronism in today’s society, and the efforts DC has made to modernize him completely negate the point of the character. Sometimes it is best to let things die, or if not go the other way and make him into a monster as I have done here. We all knew this is what he would have done to Walter if that fuckin’ slipper wasn’t around.
The cover for my psychedelic Doctor Who anthology by 2000ad legend Colin MacNeil ;)
This is out now, featuring a one page strip by me and Oscar Maltby. Contact the Fox for purchasing details.
I’ve been taking some life-drawing classes recently in an attempt to hone my anatomy skills as well as being a pretty convenient excuse for leering at naked ladies without getting in trouble with the missus.
There’s a couple of really good night schools here in Montreal which are allowing me to catch up on the art education I never had. Unfortunately one of them is above a male strip club, the combination of booming techno music and the obnoxious announcer’s voice coming through the floorboards can be very off-putting when drawing male nudes. “…and heeeeere’s Pedro, he’s huuuuuung like a dooooonkeeeey!”
Fanart of Kano from Bad Company, made for a fellow on the 2000ad forum who helped me track down a very rare Brendan McCarthy comic. I wish I could pay for everything with art, that would be aces.
This piece was a particular pleasure to make as it celebrates one of my favouritest comics of all time, the surreal future war epic BAD COMPANY. The art on the series was by Brett Ewins, who has been on my mind a lot lately. Brett forms part of the holy trinity of GhostPockets influences, alongside McCarthy and McMahon (and not forgetting their archangel Shaky Kane). Whereas those others have had triumphant returns to the comics fold in recent times. Brett has remained curiously absent. I knew he hadn’t been well, but I didn’t realise the extent of it until I ordered The Art of Brett Ewins last September. In the early 90s Brett suffered a stress-related breakdown from overworking and was subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia. He has been heavily medicated ever since, and besides a short graphic novel published in 2002 had all but disappeared from the comics world. The end of the book was hopeful though, stating that Brett was producing again in the form of writing, painting and even collaborating with street artists and THE MUTOID WASTE COMPANY!
Then in January this year there was an altercation with some police officers at Brett’s home, where one officer recieved minor wounds to his arm from a knife Brett was wielding. In the same scuffle Brett recieved a serious blow to the head from a police baton, whereafter his heart stopped for fifteen minutes and he was then comatose for several days. Upon waking Brett was in a very confused state, having no memory of the incident and believing it to be the year 2003 and that he was in Thailand.
It is understood that the Independant Police Complaints are investigating the actions of the police during this incident. Brett has been charged with GBH and was spirited away from the hospital to Wormwood Scrubs where he is on remand. That was on the 9th February, and seemingly he has not had access to his medication since. Now I don’t want to speculate about the case, that is not my place, but the idea of Brett suffering unduly is heart-breaking. But what can we do? Well one possible avenue is suggested in this blogpost, I’m not sure how much help it can actually be to pester this guy but I messaged him anyway. It seems the very least I could do after gleaning years of pleasure from Brett’s work. Here’s hoping to a speedy and happy resolution to all this.
Another example of my shoddy lines being coloured by an awesome artist. This 5-min sketchlet was given the star treatment by Tom Berry, who draws a pretty amazing Dredd himself. I was always a fan of Ron Smith’s green visor so the fact that Tom echos this gets him extra points in my book.
More zammitness unearthed in the form of this fanart he produced for me back in 2008. This mean green fellow will be returning soon so beware. 2012 is the Year of the Otter, bitches!
Clearing out my old files I came across this from a few years back. My lines crazily coloured by Chris Zammit. Hop along to his blog right this second and enjoy much better art then you will ever see here.
This image is of particular interest as it portrays characters who have been stuck in limbo ever since, but who may well resurface some time soon. As always keep watching this space.
A specially constructed blunderbuss for Professor Elemental. Nice and steampunkish, I reckon this thing could do quite a bit of damage if fired but like He-man’s sword and Wolverine’s claws tis just for show. Seriously you can let your kids read this comic, I ain’t killing anyone off in this outing. Well actually the Professor does step on an ant at one point but that panel cuts off at the waist so you don’t see nothing.
My initial page of character designs for the forthcoming Professor Elemental comicbook. These were drawn without any reference so some of the details are off, such as Geoffrey looking more like a hairy troll creature than an orangutan. As you can see at this point I was also still struggling with how to draw a pith helmet. I suggested to the Prof he wear a simpler to draw piece of headgear such as a fez, but he was having none of it.
Unfortunately the sexy birdwomen was cut from the final strip, but the lack of boobs means that this will be my first all-ages strip as there are are no grisly deaths either. A GhostPockets strip without blood and guts??? You heard it here first!
