Sign of the Hammer!

Monday 26 September 2011

The Thing of Shapes to Come

 A little update on what I’ve been up to on the scripting front:
Well, I completed my script for 2012’s Doctor WTF?! a wee while back. My goal – to make it even loopier than last year’s effort and outdo myself in the sheer ridiculousness stakes. It’ll be a while till we see if I’ve managed it – look out for sentient asteroids, gestalt reincarnation and a Doctor gone very, very bad. Not to mention an earnest request that you beg a character’s pardon while he expresses his affection for a friend. Physically. Oh, and umlauts.
Next up is one of two new strips for Paragon, co-created with Davey Candlish, a man best described as the David Bowie of the small press, in the sense that his artistic style never sits still (and not in the sense that he’s a glammed-up lad insane.... although...) It’s a 19th century buddy-movie-style double-act with a musical theme, a lot of mutually disrespectful banter and a slightly sinister undercurrent. And that’s all I’m saying for now
But most imminent of all is Spencer Nero, also for Paragon, and also with That Man Candlish. What’s that all about, I hear you ask? Well, the year is 1936, and Spencer is a pulp-style adventurer with a Charles Atlas physique, who nurses a serious and somewhat unhealthy obsession with Ancient Rome. He’s a civil servant – in fact, he’s The Civil Centurion, the roving half of the two-man Department of Contingency, based in Whitehall. His boss, Mr. Alabaster, is a tarot-fixated pipe-smoking oddity and together they combat peculiar threats to British interests across the globe. Oh, and then there’s the business with the mask.... but if you want to know about that, take a look at Paragon #9 in a few months. I’ll be sure to get some preview art and other Spencer-related goodies up nearer the time, but suffice to say, I was absolutely honoured when Mr. Candlish awarded Spencer an inaugural cover to celebrate his debut.
Ave!

Friday 2 September 2011

The Doctor Is In (No, Not That One...)

Well, I was originally going to mention my upcoming strip for Strontium Dog fanzine Dogbreath in a casual, off-hand sort of way, as part of a general update on what I'm up to, script-wise.

But then David Broughton, who I teamed up with for my Impetigo Jones strip, sent me this absolute cracker of a specially-drawn preview pic:


And that settled it.

Bloody brilliant work, right?

Agreed.

If you cast your mind back to 'Bitch', the S/D strip that introduced Durham Red, you may recall that Johnny and Red's chief rival in the hunt for Ronald Reagan was none other than fellow Dog, Doc Death. With a gentlemanly turn of phrase and a degree in torture (quite literally), Doc was an absolute stand-out S/D villain. Well, he was until Red apparently murdered him at the end of the story, in a typically Wagner / Grant 'create memorable foe, kill 'em off without a second thought' fashion.

But Doc is finally getting his turn in the spotlight in a future issue of Dogbreath, as David and I team-up once more to dredge the depths of wickedness.

We'll try and do some good guys next time. Honest.