Last chance to bid!

My latest art auction ends soon (Sunday 26th July) so if you're interested in a Pathetic Sharks page from Viz (2008) or a Combat Colin page from Marvel UK's The Transformers (1989) here's your last opportunity. This is my original artwork drawn in black ink on Bristol Board for the comics back then. Not prints, not pages torn from comics, not copies, not facsimiles. (You'd be surprised what some chancers pretend is original art.)

I'm surprised that as it stands right now there have only been two bids on the Viz page, as many of you have been asking me to list Viz artwork. I haven't found any other complete pages so don't miss out on this.

The Combat Colin page is another rarity. It's very unlikely I'll be selling any more Combat Colin pages in the foreseeable future but I listed this one as there had been demands for it. Usually I prefer to hold onto my Combat Colin pages as I own the rights. 

Remember, the auctions end very soon! All bids appreciated. Here's the link where you'll find close up photos of the artwork and will be able to place your bid:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=graphite47 

Summertime Daftness

Here's an advance preview of part of my next Daft Dimension comic strip. Yes, every year I try to feature Blackpool in one of my strips and this is the latest one. ('Cos when I was a kid, summertime comic strips often featured Blackpool so I'm carrying on the tradition). 

 

See the full version in the bumper edition of Doctor Who Magazine No.632, in shops from Thursday July 23rd.

 

 

COMBAT COLIN and PATHETIC SHARKS artwork up for sale!

I'm selling two pages of my original artwork this week. By popular demand I've found a PATHETIC SHARKS page from VIZ (2008) and a COMBAT COLIN page from TRANSFORMERS (1989). 

Your bids are very much appreciated at the moment so I hope some of you out there will be interested. Both auctions end next Sunday, 26th July. Good luck! 

Here's the link...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=graphite47 

 

Comic life

Someone asked me if I'd be doing digital editions of the issues of Combat Colin that have sold out in physical form. The short answer is no I'm afraid.

There doesn't appear to be a market for digital editions of my comics. I have three on my KoFi shop that readers from anywhere in the world can buy for just £3 each and download full PDF comics but none of them have even reached double figures in sales. 

You can never take anything for granted in this business (or any business I suppose). You can be powering along successfully for years, enjoying the process of creating and receiving good feedback from readers and then suddenly the work drops off and no one tells you why. Not just in one instance, but as a pattern, and when you see those signs you realise that maybe it's time to read the room and accept that something has changed. Not just in business but in life in general. It isn't just me, but this happens to almost every comics creator in the end except for the real superstars (and even some of them too).

For now though, before the point comes when I feel it's time to wrap everything up completely, my comics are still up for sale on my shop. Physical editions that will be posted securely, and the three digital comics that you can buy and download to read right away. 

https://ko-fi.com/lewstringer/shop

Sorry it's a downbeat post, but eventually you have to face reality about life.

 

Comics Assemble this August!

The next event I'll be a guest at is Comics Assemble, a new one day convention dedicated to comics. It's based in Gloucester on August 15th so please come along and join us. 

If you're a exhibitor with comics to sell, there are still a few tables left so here are the details...

See you there? https://comicsassemble.net/

Another sneak preview

The launch date of The Dandy Annual 2027 is getting closer and it's scheduled to be published next month! (Around 10th August.) 

I thought you might like to see another sneak peek at one of my four Dinah Mo stories I did for the book. Here are a couple of panels before they were lettered, as Dinah and her Mum encounter pollution in the woods! Just the sort of thing that will spur environmentally-conscious Dinah into action to find out the culprits!

As I've mentioned before these stories will be my final contributions to D.C. Thomson publications now I'm semi-retired and have scaled down my output. I've contributed to every Dandy Annual from the 2012 to 2025 editions (missed the 2026 one) and now the 2027 annual, so it's been a good run.

The Dandy Annual 2027 is available to pre-order now from various online sellers.

COVER ART BY THE SHARP BROS.

Remember The Swots and the Blots?

I've written the introduction for a fantastic new book that reprints a classic humour strip from my childhood. The Swots and Blots is a 180 page volume collecting all of Leo Baxendale's work on the strip from 1969 to 1971 when it was in Smash! weekly. 

Although The Swots and the Blots had been in Smash! since issue 1 in 1966 it was drawn by other artists for the first three years. With this book, publisher Irmantas Povilaika has selected the strips from the point where Leo Baxendale took over writing and drawing the series, - and needless to say with Leo at the helm it reached new heights of hilarity and absurdist comedy. (No exaggeration. This was genuinely one of the funniest strips in British comics.)

The Swots and Blots is published under official licence from Rebellion and in very limited quantities, - so order quickly if you want one. The hardback edition is limited to 150 numbered copies (and comes with a free colour print) while the softback edition is limited to just 50 copies. The printing and reproduction is excellent. My photos here don't do it justice. The inks are solid black.

The book is only available directly by post from the publisher in Lithuania at this link:

https://www.kazoop-comics-shop.com/

...and if you don't have the other books that Irmantas has published, you can purchase those there too.