Well, that's how Alan Moore described one of my Brickman mini-comics when he reviewed it for The Daredevils back in the 1980s. And who am I to argue with the great man?
In 2005 Richard Starkings' Active Images company gathered together all my Brickman strips from various fanzines and comics and published them as a 152 page digest-size softback entitled Brickman Begins! It's a diverse collection because it contains my raw, very early fanzine work in 1979, right up to material in 1996, plus a new 4 page prologue I drew for the book. It kind of charts the development of my style in a way, as you can see from the few selected pages I'm showing on this post.
The book includes strips from After Image, Blimey! It's Brickman, Brickman on Toast, The Early Brickman, Swiftsure, Brickman No.1, Yampy Tales, and more. Oh yeah, there's a six page Combat Colin story in there too, which Brickman guest-starred in, from The Transformers.
There are also guest pages by a variety of top artists including Tim Sale, Charlie Adlard (zombie Brickman!), Alan Davis, Dave Gibbons, Kevin O'Neill, Dave Hine, Hunt Emerson, Richard Starkings, Mike Collins (inked by Mark Farmer), Dave Windett, Mike Higgs, Hunt Emerson, and Ian Churchill. Plus a bunch of bonus pages with unused artwork, a jokey interview with me, and an introduction by Alan Moore.
You can see where this is going, can't you? Yes, the book is still available, and if you're interested in buying a copy zip over to my website here:
http://www.lewstringer.com/page7.htm
(Although Brickman Begins! doesn't contain bad language the book does have a couple of drug references and one or two things that may not be suitable for children, so bear that in mind please.)
It's a great book. the only minor issue is cause its based on the western idea of 'Manga style' trades, there is a problem with not enough white space alone the spine, meaning it's tricky to read to the edges without braking the spine. but that's a minor issue really.
ReplyDeletebut something to think about if/when the Combat Colin trade comes out.
The lack of space at the gutter is a downside unfortunately, as the pages were not originally designed for those proportions. However, I've manhandled a spare copy pretty robustly to see if it damaged the spine and it doesn't. The pages are tight, but still all readable without it cracking the spine. It's bound quite strongly. Are you saying yours snapped?
ReplyDeleteno, mine hasn't, but I'm used to them doing it so I'm careful. It's good to know that I can use a bit more pressure and it won't ^_^
ReplyDeleteWhew! False alarm then. I hope you haven't put too many people off buying it without good reason, Manic.
ReplyDeleteHopefully. But I know tons of trades like it and that doesn't normally stop things.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it happens on thicker books or ones not so well bound, but, to repeat, this book is very sturdy. I opened a spare one right back and it didn't crack the spine. So let's not put people off with things that haven't happened please.
Deleteokay ^_^; sorry, I was more a comment to help people not ruin a good piece of work, but it's great that it's much better then expected. Sorry if anyone takes my comments in the wrong way. It's a book I have and do recommend.
DeleteBrilliant book, most enjoyable.Mj
ReplyDelete