Wednesday October 6th will see the arrival of the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular to all good newsagents. 52 all new full colour pages reviving classic characters by today's creators.
I'm pleased to be one of those creators, working with esteemed writer Kek-W (author of many 2000AD strips) on a revival of Wiz War, a strip that originated in the pages of Pow! back in 1968 when it was drawn by Mike Brown.
Wiz War is about two rival wizards in the Middle Ages, Wizard Prang and Demon Druid. For our two page revival we've maintained the same premise and I've kept the characters exactly as they were, following Mike Brown's original designs. In the Pow! strips, which were usually in black and white, Demon Druid wore a black robe and hat but as our version is in full colour I chose to make his outfit dark blue so it wouldn't be too dreary. BUT the shade of blue I chose is the same as that which the old Odhams comics used to substitute for black on their covers, so it's still authentic. I also used the original 1960s logo, digitally remastering it for the new strip.
The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular looks fantastic, featuring a wide variety of creators including Cavan Scott, John Lucas, Tiernan Trevillion, Abigail Bulmer, Simon Furman, Edward Whatley, Tom Paterson and many more.
The great news is that next year Monster Fun will become a regular 32 page bimonthly comic in April 2022! The first new ongoing mainstream UK kids' humour comic since The Phoenix.
It saddens me to say I haven't been commissioned to continue on the comic for 2022, but I wish the very best of luck to all those who did make the cut and hope you'll support it.
You can order the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular directly from Rebellion at this link:
https://shop.treasuryofbritishcomics.com/catalogue/RCS2152P
...and you can subscribe to the ongoing comic here:
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| TOM PATERSON's fantastic cover! |
The website Comicon.Com has been granted permission to show lots of samples of the strips from the special which you can view at this link...
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Great news about the new Monster Fun bi-monthly. I am considering ordering it and will look forward to the day your artwork is included.
ReplyDeleteHopefully in a couple of years if I'm still around. It seems a long way off at my age.
ReplyDeletePicked my copy up today, excellent package loved it . Especially enjoyed our Wiz Wars was excellent , Tom Paterson's strips , Creature Teacher,, Birdman and Chicken and Kid Kong, heck it was all too class well done everyone involved it's a great comic.
ReplyDeleteI bought a couple from Smiths today as I haven't had my comp copies yet. They had loads in stock, on the top shelf unfortunately next to Viz, but at least they're out there.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed Wiz War, Paul.
Sorry to hear you're not working on next year's issues 😕 hope we see your wiz wars artwork at some point again 👍
ReplyDeleteIt'd be nice to work on anything, or create a new monster, but it's not likely I'm afraid. At least not until 2023 and I'm not even sure of that now. Time to move on and try elsewhere I think.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't you do anything for the latest one? I was sure you would have a page or two in the Easter special.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to have contributed, Mike, but they didn't want me. That's the comics biz sometimes unfortunately.
ReplyDelete