Doctor Who Magazine No.575 out this week

The Watcher.

Launched way back in 1979 when it was Doctor Who Weekly before soon becoming a monthy title, Doctor Who Magazine reaches issue 575 this Thursday.

Actually, calling it a monthly isn't entirely accurate, as it's published every four weeks so there are 13 issues a year. The latest issue will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Peter Davison becoming the fifth Doctor, with in-depth articles fans have come to expect from the magazine.

There will also be a new Daft Dimension mini-strip by me, tying in with the theme and featuring the mysterious 'Watcher' being from the regeneration story.

Doctor Who Magazine No.575, available from all good newsagents, supermarkets, and comic shops from Thursday 3rd March, or directly from the publishers, Panini UK, at this link:

https://www.panini.co.uk/shp_gbr_en/blog/doctor-who-magazine-575 

 

 

 

Thanks again!

My thanks once again to those of you who placed bids on my art auction, and congratulations to the two who won the items.

I might be putting some more items on eBay this week. I'm not sure if I'll have time to choose any artwork to list, but there may be some old comics and books I'll be listing.

In the meantime, remember that some of my Combat Colin comics are still avaiulable to buy, as is the Derek the Troll special.  

Click HERE to see my eBay listings. 

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The77 Kickstarter: Only a few hours to go!

The latest Kickstarter for The77 comic ends tonight (Sunday). Depending on what time you're reading this there's still time to pledge!

This is for The77 issue 7, and the Kickstarter ends at 10pm on Sunday 27th February. It's already reached its funding goal so the comic is guaranteed to be published, but there are variant covers and extras on offer depending on the amount pledged. (One extra is an original sketch from me of either Sgt.Shouty, Doctor Plank, or King Hindsight.) 

I'm currently working on the latest Sgt.Shouty strip for the issue, and this time it'll be two pages as we begin a new story arc. You can see some of my rough pencils for part of it above, before it was inked and coloured.

If you wish to back the Kickstarter, the link is here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/the77comic/the-77-seven 

 

Auction ends this Sunday evening on VIZ and OINK! original art

Just a reminder that my latest art auction ends this Sunday evening (27th February). Your last chance to win an original Felix and His Amazing Underpants page from Viz, and an original one-off Oink! strip too. 

Here's the link. Best of luck with your bids!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?item=203554298786

 

 

War. What is it good for?

When I was a little kid in the 1960s World War 2 had only been over for 20 years. That seemed a long time ago when I was six but for my parents and their friends it still felt very recent, just as 9/11 still feels recent to us now. There were still Anderson shelters in back gardens and air raid sirens visible in the streets even in the Sixties. My parents and my grandad often spoke about the war and the bombing raids because to them it was still fresh in their minds. I remember them always saying that "Russia will start the next lot". 

 

Of course you forget about that over time as that threat seemed to vanish into the background, but here we are now on that predicted day. It's looking grim but let's hope things don't escalate further. Admittedly it's a slim hope, but there's still time to prevent the worst case scenario from happening.

 

Look after yourselves and each other. 

 

Any Requests?

I've been working on a number of one-off jobs recently. All needed fairly quickly, but after the past few years I couldn't afford to turn them down. Not that I'd want to reject them anyway; each job was very enjoyable and I can't wait to show you previews when I'm allowed to do so. 

While we wait until I can show you snippets of those secret projects, are there any of my past strips you'd like me to show on this blog? Bear in mind I can't show full runs of strips for copyright reasons but I'd be able to show one or two examples of each strip. 

Also, if there's any questions you'd like to ask about my 39 years in the business, fire away. Leave a comment below and let me know....

  

Felix and His Amazing Underpants

Click on the page to see it full size.

 

I've drawn many strips for Viz over the years. I started way back in 1986 in issue 18 with a one-off strip called Wayne, Son of Jane, written by Tim Quinn. A while after that I was asked to take over the art duties on The Pathetic Sharks, Suicidal Syd, Norman the Doorman, and Felix and His Amazing Underpants.

Sometimes the scripts would be supplied by the guys at Viz but I also wrote many of them myself. One of my favourites is shown above; the Felix and His Amazing Underpants page that I wrote and drew for Viz No.200 in 2010. 

I've sold off most of my Viz artwork over the years and don't have a lot left now but I've put the original art for this Felix page on eBay and the auction runs until Sunday (27th Feb). See this link for more info:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203838781369

I haven't contributed to Viz for three years but I hope to be back in its pages one day! I just need to get into the "Viz mode" of storytelling again, which has its own specific rhythm and style of writing. (Firstly though I need to finish the jobs I'm currently working on.)

Original artwork from VIZ and OINK! up for auction this week

My thanks to those of you who have been bidding on my original art auctions. This week's offerings are now on eBay and they are...

The original art for the Felix and His Amazing Underpants page that I did for Viz No.200 back in 2010 about Felix storing comics in his Underpants. It's a higher starting price than usual because I don't have many Viz pages left now and this is as it's a personal favourite, but needs must. You can see more info at the link here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203838781369

The other piece on offer is a small strip I did for Oink! back in 1986. Knowall Norman and Queasy Quentin At Blackpool Pleasure Beach was the only appearance of these two characters I created. You can find the listing at this link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203838771371 

Bidding ends next Sunday evening (27th February). Good luck!

The Day I Was A Research Droid

It's exactly 45 years to the day since 2000AD was launched, as it arrived in newsagents on Saturday 19th February 1977. Not many comics reach that milestone so big respect to all the creators and staff who have worked on the comic over the past four and a half decades!

As 2000AD is primarily a gritty action/adventure comic you may think it's unlikely I've ever worked for it, but actually I did, many years ago!  Not on the weekly, but I was commissioned to write an article for the 2000AD Annual 1985 about the IPC sci-fi heroes that had appeared in British comics before 2000AD. 

I chose 1950 as the starting point and it was an absolute pleasure to write the feature as I could talk about Dan Dare, Captain Condor, The Steel Claw, The Legend Testers, Kelly's Eye and many more. Titled Heroes Before 2000AD it ran for four pages in the book.

As you know, 2000AD calls all its creators "droids", the conceit being that there's a workforce of robots slaving away on the comic. I was very amused that my article credited me as "Research Droid Lew Stringer". However, editor Steve MacManus (sorry, I mean Tharg) added a note at the end of the feature to announce that "I regret to report that scanning twenty-five million old British comics has caused research droid Stringer's circuits to blow!".

I'm still chuckling about that, nearly 40 years later. 

I did another feature for the following year's annual as I recall; not really my cup of tea but it was some Dredd vs Death scorecard thing I think, heavily rewritten in places as I remember. It was the Heroes Before 2000AD article I'm most proud of though. Back then it wasn't often that British comics would acknowledge their history in such detail so it was a privilege to contribute. A few years later I was asked to write another feature on the classic heroes; this one I called Tales Before Dreddtime, and it appeared in the 2000AD Action Special in 1992.

Happy Birthday 2000AD from your long lost Research Droid! :) 

I did a blog post about 2000AD's 40th anniversary five years ago and you can read that at this link:

https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2017/02/its-2000ads-40th-anniversary.html

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BEANO sales still on the rise

Despite the regular claims on Facebook groups and the like that "kids don't read comics these days", sales of Beano continue to rise every year. Presumably the critics may be speaking from the personal experience of their own children showing no intrerest in comics but thankfully there are still lots of kids who do enjoy comics!

The average sales figures of Beano are now 54,800 per week. Yes, critics will point out that it's far lower than the heyday of the 1950s and 1960s but that was 60 years ago in a far different world than today when all print periodicals were more popular. The important fact is that at a time when most other magazines and comics have falling circulation figures the Beano's sales are bucking that trend! In 2010 Beano's average sales were 40,000 so to rise to 54,800 in 12 years is an impressive feat and a figure higher than many U.S. comics sell in a month to the whole of America.

You can find out more information at the Down the Tubes blog where John Freeman has dilligently studied the figures to give us his twice-yearly updates on British comics performances...

https://downthetubes.net/beano-bucks-magazine-sales-decline-again-as-latest-uk-abc-news-stand-sales-figures-land/

I'm pleased to say that I'll be returning to Beano in the issue on sale March 9th with the return of an old favourite in a new series of mini-strips. More news soon!

Latest art auction ends this Sunday

Thought I'd just post a reminder that my latest art auction ends on Sunday evening (20th Feb) so if you'd like some original art of my Mini-Marvel strips from 2006 or a Robo-Capers original from 1987, head over to my eBay listings here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?item=203554298786

There are more photos of each piece at their individual listings.

All bids very much appreciated! Good luck! 

 

Cor!! It's Buster's modern adventures!

Going by some comments online recently it seems some people missed the fact that Buster and a load of other classic characters have been revived by Rebellion. In 2019 and 2020, Rebellion, who purchased the rights to the old IPC comics archives, published two brand new official 52 page Cor!! Buster specials edited by Keith Richardson. The full colour comics brought back characters such as Gums, Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, Faceache, Kid Kong, and many more in new stories by today's artists. 

There were two of the original Buster artists on board too; Tom Paterson doing Sweeny Toddler and Grimly Feendish, and me doing new Buster strips (written by John Freeman). 

John's scripts not only included Buster but many other vintage characters too, and it was a pleasure to draw crowd scenes featuring Bad Penny, Sid's Snake, The Swots and Blots, Fuss Pott, Gus Gorilla, and loads more. I also added a few really old characters such as Alfie the Air Tramp and Weary Willie and Tired Tim. 

In 2021, Rebellion issued another special. This time it was Monster Fun, again bringing back classic characters in new stories. (Monster Fun becomes a regular bi-monthly comic from April.)

So, for all those fans on Facebook groups missing the characters of long ago, they've been back for the past couple of years! Sure, they're by new creators now (most of the artists and writers from 50 years ago are sadly no longer with us or retired) but the new folks are doing a good job, free from the constraints of any house style to make the comics look fresh and modern for today's kids. 

The two Cor!! Buster Specials were collected into a 100 page softback in 2020, and you can purchase it directly from Rebellion's website by visiting this link:

https://shop.treasuryofbritishcomics.com/catalogue/RCA-H0018

Comic Scene covers SMASH!

I've written a short (2,000 word) article on the history of Odhams' Smash! comic for an upcoming edition of the Comic Scene History of Comics partwork. Each issue covers a different year and this is for the one dedicated to 1966, the year Smash! was launched.

Smash! was my favourite comic as a child and a big inspiration for me to create my own comics. I have a complete run of the comic so I'm pleased to have written a feature about this great weekly.

Looks like the partwork with my article in will be out in April, but you can pre-order it, and other editions, from the fab GetMyComics website at this link...

https://getmycomics.com/ComicScene 

Wolverine, Spider-Man and Robo Capers in this week's original art auction

The latest auction of my original art has gone live today and it includes two Mini-Marvels strips from 2006 and a Robo Capers from 1987.

The Robo-Capers one is from Marvel UK's Transformers No.111 and is a self contained chapter of "The Forgotten Robots of History".

The Mini-Marvels feature Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man and more and appeared in Panini UK's Rampage magazine in 2006. As well as the original inked art I'm throwing in the pencilled roughs for the Mini-Marvels too.

 

 

You can see the full listings here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?item=203554298786

Bidding ends next Sunday evening (20th February). Good luck!

 

Brickman Returns SOLD OUT!

The last remaining copies of Brickman Returns! that I put on eBay yesterday have now all sold out. My thanks to those of you who quickly snapped them up. Early orders have been posted and the others will be sent off on Monday morning.

I'm unlkely to reprint those colour stories anytime soon because of costs, and if I eventually do I'll probably redesign the cover and it'll have different (or less) back up material so hold onto those collectors' items! 

Issues of Combat Colin and Derek the Troll are still available at this link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?item=203554298786 

BRICKMAN RETURNS! Last copies found! Only five left! UPDATE: NOW SOLD OUT

I thought I'd sold out but while looking for something else I've found the last few remaining copies of Brickman Returns!

Published in 2015 it collected the new full colour Brickman stories that I did for Image Comics' Elephantmen from 2006 to 2009. As well those 20 pages of Brickman there's also back ups in this collection: a Combat Colin classic, plus three pages of the Suburban Satanists, the strip I did for Norway (translated back into English). 

I've put the comics on eBay and as well as the 32 page Brickman Returns comic you'll also get a postcard-sized mini print featuring Brickman and Trowel, and an A5 sized Fact Card showing a buch of my characters on one side and short facts about them on the reverse.

 

The comic is recommended for a Teen Plus readership rather than young children. These really are the last few copies of Brickman Returns left. When they're gone, they're gone, and I'm unlikely to reprint these stories for at least 12 months or more.

To see more, check out my eBay listing here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203828612141

 

UPDATE 12/2/22: NOW SOLD OUT! Thanks for buying! Issues of Combat Colin Nos.2 and 3 are still available though.

Combat Colin back issues still available

As I overprinted on that issue I still have copies of Combat Colin No.3 left, and a few of issue 2 as well. See my eBay page for listings...  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?item=203554298786

In case you didn't know, the comics collect my old Combat Colin stories that I did for Marvel UK back in the late 1980s/early 1990s. I've published four issues so far, alhough issues 1 and 4 are sold out. However each issue is self contained so it's not as though there are cliffhangers or vital chapters you'll have missed if you only buy one issue. Format is the same size as American comics.

I still hope to get issue 5 out this year but it all depends on finances of course. The rising prices of utility bills isn't helping! Still, fingers crossed. Anyway, here's some bits from Combat Colin No.3...

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

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On the Drawing Board

I can't reveal all the stuff I'm working on at the moment but I can tell you I'm doing a couple of bits for The Dandy Summer Special which will be out in, well, the summer I guess! That's one page on my drawing board, blurred out to avoid any spoilers (and to prevent rival publishers copying it :)). 

Right, time to literally get back to the drawing board...

- Lew Stringer, 4th February 2022 

The Daft Daleks are back this Thursday!

Here's a sneak preview of my next Daft Dimension strip for Doctor Who Magazine. This is just a close up of part of a panel but I don't want to give away too much or it could spoil the joke.

You can see the full version in Doctor Who Magazine No.574 when it goes on sale this Thursday! Available from WH Smith, supermarkets, all good newsagents, and comic shops, or you could order it directly from the publishers at this link:

https://www.panini.co.uk/shp_gbr_en/doctor-who-magazine-574-gbdrw574-uk02.html  

 

If you're interested in buying the original artwork for one of my previous Daft Dimension strips you can find the auction at this link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203811901203