A Tom Thug's Skooldayz page from Buster dated December 3rd 1988.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204287728888?hash=item2f907f5cf8:g:X-MAAOSw6ulkIy6D
A Combat Colin strip from Marvel's Transformers No.223 (1989).
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204287731790?hash=item2f907f684e:g:FPAAAOSwbRVkIy9u
A Daft Dimension strip from the official Doctor Who Magazine No.486 (2015).
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204287734511?hash=item2f907f72ef:g:DycAAOSwLodkIzDH
The first Combat Colin strip from 1987.
It's
36 years this week since Combat Colin first appeared in print, in
Marvel's Action Force comic back in 1987. He's still my favourite creation (although as always I must mention that it was Steve White who came up with the name).
In recent years I've collected the Combat Colin strips into a series of comics and I
still hope to continue with that at some point but it depends on a number of factors at present.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47
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There's also Part 6 of the main comic strip, Legacy of the Daleks, exclusively featuring the 14th Doctor by Alan Barnes, Lee Sullivan, James Olfredi and Roger Langridge.
Doctor Who Magazine No.589, on sale from WH Smiths, supermarkets, comic shops and some newsagents, or you can buy it directly from the publisher at this link:
https://www.panini.co.uk/shp_gbr_en/doctor-who-magazine-589-gbdrw589-uk02.html
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My next event will be the Sonic the Comic Con in York on 20th May.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stiv2k/stccon2023
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Plaza Community Cinema, 13 Crosby Road North, Waterloo, Liverpool L22 0LD
Here's the link to their website:
https://plazacinema.org.uk/blog/18000/marvel-dc-comic-day-saturday-25th-march-2023
I'll be bringing along my comics (Combat Colin and Derek the Troll) plus selling sketches on the day of whatever character of mine you'd like me to draw for you. Hope to see you there!
As well as myself, the guests will include Charlie Adlard, Nigel Parkinson, Leigh Gallagher and more! To read all about it, visit the venue's website at this link:
https://plazacinema.org.uk/blog/18000/marvel-dc-comic-day-saturday-25th-march-2023
See you there!
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Here's all the info...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stiv2k/stccon2023
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Dave Gibbons' autobiography CONFABULATION is out and I couldn't resist buying it of course. This magnificent well illustrated 256 page hardback covers Dave's impressive 50 years in comics and I was chuffed to see he's included the page he and I did for OINK! back in 1987, The Superhero's Day Off. (Script by me, art and lettering by Dave.)
There are lots of anecdotes packed into the book including Dave's fond memories of when we all used to regularly meet up at The Westminster Arms after the London Comic Marts in the 1980s. Dave's warm recollections perfectly sum up those happy Saturday lunchtimes of 40 years ago that are cherished memories for so many of us who were there.
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| Click image to see it full readable size. |
There are a lot more anecdotes about Dave's career than that of course, and he talks about his earliest days on D.C. Thomson comics, through to the Watchmen era, The Originals, and beyond. This really is one of the best autobiographies by a comics creator that you're likely to see. Dave's had (and is still having) a significant career in the business and his affable personality comes across well in his illuminating writing style.
Confabulation: An Anecdotal Autobiography by Dave Gibbons with Tim Pilcher is published by Dark Horse and is available now from bookshops and comic book stores. Here's a link to the Dark Horse website where you can see more pages from the book...
https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3007-141/Confabulation-An-Anecdotal-Autobiography-HC
https://forbiddenplanet.com/358696-confabulation-an-anecdotal-autobiography-hardcover/
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Update: Last night (16th March) Shane Chebsey and Sam Morgan interviewed Dave Gibbons on The Ice Cast Live and you can see it on You Tube at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dILtQ316vV0
I don't often sell my Christmas pages but there's a Tom Thug Christmas page from Oink! here from 1987. There's also a more recent Daft Dimension (2017) from Doctor Who Magazine and a Combat Colin strip featuring the very first appearance of the Giggly Sisters (who would become frequent characters) from 1988.
All bids appreciated! Good luck! Here's the link where you can find out more info and see close up photos of the art...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47
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At the moment I'm drawing the next Daft Dimension for Doctor Who Magazine No.589 which will be out in a few weeks. Here's a little glimpse of a close up of part of it at the rough pencil stage, featuring the first Doctor.
The current issue, No.588, is still on sale and you'll find it in branches of WH Smith, various supermarkets and newsagents, and comic shops.
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There's the very first appearance of The Giggly Sisters in the Combat Colin strip from Transformers No.196 (1988)...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204267969013?hash=item2f8f51d9f5:g:VZkAAOSw26dkCKyJ
A Christmas with Tom Thug page from Oink! (1987)...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204267974387?hash=item2f8f51eef3:g:XE8AAOSwsNNkCK1V
...and a Daft Dimension strip from Doctor Who Magazine No.515 (2017) featuring the 12th Doctor, a Cyberman, Dalek, Sontaran, and Ice Warrior, plus the 1st Doctor in a spoof of the cliffhanger to the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor Falls"...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204267960429?hash=item2f8f51b86d:g:bbUAAOSwoZJkCKjk
The auctions on these three items ends next Wednesday, 15th March!
The previous three items I listed will end their auctions this Sunday, 12th March. See here for info on those:
http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2023/03/original-art-from-viz-buster-and-marvel.html
Many thanks to everyone who bids. It's really appreciated. Sorry they're not available to overseas buyers but I will sort something out soon!
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I've put a few more pages of my original art up for sale on eBay. This week there's a Tom Thug's Skooldayz page from Buster (1989) with a Christmassy theme...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204264922535?hash=item2f8f235da7:g:s30AAOSwjiZkBLT9
A Captain Wally page from Marvel UK's Spider-Man Comic (1985). This is one of my earliest characters. A suburban superhero who lives with his parents...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204264925752?hash=item2f8f236a38:g:FUUAAOSwpBZkBLbA
...and a page from Viz comic (2001). Tommy's Tin Can Telephone was a one-off character I created for Viz and this page is in full colour (water colours)...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204264930487?hash=item2f8f237cb7:g:L6UAAOSwt1lkBLgL
Auctions end on Sunday 12th February. Good luck with your bids!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47
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(I should add here, as I often do, that it was Steve White who came up with the name "Combat Colin" though when I submitted the first ideas to Marvel. An inspired thought, and far better than the name I'd come up with which was "Dimbo".)
Anyway, having gained the rights, I was fired up with enthusiasm to create a Combat Colin comic. I set to work on a "dummy issue" that I intended to submit to publishers to see if they were interested. Here's the evolution of the cover...
Initially, I wanted a punchy title like those of the comics I grew up with such as Smash! and Wham! The name KZAP! came to mind and I did a very quick rough of the cover...
Two years later I returned to the idea of a new Combat Colin comic and redrew the cover again which emerged in its final version as the Combat Colin Summer Special 1967.... HUH? 1967?!? Well, the story was set in the past so I thought I'd have a bit of fun, even down to the Thorpe and Porter 1/6d price stamp. (Although this A5 comic would actually cost readers £1.20.) It was published in 1997 and as well as a brand new Combat Colin story it also included a new Pete and His Pimple tale (back before I gave the rights to Rebellion) and a reprint of a few of my Suburban Satanists strips (that had only previously appeared in Norway and Sweden)...
A few years later, in 2000, I produced another Combat Colin Limited Edition Special. This one was A4 and mostly reprint. I created a new cover image using Bryce software. Yes, by this time I had an Apple Mac so I could design it using fonts rather than hand drawing the logo...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47
Yes, I still hope to produce Combat Colin No.5 this year, and issue 6 not long after, but it all depends on time, finances, and now my health. It was my intention to publish several comics collecting all the material I own the rights to and producing new comics too but these are not good times. Hopefully I'll have a more optimistic update for you soon.
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Case in point, my attempt to work on the Rugrats comic strip. I'd completely forgotten I'd even pitched for it until I found this photocopy of one of my sample pages. Presumably this was back in 1996 when Marvel UK were publishing a Rugrats comic. The page still looks fine to me, with the characters on model, but there must have been something about it that decided I wasn't a good fit for the comic.
None of us like rejection but when it happens there's no point dwelling on it or getting resentful. Bitterness is self destructive and does no one any good. You're unlikely to be told the reasons for the rejection so the best thing to do is move on and forget about it, - as I obviously had with this page from nearly 30 years ago.
At the time I was busy working on Viz, Sonic the Comic, and other publications so it wasn't a great hardship not being in the Rugrats comic, which happened to turn out really well with the contributors who did get the gig.
Rejection still happens, as I'm sure it does with every contrubutor. These days you're rarely told the reasons why, and it fills you with self doubt trying to guess, so it's best just to focus on the work that you do get and let it go.
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There's Derek the Troll (32 pages) which collects all the Derek the Troll strips I did in the 1980s for Games Workshop plus the complete Rock Solid, Space Hero saga from 1985's Swiftsure comic.
Combat Colin Nos.2 and 3 (40 pages each) are still available too, collecting strips from The Transformers weeklies of the late 1980s.
These comics are not available in shops. Only from me via eBay or from my table at conventions, - and I'll sign each copy inside too!
Link:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47
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I ended my Blimey! blog in 2019, having decided I'd done my bit in promoting the UK comics industry for 13 years, but this blog will continue for as long as I'm able to do it.
I can appreciate that people visited my Blimey! blog because they were intrerested in various comics and other creators, so I am grateful to all of you who read this one as it means you like my work.
Anyway, if you want to read any of the previous posts over the years you'll see the listings on the right of your screen, if you're on a desktop. If you're using a phone you probably won't as it's a different layout, but I presume most of you read this on a big screen to see the artwork properly.
You can read my first blog post from 2013 at this link:
http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-feast-of-fun.html
Obviously I write these blog posts in my spare time away from the drawing board but if you'd like to make a small donation you can via PayPal at this link...
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=RYE8SASHSWG56
Thank you.
Again, thanks for following this blog and I hope it continues to be of interest in the days to come.
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