FANZINE FUNNIES - The comic for fans of The Prisoner (and anyone else who likes funny comics)

Apparently it was 40 years ago yesterday when Channel 4 began repeating the run of The Prisoner TV show, the enigmatic and allegorical series that fans are still discussing today.

Being ancient, I saw the series on its original run in 1967/68, and again in the 1970s when it was first repeated. Anyway, the reason I'm mentioning it here is that my Fanzine Funnies comic is still available to buy. Fanzine Funnies collects all the satirical comic strips I did for Prisoner fanzines years ago, mainly Rogue Rover and Alistair Sadgitt AKA Mumbler Six.

 

Fanzine Funnies sold out of its initial print run of 100 copies within 24 hours of release, so I immediately had another 100 printed. There are still some left if you wanted to nab one quickly! 

Even if you're not a fan of The Prisoner I hope you'll get a kick out of it. Printed on quality paper with a matt laminated cover it's only available from my eBay page at this link...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204426107364?hash=item2f98bed9e4:g:G18AAOSwC8JkzNzG

****************************

Have you grabbed your Fanzine Funnies yet?

The first printing of Fanzine Funnies sold out within 24 hours so I've had another batch printed and you can order one exclusively from me at this link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204426107364?hash=item2f98bed9e4:g:G18AAOSwC8JkzNzG

Remember that Fanzine Funnies is not available in any shops or from any other seller, and I'm not doing a digital edition.  

If you missed the news about it last week, the 32 page comic is a collection of strips I did in the 1990s for fanzines devoted to The Prisoner TV series. The fanzines they originally appeared in had very small print runs so this material has been unseen by many. 

Fanzine Funnies is the latest self-published comic in my intention to get all my creator-owned strips back into print for a new audience (and for those of you who may have seen them before but like the idea of them being collected). If you like my style of humour from comics such as Combat Colin, Brickman, Derek the Troll, and Pedantic Stan you should enjoy this one too. Target audience is late Teens and older as there's some bits in there that are unsuitable for children. 

Thanks as always for your support!

 

“This is a smashing little collection, with a couple of other extras included, that I’m more than happy to recommend” - downthetubes.net

“His latest self-published comic looks perfect, especially for those of us who loved the classic TV show The Prisoner.” - Comicon.com

"highly recommended" - The Unmutual Website

*****************

FANZINE FUNNIES is selling fast!

I've sold 81 comics in 24 hours! Only a few left but I will be having more printed soon! (UPDATE: Now all 85 have sold!) Thank you to everyone who bought a copy. The strips it contains are fairly obscure ones I did for fanzines in the 1990s so you may not have seen them before. Hope you'll enjoy them!

Here's the link...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204426107364?hash=item2f98bed9e4:g:G18AAOSwC8JkzNzG 

Don't worry if it's sold out by the time you look at the listing. I will have another batch printed next week. (Note: It sold out but I've updated the link above for the second printing.)

 

The first set of orders were posted yesterday, and I'll be posting another lot on Monday and more every day this week. Please bear in mind that I'm handling all this myself so it'll take time but all orders received so far should be dispatched this week. I always post First Class so they shouldn't take long to arrive.

It's my intention to get all the strips back in print that I own the rights to. Lew Stringer's Fanzine Funnies is my latest comic, collecting my satirical strips inspired by The Prisoner TV show.  Back in 2015 I ventured back into self-publishing with Brickman Returns, then Derek the Troll, Pedantic Stan the Comics Fan (which is co-owned with John Freeman) and four issues of Combat Colin, plus the digital comic Tough Guy and Scruffy. Some are now sold out but Combat Colin 2 and 3 are still available (although quantities of issue 2 are going down).

If you missed the Tough Guy digital comic you'll find details here:

http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2022/12/theyre-back-tough-guy-and-scruffy.html

(My other comics will not be available digitally.)

Now, you may be asking "Where's Combat Colin No.5?" - and it's a fair question. I still intend to publish that but I wanted to diversify a bit first. Rest assured that Combat Colin No.5 (and issue 6) will happen, but I can't say when exactly. I need to do another reprint of issue 4 first for those of you who missed it.

As ever, watch this space, and thank you for your support! 

***************

Announcing FANZINE FUNNIES!

It’s back from the printers and ready to mail out to buyers so I can now announce that Lew Stringer’s Fanzine Funnies is my latest self-published venture.

It’s a collection of my comic strips from the 1990s that satirised aspects of The Prisoner TV series, and the material originally appeared in Prisoner fanzines such as Camera Obscura.

As those fanzine strips from 30 years ago were only seen by a limited audience I thought I’d collect them into a new comic. The humour is quite in-jokey, but hopefully even if you only have a basic acquaintance with The Prisoner TV show and its fandom you’ll still enjoy it.

 

The 32 page A5 landscape-format comic includes two series that I did in the early Nineties; Rogue Rover tells the story of what happened to “that big white balloon” after the events of The Prisoner, with the roving, and unusually articulate, sphere becoming a jobbing actor and then a time traveller!

The other series in the comic, Mumbler Six, features Alistair Sadgitt, the most intense fanboy in the world! Let’s face it, as enthusiasts of genre TV or comics, we’re all a little offbeat to certain degrees but Alistair Sadgitt dials up the eccentricity to 11… and beyond!

Bonus material in the comic includes Number Six and his Unmutual Tricks (What if The Prisoner had been a traditional British humour strip), two full page satirical cartoons, and two examples of my combining traditional cartoons with CGI models.

All in all, a fun package printed on quality paper stock. This initial print run is limited to 100 copies but there will be more printed if it sells out. 

Note: Contains some scenes that aren't suitable for children so I recommend this for late teens upwards.

Only available exclusively from me at comic cons, or from my eBay listings at this link (Updated link): 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204426107364?hash=item2f98bed9e4:g:G18AAOSwC8JkzNzG

********************* 

Alistair Sadgitt and Rogue Rover

Twenty years ago I used to produce a few comic strips for an independently produced fanzine dedicated to The Prisoner TV series, the excellent, thought-provoking 1960s drama starring Patrick McGoohan as 'Number Six'. The humour of my strips was a bit brutal in places, poking fun at, shall we say, the more eccentric side of fandom. 

Alistair Sadgitt embodied the sort of obsessive fan that every hobby attracts at times. Most fans/hobbyists are nothing like that of course but we all know one or two that are, from comics to football, they're out there. Way out there!

My other strip, Rogue Rover, told the story of one of the strange 'Rover' guards (or "that big balloon" as most people called it) as seen in The Prisoner. 

Both strips appeared in the Birmingham-produced fanzine Camera Obscura in 1993/94, and I collected them into a couple of self-published mini-comics in the year 2000. The print runs of all of them were very small so very few people have seen them. Here's a few examples. Some are a bit in-jokey so if you've never seen the TV series you might miss a few gags but I hope you enjoy them. Click on each image to enlarge it to make it easier to read.

If you're interested in The Prisoner TV series be sure to bookmark The Unmutual Website, a free online resource for Prisoner-related articles and news. You can find it here: http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/