An Annual Treat

The 'Christmas' annuals have been out since July and seem to be selling fast. My local WH Smith and Sainsbury's sold out of The Dandy Annual 2016 weeks ago and haven't restocked. The Beano Annual 2016 is available in Sainsbury's for £3.49 so this is the time to grab them! Waiting until the last minute, or the January sales, may result in disappointment. Treat yourselves or a relative/friend to an annual for Christmas!

For The Dandy Annual 2016 I wrote and drew all the Keyhole Kate and Smasher pages. It was a pleasure to work on those classic characters again. I don't know if this book will feature Kate's last appearance but I haven't been commissioned to do any strips with her for the 2017 dated annual, which I'm working on now.  

For The Beano Annual 2016 I wrote and drew the three Lord Snooty pages. I haven't been asked to do anything for the 2017 dated book (on sale next summer) so I'm not sure what the future holds for Snooty.

Below is a panel from one of my Lord Snooty pages for the annual. First in pencil rough form, then the completed inked and coloured version... 

Very few of you post comments on this blog but if you have any requests to see old strips of mine shown here, or any thoughts about my work in general, please post a comment below.

New books!

I had a great weekend at the London Film and Comic Con and you can read a bit more about it over on Blimey!, my other blog. When I arrived home on Sunday night there was a nice pile of parcels waiting including three new books I have material in....

The Dandy Annual 2016, for which I did several pages of The Smasher and Keyhole Kate. 

The Beano Annual 2016, featuring three pages of Lord Snooty by me.

And all the way from the USA, the latest Grindhouse graphic novel which collects the first four issues of the current limited series, including the two humour pages I did: Kung-Fu Cheesecake and Snowmanic! 

I'll be covering each book in a little more depth soon, but I currently have pressing deadlines for Doctor Who Magazine and the final issue of Grindhouse, so it's back to the drawing board for me right now! 

Annual advance previews

Again, my apologies for not being able to attend the Birmingham Comics Festival (see previous post). As a tiny bit of compensation for anyone hoping to see me there here's an advance preview of some of the work I did for forthcoming annuals. 

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that although The Dandy folded over two years ago after a valiant last stand, The Dandy Annual 2016 will be out this year, full of new material again. I was commissioned to write/draw/colour/letter 10 pages in all, featuring The Smasher and Keyhole Kate. (There's a panel from one of the Kate pages above.)

And here's part of a two page Smasher strip. I've brought back Smasher's old pal Willie for this one. I also re-used one of the original logos from the 1960s as a nod to the past.

For The Beano Annual 2016 I've written, drawn, and coloured 3 Lord Snooty pages. The lettering will be added in-house although I designed the logos. Here's a preview of the opening panel to one strip...

Both annuals are scheduled to be published in July, although from my experience shops may hold them back until September but they should be available online in July. In fact you can pre-order them from Amazon now if you wish. 

Support the British Comics Industry! Buy The Dandy Annual and The Beano Annual this year!

(Right, that's me finished for the weekend. Back to my sick bed.)

Snooty roughs

Here's what I'm working on today; a Lord Snooty page for The Beano Annual 2016. That's a photograph of my pencil roughs. I'll modify a few things before I ink it. 

Also today, I'm working on a script for a page for an upcoming American comic. It's for quite a high profile publisher. I'll reveal more when the strip is in the can in a week or so. 

Lots to do this week so it's back to work now...

It's Biffo!

Believe it or not the 2014 cover-dated annuals will start appearing in bookshops from next month. For The Beano Annual 2014 I've drawn a classic character that I've never done before, - Biffo the Bear! This two page strip was fun to do and I hope I did a good job on the character. Decide for yourselves in July when the book hits the shops. You can pre-order it now from Amazon.

I've also drawn six pages for The Dandy Annual 2014. Which characters? I'll reveal more at a later date. 

Things to come

Pencil version of an upcoming Beano pranks feature.

This new blog has been up and running for four weeks now, so a big thank you to all of you who have followed it. Thanks also to the blogs and websites who have given it a plug, and to those of you who have retweeted/shared my posts. It's all very much appreciated. 

Recently I've been drawing quite a few of those Dennis and Gnasher You've Been Pranked features for The Beano so you'll see those appearing in the weekly over the next couple of months. I've also just completed an extra-length one for BeanoMax which will appear in next month's issue, No.77. 

Rasher continues to appear in The Beano too. I'm several weeks ahead on those mini-strips and have just drawn one with a summer holiday theme. (Let's hope the weather improves by then!)

I completed my pages for the 2014 annuals a few weeks back. Six pages for The Dandy Annual (three Smasher strips plus three of something else) and two pages for The Beano Annual (a classic character I've never drawn before). They should be out in July.

I'll soon be starting work on another Combat Colin three pager for the online comic Aces Weekly. I hope that everyone who misses the traditional format of the UK adventure weeklies is supporting it. At just £6.99 for each seven-issue volume you can't go wrong. See the website for free samples and a current special offer: http://www.acesweekly.co.uk/home