Joe's Last Laugh

Here's a preview of an unlettered panel for the final Joe King mini-strip that I drew for The Beano. Presumably the strip will appear in this week's issue, on sale Wednesday.

I've enjoyed doing this run of Joe King. It wasn't a character I was familiar with. (The brilliant Bob Dewar drew him years ago.) The mini-strip format of three or four panels suited the structure of setting up a joke to deliver the punchline in the final scene. It also gave me the opportunity to bring in other Beano characters as guest stars to share the joke or to act as the 'straight man'. I wrote all the Joe King strips in this run except for this last one which was scripted by John Anderson.

There should also be a Rasher strip I did in this issue too, which will be the penultimate one in this series.

The penultimate Joe King

Here's a glimpse at an unlettered panel from the Joe King strip that will be in this Wednesday's Beano (unless it's replaced by necessary ad space of course). this is the penultimate one, but I hope there'll be more in the future. 

Beano 3775 preview

The 3775th issue of The Beano is out today and it's a special Comic Relief themed edition with a red and gold cover. My two regular mini-strips are in there; Rasher and Joe King. (Rasher guest-stars in the Joe King strip this week so pig-fans get a double helping of his porky pranks.) 

The Rasher strip was drawn last October, and it features a snowy setting because I (wrongly) presumed it'd be printed in December or January. Still, I'm sure that with climate change it's probably snowing somewhere in the UK in March. 

The Beano No.3775, on sale now and still only £2.20. Look for the red and gold cover by Nigel Parkinson and read more about this special issue here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/this-weeks-beano-is-comic-relief-special.html

Beano 3774 preview

Here's a quick preview of the mini-strips that I did for this week's Beano. Fatty and Walter guest star in Joe King and Bones and Manfred of the Bash Street Dogs guest star in Rasher. 

The Beano No.3774. Out now! 

Also, a quick reminder that I now have a public Facebook page where I upload art previews so if you want to 'follow' you'll find it here:
https://www.facebook.com/lewstringercartoonist?ref=hl

Beano No.3773 preview

Here's a quick glimpse at the two mini-strips I have in this week's Beano. First up, Rasher feels it's good to be a pig, wallowing in the mud while Dennis is tasked with the chores, then in Joe King our compulsive funster is in trouble with his teacher.

There's loads of other strips in the comic too of course; 36 pages packed with all-new fun with the regulars such as Dennis, Roger, and Minnie. What other British comic has entertained kids of all ages for 77 years? (Answer: None! Although the much-missed Dandy came close with its 75 year run of course.) 

This week's issue comes bagged with a free copy of 110% Gaming magazine. No strips in that, but if you or your kids like games it'll be right up your street. 

Treat yourself to a copy of The Beano today. Only £2.20.  

Another Joe King preview

The milk's off! Here's a panel from the Joe King mini-strip I did for the latest Beano, in the shops now! 

Latest Beano preview

Here's a quick glimpse at the mini-strips I have in this week's Beano. Rasher dreams of being Ham Solo in Sty Wars...

...while in the latest Joe King strip, Toots from the Bash Street Kids makes a guest appearance...

I'm guessing there must be a school break coming up as this week's issue is bagged with a bunch of gifts and costs £3.20. Here's what to look out for... 

Support The Beano, - the longest running comic in British comics history! 

It's Beano Day again!

If it's Wednesday it must be Beano Day, and sure enough there's a new issue in the shops now. Two mini-strips by me inside: Rasher and Joe King. Plus loads of other strips of course from the best humourists in the UK comics industry: Nigel Parkinson, Hunt Emerson, Laura Howell, and many more. 

Here's the cover by Nigel Parkinson to look out for. The Beano No.3770. Price £2.20. Out now!

Joe King meets Fatty

Here's a preview of an upcoming Joe King strip, which I think is the one scheduled for next Wednesday's Beano. Once again I've included a guest-star in the strip and this time it's Fatty from the Bash Street Kids. 

This one takes us nearly half way through the series with another six to follow. Unfortunately the mini-strips in The Beano only run for about 11 weeks at a time. (Which is understandable as they want to keep things fresh.) It always takes a while to get used to drawing a new character and I felt I was getting into my stride with this episode. I hope to work on the character again one day. 

The Joker and the Minx

Here's an advance preview of an upcoming Joe King strip which guest stars Minnie the Minx! As you can see, this is photographed from my original art, before I'd scanned it into Photoshop to tidy up and colour.

By my calculations this should be the one in this week's Beano, out on Wednesday!  

Joe King preview

I'm working on the last of the Joe King strips today, but here's a photograph of the original art from one I drew a couple of months ago. You can expect to see various Beano characters guest-starring in the Joe King strips over the coming weeks, and for this one I chose Ball Boy. I based him on the style of Chris McGee's version as that's the one currently running in the comic.

If the strips are being published in the order I drew them, this one should appear in this week's Beano, on sale Wednesday.  

Previews: This week's Rasher and Joe King

Here's a quick preview of panels from the mini-strips I have in the upcoming issue of The Beano, on sale Wednesday 14th January. Rasher daydreams of Bat-Pig and Superpig, whilst Joe King has a joke for softy Walter. 

Both strips will run for about 11 weeks. I'm drawing the last two Joe King strip this week. After that, who knows? 

New to The Beano this week

Looks like my new strips are starting in The Beano sooner than I expected. This coming Wednesday (Jan 7th) will see the start of a Joe King mini strip! Joe is an old character from the 1990s (that Bob Dewar used to draw) and prior to this I'd only drawn head shots of the character for the jokey straplines throughout the comic. I've retained Joe's look of course but I haven't tried to emulate Bob Dewar's brilliantly distinctive style. I hope the readers enjoy the strip, which will run for a couple of months. I think I've drawn nine so far. John Anderson wrote the first one (preview above) and I've written the rest.

Also in the same issue, Rasher returns for another series, written and drawn by me. I started drawing this new series back in July of last year so I'm looking forward to seeing it in print. Here's a preview of the first in the new series although they may appear in a different order to how I drew them. 

These two mini strips replace the Ivy the Terrible half-pagers I'd been doing.

Never Be Without A Beano! On sale Wednesday. £2.20.    

He must be Joe King!

If you buy today's Mail on Sunday with its free 32 page all-new Beano you won't find any strips by me in there unfortunately BUT you will find a series of little vignette head drawings that I did, running along the foot of several pages. It's the return of Joe King to The Beano, and recently I was commissioned to supply numerous head shots of the character to accompany the joke strips that now appear at the end of each story. 

They use six of those drawings in the free issue, and I presume you can expect to see the others over the coming weeks in the regular Beano. I've noticed that reader surveys often show they'd prefer more jokes in the comic so this is a good way of including them without taking up a page. Reminds me of the gags that would run across the foot of some pages in the early issues of Wham! Sure, some of those jokes aren't exactly new to us, but for The Beano's young readership they'll be as fresh as a daisy.

As an aside, it reminds me that I can still clearly remember the first joke I was told, 50 years ago at infant school. Yep, it was the old "Why did the chicken cross the road" gag. Told to me by classmate Dave Gadsby, in the playground. I was five years old. I thought it was hilarious. Like most of us, I soon took jokes for granted, especially when the same ones kept rolling around, but the memory of that first one still remains. That gag was ancient even by 1964, but I guess when you're that young, every joke is someones first!