Snooty!

Back in September The Beano commissioned me to do several drawings of their characters to be used in various places. One of those drawings, Lord Snooty, appears in next week's Beano, hosting the reader's pages. 

Presumably the other drawings will appear at some point. I did one for each of the Bash Street Dogs plus Biffo and his pal Buster. (Yes, D.C. Thomson's version of Buster in the beret, not the cloth-capped one owned by Rebellion that I've just drawn for the Cor!! Buster Easter Special. Good job I didn't get them confused!)

In case you're wondering, no, Lord Snooty isn't the new strip I'm doing that will replace Pup Parade in March. My new strip features a character I'd never drawn before, but I did do a series of Lord Snooty mini-strips for the Beano a few years ago... and I've done a few more for the Beano Annual 2021, which will be out in August of this year. 

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Lord Snooty returns

Next week's Big Eggo strip features a vintage guest star who, like Big Eggo, also debuted in The Beano No.1 in 1938. Yes, it's Lord Snooty, back for one week only. 

I wrote/drew an ongoing Lord Snooty series for the Beano a few years ago and as this is the Beano's 80th anniversary year I couldn't let it pass without bringing the character back for a brief appearance. The editors approved, so here he is. 

See Big Eggo and Lord Snooty together in Beano No.3948, on sale Wednesday 15th August!

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.

A Snooty preview

The annuals might not be in the shops yet but they're now available to order from The Book Depository (and perhaps other online sellers too by the time you read this). While we're waiting for them, here's a preview panel from one of the three Lord Snooty pages I have in The Beano Annual 2016. Never Be Without A Beano... Annual. 

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 drops by

When I did my recent run of Lord Snooty strips for The Beano there were a couple that were skipped from being published. There wasn't a problem with them. It's simply that these things happen sometimes when scheduling a comic and strips are paid for and go into the inventory pile. Anyway, this week's issue sees one of those strips published (drawn back in March) and the other unpublished one will appear in a week or two. 

It was great to work on such a classic character as Lord Snooty and I hope there'll be more in the future. 

Also in this week's issue, there's another Ivy the Terrible strip written by John Anderson and drawn by me. Dad wants to read Ivy a bedtime story but she has her own preference for books...

Loads of other all-new strips too of course, by some of Britain's best cartoonists. The Beano No.3752. Out now and still only £2.

Beano No.3751 preview

Here's a quick preview of the strips I have in this week's Beano (out now). I think this will be the last Lord Snooty strip for a while, but there's a couple of unused ones that should appear in a month or so. 

Ivy the Terrible continues at present though, and is great fun to draw. What's Ivy done to annoy her mum this week? Find out by buying The Beano! Only £2, - the cheapest comic on the shelves, and the funniest! 

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...

Beano preview

Ivy the Terrible skips next week's Beano but the tiny tot of terror will be back the week after. However, Lord Snooty continues his run and here's a preview of next Wednesday's strip. Above is the original artwork before I scanned it into Photoshop to add solid blacks and colour and tidy up the art...

...and here's the finished version. After which it was e-mailed to DC Thomson and the word balloons were added by the comic's designers based on the script I supplied. 

Ok, showing you one unlettered panel doesn't exactly tell you much about the joke does it? Find out what's going on when you read the full strip in The Beano next Wednesday, September 3rd.  

Life's a beach!

Whenever appropriate for the story, it's traditional in British comics to have the strips reflect the time of year they're set in. The idea being that it helps the reader identify with them more. This week, it just so happens that strips in two of the comics I work for both have beach holiday themes. 

In Toxic No.242, Team Toxic face the Holiday Horrors of the Beach Bum! A giant monster bottom made of sand! 

In The Beano No.3748, Lord Snooty has a day at the beach with his pals Liz, Scrapper Smith, and Big Fat Joe. 

Typically, in reality the weather's turned a but chilly this week but summer lives on in the pages of the comics! 

Toxic is published by Egmont. A 48 page bumper edition plus a bag of gifts for £3.99.

The Beano is published by DC Thomson. 36 pages plus a bag of gifts for £2.99.

Terrible Day!

Today's the day that Ivy the Terrible returns to The Beano! A brand new series of weekly half page strips begins, written by John Anderson and drawn by me. Ivy's a great character to draw and I'm really enjoying this strip. 

This week's Beano also features another Lord Snooty mini-strip by me, which guest-stars Fatty from The Bash Street Kids...

I also wrote and supplied the artwork for a puzzle page this issue called Swot Down! (A much better title than the one I suggested - 'Real or Rubbish'.) Cuthbert Cringeworthy goes up against Walter the Softy, and they were fun to draw but the bit I enjoyed most was drawing the legendary Big Eggo, - The Beano's original cover star! 

The Beano No.3747 - out now! £2.

Snooty at the fair

It's the summer holidays, so this week Lord Snooty goes to the fair in the mini-strip I did for the latest Beano. I actually e-mailed this strip in to the office on April 4th but of course we sometimes work quite a bit in advance. There'll be another seaside-themed Snooty strip coming up in a week or two.

The Beano No.3746, on sale now! Only £2.00. 

Another Snooty Preview

I hear that the mini-strips return to The Beano this coming Wednesday, after an absence of three weeks. I'm pleased to say that amongst them is my Lord Snooty strip. 

I'm not sure which one will be in this week's issue as they're not always published in the order I drew them, but here's a preview of the one it might be. Snooty's Pal, Scrapper Smith is back. 

I've stopped doing Lord Snooty strips for now, but they have enough in stock to last until September. I'm currently drawing a new strip for The Beano (a revival of an old character) and that will start in August. In addition to that, you can expect to see another old favourite return soon too!

Never Be Without A Beano! Every Wednesday! 

Lord Snooty and his Pals

For many years the full title of The Beano's Lord Snooty strip was Lord Snooty and his Pals. The 'Pals' being a bunch of kids from the poorer side of town that Snooty enjoyed hanging around with. 

In this week's Lord Snooty mini-strip I've brought back a couple of those pals to make a guest appearance. Swanky Lanky Liz and Big Fat Joe were their original names, but these days they're simply Liz and Joe. I've redesigned them both to bring them into the 21st Century a bit but Liz is still swanky and lanky, and Joe is still a big lad. (Incidentally, both characters had their own strips back in the early days of The Beano, before becoming part of the Lord Snooty cast.)

You can expect another pal, Scrapper Smith, to turn up in a week or two. In the strips I've drawn so far I've only included Scrapper, Liz, and Joe, but I may bring in one or two of the others if a suitable gag occurs to me (or if the editors want me to of course). Obviously as this Lord Snooty series are single tier mini-strips they'd be a bit too crowded to feature all of the Pals together unless it's necessary for the joke.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying my run on Lord Snooty so far. The latest Beano is out now, priced just £2.00 for 36 full colour, all-new pages.  

The Gasworks Gang 2014

One of the things I'm enjoying about working on the Lord Snooty strip is that I'm bringing in some of his old supporting characters. That includes Snooty's enemies The Gasworks Gang! (No relation to the gang of the same name who later appeared in IPC's Cor!! of course.)

I always enjoyed seeing this surly, scruffy band of bullies getting their comeuppance in the Lord Snooty strips of the 1960s. I've redesigned them a bit but they're still the same resentful bunch of thugs, - and they'll still get their just deserts if they mess with Snooty!

Lord Snooty appears in The Beano every Wednesday. Only £2.

A Snooty preview

Here's a quick glimpse at the second Lord Snooty mini-strip that I did. You can read the full strip in the latest Beano, on sale now! 

How's the availability of The Beano in your area? Stock has been drastically cut back in my town this week but I managed to buy the one copy that my local WH Smiths had. No sign of it in any other newsagent in the town centre on the day of publication.

Retail and wholesale are a bit of a mystery to me but from what a local newsagent told me, the wholesaler calls the shots, treating publications like any other 'brand'. Your corner shop might order six copies of a title, knowing he'll sell them, but the wholesaler sometimes supplies them with less, encouraging the shop to take another 'brand' (ie: comic) as a try out! Then a newsagent elsewhere gets the extra copies of the comic that the other newsagent wanted, just so the wholesaler can see 'how they perform' in that area. 

It's probable that the newsagent can get more copies if they insist, but that takes extra effort and they have a lot of stock to deal with as it is. Most would think it wasn't worth their time to complain.

It seems like absolute madness to treat comics like tins of baked beans, and is surely detrimental to any publisher. I would hope that anyone with a standing order would still be able to get their copy from their shops, but what about casual buyers, or people like me who prefer to buy them off the shelf? The Beano was selling well in my area, but this week there are going to be some disappointed children who won't be able to get a copy unless their parents travel around searching shops out of town. A week is a long time for a child, and if they start to miss copies it's not long before they lose the habit of buying it at all. 

Anyway, if you can grab a copy, The Beano is out now, priced just £2. 

Lord Snooty starts today!

This week's issue of The Beano sees the start of my new Lord Snooty mini-strip. I'm privileged to be the latest artist to write and draw this classic character (who first appeared in The Beano No.1 in 1938) and I hope Snooty's new exploits prove entertaining.

There's a preview pic above, and below is a photograph of the original artwork before I filled in more of the blacks and scanned it into Photoshop to apply the colour.

The latest Beano also features my penultimate Rasher strip. Out with the old, in with the new! 

The Beano. Out now. £2.00 

Lord Snooty returns!

As Beano subscribers have now been informed of the news I guess it's OK to reveal that the mystery mini-strip I've been working on is Lord Snooty. 

The character who first appeared in The Beano No.1 back in 1938 has had several runs of various length in the comic over the past 76 years and I consider it a privilege to be the latest cartoonist to bring his tales to a new readership.

For me, Snooty's original artist Dudley Watkins will always be the definitive one, and I enjoyed reading those stories as a child in the sixties. I'm not trying to imitate the style of the late Mr.Watkins in any way but I was asked to retain Snooty's classic look with the bowtie, white collar, black jacket and of course his top hat. There'll also be a few of his old Pals turning up from time to time along with the local bullies The Gasworks Gang. It's quite a formidable task taking on such a legendary character as Lord Snooty but I hope the readers enjoy the strips.

The new series of Lord Snooty mini-strips that I've written and drawn will begin in The Beano No.3737, on sale Wednesday 4th June.