The Statues of Liverpool comic is still available! Brand new pages telling the story behind some of Liverpool's famous statues, written by Tim Quinn with artwork by Russ Leach, Nigel Parkinson, and others including me! (Clippings here show some of my art for the comic.)
It's a collectors' item and not available in the shops so head over to the following website to order your copies!
https://www.liverpoolheartbeat.co.uk/shop/
There have been some unusual items throughout the history of comics; curious comics to promote toothpaste (Signal and Arrow comics) or even Danish bacon (the Princess of Asgarrd one off). Now here's another, with a more noble purpose than merely selling goods. STATUES OF LIVERPOOL is a one-off educational comic produced by the charity Liverpool Heartbeat, to inform local kids, and anyone else interested in Liverpool history, about some of the figures represented in the statues in the city.
The 24 page full colour comic is written by Tim Quinn and illustrated by Russ Leach, Nigel Parkinson, Holly Bushnell, George Sears, Dicky Howett, and myself.
I thoroughly enjoyed drawing my four pages, and using a slightly different style. The grim subject matter of drawing the Blitz was quite harrowing but I hope I've done it justice. Every penny made from the mag will go back into projects to educate and entertain the young people of Merseyside via the Liverpool Hearbeat charity.
Not available from newsagents but STATUES OF LIVERPOOL is available to buy directly from Liverpool Heartbeat for just £3 at this link:
https://www.liverpoolheartbeat.co.uk/shop/
Cover by Russ Leach.
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| Footballer Dixie Dean. |
One of the new things I've done recently was to illustrate four pages for a brand new one-off comic for Liverpool Heartbeat. Statues of Liverpool is a lively educational comic focused on the history represented by Liverpool's many statues. Scripts were provided by long established writer Tim Quinn, and other contributors include Nigel Parkinson, Russ Leach, and Dicky Howett.
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| A section of my Ken Dodd page. |
My pages feature the statues of Ken Dodd, Dixie Dean and others. It was a challenge to draw in a slightly different style as it needed to be semi realistic but I found it immensely satisfying and a very pleasurable job to do. For the Ken Dodd page I also created a background of theatre posters inspired by the various designs of posters from Ken's long career. I couldn't resist adding a TV Comic cover from 1969 too as it featured Ken Dodd and his Diddymen.
A section of my page on the Blitz.
Here's Tim Quinn to tell us more about the comic...
"One of the best things about being the editor of a brand new comic magazine is that you can choose the illustrators to bring the story to life. In the case of this particular publication I thought I would try an experiment by pooling 6 of the great diverse talents I've been lucky enough to work with over the past 50 years to tell a single story. As I approached each artist in turn and set the book in motion, I suddenly had doubts that there would be no blurring of the lines and that you would be able to see the join between each illustrator and that that join would be jarring. Happily, as soon as pages started coming in those fears were put to rest and it became obvious that we were creating a unique comic book in its own write and draw as John Lennon might have said. The illustrations are superb as we bring Liverpool and its history to life. This is one proud editor. And it's all for a great cause as every penny made from the book goes back into projects that educate and entertain the young people of Merseyside via that fabulous charity organisation Liverpool Heartbeat."
Order your copy today at the following link:
https://www.liverpoolheartbeat.co.uk/shop/
Fab cover by Russ Leach!
