40th Robo-versary!

The very first Robo-Capers from this week in 1985

 

I've just been reminded by Transformers collector Graham Thomson on Bluesky that it's 40 years since my Robo-Capers strips began appearing in Marvel UK's Transformers comic! In fact it was my first ongoing strip for a mainstream comic, thanks to editor Shiela Cranna accepting them.

I had a great deal of enjoyment creating new robots every week; the sillier the better! I know the strip is still fondly remembered by readers of the comic. I can't do a Robo-Capers comic collection because Marvel hold the rights (even though it's unlikely they'll ever reprint it) but I've posted the early ones in previous blog posts here:

https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2019/07/robo-capers-early-strips.html

...and here:

https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2024/01/robo-capers-part-2.html 

...and I'll post some more later this week!

The Saga of MACHO MAN!

The recent news that Marvel USA are producing a new Secret Wars comic series this summer reminded me that back in the 1980s I did some back up strips for Marvel UK's Secret Wars 2 weekly. In those days I was a frequent contributor to Marvel UK's comics, mainly due to editor Richard Starkings who gave me plenty of work. 

For Secret Wars 2 I created and submitted a full page comedy superhero strip called Macho Man. There wasn't enough room in the comic's crammed 28 pages to accommodate a full page extra so it was decided the origin story would be split in two halves, and subsequent episodes would be created as half pagers. Macho Man began in Secret Wars 2 No.42 (dated 19th April 1986) accompanied by a warm editorial welcome message...

Due to shortage of space, Macho Man only appeared occasionally, and only had 11 episodes in total. However I've always enjoyed doing superhero spoofs so brief as it was it was always great fun to do. The strip appeared in Secret Wars 2 Nos.42, 44, 51, 52, 53, 58, 63, 67, 69, 75, and 79 (3rd January 1987). Here they are. (As always, click images to enlarge them.)

A printing error with the colour on this one unfortunately.

That wasn't the end of the character though. I've always liked to incorporate the characters I've created into a shared universe so a couple of years later in 1989 Macho Man turned up during the six part Combat Colin story The Place of No Return in Transformers No.245. (Reprinted in 2005's Brickman Begins! as Village of the Doomed.) Here's a segment...

The battle in the village bonded Colin and the other characters as pals so Macho Man returned again in Transformers Nos.270 and 271 during Colin's fight against a mystery villain...

Macho Man returned one final time, in an episode of the Combat Colin serial The Invasion of Megabrain (Transformers No.296, November 17th, 1990) where he met his fate...

Yep, I killed off one of my characters. Permanently! In a Marvel comic! Never to return. 

...and that was the short career of Norman Dribble AKA Macho Man. I hope you've enjoyed it. 

Prehistoric Pencil Art!

For a while in the late 1980s/early 1990s I used to pencil my pages onto thin paper, then trace the finished version in ink onto Bristol Board via the glow of a Lightbox. Eventually I went back to just penciling and inking on the same board as I found using the Lightbox a bit of a strain on the eyes. 

I threw away most of my penciled pages once the inked versions saw print, but I did keep some. Case in point the penciled page for a chapter of Combat Colin's Prehistoric Adventure that appeared in The Transformers No.280 (28th July 1990). 

I don't sell my inked Combat Colin pages but I am selling this penciled version on eBay at present. (Auction ends tomorrow, Sept.22nd). I know some collectors like to see the pencil art so they can see the construction of the strip. If you're interested, visit my eBay page by clicking here. 

And if you're curious to how the finished version turned out, here it is:

Combat Cut-Outs

Every now and then, when I was doing my Combat Colin strip for Marvel UK, I'd do something a bit different with the page. Just for some Friday Fun (or Anyday Amusement if you're reading this another day) here's one of 'em, from The Transformers No.262 in the late 1980s.

Spider-Man and Captain Pimply!

My thanks again to those of you who bid on my artwork last week. All the items have sold and will be posted off this week. I've now listed a few more pages on eBay including a Mini-Marvels strip featuring Spider-Man that I did for Panini UK and a 1987 Pete and his Pimple strip from Oink! where Pete reads a Brickman comic and dreams of being the superhero Captain Pimply! This was the spotty superhero's only appearance. I should have done more. Maybe I will one day. 

There's also an early Tom Thug page from Oink! which features the very first appearance of Wayne Brayne, a later Tom Thug page from Buster in full colour, and a Robo-Capers strip from Transformers. (I don't have many Robo-Capers originals left now so I'm not sure how many more I'll list.)

If you'd like to own some of my original artwork, visit my eBay page here to see more details and photos of the pages on offer. Good luck!

The Giggly Sisters!

When I was doing the Combat Colin strip I started to introduce a few supporting characters who would occasionally turn up in the stories. Two of which were the Giggly Sisters, identical twins who became the regular girlfriends of Colin and Semi-Automatic Steve. (They also later became a bit more proactive than just being, well, giggly.)

This is their first appearance (I think) from The Transformers No.196, December 1988.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this anywhere before but the Giggly Sisters were originally inspired by the Pigeon Sisters in the 1968 movie The Odd Couple. 

Your daily Combat Colin: The Gunge! Part 1

You saw a couple of the very early Combat Colin gag strips yesterday, now let's move forward a couple of years to 1989 where the strip had developed into the kind of comedy-action serial that I always wanted to do... and the humour had become even dafter. 

Here's a four part story from The Transformers comic that I'll be running over this and the following three days. Part 1 is from Transformers No.238, dated October 7th 1989.

I wish there was a comic or magazine around that would accommodate me to do this kind of stuff today. Not that I don't enjoy the work I do of course. All comic creation is fun, but I believe today's kids, with their enthusiasm for cartoon action computer games and plot development in soaps, would really take to comedy-action strips.

Click on the image to enlarge it for legibility. Part 2 tomorrow!