Pete and his Pimple on New Year's Eve 1988

Here's a page I did for Buster dated 31st December 1988. Script and art by me, lettering by Mike Peters. As you may know, I created Pete and his Pimple for Oink! comic in 1986 and when the two comics merged in 1988 it was one of the few strips that made the transition to Buster. 

I must admit, this page didn't take too long to draw due to the solid black panels. I even offered to do it for less than my usual rate, but editor Allen Cummings was a good bloke and made sure I got the full rate. Visually I thought it'd be fun to do a few black panels to signify that Pete was totally in the dark. Unfortunately the printers had some problem with so much large black ink areas being on one page so you'll notice it's a bit patchy. Ah well. Hopefully the humour wasn't patchy. 

I still remember drawing this page even though it seems a lifetime ago. These are harder times now, and I know the prospect of a New Year doesn't seem very significant this time but I wish you all good health and the very best of luck for 2021.

The77 - issue 4

My complimentary copies of The77 No.4 arrived last week. People who backed it on Kickstarter should receive theirs any time now too!

I drew the wraparound cover variant for this issue, and there's my usual Sgt.Shouty page inside of course. Plus loads of strips by other creators! In case you haven't heard of it before, The77 is a new independent British comic launched earlier in 2020. It's an anthology of action strips by new and established creators.

If you missed the Kickstarter you can still buy a copy from the publisher, and issues will be shipped out next month. Here's the link:

https://the77comic.bigcartel.com/ 

Well, that was 2020 then

Usually when I post these yearly retrospectives my photo compilations are full of happy scenes at the various comic conventions I've attended over the past 12 months. Not so this year of course. I've really missed travelling all over the country to see old friends and meet new people. Usually we'd all gain new friends through our travels so it's strange to have our lives so suddenly diminished. So this year's photos are mainly from walks within a two mile radius.

The photos are all in chronological order, starting with New Year's Eve last year. The last time I had a big night out with a group of friends. I saw a few others before the lockdown but then life changed for everyone of course. I must admit I've struggled at times this year without any social life or human interaction. But any self-pity has been short lived because I know my solitude is a luxury compared to the hardships that key workers amongst you deal with every single day. Plus those of you who have lost loved ones through this virus or suffered / are suffering with it yourselves.

I'm grateful to good friends who I have been able to briefly meet up with this year (socially distancing of course) and to those of you I've chatted with in video calls, messages, and phone calls. It's really been a lifeline and I don't know what mental state I'd be in by now without social media or those short meet ups. Even just scrolling through my news feed and seeing artwork from fellow comics folk, music videos, or updates about your lives has been essential to getting through each day, so thanks for being there!

Thankfully, I've also been able to keep busy working, although the pandemic did impact on it somewhat, and (like many of us) I also struggled with a lack of motivation, but thank you to Doctor Who Magazine, The Beano, Rebellion, and The77 for the work you've been able to put my way.

New Year feels very flat this time because it's going to be pretty much the same as this for most of us for quite some time yet, but more than ever I wish you all good health, happiness, and prosperity for 2021.

 

Preview of next week's Beano

Ellis the Elephant has escaped from Beanotown Zoo! The hunt is on in the next issue of the Beano. Will he be found? Well, it gave me a chance to put a few of the Bash Street Kids in the strip anyway. I always like drawing those iconic characters. Leo Baxendale designed them well back in the 1950s, and let's not forget that David Sutherland has been doing a fantastic job on The Bash Street Kids strip since 1962!

See the full story of Ellis's Great Escapes in Beano No.4066, in the shops on Wednesday 30th December! 

I'm not sure how often Ellis will appear after this issue unfortunately, as there will be new stories coming into the Beano (none by me I'm afraid). I've drawn a few more Ellis episodes for the future but I won't know when they'll see print until they're actually published. I'll let you know on this blog whenever my work appears in the comic.

In the meantime, here's the cover of the next issue to look out for, drawn by the Sharp Brothers...

Wishing you all the best for Christmas

It's been a difficult year for all of us, and a tragic year for many. Christmas will feel very different, and very empty for a lot of people this year, but I hope you can find some peace of mind and some cheer if you're seeking it.

The one thing to hold onto is hope, and with vaccinations now under way, hopefully some form of normality can resume by next summer. 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and good health and happiness in 2021. Let's end with a couple of songs. Here's a very poignant one from comic artist Emma Vieceli, the original wartime version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"...

https://www.smule.com/recording/judy-garland-have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas-keith/537628583_3851953313

...and here's "Silent Night" by a good friend of mine, professional singer Sarah Leaman...

https://www.facebook.com/100011634420044/videos/1196731557391314/

Happy Christmas all. 

Team Toxic in Crazy Christmas! (2006)

I freelanced for Toxic magazine for 16 years on the Team Toxic strip. Firstly as a writer, then by issue 14 as writer and artist. It was a two page strip every issue but I had the luxury of a double length story for this Christmas 2006 edition! 

The remit of Toxic was for "gross humour" but I didn't want my stories to only rely on that so I put the characters into the sort of comedy-action situations that I'd enjoyed doing on Combat Colin, creating bizarre villains menacing the city.

Script/art by me, colours by Lorna Miller. Toxic No.82, published December 6th, 2006. Hope you enjoy it! 

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Christmas with Tom Thug in the Nineties

This Christmas page appeared in the very last Christmas issue of Buster in 1999, but the comic was all reprint by then so it originally appeared a few years earlier. I'm not sure when, as some of my Busters are still unsorted and it'd take me ages to find the right one. (I found this one by chance.) It'd be before 1996 which was the year Tom Thug went reprint. Going by the mention of Captain Scarlet, I'm guessing it was 1993, which is when the TV series was repeated on the telly. 

Hope you like it! Another Christmas strip in the next post!