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Review: Hack/Slash vs Vampirella #1 Posted: 12 Feb 2018 01:00 AM PST
Written by Shawn Aldridge. Issue one sets the scene for the mini-series. Cassie Hack, accompanied by Vlad, has arrived in Las Vegas excited at the prospect of a well-earned vacation. The engine of their van has hardly cooled when Cassie spots a body being removed from one of the hotels. After overhearing the EMT team discussing the nature of the persons death, Cassie sets out on the trail of the killer. The writing provides enough information for readers not that familiar with the cast to get some understanding of their relationships, abilities and motivations. Cassie and Vlad hunt monsters and ‘slashers’ while Vampirella is an alien that happens to also be a vampire. Each of them have their own reasons for investigating the killing that brings a degree of tension between the titular heroes. The story moves along at a decent pace with some enjoyable dialogue peppered throughout the comic. Though I did wonder how Vampirella missed a pretty big detail when she left the hotel room on the second last page. It doesn’t ruin the story but if you follow the events, it seems a tiny bit strange that it plays out that way. Though it would be a much shorter mini-series if it went otherwise. The art team (Lobosco on line art and O’Halloran on colour art) for James Bond: Black Box are back. The duo move from the world of spy comics into a world of vampires, monsters and gruesome deaths. From the very first page, the art is straight into the horror. The line art gives shape to the man who met his grisly demise while the colours spatter the walls blood red. There’s some nice line art and camera angles particularly when the camera opens up to incorporate Vegas in the background, with the colour art only making it better. I also liked the use of particular colours on Cassie, Vlad and the police in part of a fight scene. I makes the readability of the melee really easy for the audience. The sound effects, dialogue and captions are also easy read. I also like the use of unique lettering or captions when to denote a supernatural or monstrous quality to the speakers words. Even when the character is speaking off-camera, the reader instantly knows which character it is. Issue one is a good start to the mini-series and had enough going on in terms of story and art for me to commit to the remaining four issues. A comic with some new comic characters for me to learn about, interesting murder/horror story and good art wasn’t exactly going to be a hard sell. About contributor.  |
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Webcomic Wednesday: Faraday the Blob Posted: 14 Feb 2018 05:48 AM PST
Reviewed by Seán Donnelly Created by Alan Ryan Certain stories have titles that intrigue or entice the reader, be they evocative, ambiguous or just plain weird. Faraday the Blob is firmly in the latter category; it’s exactly as it sounds. As webcomics go it’s a stalwart affair, having started more than a decade ago (its website lists it as starting in 2004) and continuing in a haphazard fashion until just last year, with no signs of stopping. The comic itself is a playful, surreal gag strip (that is by no means intended for kids) starring the titular Faraday the Blob, as well as his friends such as Mr. Elf and Bunzo. All three usually wind up as unwilling participants to whatever insanity that Dublin-based writer and artist Alan Ryan has in store for his characters, as well as his audience. Faraday’s uncomplicated design makes him host for a gallery’s worth of freakish expressions and transformations, all done in service to the comic’s commitment to wringing the most laughs out of its audience, something that it is very good at doing. The wild takes and detail in some of the comic’s more bizarre moments go hand in hand with this and allow jokes to land with the impact that they do. Strips will typically take a well-known premise or gag and subvert it or extend it to its naturally horrifying conclusion. The comic’s cartoony style and colourful, energetic exterior (reminiscent of children’s magazines such as The Beano and The Dandy) hide a very smart, discerning work that will guarantee at least one laugh every issue. http://www.faradaytheblob.com/  |
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Comics out this week (14/Feb/18) Posted: 14 Feb 2018 01:00 AM PST Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
Doctor Strange #385 Written by Donny Cates.
Xena: Warrior Princess #1 Written by Meredith Finch.
The Amazing Spider-man : Renew Your Vows #16 Written by Jody Houser.
Planet of the Apes: Ursus #2 Written by David Walker.
The Secret Loves of Geeks Written by Margaret Atwood, Amanda Deibert, Patrick Rothfuss, Gerard Way, Amy Chu, Cara Ellison, Dana Simpson, Gabby Rivera, Hope Larson, Terry Blas, Cecil Castellucci, Ryan Ferrier, Marley Zarcone and Valentine De Landro.
Paradiso #3 Written by Ram V.
Hack/Slash vs. Vampirella #5 |
Written by Shawn Aldridge. |
Letters by Crank!.
Wildstorm: Michael Cray #5 Written by Bryan Hill. |
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Written by Ram V. |
Colour art by Dearbhla Kelly and Alex Sollazzo. The Midnight Event has changed the world. People are doing what they can to survive in this harsher world. People like Jack Krynznan, who has made his way to Aquarius Point in the hope of gaining entry to Paradiso. The cost of passage isn’t cheap and there’s no guarantee of success as Paradiso has sentries protecting it from would-be trespassers. Issue one puts the reader right in the middle of things. The writing drops nuggets of information that Jack and the rest of the cast exist in as part of the story. There’s no info-dump at the open of the story to give the reader the lay of the land. The reader is trusted to be able to put the pieces together through dialogue as well as the condition of the locations. The lack of information of about Paradiso (as well as the sentries that protect it) makes it a really enticing story to stick with. With the story set in such a grim location, the art team has their work cut out for them. The characters all show signs of wear’n’tear of life in areas outside Paradiso. The line art also shows the scale of disrepair of the buildings surrounding Paradiso. The colours give a gritty texture to the locations that nicely compliments the mood the line art is going for. Whether it’s scenes from the top of skyscrapers, the refuge camp outside of Paradiso or action scenes, the art has a great look to it. And if future issues build upon the standard of issue one then this is a series I’m really going to enjoy looking at. The text throughout the comic is well presented. Captions and dialogue placed in good locations that draw the eye through the page in a very natural flow. I liked the use of the blue text to denote the shift in time and/or location. It immediately tells the user that they’ve moved into another scene. Sound effects are well done with the use of a faded text on sequence of “thump!” to indicate the earlier ones sound was fading away. Paradiso has a very capable creative team working together on the comic. The story and art provides some interesting ideas, locations and characters that makes this a very promising start to the series. |
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Posted: 19 Feb 2018 01:01 AM PST
Written by W. Maxwell Prince. |
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Letters by Good Old Neon. The Ice Cream Man is a character in the vein of the host of Tales from the Crypt or Morpheus in some of the issues of Sandman. What I mean by that is the Ice Cream Man appears in some scenes of the story but for the most part is a peripheral character. As I understand it, this series is planned as a series of one-shot stories with the Ice Cream Man as the character that will tying the stories together. The story in the first issue does work as a stand-alone story but with some things within it that may relevance to the future stories in the series. The Ice Cream Man arrives in a suburban are to sell his ice-creams and the story follows one of the children home as they enjoy their purchase. At which point the story moves into the realm of horror. I enjoyed the scene that introduced detective Hwan to the story. It gave a feel for the character and planted some seeds for later in the story. Ice Cream Man has a good character design. On a superficial level his customers have no reason to suspect that there’s anything sinister about him. The supporting cast and locations are well drawn in the various scenes, be it the general day-to-day of suburbia or the moments of horror and action. I liked the choice of colour for the sky that is used for much of the comic, it actually looked like a colour you would expect of an ice-cream. Also enjoyed the colours in the forest scene. The light coming through the trees was nicely done. With the choice of lettering on the captions there’s a quick visual cue that the Ice Cream Man is providing commentary over the top of the story. As anyone who has read some of my reviews will know, when it comes to lettering I do enjoy looking at how the sound effects are done. The sound effects are clear and immediately noticeable in the panels. I did like how it was done when the Ice Cream Man snapped his fingers. It’s quite clear from how the “Snap!” is done that he is doing more than just merely snapping his fingers. The first issue was enjoyable as a stand-alone story and gives the reader some idea of what to expect in terms of stories from the next issues. From a story point of view, it’ll be interesting to see what other types of stories the Ice Cream Man serves up to us as the series progresses. |
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Posted: 20 Feb 2018 01:00 AM PST
Story by Eric Zawadzki and Ryan K Lindsay. Eternal: a shieldmaiden ghost story follows Vif and her shieldmaidens as they protect their village from men who wish to seize their land. The men are commanded by the mystical scumbag, Bjarte. It becomes apparent over the course of the tale that just because birds pick at the corpses of your enemies, that doesn’t mean the battle is over. The comic is a self-contained story with larger page size than the standard monthly. The story reminds me a little of the Beowulf movie/tale where a village is under siege and attack is launched upon the home of the attacker. Much like Beowulf, the cost of protecting their village is much higher than they could have anticipated. Vif is an impressive leader of the shieldmaidens who will protect her village at all costs. After the opening pages introduce Vif to the reader, the story dives straight to the attack Vif and her shieldmaidens launch in retribution for the attack on the village. Vif is a leader who leads from the front and is fearless is her defence of the village, never once questioning the cost of her service to the village. Due to the over-sized pages of the comic, the reader can really absorb the artwork. The art just seems so much bigger on some of the pages. There’s some really creative panel borders on the introductory pages before the action kicks off. They really compliment the story of the comic. I also really enjoyed the fight choreography too and almost felt like I was in the middle of the melee at times. Much like the line art, the colour art is superb and all the better for the larger pages. Be it frozen vistas or the heat of battle, the colours bring a vitality to the pages. There are also some pages with only red as the colour on them. Initially, the reader might wonder the relevance. Stick with the story and you’ll find out. It also is something that improves on re-reads. The comic also has some bonus back matter that for those who have an interest on the various aspects that go into making a comic. I really enjoyed this shieldmaiden ghost story and would recommend to anyone that enjoys stories like Beowulf, Northlanders or the 13th Warror. |
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Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Punisher: The Platoon #6 Written by Garth Ennis. |
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Letters by Rob Leigh.
Mighty Morphin Power Ranger #24 Written by Kyle Higgins and Ryan Ferrier.
This weeks Beano features strip(s) by Alan Ryan.
James Bond: M Written by Declan Shalvey. |
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Punks not dead #1 Written by David Barnett. |
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Irish Comic Art Picks February Posted: 23 Feb 2018 01:59 AM PST Irish Comic Art Picks. Pages, commissions, doodles, works in progress and everything in between, this feature shows you some of the best work by Irish Comic Artists from around the web every month. Feel free to submit work and links through any ICN links on social media (Facebook or Twitter) or Stephen on Twitter or Instagram. Remember, support artists and follow their links.
Phil Dunne – “The Failed Artist” WIP
Stuart McCune – The Human Beings vol.1
John White – ‘Is Your Husband A Psychopath’ illustration for Sunday Independent.
Dee Cunniffe (colour art) – teaser art for WIP project ( line art by Curt Pires)
Will Sliney – Scarlet Spider Damnation WIP.
Anthony O’Neill – WIP
Olly Cunningham – Black Lines Comics.
Gary O’Donnell (line art) – ‘Time Waits’ teaser from 100% Biodegradable #20 (colour art by Anne-Marie Webb)
Jason Browne – Cahoots teaser.
Eoin Barclay – Link.
John McCrea – Midnighter
Nathan Stockman – Uran and friend / Pluto fan art.
Jack Allen – Beth / Rick and Morty fan art.
PJ Holden – Black Panther
Cian Tormey – The Dark Tower
John McGuinness – X-men Red
Leonie O’Moore – From Savage Seas.
Derek Dwyer – Gotham Sirens
Karl O’Rowe – Wonder Woman
Hugh Madden – Tales of Temecula
Charlie Aabo – Jon Pay, PI (WIP)
Barry O’Sullivan – WIP
Rosie Haghighi – hourly comic challenge.
Eoin Coveney – The Alienist pin-up
Chris O’Halloran (colour art) – Ice Cream Man #2 teaser (line art by Martin Morazzo)
Adam Law – Doctor Who
David O’Sullivan – Punisher
Niall Byrne – Red Dwarf
Kimi Kurbanova – hourly comic challenge
Charlie Aabo (line art) and Joe Griffin (colour art) – Ghost Sails teaser
Stefanie Reville – Card Captor Sakura fan art.
Leeann Hamilton – The Argonette teaser
Philip Barrett – Where’s Larry? colouring book preview
Jim Lavery – Batman
Phil Murphy – My Little Pony WIP
Ian Fay – Sir Honker
Isabella von Metzradt – piece for Game Grumps zine.
India Swift (line art) and Michael Doig (colour art) – Plesioth Battle commission
Robert Carey – Starscream
Luca Pizzari – Warlock
Ben Hennessy – Malice cover art teaser @DrawBoySeanie – cover art for collection of comic shorts by Christof Bogacs
Kevin Keane (line art) – Neon Skies teaser (colour art by Cristian Sabarre)
Hayley Mulcahy – page from Paradiso web comic
Anthea West – Ash Tree concept art
Luke Healy – Permanent Press signed bookplate (available via Forbidden Planet)
Karen Harte – Derry Girls fan art.
Liam Naughton – ReGrow teaser
Moira Dineen – Auberon Branwen’s human form / Cro Crú Chronicles
Sean Hogan (line art) and JP Jordan (colour art) – Spider-man
Triona Farrell (colour art) – Faith and the Future Force #4 cover art (line art by Jen Bartel)
Matt Griffin – cover art for Villain novel.
Gareth Luby – Gert from I Hate Fairyland
Brian Naughton – Akira Fudo from Devilman OVA
Declan Shalvey (line art) and Jordie Bellaire (colour art) – Nightwing #44 cover art
Evan Clarke – piece for ScrawlrBox monthly challenge
John Cullen – 1212: storytelling
Dearbhla Kelly (colour art) – Paradiso teaser (line art by Devmalya Pramanik)
Eoin Marron – submission for Shadow of the Colossus art book contest
Ruairi Coleman – Batman commission
Colm Griffin – Ocean City teaser
Mark Reihill – Off Girl #4 teaser
Tara O’Connor – The Altered History of Willow Sparks teaser @ @neevok – BTS fan art
Ciaran Lucas – Marvin the Martian fan art / gritty reboot
Becca Carey – Planet of the Apes: Ursus #2 cover art
John McFarlane – Papa Emeritus II
Cat Byrne – Shredder
Katie Fleming – Devilman commission
Brian Burke – M’Baku/ Black Panther fan art
Keith Kennedy – Judge Dredd
John Flynn – The 32: Ceatharlach
Nathan Donnell – Infinity War / Solstice mash up
Stephen Byrne – Shuri / Black Panther fan art
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Success in Failure: Managing Expectations and Ambition Posted: 26 Feb 2018 07:45 AM PST Written by Hugo Boylan (Originally posted on Hugo Boylan’s website. Reposted with permission.) Making your own comics is rewarding work. There is a unique freedom to try new things, to experiment with the form, to look at strange and uncommon themes and settings. You can tell stories for yourself, for your friends, you can make a statement or you can examine the human condition. You can just do you. That feeling you get when you see your script brought to life by an artist is one that can only be described in superlatives. I’ve made friends for life through my collaborations, I’ve seen these friends go on to succeed in the industry in ways that fill me with an irresistible mixture of pride and jealousy. The knowledge that we all started out writing, drawing, colouring and lettering our own work, that we all grew from that same garden is at the same time comforting and bizarre. For all of this though, there are so many pitfalls, delays and disappointments that we as creators need to deal with on an alarmingly regular basis. Oftentimes when you come up with that one great concept, the one that, to you, is going to make all the difference, you believe in it so fully that the idea that anything will go wrong is completely alien to you. You can invest time and money, heart and soul into that comic. You can do everything right, but it can still fall apart.  For all the individual work we do and for all those hours we put in, as a writer comics will always be a collaborative effort. For all that we create, and no matter how hard we try, comic creators are still human. Our collaborators are still human. Life can get in the way. I’ve written dozens of scripts that may never see the light of day. I’ve worked on so many projects that have seen the opening pages drawn and even coloured before something comes up – a collaborator is going through a rough patch and needs to take some time off, maybe they land their dream job drawing a comic they love or maybe it’s something as simple as time running out. It can be disheartening and it can set you back, but it happens. The important thing to remember is that, even though the setback can hit hard, we don’t have to get knocked down. We can keep our feet, grit our teeth and look to the next project.  The Vaulting Ambition of BountechIdiots in Space! Sounds like fun, right? Back in 2013 I really wanted to turn my hand to sci-fi. I had an idea for a crew of bobble-headed dopes, blundering through space and not really achieving anything. I wanted to satire the Five Man Band trope and write some ridiculous adventures. Turns out I was wrong. Before scripting began, the idea was wriggling around in my hands and morphing right before my eyes. I hooked up with a friend and fellow writer Dermot McDermott and my long-time colleague from the Superhero Help Desk webcomic Kerrie Smith, to bounce ideas off of and within an hour of our first burger-and-banter, The Good Ship Mary Sue and her crew of hapless buffoons had been replaced with a deep-dive in to philosophical cyberpunk, frontier sci-fi and a healthy dose of political metaphor.  Even now thinking back on those early meetings reminds me why I love the collaborative process. The exchange of ideas was electric, suddenly we weren’t just going to do the Five Man Band, we were going to subvert it. We weren’t just going to do another frontier sci-fi, we were going to draw from Irish history and politics to create a lived in and deeply antagonising universe for our characters to inhabit. We didn’t want to settle for cyberpunk, we wanted to create an elusive, transhumanist pseudo-religion. I think you can tell this was an ambitious behemoth for any book, let alone a first graphic novel from three non-artists. Still we persevered, drafted a timeline of key events, and wrote extensive backstories for the political factions, key figures and of course our band of not-quite-heroes.  It was with these ideas still raw that we happened across artist Matt Shiell. Still in college, but looking to break out of fine art and in to comics, Matt approached the opportunity to work on this nebulous book with an attitude and enthusiasm that matched our own over-confidence in what we could do. Favouring a darker, inky style and relishing in the use of negative space, Matt was going to bring a brooding melancholic atmosphere to artwork in a way that would play up to the darker elements of our narrative. We were on a roll, and yet with all of this in place, we couldn’t stop. We kept pitching ideas. With the four of us now fully ensconced in the universe we just couldn’t help ourselves. We wanted frantic action and head-turning mecha designs. We needed to add more to our bounty-hunting quintet! More cybernetic augmentations! More political allegiances! More drama and more tragedy! Where once the political backdrop would have played out in the periphery, now it was taking centre stage. We needed another scene to show why the No-Mod terrorist group X-Machina might actually be justified in their actions, but then we’d have to balance that out with a few scenes juxtaposing the utopian cyberpunk cities with the dusty and brutal frontier. Twenty four pages wasn’t going to cut it anymore, we needed to do a double sized first issue! No, never mind, we’d just ditch issues altogether and shoot right for the OGN! What could go wrong?  Ultimately, time ran out. We’d set ourselves a strict deadline. We had to finish the first act, if not at least an ashcan by DICE that year. Working within that limited window seemed like the only way to get our work on track and still allow the various teammates to continue on with college, day jobs and other projects. With that deadline looming ever closer, it became apparent that we’d never have time to get the book done. Tensions were running high within the team – we didn’t give Matt enough time to finish his concepts and the artwork, Dermo had to get back to the law library and finish his essays for the semester, Kerrie was working forty hour weeks and managing a webcomic, and I had started work on an all-ages fantasy series that needed my attention if I was going to get the first issue written in time for it to see print for that same convention. Our last meeting didn’t go well. It was clear we didn’t have it – couldn’t do it. We couldn’t get this book finished and all of those hours were going to be wasted. None of us reacted particularly well. What’s the matter? Hadn’t I done my work on time? The script was finished after all; it’s the art that was late. Of course it wasn’t as simple as all of that. Yes, the art was late, but this was Matt’s first comic and he, correctly, had wanted to ensure his designs were finished before barrelling in to the sequential work. But why didn’t he tell us earlier? Well that’s probably on me. I’d taken on a de facto leadership role in spite of my best efforts, and hadn’t pushed for better communication. Speaking to Matt recently, he pointed out that he’d felt ashamed of not being able to finish the work on time and didn’t want to let the side down. He’d felt that admitting he needed more time might have made the team see him as disorganised and unable to deal with deadlines. That pressure might have caused him to buckle, but better communications all over could have mitigated his worry.  So it was with frustration that we all agreed to part ways, foisted by an overly-ambitious project and deadline, with nothing to show for it but a good first draft of the first page of what could have been a great first OGN.
 When I find myself thinking back on what we lost, both in the Space-Buffoonery of the Good Ship Mary Sue, with her giant cook and his giant couscous and the heady misanthropic world of Bountech/SOBEK/whatever-our-final-title-might-have-been, I feel an uncomfortable rush of mixed emotions. I loved those stories, both of them and I don’t think I’ll ever truly be rid of the latter, but I learned so much. I took from that project skills that would follow me in to future collaborations and help me improve as a writer and as a collaborator. I set my sights on more manageable projects. A six-page sci-fi/horror here, a twenty-odd-page noir fairy tale there… and I never let communication on a live project suffer like that again. The Clockmaker’s Granddaughter Expected Too Much Following the story of Reegan the narrative of The Clockmaker’s Granddaughter would have been split in to two sections. First focusing on Reegan’s adventure after she was transported to a lush agrarian fantasy world at odds with the encroaching techo-magical cities who threatened to destroy it’s natural beauty and balance. Secondly it would recount the story of her Grandfather, the Clockmaker. The Clockmaker’s section would have been told in flashbacks by the characters Reegan met on her journey and would tell of how his grasp of clockwork mechanics had allowed him to bring a refined control to the techo-magic in a great war that had upended the old ruling class and established a new Oligarchy of the People. As the story unfolded however, we would learn that Reegan’s Grandfather had unwittingly installed a tyrannical maniac on the throne. Creating a religion based on techno-magic and obsessed with the return of his old friend from Reegan’s mundane world, the king would stop at nothing to attain more and more powerful and refined devices powered by clockwork-magic.   Teaming up with Iuli Niculescu on this project was going to present an interesting challenge. As the story was equal parts her ideas and mine, we decided that the best way to handle the script was with a highly collaborative approach. Rather than full scripting, I would break the story in to scenes. We would then discuss the layout and suggest page count for each. Following this I would begin writing a very loose script, focusing on dialogue and a brief description of the action we should see on each page. Iuli would then take an almost editorial role, dissecting the scenes as they came in, suggesting changes and sending them back to me. This worked well initially and I believe that for the first twenty pages of scripting, the collaboration was a success and we set a good pace for the story. Iuli chose an expressive style, reminiscent of children’s illustration treated with an ink wash to add depth and mood to each page.  CMGD was doomed to fail. Not through any fault of the narrative or the art, but the collaborative style. Working in this was was too alien to me at the time. Iuli favours art-first storytelling and is at her best when crafting the movement on a page. In essence, my job became less about writing a comic, and more about pacing the scene changes, pitching visual elements and guiding the narrative. While it was initially exciting to place myself so far outside of my comfort zone, writing the script in a quasi-“Marvel Method” caused my focus to slip. It didn’t take long to see that without scrapping already finished art and undergoing full script rewrites, we were going to go well over our page count and far beyond our deadline. 
Working this way for the very first time on a long form OGN was a slow poison. It was nearly impossible for me to tell the story we wanted to tell. I felt I had to double and triple check every single page- every narrative element as I wrote them. I would stop myself from writing ahead, until I received feedback from Iuli. This led to a breakdown in both our deadline and the narrative pacing of CMGD. Elements were added to enrich the setting, but essential character moments were glossed over to fit the page count we had allowed ourselves. In the end, when the final draft of the script was put together we both knew it wasn’t good enough. We’d lost our focus on Reegan’s personality and had instead presented her as a flat character, swept up in a strange and magical world. Our villains had gone from complex and terrifying to outlandish and at points cartoonish. Even our “epic flight” was wasted, rushed through in half the space we’d initially envisioned. We had overreached. We had expected too much of ourselves. Iuli for her part had other, more manageable projects on the horizon and the CMGD was no longer representative of the art style she was pursuing. I was just burned out on the narrative. I couldn’t make it fit and I knew it was unfair to ask Iuli to scrap her work and let me start the script over. In the end we could only shrug and say “maybe next time.”  Although CMGD may have fallen away like so much broken glass, I took a lot away from the experience. Time management and confidence in scene building are crucial when collaborating in any form. Better still, I actually write in that pseudo-“Marvel Method”, describing a scene loosely with a suggested panel count and dialogue beats, as opposed to full scripting, going panel for panel and marking out the movements of the page precisely, when working with Carlos Pedro. I can honestly say, without this learning experience, I’m not sure I would have been able to find right balance. The Curious Case of Eunan MarlowWe all have that one idea. The story we can’t shake. The one that we still think has legs. You know, the one that we might actually get back to… someday. For me that story is Mr. Marlow.   Tríona Tree Farrell had just finished up her season on the SHHD and she wasn’t yet sure if she wanted to keep working sequentially or if she was going to take all of her incredible talent for colouring and turn that in to a career. As we know now she chose the latter, and that was undoubtedly a great decision. Still at the start of 2014 and for the rest of that year, Tree was working solidly on sequential work, balancing the hours spent at her desk between drawing her own webcomic, taking on one or two indie books and colouring for hire. I was lucky enough to show her a pitch at just the right time.  “He’s a mage hunter, he kills mages for money.” When writing Mr. Marlow I created a fictional history of magic. I wanted to create a deep mythology explaining why certain people could use magic and what different kinds of magic there was in this world. I wanted to explore a world whose scales were constantly tipped in the favour of those who could manipulate it with innate and unfair powers, and I wanted there to be consequences for those manipulations. Enter Eunan Marlow, mage hunter. If you think your best life is beyond your reach, because your co-worker is a mage who messes with chance, or you’re so burnt by jealousy over a business partner who can summon spirits to do his paperwork that you just can’t think straight, Marlow can set it right, for a price.   Tree’s contribution was immediate. Upon hearing my ideas to categorise magic by type she suggested we colour code it. Blue – Marlow’s colour – would represent illusion magic. Red would represent destructive magic. Orange was for summoning; purple for prophecy. It didn’t take long to decide on a washed-out feel for the comic, all grey and dull, with sudden vibrant bursts of colour as magic, or powerful mages entered the scene. She also recommended we set the book in Europe, specifically in Paris so we could exploit the beautiful French language, draw on its fantastic architecture and, of course, build to a showdown in the catacombs. I took these suggestions to heart and began reworking the script to suit the new flavour. Suddenly the murderous Magus was the Crimson Magus, a being so overcome with his god-like powers he could never control. Ruined by self-hate his appearance was manipulated by the turbulent red energy and would shift from that of a man to that of a red-faced demon. Marlow’s tie would have a subtle blue glow to reflect his own minimalist use of magic. I pulled out my old English-to-French dictionary and thought back on the last time I tried to have some friendly banter with a Parisian waiter (it didn’t go well).  I fired ahead with the scripts, setting a pretty good pace and reducing the initial six-issue pitch to four. While Tree set about the art, Kerrie Smith offered to come on board as a letterer. I wanted to do something with the language of magic and Kerrie, as it happened, wanted to try her hand at designing a new font. We spoke at length about the best way to do it, finally deciding that doing something like the Al Bhed language in Final Fantasy X would be ideal. By creating a new alphabet, Kerrie could push her design skills and we would be able to put in a cool cipher into the book for our readers to use or ignore as they saw fit. Either way we were going to have a lot of fun coming up with stupid things mages might say while casting spells. We were firing on all cylinders and were, if you can believe it, within our deadline we had the first issue finished, coloured and ready for Kerrie’s brand new fonts!  By now you know it was all about to fall apart. As the lettering was coming in Tree mentioned that she had taken on more colouring work and would be scaling back on her sequential work. We’d need to move the deadline for the next issue. This was fine. We could work with this and even pull together a solid backlog or maybe even start pitching. I’d like to think by this point I wasn’t terrible at rolling with the punches. The more we moved back the deadlines though, the more colouring work Tree got. We could all see it happening now. Tree was going to explode into professional comics as one of the brightest up-and-coming colourists, and unfortunately that meant she just wasn’t going to have time to finish Marlow. The best part of working with Tree (that is if you ignore her incredible work ethic and unstoppable talent) has always been her honesty. If there’s an issue, you’ll know about it before it becomes a problem, and time had become that issue. Marlow had been cooking for too long and our team had to move on to other work. When Tree told me that she just couldn’t take on another issue right now, I understood. It was frustrating, but it was for the best. She laid it all out frankly, she felt that her sequential were OK, but colours were her future. She didn’t want to keep me on the hook for a project when she knew she may never have the time it required of her. Being a true class-act she immediately offered to colour the book should I choose to get another artist and I was enthusiastic in telling her that, if that ever happened there would be nobody else I’d rather work with.   Marlow was my last swing at a series for a pretty long time. I needed to refocus. There’s an old truism in comics: Start with four pages. Then do another four. And another. Most people who make comics will tell you to focus on small, easily managed projects when you’re starting out. Do short comics, but make them great. Build a portfolio. Make friends. Go to conventions. When you’re ready to do your OGN or series, you’ll have laid the ground work. It took me a while and a few abject failures to get the memo, but I got there in the end. So Whatever Happened to the Black Neptune?  Out of all the books that I’ve had to walk away from, Black Neptune was the hardest. In 2016, Rapha Lobosco and I had been teaming up for a while. We’d put together a few short comics and had notions about maybe slapping them together in a black and white collection. We were doing pretty well out of it too; people seemed to enjoy our collaborations. Still we were both looking for a book that could elevate us a little further in to the industry. Black Neptune might have been that book. It started over beers, as these things often do. I had this idea for a time-bending military-industrial horror that would take place on an oil tanker. It would borrow elements from both the pulp and sci-fi genres and build to a grim nihilistic statement on greed, consumption and the human condition. Sounds cheery right?  We had it all planned out. The narrative was to play out in medias res, using a series of interviews as a framing device for the main action. Through this use of rotating unreliable narrators, the reader would be left unsure as to which of our characters could be trusted. Each of them would have ample opportunity and motive to act in bad faith and betray the mission to their own ends. As we delved deeper in to these interviews more of the corrupt behind-the-scenes influences would be revealed to the reader. The events on board the titular Black Neptune would slip from a claustrophobic, slow-building thriller to a bizarre and gruesome cosmic horror and back again. Reality itself would seem to melt away as the team drew closer to The Mineral. What we really wanted to do was draw the reader into the mental decline of our interviewees. Their versions of events would be challenged, their recollections scrutinised and their perception of reality would be thrown in to doubt as contradictions, lies and the inescapable consequences of greed, corruption and violence were brought to bear mercilessly before them.  Visually I think we were on to a winner. We had to balance the cold and clinical interview scenes with collegial and warm “squaddie banter” during the flashback sequences. To accomplish this we needed striking character designs and to comfortably swing from moody and alienating, to relaxed and professional body language. Rapha’s choice to use heavy shadowing to build the tension, juxtaposed to his crisp line work and sparse backgrounds would allow the reader to focus on the characters and to pick out any break in their artifice. Their attitudes and how they changed when pressured would be vital to the storytelling, more so than the dialogue. Once Rapha started drafting the pages, we knew we were in good shape. The art was dark and moody. The lettering was going to be crisp and clear. The colours were going to shift from a muted noir-influence to a vibrant assault on the senses. We had it all planned out.   You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t reveal too much of the plot. If there’s one book on this list that I truly think I might take another run at it’s this one. To this day I still look back on the script and my notes on key events and bite my lip in frustration. There really was something there with Black Neptune. I can still hear the character’s voices. I can see key scenes playing out in my mind’s eye. It’s been said that if you want to succeed in comics you need to be willing to kill your babies (no, not actual babies, you monsters), but for me; Catherine, de Souza, Chiaves, Don and Tom are still very much alive. This is however a great example of how a book that seems to have everything going for it can fall apart. We had a great cover. We had finished eight pages and were searching for a colourist. We were even talking about pitching or Kickstarting the book. So what went wrong?  I guess you could say everything kind of went right. While working on the pitch Rapha got some amazing news. He was going to be working on Dynamite’s next James Bond series, Black Box! Sure this would leave Black Neptune out in the cold, but this was what we had been waiting for; the book that would finally bring his incredible art to a wider audience. If anything was going to bring Black Neptune to a screeching halt, I’m glad it was this. We tried initially to work out a way to keep up the progress on Black Neptune while balancing it with the deadlines he’d have to contend with on Bond. Unfortunately this wasn’t tenable in the long run. We both knew this was Rapha’s shot and he had to put everything he had in to it. It was with a cheery resignation over beers, as these things often are, that Rapha told me he’d have to shelve the project, at least until he had finished with Bond. We enthused about getting back to it in six months or so when he’d have the time, but I think we both knew once his art was out there for all to see he’d have no shortage of work. It was over a coffee, as these things rarely are, those six months on that Rapha told me he’d been hired to draw a Vampirella and Hack/Slash crossover. I knew it was finished then, and I kind of wish we had gone for a beer. But really I couldn’t be happier for my friend.  And in the End?So here we are at the end of it all, having looked back at four of my biggest failures in comics (so far!). Each of them had potential. Each of them could have made for a good, engaging story. Each of them failed in their own way and for their own reasons. You might wonder why I wanted to share these failures with you or what they have to teach you, and you’re absolutely right to wonder. Not everyone will be foolish enough to try for a labyrinthine OGN right out of the gates. Not everyone will let deadlines and creative frustration be the downfall of a project. And not everyone will have the genuine pleasure of watching their friends and collaborators leave their project for ongoing professional work… but it can happen. Comic projects can fall apart at any stage and for any reason, but it’s so important that you embrace these failures and learn from them. At no stage should you take it personally. At no stage should you let your head go down and your shoulders slump. These things happen. Life happens. You still have your mind and your ideas. There is nothing stopping you from taking up your pen and moving on to the next project. Though next time you might try for a short, sharp four pages. Maybe. Keep reading and writing, -Hugo PS.  |
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Posted: 26 Feb 2018 05:31 AM PST
Review by David Ferguson Created by Colm Griffin What struck me first when this book was announced was, of course, the cover. It is a great piece of art and a pretty intriguing image. It stands out and it does a great job of selling what the book is about. It immediately brings to mind the idea of a city trapped, broken and where you will see blood flow. It, maybe even just on a subliminal level, sets the story up in the reader’s mind. After reading the book, I have even more praise for it as it really gives you the tone of the book as well. It also says “buy this book”. This is comic book 101 but is an often overlooked concept in comics nowadays. This issue is about world building so there was a danger of over-explanation and being dialogue heavy. Happily, Colm Griffin includes a lot of action scenes to set up the story and veers on the side of show not tell. Dialogue is left to what will drive the story. He also leaves something for the reader to ponder for now as he sets up a few plot threads to resolved in future issues. His art has more of a cartoony that I originally felt would play well to a all ages book but he manages to shape it into a style that works for the story. Even the darker elements. The book centres on Dillon King , a resident of Ocean City, who lives with his grandmother. She acts as narrator for the issue which looks at what happened to Ocean City to put it in his current state. I’m a fan of dystopian future comics and the story had enough original elements to keep me interested and looking forward to seeing where it goes. One character in particular intrigues in particular. You’ll probably figure out which one pretty easily if you read the book which you should. If I was to give it a one line summary it would be: What if you lived in Astro City and what if it all went wrong? I’m on board for more. Ocean City launches at Forbidden Planet Dublin on March 7th. You can check out the details on the Facebook event page.  |
Irish Comic News
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Lockjaw #1 Written by Daniel Kibblesmith. |
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Letters by VC’s Clayton Cowles.
Beautiful Canvas TP Written by Ryan K Lyndsay. |
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Letters by Ryan Ferrier.
Spider-man/Deadpool #28 Written by Robbie Thompson. |
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Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino.
Days of Hate #2 Written by Ales Kot.
Return to Whisper #1 Written by Eliot Rahal. |
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Letters by Taylor Esposito.
America #12 Written by Gabby Rivera.
Redneck #10 Written by Donny Cates. |
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Kiss / Army of Darkness #1 Written by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims.
Motherlands #2 Written by Si Spurrier.
Avengers Infinity War Prelude #2 Written by Will Corona Pilgrim. |
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About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Transdimensional #3 campaign now live on KickStarter Posted: 02 Mar 2018 03:35 AM PST
The KickStarter for issue 3 of Transdimensional is now live. If you’re curious about the series, ICN have reviews for issue one and issue two. From the Kickstarter page:
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North Bend #2 now live on KickStarter Posted: 02 Mar 2018 03:25 AM PST
Issue 2 of North Bend is now live on Kickstarter. The project features the art team of Rob Carey (line art) and Ellie Wright (colour art). The team plan to release ten issues in total. So if you want to see the completion of the series, then get backing! From the KickStarter:
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About contributor.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Going Rogue In Ocean City: An Interview With Colm Griffin Posted: 05 Mar 2018 06:39 AM PST
Thank you. I wanted to show that Ocean City was once a great place to visit. The kind of place that you could bring a snow globe home to show that you had been there. The destruction of the snow globe symbolizes what the city had been through and the blood symbolizes what it is going through now. What influenced you to come up with this kind of story? Coming from animation and vfx for film and tv, I have been looking to get back into drawing comics for a while now. Doing Pin Ups, commissions and posters are fun but nothing beats telling stories through sequential art. So as the story goes, I wanted to do something that a younger me would read. I had some ideas bouncing around and over the past couple of years I worked on getting them in order. I would finish the day job and in the evenings I was working on this. How would you describe the story to someone who hasn’t read it yet? To me it feels like a coming of age story with mystery, murder and superpowers. At least that’s what I intended it to be while I wrote it. All the fun things I like to read about. How many issues will the story be? There will be 6 issues in the mini series. I do have more I would love to tell with the story but it all depends on how people embrace the story and it’s characters. I saw an advert for Zeke in the first issue. Is that what you are working on next? Everyone always asks about the lollipop ladies of Zeke. Maybe I should have come out with this one first?! I am working on a story for it at the moment. I would love to release this one as a graphic novel rather than single issues. How did you get involved with the Rogue Comics crew? As you can imagine Carlow is a small enough place and comics aren’t that big on most peoples lists. I only know a couple of guys in comics from here so I was all set to publish the book by myself. I showed
some stuff to a mate of mine, Ben Hennessy (of Carrie and Rufus) and he suggested that I send it to publishers and see if any of them are interested. It just so happens that I met Wayne Talbot and Ciaran Marcantonio at small press last year. I had been in contact with them about purchasing their own books and figured why not see if they would be interested in publishing mine. So I reached out to Rogue one Saturday morning and after sending through the first couple of issues, Ciaran said they would be happy to put Ocean City out for Rogue. To which I am very grateful for. (Jaysus that is a mouth full)
You’ll be launching the book soon Yeah the book is being launched this Wednesday 7th of March at 6pm in Forbidden Planet Dublin. It’s sure to be a great event and I hope to see plenty of people there.  |
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Posted: 05 Mar 2018 04:52 AM PST |
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Art by PJ Holden and Dearbhla Kelly Growing up, James Bond was one of those franchises that I followed a lot as one of the movies was generally on every Saturday night. We had action with Sean Connery, over the top silliness with Roger Moore, grittiness with Timothy Dalton, mad gadgets with Pierce Brosnan (who I don’t count) and back with grittiness with Daniel Craig. The current gritty world of James Bond tries to set the character in more of a real world spy situation so, writer, Declan Shalvey linking Bond’s boss M to The Troubles in Northern Ireland is no real leap if you think about it. That comment is in no way meant to take away from the idea. I mean it to highlight his cleverness in coming up with the concept in the first place. Writing about The Troubles can be a difficult and delicate balance (which is probably why we never saw it on screen to my recollection) but Declan manages to incorporate it in a way that is balanced and plays to the story he is trying to tell. An enhancement to this is the addition of an artist in PJ Holden whose style, I feel, is really suited to this kind of story. PJ was born to draw realistic down in the dirt gritty stories and his art plays well with the shadowy nature of the world of the spy. The book being mostly set in Belfast helps as he is drawing what he knows. Being paired with a talented colourist like Dearbhla Kelly does a lot to bring out the best in his art too. The cover work, as usual from this team, is exemplary as Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire come up with an image that mixes the shadowy world of M the spy and Belfast. A cover that really peaks your interest. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot but it is about M’s past in Northern Ireland coming back to haunt him. Declan comes up with a realistic back story that does a lot to flesh out the character of M so he becomes more than a man behind the desk pulling strings. I haven’t read Dynamite’s Bond books at all before this (the creative team drew me in) but I like this take on the M character and I hope the creative team gets to do more in this world. I’m hoping that this book doesn’t fly under peoples’ radars. A must for Bond fans. Everybody else should try it too.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Atomic Diner News: League of Volunteers, Night Ghost, The Bog Road Posted: 06 Mar 2018 09:01 AM PST Atomic Diner is back with a bang in 2018. Not only will we see the return of the League of Volunteers, we will see the return of, Atomic Rocket Group 66 member, Night Ghost in his own one-shot and the publication of Barry Keegan’s The Bog Road (Barry Keegan posted the news on his website).  The cover pencils to the upcoming League Of volunteers #6. Due for an early summer release from the creative team of Neil Sharpson, John McFarlane and Robert Curley. Art by John Mc Farlane.  League of Volunteers #6 interiors. Art by John McFarlane.  League of Volunteers #6 interiors. Art by John McFarlane.  Night Ghost one shot due for release in September. Written by Robert Curley. Art by Sal L. Donaire  A character from The Bog Road. Art by Barry Keegan.  |
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Posted: 06 Mar 2018 07:51 AM PST
Review by Seán Donnelly |
Created by Colm Griffin |
In a break from our usual webcomics review is a review of a proper, honest-to-goodness-it’s-in-your-hands book (made of actual paper and everything!) The lovely people at Rogue Comics have supplied us with a copy of their upcoming work Ocean City. Spearheaded by writer and artist Colm Griffin, this neon noir takes place in the titular Ocean City, a once-thriving city now split in two by the presence of a great wall; the skyline is inhabited by the privileged while the slums (or ‘Hollows’ as they’re known) are filled with those less fortunate. Now the population are “tearing [themselves] apart” in the words of the protagonist’s mother. Said protagonist, Dillon King, is a disillusioned teen who lives in hope of escaping the city with his Mama. Adding to this mix of science-fiction dystopia and coming-of-age narrative is an interesting take on the superheroes (or ‘Specials’, as they are known here). These gifted people were wiped out in the so-called O-Line Disaster, an event shrouded in a mystery that will likely be explored in future comics. Much of Ocean City’s introduction is taken up by its backstory, but it does a confident job of tantalizing its audience and leading them on until its ending. The fact that I wanted to know more of what happens in the story is evidence of this. While exposition is ordinarily tiresome, this comic manages to endear itself to its audience quickly through its natural framing and use of visuals. Speaking of visuals, this comic’s art is especially strong. The shining city with a grimy underbelly setting is established firmly in the comic’s opening panels, with detailed and deft use of lighting that strikes the balance between captivating and sinister perfectly. There is neon hue to much of the action in the issue that helps to bolster this ambience, with panels taking on different colours to indicate mood like a flashing billboard. Adding to this comic’s appeal is its sensible panel layout and construction, which keeps the action going at a speedy pace. Every panel serves its own purpose and is fortunate enough to have a lot of thought devoted to each, which prevents the comic from falling into padding or the downsides of decompression. Ocean City is a promising title that is well worth your time. The book’s launch will take place in the Forbidden Planet store at Crampton Quay in Temple Bar, Dublin on Wednesday the 7th of March. Said event is a joint one, as fellow artist Simone D’Armani launches The Spider King (published by IDW), so it’s a date to mark in your diaries. You know, if people still have diaries.  |
Irish Comic News
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Ocean City Written by Colm Griffin.
Star Wars Adventures #7 Written by Paul Crilley and Sholly Fisch.
Infinity Countdown #1 Written by Gerry Duggan.
The Wicked + The Divine #34 Written by Kieron Gillen.
Avengers: Back to Basics #1 (available via Comixology) Written by Peter David.
Mech Cadet Yu #7 Written by Greg Pak. |
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Letters by Simon Bowland.
Sonitus #1 Written by Cody Sousa and Dan Sheppard. |
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Lettering by Dezi Sienty.
“Don’t Feed The Pigeons” (strip in Aces Weekly magazine) Written by Martin Hayes.
Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters #2 Written by Chris “Doc” Wyatt and Kevin Burke.
Hawkeye #16 Written by Kelly Thompson. |
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Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Review: The Altered History of Willow Sparks Posted: 08 Mar 2018 01:04 AM PST
Written and illustrated by Tara O’Connor. Most people at some point in their life will imagine how their life would be that much better if they could make that one change to it. For Willow, it’s not something left to the imagination after she discovers a book with her name on it while covering the evening-shift at the library. On further examination, she realises that it documents her life. It even documents her reading the book as she is actually reading it. After noticing a pen that is attached to the book marked, “for emergencies only”, Willow takes the book home with her. She then tries to re-write details of her life by adding notes to her book. But as Willow soon finds out, destiny has ways of protecting itself from those that seek to resist its plans. The artwork really captures the range of emotions from the cast, be it the cruelty of the bullies or awkwardness of a secret crush. Which is important to this type of story because it’s the relationships of the characters that will keep the reader turning the pages. The interior is line art with grey tones used to give it a bit more depth. I must say that I did like how the grey tones were used. Some panels had a lot of grey tones going on with a white area within it that drew the readers eyes to the item of importance in that particular panel. The lettering keeps with the spirit of the comic. The dialogue is easy to read with a clear flow through the pages. There were two things I did really like with the sound effects. One was how a ‘sigh’ as Willow drifts off to sleep, it had a tiring quality to it. The other was when groups were laughing at Willow. The ‘panels were filled with ‘ha ha’ repeated over and over. It reminded me of when your a teen where a humiliation happens and it seems as if laughter is all that exists in the world. The Altered History of Willow Sparks examines the possibility of what can happen should you have the ability to re-write your life to what you think it should be. Part of the risk is finding out that the best story you could have is the one you had all along before too much damage has been done. The Altered History of Willow Sparks is a wonderfully drawn comic that reminds us to be careful about what we wish for. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Debris campaign now live on KickStarter Posted: 09 Mar 2018 05:20 AM PST
Alfie Gallagher has launched the KickStarter campaign has for the Debris comic (which features some familiar names for regular readers of ICN). From the KickStarter page:
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Irish Comic News
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Wildstorm: Michael Cray #6 |
Written by Bryan Hill. |
Letters by Simon Bowland.
The Vampires of Lower Bennett Street #1 Written by Mike Lynch.
Star Wars: Thrawn #2 (variant cover) Written by Jody Houser. |
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Written by Ram V. |
Colour art by Dearbhla Kelly. |
Letters by Aditya Bidikar.
Ben Reilly – Scarlet Spider #15 Written by Peter David.
Xena: Warrior Princess #2 |
Written by Meredith Finch. |
Colour art by Triona Farrell. |
Letters by Cardinal Rae. |
About contributor.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 21 Mar 2018 06:23 AM PDT I thought I’d do up a list of upcoming events. I just didn’t realise there are so many. So… I’ve decided to stick with events in the first six months. Here you go.
KaizokuCon (March 23rd – 25th) University College Cork Website: http://www.kaizokucon.ie/
Hound 3 Book Launch (March 23rd, 6pm) The Book Centre, John Roberts Square, Waterford Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/200562527367608/
OFFSET: Dublin’s Creative Festival (March 23rd – 25th) Website: http://www.iloveoffset.com/
Dublin Comic Con: Anime Edition (March 31st – April 1st) Dublin Convention Centre Website: http://www.dublincomiccon.com/
Cork Comic Expo 2 (April 14th) Mahon Point, Cork Website: https://www.bigbangcomics.ie/
DCAF (April 21st) Generator Hostel, Smithfield, Dublin Website: http://www.dublincomicarts.ie/
Cosmic Rebels Con (April 21st) The Promenade, Enniscorthy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cosmicrebelscon/
Enniskillen Comic Fest (May 11th – 12th) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnniskillenComicFest/
Belfast Comic Mart (May 19th) The Olympic Suite, Clayton Hotel, Belfast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NIComicMart/
The Rathdrum International Cartoon Festival (June 2nd – 3rd) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therathdruminternationalcartoonfestival/
Celtic Con Irelands Midland Comic Convention (June 23rd – 24th) O’Laughlins Hotel, Port Laoise Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celtic.con.comic.convention/  |
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Comics out this week (21/Mar/18) Posted: 21 Mar 2018 02:00 AM PDT |
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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James Bond: The Body #3 Written by Aleš Kot. |
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Colour art by Valentina Pinto.
Punks not dead #2 |
Written by David Barnett. |
Colour flats by Dee Cunniffe. |
Colour art by Martin Simmonds.
Ice Cream Man #3 Written by M. Maxwell Prince. |
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The Amazing Spider-man: Renew Your Vows #17 Written by Jody Houser. |
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Letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna. |
Vampirella #11 Written by Jeremy Whitley. |
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Colour art by Lee Loughridge. |
About contributor.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Doing It My Waugh: An Interview With Rory McConville Posted: 22 Mar 2018 06:23 AM PDT
I recently caught up on my Judge Dredd Megazine reading. I had been a bit uncertain about a new Devlin Waugh but ended up really enjoying. I asked Rory McConville about working on the character as well as the galaxy’s most famous lawman. How did the Devlin Waugh gig come about? No great mystery. Matt Smith — Tharg to his script droids — asked if I’d be interested in writing an outline for Devlin and I jumped at the chance. Devlin’s been one of my favourite characters for 2000AD, We talked through a few ideas but I felt it was important to address the lingering cliffhanger from Devlin’s last appearance in 2007’s Innocence & Experience, so we decided to do something involving Freddy. The character has mostly been written by his co-creator John Smith. Was that daunting? Incredibly. It’s always daunting working on big characters but particularly someone like Devlin who’s so closely aligned with his co-creator. I obviously wanted to be respectful to what had come before and the Freddy plot line was a handy way of maintaining a sense of continuity while being vague enough that Mike and I could also put our own spin on things. I think you nailed the characterisation, what to you are the key elements of the character? Thanks! Hmmm… I think the fact that he’s so different to so many of 2000AD’s other characters. That initial description of him as Noel Coward’s head on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body is still apt and that mixture of flamboyance and hyper-violence is incredibly appealing. It’s also interesting that in contrast to someone like Dredd, Devlin’s not particularly driven by a sense of duty or desire to save the world— he just wants to relax on the chaise longue and have a drink, but trouble has a way of finding him. I really enjoyed, your artist, Mike Dowling’s take on the character. What was it like working with him? Mike’s been a dream to work with. I remember seeing his first set of pages and just being blown away by them. He just keeps getting better with each instalment. Would you like to do more with the character? Yeah. Mike and I have a followup story called Kiss of Death which should be appearing in the Meg later this year. If people want more after that, then let Tharg know! You also have a few Dredd stories under your belt. There’s a lot of different stories you can tell with the character. What appeals to you about him? The fact that he’s the ultimate personification of order in the most chaotic city in the world is a huge draw. It definitely took me a while to get the hang of Dredd than say, Devlin. I think in the first few stories I was still trying to figure out Dredd as a character so the focus is a bit more on Mega City One itself and its inhabitants (who of course are as much a part of what makes Dredd such a great strip). Writing Dredd certainly puts you through your paces — if for nothing else than the fact that because so much has been written about him and MC1, it’s always a challenge to find a new angle and avoid retreading old ground. For Judge Megazine 391, you had three stories (A Dredd, Devlin Waugh and a Tales From The Black Museum). That is quite an accomplishment. Cheers! It was one of those scheduling quirks where several stories that had been written at earlier points in the year all wound up appearing simultaneously. I can’t imagine things will sync up that much again but you never know. The Black Museum story was an interesting addition to Chaos Day. I was wondering why you choose to expand on that particular storyline. Fake News — mine and Neil Googe’s Black Museum story — follows a young Judge trying to track down reporter Miasma Jennings in the aftermath of Chaos Day. For anyone who hasn’t read Chaos Day, Miasma’s an MC1 reporter who unknowingly released doctored footage about Justice Department that exacerbates an already disastrous situation. Her appearance is incredibly brief — only a few panels in fact — but her actions have an enormous impact on the ultimate direction Chaos Day takes. I thought the thread offered an interesting way to look at a subject matter that’s quite timely, and was lucky enough that no other writer had followed it up. The Black Museum format also complemented some of the themes nicely. I really enjoyed Neil Googe’s art on that story. I think black and white really enhanced it and made it stand out. Yeah, Neil’s art was great. I’d love to do something with him again. What’s next for you with 2000AD? We’re currently crossing the halfway point of the current Cursed Earth Koburn story arc called The Law of The Cursed Earth, which is out this week in Judge Dredd Megazine 394. It’s illustrated by 2000AD legend Carlos Ezquerra, with letters by Simon Bowland. After that, there’s several Dredd storylines stockpiled. It’s a mix of one-offs and multi-parters for the Prog and the Megazine, which should be coming out over the next few months. I believe Leonardo Manco and Lee Carter are each drawing a story but I’m not aware of who the other artists are yet. Then there’s the Kiss of Death storyline for Devlin, which I’m very happy with. I think Mike and I are both really hitting out stride with the character. I’m also discussing a couple of other series for the Prog with Tharg.  |
Irish Comic News
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Kiss / Army of Darkness #2 |
Written by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims.
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Lockjaw #2 |
Written by Daniel Kibblesmith. |
Colour art by Chris O’Halloran. |
Letters by VC’s Clayton Cowles. |
Ben Reilly – The Scarlet Spider #16 |
Written by Peter David. |
Letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna. |
The Despicable Deadpool #297 Written by Gerry Duggan. |
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Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino.
Goosebumps : Download and Die! #1 Written by Jen Vaughn. |
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Letters by Christa Miesner.
Hound 3 – Liberator Written by Paul Bolger and Barry Devlin.
Redneck #11 |
Written by Donny Cates. |
Colour art by Dee Cunniffe. |
Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino. |
Days of Hate #3 |
Written by Ales Kot. |
Letters by Aditya Bidikar.
Planet of the Apes: Ursus #3 |
Written by David Walker.
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Kid Lobotomy #6 Written by Peter Milligan. About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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KISS Army: An Interview With Ruairí Coleman Posted: 29 Mar 2018 03:14 AM PDT
KISS/Army of Darkness issue 2 hit stores this week. It is a really fun series that is well worth your time. You can check out some inked pages from the book below to tempt you. I asked Ruairí Coleman about drawing iconic characters and getting to meet one of stars recently in Dublin. I’m a fan of Army of Darkness but I’m not that familiar with KISS. I think Chad Bowers and Chris Sims do a great job of getting readers caught up in issue one. I admit I’m not overly familiar with KISS myself: outside of their infamous make-up and greatest hits, I was a little in the dark myself going in. Thankfully, KISS/Army of Darkness seems to standalone outside Dynamite’s other KISS comics so there’s no existing continuity to be concerned about. However, that didn’t stop Chris and Chad giving them a great backstory that’s pulls from the band’s own history in a way that makes their involvement in the world of Army of Darkness totally credible. I think that’s what you’re referring to when you said about catching readers up: it feels like there’s a whole adventure KISS has been on before we start this book, but that story hasn’t been told yet as far as I know. It’s just really great writing by two masters!
 From Ash’s side, the book seems to be focusing on the Army Of Darkness, are you a fan of that movie?
Absolutely. Since starting working on this project I think I’ve watched Army of Darkness more than Evil Dead 2 (my favourite of the three) in my entire life, and I haven’t gotten bored of it yet.
What about KISS?
As I was saying, I wasn’t overly familiar with the band starting out but during the preparation phase I listened to a few albums, watched plenty of live performances and even listened to Paul Stanley’s autobiography. I really admire Paul and Gene for what they’ve created with KISS: it’s a really inspirational story for any creative to see what can be achieved with vision and hard work. It’s a similar industrial spirit to that of Bruce Campbell making the original Evil Dead with Sam Raimi: creative, talented people striving to make their visions a reality, and becoming hugely successful as a result of their tenacity. That’s the thought that occurs to me most often while working on this project.
 Do you find likenesses difficult?
I hate likenesses. As you can tell from the book, because I’m not great at them. I go for a roundabout likeness, a resemblance, rather than a prefect rendering of the people. For one, I don’t have the time to meticulously draw each character to that kind of accuracy – deadlines need to be met – and, secondly, I feel if you start to go down that route then when you don’t nail the accuracy each time it really pulls you out of the book. Or at least that’s what I tell myself to make me feel better about sucking at drawing likenesses! You’re definitely doing your take on Ash. I was wondering if you looked at other artists’ take on the character or did you just work from the movies/TV series?
I worked pretty much exclusively from the Army of Darkness and Evil Dead 2 blu rays. Freeze-framing and sketching. It’s the best way to figure out the proportions and facial characteristics that will allow you to draw the character from whatever angle and keep him looking somewhat the same throughout. Plus it’s an excuse to watch those movies again and stare at Bruce Campbell’s handsome mug.
 You actually got to meet the real life Ash, Bruce Campbell, recently. That must have been a cool experience.
Yeah, it was such a rush. Literally as well as figuratively. On the day of the Bruce Campbell book signing in the IFI in Dublin I had to finish and hand in my last page of issue 3. I got that in early afternoon with just enough time to freshen up and jump in the car to drive the 2 and half hours to Dublin, plus another thirty minutes stuck in traffic in the city. We got to the IFI just in time for the doors opening. Bruce came out and read from his book – “Hail To The Chin: Further Confessions of a B-Movie Actor” – and then answered questions from the audience. He was as affable and charismatic as you’d expect: the Q&A was as funny as it was enlightening. Then we got to queue up and get our copies of the book signed. I was probably in front of Bruce for twenty seconds max – just enough time to have a laugh over how difficult it is to write my name, handshake, and out. Back in the car and another 2.5 hours until we got home. It was all worth it though. I’m not usually one to gush over celebrities and wouldn’t go out of my way to see them at cons or anything, but Bruce Campbell is a special case. I dragged my fiancée Nicole with me to the signing, who is – at best – familiar with Bruce and completely bemused by my adoration for him, and she came away won over just from hearing him tell a story about being high in Bulgaria. Top man. It is an entertaining book. What’s the most fun part of working on it?
Getting to draw the insane stuff Chad and Chris come up with. I don’t know what’s going to happen issue to issue until I get the script and each time I’m surprised by what the guys have dreamt up. I can’t overstate how well Chad and Chris have married the mythologies of KISS and Army of Darkness and created something truly unique. I’m drawing issue 4 at the minute and while I don’t want to spoil anything, I will say that nobody will be able to guess how this issue is going to go. I still don’t quite believe it and I’m drawing the thing. I’m giddy with excitement.
 What should we expect in upcoming issues?
In terms of the plot, expect the unexpected but be prepared to have an absolute blast: this is a really wild ride that Chad and Chris have concocted and I think anybody that decides to pass on it is denying themselves a unique story and a lot of fun. In terms of tone, the story blends all the key elements of the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness franchise: dark horror, witty dialogue and the odd helping of slapstick. Chad and Chris have been writing Dynamite’s main Army of Darkness book so AoD fans are in a safe pair of hands. KISS fans should enjoy seeing the band as medieval warriors/superheroes too I think. On the art front, I feel like I’ve been stepping it up slightly in each issue as I get more familiar with the characters and tone and issue 4 is shaping up to be my best work yet – it also helps that there’s lots of gore and viscera flying around as the story really starts to ramp up to the climax in issue 5. I’m having way too much fun on this book. KISS/Army of Darkness Issue Two hit stores this week. You can follow Ruairí Coleman on Twitter here.   |
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Webcomic Wednesday: Five Hour Breakfast Posted: 28 Mar 2018 12:32 PM PDT |
Review by Seán Donnelly |
Illustrated by Tim Comrie and written by Mike Heneghan Though sadly no longer active, Five Hour Breakfast (and its sister comic, Hen Bra Comics) represents an amusing collection of gag strips varied in both content and style. Sometimes darkly hilarious, other times bittersweet, Five Hour Breakfast will leave you laughing and surprisingly affected, sometimes in rapid succession. A common theme of Heneghan’s writing – as seen in the Christmas special – is to explore an absurd idea through a different window entirely, one that is usually much more serious than its subject matter would entail. So when one of Santa’s reindeer is departing to fulfil his role despite the objections of his father, the weightiness with which the scene is played allows it to become the stuff of pure bathos. Besides that, there are also frequent forays into surrealist and absurdist humour, the ridiculousness of which is bolstered by Comrie’s illustrations. Though often realised in monochromatic colours (with some exceptions for the sake of supporting a joke) Comrie’s expert use of shading and texture, as well as detailed expressions and dynamic poses, bring the strips to life. The pacing and structure of these strips varies wildly, some being as short as three panels while others come close to realising the ‘infinite canvas’ envisioned by Scott McCloud; that is, webcomics that make use of the limitless space provided for them. It is this sensitivity to what makes a good webcomic, coupled with decent art and comedic writing, that allows Five Hour Breakfast to earn its recommendation.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic Art Picks. Pages, commissions, doodles, works in progress and everything in between, this feature shows you some of the best work by Irish Comic Artists from around the web every month. Feel free to submit work and links through any ICN links on social media (Facebook or Twitter) or Stephen on Twitter or Instagram. Remember, support artists and follow their links.
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Joe Griffin – Flash Gordon
Moira Dineen – Cro Cru Chronicles.
David O’Sullivan – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
SJ Moloney – Pantheon webcomic.
Aoife Duffy – Orc Queen
Becca Carey – Planet of the Apes : Ursus #3 variant cover
Rosie Haghighi – WIP
Will Sliney – Cu Chulainn
Declan Shalvey (line art) and Jordie Bellaire (colour art)- Nightwing #45 cover art
Katie Fleming – Raven
Fran Johnston – WIP
Jim Lavery – WIP
Aaron Losty – WIP
@avatarkasia – Shuri / Black Panther fan art
Stefanie Reville – Thor Ragnorok fan art
Tommie Kelly – The Conductor |
PJ Holden – Captain Boomerang sample page
Patrick Mulholland – Zero Jumper #2 cover
Cormac Hughes – Appleseed
@neevok – Art print available at Dublin Comic Con
Eoin Marron (line art) – Fantastic Four (colour art by @tofuthebold)
@blargberriess – Breath of the Wild charm design
Cian Tormey ( line art) and Triona Farrell (colour art) – Batman and Robin commission
@Derryzumi– Pathfinder Cleric, Cassian Arvinus.
Ian Fay – Tama Tonga
Barry Keegan – The Bog Road teaser
Rapha Lobosco – Batman commission WIP
Phil Dunne – The Failed Artist teaser |
Kevin Keane (line art) – Neon Skies teaser (colour art by Cristian Sabarre) |
Ruairi Coleman (line art) – Kiss/ Army of Darkness #1 teaser (colour art by Tim Brown)
Nick Roche (line art) and Chris O’Halloran (colour art) – Avengers: Back to Basics #3 cover art
John McFarlane – League of Volunteers cover art |
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Stephen Mooney (line art) and Jordie Bellaire (colour art) – The Dead Hand #3 cover art
Stephen Byrne – Suicide Squad.
Michael Arbuthnot – WIP.
John McCrea – Hulk
John Cullen – 1228: worth it
Claire McLoughlin – Brigitte / Overwatch fan art
Luke Healy – character designs for project pitching.
@tootzoid – Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Dee Cunniffe (colour art) -Her Infernal Descent #3 cover (line art by Kyle Charles)
Nate Stockman (line art) and Ruth Redmond (colour art) – Amazing Spider-man : Renew Your Vows #17 teaser
Gareth Luby – Thor and Hela
Gavin Fullerton – Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan sample page
Iuli Niculescu– Sailor Mercury
Matt Griffin – The Shape of Water
Mot Collins – teaser for new zine |
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About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
- Customer Orders Gramfel Shirt, Experiences Existential Angst
- Leeann Hamilton Announces Finn And Sushi
- Finally!!!: An Interview With Ciaràn Marcantonio
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Customer Orders Gramfel Shirt, Experiences Existential Angst Posted: 01 Apr 2018 09:25 AM PDT
A customer who ordered a Gramfel t-shirt from John Cullen has complained of feelings of existential angst. The unnamed comic fan will now only respond to questions with two words: “Is Life”. John Cullen released a statement claiming that this ailment only impacts those who are known to complain about the Irish weather, their daily commute and Hilary Clinton being the head of the global conspiracy of the lizard people. You can buy your shirt here* *May cause feeling of existential against  |
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Leeann Hamilton Announces Finn And Sushi Posted: 01 Apr 2018 08:03 AM PDT
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Finally!!!: An Interview With Ciaràn Marcantonio Posted: 01 Apr 2018 07:10 AM PDT  |
Leeann Hamilton has announced a sequel to her beloved series “Finn And Fish” entitled “Finn And Sushi”. “It’s a bold new direction for the series,” said the ICN Hall Of Fame writer / artist. When questioned if salmon could be considered sushi, she replied “Artistic license.”Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Webcomic Formula: An Interview With Hayley Mulcahy Posted: 02 Apr 2018 04:10 AM PDT
Writer / artist Hayley Mulcahy is a big fan of Formula One and has recently funnelled this passion into her new webcomic Paradiso. I ask her about her Formula One fandom and comics branching out into new areas. How did you become a fan of Formula One? I’ve never really been a stranger to it. I remember having Sunday dinners at my nan’s house when I was 5, and in front of me I would see cars flying left, right and centre on the screen. The names Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard and Trulli echoed. My dad would often watch a Grand Prix whenever broadcasted and I would look in, but never fully paying attention to it. It would be in 2008 when my interest piqued a bit more from having witnessed Lewis Hamilton take his first title. He was the youngest and first black World Champion, and it was an exciting moment to witness. That same year incidentally, I went onto actually create a race car driver character, but I ended up not doing anything with her for years, despite some attempts to try work her into an F1 related story. Only last year I got the inspiration I needed, and then the true research on the sport begin. And, in turn, I fell in love with the sport in a way I hadn’t previously. What appeals to you about the sport? I suppose to me, as an artist, it’s one of the more creative and innovative sports out there. The teams are constantly trying to create a machine that keep on pushing the limits of speed and aerodynamics. There’s a lot of work, care and passion into the cars they create, and it’s ever evolving. Mix that with some incredible human strength that’s needed to pilot these challengers, and also some of the most intense sagas of some of the most extraordinary people to have graced the sport: the early days where there was no fear and ridiculously stupid safety standards; the rivalries which put your skill, career and relationships on the line; and the legends, one of whom we know had even claimed he’d seen God when driving… it’s like an never ending epic of champions. The characters in Paradiso are big racing fans, is the an autobiographical element to the story? You could say so! Those early moments would’ve been inspired extremely loosely by the Grand Prixs me and my dad would’ve sat down and watched together, and the times he gave me a try of playing Gran Turismo. But these characters are ultimately different, fictional people. They contain different aspects of life and emotions I’ve experienced and grew from, and mostly my own passion of the sport. I never went on to become a race car driver myself, but who knows. Maybe by the time I’m midway or finished this comic, I’d love to get myself into karting for fun! In that way, it’s like my creations end up influencing myself, like we go hand-in-hand and are an extension of myself. It won’t be cheap but I’d definitely love to try in the future if I can!
The comic is just beginning, do you have hints of some of things we might see storywise? While my own spin, it’s largely going to be everything inspired by and what you can expect from real life Formula 1. There’ll be growth, failures, deep rivalries, strong expectations, facing inner demons, pushing on despite any obstacle, intense racing and battles, and the bonds of friendship and camaraderie that makes a team strong. I also wish to make this comic accessible for people who may not necessarily know anything about Formula 1, and be an easy enough read for them. You have used a few different art styles from the painted logo to different elements in the strip. Who are the artists that inspire your work and these choices? I’ve been inspired by a few different artists. I love the ethereal and symbolic emotion that Naoko Takeuchi captured in her manga Sailor Moon. Hirohiko Araki opened my eyes to a sense of flamboyance and larger-than-life characters that I wish to unapologetically portray. Western artists like Steve Purcell, André Franquin and Janry have inspired my sense of movement and expression also. All of these artists have an extremely strong sense of character design, and it’s my goal to make instantly recognisable characters. The look and feel of a lot of 80s and early 90s manga and anime are hugely inspirational also, because they give me a dreamy, nostalgic feeling which I find very soothing. I also just love to experiment and try new techniques. And anything to help ease the chronic pain I get while drawing! Your strip reminds me of Manga as you see a huge variety of genres tailored to. Do you think western comics need to move in this direction? Maybe to connect to different people? I think Western comics have been branching out more and more into numerous different topics in the last decade. And if you consider European comics Western too, they’ve been doing it for years! But I think it’s more so the exposure that these types of stories get, and they’re often independent works or webcomics. It’s because there’s no set requirements for what you wish to create when you go indie, as oppose to the bigger publishers. But even publishers like IDW, BOOM! and Dark Horse have already a great selection of varied stories and different art styles. I wish just for the mainstream audience to consider these the norm as well, instead of just thinking of superhero comics. While those are largely important and have paved the way comics as an art form in general, I wish for people to realise the sheer amount of stories covered elsewhere and that there really is something for everyone. They are out there, they just need to get more recognition. Creators should create from their heart and what they love above anything else. Hayley will be appearing at Cork Comic Expo 2 on April 14th at Mahon Point in Cork. Not only will she be selling cool stuff, she will be doing art classes for children. You can check out her webcomic here.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
- Half Past Danger 2 Hardcover Release Date
- Jump!: An Interview With Patrick Mulholland
- Review: The Vampires of Lower Bennett Street #1
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Half Past Danger 2 Hardcover Release Date Posted: 03 Apr 2018 05:24 AM PDT
The wait for the Half Past Danger volume 2 hardcover is almost over. It is going to be in comic shops April 18th and available on Amazon and everywhere else on May 15th. If this is anything like the hardcover for volume 1, it is a must buy for Half Past Danger fans. I’ll be picking up a copy.  |
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Jump!: An Interview With Patrick Mulholland Posted: 03 Apr 2018 04:34 AM PDT  Patrick Mulholland has new limited series being released bi-monthly by Alterna Comics. I ask him how the book came about and what readers should expect from the series.
How did this project come about?
The project basically started with me going to the Thought Bubble festival in 2016. I entered the comic art competition where you submit a single page story. So I took that as a chance to create my own character for the first time. I was finishing another project a few months later and when that was done I decided to expand that one page story into 5 or 6 pages. Once that was done I was thinking what a whole issue would be and then what 3 or 4 issues could be. So it sort of went from one page to four issues over time. I named it Zero Jumper and submitted it Alterna Comics through their submission page on their website and it went pretty quick from there.
How would you describe the book to people who haven’t picked it up?
I would describe it as an action adventure series. It is set out in space and on other planets but it’s not a hard sci-fi story. It’s more science fantasy really.
What the inspiration behind creating this kind of book?
I think the main inspirations are Samurai Jack and Avatar The Last Airbender. I like the model of having characters going on a journey with an ultimate goal but you can tell interesting side stories along the way. I tried to put a little of that into Zero Jumper. With 4 issues its hard to do that since you sort of need to ramp up to the end pretty quickly. And I love stories about time travel or having the day repeat like Groundhog Day.
You are both writer and artist on this book, do you work from a full script?
I don’t have a script at all really. I have a story outline written down that I submitted to Alterna. But since this is the first time I’m really writing something I needed to be able to change the moment to moment story as I went, since with more time I had better ideas for what to do. From the beginning I knew the first and last page of each issue, but I would change how we get there if I had a better idea. I have a giant list of notes on my phone but other than that no script. For dialogue I’ll draw each panel knowing a character is going to say this or that but I decide on the specifics when I come to lettering the pages. This might be the worst way to do it, but I’m just revising the story as it goes but keeping the destination the same. For instance Juno’s little robot friend iO (that’s a reference to the moon of Jupiter, not an Apple product incase anyone was wondering) he was only there so I could have someone for Juno to talk to, so that the reader would know more about her. But as I went on iO has a pretty important role in the story.
After reading issue one, I’d happily give it to a younger reader to read. Did you have that in mind when you were creating the book?
I didn’t do that purposefully from the beginning but it sort of turned out that way. It didn’t feel like a gritty adult story so I didn’t want to put in graphic violence etc.
There is a place for that, but it never came up as I was going through the story.
What can we expect in upcoming issues?
Issue 01 sort of hits the ground running without a lot of set up initially. So in the next issues there will be more characters introduced and more info on how Juno ended up where she is. And what happened to the Earth, and who are the bad guys, what are the crystals, whats up with Juno’s robot arm etc etc etc. So I hope people will read it and enjoy it!
Zero Jumper Issue One hit stores on April 4th. Patrick Mulholland’s art can also be seen in the 2018 Power Ranger Annual which is out April 25th.
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Review: The Vampires of Lower Bennett Street #1 Posted: 03 Apr 2018 01:00 AM PDT
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Written by Mike Lynch. |
Issue one drops the reader straight into the action as escape attempt is in progress in what seems to be a secure facility of some kind. It’s a distant totalitarian future, where a man only identified as Lazarus is would-be escapee. Considering that a number of armoured and heavily armed soldiers are in pursuit, it would suggest Lazarus is more of a threat than reader may have thought on first glance. After the escape scene reaches its climax, the reader is transported back to 1690s Ireland. This shift to historical Ireland informs the reader that Lazarus has a bit more life to him than the average person. It might explain why the soldiers in the opening scene were in pursuit of him. The arrival of monster hunters to the city in 1690s Ireland reveals the nature of the relationship between the vampires and Lazarus. It’s revealed over the course of the story that Lazarus is in Ireland hunting a scroll that holds the secret to eternal life, and eternal death. It seems that long life is more of curse than a blessing for Lazarus. I was quite impressed with the artwork, it reminded me a bit of the art by Cat Staggs on the Crosswind series. The escape scene doesn’t take up a huge amount of the comic, but the part that it does makes it clear from costume and symbols adorning the front of buildings that whomever is in charge is using a strong military force to maintain that control. With the rest of the comic, buildings, characters and costume are well drawn. As it’s a comic with vampires the scenes are all at night in Ireland so plenty of action by moonlight or torch. The art handles all that is required by the story right up to the explosive cliff-hanger. The one thing that bothered me little was scenes of dialogue between two of the characters. The camera angle that was used a number of times gave the appearance of a character talking to the back of the other character. Some of the parts of the story make sense that angle would be used but other scenes allowed for a different angle. The art has a great standard and shifting the angles a bit to vary it up a bit would give a bit more energy to dialogue sequences. With Campbell doing the art and lettering, the lettering was unlikely to end up in a location that obscured the artwork. Lettering is clear to read and leads the eye through the page nicely. I did like the lettering on the sound effects where a sword was swinging through the air ( or someone being thrown). The lettering had a bit of transparency applied to it that worked well the action it denoted. I enjoyed the first issue. The character of Lazarus is interesting with little of his backstory given away at this early stage to entice the readers to stick with the series. Equally, I’m curious to see how things play out between Lazarus and the vampires. It also doesn’t hurt that art is of such a good standard. Plenty of questions are raised about Lazarus, in both strands of the story that should have readers coming back for issue 2. So if you like some mystery with vampires and the supernatural thrown into the mix, then have a wander down Lower Bennett Street. |
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Irish Comic News
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Created by Gerard Sexton A fairly short review this week, but this one comes courtesy of Tumblr artist Gerard Sexton who has kindly supplied us with a link to a webcomic written and illustrated by him (which you can find here). It’s a simple 5-page effort, but it’s one full of promise and energy. It details an attack by a giant robot with a prejudice against “morons”, but despite wreaking devastating carnage on the city it only serves to incense the public, with one passenger on a bus calling into work claiming that there’s a delay. Of course, unbeknownst to this passenger is the battle occurring above him between the robot and a nameless hero. The hero, who resembles Duke Nukem if he gained super-powers (a terrifying thought to be sure) tangles with the robot while proudly bearing a crest that is better left unspoiled. This juxtaposition of the mundane and the supernatural is always a goldmine for comedy, and the comic, while brief, does do a good job of highlighting the potential in this style of humour. The comic’s leaner form arguably makes for a much more focused work, though it would be nice to see an expansion on this concept in future; it does have the makings of a regular gag strip. There is a neat sketchiness to the art, though some of the figures can be static at times. That said, there are one or two dynamic shots that do show an awareness of how the comic medium can be used to convey movement or dynamism through a variety of angles and shots. By doubling down on this knowledge and honing it, this could become a satisfying series of comics and another addition to the fine selection of work on offer from homegrown creators.  |
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More On Centipede: An Interview With Eoin Marron Posted: 04 Apr 2018 02:24 AM PDT
One of the more interesting books I’ve read recently was Dynamite Comics’ Centipede. The book is based on the Atari game but it goes in strange directions. I asked artist Eoin Marron about being creative on a licensed book. With Centipede being a licensed book, did you have much input into the creature and world’s design? The sweet thing about working on CENTIPEDE was having full creative control on pretty much every aspect of the project. In that regard it almost felt like a creator-owned book at times with the liberty we were given. Max supplied ideas and reference points and I built off those, so it was more or less 100% creator input. What was your approach to the design? Max described Sty-rek as a planet similar to Earth but not entirely, so I approached the general aesthetic and design of things by reverse engineering their purpose/appearance and working out how a similar civilization would produce the same results with their resources. The anime film ‘Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise’ was probably one of the biggest inspirations for that. Have you ever played the game? Not until recently (and I was awful) – I was born in the 90s so unfortunately I missed out on the entire Atari generation. I think it is one of those books that will surprise people. It wasn’t what I expected. How would you describe it to someone who is pondering picking up the trade? I think if you fancy a very unconventional and aware take on an arcade classic that offers up equal doses of nuanced drama, existential horror, chaotic action and black humor then this is the book for you. Much like its sister comic book adaptation SWORDQUEST, it’s a very accessible title that I can see fans of Image heavy-hitters enjoying. You’ve recently worked on a Star Trek cover. What was that like? I’m not the biggest Trekkie, but getting to play in the sandbox of such a sci-fi giant was pretty thrilling. Very honored Sarah Gaydos (who commissioned me at IDW) asked me to send off the series finale, and even doubly-so that Jordie Bellaire colored it! You’re working on a creator owned book with Ollie Masters. Can you tell us anything about that? It’s just a pitch at the moment so I won’t say too much right now – the nature of these things is they either go nowhere or take years to develop – but me and Ollie have wanted to work together again for a while now (since collaborating on SONS OF ANARCHY: REDWOOD ORIGINAL). I wanted to do something more grounded after more than half a year working on CENTIPEDE, and Ollie had just the right script waiting so it worked out perfectly. I’ll be posting snippets of it along the way on my Twitter and Instagram, so keep an eye out! The Centipede trade hits stores today. Star Trek Boldly Go Issue 18, featuring Eoin’s cover, is out next Wednesday. Eoin will be appearing at Cork Comic Expo 2 on April 14th at Mahon Point in Cork.  |
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Comics out this week (4/Apr/2018) Posted: 04 Apr 2018 01:02 AM PDT |
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Written by Greg Pak. |
Colour art by Triona Farrell. |
Letters by Simon Bowland.
Redland volume 1 (Forbidden Planet / Big Bang Comics Exclusive Edition) Written by Jordie Bellaire. |
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Letters by Clayton Cowles.
2000AD Prog 2075 Written by Rory McConville, Gordon Rennie, Dan Abnett, Emma Beeby and John Wagner.
Batman #44 (variant cover) Written by Tom King.
Centipede volume 1 – Game Over Written by Max Bemis. |
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Letters by Taylor Esposito.
Runaways #8 Written by Rainbow Rowell. |
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Letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna. |
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Letters by Joe Sabino.
Analog #1 (variant cover) Written by Gerry Duggan. |
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Letters by Joe Sabino.
Analog #1 (The Big Bang/ Forbidden Planet exclusive variant cover) Written by Gerry Duggan. |
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Letters by Joe Sabino. |
About contributor.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 08 Apr 2018 07:08 AM PDT One of things many Irish creators need to get past is not being able to promote themselves. I don’t know if it is necessarily a unique Irish trait but I find a lot of them don’t really know how good they are and this often translates to an inability to market themselves to the public. There are a few creators who, to me, done a really good job of getting their name out there and building a recognisable brand. (R)EVOLE OR DIE
A ROGUE REBRANDING
One of the newer publishers on the scene sees Ciarán Marcantonio as co-founder along with writer Wayne Talbot, editor Gillian Dempsey and artist Kevin Keane. They bring to the publisher books like The Broker and Red Sands, which they have rebranded with new variant cover bearing the Rogue Comics label. The new cover is from series artist Cormac Hughes. A sign of a team working for each other sees The Broker getting a tribute cover (shown here) by Colm Griffin, who joined the publisher and debuted their first original title Ocean City. There are no plans to use it as a cover but it is nice to see them supporting each other’s books. Co-founder Kevin Keane is doing Neon Skies with Ciarán. Also joining the publisher is Clare Foley (La Grande Breteche). Although new on the scene, they have stood out by an increasing social media presence, consistent convention appearances and by creating a very snazzy website. A recent Dublin Comic Con Anime Edition saw a panel that highlighted the team. The panel was streamed on Facebook. It also helps that Ciarán sells as well as some of the wrestlers he is a fan of.
GOING MAINSTREAM, A WILL-INGNESS TO GIVE BACK
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The first creator I saw using social media to its fullest was 
Nobody has gotten as much mainstream media attention as Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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MBC Library Edition Vol.1- The Tina Käpplinger Mysteries KickStarter campaign now live Posted: 11 Apr 2018 01:17 AM PDT
Stuart McCune is back with another KickStarter campaign (beginning to wonder if the guy ever sleeps!). McCune has a solid track record with getting his campaigns fully funded, so why not click through to the campaign page to see what’s on offer in this campaign? From the campaign page:
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About contributor.  |
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Comics out this week (11/Apr/18) Posted: 11 Apr 2018 01:00 AM PDT |
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Start Trek : Boldly Go #18 Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott.
Goosebumps : Download and Die! #2 |
Written by Jen Vaughn. |
Colour art by Triona Farrell. |
Letters by Christa Miesner.
Exiles #1 Written by Saladin Ahmed. |
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Letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna. |
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Cover art by Stephen Mooney (line art) and Jordie Bellaire (colour art).
The Dead Hand #1 (variant cover) Written by Kyle Higgins. |
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Cover art by David O’Sullivan. |
Both Stephen Mooney and David O’Sullivan will be signing at Big Bang Comics today at 7pm.
Xena: Warrior Princess #3 |
Written by Meredith Finch. |
Colour art by Triona Farrell. |
Letters by Cardinal Rae.
The Despicable Deadpool #298 Written by Gerry Duggan. |
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Colour art by Jordie Bellaire. |
Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino. |
Ben Reilly – Scarlet Spider #17 |
Written by Peter David. |
Letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna. |
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Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino. |
About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 14 Apr 2018 02:13 AM PDT
Review by David Ferguson Art by Stephen Mooney and Jordie Bellaire I have never read a Kyle Higgins book before and, putting all my cards on the table, I only picked up this book due to the artistic team. Reading through the book, at first I was unsure of the writing style that he was using, specifically the style of narration, but looking at the book as a whole I can understand, and really enjoy, his creative choices. The book is ostensibly a Cold War story. Carter Carlson, a highly decorated operative during the Cold War, discovers a secret that changes his life and also alters the course of history. However, labelling the book as simply as a Cold War story undersells it. While only having small hints of the overall story, I’ve read enough to be extremely enthusiastic about where this book might go particular with the hints of how history has been altered. That is the element that put the book over the line for me. I won’t go into more than that as I don’t like to go too heavily into spoilers. I will say that there is an interesting hook and leave it at that. From an art perspective, Stephen Mooney was born to draw this book. Having followed his career almost from day one, I know this book is really his sort of thing and I am happy that he is getting to co-create another world. It is a spy world but he also gets to create costumed characters and I have to say that that is one of the things that appeals to me about this book. I am not a fan of straight spy stories (no offence to anyone, they are just not my thing) so I like to see some sort of twist on it. We’ve seen from Grayson and, to some extent, Half Past Danger, that Stephen Mooney works really well in the genre. I loved the costume design for Carlson in particular. I am happy to see him reunite with one of the best colourists in the business in Jordie Bellaire. Her colours really enhance his art and add to the overall design of the book. Just look at the cover to issue one. I also must mention Clayton Cowles. Lettering is an underrated art and his work does a lot to enhance the feel of the book too. This is a creative team firing on all cylinders. The impatient amongst us might grumble at being left with so many questions but I think the team has shown us some of their world and, really, do you expect them to give it all away in issue one? I look forward to getting more answers when they are ready to give them to me. What is the Dead Hand? It’s dead good. The Dead Hand issue one is available is all good comic shops. The Big Bang has an exclusive variant cover from David O’Sullivan (Anolog). You can check out the details here.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Colour Cred: An Interview with Triona Farrell Posted: 18 Apr 2018 09:58 AM PDT
Triona Farrell recently hit another career milestone, colouring Runaways for Marvel. I asked her about choosing projects, her process and colourists getting credit for their work and more. You have worked on quite a variety of comics at this stage. I was wondering attracts you to particular projects? There’s a whole host of different reasons I work on different projects. Art with lots of space for me to work on is a big plus, so I can do something creative. Artists and Writers that I’m familiar with and like working together, such as Dylan Burnett or Dan Watters are a big plus, as I can trust them to do a good job and be fun to work with. And if the project interests me such as Nancy Drew or Goosebumps, it’s also a major plus. There is a financial aspect to my choice as well, but all and all, the right choice of projects instead of taking the first well paying one that comes along is so important in your comics career. I am really interested in the colouring process. What is your process from reading the script? What I usually do is print out the script and go page by page, highlighting important bits such as ‘cape has to be red’ or ‘cloudy night’ so I don’t forget. Sometimes I’ll write in ‘must be blue’ etc. so I don’t forget what kind of story I was trying to tell with colours. What is most important is understanding that in every panel there focus of attention, and build the scene around that. A good example is below. Nearly everything but the main team is highlighted in bright colours in this shot, as this is a in-depth conversation highlighted by Greg Pak in the script. As a result, I used a colour hold in the background to draw attention back to the kids. This doesn’t always hit the mark, but it’s a good rule of thumb to understand what the writer is trying to highlight the most in a scene. I really loved the cover to Half Past Danger: Dead to Reichs Issue 3. The cherry blossoms were beautiful. What was the process for that cover? When I first opened that cover, it really reminded me of the Japanese woodblock paintings. As a result I tried to keep the colour rather muted, with a strong texture on top of it. I really wanted to emphasize the brightness of the cherry blossoms, so they ended up being the most saturated bit of the cover. So as not to overpower the Cherry blossoms, I put a colour hold on the far background. There’s also a colour hold on the blossoms, but it’s amazing that a colour hold can be a highlighter, or something to mute a palette. It pretty much came together after that, with just a few tweaks to the palette. I think Stephen may have came in after that and had one or two small notes regarding the two figures, but beyond that we were both very happy with the result. You’ve worked on a few creator owned books. I’m thinking of Mech Cadet Yu in particular. Is there more creative freedom for these kinds of books? You were on board that book from the beginning. Creator owned books can actually both creatively free and quite tight in expectations. Greg and Tak both had a visual idea of what they wanted for the book, MECH CADET YU, which was already my style. In another case with a creator owned book, ROSE, I’m given free reign with only a few notes and plenty of space to work with. In contrast I have worked with many licensed books that simply let me do whatever I wanted. tend to find that the bigger licensors tend to be more fussed with the art then the colours. I can’t say for complete sure though, that’s just my experience. It entirely depends on the team, how long I would’ve been working on the book etc. For example at first there was many changes to my pages for Mech Cadet Yu but my colours have become tighter in that time and I think there’s more trust in me in using the correct palette/rendering. All and all, being a colourist is about managing expectations sometimes. You want your own creative freedom, but in the end, you’re there to do a job and work around other peoples’ idea and compromise. Having worked on everything from creator owned to Doctor Who, what are the book(s) you’ve worked on that you’d particularly like readers to take a look at? Personally I’d really recommend Half Past Danger, it’s a really fun book and Stephen’s writing is top notch. Beyond that I’d tell you to pick up everything I do (ha). You have recently been announced as a guest colourist on Runaways. What was that experience like? It was very daunting. Matt Wilson is a terrifically talented colourist, but luckily he was on hand to give me a few pointers and some of the original pages so I could pretty much replicate the style. I learnt a lot very quickly. When working with a new publisher, it’s a little scary at first as you scope out how much leeway you get, what they want, how much the writer/artist is involved and etc. But I think I pulled it off fairly well for following a massive talent like Matt. The Marvel editors and the team were very welcoming with plenty of on hand help and references, so I definitely was not thrown to the wolves at the very least.
There has been a lot said about Art Cred. I think this applies to colourists too. Do you think colourists are getting more credit now? It is definitely better then it used to be, but we still need to push for more. Personally I think it’ll slowly improve in time. The prevalence of colourists being left out of Art Cred discussions has a lot to do with an older generation of comic readers and creators simply not understanding what colourists do and their importance in the industry. As a newer generation slowly take over, it will get better (one can hope at least). My experiences still haven’t been great, with some of my reviews attributing my work to the artist or forgetting me entirely. However I can’t think of a single creator that hasn’t really respected what I do, which is a great sign! What do you think of the emergence of so many colourists from Ireland? I personally feel it’s got a lot to do with the easy access to comic book creators in Ireland. We’re all very close and small in this community, so it’s easy to go up to someone say like Jordie Bellaire or myself and ask ‘hey, how do I do colouring in comics?’. Colouring comics is actually one of those creative careers that has very little information around it. There’s no general how to guide on how to colour, beyond a few different youtube personalities. Someone typing it into google would easily be overwhelmed, but having someone direct you to specific information is so very helpful. It probably also helps that Ireland has a great base of talented young folks in it. You’ve worked on a lot of dream projects, is there anything left on your bucket list? Right now, not much is left (ha). I’d love to work on something like Ms Marvel, or Spiderman. Runaways was one of those books I read years ago and thought to myself ‘I want to work on this.’ so that’s one off the list of many things I want to do in life. What do you have coming out next? Not much I can talk about, but definitely pick up Nancy Drew from Kelly Thompson and Jenn St-Onge, coming out in June. It’s absolutely amazing. The Half Past Danger Volume 2 hardcover, which features Triona’s colours, arrives in stores today.  |
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Comics out this week (18/Apr/18) Posted: 18 Apr 2018 12:59 AM PDT |
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Star Trek: Discovery – Succession #1 (variant cover) Written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson.
Half Past Danger 2 : Dead To Reichs TP Written by Stephen Mooney. |
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Letters by Stephen Mooney.
James Bond : The Body #4 Written by Aleš Kot. |
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Colour art by Valentina Pinto.
Judge Dredd Megazine #395 Written by Arthur Wyatt, Si Spencer, Rory McConville, David Baillie, Arthur Wyatt, Alex De Campi and Michael Carroll.
Her Infernal Descent #1 Written by Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson. |
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Letters by Ryan Ferrier. |
About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 19 Apr 2018 12:11 PM PDT It’s getting to that time of year where we need to pay for our web hosting so I am asking people to throw a bit of money our way to help keep us going. I’m happy to cover other costs like the cost of attending conventions myself. Cons are usually great at providing us with press passes but there is the cost of travel which I am ok with that as I would probably attend the events anyway. I haven’t gone the Patreon route as I’m not sure what extra stuff we can offer. I’m open to suggestions though. If you’d like to help us out, you can send donations to dona...@irishcomicnews.com on PayPal.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 24 Apr 2018 07:28 AM PDT The Irish comics community has been tremendous in helping out with covering our costs in the last few days and we will be working to pay you all back with more content. Well Anna Fitzpatrick has put out a call for funds this month but, in her case, she is offering something in return straight away. Her contact details are at the bottom but here’s a list of commissions she is offering:
Anna Fitzpatrick on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tenshianna  |
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Irish Comics Art Picks – Happy birthday, Superman! Posted: 24 Apr 2018 12:59 AM PDT To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Superman, we’ve compiled an Irish comics art picks special to mark the the event. Enjoy the selection.
Cian Tormey (line art) + Triona Farrell (colour art)
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About contributor. |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 25 Apr 2018 06:06 AM PDT
Review by Seán Donnelly Created by Joe Loftus https://tapas.io/series/Dark-Down-There A short but captivating comic by writer/artist Joe Loftus, Dark Down There is a macabre, haunting tale detailing an excavation to the bottom of the sea, beautifully realised through strong linework and a limited colour palette that works in the comic’s favour. The story is told via poem, but as the journey to the bottom of the sea continues the rhymes fade away and give way to a repetition that feels more tormenting with each utterance. The conflict is simple yet effective, detailing a mother’s grief as she deals with the loss of her son, and it is techniques such as the repetition that elevate the work to something deeply affecting. This is also aided by the comic’s art. The strong linework is evident enough; characters feel real and the depth and obscurity of the ocean has a genuine movement to it. Additionally, colour is also very strong. The comic is rendered in a series of reds and teals; the mother’s scenes are bright red while the underwater surroundings are a softer, more subtle shade of blue. The tension between emotions is obvious enough – the impassioned love of a desperate mother against the cold, unforgiving sea – but it comes into its own during the comic’s second half, which is where it really comes into its own. It’s hard to talk about, since it is something that should be read and experienced, but the use of intense red against still blue is especially effective here. The ambiguity of the ending is especially powerful, a decisive gut-punch that will leave the reader haunted after reading it. Dark Down There manages to accomplish in a few pages what can take other comics several issues to reach. It is a read well worth your time.  |
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Posted: 25 Apr 2018 03:22 AM PDT Hello from Viking Meadow, the current headquarters of ICN. Despite evidence to the contrary, this post is not a reaction to this week’s funding kerfuffle as I was always planning to start what I will hope will be a monthly check-in as to the goings on in the Irish Comics scene. However, I would like to thank all those who have sent money to help us keep the lights on and will be working with Stephen Ward and others to come up with new things to keep the content flowing as well as keeping favourites like Irish Comic Art Picks (check out Stephen’s Superman Special here). Recent Events
We are only a few weeks off a hugely successful Cork Comic Expo and I just want to offer congratulations to Will Sliney and Big Bang Comics for putting the show together. The locals were so interested in everybody’s work and, from speaking to a number of people, I think creators were very happy with how they did on sales. I managed to pick up the Half Past Danger 2 hardcover, which was exclusively on sale for the first time, as well as grabbing a copy of Centipede from Eoin Marron (one of the more original stories I have read but more on that later). It is great being able to interact with creators online but cons are a great place to catch up with people face-to-face (once I’m able to overcome my shyness). Last Saturday saw three events with Showmasters in Belfast and two “pure comics” shows with Cosmic Rebels Con in Enniscorthy and DCAF in Dublin. CRC saw 3,000 people in total for 2 days and the event raise 1,300 Euro raised for the Jack and Jill Foundation. I managed to briefly drop into DCAF (it was conveniently located 15 mins from my fiancé’s house and past one of my favourite coffee shops). I was unsure of an event being held in a hostel but I was amazed by how nice the space was and I think the organisers are hopeful of holding events there in the future. I had quick chats with Anthea West, Karl O’Rowe and Roddy McCance. All had great books on sale. I have them all of course but got a copy of the second printing of Karl O’Rowe’s Death Sworn as it now sports an ICN Award mention on it. I did pick up some books in North, The Girl and The Glim and Permanent Press. Here are some upcoming events: Kingdom Comic Fest (May 6th) |
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Belfast Comic Mart (May 19th) |
The Rathdrum International Cartoon Festival (June 2nd – 3rd) |
Celtic Con Irelands Midland Comic Convention (June 23rd – 24th) |
(@ me on Twitter if I am missing some) Now Reading
As mentioned, I got my copy of the Half Past Danger 2 and Centipede in Cork. HPD retains the prior volume’s fun, adventurous feel. It is a mad romp that just makes you smile. More dinos! More Nazis! More danger! I discussed Centipede with artist Eoin Marron and colourist Chris O’Halloran in Cork and both said there was some freedom in turning a game with no backstory and very few colours into a comic. It is weird story that just really appealed to me. Stephen Ward reviewed issue one and I interviewed Eoin about the book in case you’re still on the fence. As mentioned earlier, I managed to grab a copy of North and Girl And The Glim (both by India Swift and Michael Doig). There was a lot of buzz about the latter last year but I hadn’t read it. Stephen Ward had reviewed it so it never got to my “desk”. Both books are wonderful and have a delightful animation influenced style. I hope to interview both creators when they have the free time. My copy of Hound volume 3 recently arrived in the post and it is still my pick for the best put together book on the Irish comic scene. The action gets bloodier and you aren’t given the ending you expect. I thought it was an interesting nod to the story’s past as it has been re-interpreted before namely the Christians shaping into to fit their narrative. Interesting that the Morrigan chooses to do the same thing. I really enjoyed the change. You can get in contact with Paul Bolger and co if you want a copy of any of the volumes. There are also two Irish language versions with a third on the way. You need to pick up volume 2 to see what happens to my character. I got the cameo by backing the Kickstarter but I think Paul gave me a lot more than I paid for. Always happy to see Irish creators getting to do books with IMAGE and we got two recently with Stephen Mooney on The Dead Hand (which I reviewed and loved) and David O’Sullivan on Analog (which I also enjoyed and hoped to do a review on). Both books had the wonderful Jordie Bellaire on colours. The Big Bang had a launch for both and cleverly had both artists do exclusive variants for the other book. Recent weeks also saw the Judge Dredd Mega Collection volume that covered Michael Carroll’s Every Empire Falls collected in a hardcover for the first time. The volume includes art from PJ Holden. In other Michael Carroll news, he has started blogging on comics. He also edited a recent issue of Journey Planet which focused on Judge Dredd and has some coverage of his Dredd work. Yours truly contributed. Thanks to James Bacon for asking me to provide some words. On my radar: Permanent Press by Luke Healy Pro Comic Tees
John Cullen recently opened a store selling t-shirts with his comics on them so you can support him by going there. Making his convention return in Cork, Darrin O’Toole is also selling merch, with some Tales From The Void t-shirts. I am also hearing that the Rogue Comics crew are planning to move into the merchandise too. I’m hoping for some pins at some point to go with my Half Past Danger one. Pins and t-shirts are a great way to show support for your favourite creators Behind The Patreon Wall I support a number of creators but not everyone does so I thought I’d hint around some of the exclusives that you are missing out on: – John Cullen provides early postings of his comic as well as a progress piece for every comic he posts If you’ve a Patreon, please @ me with some exclusives you’ve been providing and I’ll mention in an upcoming edition or maybe a separate post. We may be starting our own page but I’ll go into more on that when plans are further along. In funding news, we have enough to cover for the foreseeable future but creator Anna Fitzpatrick needs some funds for this month. You get some beautiful art for your money. Check out my post on it here. I think that’s it for April. Please @ me if you want me to include anything in particular in future posts or a separate one on site. I don’t mind being tagged on social media if it is for a valid reason as I may miss some things.  |
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Comics out this week (25/Apr/18) Posted: 25 Apr 2018 12:59 AM PDT |
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Sonitus #2 |
Written by Cody Sousa and Dan Sheppard. |
Colour art by Dee Cunniffe. |
Lettering by Dezi Sienty.
Exiles #2 Written by Saladin Ahmed. |
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Letters by Joe Caramagna.
Goldie Vance Volume 4 Written by Hope Larson and Jackie Bell.
The Prisoner #1 Written by Peter Milligan.
The Prisoner #1 Written by Peter Milligan.
Kiss / Army of Darkness #3 |
Written by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims.
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Redneck #12 |
Written by Donny Cates. |
Colour art by Dee Cunniffe. |
Letters by VC’s Joe Sabino. |
Heavy Vinyl TP Written by Carly Usdin.
Ice Cream Man #4 |
Written by M. Maxwell Prince. |
Colour art by Chris O’Halloran. |
Days of Hate #4 |
Written by Ales Kot.
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Deep Roots #1 Written by Dan Watters. |
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Letters by Aditya Bidikar.
Lockjaw #3 Written by Daniel Kibblesmith. |
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Letters by Clayton Cowles. |
About contributor.
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic Art Picks. Pages, commissions, doodles, works in progress and everything in between, this feature shows you some of the best work by Irish Comic Artists from around the web every month. Feel free to submit work and links through any ICN links on social media (Facebook or Twitter) or Stephen on Twitter or Instagram. Remember, support artists and follow their links.
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Robert Carey – Black Panther
Naomi Bolger – Monster Hunter World fan art.
Patrick Mulholland – Zero Jumper #2 teaser
Ken Mahon – The Dark Souls Adventures cover art (available on Gumroad)
Alan Hurley – George Boole portrait
John Flynn – The 32: Chill Mhantáin. The King of The Mountains.
John McCrea (line art) – Dead Rabbit teaser art (colour art by Mike Spicer)
James Seymour – Conrad Veidt (The Man Who Laughs)
Nathan Donnell – Solstice print
Adam Law – Bucky O’Hare
John White – Oasis art for Sunday Independent article
@Bogswallop – Freakzoid/ Amazing Spider-man #50 parody
Daniella Bella – Midnighter and Apollo commission
Brian Burke – Piccolo
Ellie Wright (colour art) – Sherlock Holmes : The Vanishing Man teaser (line art by Julius Ohta)
Kevin Keane – The Guards 2 teaser
India Swift (line art) and Michael Doig (colour art) – Witch of the West (Creators for Creators competition submission)
Fiachra Hackett – bullies |
@Thomothomthom – Friday the 13th
Luke Healy – The Peeping Tom (updates to this Twitter thread)
Rob Anthony – Venom
Kimi Kurbanova – “Post Malone getting rekt by a mint”.
Ian Fay – commission
Declan Shalvey (line art) and Jordie Bellaire (colour art) – Star Trek : Discovery – Succession #1 variant cover
Triona Farrell (colour art) – Runaways teaser (line art by Kris Anka)
Charlie Aabo (line art) and Joseph Griffin (colour art) – Ghost Sails teaser
Tara O’Connor – Poison Ivy
PJ Holden – Hellingrad pin up
Matthew Shiell – WIP
Anthea West – Link
Becca Carey – Head Lopper fan art
Stephen Mooney – The Dead Hand #2 teaser
Stefanie Reville – Adam Driver / Don Quixote
Gareth Luby – Rogue
Fiona Boniwell – Dem Bones teaser
Cormac Hughes – Hulk
Eoin Barclay – Thor
@avatarkasia – mha fan art
Michael Arbuthnot – WIP
Leonie O’Moore – WIP
Ruairi Coleman – KISS / Army of Darkness #3 teaser
Gearoid Molloy – Neko the Kitty
@blargberriess – Nia
Matt Griffin – The Boondock Saints cover art for Arrow Video
Barry O’Sullivan – WIP
Phil Dunne – Saru / Discovery fan art
Katie Fleming – Rubberbandits fan art
Iuli Niculescu – Ship Wrecked teaser
Joe Loftus – Dark Down There
Wayne Talbot – Big Barda
Jim Lavery – Batman sample page
@Derryzumi – Klaus Tharasei and Kra’Kalizus (Pathfinder characters)
Colm Griffin – The Broker fan art
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Remi Noonan – page from ‘The Magic Bearer’
John McFarlane – Captain America / Avengers Infinity War print
Cian Tormey – Spider-man and Rhino
Karla McKnight – Overwatch fan art
Eoin Coveney – Madelyn Vespertine
Hayley Mulcahy – Sailor V
Sarah Walsh – In August and September (read here)
Lucy Toner – Fullmetal Alchemist
Clare Foley – Delerium / Sandman fan art
Cat Byrne – Iron Man Care Bear commission
Luca Pizzari – Kull Eternal teaser
Fran Johnston – Meryl Silverburgh / Metal Gear Solid fan art
Brian Corcoran – commission
Dee Cunniffe (colour art) – Redneck #13 cover art (line art by Lisandro Estherren)
Chris O’Halloran (colour art) – Exiles #2 teaser (line art by Javier Rodríguez and Álvaro López)
Karl O’Rowe – Deathsworn #2 teaser
@Niall_Himself – still from animated WIP
Nathan Stockman – Venom
Mark Reihill – Off Girl #5 teaser
Eoin Marron – James Bond – The Body #4 page
Len O’Grady (colour art) – Jaegir: In The Realm Of Pyrrhus (2000AD) teaser (line art by Simon Coleby)
Rapha Lobosco – Batman
Alfie Gallagher – Debris anthology teaser
Nick Roche (line art) and Chris O’Halloran (colour art) – Avengers : Back to Basics #5 cover art
Alé Mercado – The Three Ravens teaser
Hugh Madden – Spirou fan art
Phil Murphy – My Little Pony : Ponyville Mysteries # 3 cover art
Sean Northridge – WIP
David O’Sullivan – The Dead Hand #1 variant cover
John Devlin – Princess Mononoke print |
John Cullen – World Book Day
Stephen Byrne – Avengers Infinity War fan art
James McErlain – WIP
Will Sliney – Cosmic Ghost Rider commission
Liam Naughton – WIP
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: Mr. Amperduke Posted: 30 Apr 2018 04:52 AM PDT
If you are going to do a Top Ten Irish Comics, I think this one HAS to be on your list. Bob Byrne’s Mr. Amperduke is a “silent” masterpiece that few other Irish comics have equalled. Sherman Amperduke is a retired senior citizen whose hobby is creating and tending to the miniature world he has created and keeps in his basement. Amperville is built with Lego bricks, and its inhabitants resemble Lego figures, but are in fact living beings encased in a plastic casing. The stories are told without dialogue or narration – aside from sound-effects, the storytelling is done entirely visually. The graphic novel tells how, one summer, Mister Amperduke’s grandson Scampi, while his grandfather is in hospital, throws a voracious little creature from the garden, the Nechradon, into Amperville, and the creature wreaks havoc among the terrified inhabitants of the mini-utopia. Bob Byrne says in the introduction to the graphic novel that his main theme is the limitation of our understanding of the inner pain of others, and how we are incapable of recognising “the hidden agony when somebody’s world ends”. Full of depth and emotion it it is a must read for fans of the medium as well as other creators. Here’s a sample:
Bob Byrne on Twitter: https://twitter.com/clamnuts Story description and quotes from Irish Comics Wikia.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Read Ryan Brown & Mark McCann’s Esther For Free Posted: 01 May 2018 06:20 AM PDT
The first issue of Esther, the first 6 page story, is available for download here. It is Ryan Brown and Mark McCann’s first independent work and also features the talents of Simon Bisley. It sees the first painted interiors by Ryan Brown and I have to say it is an impressive 6 pages. You can check out Facebook for further updates. Esther Comic on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esthercomic/  |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: 100 Times Posted: 01 May 2018 04:59 AM PDT
I didn’t realise that I hadn’t been represented in Irish Comics until I read 100 Times by Katie Fleming and E. Kerr. It is the endearing tale of story Myran and his new werewolf boyfriend Quill. It follows them through the honeymoon period of their relationship as they meet each others family, learn about each others food habits and what to do on a full moon. From the moment the couple meet in a “were-bar”, I was captivated by this book and its use of a werewolf to comment on and poke fun at everyday relationships but more specifically, to me, an LGBT relationship. The witty dialogue, the spot-on slice-of-life moments and cleverly crafted facial expressions all come together to create an excellent story. You should also check out the follow-up, 100 More Times.
Katie Fleming on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Katiecanartgood  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Clare Foley’s Repeal the 8th Print Posted: 02 May 2018 05:57 AM PDT
From Clare Foley’s Twitter feed:
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Posted: 02 May 2018 02:53 AM PDT
When I first heard of this book I was thinking “oh another Cú Cullan book” but I was won over by the beauty of the art which had such fine detail and incorporated Celtic symbols to give it a real authentic flavour. The book had its origins in a film pitch and the art style certainly has a cinematic quality. The characters are designed with exquisite detail (you can some of them in the page below), as are certain backdrops, but Paul Bolger knows when to keep the backgrounds simple so not to distract from the action. I’m not usually a black and white fan but I think colours would detract from the line detail and the overall design in this case. This also gives the occasional use of red in certain scenes a bigger impact and used to good effect in getting certain moods across. I must also give a huge nod to Dee Cunniffe who does a brilliant job on lettering duty. His creative choices really add to the story whether it is a simple conversation or the words of the War Goddess, Morrigan. There is a certain Game of Thrones feel to the story (Cú Cullan came first!) with evil(?) gods, warriors, kings and queens and their machinations. The first volume covers Cú Cullan’s earlier life up to when he begins his training. I really like the introduction as we start off seeing the world through the eyes of Morrigan (who manipulates events to a certain degree). The goddess acts as narrator giving us the state of play for Ireland leading up to Cú Cullan’s birth. I thought that was a nice way of giving those unfamiliar with Irish history and legends a context for the upcoming tale. The main character is a complicated figure as he is not a typical hero and kind of falls into the area that Marvel cornered so effectively in the 1960s of “superhero with a flaw”. Paul Bolger and Barry Devlin go into the background as to why the hero is kind of broken and show what I feel is the most compelling part about him. He is impulsive and gets real angry real fast which lands him in a lot of trouble and essentially drives the narrative. The team followed this up with two other equally impressive volumes to complete the story. There are also Irish language versions.
Hound The Book on Twitter: https://twitter.com/houndthebook  |
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Comics out this week (2/May/18) Posted: 02 May 2018 12:58 AM PDT |
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Sherlock Holmes : The Vanishing Man #1 Written by Leah Moore and John Reppion.
Permanent Press Written and illustrated by Luke Healy.
Infinity Countdown #3 Written by Gerry Duggan. |
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Coda #1 Written by Simon Spurrier.
Nightwing #44 Written by Benjamin Percy. |
About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
- The Very Irish Talk Show
- Top Ten Irish Comics: Kitteenies
- Red Winter #1 campaign now live on KickStarter
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Posted: 03 May 2018 09:19 AM PDT |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: Kitteenies Posted: 03 May 2018 05:49 AM PDT
To me, there wasn’t a question of whether a Leeann Hamilton creation would make the Top Ten Irish Comics. It was just a question of which. Many would go to Finn And Fish but my sentimental favourite is this one. This volume includes the story “Alieum”, which was originally published by itself, along with three other stories. While I really enjoyed the first issue, the stories told in the collection added something extra as there were some quite poignant moments (especially in “Think” – the feels!) and the stories all deliver a great message about friendship and dealing with others. The art features more of the cuteness and the beautiful colours of the first (see the page below). Everything down to the lettering is cute. There are some cool extras from other creators in this volume and some behind the scenes stuff that always interest me.
Leeann Hamilton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/peannlui  |
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Red Winter #1 campaign now live on KickStarter Posted: 03 May 2018 01:00 AM PDT  #1 cover by Chris Shehan (Prometheus, Deadbeat) The KickStarter campaign for Red Winter #1 is now live. From the campaign page:
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Review: One Comic To Rule Them All Posted: 04 May 2018 04:43 AM PDT
Organised, designed and edited by Jamie Me and Archie Dait. From the blurb on the Gumroad page:
Another Comic Book Hour anthology has been released into the wild. The anthology features a strip by Paul Carroll ( who was good enough to drop me a review PDF of the anthology) and Gareth Luby. The anthology comes in at about 150 pages of comics, so there’s plenty of comic to enjoy. So let’s get to it. 1. Sproot. Pencils by Andrew Taylor. Inks by Gareth Hopkins. Colour art by Mary Anne Mackey. Letters by Liam Baldwin. Written by Shane Ventura. Sproot the rooster is the watchful protector of a farm who is called to action one morning when Namwoc the Behomoths path of destruction makes its way to the farm. The strip is mainly the battle between Sproot and Namwoc. There’s some nice choices of camera angles for the fight sequences that gives energy to the panels. Colours are well chosen and avoid confusion in some of the busier panels. Characters and backgrounds are easy to distinguish. Lettering is easy to read and leads the reader through the panels nicely. Overall, a fun strip and good opener for the anthology. 2. The Warrior Queen Written by Jenn Arledge. Illustrated by Dane Sterling. Letters by Eddy Hedington. This strip was a bit of a gut punch due to how this fairy-tale plays out. The story builds up well to give the strip its emotional impact in the closing panels. I’m deliberately avoiding saying too much about the story as I don’t want to spoil the strip. The artwork plays well with the fairy-tale tone of the story particularly with the bright colours and sets. The lettering on the captions further emphasised the fairy-tale aspect in how they are presented. It’s a nice touch that works better than the standard caption design. A well executed strip that’s all about the ending. 3. The Dinner Written by Saif A. Ahmed. Art by Mikael A. Letters by Bernado Brice. ‘The Dinner’ sees a vengeful father arrive at an inn where those he suspects of murdering his daughter have been tricked into meeting there. The events of the evening play out as the spirit of his daughter watches on. The art is impressive, both in terms of line and colour art. There’s a good variety of camera angles that avoid the scene becoming boring. Which would easily happen as the entire scene takes place around an inn table. Lettering gives the spirit of the daughter a distinct style for her dialogue so reader knows she is speaking even when ‘off-camera’. It’s a frustrating strip. That’s a compliment to the team rather than complaint. You’ve done well when the reader has a ‘shouting at the telly’ moment when reading a story. 4. The Ride Written and lettered by Jeff Lawler. Art by Liz Kramer. This strip makes use of fantasy as a means of just getting through the day. I would imagine there are many who have had a moment like the woman on her bicycle where fantasy helps to deal with a stressful situation. The art really gets across the cyclists annoyance and frustration towards the other road user. The art also draws the reader in so that they feel as if they are with the cyclist as she has her cathartic daydream. A great looking strip with a nice spin on the fantasy theme. 5. A Knight’s Tail Art and colours by Gareth Luby. Written, lettered and coloured by Paul Carroll. That’s right, we’ve arrived at the Irish comics contribution to the anthology. Some of you will no doubt recognise the hero of the strip, Frankie the cat. I’ve read a couple of one-pagers featuring Frankie and had enjoyed them so I was quite pleased to see him appear in the anthology. Frankie strips have been strong with the laughs and this strip continues that tradition. The kingdom of Parodica is living in fear of the Canine Shade. Frankie offers to take care of the Canine Shade for a price. Jokes are in good supply including some that break out of the strip itself. The art lends itself well to the strip. Whether it’s the fight sequence or visual gags, the art handles it all. Luby and Carroll made a really fun strip for the anthology and hopefully it won’t be long before Frankies next adventure. 6. The Treasure Written by David Fleming. Art by Daniel Finley. This strip is set on a sky-pirate ship just after they have made their latest treasure haul. Some of the crew are already planning how to spend it, but they soon discover that some of the treasure is not what it seems. The art has some really nice touches to it. The pile of gold springs to mind. The colours really give a sense of lots of gold coins in the treasure. You almost think you could pick a coin out of the pile. 7. Ossuary Baptism Written and drawn by Julian Staton. Edited by Envy. Master Iovita and her student Kaia are attempting to summon help to clear some ruins of ghosts and the undead. I was impressed with the art for this strip. Characters, creatures and backgrounds are all well drawn. The sprinkling of comedy and the excitable nature of Kaia gave me something extra to enjoy in the strip. It’s an enjoyable strip that manages to come to an amusing conclusion in the few pages that were used. 8. Who Gets Cancelled? Art by Kevin Pass. Written by Zack Rupp. Quanto the Purveyor hosts ‘Who Gets Cancelled?’, a show which pits people from TV shows against each other in a death match in a bid to get their shows contract renewed. Both the writing and art was such that I could easily see this strip slotting into a comic like 2000AD. It has lots of strange looking creatures that are well drawn with some good comedy thrown in. It’s a funny strip that was on the right side of weird for me. 9. Knight: The Wandering Stars : ‘Whomever This Sword Touches’ Illustrated by Mhazz. Coloured by Liz Kramer. Lettered by Jenn Arledge. Written by The Starlight City Project. A lone warrior travels through the forest with only her magical sword as protection. I did enjoy the magical power the sword has. It gave me a good laugh when it was revealed when she was attacked on her travels. The line and colour art looks really good. Bright cheerful colours with a good mix of angles throughout the strip. And the last page had me curious to know more about the world of the characters. 10. Beauty On The Train Written by Evan Waterman. Art and lettering by Liam Baldwin. A charming strip where a fantasy springs up when a woman notices another woman on her morning commute. The thing that really stood out for me in this strip was the page where we see the life imagined by the woman as her fantasy. It’s told in a really creative page layout. It really gives a sense of how much of the imagined life arose in the womans daydream. It was also striking how much of the strip is wordless. It was something that helped it stand apart from the majority of strips in the anthology. 11. The Wolisk Illustrated by Jhomar Soriano. Coloured by Ahmad Sufiaturrahman. Lettered by Cristian Docolomansky. Written by T.W Conklin. This strip sees Hacathra of Scorchsummit track down the Wolisk to strike a deal to bring her dead daughter back to the land of the living. Hacathra should have exercised some caution on the deal as deals with demons are rarely what you think they are. The strip has good illustration and I liked the design of the Wolisk. The choice of using line art with only greys as the colour was a good one for a strip that plays out in a foggy countryside. Big fan of these types of stories and this was an enjoyable strip for me. 12. Down Art by Javiera Argandona. Coloured by Daniel Romero Ulloa. Written and lettered by Mike Lynch. In the aftermath of a bloody battle, Drighbeir faces a warrior from the victorious army in a pit fight. The art conveys the sense of a battle weary soldier driven on by pure will. Colours really helped avoid the battlefield panels from becoming hard to read. A good strip that shows the battle isn’t over as long as one warrior is willing to stand and fight. 13. Elf and a half: Thief This strip reads like it’s part of a larger story. By that I’m not sure the story works as a standalone strip but as part of a larger comic it would work better for me. The art has good line work with the colour art showing some good shadows and textures. I liked the art but as said, the story itself bugs me because it doesn’t really work by itself. 14. By The Campfire Art by Alice Clarke. Written by Rob Zwetsloot. Another strip that did something a little different from the rest. A couple have set up camp for the evening. After one of them is bandaged, a stew is prepared for supper. The art is black and white with good use of greys. On pages where the cooking is happening, panels sit above a page with illustrations of the ingredients. It’s a sweet little strip of two people sharing a campfire meal. 15. Dinoboy and Rex Art by Lamont Hunt. Logo design by Travis Bentley. Written by Dylan Jacobson. This is another silent strip, this time observing the mayhem as Dinoboy and Rex discover an abandoned farm. The strip suggests that the world has reverted to a prehistoric state. The existence of tractors and dinosaurs suggests as much. The art is bright and energetic. It has a Saturday morning cartoon feel to it. One can’t help but wonder what mischief Dinoboy and Rex will get up to next. 16. Weekend Art by Lauren Matthews. Written by Dustin Luke Nelson. Weekend is another strip that’s a bit heart-breaking. A guy arrives to what looks to be an AirBnB type weekend. The reader watches how he spends his weekend. Which is what gives the closing panel the heart-breaking moment when you realise what just happened. Art is black and white which is a good choice for the strip. Colours have the potential to steal some of the impact of the strip if not done right. A sad strip done well. 17. Fly Art and lettering by Tyler Carpenter. Written by Todd Black. This strip sees a young artist change his life through his drawings. The strip does all the storytelling through the artwork. There’s some great use of colours, particularly the panels where the life changing moment occurs. It’s a nice self-contained strip with a sprinkling of magic. 18. The Technician Art by Armado C Rillo Sr. Coloured by Linda Scott Campbell. Lettered by Buddy Beaudoin. Written by Jarred A Lujan. A strip set in a world where large numbers of the population are imprisoned and experimented on. It’s up to the strips narrator to take action to try and help them. The line and colour art are of a high standard. Some great choice of camera angles. The art tells a story in parallel to the narration. The colour palette is well chosen with most of the strip happening under a night sky or the dull lights inside the prison. 19. Recipe For Success Art by Chris Miglorino. Written by JD Boucher. Another food related strip, this time following the imaginings of a chef as he prepares the days meals. The fantasy sequence looks very much like comic art before it went digital, especially the colours. It’s a great visual to distinguish the imagined from reality in the strip. 20. The Shield Bearer Lines and letters by Massimo Sabadin. Written and coloured by Erik Bitmanis. A young warrior marches into his first battle. He quickly realises that the songs lie and that battle isn’t as glorious as he was led to believe. The line and colour art capture the grim carnage of the battlefield that the young warrior finds himself in the middle of. The strip shows that legends don’t always happen as the stories would have you believe. 21. Becoming Legends Art by Jonathan Aleksey. Written by Nicholas Poonamallee. A fun D’n’D type strip that sees a team tracking down goblins who have been stealing boots from nearby towns and villages. Dialogue has some silly jokes that would appeal to younger readers (and the young at heart). Art is black and white with greys used to give a bit of clarity to some of the busier panels. The fledgling team are somewhat impulsive but it’s hard not to like their spirit. 22. To Deny The Fay. Art by Thodoris Laourdekis. Written and lettered by Eddy Hedington. A young woman puts herself between the body of her recently deceased father and a creature that is an equivalent to the Grim Reaper. The artwork impressed me on this strip. The colours particularly were something I enjoyed scanning back over a couple of times. The colour palette and various textures had me wishing the strip was longer just to have more of the art to enjoy. 23. Hungry Thing Art by Richard Rudge. Written by Kyle Lawrence. A trio of space explorers arrive at a space station in response to a distress signal. I quite liked the trio and the writing gets the reader familiar with them pretty quickly in the strip. Art has some good lines with plenty of bright colours used. In one panel, you’d almost think you were drowning in a rainbow. A fun sci-fi short. 24. Heroes of the Forest. Art by Nicolo Arcuti. Lettered by Jamie Me. Writting by Rob Wolingsky. A team of loggers are setting up to get started on the next section of forest. Unknown to them, a figure is watching from the shadows. This figure reveals itself in the shape of a kung-fu trained rabbit. The strip is heavy on the action so artwork has plenty of angles and sequences to bring out as much energy as possible in each page. An enjoyable and fast moving action strip. And there you have it. As you can see from the above, the anthology has a variety of takes on the theme ‘fantasy’. There’s also a variety of art styles that should cover most tastes in comic art. It’s a well produced anthology and it’s great to see Luby and Carroll in there holding their own amongst the other strips. The anthology is available in digital format on Gumroad for €3.99 which is a steal when you consider it’s about 150 pages of comics. That’s plenty to read for your euros. So check it out and support indie comic creators at the same time. |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: The Holy Numbers Posted: 04 May 2018 02:53 AM PDT
The Irish comic scene is a little worse off without Tommie Kelly’s creative voice (he explains his reasons for his departure in a recent We Sell Want Podcast). However, we always have his books to look back at. For me, the cream of the crop is The Holy Numbers. The Holy Numbers centres on the eponymous cult that springs up in the wake of ‘revelations’ received by its leader Ravensdale. The first few pages feature these revelations, and quickly skip through the next few months as word spreads, and the cult begins to gather both a huge base of believers and vocal sceptics. This is all the work of a few pages which countdown to the present, where the story really begins. Here we find the cult now an established church, Ravensdale murdered, and more supernatural intrigue than Raymond Chandler assaulting a yeti with the Arc of the Covenant. As a story, Numbers is a thriller; a spiral of deception, doubt and intrigue that tightens into murder, mystery and majick. Mystery writing is always a delicate balance between keeping the reader in the dark while feeding them enough detail to keep them interested. Tommie Kelly walks this tightrope with aplomb; and despite dropping readers into his story at the deep end, he never ladles out exposition, preferring to flesh out characters and events only as the story progresses. Each chapter peels away another layer, shedding a bit more light on those involved with the Holy Numbers and what their real motives might be. But the growing light often also serves to highlight more mysteries, and issue after issue sees Tommie thickening the plot with further intrigue. The only downside to his storytelling is the potential for some initial confusion as who the characters are, but in the collected volume this is countered with is a very useful cast page up front. Though it deals with organised religion, Holy Numbers is far from an all-out attack on the church that is all too common and easy these days, and in this country. Where it touches on the subject, it is more a thoughtful look at faith and organised religion, and how they can both intersect or obstruct each other, and the perversion of faith and intent by people and organisation. However, as the story progresses, Holy Numbers seems more concerned with questions of free will, independence and spirituality than those of religion, making it an interesting, nuanced read.
BUY The Holy Numbers on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Numbers-Tommie-Kelly-ebook/dp/B06WWCCMG8/ Tommie Kelly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TommieKelly The bulk of this piece was taken from ICN’s original review by Colin O’Mahoney.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: Jennifer Wilde Posted: 07 May 2018 02:33 AM PDT
Jennifer Wilde is an original 3-part comic book series published by Atomic Diner. Jennifer Chevalier receives an unannounced visit from her estranged father and some short time after we find him meeting an untimely death, and the untold hidden life of this man begins to unfold. While going through her grief and her dead fathers possessions, she comes across sketches and drawings that depict a man immersed in the arts and a character clearly at odds with his public persona as a war hero. Jennifer asks for help as she realises her father has led a hidden life, and the smooth apparition of Oscar Wilde appears to ‘ably assist’. Putting pieces of the past together, Jennifer begins to paint a true picture of her fathers’ shadow character, with light added via the dry wit of Oscars ghost. The series mixes historical events in with the personal mystery as the plot as her father’s story is intertwined with the cause of Irish freedom (issue two sees a great scene in Liverpool Street Station where, on the apparent behest of Michael Collins, an assassination is about to take place but is called off at the last moment). Maura McHugh has crafted a layered tale with depth and consequence that oozes authenticity. Stephen Downey’s art is a huge selling point for this book. His black and white style is incredibly beautiful with a huge amount of detail gone into every page. When you see the first page of issue two, shown below, you ignore any text just for a minute just to study the art with its great layout and visual representation of a smoky 1920’s railway station that just about jumps off the page. The whole book is like this with great panel layouts especially when the script calls for something dynamic like the visual from the last page. The book was nominated for an Eagle Award this year for best European Comic. The series is also being made into a game. Stephen Downey On Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenmdowney  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: Rabbit And Paul Posted: 08 May 2018 07:37 AM PDT
Rabbit And Paul could simply be taken as an all ages book but it has a bit of a surreal edge to it. It is the story of a young boy called Paul and a 6 foot anthropomorphic rabbit and their adventures in the town of Bally’O’Jaysus as they try to get him home to his mams. There are many things that I enjoyed about this book: the Irish feel to the humour, the surreal edge of some of the jokes and the impressive art and design work of Seán Hogan. There is one page where Paul tries some sour candy from East Asia that had a really trippy feels. This is an extremely impressive and polished debut book.
Seán Hogan On Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeanOhOgain  |
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Posted: 08 May 2018 12:59 AM PDT
Written by Leonie O’Moore. Aisling is sent to a summer school on a remote island off the coast of Ireland where “troubled” girls are sent to be brought back to the light. Lord is a horror/drama where the horror is always bubbling away beneath the surface of the community living on the island. Like a lot of good horror, sometimes the terror comes from the acts of people that no one would suspect. Case in point, a school that advertises itself as the place for “trouble” girls. The parents of the girls would have no suspicions about the dark plans those on the island have for the girls. The writing builds up the tension up well. Throughout much of the story, Aisling endeavours to find a way off the island or a way to communicate with the mainland. But the islands location and tight-knit community leaves her with little hope of escape. I did enjoy the dialogue and could hear the Irish accent at times throughout the comic. The line art gives everything a look of normalcy which makes the horror all that more pronounced when it all kicks off. Sister Assumpta, who is the nun in charge of Aislings class, immediately looks like someone who will get everyone minding their manners when she’s around. The colours lull the reader into a false sense of security. The comic almost reads like a drama at an overly strict girls school. Which makes for a great contrast when the part of the story gets dialled up. Lord is a great horror story in the style of older horror movies that relied on the characters and tension created by the situation. The comic is very much a local horror story with aspects that are all too familiar from recent Irish history. The story is only just outside the realm of reality, and sometimes that’s what really makes a horror story work. O’Moore understands this and uses that knowledge to shape a distinct horror story with an Irish flavour. There are links to buy Lord in digital or print format up on O’Moores website. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
- Review: Cult Classic Return to Whisper #1
- Top Ten Irish Comics: Remorse
- Comics out this week (9/May/18)
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Review: Cult Classic Return to Whisper #1 Posted: 09 May 2018 05:26 AM PDT
Written by Eliot Rahal. It’s a stormy night in the town of Whisper. In a tree-house over looking the cemetery, a group of kids have gathered for their weekly club meeting. They call their club The Grave Robber Society. The purpose of the meeting is to watch a weekly show called Cult Classic. While they watch that weeks episode, events are set in motion that will have consequences that ripple through the years. The art captures the playful back’n’forth between the club members well. I particularly liked the second page where two of the members respond to the request for the password so they can gain entry to the tree-house. With the story including the same cast as adults, the art does a good job of ageing the cast with most of them identifiable with only a glance. I liked the colour palette on the scenes set in the tree-house. Most of the scene plays out with only a small TV as the main source of illumination yet the colours manage to avoid being dull. I also liked how in the closing pages the panels with the adult cast used red/orange. This meant that as panels jumped between the child and adult cast, there was no confusion about which version of the cast was in a particular panel. A good opening issue with death, mystery and promise of treasure to lure in potential readers. |
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Posted: 09 May 2018 03:34 AM PDT
There are some occasions when a book just speaks to you. For me, Debbie Jenkinson’s Remorse is one of those books. Taking place across 10 years from 1996 – 2006 in Ireland, Remorse tells the story of Penelope who works in a call centre. The catalyst to the story is when her boyfriend, Leo, announces that he’s got a big job interview in New York and wants Penelope to leave Ireland and join him. This is the beginning of a series of events for Penelope that ultimately decide where she will go in her life. The book deftly captures that feeling of going through the motions of a 9 to 5 style job and the feelings and emotions involved in dealing with relationships. Reading the story, I found it so easy to relate to Penelope and the life she lead. The colour palette of greys and washes gives the story a dream like quality and sells the often dark emotions in the story. Debbie Jenkinson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/debbiejenkinson  |
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Comics out this week (9/May/18) Posted: 09 May 2018 12:59 AM PDT |
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Analog #2 Written by Gerry Duggan. |
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Colour art by Mike Spicer. |
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Runaways #9 |
Written by Rainbow Rowell. |
Colour art by Triona Farrell. |
Letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna. |
Punks not dead #4 |
Written by David Barnett. |
Letters by Aditya Bidikar.
World of Tanks : Citadel #1 Written by Garth Ennis.
Planet of the Apes: Ursus #5 |
Written by David Walker.
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The Despicable Deadpool #300 Written by Gerry Duggan. |
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Exiles #3 Written by Saladin Ahmed. |
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About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: Stone Hewn Sky Posted: 10 May 2018 06:53 AM PDT
I think a lot of people missed this book because, when I bring it up, people always ask “Paddy Lynch did a sci-fi book?!” Well he did and it is the closest thing Irish comics has come to a Philip K Dick story (Paddy Lynch has sited him as one of the influences on the book). Being a big fan of that writer and Paddy Lynch’s art style, creates a mix that easily makes this book a favourite of mine. Morgan Rye’s life starts to unravel around him following a chance meeting with and enigmatic woman. Part elliptical science fiction fable and part environmental fever dream, Paddy Lynch delivers a tense and paranoid comic that asks whether we are truly free to change the path of our life’s trajectory.
Paddy Lynch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaddyLynch4  |
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Posted: 10 May 2018 05:22 AM PDT
Written by Dan Watters. A comic featuring talking vegetables with guns robbing a bank is something that’ll get my attention. The aforementioned robbery takes place in London where plant-related weirdness is breaking out around the city. The comic immediately brought DCs Swamp Thing to mind with plant based creatures and a parallel realm. A creature called The Sentinel makes an appearance before the story moves to the robbery scene. I had figured the story would progress down a certain avenue but the story moved in a different direction, which made for a more interesting story than the one I’d imagined. There’s some nice twists and turns in the plot that’ll keep most readers guessing until the closing pages. The art has some good creature design. The Sentinel has the look of a warrior that has seen a lot of battles and still carries some damage from them. There was a creative two-pager I liked where panels are separated by roots rather than the standard borders. I did like how the colours are done on the panels set in Otherworld. The style is in keeping with the plant theme with the effects giving the impression of the rings in a tree. The first issue had plenty going on that piqued my interest. If you enjoy comics like Swamp Thing, then I’d recommend you check out this comic. |
About contributor.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Top Ten Irish Comics: The Wren Posted: 11 May 2018 06:08 AM PDT
Jason Browne on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jason1Kent  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Not OK Computer: An Interview With David O’Sullivan Posted: 15 May 2018 03:09 AM PDT
We’ve had a few IMAGE books with Irish creators lately but one that may have flown under the radar is ANALOG. I’ll admit I was kinda sleeping on this one until I got around to reading it. It won me over with its concept and storytelling. I ask artist David O’Sullivan about working on the book. How did you get involved with the series and what was it about the story that appealed to you? I had just finished working on the second issue of Crimson Blade for Rob Curley (Atomic Diner/ Sub City). I sent some pages to Declan Shalvey, who I’ve known a long time, before he was a huge comic book success. Declan asked would I mind if he showed my pages around to a few people he knew. One of those people was Gerry Duggan. Gerry wanted to do a creator owned comic with Image and asked would I be interested. Naturally I jumped at the chance. Gerry asked me what I liked to draw, I said guys who look like they’ve been in too many fights which worked well with an idea he already had that would become Analog. I guess what appealed to me was Gerry’s vision of the near future. People losing trust in the internet to send or store information securely and having to hire armed individuals to transport your secrets. There’s more to the story than just armed delivery guys and I’m excited for readers because I know what is in store for them. What I find surprising is the idea of Analog sounds depressing and dark but Gerry makes it really funny and the story has a lot of heart. I like how, despite being set a futuristic world, it all feels grounded in reality. What were your influences in creating this world? Analog is set in the not so distant future. So I could only go so far with technology without it feeling unlikely that our lives would have change that much. My influences are the world we live in today. I added a little bit of technology that exists in today’s laboratories as if it has become a bit more mainstream in Analog’s world. You’ll see more of this in the next few issues. I’m not sure if it was a deliberate choice or that it felt it was the right fit for the characters. We’ll be leaning more into that noir feeling too because it suits the story. The cover really stands out. It feels quite different to the interior pages. What was the process for creating it? The interiors are drawn and inked traditionally on paper while the covers are painted with acrylics on either watercolour paper or board. It’s a little time consuming but such a joy to do. Originally I decided to paint the covers because I had more experience painting with traditional materials than I had colouring digitally. Yeah that Dead Hand cover was a lot of fun to paint! I believe it was John Hendrick from The Big Bang comic shop who realised both Stephen Mooney and I had an Image book out the same month. John asked us to do a cover for each other’s book for a signing. It was a great idea and added something new to what would have been a standard signing without it. What should readers expect in upcoming issues? Readers should expect the scope of the story to get bigger and they should expect a lot more fun! ANALOG Issue one and two are available in all good comic shops. David O’Sullivan’s Dead Hand cover is a Big Bang Exclusive.  |
Irish Comic News
Here’s this weeks round-up of comics released featuring Irish comic people as part of the creative team. So check them out when you’re picking up comics this week. Also, if any creators have a comic released on any week, feel free to let us know so we can include it in that weeks round-up. You can contact us via Twitter or Facebook.
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Captain America #702 Written by Mark Waid.
Goosebumps : Download and Die! #3 |
Written by Jen Vaughn. |
Colour art by Triona Farrell. |
Letters by Christa Miesner.
The Dead Hand #2 |
Written by Kyle Higgins. |
Cover art by Stephen Mooney (line art) and Jordie Bellaire (colour art).
2000AD Prog 2081 Written by Rory McConville, Dan Abnett, James Peaty, Kek-W and John Wagner. |
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About contributor. |
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Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Razor Sharp Writing: An Interview With Michael Carroll Posted: 17 May 2018 04:16 AM PDT
Before we get to the crossover, you of course worked on a Razorjack graphic novel with John Higgins and later a Razorjack prose novel. Can you tell us a little about that experience and, for those unfamiliar with the character, a little about Razorjack? Razorjack was created by John Higgins and first appeared in print almost twenty years ago in his self-published comic of the same name. In 2001 that initial story was completed in a two-issue series published by Com.X, who in 2009 published a graphic novel compilation of the entire story. It was around that time that I got involved: John was looking to expand the concept of Razorjack into other media, and I—being primarily a novelist at the time—suggested a series of novels that would act as a companion to the graphic novel. It was initially daunting working on that first one, but John was extremely generous: he gave me permission to do pretty much anything I liked with his creation. My novel—Double-crossing—expands on some of the ideas in the graphic novel but was designed to be a second “jumping-on” point for new readers: it’s not necessary to be familiar with one to read the other. Double-Crossing was to be followed by a novel by Al Ewing, and then a third by John himself. Unfortunately, the publishers didn’t have the experience (or the will) to properly market Double-Crossing. The reviews and feedback were extremely positive, but they didn’t capitalise on that in any way. They really didn’t know what to do with it. I guess you could say that they just sort of wished the book away, and their wish came true. John and Al’s books, which were both well past the first-draft stage, were effectively abandoned. Shame, because they were both excellent! In 2013, Titan Books acquired the rights to produce a new edition of the graphic novel, and John asked me to take a look at the material. He wanted me to tweak the dialogue and spice it up a little (I’d acted as John’s unofficial dialogue advisor when he took over the script duties on Before Watchmen: The Curse of the Crimson Corsair), as well as iron out the few anomalies that crept in between the first self-published episode and the Com.X episodes. That was a huge amount of fun, but very intense work: the schedule was tight, so I had to make the story work without asking John to redraw entire pages. I think I succeeded: a reader coming fresh to that edition would have a hard time pin-pointing the joins! I also got the chance to contribute a brand-new short strip, “A Glimpse of Summer.” John and Sally’s work on that is stunning! A couple of years after that, I decided self-publish an e-book edition of Double-Crossing, which is still available on Kindle, and for only 99 cents! That’s way, way too cheap for a full-length novel—I must be mad! As for Razorjack herself… The basic idea is very clear and simple: she is a massively powerful alien demi-god who rules her own dimension—The Twist Loop—and whose goal is the destruction of all life. Her technomages have determined that our dimension—known as the Core Loop—holds the multiverse together. Razorjack is too powerful to cross over into other dimensions but she can send her armies of minions, and she can at times exert a telepathic influence. How did the cross-over come about? John and I both love Judge Dredd, and in 2011 we collaborated on a two-part Dredd tale called “Unchained” – but even before that, we were talking about a Dredd/Razorjack crossover. So it’s been at the back of our minds for a long time! Plus, John’s been itching to get back to Razorjack ever since the Titan edition of the graphic novel! She’s such a nasty, dangerous and compelling character… It’s a joy to write about her exploits! Judge Dredd has had a number of crossovers over the years from Batman to Alien to Predators. They always seem to work so well in Dredd’s universe. Why do you think that is? Very early on, Dredd’s stories established that there are parallel and alternate dimensions—Judge Death’s dimension being the most obvious—so the Batman crossovers fit very neatly into that category. The Alien and Predator crossovers, however, are a little more complex because they’re firmly fixed in Dredd’s universe: they’re not one-off stories such as, say, Archie Meets The Punisher, where the crossing over has no impact on any of the properties, nor are they “imaginary” tales like Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man (which, incidentally, sparked my love of crossovers). In Judge Dredd, just about everything that happens is part of the canon. There are Predators and Aliens in Dredd’s universe! But I guess the main reason they work so well is that the writers and artists love and respect both properties—they’re going to bring their A-game! Definitely. Razorjack’s entire premise is that there are alternate dimensions to conquer, and in the first few tales Razorjack’s time-line is more or less aligned with ours, but we established in “A Glimpse of Summer” that the links between the Twist Loop and the Core Loop are somewhat shaky, and the laws of physics aren’t the same in each dimension. The dimensional bridges aren’t always fixed in time: they could open a portal now in the Twist Loop and the other end might emerge in the Core Loop a thousand years ago, or in ten months’ time. But then Razorjack is immortal and unkillable, so she doesn’t care about sometime as mundane as linear time! What did you think of the recent all ages FCBD 2000AD? Would you like to see an ongoing version? I loved the idea of the 2000AD Regened issue—and some of the stories really hit the mark. There’s no reason that an ongoing series wouldn’t work… except, of course, for the rather enormous reason that it probably wouldn’t sell because these days kids of that age don’t really buy comics, certainly not in the numbers that sold when I was that age. And the “comics” for younger kids are little more than bagged toys with a flimsy magazine attached. There’s no longer a culture of kids reading comics as they grow up. I realise I’m deep into Old Man mode now, but I find that rather sad. Personally, I blame J.K. Rowling. If she’d permitted the publication of a Harry Potter comic, that would have given the industry a massive boost and created a whole new market! (No, I don’t really blame her, but still… you have to wonder why you can get Official Harry Potter Everything Else, but there’s never been a Harry Potter Comic.) What characters do you think would work best for all ages or young adults? Almost all of the classic 2000AD characters would work. Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Ro-Busters, Ace Trucking Co., Rogue Trooper… they were created with young adults in mind, after all. The FCBD book had a lot of humour. I was talking to John Wagner at a convention about enjoying the humour in Judge Dredd: Boyhood of Super-fiend and he surprised me by saying that he didn’t think it worked. What do you think about using humour with Dredd? I use a lot of humour in my own Dredd strips: it seems to me that the trick is to either keep it subtle, or go hell-for-leather. My favourite Dredd strip is “Finger of Suspicion” (2000AD #1387 28 April 2004) and it’s hilarious, pure comedy gold! And always punch up, not down. You don’t make jokes about the Fatties because they’re overweight, but you can make jokes about ridiculous ways in which they allow themselves to be exploited. Back in the Dark Ages of 2000AD there were attempts at broader humour with stories like Big Dave. That one really didn’t work! The irony was buried too deeply, if it was there at all. Journey Planet’s perennial editors James Bacon and Chris Garcia are very, very flexible with the zine! As a guest editor, my job was to come up with ideas pertinent to the topic and suggest potential contributors. We bounce ideas back and forth and very quickly a picture of how the zine will turn out begins to emerge. Usually, the incoming articles are sent to Chris and he composes them into the right format, but for the Dredd issue he was very busy with the real world, so I formatted my own articles to save him some time… And then, as time grew tighter and Chris’s schedule wasn’t relenting, I ended up laying out the entire issue. That was a very intense couple of days! One of the parts of the magazine was people reviewing your Dredd story “The Third Person.” It is one of my favourites of your stories. How did the concept come about? I was wondering if it sprung from the mutants in Mega-City continuity or somewhere else. I had the idea behind “The Third Person” a long time ago, but I could never find the right story for it. It’s down in my notes under the title “The Narrator” and it was only when I was idly trying to come up with a better title that everything fell into place. “The Third Person” felt like a better title because that’s the manner in which the protagonist refers to herself, and I thought it might be fun to tie it in with the Orson Welles movie The Third Man. If you’re a fan of that movie, you’ll see a dozen nods to it in “The Third Person” aside from the title. The film’s hero Holly Martins becomes the strip’s heroine Laurel Docks. They arrive in town to find that the person they’re supposed to met—Harry Lime in the movie, Hank Lemon in the strip—are dead. I’m not going to list them all! Will we be seeing a sequel? Maybe “The Fourth Wall”? A lot of people have been asking me about a sequel, but I’ve no specific plans yet. At least, nothing I’m ready to talk about! “The Third Person” works as a one-off, but there’s a possibility that a sequel would dilute it. That said, “The Fourth Wall” would make a great title… except that John Wagner already had a Mega-City One character addressing the readers in “It Pays to be Mental” (2000AD #468, 3 May 1986). Another comedy classic! Yep! Next week in 2000AD we’ll see the start of a five-part tale called “The Paradigm Shift.” It’s not exactly a cross-over, but it’s close. It’s a tie-in with the Judges series of novellas that explore the early days of the Justice Department. Jake Lynch is on art duties for that one, so I’m sure it’s going to look great! Beyond that, I can’t reveal too much, except that I’m chuffed to be working with Mark Sexton again, only his second Dredd since our six-parter “Ghosts” in 2006! Judge Dredd Megazine issue 396 hit stores this week. You read Journey Planet 39 – Judge Dredd online for free here.  |
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More Details On Maura McHugh’s 2000AD Debut Revealed Posted: 17 May 2018 02:04 AM PDT
2000AD revealed early this year that they would be producing an all female Sci-Fi special this summer. Well this week they revealed some more detail on Maura McHugh’s contribution. She will be working with artist Emma Vieceli (Breaks, Young Avengers) on a Judge Anderson story called SPA Day where Anderson is ordered to undertake a treatment by PSI Division which doesn’t go as expected. You can read an interview with Maura and Emma here. The art featured is a crop of a poster for the 2000AD Summer Special by Marguerite Sauvage.  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 18 May 2018 05:53 AM PDT
Created by Luke Healy There is plenty of opportunity to be impressed by independent comics as there are plenty of impressive ones out there but this is the first one, in a while, that has impressed me through its uses of the tools of the medium. I’ll be going into that in a bit. Permanent Press definitely has an autobiographical element as the creator’s own struggles and issues related to the life of a creative, intertwine and almost overtake two really interesting stories. This is not a criticism as, I think, it is Luke Healy’s way of showing how his life has a big influence on his work perhaps through no control of his own. Again, I’ll explain what I mean as I go along. I am hoping I manage to get across what makes this great. I won’t be touching on everything as I want people to go into it with a fresh mind and to be surprised the way I was. The first story, The Unofficial Cuckoo’s Nest Study Companion, interested me with the concept alone. A comic with format elements of a play about a director trying to adapt a book into a play immediately captured me with its ambition alone. What really pleased me though was the use of caption boxes. It had become the fashion at some point in the 2000s, in mainstream comics at least, to move away from captions in order to create a more cinematic feel. There are arguments for the use of this style for certain stories but Cuckoo’s Nest is definitely a case for returning to a tool that cannot really be utilised in other media. Luke uses it in several ways: to tell rather than show (where showing would mean unnecessary additional panels), to express the character’s inner feelings and to express a narrative that is often contrary to what the characters are telling us and each other. It is Comics 101 but it is really nice to see it applied so successfully. The story is intriguing look at the creative process and its pitfalls, from following up an initial success, the mysterious ways in which awards are allocated and trying to interpret the work of a creative. I smiled at his poking fun at the awards and how organisations and mainstream media reward certain works over others. Often in ways that seem to illogical to those looking from the outside. The second story, The Big And Small, has more of a prose feel to it as Luke uses captions to tell the story of two pretty different characters, who happen to be neighbours, using stats about the characters to play up their differences. Both characters use YouTube to show the world strange parts of their lives. I don’t know if this is Luke playing up the often puzzling things that people get famous for doing on YouTube but it reminded me of it. It is during this story that panels about Luke begin to intertwine more with the main story he is trying to tell. Prior looks at his life had been seen before Cuckoo and between it and The Big And Small but now they are coming up in the middle of the story. Maybe this is telling us that the work is more mixed up with Luke’s real life or maybe it is showing that the work is overtaking his life. There are so many things to look at and ways to look at this book. It is definitely about the struggles of a creator but it is also about life’s struggles, which we can all relate to. In this review, I was mainly looking at the books look at the life of a creative but the book is also a look at many different relationships. I haven’t even touched on a lot of elements but, as I said in the beginning, I was trying to leave some things for the reader to find for themselves. I hope this book gets some awards and recognition. For the universe to do otherwise would be illogical.  |
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Posted: 18 May 2018 02:43 AM PDT It must be 2000AD week on ICN as we talk about a cool item that you could pick up at Celtic Con. From Celtic Comics Facebook Page:
Here’s some details on Celtic Con:  |
Irish Comic News
Irish Comic News |
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Transfering Hosting – Possible down time Posted: 21 May 2018 01:23 AM PDT Please bear with us as we migrate the site off the old hosting on onto the new hosting. There may or may not be some down time, but this things rarely go without a hitch, so…  |
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Irish Comic News |
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Posted: 22 May 2018 01:47 AM PDT Hosting has been changed over but now we’re waiting until the domain name to transfer over – so most images and links may not work correctly for a few days. Please bear with us!  |
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