#SciFi @IrishComicNews @MikeOwenCarroll @splinister @stephenmdowney @Comiccitycast

[studio-ni]

Irish Comic News

2000AD at 2000: An Interview With Michael Carroll

• Sarah Bowie begins artist residency in Angouleme
• Happy Mondays: Gramfel
• REPOST: Making Comics: Designing A Font by Kerrie Smith
• Stuart McCune launches Monologue #3 Kickstarter
• ComicCityCast Episode 24: Swamp Jock.
• Review: The Hellion #1 and #2
• Happy Mondays: Kubo And The Two Strings
• Review: The Circle #1
• Happy Mondays: Finn Bálor Does Things
• More On The Globalists Issue Two
• Review: Hound 2: Defender
• Repost: Star Trek in 2darkness: A ComicCityCast special event.
• Preview Art: The Globalists Issue Two
• BlackStar Book Two
• Redemption Heights
• New Stray Lines Website
• Jennifer Wilde: A Supernatural Adventure Game
• ComicCityCast 23: Glorious.
• Irish Comic Art Picks August
• It’s A Political World
• MINE Anthology
• The Legend of William Lamport
• Comic Citycast Episode 22: Dublin Comic Con 2016
• Review: Day Job

2000AD at 2000: An Interview With Michael Carroll Posted: 26 Sep 2016 05:24 AM PDT As part of the lead up to issue 2000 of 2000AD, I thought I’d ask a couple of Irish creators who will be talking part in the 2000th issue celebration at Big Bang Comics about their connection to the book. First up is Judge Dredd writer, 2000AD expert and, well, just a huge fan of the comic, Michael Carroll. I’ve heard you tell the story of being one of the first people in Ireland to get a copy of 2000AD issue one. This is true! Well, it’s true as far as I can be bothered to check, which is not very far, and with the understanding that it was a long time ago so much of what I remember is open to doubt… Back in those days, the weekly comics used to arrive in the shops on Thursdays, so on Thursday afternoons after school I’d race up to the local newsagent’s to purchase whichever comic was my weekly fix. Usually only one comic per week, mind you: this was the 1970s and there wasn’t a lot of money to go around. At the time 2000AD was launched, my favourite comic was Bullet, published by DC Thomson. I’d mostly given up on Marvel UK’s reprint titles because they’d canned The Avengers – it was absorbed into their longer-running title The Mighty World of Marvel – plus their process of reprinting the US monthly titles on a weekly basis meant that they were running out of material and had taken to splitting the stories into smaller and smaller chunks: with The Superheroes title, for example, the first few issues used to reprint one whole issue of The Silver Surfer plus a half-issue of The X-Men. But by 1977, the Marvel UK titles generally contained five or six different strips… Just like the IPC titles, you might think, but the Marvel strips had not been designed to be split into three- or four-page chunks, and it was very obvious. But I digress… I was familiar with IPC’s titles Battle Picture Weekly and Action, but didn’t collect them regularly. Battle was all war stories, so that wasn’t really my thing, and Action didn’t seem to be as much fun as Bullet. Looking back… Yeah, I was definitely wrong about that! A lot of Action’s stories still work but the adventures in Bullet have not aged well at all. I was aware that 2000AD was on the horizon because I’d seen an ad for it in Action or Battle or some other IPC title, and I was looking forward to it: I was a huge science fiction buff so this looked to be right up my street. Plus I was ten years old – almost eleven – which made me the ideal age. On the week that 2000AD was due to be published, I just happened to be in the newsagent’s on the Wednesday evening when the weekly delivery of comics arrived. Perhaps they came early that week, or perhaps they were always delivered on Wednesday evenings; I might never learn the truth. But it matters not: what does matter is that the newsagent knew I was interested in 2000AD because I’d been asking him about it. He opened the bundles of comics right in front of me, and handed me the first one. So, I might not have been the very first person in the whole of Ireland to own a copy of 2000AD, but I’m pretty certain I was the first person in Ballybrack. And skip ahead many years later… When the 2012 Dredd movie was coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray, Leonia and I just happened to be in HMV when the boxes of new stock arrived. One of the store assistants opened the box of Dredd DVDs there and then, and we got the first one! So there! What was your first impression of the comic? I loved it instantly. On TV, science fiction was pretty well represented by Doctor Who, Star Trek, Gerry Anderson’s stuff and the occasional US TV show (Planet of the Apes, Land of the Giants, The Gemini Man, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel) but not everyone had television – there was certainly a good stretch of the 1970s when we didn’t have a TV at home – and not every show was available back in those days when there were only four channels (BBC1, BBC2, RTÉ and a random ITV channel – in our case that was HTV so half of that one’s content was in Welsh). There were science fiction books in the library, of course, but I’d read them all. Movies were just too expensive, plus they didn’t really cater to our needs: the SF movies were either ponderous affairs like 2001: A Space Odyssey or kids’ stuff like The Cat from Outer Space. Now and again a fun movie like Planet of the Apes would come along, but not often. In comics, science fiction came in the form of the occasional strip in the British anthology comics such as The Whizzers from Oz in The Topper, Adam Eterno in Lion (or Valiant, or Thunder, depending on your age!), or an adaptation of a TV show (Doctor Who in TV Comic, Thunderbirds in TV Century 21), or reprints of old Steve Ditko or Jack Kirby strips that could be found in the Alan Class comics or padding out the Marvel UK titles. So there was not a lot of fresh, new stuff around for the discerning ten-year-old SF buff. Remember, this was before we’d ever even heard of Star Wars! And then 2000AD landed… It’s a bit of a cliché to say that it exploded onto the scene, but it’s true. The only comic that came close to matching 2000AD in intensity, imagination and execution was its predecessor Action, which had recently been pulled – and subsequently neutered – for being too violent (actually, there’s a lot more to the demise of Action than that, but this isn’t the time to go into it!). With 2000AD, the creators could indulge in all the violence they wanted because the SF settings provided an extra “remove” for the concerned parents. It’s been said that 2000AD arrived at the perfect time to catch the Star Wars-led wave of SF popularity that’s been going strong ever since, but I believe it’s more accurate to say that 2000AD was instrumental in creating that wave of SF popularity, at least here and in the UK, if not elsewhere. Sure, we know that behind the scenes Jack Adrian in IPC learned that a movie called Star Wars was in production and figured that once again SF might get a temporary surge – as it had with Planet of the Apes and, before that, 2001 – but because 2000AD pre-empted Star Wars it wasn’t just chasing that bandwagon in the way that, say, Battlestar Galactica did: the contents of 2000AD were very different to Star Wars’ laser-swords and space-ships. In that first issue, we had Britain invaded by a foreign power, time-travelling cowboys hunting dinosaurs for their meat, a computer-enhanced secret agent, frenetic jet-pack-based future sports action, and the return / reinvention of classic British SF hero Dan Dare. Then, a week later, issue two introduced a future cop character who has since proved to be rather popular. 2000AD has lasted longer than a lot of its competitors. What do you think helps it endure? 2000AD is still going because of three things: First, there’s Judge Dredd. He’s a great character in a wonderful setting that allows for almost endless variation without self-contradiction. He’s appeared in all but three or four issues of 2000AD, and has never needed a reboot. Dredd ages in real-time, too: the first story was set in 2099, and now in Dredd’s world it’s 2138 – he’s an old man who’s been a Judge for almost sixty years. You don’t get that sort of continuity and consistency with any other comic character! And let’s not forget Dredd’s own monthly comic – Judge Dredd Megazine – which has now been running for twenty-six years (or, to put it another way, the Megazine is two thirds of the age of its parent title 2000AD). Second thing that keeps 2000AD going: strong editorial control. The Mighty Tharg, ably assisted by Matt Smith, keeps a very tight grip on the reins. Because 2000AD is an anthology comic there’s always a mix of old and new stories (and old and new creators) and that helps keep everything fresh. And the creators are the best in the business (myself excluded for reasons of false modesty). Alan Moore, John Higgins, Brian Bolland, Colin MacNeil, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Jock, Kevin O’Neill and Charlie Adlard – to name but a few – all got their “big breaks” working for 2000AD. Plus there are creators who were already established in the industry before they joined 2000AD but have been hugely influential: John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, Pat Mills, Alan Grant, Steve Dillon, Dave Gibbons, Bryan Talbot… Third thing: It’s not just Dredd. There’s also Strontium Dog, Sláine, Kingdom, Judge Anderson, Nemesis the Warlock, Durham Red, ABC Warriors, Jaegir, Shakara, Rogue Trooper, Nikolai Dante, Zenith, Sinister Dexter, Red Seas, DeMarco P.I., Button Man, Fiends of the Eastern Front, Robo-Hunter, The V.C.s, Cradlegrave… Seriously, don’t get me started on this – we could be here all week! The point is that 2000AD hits the target a lot more often than it misses, and it breaks my heart that so many so-called comics fans will happily spend two hundred quid a month on American comics and never think twice to look at 2000AD. Do you have any particular favourite stories or runs? Far too many to list them all, but let’s start with Judge Dredd: The Apocalypse War, the three adaptations of Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat novels, Strontium Dog: Rage, Sláine: The Horned God, ABC Warriors: The Black Hole, Judge Anderson: Shamballa, Robo-Hunter: Day of the Droids, Judge Death, ABC Warriors: The Volgan War, Strontium Dog: Portrait of a Mutant, Cradlegrave, Nemesis: The Gothic Empire, Leviathan, Meltdown Man, Return to Armageddon, Necronauts, Zombo, D.R. & Quinch. And Zenith, of course. And I’ve got a soft spot for the original Ro-Busters, too… … And let’s not forget 2000AD’s version of Dan Dare! I loved that story back in the day, but it was generally considered to be a pale imitation of the original character from Eagle, even by The Powers That Be at the time: they kept retooling the character in an attempt to make it work. The original was all stiff-upper-lipped WWI RAF pilot stuff straight out of the boys’ story papers and seemed very dated in 1977, so a reinvention for 2000AD was necessary. Here, Dare started out as a spandex-wearing, buzz-cut-haired, butt-kicking Space Hyper-Hero and when that didn’t work, he was turned into a sort of grittier, leather-jacket-wearing Captain Kirk in charge of a mighty starship exploring strange new worlds, etc. Eventually that, too, was given the Extreme Make-Over treatment and Dare became a proto-superhero complete with a unique powerful weapon called The Cosmic Claw. And when that version fizzled out, the strip was put on hiatus. That was issue 126… Or 1874 issues ago. I’m still waiting for him to come back! In the years since, the 2000AD Dare became something of a joke. Readers and reviewers would scoff at how it was a huge badly-judged misfire and was a sort of black mark on the comic’s otherwise pristine early years: 2000AD had deliberately exploited a beloved British comics icon and shamefully warped him into something unappealing and utterly unrecognisable. When the new version of Eagle comic was launched in 1982, it featured another interpretation of Dan Dare, this one much closer to the original. The 2000AD Dare was swept under the carpet, and everyone pretended that it hadn’t really happened. Except me: I was still championing its virtues! And last year, after decades of dwelling in both Copyright Limbo and Rampant Reader Apathy, 2000AD’s version of Dan Dare was finally reprinted in the first of two gorgeous hardbacks, to much acclaim. The reviewers – while still acknowledging the huge gulf between it and the original Dan Dare – loved the imagination behind the stories, the frenetic pacing, and of course the sublime artwork by Massimo Belardinelli and Dave Gibbons. (Volume 2 is coming out soon, folks – add it to your Christmas list!) You’ve gotten to put you’re stamp on 2000AD’s main man Judge Dredd and have worked with some iconic 2000AD artists. Do you have a particular favourite story, scene or something from your run? “Caterpillars” is one of my favourites from my first year on Dredd because the living legend that is Bryan Talbot returned to 2000AD for the first time in over twenty years just to draw my story! Bryan did the pencils for the strip and his massively-talented son Alwyn painted it. OK, to be honest, it’s more likely that Bryan contacted Matt and said, “I’ve got a free week coming up: do you have anything you’d like me to draw?” and by chance my story happened to be close at hand, but I prefer to think that The Mighty One loved the story so much that he hunted down Bryan specially for it. “Unchained” was also a big deal for me because it was drawn by John Higgins. I’d been a huge fan of John’s work for years, and he’s a great friend, so to finally get to work with him was fantastic. Even better, that story was coloured by the wonderful Sally Jane Hurst, who is also a long-time friend and an exceptionally gifted artist (and singer!). I’m also pretty happy with my story “Downtime” which was an interlude into the huge Day of Chaos epic: Tharg contacted me out of the blue and said that there’d be a delay with the ongoing Day of Chaos story and he needed a single-issue fill-in strip. I sent him the script the next morning and it was in print four weeks later: that means that the artist (Ben Willsher), colourist (Chris Blythe) and letterer (Annie Parkhouse) all had no more than a week to create that strip – but then they are among the best in the business, working at the top of their game! Now, “Downtime” is perhaps not the best Judge Dredd story ever written (it’s not even included in any of the Day of Chaos reprints), but it’s memorable for me for more than just the speed at which it was produced: when it first appeared, some of the reviewers initially didn’t realise that it wasn’t written by the main writer of Day of Chaos (and Dredd’s co-creator), John Wagner, so they sung its praises. And then when they spotted that I was the writer, a couple of them turned on me! I was accused by one of defrauding the readers, and by another of stealing work from under Mr Wagner’s nose… Ah, that was fun! “The Forsaken” is another favourite because it gave me a chance to play with the format a little: it’s a six-part tale, but each part is almost its own stand-alone mini-adventure. My old pal PJ Holden was on art duties for that one. He’s an awesome artist and for this one he totally knocked it out of the park! I think that my one-off Mean Machine Angel story “Rising Angel” worked pretty well. Mean was a pretty important Dredd character whose tale sort of fizzled out. The artist Nick Percival suggested to me that he’d like to return to the character, so I worked out a story and we pitched it to Matt. Nick did some stunning work on that one and – if he never comes back again – I think we gave Mean Machine the send-off he deserved. More recently, I’m very happy with how my “stealth epic” (as one reader called it) worked out. Writing it was a tough slog because the story crosses over into the Judge Dredd Megazine. Previous crossovers between 2000AD and the Meg have not been well-received, mostly because of the need to read each part in the right order and that can get completely screwed up if one of the titles is delayed. Judgement Day, in particular, suffered in that regard: at the time, the Meg was a fortnightly publication, so the readers needed a map to be able to tell that was going on. So inter-title crossovers have been frowned upon… But avoiding them completely is a mistake, too: with Day of Chaos, for example, that story ran in 2000AD every week for half a year, while at the same time the Meg had its own Dredd adventures. In terms of continuity, which story happened first? DoC or the Meg tales? If the tales take place after DoC, then they should reflect the changes to Dredd’s world that happen in DoC. If they take place before, then they seem almost throw-away tales in comparison. Early last year Matt asked me to develop a follow-up to the Blood of Emeralds story, which had been received rather well. I already knew where I wanted that story to go, but I realised that I could broaden the scope a bit and also deal with a major aspect of Dredd’s world that I felt had been pretty much ignored. I won’t say exactly what that aspect is because I don’t want to spoil too much for those who haven’t read it yet but are planning to buy the graphic novel edition – Every Empire Falls – which is coming out next February (subtle hint!), but the upshot is that Matt and I looked at the publication schedule of both the weekly 2000AD and the monthly Megazine and figured out where to split the story between the two publications in such a way that it would be possible for those who only read one title to not feel like they were missing out too much. On the whole, I think it worked out rather well. It’s by far my longest published Dredd story, clocking in at 148 pages over twenty-two episodes, plus – and this is pure solid gold as far as I’m concerned – the final episode was drawn by Dredd’s co-creator Carlos Ezquerra! I’ve been a fan of Carlos’s work ever since his days on Battle Picture Weekly, so to have the great man draw my script was a dream come true! (The other artists on the saga are Colin MacNeil, PJ Holden and Henry Flint – I feel unworthy to be associated with such talent!) Do you have anything on your 2000AD bucket list that you want to write or someone you’d like to work with? I do indeed! There are some artists with whom I’d love to work, and more than a few characters I want to tackle… But I won’t dwell on them here because, well, you never know what’s in the pipeline that I can’t talk about. That said, will everyone please ask The Mighty One to give me a crack at finishing off that long-dormant Dan Dare strip? Thanks! With the recent Dredd epic I was lucky enough to be able to use characters like Judge Beeny, Judge Giant, Judge Rico and Cursed Earth Koburn for the first time: the latter in particular was a treat because I adore the character. He was created by Gordon Rennie and Carlos, and was very much inspired by Major Eazy from Battle, which I’ve always loved. Gordon recently decided that he was done with the character and gave me his blessing to do what I will with him. I’d also like to write an original non-Dredd strip at some point, but, again, let’s not linger in that area for fear of tainting the future… As we reach issue 2000, is there anything in particular you’d like to see in the comic’s future? More female creators would be nice! There have been hundreds of male creators and only a handful of women. Emma Beeby is doing some stunning work on Judge Anderson at the moment, and Leah Moore is totally bringing her A-game to Black Shuck (which she co-writes with John Reppion), and thankfully there are stalwarts like the great Annie Parkhouse (my most frequent collaborator!), but we need more diversity among the creators. In that regard, 2000AD has long been seen as a “boys’ club” by some people but I think that it’s not that female creators are excluded: there’s just not enough of them submitting work. I’d like to see more diverse stories, too: The Ballad of Halo Jones is a great example of how it can work when it’s done well, and the much more recent Brass Sun is just utterly brilliant and shows that not every successful story has to be about a male muscle-bound hero in a war situation! But even if none of that comes to pass, I think that 2000AD still has a very strong future. We’re coming up to forty years now: there are people working on the comic who weren’t even born when it was launched. This is as it should be! Yes, the name 2000AD possibly seems archaic to younger readers (it still sounds futuristic to me!), but the message behind the comic is still solid, and just as important as it was back in 1977: The future is still out there, waiting for us to forge a path to it. As part of the 2000th issue celebration, Michael Carroll will be doing a signing at Big Bang Comics in Dundrum this coming Saturday at 1pm. The post 2000AD at 2000: An Interview With Michael Carroll appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Sarah Bowie begins artist residency in Angouleme Posted: 26 Sep 2016 04:25 AM PDT Earlier today, Sarah Bowie announced the beginning of her artist residency in La Maison de Auteurs in Angouleme. This is a very well-regarded creative community that helps artists develop the work. For those that are interested, Sarah Glidden has a very good post on her website to give a sense of La Mison de Auteurs. The announcement (and Day 1) as posted by Bowie on Twitter.   If you wish to keep up-to-date with how things are going for Bowie in Angouleme (and why wouldn’t you??), you can follow her on Twitter, or on Facebook (Sarah Bowie Illustration or Lidless Comics).   About contributor. Comic-loving bookworm. Scribbler of words and images. Not Irish international soccer player. Can be found on Twitter @Stephen_C_Ward. The post Sarah Bowie begins artist residency in Angouleme appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Happy Mondays: Gramfel Posted: 26 Sep 2016 03:56 AM PDT Ok. I’ll admit this is an odd choice but this cat makes me laugh even when he is at his most dour. I think it is quite appropriate selection really as his inspiration doesn’t like Mondays. John Cullen is celebrating his 20,000 followers on Facebook with a prize that includes a cool sketch of the character. Let us know if you’d like to see something featured some Monday. The post Happy Mondays: Gramfel appeared first on Irish Comic News.

REPOST: Making Comics: Designing A Font by Kerrie Smith Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:20 AM PDT There was a bit of a discussion on social media about the art of lettering so I thought I’d repost Kerrie Smith’s piece about her quest to design a new lettering font. Originally posted on http://vikerrieouslettering.com, she has kindly allowed me to report it here. Designing a Font, Part 1: Looking for inspiration. For an upcoming project I’m working on, I’ll be designing my first ever font, which is super weird and exciting. Just to ramp up the difficulty it won’t be in English either, rather a set of made up runes for magic. When magic is used in comics it’s generally a stylized English, so there are few places to draw inspiration. I’ve been delving into Celtic and Norse runes, through Promethea, Hellstrom, Zatanna, Dr. Strange, any comics that might have something in them, and my dearly beloved Tolkien appendices. Of course it’s hard to look ideas like that without wanting to use them, so this afternoon I’ve been sitting in the garden looking for patterns in how the trees and plants have grown. The ideas are coming along nicely and will hopefully start pouring in from more sources as well. Sifting through lettering sites, I’ve found a goldmine of stuff I could have done with when I started lettering, which has given me ideas for some future series of posts and projects. For now though, lets just try and get this font done. Oddly, I now find myself noticing how things are shaped and what angles they make to other objects. It’s very odd seeing the world in a kind of shape sense. It makes me wonder if artists and mathematicians see the world this way and walk around half bonkers. I feel like I may slowly slide into insanity with the looks I get when I mention the angle of the curtains in my front room. But before this is the end of me, I’ll come up with something, ink it and then put it together digitally. So, once more into the breech and hopefully I’ll have a little more to show for it next entry. Designing a Font, Part 2: Trial and Error So after a lot of deliberation and finding sources of inspiration, I moved on to actually starting to create my font. What followed was an absolute wreckage of trial and error trying to sort out what the font should look like. Straight lines? Curved lines? Rune-like? Tolkien elvish looking? And then there was correlation of symbols to letters. It was a surprisingly time consuming process that required a lot of testing and mind changing. Once I had a basic idea of what I wanted where, then came the sizing. I needed to set the font ascenders and descenders in relation to one another and make sure the midbar points were all in line. When I got to this point the font was pretty much as far as I could take it on paper and so next I’ll move on to the actual digital process, for which I’ll be using typetool 3 and adobe illustrator, which can be found here and here. I find typetool is a little counter-intuitive, so you can make the letter shapes on illustrator and copy them over to work with them for actually manufacturing the font via typetool. So, that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with the final idea I had put together for the font. Designing a Font, Part 3: The Digital Stage Continuing in my adventures of making my very own comic book font (for the first time), I started inserting the letters manually today. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is to draw the font, scan it and then build the letters in Illustrator. I broke the letters down into individual Jpeg files then drew them in on Illustrator, a relatively easy job, even with my lack or drawing skills. Then I just copied them over to typetool, simple as. Once you have your font metrics set to your desired values, your ascender and descenders will keep themselves aligned across the font so you just have to stretch the image to fit if you haven’t set up your guides in adobe. Though I found this guide quite useful for setting things up in illustrator (found on Joaquim Nielsen‘s youtube video). Once you’re at this point I’d recommend testing the font, before you start working on the metrics and kerning. Which I did, the font itself needs to be tidied up too. I’ll save that for next time though, and I’ll leave you with my ridiculous looking first typing test. But it’s coming along at least. Kerrie Smith is a letterer and writer of books such as Cling. You can follow her on Twitter @pocketkerrie The post REPOST: Making Comics: Designing A Font by Kerrie Smith appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Stuart McCune launches Monologue #3 Kickstarter Posted: 22 Sep 2016 12:58 AM PDT Monologue #3 cover. After two successful campaigns, Belfast-based creator McCune has launched the Kickstarter for the final issue in the Monlogue series. I enjoyed the first two issues so I was very happy when this campaign was launched. As things stand, the campaign has reached its funding target so anyone that backs it at this point is basically guaranteed their rewards (all of which are listed on the Kickstarer page as well as more sample art). From the Monologue #3 Kickstarter page: Hi, welcome to Monologue. Issue 3 is the 32page finale to the trilogy. Even though it is oversized I’m keeping our goal as low as before because I want everyone to come back and also because I can’t wait to hear what you all make of the complete story. The extra pages give this final chapter space plus I’ve included a little back matter to answer a few questions about the book. Don’t worry though if you are new to the title because every physical reward comes with the complete series in digital format plus there are also the last physical copies of 1&2 available – (please check the bundles below). As before all of the work on Monologue is already complete and Kickstarter funds will go towards printing costs and stretch goals. Links: Monologue Kickstarter page. Stuart McCune Twitter page. Posted by Stephen Ward. The post Stuart McCune launches Monologue #3 Kickstarter appeared first on Irish Comic News.

ComicCityCast Episode 24: Swamp Jock. Posted: 21 Sep 2016 03:13 AM PDT In this episode of the ComicCityCast (Irelands ONLY cross border/cross community comics podcast) were struggling with real life challenges, chiefly Industrial action, clement weather and road traffic accidents. Were also discussing all the news that’s fit to ( verbally) print, we review the excellent account of the long-time editor of 2000ad Mighty One by Steve McManus and we examine the latest PP offering from the WWE Backlash. Download from the link below or click here BUY ACE CRIKEY HERE: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Present-Stranger-Epicish-Adventures-Crikey-ebook/dp/B01L0T43FW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1474399477&sr=8-6&keywords=michael+carroll BUY MIGHTY ONE https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mighty-One-Inside-Nerve-Centre/dp/1781084750/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474399222&sr=8-1&keywords=mighty+one PETER E DAVIDSON TICKETS Guns N Rosé CONTACT US : COMICC...@GMAIL.COM We like jokes here on the Comic City Cast; join us by sharing your thoughts Comicc...@gmail.com or find us on The Twitter Machine: @coimiccitycast @freebirdswing (Flanagan) @ciaronious (Marcantonio) @misanthrobert (Bobby) The post ComicCityCast Episode 24: Swamp Jock. appeared first on Irish Comic News. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Review: The Hellion #1 and #2 Posted: 21 Sep 2016 12:59 AM PDT Review by Stephen Ward. Feargal Keenan – Writer/Letterer. Katie Fleming – Pencils/Inker. Triona Farrell – Colourist. Another Irish comic that I’ve been meaning to check out for a while is the Hellion series. I had seen some of the art for both of these issues teased online but was unsure what to expect with this comic. The covers suggest a fun superhero comic, something which is right up my street. The first two issues were more fun than I had expected. The comic follows the adventures of the Hellion (Nick/ Nico to his mothers) on the streets of night-time Dublin. Issue one quickly establishes the type of comic the Hellion is going to be. It really reminds me of the fun side of comics like Spider-man or Patsy Walker aka Hellcat. It’s a comic that has the wise-cracking crime-fighting. But it also has a fun/interesting support cast. The relationship between Nick and his mothers is as much fun to read as the parts of the comic where he is in Hellion mode. It’s a credit to Keenans writing. The dialogue is just a pleasure to read and works really well within the comic. Also enjoyed the social media aspect of the story. I mean, come on, how many teens wouldn’t set up a Facebook/Twitter type presence on the internet if they were fighting crime? Pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve seen it done but really liked it. The dynamic duo of Fleming and Farrell bring great art and colours to the comic to complement the writing. Both the art and colours give a feel that you could be watching a Saturday morning cartoon. The art and colours are clear which only adds to the enjoyment of the comic. Some really good choice of panels that underscore the funnier moments of the comics. The choice of colour on the night scenes works well and avoids the pages looking grim. I just wanted more Hellion once I hit the end of issue two. I really can’t recommend issue 1 and 2 of the Hellion enough. They were just a joy to read. Go check them out! Links: Issues one and two are available via the Hellion Gumroad store. Hellion on Facebook. Katie Fleming on Twitter. Triona Farrell on Twitter. The post Review: The Hellion #1 and #2 appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Happy Mondays: Kubo And The Two Strings Posted: 19 Sep 2016 03:00 AM PDT I was wondering what I would post for this week’s edition and then Seán Hogan posted this depiction of Monkey from Kubo And The Two Strings on Twitter. There is something wonderful about seeing artists drawing pictures of characters from movies that you have seen and enjoyed (I recommend seeing this one). It is kind of like sharing your happiness. Let us know if you’d like to see something featured some Monday. The post Happy Mondays: Kubo And The Two Strings appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Review: The Circle #1 Posted: 12 Sep 2016 05:21 AM PDT Review by Stephen Ward. Written and illustrated by Jay Penn. The Circle was launched at Dublin Comic Con and was a comic that I missed while picking up various small-press titles. Fortunately for me, the creator was good enough to send me on a copy of issue one. It’s evident from Penn’s Patreon page that he has been building up to The Circle given that he has four illustrated stories (which are free to read, so no excuse not to check them out!) relating to the characters that feature in issue one. Issue one of the The Circle is usual in that it’s a hybrid of the traditional comic format and illustrated prose. And while I was initially somewhat skeptical of how the story was presented, once I got a couple of pages into it I found that it worked quite well. The comic section (which alternates with the illustrated prose section on every double page spread) focuses on the wizard Longbeard who is musing on times past while making plans towards regaining the position of power he once had. The prose section introduces us  to the rest of the cast as they are called to the scene of the climax of the comic. I think that separating the Longbeard story into the comic and the rest into the prose was a good choice rather than continuing a singular story through the two formats. After the first prose section, the rhythm of the stories and the two formats  becomes obvious to the reader and avoids potential confusion that could have arose due to the two formats. The comic section is well drawn with good clear storytelling. The prose sections features a singular illustration of the character of focus for that particular double-page spread. The illustrations in those sections might have benefited from a bit of variety since all images are of the characters standing upright. But given that a lot of text is dictating the layout of the pages, I can appreciate that this is easier said than done. The first issue of The Circle is a really good opener to the series. Between the dual format and the cliffhanger, I am quite interested to see what issue two (scheduled  for November 1 release) brings us. The Circle on Facebook. Jay Penn on Patreon. The post Review: The Circle #1 appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Happy Mondays: Finn Bálor Does Things Posted: 12 Sep 2016 03:17 AM PDT I have decided to start a Monday morning post to help people (including me) get through those Monday mornings. I am going to include comics or drawings that have brightened up my day. First up is Naomi Noodle‘s “Finn Bálor Does Things”. Being a WWE fan, I get a big kick out of these comics especially seeing as Finn is a Wicklow man as well as a comic book fan. I’m hoping to see more of these in the future as Naomi does such a great job with them. For those of you not familiar with Finn Balor, here’s his entrance: I hope this helped raise some spirits. If you have any suggestions for Happy Mondays, let me know and I’ll include it in a future post. The post Happy Mondays: Finn Bálor Does Things appeared first on Irish Comic News.

More On The Globalists Issue Two Posted: 10 Sep 2016 04:53 AM PDT The Globalists Issue Two is going to include some alternative realities and we have been seeing designs by artist John Jones on Facebook. Above are The Imperialists who are from a world where it is broken up into 6 royal families. Next up are The Sect. A group from a world ruled by the messianic Foretold One. His loyal followers carry out his bidding without question. There is also The Internationalists, a cracked mirror version of The Globlists. Here are some of the group: The Conquer Herr Übermensch, The hipster Hitler Warlordess, Ruler of Africa Generalissimus, Ruler of the USSR The post More On The Globalists Issue Two appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Review: Hound 2: Defender Posted: 10 Sep 2016 03:46 AM PDT Created by Paul Bolger and Barry Devlin Review by David Ferguson Art by Paul Bolger Written by Paul Bolger and Barry Devlin Lettering by Dee Cunniffe Book and Logo Design by Fran Walsh As with the previous volume, I back this on Kickstarter so I have put my money where my mouth is in advance. My tier included a guest appearance which turned up to be much longer than I expected (one reason to pick the book up is to see what happens to me – it is very cool). I was particular interested in this volume as it covers an area of the Hound’s life that I hadn’t really seen covered in great detail (or I don’t remember as well) – his training on the Isle of Skye. What makes this section interesting is that it shows Cú Cullan free from the influence of the Morrigan and includes an international cast of characters. The team take some liberties in their adaptation when it comes to character designs. The characters would not have necessarily have looked like they do in the book but I like the designs (especially my character) as they retain an authentic feel and it is obvious that a lot of research has been done. My favourite aspect of the adaptation from a writing point of view is the dialogue. All too often adaptations of mythologies use a Shakespeare-esque pattern of speech that getting through, to me, feels like pulling teeth. The dialogue here has a modern feel. The book flows so much better due to this creative choice. The story leads up to Cú Cullan’s final battle so there is a lot of action in this volume which is another aspect in how well it is paced. However, along with training and fighting, there is the political aspect with the Morrigan’s machinations and the relationship between Cú Cullan and Ferdia. The whole thing feels like the road to impending doom. The almost light hearted Isle of Skye scenes moving to darker scenes back in Ireland. The intrigue pulls you in as you pass through pages of exquisitely drawn (and designed pages). You can see the team has thought about everything and this volume lives up to the promise of volume one and includes a lot of the design aspects that I loved about that book. The splashes of red colour make the more gruesome scenes stand out and I really like the change to red on the cover. I could go into ridiculous detail on how much I like the design (down to the celtic design on the bull on the cover!) but I urge you to pick up the book and see for yourself. The Protector swept the 2015 ICN Awards and I think 2016 will be the year of The Defender. Both volumes of the Hound are available in Dublin comic shops including The Big Bang, Sub City and Forbidden Planet or you can order them from the Hound website. The post Review: Hound 2: Defender appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Repost: Star Trek in 2darkness: A ComicCityCast special event. Posted: 08 Sep 2016 12:13 PM PDT In celebration of Star Trek’s fiftieth anniversary, here is a repost of our special Star Trek episode. The ComicCityCast team and their specially chosen panel of experts have each chosen what they consider to be the finest episode of one of the greatest Sci-Fi franchises of all time and will engage in furious debate to prove that theirs is No 1. Joining the team in this titanic battle royale are: IDW Comics Scott Tipton talking Piece of the Action (TOS). David Ferguson of Irish Comic News on The Best Of Both Worlds (TNG). Jay Faulkner from Following The Nerd discussing The Thaw (Voyager). The Pubcast’s Wayne Talbot looking at The Menagerie (TOS). Stand-up and writer Peter E Davidson on Chain of Command (TNG). From BBC Radio Ulsters Arts Programme Peter Mc Caughen chooses The Changeling (TOS). Next Generation writer Dennis Bailey champions City On The Edge of Forever (TOS). Earthruler scribe Darrin O’Toole giving his thoughts on Homefront/Paradise Lost (DS9). And the ComicCityCast team’s choices: Ciaran Marcantonio on Way Of The Warrior (DS9). Ciaran Flanagan on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Movie). Bobby Best on The Magnificent Ferengi (DS9). HAPPY FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY! LIVE LONG AND PROSPER! Download from the link at the bottom or Click Here The post Repost: Star Trek in 2darkness: A ComicCityCast special event. appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Preview Art: The Globalists Issue Two Posted: 07 Sep 2016 03:57 AM PDT Nigel Flood has provided us with some preview art for Globalists Issue Two. Above is the cover art by Luis Rivera and below is an interior page by Luca Cicchitti. The post Preview Art: The Globalists Issue Two appeared first on Irish Comic News.

BlackStar Book Two Posted: 03 Sep 2016 06:59 AM PDT Writer Mike Lynch has provided us with some preview images for BlackStar Book Two. The art is by Lisa O’Reilly. They hope to have the book out next summer. We will provide you with more details leading up to the release. The post BlackStar Book Two appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Redemption Heights Posted: 03 Sep 2016 06:42 AM PDT Antrim artist Adam Brown has provided us with some preview images for his book Redemption Heights (with writer Adam Cheal). Redemption Heights is an early 19th century gothic apartment building that is home and base of operations to supernatural beings called Collectors. The Collectors are responsible for the simple task of collecting the souls of humanity for a higher power. The post Redemption Heights appeared first on Irish Comic News.

New Stray Lines Website Posted: 02 Sep 2016 02:29 AM PDT The Stray Lines collective have set up a new website where you can read a bunch of comics and find out what they have been up to. You can check it out here. The post New Stray Lines Website appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Jennifer Wilde: A Supernatural Adventure Game Posted: 01 Sep 2016 09:05 AM PDT Outsider Games is partnering with Irish comic book publisher Atomic Diner and Northern Ireland Screen to adapt the best-selling and award-winning comic book Jennifer Wilde as a Point & Click Adventure game. At the start of the Jazz Age in Paris in 1921, young French artist Jennifer Chevalier becomes embroiled in death, espionage and revolution which takes her across the three nations of France, England and Ireland – ably assisted by the ghost of Oscar Wilde. Jennifer believes the recent death of her father was no ‘accident’. Finding a chained locket in her father’s hotel, Jennifer attempts to use her childhood gift for talking to ghosts to call his spirit back. Unwittingly, the ghost recalled is that of Oscar Wilde, famous Irish playwright, whose affair with Jennifer’s father has bound his ghost to the locket. Jennifer and Oscar find themselves involved in schemes of murder, ghosts and intrigue as they attempt to solve Jennifer’s father’s murder, and develop a deep friendship along the way… Developed by Outsider Games and the team behind body-hopping, musical adventure game, Wailing Heights. Jennifer Wilde features black and white, ink washed 2D graphics that perfectly capture the aesthetic of the original comic book. Jennifer Wilde’s script comes courtesy of original series author, Maura McHugh, whose writing credits include Mike Mignola’s Witchfinder comics, and Barron’s Twisted Myths and Twisted Fairy Tales. For updates on Jennifer Wilde, follow Outsider Games on Twitter and Facebook. The post Jennifer Wilde: A Supernatural Adventure Game appeared first on Irish Comic News.

ComicCityCast 23: Glorious. Posted: 29 Aug 2016 04:55 AM PDT Welcome to The ComicCityCast episode 23, in which we do a certain amount of setting the world to rights. Ciaran Marcantonio laments the loss of the fallen warrior hero Finn Balor at Summerslam, Bobby Best expresses confusion at the problems of casting a model/actress to play a model/actress in Spiderman Homecoming, and Ciaran Flanagan expresses his delight with the death of The Hulk. Also in this episode we’re joined by Andy Luke to discuss his new book Axel America and the U.S. Election Race. Comics reviewed in this episode : The Fallen # 1 ( Marvel). Greg Pak, Mark Bagley. Supergirl Rebirth # 1(DC). Ray McCarthy, Steve Orlando, Emanuela Lupacchino Buy Axel America here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Axel-America-U-S-Election-Race-ebook/dp/B01K5634NS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472467512&sr=8-1&keywords=axel+america Download from the link below or click here. We like jokes here on the Comic City Cast; join us by sharing your thoughts Comicc...@gmail.com or find us on The Twitter Machine: @coimiccitycast @freebirdswing (Flanagan) @ciaronious (Marcantonio) @misanthrobert (Bobby) The post ComicCityCast 23: Glorious. appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Irish Comic Art Picks August Posted: 26 Aug 2016 01:58 AM PDT 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. Remember, support artists and follow their links. John McFarlane – Ghost Rider. Joseph Griffin. Patrick Mulholland. Phil Dunne – Conor McGregor. PJ Holden. Derek Dwyer – Tokyo Ghost fanart. Ruairí Coleman  – Dr.Strange. Kinga Korska. Eoin Barclay. Stephen Mooney (art and colours)  – Generation Zero #1 cover. Paddy Lynch. Leonie O’Moore. Gary McKeever. John McGuinness – Harley Quinn print. Olly Cunningham – Black Lines Comics. Adam Law. Alan Hurley. Colm Griffin – Stranger Things fanart. John Quigley – Constantine/Portfolio work. Brian Corcoran – Entry for the 2000AD online August art competition. Theme: The Death of Dredd Jim Lavery – Conor McGregor. Stephen Byrne – Harry Potter. Stephen Downey. Peter Marry (line-art) and Dee Cunniffe (colours) – Wolverine. John Devlin – Beserk. Anthea West.   Rob Anthony.   Cian Tormey (line-art) and Triona Farrell (colours)- All-Star Batman #1 sketch cover. Eoin Marron – Moon Knight commission. Chris O’Halloran (colours) – page from Stray kickstarter. Nick Roche – Mayhem piece. Phil Murphy – Powerpuff Girls #5 cover. Julie Nick – Nancy from Stranger Things. Ciaran Lucas. Fiona Boniwell – Punisher. Isabella v.M. Kevin Keane – Suicide Squad print. John McCrea (line-art) and Jordie Bellaire (colours) – The Mummy #1 cover. Ashwin Chacko – Conor McGregor. Declan Shalvey (line-art) and Jordie Bellaire (colours) – Punisher #7 cover. Rapha Lobosco – Stranger Things fanart. Will Sliney (line-art) – Gwenpool #8 cover (colours by Frankie D’Armata). Katie Fleming. Ian Fay – Mad Max/ Overwatch fanart. Charlie Aabo – Jon Pay, PI WIP. Anna Fitzpatrick – Between Worlds. Brian Burke – Stranger Things fanart. Dearbhla Kelly – Tamagon. Debbie Jenkinson – preview of Duality story for Stray Lines anthology. Cormac Hughes (line-art) and Triona Farrell (colours) – 2FM Villains Dublin Comic-Con promo art. Leeann Hamilton. Rob Carey (line-art)  and Dee Cunniffe (colours) – Ness #1 art. Tara O’Connor.   Stefanie Reville – Harley and Pam WIP. Keith Rabbitte. John Cullen – Wishes. Hayley Mulcahy. Nate Stockman (line-art) – Spidey #10 preview. Tommie Kelly – Magick Oracle deck preview. Bob Byrne. Alan Ryan – Three Bears. Ben Hennessy. Dom Murphy. Triona Farrell. The post Irish Comic Art Picks August appeared first on Irish Comic News.

It’s A Political World Posted: 25 Aug 2016 10:14 AM PDT As you may or may not have noticed, we have been helping in the promotion of the MINE Anthology Kickstarter campaign. MINE is “an anthology of comics, art and illustration in support of the reproductive rights campaign in Ireland, referred to on the internet as #RepealThe8th”. I was discussing our posting about the book with a friend and he questioned using ICN to promote this issue (He is favour of repealing the 8th Amendment so that wasn’t a problem for him). I explained my reasoning behind the posts: 1) It is an Irish comic and it is our job to promote them and 2) I’m the Editor In Chief and I have the final decision on the site’s content. That being said, I will not be using the site to argue the rights or wrongs of the constitutional amendment. I will be focusing on the book’s artistic merit and how successful it is in getting across its message. The discussion brought to mind something that I had been thinking about for a while: politics and social issues in Irish comics. Growing up in the 80s, I largely ignored the news but, thanks to the likes of Spitting Image, I was pretty aware of what was going on in the world of politics therefore I’m a big believer in art being used to make people aware of issues. Now I’m not saying every book should have a political message (that’s not what comics are all about) but I would like to see more of it. A successful example of this is Tommie Kelly’s The Holy Numbers which takes a look at religion and spiritual issues. I especially enjoyed the book as there were parallels to Scientology which is notoriously difficult to get information on and there is a political element also. So my main point is that I would like to see more political and social issues tackled in Irish comics and would be delighted to promote those kinds of books. That being said, I will be making the final decision on what kind of messages get promoted on the site. If you have any issues with this, or anything else on the site, you can contact us and I will be happy to discuss it with you. The post It’s A Political World appeared first on Irish Comic News.

MINE Anthology Posted: 18 Aug 2016 11:21 AM PDT The MINE anthology Kickstarter launched today.   MINE is an anthology of comics, art and illustration in support of the reproductive rights campaign in Ireland, referred to on the internet as #RepealThe8th. It is edited by Karen Harte, an Irish illustrator and graphic designer, and Jessica Maybury, the editor of Girls Like Comics. With artwork from artists all over the world, all proceeds will go to the campaign push after the printing costs and Kickstarter-reward-fulfillment costs are met. You can also keep up to date with the project via Twitter and Facebook. The post MINE Anthology appeared first on Irish Comic News.

The Legend of William Lamport Posted: 15 Aug 2016 11:49 AM PDT Earlier today, Eoin McAuley teased his next project ‘The Legend of William Lamport’. Announcement copied from Eoins Facebook page: I’m delighted to announce my next project, ‘The Legend of William Lamport’ a stand alone graphic novel, illustrated by Cormac Hughes with colours by Tríona Tree Farrell, Letters by Robin Jones and scripted by me. This is a story I’ve been working on for years and has been made possible thanks to funding support from South Dublin County Council’s Arts Office. I first discovered the extraordinary life of William Lamport while studying for my BA in History in Trinity College. For those unfamiliar with Lamport’s story, it essentially tells the tale of how a young boy from Wexford in the 1600s went on to fight for the independence of the Mexican people from the Spanish Crown and served as some of the source inspiration of the pulp hero Zorro. It’s certainly going to be a roller coaster of a tale to tell and I couldn’t be happier with the team I’m working with to bring this story to life. Chapter one will be released as a stand alone publication and distributed among the libraries of South Dublin by April 2017 ahead of the main book’s full release. In the meantime enjoy this awesome cover courtesy of Cormac, Triona and Robin. The post The Legend of William Lamport appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Comic Citycast Episode 22: Dublin Comic Con 2016 Posted: 12 Aug 2016 05:33 AM PDT Welcome to our coverage of the 2016 Dublin Comic Con. With the event still fresh in the mind why not allow yourself to wallow in nostalgia for the recent past? We spent as much of the weekend as we could speaking with some of the loveliest people on the British and Irish comics scene. So join us as we talk to: Nick Roche Hugo Boylan Kerry Smyth Jason Browne Mike Collins Stephen Mooney Kim Brosnan James Roberts Ruth Redmond There were loads more creators we wanted to talk to but just didn’t have the time. Congratulations to the organisers and thanks to everyone for making it such a great weekend. Download from the link below or click here We like jokes here on the Comic City Cast; join us by sharing your thoughts Comicc...@gmail.com or find us on The Twitter Machine: @coimiccitycast @freebirdswing (Flanagan) @ciaronious (Marcantonio) @misanthrobert (Bobby) The post Comic Citycast Episode 22: Dublin Comic Con 2016 appeared first on Irish Comic News.

Review: Day Job Posted: 12 Aug 2016 03:42 AM PDT Reviewed by Stephen Ward. Script and Art by Rapha Lobosco This is one of the comics I was really looking forward to picking up at Dublin Comic Con after I saw the cover art above teased by Lobosco on social media. The design of the cover instantly appealed to me with the black and white design and the ‘o’ punctuated with a bullet hole. The interior art is also black and white, which really works with the story. The comic is essentially a vignette about the shadow-faced stranger on the cover as he attempts make delivery of the briefcase. Mentioning anything beyond that would only spoil the story so you’ll have to read it to find out more. I’m a big fan of the art style of the comic and at times did get a strong 100 Bullets feeling from the story as it unfolded. All the pages are filled with art without seeming busy or difficult to discern for the reader. Equally, the storytelling borh of the text and the panels are easy to follow. Overall the comic impressed, a well executed story with good art with no wasted space or filler. And the standard of the art and storytelling has me interested to see what the next comic project is that Lobosco applies his skills to. Buy Day Job on Gumroad. You can find Rapha Lobosco on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. The post Review: Day Job appeared first on Irish Comic News.

You are subscribed to email updates from Irish Comic News.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States