Monday, December 22, 2014

CHRISTMAS COMICS: DAREDEVIL


One thing you don’t want to do if you’re in New York in a 1980s Daredevil comic is dress up as Santa Claus to raise money for charity.

Daredevil is Matt Murdock - a blind man with radar; like a bat. He is therefore able to do gymnastics and fight with supervillains and stop bank robberies. His most ridiculous power is that his sense of touch is so sensitive that he can read newspapers by feeling the ink. Isn’t that great?

I like Daredevil. I first read him when he was into his stint by Frank Miller. Miller wrote and drew Daredevil in a gritty nasty fashion.

One of the most celebrated storylines of the 80s finds Murdock the victim of The Kingpin Wilson Fisk, who has had Murdock be disgraced and lose his job; blown up his house, and then tried to kill him.

It’s all taking place at Christmas!



This comic had ads for M&Ms and MASK toys. And fabulous art by David Mazzucchelli.

Miller was a very influential and popular writer and when he left Daredevil his were a difficult pair of shoes to fill. Ann Nocenti stepped in and did a great job. Her writing has characters who are rather philosophical, always thinking through the rights and wrongs of what they're doing and what’s going on around them. I’d previously read her on the Star Wars and Longshot comics and enjoyed those.

In this story, Daredevil encourages a group of kids to do the right thing, only to have a twist at the end anyway...


As you can see, Todd McFarlane is starting to get work at Marvel Comics here. We were quietly entering the next phase of superhero comics. From Mazzucchelli to McFarlane in less than a year.

McFarlane moved on to The Hulk as a regular gig, and stepping in to Daredevil was John Romita Jr. 

Picking up the story as charity street Santa is being robbed…


Inking there by the tremendous Al Williamson. The comics look great, and are still continuing with Nocenti’s moral philosophising.

As with all superhero comics, Daredevil appeared in titles other than his own. He’s in the first issue of Marvel Fanfare – a title with glossy paper throughout. Here’s the opening to a story by Roger McKenzie and Paul Smith…


Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 19, 2014

ADVENTURES IN COMICS 4


I have a two page story in the new issue of Adventures in Comics, which is out now. It's a very nice tabloid sized magazine with 60 pages of comics based on the theme of "The Orb".

To buy a copy for £1 + P&P, please e-mail admin@marinestudios.co.uk

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

TREEHOUSE #4 at THE BIG GLASGOW COMIC PAGE

Gary Smith has written on an anthology I'm in - Treehouse #4 - over at The Big Glasgow Comic Page.

Have a look here.

Monday, December 15, 2014

STATE OF THE SMALL PRESS NATION Part 1


Andy Oliver has written an interesting article over at Broken Frontier - the first of a series on the UK small press comic scene. It features some thoughts from me.

Have a read here.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

TREEHOUSE #3 at THE BIG GLASGOW COMIC PAGE



Gary Smith has written on an anthology I'm in - Treehouse #3 - over at The Big Glasgow Comic Page.

Have a look here.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

30 DAYS OF COMICS 30

Click image for larger view.

About 30 Days of Comics.

My 30th and final post!

Thanks to everyone who has had a look, left a comment, and 'liked' at Facebook, or 'favorited' and retweeted at Twitter.

Friday, November 21, 2014

30 DAYS OF COMICS 21

Click image for larger view.

About 30 Days of Comics.

THOUGHT BUBBLE 2014


I went to my first Thought Bubble Comics Festival in Leeds last weekend. It was a fun experience. I attended as an exhibitor with cartooning comrades from the Treehouse Comics anthology.

As there were a few of us in attendance, we were able to take turns manning the table. Here are Anna Rathband and Neil Scott…



Anna again, with Nina Sharp...



I particularly wanted to go see Robin McConnell do both of his Inkstuds panels. I listen to that show a lot and was excited to get to see the show live. If you haven’t listened, it’s a Canadian series of interviews with comics creators. Recently McConnell did a Kickstarter and is now taking the show on the road. Here he is with Emma Rios, Dave Taylor and Scott Snyder…



The costumes and make-up people wore were amazing. Very creative, and they added to the fun of the event. This trio came to our table. The one in the middle had black contact lenses in, and when she looked into my eyes I felt like I was being hypnotised…



There was another Treehouser in Leeds. Norrie Millar, who was officially with the Universe team. Norrie also contributes to this anthology which comes out of The University of Dundee as part of Chris Murray and Phil Vaughan’s course. Here he is non-stop drawing at their table, alongside the Cosmic crew…



One of the nice things about cons is touching base with other folk in the world of comics. I spoke with a few people I hadn’t seen for a while, and also met some in person for the first time such as Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier
Here’s Stuart McAdam catching up with Alex Tobin of Yuck n Yum:



As well as enjoying this tabling experience, I also put on my comics buying hat quite a few times over the weekend. So, here’s my haul photo:



I’ll finish with this photo of Anna, Jon Adam, Nina and Neil. It sums up the fun we had taking Treehouse to Leeds. Hopefully we’ll be getting out on the road to other events soon...