Rousing bio-pic.

Sherlock Drengz.

This is a character i cooked up several years ago thats an utterly debauched version of Arthur Conan Doyles famous detective, I wanted to do a strip in which the central character undergoes a serious moral and physical disintegration whilst enjoying all sorts of disgusting adventures along the way.
Why Drengz ? Cos in the end thats the only sound his Syphillis riddled brain allows him to utter.
Here we see our Hero romancing a local beauty.

As Ealing burns.

An old piece from way back in 1996.

The crazy world of Arthur Brown.

Strontium Dawg!

Heres a splash page from a strip I did back in 2004 for the Strontium dog fanzine Dogbreath edited by a lovely lady called Amanda Kear or Doctor Bob as she liked to be known.

I wanted to get as far away from Carlos Ezquerras definitive version of the character as I could and give it a touch of the Geoff Darrows, whether I succeded or not is up for debate.

SUBURBIA.

Sketchy.

Heres a rough sketch of the A.B.C warriors Hammerstein that I finished at work the other week.

Ron Smith, The forgotten giant of British comics.

Ron Smith was a stalwart in the British comic 2000a.d from the late seventies onwards and an absoloute favourite of mine, around about that time I was recieving back issues of 2000ad from cousins, friends, my friends older siblings and jumble sales etc I was a happy dumping ground for homeless comic books and so i had a hardcore education in the joys of 2000a.d and the artists and writers inside.
Judge Dredd at that time had a core of three of Britains finest illustrators working on it, two of whom went onto worldwide acclaim... Brian Bolland,Mike McMahon whereas Ron Smith, who for some unfathomable reason has been unfairly consigned to the ranks of the also rans which is a disgraceful as he was not only massively talented, proficient and prolific but his work had a weird and brutal flavour all of its own.
He was responsible for some truly memorable characters and vistas.
This is the man who gave us Otto Sump, the Blood of Satanus, Filmore Faro, Captain Skank and the pirates of the Black Atlantic,Pug Ugly and the Buglies, Citizen Snork, he drew the final chapters to the Judge child quest in which there are scenes of horrifying torture and the final bloody moments of the Angel gang as they are summarily executed by Judge Dredd, who else gave us a double page spread of a blood soaked Junior Angel, fresh from mutilating Old Joe Blind falling into a lava flow and igniting at the same time? Or the inhabitants of the Robert Oppenhiemer block being utterly obliterated and the resultant devastion in the immediate area in scarily convincing full colour detail by a Nuclear explosion? Ron Smith thats who... a man alongside Kevin O'Niell who I thank for having a huge influence on my own artwork and worldview.
For whatever reason Titan books deemed fit to downplay Smiths efforts when they were busily reprinting 2000.ads back catalogue in the eighties and turning it out as tradepaper backs which is a fucking disgrace as Smith is the equal to anyone who appeared in that particular comic book and should definitely be counted among any of the artists who are lauded as the best of British.
Theres even a severe lack of material by him available to look at online which is something i hope to rectify at some point, his work is amazing.
Ron Smith... I salute you.

David "Kwai Chang Caine" Carradine R.I.P

1937-2009

Goodbye Grasshopper.

Im absolutely choked to hear of the death of David Carradine, as a kid my Dad and I would watch Kung-Fu religiously, its thanks to that television series and the character that David played that my love of the martial arts was kindled, China via Burbank California.
In his book "On single combat" The Wing Tsun grandmaster Kieth R Kernspecht admonishes those who have come to the arts starry eyed with their interests ingnited by the world of film, T.V, comic books and legend laughing at the idea of magic behind these ideals and yet the vast majority of martial arts practioners in the wests passion has been spurred on by what they have seen in commercial mediums...this does not lessen the message...the world of the mind always feeds reality and vice versa.
For me the seeds were planted by Kung fu then Marvels characters Master of Kung -fu and Iron fist, then onto Bruce Lee, the 36th chamber of Shaolin right up until the slew of recent Kung fu epics and finally serious training under the watchful eyes and capable hands of Grandmaster Gary Payne and Sifu Niel Syddenham.
So thank you David...whatever path you wander now I hope its a peaceful one.

With a little help from my friends.

Planet Tescos, a piece i did Fourteen years ago with some really manky lettering on it which has all been replaced and remixed by that lovely and multi talented comic book chappy Mister Andy Bloor!

Planet Tescos.