The things you should fear the most aren't necessarily the ones that are mad, screaming obvious...

Last year, one of the very first comics I wrote "Wonderful World of Delight" appeared online in the 7th edition of Temple APA. Almost two years on, and this story remains close to my heart as one of my favourite creations, which is odd, as it was originally conceived as a throw-away strip, a quick tale with a gimmick that would be done and dusted in a couple of pages and that would be the end of it. Thing is, in the process of writing it, I created this bloke called Robin Baskerville...a larger-than-life nutter who somehow took on a life of his own and refused to get out of my head and leave me be.

It was almost as if he had taken up residence in my imagination. I could hear him whispering to me in the night: "Whaddaya mean, I only got one story to tell, are you outta your frosty, freakin' mind? I got a gazillion stories to tell! You might think you know me, but you ain't got no idea, chump. I've got stories to tell that you would not believe!"

It's true. Robin has since filled me in on EVERYTHING about him, his entire life-story and history, who he really is, what he really does...it didn't make for easy imagining. And I can't even tell anyone about it. Robin scares me. He's bad. The baddest of the bad. This guy, who created himself, is the nastiest, vilest creation that has ever popped into my head. I know I need to tell his story. All of it. I'm just not quite sure how I'm going to do it yet. I have made a start though. Robin's second adventure is ready for consumption and will appear in this year's edition of Hallowscream, just a couple of days hence. Here's a few panels from the story, with new artist Tony Rothwell more than filling the sizeable shoes left by Conor Boyle , who illustrated the original tale, and putting his own unique and darkly humourous stamp on things:



The new tale, Wonderful World of Serendipity, will give fresh insight into the depth of Robin's depravity...but it won't scratch the surface of the unthinkable horrors that are yet to be revealed. I didn't have the necessary gumption to get into all of that right away, thought it best to simply present another snapshot of Robin as he is in the here-and-now of his zombie-ravaged, apocalyptic Wonderful World, before delving into his past and opening up a Pandora's box of terror. That's for another time, another place, but Mr. Baskerville's tale will be told, and when it is, you may very well regret hearing it.

But not half as much as I regret being the one who has to tell it...

UPDATE, MAY 2011!!

So the old blogs been a bit dead of late, not because I haven't had anything to blog about, just because I've been so busy with work and family and all those kinds of things that tend to suck up every minute of free time. But such is life! This blog, like a plant, needs attention though, so with that in mind its time for some updates.


ITEM!!!

Icarus Dangerous seems to have gone down well in PARAGON. I've had a number of nice compliments on the first episode of the series. I can't take all the credit though, as Stephen Prestwood's fantastic art really brought the strip to life, so I'm happy to announce he will be back on art duties for the second installment, when things really get interesting and some strange characters start to appear.

Review-wise, there have been three official reviews of the issue and story, and all have been favourable, to my relief! Here are the links to these reviews, if you would like to read them!

FORBIDDEN PLANET REVIEW

GEEK CHOCOLATE REVIEW

LINE OF FIRE REVIEW

So who is the alien girl who saved Icarus' life? What was she doing in the ocean? Who are the cloaked figures in the ship that took her away? What exactly has she done to Icarus to save him? And what in the world is he going to do a million light-years from home? Find out the answers (maybe) in Chapter 2: Icarus Out! coming in Paragon issue 8!




ITEM!!!

You may remember from previous posts how I had a strip called "Chronoleech" being done up to appear in this Not-Quite-Doctor-Who fanzine, which is on the verge of being published. Sadly, my partner on the project, NICOLAS BANNWARTH, ran into some problems at the start of the year and was unable to finish the art in time to meet the deadline. It was disappointing for both of us but it couldn't be helped. Nevertheless, the show must go on and here is the glorious cover to the finished project.



I've been lucky enough to see a preview copy of this and it is one of the kookiest, most gloriously bizarre (and colourful!) comics I have ever seen! As soon as I have info on where you can order a copy from I will post about it here. If you are a Doctor Who fan you aren't going to want to miss this!

As for the fate of "Chronoleech"? Who knows? There's always Dr. WTF?! 2012!!


ITEM!!!

I currently have two new comic strips in production, both of which feature the return of two of my more homicidal creations. The first is a sequel to my horror short SPEED DATE, which appeared in last year's edition of HALLOWSCREAM. This time round, NEIL 'BHUNA' ROCHE is on art duties, and his interpretation of Tucker promises to be darker and grittier than ever. The amazing skills of GHOSTPOCKETS will be missed on this follow-up installment, but Bhuna is going to bring his own style to the table and the result will be nothing short of awesome! Will Tucker continue to terrorise and murder innocent young girls in his quest to find the 'perfect date'...or will he meet his match in more ways than one and get his come-uppance? You'll have to wait for this year's Hallowscream to find out! In the meantime, here are some character sketches of Tucker and one of the few surviving victims from the previous tale (let's call her Blondie) for your perusal.





As for the second sequel, well, can you say "zombies" and "ice-cream"? If so, you might be able to figure out that "Basking" Robin Baskerville is on his way back, with a new artist, and a new agenda. More info on this, along with teaser images, soon! In the meantime, it has come to my attention that Mr. Baskerville is posting on Facebook these days and you can follow what he has to say by visiting the True Zombie Apocalypse Stories page set up by LOCUSTSOFDEATH on Facebook. He seems to post there as and when he gets a chance to get online! :)


ITEM!!!

Back to PARAGON and I currently have a brace of Jikan stories being worked on for inclusion in future issues. The first of these, "Griffin's Bounty" sees Jikan journey to ancient Greece where he encounters a pack of thieving griffins. Taking it upon himself to rescue a young girl taken from her family by the griffins, Jikan sets off on the treacherous climb to reach their mountain-top eyrie...where a few surprises are in store. Regular Jikan artist ELCHIVO is providing the art for this strip and as you can see from the sample below, he is the perfect choice to bring Jikan's newest foes to life!





ITEM!!!

Last, but certainly not least there is ---- VANGUARD!!! Vanguard is...a little project of mine that I've been working on putting together with some wonderful artists for the last few months. It's an experiment really, a test run of my own anthology comic, which will hopefully go down well and lead to a regular publication. 4 strips per issue, 4 fantastic artists and hopefully a whole heap of fun, you need do no more than check out the offical blog for the comic to find out all you need to know. Do it. Do it NOW. What are you waiting for, go already!!!

And check back here again soon for updates on yet MORE new stuff coming your way soon!!!