The adventures of ICARUS continue! And they're more DANGEROUS than ever!

We all know the legend of Icarus and Daedalus. Imprisoned by King Minos to prevent the secrets of the Labyrinth (which Daedalus built to hold the dreaded Minotaur) being revealed, they manufactured wings from bird feathers and wax in order to escape the island of Crete. Many years were spent on this endeavour, and when the day - and moment of truth - finally arrived whereupon they put their plan into action, the Gods smiled on them and the wings worked as they were meant to. As the duo fled Crete and made their way across the seas, however, reckless Icarus got carried away with his success and the elation of flying and grew over-confident of his abilities. Ignoring his father's words of warning as mere fatherly over-protectiveness, he allowed himself to fly higher into the mid-day sky, drawing so close to the sun that its heat melted the wax holding his feathers together. His wings came apart and he plummetted into the sea far below, where his story came to an abrupt and watery end. Or did it?

In "Icarus Dangerous", it's not quite where the adventure ends. In fact, it's just the beginning of a wild ride that will take Icarus closer to the sun - and beyond - than he ever imagined! Strange beings, out-of-this-world situations and a whole host of legendary foes await him on his journey. Before long, he's going to curse the reckless, danger-prone nature which caused him to ignore his father's words. And he's going to have to fly like he's never flown before if he wants to live to regret it!

"Icarus Dangerous" chapter 1 appears in Issue 7 of Eagle-Award nominated comic "PARAGON", with art by Stephen Prestwood and letters by JIM CAMPBELL.

You can buy a print copy of the comic (FOR €3.00) here or download a digital copy (FOR €1.00) here

Thanks for the support and enjoy!

Back in Business!

Howdy folks and a belated Happy New Year to everybody reading. Been a bit quiet round these parts lately, due to A) my laptop packing it in before christmas and taking me an age to get repaired, B) complete and utter burn-out following the completion of my head-melting "Party Crash!" (which, I am happy to report seemed to go down pretty well with the good folk over at the 2000ad forums and has notched up an impressive 2000 page views since going live in December) and C) an extended stay over Christmas/New Year in my spiritual second home, Tokyo, during which little in the way of any new writing was done but fanciful plans were hatched and intriguing ideas were set in motion. It's 2011, baby, and it's gonna be good!

I have a few projects on the go but can't talk about some of them, as they are all in the early stages of production. I find that spilling the beans on things too soon can release the magic from them, scattering it to the four corners of the internet from which it can seldom be reclaimed, so hush hush is the name of the game. What I can do is give you an update on a couple of things. First and foremost:

Speed Kills (aka Speed Date the Movie) is complete! That is to say, the FILMING is complete. There is still the small matter of editing, adding a score, attaching credits, etc etc, but with the shooting of the exterior shots at the start of January, everything is now in the can and post-production can begin in earnest. Not long now. Tucker is coming! And this is how he travels:






Dr.WTF?! is getting perilously close to completion and is almost ready to be unleashed upon the world. That old crazy fox Owen Watts has been doing sterling work at the helm of this particular project, taking it safely from the land of Conceptopia across the hazardous seas to Comiconica, the land of the rising comic. My project "Chronoleech" with Mitahane, is developing nicely and features glorious time-warped panels such as this:



And here's the pic Mitahane put together as a "teaser" image for the story:



More info and teaser images can be found on the new Facebook page Owen set up to promote the comic.


I posted the cover image for Paragon 7 a few months back. That issue should be coming out soon, featuring the first episode of my first ongoing series, Icarus Dangerous. There's been a slight change to the artistic arrangements for this strip and regular Paragon contributor (and artist on that title's supercool strip "Battle Ganesh") Stephen Prestwood will now be providing the sumptious visuals to illustrate my wordage. Really excited about this, I will be posting some teaser images as and when I am allowed to!


Another project in the works is a new noir/pulp-fiction type webcomic that harkens back to the old pulp comics of yore. The brainchild of one Chris Cronin, it will feature lots of hardboiled detectives, dames in distress, and shady hoodlums, alongside a smattering of horror and adventure stories. I will be providing a short horror tale for this comic, a troubling tale that goes under the title "Weep". It will hopefully give you some interesting nightmares and make you look at something common to us all in a very different light. Art on this strip will be by Filip Roncone , who I collaborate with on Promise for Hallowscream last year.


I have also had a script accepted by Futurequake, though this one is probably a little bit on the horizon. It was really good working with the editors of the magazine, who gave me some good advice on scripting structure and enabled me to work on tightening up my scripts. The process took a few months but by the end of it the script for this particular story, "Five Minutes to Midnight" had changed dramatically from the initial draft and was a much, much stronger story as a result. I have no idea if an artist has been allocated to this strip or not yet, but rest assured I will be back with a progress report as and when I have one. This is my highest profile gig to date and I am really looking forward to see the completed story in print.


That's about all I can really talk about. I do have another BIG project in the works but its far too early to talk about it, as I said at the start. Rather than say anything, I will instead leave you with some teaser images...more details on all of these and what they are about later! Top 2 images below are by David Blankley, bottom two are by Louis Carter.

Vandemonium is coming!!!

Temple APA Issue 8

PARTY CRASH! wasn't the only thing I worked on over the last couple of months. I also managed to put together a festive little comic script featuring Santa Claus, which David Blankley illustrated and which appeared in the latest edition of online comics showcase Temple APA. This is a (lightly) Christmas themed edition of the publication, so I scripted to suit and came up with something as Christmassy as you can get. David's full colour art on this is absolutely glorious so please do check it out and get your yuletide groove on!



Download - FREE - from:
Clickwheel
Mediafire

or view as an E-book at Myebook (will require user account to view).

Happy Christmas!

Party Crash!

So they do this advent calendar thing on the 2000ad forum every christmas, where forum members put together 'gifts' to the board which are posted throughout the month of December. The gift can be anything from a single picture, to a full comic strip, or even a random act of kindness. I decided to take part this year and recklessly threw my name into the ring when the call for contributors came up. It was only after this that I realised I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I'm not much cop with drawing, being more the writey-type, so my first thought was...write a comic script, get someone to draw it. But when I found out my good mate LocustsofDeath (real name) was already doing that, I tried to think of something else. Somehow, I hit on the idea of doing a 'choose your own adventure' story. This took various formats at the initial planning stage, until I eventually settled on the idea of having a 2000ad christmas party, which the reader gatecrashes, mingling with various 2000ad characters and getting mixed up in all kinds of shenanigans. When I started writing it, I thought it was going to be a breeze. But as I got into it, and 1 option led to 2 options, and 2 options led to 4 options, and 4 options led to EIGHT options...I soon realised I had created a monster. I won't lie - keeping track of this was a monumental task, especially when I ended up with 4 individual story threads that started to criss-cross amongst each other! It was tough. But with various spreadsheets and roadmaps I was able to keep a handle on it. Just.

I realised early on that one thing I was definately going to need was pictures to accompany the text, just like the old books used to have, so I sent out a couple of mass emails to various guys from the forum who I had been interacting with throughout the year. Everybody was extremely supportive of the venture and with one or two exceptions where people were genuinely swamped with work, everybody agreed to help out. I ended up with 29 completely original illustrations to incorporate into the text, and completely awesome illustrations to boot.

The whole project took 6-7 weeks to complete -- my laptop packing it in mid-way through the work didn't help and meant I had to play Frankenstein and bring to life an old desktop PC I'd stashed in the attic a couple of years ago, in order to finish the writing. But somehow, I managed to meet the deadline and get it ready just in time for my allocated slot on the advent calendar. Phew!

So, having said all that, and without further ado, here's the link to the game. Hope you enjoy!


(cover mock-up by Malcolm Kirk - using artwork by Chris Weston)


PARTY CRASH! THE 2000AD CHRISTMAS BLOWOUT, 2010! BY INVITATION ONLY!

Tales from the Emerald Isle

"Sinister Dexter: All Malone Again", my first ever script to appear in print format - that is, in actual ink, on actual paper! - appears in this brand new, supercool comic orchestrated and put together by David McDonald.

Its a 28 page black & white fanzine featuring 2000ad characters of Irish origin and I'm really excited about being a part of it. Apart from Sinister Dexter you will find tales featuring Judge Joyce, Maeve the Many Armed, Slough Feg and the Harlem Heroes, all accompanied by some fabulous art.

Only 100 issues have been printed and they are going fast so if you would like to support the venture (And me!) buy one - PLEASE! They won't last long!

More info about how to order can be found HERE.

So whaddaya waitin' fer! Go and buy one. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go ON!!!! :)

Templeton Peck is Awesome!!!

...but that's beside the point.

Temple APA is also awesome, and it's almost time for issue 8.

Last time, myself and CONOR BOYLE brought you a pleasant little tale about a very helpful Ice Cream Man named 'Basking' Robin, one of the survivors of an Earth-ravaging zombie apocalypse. This time, I have teamed up with David Blankley (who I recently collaborated with on a Sinister Dexter tale) to bring you...Santa!!!

Yes, Santa, the one and only...(or should that be, one of many..?)

The story is called "Claus Encounters of the Santa Kind" and here is a little preview.

Issue 8 of TempleAPA is due to go live on the 28th November. Be there!!!

Redbats, episode 4

Enter the villain of the piece: Dark Bahts!


Previous Episode

Hallowscream 2010

This time last year I was browsing the 2000ad forums when I saw a thread promoting the publication of "Hallowscream", a web comic which had been put together as a homage to the old "Scream" comic of yester-year, fondly remembered by many. I downloaded the comic and thought it was marvellous, and when I noticed it featured work by a lot of the guys I conversed with daily on the forum, I wondered why the Hell I didn't have anything in it! The answer was --- because I wasn't writing comic scripts at the time! That all changed soon after though, and when the call-to-arms (or pens) went out for the 2010 edition, I was ready and raring to go!

The new edition is out now and its a doozy. 84 pages of blood-curdling, spine-chilling, and occassionally laugh-out-loud funny tales from a variety of talented creators, its a beast of a magazine and a whopping good read. It's completely free to view also, you can't say fairer than that!

To make up for missing out on last year's premiere edition, I've managed to slip two strips into this years. The first, "Speed Date", I have already provided a teaser for HERE. The second tale is called "Promise", which features art by FILIP RONCONE. A teaser panel for this strip appears below, after which you will find a few links via which you can download the magazine.

So what are you waiting for?

If you haven't read it already...grab yourself a cuppa and go and read it now!



HALLOWSCREAM 2010 - MYEBOOK

HALLOWSCREAM 2010 - CLICKWHEEL

HALLOWSCREAM 2010 - DROPBOX

Redbats, episode 3

The Story So Far...

In the Kingdom of Baht, there is only one who is Red. An outcast from society, this quick-tempered Baht with a homicidal mean streak and a propensity for ultra-violence lives in isolation, plying his trade as a Merc for Hire, the so-called "Red Bat-talion (of One)". Hired by the Blue Realm to retrieve Princess Flo Batina from the invaders who stole her from her Palace, Redbats now attempts to lead her to safety...




It's not going too well...


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Next Episode

Icarus...living dangerously!

Wow.

That's all I can say about this.

I have a story coming up in PARAGON called "Icarus Dangerous", which starts where the classic Greek legend ends...and takes off from there. In big style. The series is due to debut in issue 7 of the comic, which should be out by Christmas, all going well.

I've been EXTREMELY lucky in that my story has bagged the cover slot for the issue. And I've been even luckier in that the artist signed up to realise it was "pencilmonkey" extraordinaire and all around great guy MATT SOFFE. Just look at this! How could you possibly improve on it? It captures the character better than I could have imagined and sets the tone of the piece - ie, DANGER, because this strapping young Greek chap (he's not gay) is going to be getting himself into a LOT of it in my tale - perfectly.

Feast your eyes on this little beauty!

Halloween is for Pussies.

Who says Halloween has to be all horror and spookiness. Pfffft!!! That's for WUSSES. What you really want is some heartwarming, uplifting ROMANCE at this frosty time of year. ROMANCE, I tell you, to enliven the soul and sweep back those approaching tendrils of Winter. And ROMANCE is exactly what myself and LIAM "GHOSTPOCKETS" BYRNE plan to deliver in this year's edition of HALLOWSCREAM from BACK FROM THE DEPTHS, coming very, very soon to a computer near you.

ROMANCE, damnit!!!

It will make you feel all warm and mushy inside!

GUARANTEED!!!

Redbats, episode 2

So far so good with sticking to the weekly schedule...but it's only the 2nd week so early days! Enjoy and feel free to leave your comments. I'm particulary proud of panel 2 here and will endeavour to include one such panel in every installment. (Told you it would get nasty!)

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Next episode

The boys are back in town...

...but which town, exactly?

"Tales from the Emerald Isle" is a new 2000ad fanzine being put together by David McDonald, which turns the spotlight on those characters from the comic with Irish blood running through their veins. There are more of them than you would think! Being Irish myself I was eager to get on board with this project and offered my scribing services. The result - a short and snappy Sinister Dexter tale which revisits some places and faces from Finnigan Sinister's past.

It's ironic I've written a Sinister Dexter tale really. When the story first started in the pages of 2000ad I absolutely detested it. Abhored it. Couldn't stand the sight of it! I gave up on reading 2000ad around about then, and every time I considered returning to the comic over the course of the next 10 or so years, I would pick up a copy in the shop, have a quick flick through, find Sinister Dexter was still there...and walk away. Not for me, I thought. Stupid, pointless story.

Fast forward to 2006 and I did come back to the fold, for prog 1500, from which Sinister Dexter were relievingly absent. Or so I thought. In truth, a story called "Malone" which I really, really enjoyed, turned out to be a Sinister Dexter story in disguise, catching me completely off-guard...and making me interested in Sinister Dexter for the very first time. Fast forward again to 2010 and now I own all the Sin Dex trades and the series is one of my favourites ever to appear in the prog!!!! Go figure!!!

Anyway, while you all patiently wait for the release of "Tales from the Emerald Isle", here's a teaser panel from my story, with funting great art by David Blankley. Enjoy...and be sure to pick up "Tales from the Emerald Isle" when it comes out!

Hello Beautiful...!

Here's a little teaser for the upcoming strip I wrote for "Dr. WTF?!", the Dr. Who-homage fanzine being put together by OWEN WATTS.

Art on this is by NICOLAS BANNWARTH and it's looking glorious! Looking forward to this one coming together!

Introducing...The Red Bat-talion (of One!)

In an effort to make this blog a little more interesting for the casual viewer, I have decided to try a little experiment, namely, posting my very own newspaper-style cartoon strip as a regular feature.

Unfortunately I am really quite poor at drawing, and as I can't afford any fancy drawing software I'm going to have to rely on my old pal Microsoft Paint to produce it. On the plus side, this means the strip will be very colourful. On the down side, it means I am limited in what I can draw, so I'm dusting off this old cartoon character I created in my distant teenage past and putting him to work for me. It's all about recycling these days anyway, isn't it?

A handful of you (friends and family members) will remember ol' Redbats from a series of comic strips I did when I was 17 or so (2 of which appear in the very first post on this blog). This is going to be a much different take on the character though, as I put him into a proper story and turn him into a serious comic character. I have the story roughly mapped out and the first 6 - 7 installments fully plotted so...let's see how it goes. Don't let the colourful cartoony appearance fool you, things are going to get pretty nasty!

My INTENTION (hope) would be to post a new installment every week. How practical or feasible this is remains to be seen, and depends on a number of factors (mainly, how much free time I get during the week to work on it!) This first installment took 4 days to complete - with a max of 2 hrs per day being spent on it, I hasten to add - so it may end up being fortnightly...but, again, let's just see how it goes.

Anyway, enough blathering, here's the first brightly coloured episode of "Redbats", in which not very much happens but the scene is set for lots of fun things to happen in the very near future!

Dirk.




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