Fan-Art Part Two: NECESSARY MONSTERS

New fan-art today for Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Sean Azzopardi's spy/horror comic, Necessary Monsters.

Daniel and Sean will of course be at LUC@176 this Saturday with the first three parts (and maybe the forth..?) of NM in comic form as well as their own glorious works.

More fan-art fun tomorrow...

Fan-Art Part One: NINJA BUNNY

Kicking off a week long series of small press fan-art pieces with Phil Spence's Ninja Bunny!

Phil will be at the new London Underground Comics event alongside a load of other ridiculously talented small press types on June 27th (this Saturday!), selling his awesome Ninja Bunny comics as well as some emo-filled autobiographical goodness.
"Inspiration" (meaning I just copied it, badly, and put Ninja Bunny in there) comes from this picture right here.

Check back tomorrow for more fan-art shenanigans...

BLOC Party

Yup, it's been a while. Again.
And that's because I've been working my skinny behind off to get this badboy finished in time for LUC 176. Anyone who follows this very irregular blog on a regular basis will know that BLOC has long been a thorn in my side. It was first meant to come out for our "No Barcodes" event at Camden Lock Market back last Summer and I then managed to miss every other convention deadline all the way up til now.

So why so long?

Mainly because I'm lazy and smoke too much.

But also because the script (written by Oli "fuckface" Smith) is ridiculously open for interpretation and improvisation. And because the comic itself is completely wordless, it gives you even more room to stretch. The original script has the story clock in by 18 pages. I stretched it out to 47 pages.

Got there in the end though and I'm fairly pleased with the end result. It definitely tested me and it probably shows in places. Very much looking forwards to making a proper start on the next installment of The Dan Lester Mysteries (entitled "The Killer Next Door") and drawing a comic that has actual people in it as opposed to a stone man with no face.

I've posted a couple of very badly scanned preview pages alongside the cover image below. I think Oli's gonna have a Bloc mini site within his own website with sketches and stuff soon, so keep yer eyes peeled and that.
So yeah, BLOC will be available at the aforementioned LUC 176 which takes place in a couple of weekends time. Here's a link to one of the animations that's going to be shown during the day. It's by a fellow calling himself Lando and to be honest, it's bloody awesome. Can't wait to see it up on a big screen. He'll also be blessing our ears with his DJ stylings alongside Modern Monstrosity's very own Laurence Powell.

Animations, music, free tables for exhibitors (I'll say that again, FREE TABLES FOR EXHIBITORS. We know how to party), free tea and coffee and superhappy cheap bar prices all alongside an all star line-up of small press talent. Fucking brilliant.

In my absence I managed to completely miss out on reporting on the very awesome MCM Expo that went down in May. Basically, it was superb. There's a steadily growing indie comicbook community gathering amid all the Manga, Anime, films, computer games and super-special Hollywood special guests (Linda Hamilton and Tony ruddy Curtis).

This year saw record amounts of punters show up (33,000 to be precise) and so the next show (which is in October, these babies happen twice a year) is actually going to grow by another 2000sqm in size. It's going to be huge. Huuge. And it's already fucking big.

MCM offer exhibitors a table for just £40. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, those who found the few cosplayers at last year's Thought Bubble off-putting will probably want to stay clear of MCM.

But it's got a great energy to it and y'know, it's like, different and stuff. Different is good right?

A big fat belated thankyou goes out to Emma Vieceli, Andrew "VonPud" and Anna Petterson for making it all happen. You are soldiers of the scene.

I should point out that the pictures below are nicked from Vice Magazine's website's report of the show.

There's going to be regular posts in the run-up to LUC176 on the 27th, I'm gonna run a series of fan-art pieces, featuring a few of the different exhibitor's characters and creations interpreted by me. I'm all about the self-indulgent funtimes. Check back in the next few days for the first in a series of about five or six.

Peace out x

Sketchbook Bits n Pieces

This was meant to go up at the end of April. Today is May 11th.
Somehow, I managed to put this post together but not actually publish it. And I just noticed. Oopsie...

Those two were done whilst on holiday in Portugal. I was probably drunk which explains why they're a bit shit and full of big colour.
A three page Curtis and Terrorist comic wot I did for this year's UK Web n Mini Comix Thing anthology is available to read on line now as well. Right over here.

Sketches of Jon Scrivens' Little Terrors cast. I'll be doing a guest chapter at some point in the next five years.

"We Are Adventurers" (The title's based on a song by Be Your Own Pet) was going to be Modern Monstrosity's attempt to get in on The DFC. It's about a kid who discovers a portal to other worlds in his washing machine. On his first adventure he ends up bringing back another kid from a world he visits and having to integrate him into his life at home whilst also trying to get him back to his original world through repeated trips through the portal. It's Quantum Leap meets Narnia.
And since The DFC is sadly no more, we're thinking of starting it as a web comic later in the year maybe.

An Interview With Schmurgen Jonerhaffs...

Schmurgen's a new face on the UK small press scene, having recently moved to London from Norway. His uncompromising styles can be found on his blog which he updates with a couple of new comics every week and he's even taken it upon himself to organise his very own Schmurgen Con which takes place this Saturday in Mile End.

I sent the man of the moment some questions...

Hi Schmurgen. Welcome to the UK! Tell us about how you got involved in making comics and the scene back home.

I haf want to make comics ever since I see my brothers Conan! Then later on I read Moebius and Robert Crumb and realise that comics can make anything!

What made you want to move here to the UK?

I was board of Norske life and all my friends only wanted to go skiikng but I haf fobia of skiing since I was little boy so I think I go to London, Home of From Hell, one of my most favourite uncompromising comics!

What kinds of comics to you like to make?

I like to make comics that show real world in all it's uncompromising ugly beauty! I like to make uncompromising comics! I feel that anything else woud be to betray of my talent!

Who or what are your influences?
I am very influence by Henry Rollins. He tought me that artists should always tell truth, even if truth is that you have unusual dream about chickens.

What is your favourite comicbook of all time?

I like the one where Wolverine cut off his own face as April fool prank. Or maybe I dreamed that? I also like Conan because he is uncompromising!

Tell us a bit about "Schmurgen Con" which happens this Saturday.

I am very exciting about this! It is my chance to announce myself to the world as real presence, and also share drinks with my new london comic freinds! It will be uncompromising fun! Also Special thankings to my friend David Bayley for making my idea happen!

Just why are you so uncompromising?

Because I cannott live any other way! If I tried my brains would melt off!

Stadium Love

Jake Harold, Matt Badham, Oli Smith and Me. Photo by Baz Renshaw

At last year's Leeds Thought Bubble Festival, I have vague memories of drunken brawling with

fellow creators. This picture turned up on Matt Badham's new blog to confirm my suspicions.

On that note, this year's Thought Bubble has already been announced and I can't bloody wait!

Some sketches from recent PubDraw sessions. I really need to mess around with my scanner's settings. Everything's coming out all washed out like...

The hot piece of ass that is Sean Azzopardi has set up The Sequential, a new site for people to showcase comicy arty stuff. So far there are posts by Mister Azzopardi himself, alongside the esteemed Douglas Noble, Phil "Ninja Bunny" Spence, Jon Scrivens, Oli Smith and Jake Harold. I've also just put up the first page of Modern Monstrosity's contribution to this year's UK Web n Comix Thing. Check it.
I'm sure also that Sean would welcome anyone else who's interested in taking part. As long as they're good.