Out of the Colouring Swamp...

...COMES A BEAST!

Well then - it's been a very hyper-active fortnight. Dear Geoffery has returned from a sojurn to the (sort of) frozen North and the Polygon is a great deal warmer for it. There was a little festival at which I did some compering (I just shouted essentially but was apparently appreciated for not trying to be funny because I'm about as witty as a horse).

Here is one of the few images I caught from the Professor Elemental Comic Launch at the Marlborough Brighton. It was a great night of poetry, EXTREME HEAT and larking about. I have plenty of copies of the issue for sale, if you want one SHOUT.

One of my early June colourswamps - Rich Pickings by Derek Hamill and George Coleman. Lettered and edited by the legendary Dave "Bolt 01" Evans. You can see the thing on the Zarjaz blog - http://thequaequamblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/judge-dredd-rich-pickings.html This was initially printed in Zarjaz no.14. Really loved colouring this, Mr Coleman is literally a god. You can see his blog HERE

Also here's a proper look at the MAMMOTH colouring job that's eaten up all of my webcomic time like a big well-written bit of Western character drama. "The Last Ride of Henry Holden" is written by Alex De Gruchy, pencilled by Giorgio Ianotti, inked by Mike Bunt and it'll be published by Steve Tanner's Time Bomb Comics http://timebombcomics.blogspot.co.uk/

In-between colouring I've managed to begin to digest the huge amount of Small Press titles I bought at the Bristol Con (that was in May) - one was the glorious Afterlife, Inc. wot I had been sold by a very enthusiastic Jon Lock http://www.facebook.com/jonlockcomics <-- Chock full of brilliant characters and amazing art. Afterlife, Inc is worth your time.

Another was James Stayte's astounding "Now We Are Running..." which is a compilation of his hilarious strips. Works both as a masterclass in short comedic storytelling and something you could fling at anyone and they'd go "OUCH WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT IS THIS?! OH MY GOD I LOVE IT". Oh, anyway - yes so this is a panel from it that I coloured of my own volition - if you want it grab his face. http://www.stayteoftheart.co.uk/

Now this is a weird one - I did it for TAB's "Idiot" theme and it's the first picture I've done in aaages that met absolutely NO reaction whatsoever.... I suppose because (apart from the obvious) it's so specific. It's Neil Innes, and it's a screen capture from a video of his "How Sweet To Be An Idiot" - then I put an older version of him in a mirror mounted to a piano. Not quite sure why. And why the older mirrored version is in colour whilst his younger self isn't. I THINK (and stop me if I'm looking too much into it) but he'd said about the album something along the lines of:

"United Artists had been very kind to me ... In my own way, I wanted to repay them - by making a bunch of silly singles at a time when the music industry still seemed to have a sense of humour. Wrong again" 

It's sort of like, him looking back on his own silly self and sadly, sweetly musing on why it hadn't worked out. Whilst maintaining his own present silliness - and I can't express how influential that kind of attitude is.  Nobody really liked this picture, but it is a bit silly - and that alone made it worth doing. Onwards!

Very proud to say we've had our first proper review of Dr WTF 2012 in and it's a beauty. Muchos gracias to Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier.

"Doctor WTF?! defies easy expectations – this most assuredly isn’t humdrum fannish pandering –  and proves itself to be a clever little collection of Who-related shorts, both playful and inventive in their delivery."

Is a bloody lovely thing to hear. Our last ever show with the TARDIS/Jellybean sales technique and the final thirty-or-so copies will be on sale at Thought Bubble in Leeds this November. We'll also have the Professor Elemental comic, a very special Jazz & O comic and a fair old bit of promo material for the first issue of The Psychedelic Journal of Time Travel (submissions for the second issue are well-and-truly open - view the Facebook page for details) 

O