Achilles Last Stand

Yeah I'm back to doing titles that have bugger-all to do with the blog itself, what of it?!

Here we go - my page from a multi-artist story written by Chris Mole for the second Professor Elemental Comics. I was following the absurdly brilliant Jennie Gyllblad and being followed by the ridiculously amazing Neil McClements. So... no pressure. The script called for a "psychedelic eye" and I couldn't get the 13th Floor Elevators out of my mind.

Yes that's Billy Gibbons. Gibbonsyes.

Above is the winner of the May 2000ad Forum Art Competition - the extremely talented and ridiculously ridiculous Jon Taylor. The nigh-on twentyfour entries we got in May are literally all fantastic and can be seen over on the FB group here. June's new competition is here. 

Here's a chameleon in a hat from a Jimmy Baker Animal Hatmaker story I'm drawing for small pressers Massacre for Boys masterminded by mssrs. Denton & Denton. I'm in love with chameleons, and have been for some time. I used to dream of having a house with glass walls in which chameleons would live. Which is as practical as it is feasible. 

Finally here we go... I'm still getting through my reading pile this week actually snuffling through things I bought at Thought Bubble last November. Phew! Still got a way to go.

Town Mouse (Zine) Graham Johnson

A pleasant small format zine biographically documenting the author as a mouse 

on holiday in Much Wenlock. Charming and meandering the art is bold and honest.

The Un-Manned Manned Craft (Zine) Nick Soucek 

Easily the most narratively clear and the funniest of the four full Soucek comics I've read yet still very melancholic and otherworldy. Cleverly told and featuring my favourite of all subjects: TIME TRAVEL!

Afterlife Inc. - Near Life and Other Stories (Self Published) Lock/Jackson/Tempest

An absurdly slick and confident volume - a profoundly readable and 

open world full of stories and characters. Lock has managed to deftly lasso an 

absurd amount of talented creators, whose varying styles all fit into his 

brillantly realised world perfectly. Irresistable.

 - Writing -

Jon Lock is a versatile and enthusiastic creator. His stories are brimming with

 imagination and crucially he's able to turn out both long and short scripts of high quality. His

 conviction to his creation is what makes Afterlife the treat it is.

 - Art - 

Ash Jackson is the star of the volume, with vibrant well-coloured cartoony artwork of great consistency. A bit of a coup to get him for so much of it. On the Dead Days story where he's inked 

by the brilliant Nadine Ashworth you can see the possibilities if he chose to reign in his pencil lines.

Jade Sarson provides a lovely cityscape in Dead Days but her colouring is

 markedly rougher than others in the volume

Mark Pearce's clean kinetic art is hugely edible - I recommend his RONIN DOGS comic 

completely - he works a dream in this world I'd love to see him do more

Warwick Fraser-Coombe's Dead Days art is arguably the brightest gem in here - reminiscent but distinct from of a good handful of the most striking 2000ad artists - Siku, Jock, Cam Kennedy... bold intricate and beautifully coloured. WHERE IS HE FROM, SPACE?

Grant Perkins has a fantastically individualistic style of art and is a perfect match for 

Temperance. Nadine Ashworth's colouring works particularly well here - and again is deployed

 brilliantly on Ochroid's story.

Jack Davies is quite chunkified artwise but the subtle flat colours give it a nice nineties air and it's reminiscent of Marc Hemple's work in The Kindly Ones (Sandman)

Will Tempest's sombre realism works brilliantly in the final Dead Days - and makes the

 "real world" quite a stark one. I wonder what'd be like if all the real world was drawn by realistic

 artists and everything on The Empyrean by bright cartoony ones? 

Sean McSorley's intricate indie art is a dream here - and another bold and clever stylistic 

interpretation of Lock's world. The first page alone is a masterpiece.

Jack Tempest is the perfect foil to Ash Jackson's bombastic Afterlife world - and his flat 

simplicity heralds doom in the final tale of the book... I really can't wait for more of this

- Lettering & Design -

Michael Stock deserves much credit for his consistent and solid 

lettering and bold book design. A treat to read.

Disconnected Vol. 2 (Disconnected Press) Various 

A thoughtful and melancholic short anthology featuring dark and moody tales of "small towns" - 

every story is perfectly illustrated and the standard is incredibly high throughout. All stories lettered 

by the superb and peerless Jim Campbell.

- Cover (Matt Soffe) -

Masterfully handled by the magnificent Soffe, like issue 1's Timson cover it is bleak 

and mysterious. On the heavy card stock it's practically edible. 

- All Roads Lead to Hell (P.M. Buchan & Martin Simmonds) -

A satanic road trip - the realistic art is breathtaking and the Buchan's story strikes a bleak 

parr with Jon Lock's as the most chilling of the issue. 

- Plans (Alexi Conman & Nadine Ashworth) - 

Afraid this one left me rather cold - despite reading the story through a few times I just didn't seem to get it - and despite being a fan of Nadine Ashworth's colouring her mangastyle artwork left it all feeling rather flat. A change of pace perhaps but not for me.

- Pests (Matthew Craig & Neil McClements) - 

The versatile Neil McClements who's ironically produced some amazing dark and shadowy stories for me over the years gives a remarkable turn as a bright and breezy cartoonist in this hilarious centrepiece written by Matthew Craig. It might seem utterly out of place surrounded by the contemplative and eerie but I think that only serves to enhance it. Brilliant.

- The Remarkably Normal Man (Jon Lock & Sarah Jones) -

Transcendentally dark greywashed horror from Lock & Jones - the art is incredible

 and the story is bottomlessly creepy. Provoked a strange mood - which is a good sign.

- No Sign of Nathan Keeler (Liz Boyle & Conor Boyle) -

A rather open ended story but atmospherically realised by Boyle & Boyle. Conor Boyle's art continues to climb steadily into the realms of greatness, the bleached colours are incredibly effective.

Futurequake #22 (Futurequake Press) Various

A strong issue with lots of variety - my favourite small press anthology and absurdly consistent. 

Edited by Dave Evans & Richmond Clements, two of the most passionate people in the small press - 

they know what they love and it shows in everything they do. 

- Cover (Jim Lavery) -

Jim Lavery's cartoony style looks a little stretched and rough across A4 here and the colours are very basic. Not the best cover Futurequake's ever had but bold enough.

- Incarnation Shift (Dirk Van Dom & Jim Lavery) -

            Dirk Van Dom's script is caption-heavy but smart and the Lavery's art works much 

better here - solid and shadowy. A well constructed spin on time travel. 

- The Ndoki (Alec Robertson & David Broughton) -

Alec Robertson's script is cumbersome with terms and the ending is a little flat but Broughton's bold art pulls it through and makes this a striking little tale of rural African mysticism. 

- X=21 (Alec Charles & Neil McClements) -

Alec Charles' script is dark and ponderous and only very slightly different from an old Alan Moore Time Twister from 2000ad. It's brought to life by Neil McClements' (this time with his serious hat on) outstanding layouts and bold graphics. I love that man.

- Evolutionary Psychology (Alec Charles & Jared Souza) -

This second Alec Charles script, on the other hand, took me completely off guard. 

Very cleverly structured short intricately illustrated by the brilliant Jared Souza. 

- Spike (Derek Hammill & Jon Taylor) - 

Derek Hammill's Spike is a straightforward sci fi invasion tale and made stunning by 

Jon Taylor's remarkably detailed artwork. A large splash of his partway through would've worked 

wonders as a cover - simply breathtaking.

- Self-Psych (Virgil Yendell & James Evans) - 

Generally wonky in both art and story - could've done with editor Bolt's

 fine lettering (which is on all other stories in the issue) 

- The Day the Earth Struck Back (Paul L Mathews & Jim Lavery) - 

Jim Lavery's art is again solid here and Mathew's script is full of chunky retro sci fi (Captain Swagger is a brilliant protagonist name) but I'd anticipated an entirely different ending - the one here seemed a little flat.

- Love Is Hell (Alec Charles & Bruno Stahl) - 

The third Charles story in the issue is slightly heavy handed (the Morrison & Millar gag groan) but the setting is original and atmospheric - ably brought to life through the demented and gloriously characteristic art of the marvellous Bruno Stahl. 

- And Death Will Have His Day (Ed Berridge & George Coleman) - 

Berridge's straight-up noir thriller is a remarkably strong change of pace and works brilliantly. 

Helped in no small part by the flawless, insane, incredible art of George Coleman - one of my favourite artists of all time, let alone the small press. Colours on the back are mine.

The Last Days of Man (Omnivistascope) Scott/McCaffrey

Absurdly professional - this is a compilation of Scott & McCaffrey's work from the peerless 

Omnivstascope. I'd learned from Keegan Jask that Scott's writing was dense and brimming with character - and coupled with Paul McCaffrey's outrageously stunning art it makes for an absorbing and unforgettable read. Highly recommended.

Cow

This'll be an update that spans the last month as my last post was entirely devoted to Desertfest the effects of which are still letting themselves be felt 'pon me psyche. I'm now upwards of thirty percent riff. AND CLIMBING.

Here's me with the amazing Amala's Blade print I won - Michael Dialynas is an extraordinary artist and I'm looking forward to reading it enormously.

Like this portrait of a stag? Own a pet stag called Jeremy Bentham and want to commission a similarly glorious painting or drawing of it's likeness? Own any animal called Jeremy Bentham and want to commission a similarly glorious painting or drawing of it's likeness?! Well YOU AND JEREMY BENTHAM ARE IN LUCK because this was drawn by my friend Helen who does glorious animal-based commissions and ye can find her here: https://www.facebook.com/ArtByHelen (she will accept animals not called Jeremy Bentham although I can't imagine why)

Here was my stash from the Bristol Comic Expo - normally I do a dissection but I did a sort of ... prestash con write up beforehand which largely covers it over on the Psychedelic Journal blog. With the exception of finally purchasing Henry Flint's amazing Broadcast doodles book, being given Hard Vacuum by small press god David Broughton (a rare zine of his from '93) and the free comic book day edition of Endangered Weapon B by the amazing Bob Molesworth.

 Here's the last Dreddhead I did for the glorious Jasmine Woods - it's Michael Praed as flicky-hared faux-pagan eighties Robin Hood. Remember you can now seem them all in one place on Yahoo's Tumblr - http://dreddheads.tumblr.com/



This is a doodle that I did at the last Bristol Comic Creators meeting which was marvellous and rammed full of friendly folk - we also did a ton of collaborator comic things that were not in any way disturbing. The next meeting is June 11th and is likely to be a jolly affair --> https://www.facebook.com/events/149200088600020/

Finally I've decided to hack through my "to read" pile and actually start getting through it - these two are purchases from the Bristol Bear Pit Zine Fair which was in like, fucking September last year so you see how far behind I am!

The Day I Met a Fatty (Zine) Rebecca Bagley 

                         
A colourful screen-printed meditation on modern culture. What we're fed and what's actually true. Bright and refreshing. A very glossy wee book.

Falling Away & To Share Is to Divide (Zines) Nick Soucek 

Falling Away is Soucekesque introspection at it's most boundless - stark and completive it leaves you with a feeling of deep melancholy. Whereas To Share Is to Divide is quite playful – a ramble through loneliness and the roaming thoughts of the single mind - both are brief but transformative zines. Highly recommended.

More next blog - !

O

Lost in Riffs: Desertfest 2013

Last weekend I spent a hell of a heavy weekend in Camden. Saw some amazing bands and drank some terribly terribly expensive cider. I've never been to Desertfest before - but I adore the genre (s). For those who don't play the genregame the bands at Desertfest fall between riffy hard rock (stoner rock) and all-out face busting heavy heavy heavy heavy metal that is very heavy (doom/drone/stoner/sludge metal). Call it what ye will - most bands on the bill are irresistible, irrepressible and amazing. My travelling companion and fellow riffeater was Aidan Barnard gentleman of Bristol town and artist.

SATURDAY

We missed Bristol's own Turbowolf - erring on the more danceable edge of the spectrum I'm sure they would've been a hoot but given they're local the time will arise to check them out on home turf. After getting our wristbands and such we discovered the Electric Ballroom. I've never been to Camden - so it was all completely new to me, as were we ourselves to the people at Camden market who probably didn't expect to be surrounded by so many beards (author excluded sob). The Electric Ballroom was our first port of call, just to scout it out more than anything. Very interesting venue altogether - the large balcony above the stage was grand and afforded amazing hassle-free views of the stage if you couldn't be bothered to get into the scrum. What was the deal with the man in the bathroom handing you paper towels, though? Awkward. We hadn't intended to see them but House of Broken Promises were playing - formed out of ex-Unida members they were livelier than they sounded on record but nevertheless came across just like a radio friendly "hard rock" band not terrible but not very Desertfesty.

We then scooted over to the Underworld - which has amazing sound and is a dyed-in-the-wool snakepit of a venue. Terrible facilities, beautiful performance space and the kind of prices that makes your wallet want to die. Two pints for just under £9? I COULD WEEP. Anyway - we managed to see a good half of Abrahma - heavy psychedelic riffing from Paris but the singer was a little weak. Not bad though would certainly see them again.

On the lead up to Desertfest I listened to all the bands playing and Lowrider were easily one of my favourites. Essentially picking up where deserty bands like Kyuss finished in the late nineties they came out with one phenomenal album and split. Reforming exclusively for Desertfest they were top of my list and so I rushed over to see 'em at the Ballroom. Unfortunately the sound was cock. Which is a bit of a bummer really - as they themselves played magnificently. Let's... uh... hope they exclusively reform again?

After AN INCREDIBLY SPICY FALAFEL at a place just next to the Underworld we drifted into see Pagan Altar. One of the older bands there - they were culty, very British and a little flaccid. Everything was a trifle nwobhm and I found myself scuttling off and leaving Aidan to it.

I don't remember how or when exactly I got into Dozer but I've been listening to them for years and years. Swedish epic stoner metal with astonishing catchiness I love 'em to pieces. Again exclusively reformed for Desertfest I got in early at the Ballroom and planted myself right at the front. Amazing from beginning to end it was just brilliant to finally hear it live and the crowd seemed stuffed with people who were equally as enthusiastic as me. More than an hour of it would've been marvellous. Unfortunately due to bollocks timing I missed out on seeing Wo Fat at the Underworld afterwards but Aidan managed to catch the last quarter and said their blues-infused riff doom boogie blew up the Underworld. Not literally. That would be horrible.

We moseyed back to the Ballroom to catch a bit of desert rock legends Unida who, whether through genuine lack of spice or our worn-down riffglands after the day (surely not) but they just didn't spark much interest in us - so we retreated to the balconies to watch the heaving crowds from above and convalesce. On the Sunday a bandana'd Geordie called Luke asked me quite directly if I thought they "seemed bored" on stage - I said I thought it was John Garcia's "thing" to be motionless throughout and Desertfest was lucky to have him sans giant sunglasses. I'd seen him with the unbeatable Kyuss moons ago but his inactivity worked for them then...

We drifted back to the Underworld for a glance at Ufomammut who turned out to be one of the highlights of the day, if not the weekend, if not the year, if not etc. Full to the brim the room was humming with noise, the long slablike riffs melted into the air and everything was bathed in red light and sound. Deeply meditative - from a higher vantage point you could see everyone nodding in slow perfect unison. It's the closest I've got to profound religious (riffligious?) experience - an entire room enraptured in an overwhelming fog of drone generated by three awesome Italians. More of that. Need more of that.

We didn't get into the last band Bong as the huge queue to the afterparty seemed to take forever to shorten. When we finally got in - The Black Heart had sold out of decent booze and it was too crowded to move. We did meet John though. Not sure who he was but his Swedish friend ranted to me about how appalling the music scene was in Sweden despite the sheer wealth of good bands that seem to come from there. 

SUNDAY

Despite an early start we got mislaid (blame the Euston Tap) and missed Throne whose "Heavy Lies the Crown" single has been playing on loop in MY MIND FOR WEEKS. Early on in the day we bumped into supremo heavyking Ed Gane - the man behind Beyond the Wall of Sleep and a chap very much in the know. He told us that we'd missed out on a great act in Throne (fucking Euston Tap and your awesome spiral staircase) but that his schedule was all about Bongripper who we should endeavour to see.

We caught a good chunk of Glowsun who Aidan decried as "by-the-numbers stoner rock" which isn't too much of an insult given that by-the-numbers stoner rock is about twenty times better than most modern music. They built up some good atmospheres and had a gorgeous light show - worth seeing again and I think they created quite the buzz.

After that it was time to get truly heavy - and so down to the Underworld to witness Conan. We weren't alone. In fact, the Underworld was full to bursting - they perhaps would've fitted better in the Ballroom but their mind-crushing soul-destroying ultra heavy deathy doom works much better with the Underworld's sound. Their slow torturous crunching was like an inversion of yesterday's Ufomammut - the sound of the bowels of the earth. Horrendous and terrifying and captivating. Very good basically.

We hung around the Underworld for a stoner onslaught from both Toner Low and Belzebong playing one after the other. It was rifftastic. Rifftacular. I literally am unable to come up with a better description for both than the title of Belzebong's album: "Sonic Scapes and Weedy Grooves". Aidan procured a t-shirt of the album art - or thought he had. It's a long story, but needless to say, he didn't have the last laugh.

After this came Truckfighters who I'd heard a bit of before and knew them to be good but had apparently came unprepared for how absurdly energetic they are. The guitarist was like some feral Angus Young beast - hopping and jumping about. After hours of brilliant yet motionless riffing it was amazingly compelling - I'd see them again in a heartbeat despite not knowing the songs so well. Although hopefully the next time they roll around I'll have boned up.

After this we hopped quickly over to The Shrine - regrettably the only band we saw upstairs at the Black Heart. Again, their energy was intoxicating and they VERY QUICKLY got the whole room jumping and thrashing about. Utterly without pretension - very pure rock 'n' roll.

Despite some stiff competition I think Germany's Colour Haze were one of the highlights of my weekend. Very precise songs - performed beautifully. I was completely spellbound - I recommend you go and absorb them immediately. I could've watched them for hours and hours. Afterwards we hung around for awhile to catch the legendary Pentagram who are the forefathers of this entire scene and for whom we owe everything. Unfortunately the well-travelled Bobby Leibling seemed lost and the whole thing was a bit awkward.

Cutting our Pentagram visit short Aidan and I finished off Desertfest with Ed Gane's hot tip (pardon the innuendo) Bongripper - a doom band of no small renown who stormed the Underworld. At the time I seemed to feel that they combined the earlier Underworld bands perfectly - the weight of Conan and the long epic riffy odysseys of Toner Low and Belzebong. It was masterful really - but due to some unfortunate tube timings we couldn't stay to the very end. 

What an amazing festival that was, the first of it's kind I've been to and definitely not the last. A weekend of supreme heaviness and the glorious joy of likeminded silly folk. On the tube back we spied a group clutching a Bongripper vinyl and made conversation and they turned out to be in the band Torpor a magnificently heavy bunch that I hope drift down Bristol way soon. Also a load of kids in Kreator shirts who seemed terrified of us. Lord knows why, I essentially just look like someone's drawn Matt Lucas's face onto a bewigged potato. Actually I see why that's frightening.

Next up for Mssr Aidan & Owen's riffy adventures Acid King & Earthless/Atomic Bitchwax are playing Londontown in Mid-July and after the glory we saw this weekend it's easy to see us venturing back to the capital.

!!!!!

Mid April Adventures

This is from the last meeting of the Bristol Comic Creators - the theme was "cosmonaut" so I drew Spider-Man doing shit ventriloquism. As is the way of drunken artjams.

The next one is on May 14th as always at the Golden Guinea and it's OPEN TO ALL - the FB event is here RSVP if you fancy it - !

Over on Comicsy I did an interviewy type thing about inspirations, philosophies and that sort of thing - you can read it all here - and I hope it doesn't make me sound the enormous douche that I am.

Laydees Do Comics had a splendiferous event the other week in Bristol town and I hobbled along and had a gander. Put together by Paula Knight it was a nice speaking-cake-and-comics type thing and I highly recommend it.

The three speakers were Rosie Faragher of Loaf, an amazingly enthusiastic Joff Winterhart wot did "Days of the Bagnold Summer" and the hilarious Hannah Berry who has done bloody loads of awesome stuff and did quite an informative mini-lecture on the mechanics of making sequential art scary.

Another Dreddhead - this time of Zippy, I've done two since the last blog and NOW there's a central place for all of them - http://dreddheads.tumblr.com/ - I'll be slowly uploading all of them and all the new ones will go there. So if you want your finger on the DREDDHEAD PULSE... then. Well follow it.

Finally - I've been doing a bit of flatting for the glorious Kev Levell & Matt Soffe for "Banned Across the Universe" by ROK comics written by the legendary John Freeman. Very psyched to be involved in this, even in just a flatting capacity. For folk that don't know flats are basic colours laid down before proper colouring (shading, lighting etc) are laid down. It's a fiddly and time-consuming task and so the job is often outsourced. It may seem dull but even flatting Kev's stuff is a bloody joy and I can't wait to see what the amazing Mr Soffe does with it :D

O

Marchdust

March has buggered off and the last fortnight has been rather quiet. Well, extremely hectic, but quiet in it's own sort of way.

FIRST OFF, I'm going to do a bit of Pimpage to three things I think people should be looking at.

1: Sentient Zombie Space Pigs

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/657603937/sentient-zombie-space-pigs

One of the rarest of things: a tolerable Kickstarter. With a modest goal and unpretentious rewards - SZSP (as it isn't known) is a truly refreshing thing. I support it whole-heartedly. From those lovely folk behind Disconnected Press - Liz and Conor Boyle. 

2: Flotsam

http://www.facebook.com/FlotsamComic

A new webcomic on Facebook by the brilliant Jonathan Taylor who is brilliant. Atmospheric and beautiful, go and like it, watch as the story grows!

3. Space-Mullet

http://www.facebook.com/Spacemullet

I literally don't remember where I bumped into Daniel Warren Johnson's Space-Mullet but it's swiftly become one of my favourite things in the universe. It's a damned good story told with the kind of absurdly edible art that wouldn't look out of place in a mainstream book. Can't recommend it higher.

This is the winning entry for March's 2000ad art comp. Despite Bob Molesworth's Mongrol winning by a landslide, it had absurdly tough competition and the runners up were absurdly close. This month I also set up a home for the art comp on Facebook so you can see the folk behind the amazing entries and have them all in one easily-browsable location: check it oot. Keep your eye on the page for something new as well in the next few weeks ;) 

Here's Jack Harkness as a Judge for a Torchwood Megafan. I'm still doing these! Day by day by day.

Here are some bears. I doodled them in Bristol one cidery evening with Drinking Creative a group that combines two of the loveliest things in life that aren't Jazz (the human), riffs or cheesy garlic bread. All five things together equals the most profoundly good evening. Ahem. Here's another bear:

and finally the 22nd page of Flaubert written by Geoffery Crescent. If you want to see all Flaubert then ye can on my Facebook webcomics pppaaaage 

O