PIGS IN SPAAAACE! : Ham Dare, Pig of The Future

I've been drawing Oink! characters again. You can see my previous 'fan art' here and here.

Ham Dare was created by Lew Stringer, (who wrote it), and the late Malcolm Douglas, (aka J.T. Dogg), who drew it.

 

Ham was obviously a parody of classic British science fiction comics character, Dan Dare, (created by Frank Hampson), who originally appeared in the 1950s Eagle comic, and has had numerous reboots and reworkings over the years, including a computer animated television series a few years ago. In my view, Ham Dare was truer in spirit, (and appearance), to the original than most of those re-imaginings.

 

The 'Bread Moon Mystery' is not a genuine Ham Dare story but a play on the title of the Dan Dare serial 'The Red Moon Mystery'.  It's not a very good pun, but it did lead to a plot forming in my mind while working on the picture. A story involving a butcher, a baker and a full English breakfast. One day I might just draw the thing for real.

Noah & Nelly Meet The Beast of Revelation (a Read-Along Book & Tape)

I hope this doesn't mean I'm going to Hell. Certainly wouldn't be the first time one of my drawings has got me into a spot of bother.

This was drawn for last week's Weekly Themed Art Blog, for which the theme was 'Scenes From The Bible'. It was the only entry, the Bible clearly not as popular as it used to be.

Noah and Nelly were created by Grange Calveley, who also created Roobarb, (based on his real-life tree-climbing pet dog), and appeared in the children's cartoon series 'Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk' way back in 1976. It hasn't appeared on British TV since 1980.  The series featured 'Nutty' Noah and his wife, 'Knitty Nelly', (who knitted), going on adventures in their all terrain vehicle, 'The SkylArk' with a crew of talking two-headed animals. Needless to say, it deviated somewhat from the Bible story which inspired it, and was a bit odd. You used to be able to get bars of chocolate with various wrappers depicting the animal characters such as 'Brian the lions'.

Like Roobarb, it was animated by Bob Godfrey, which is why Henry's Cat is also one of the heads of the beasty in my picture. The humanoid head is from John Carpenter's The Thing, due to obvious parallels with the film and that's also why Noah is voiced by Kurt Russell in my version, (the cartoon was narrated by Richard Briers and Peter Hawkins).  Well, they seem obvious to me, anyway.  If you don't know why Mr. Bump's on the end of one of the necks, Google a description of the beasts of Revelation and that should explain it for you.

HALLOWSCREAM! Phantasmagorical Fifth Issue Guiidelines

We at Back From The Depths are once again looking for contributors for our free, annual pdf horror comic, HALLOWSCREAM. Here are the guidelines for the 2013 issue...

Submissions should be horror orientated and must be weird or spooky to make the final cut. We are mainly looking for completed comic strips between 1-7 pages in length. Script submissions should also preferably be around 1-7 psges in length. Eerie illustrations and artwork along with interesting horror/comic articles, scary short stories, petrifying poems or anything just plain creepy will also be considered.

 To get an idea of the sort of stuff we're after, you can download previous issues of Hallowscream here.

 If you're looking to illustrate something, get in contact and we'll give you details of available scripts to see if anything suits your fancy.

We'll also consider material previously published elsewhere, as long as the contributors own the copyright. 

Completed artwork can be either colour or black and white, and should preferably be A4 (21cm x 29.7cm) 300 dpi jpegs. Submissions can be sent to merjeagles@yahoo.co.uk or ghastlymcnasty@backfromthedepths.co.uk

As this is a non-profit, small press publication, contributors will not be paid but they will retain copyright on any material submitted.

DEADLINES :

Scripts, articles and text submissions : Sunday 28th July

Artwork : Sunday 6th October

Completed strips : Sunday 20th October.

The finished issue will be available online as a free pdf by October 31st, with a physical copy becoming available via Lulu.com, shortly afterwards. You can also keep up to date with Hallowscream news via the Facebook Page

(Note : There won't be an issue of Shocking Chillers this year, but if you still want to submit a Christmas themed story and you're willing to wait a year or two to see it appear in an issue, we'll happily accept it and put it aside for future use).

There's no place like home viewing : Some Terrorvision Guide excerpts

I was looking through some folders on my PC earlier and I thought I'd share a few bits and pieces I've done for the satirical 'Terrorvision guides' I've created for the annual Hallowscream comics over the past few years.

The first one's quite topical. Sam Raimi's Wizard of Oz (from the 2012 issue of Shocking Chillers)...

Still haven't seen Oz The Great And Powerful, but have been informed I'm not far off the mark.

Next, The Evil Death (from the 2012 Hallowscream)...

Also from the 2012 Hallowscream, The Oscars...

Ed Wood's Torchwood (from Hallowscream 2010)...

Ring of Dark Water (from the 2009 Hallowscream)...



 

...and Quatermass & The Pita (Hallowscream 2011)...

 

 

You'll find more horrific puns and parodies in the issues themselves, here... http://www.backfromthedepths.co.uk/hallowscream/ and hard copies are available to buy here... Hallowscream on Lulu.com

 

Guidelines for the 2013 edition of Hallowscream will be appearing online in the not too distant future, with a finished issue appearing, as always, around October 31st, (and it'll probably include yet another Terrorvision guide. So that's you warned).

 

Terrorvision guide stuff (c) 2013 Malcolm Kirk.

 

Temple APA Issue Thirteen

Temple APA Issue Thirteen is now available to download as a totally free pdf file, containing contributions from the likes of Dave Hailwood, Paul Eldridge, Simon Mackie, Tony Suleri, Dirk Van Dom and Malcolm Kirk, who also provides the cover.

You can download from Dropbox, MediaFire or view online at MyEbook.
PDF file size is 20.9 MB.

The Temple APA is a showcase for amateur and professional creators who are active in the UK comics scene. If you'd like to contribute or just want more information, check out the Temple blog or like us on Facebook...

Temple APA blog
Temple APA Facebook page

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year From Stick-Man and Spiky Git.

Back From The Depths Presents : SHOCKING CHILLERS 2012

Now available for free download, SHOCKING CHILLERS, the new 32 page yuletide horror comic from the creators of Hallowscream!

Contents are as follows...

Cover & Intro page by Malcolm Kirk (that's me).
Page 3 : Jolasveinar Story by Paul Bristow, Art by Andy Lee
Page 10 : Deadly Flue Story & Art by Gordon Innes
Page 13 : Reunion Story by Sam Larkin, Art by James Newell
Page 16 : Terrorvision Guide by Malcolm Kirk
Page 17 : Yuletide Fear Story by Oscar Maltby, Art by Matthew Herbert
Page 18 : Yeti Story & Art by Gordon Innes
Page 21 : The First Page Story & Art by Carol Kewley
Page 22 : The Fright Before Christmas Story by Tim West, Art by Christopher Geary
Page 28 : Graveyard Ghoul Pin-up by "The Gurch"
Page 29 : Good Will Story by Derek Hamill, Art by Jon Taylor
...and...
Page 32 : Red-nosed Skull by Malcolm Kirk

You can download this issue from DROPBOX or MEDIAFIRE.

File size is 16.4 mb.

It will also probably also be available from Back From The Depths later on (where you can download issues of Hallowscream), and viewable online at MYEBOOK if it stops being awkward and lets me upload the bloomin'* thing.

* © Raymond Briggs.

Edit : You can now see it on MYEBOOK.

Have a Horribly Merry Christmas, everybody.