Matthew Allen Smith

Halloween Ladies 2009

2009-10-31T01:53:00.000-07:00

Click for the full horrifying size.

The Chronicles of Solomon Stone, Chapter Three: Showdown at Murdermuerte!

2009-04-24T03:30:00.000-07:00

The story concludes! Click on Sol there to get the last chapter as well as an awesome pinup from Dan McDaid and Tamas Jakab!

Unlettered art is up on DeviantArt

The Chronicles of Solomon Stone Issue 1: The Deadly Doom of Dinosorcery!

2009-04-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

Part two is online! Just give T Hex there a click!

And once again the unlettered art is up on DeviantArt.

The Chronicles of Solomon Stone Issue 1: Night Falls on the Cosmodome!

2009-04-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

Part one is free to view right goddamn now! Just click on the cover!

I've also stuck the the unlettered art up on DeviantArt. Mainly to show how good Birdies lettering is.

One assumes you will soon be seeing this panel everywhere.

2009-04-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

Context

The Royal Society for the Preservation of Sub-Literature presents a Series of Fragements from Lost Novels

2009-04-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

It is with great honour that I and my noble companion Professor. Samuel Horatio Bridgett of The Royal Society for the Preservation of Sub-Literature present the following: a series of extracts from the scant (often slightly burnt) remaining fragments of some notable novels that are, Alas, all but lost to world

The Textual Reconstruction was produced by my colleague Prof. Bridget while I performed the Restoration of the Illustrations shown.

Please note that no Illustrators were credited for the works presented as this would give them ideas above their station.

From Culp and Culpability by Fanny Door

“Why, Mr Footingwaite-Smythly,” responded Joanna coyly, “if only the performance of your rams could match that of your tongue, your flock would be the finest in all Buckinghamshire.”
“Madam, you do me a disservice,” said that gentleman, “and I will request you not to force me to go upside your head.”
“Sir, I beg you to attempt it, for it would give me no greater pleasure than to demonstrate how a man’s skull may fit quite admirably into a man’s rear.”
Before Footingwaite-Smythly could respond, the music came to an end and the dancers bowed and curtseyed to each other. Some did both, to be on the safe side.

From The Case of the Smugglers’ Booty by Iris Spiffing

“By jingo, they’re going into Hobson’s Cave!” cried Philip.
“We’ve got them now, there’s no way out but the way in!” crowed Alice.
“But I think one of them had a gun!” warned Rebecca. “I should think being shot in the head would be jolly unpleasant!”
“Pshaw, it’s easy to dodge a bullet!” pshawed Crispin. “Besides, I hear that being kneecapped is an oddly agreeable experience."

The four friends crept quietly down towards the cave. But when they peered inside...
“They’re gone!” yelped Alice.
“But how?” pondered Philip.
“I can tell you!” called out a cheery voice.
“Gypsy Jack!” cried the intrepid investigators, as their cheery gypsy pal gambolled down the rocks, his gold earring sparkling in the sun.

From The Castle of Skegness by Emilia Bludthrust

There was a great crashing from without, and Catherine clasped a hand to her breast with horror. A second crashing!...a third!...Catherine suddenly realised that it was merely the grandfather clock in the entrance hall. But wait!...did not the Duchess say that the clock was broken, and had not chimed since that night seven years ago?

Though she shivered in her nightgown, Catherine resolved to see with her own innocent eyes whatever there was to be seen, and crept to the door. Easing it open, her first thoughts that were such activities could not be advantageous to the quality of the upholstery.

From The Ruby of Jaboodoo by Huntingdon Flintwhistle

“As an officer of Her Majesty’s army, I, Corporal Hetheringly Percival Maurice Swasherman the third, order you to lower your weapons and submit!” I proclaimed. Sadly, it seemed that these swarthy natives did not commune in God’s own English, and I was forced to shoot the lot of them.

Upon returning to base camp, the other scout patrols offered similar tales, with the exception of Johnson, who had succeeding in befriending a group of the blighters via the offering of sweet biscuits and the like. As such, three males and five females were now milling about the place in a state of scandalous undress. I was heartily relieved that Barbara had opted to stay in Gibraltar, as such sights were not for a woman’s eyes.

From The Marvellous Mechanical Man by Frederic Saucisson

“Behold,” cried the professor, “the greatest marvel of this or any age!” And with that, he threw a large switch, causing a pulse of sizzling electricity to shoot through the form. A moment’s silence – and then – it moved! – To our astonishment, a great clanking of gears and hissing of pistons accompanied the figure’s movements as it raised itself from the table and stood of its own accord! – But the wonders were not to stop there, for then it turned its head and looked directly at me, and spoke! Its voice was harsh, rasping, halting and without any human feeling, but nonetheless it addressed me directly. I attempt to transcribe its particular method of articulation as best I can with my pen.
“WOULD. YOU. LIKE. A. CUP. OF. TEA?”

Return from the Thing!

2009-04-03T05:02:00.000-07:00

I had a fun ol’ time at the London Thing last Saturday. After the agonizingly slow start me, Gould, and Joel (who appeared to be cosplaying as a luchadore bank manager) got into the groove. We were also sharing the table with theses awesome Sugar Skull badges Joel’s sister makes, I love those things. If we’re back next year we should totally have a Mexican Day of Dead theme on the table!

It’s nice to be able to pick up comics from the cartoonists themselves without having to wade through a shambling group of slack jawed Joker nurses. I didn’t take any photos because I prefer to save space on my camera memory card for more important London sights like the filled in crack at the Tate Modern (which I find strangely hilarious) but there’s a nice con report with pics on The Super Comics Adventure Squad Blog.

And now here’s links to some of the cool stuff I bought.

Roger Langridge

Knuckles The Malevolent Nun: Special 1
Mugwhump The Great: The Show Must Go On
(I hope my local comic place gets some copies of the Muppet book through the grey market soon…)

Caroline Parkinson

Do Not Feed the Bear

Kate Beaton

Bigger Ruffs for Everyone
(Yes, I was one of the lucky few to get one before they ran out.)

David O’Connel

Man and Troll

Meredith Gran

Octopus Pie Vol.1

Nicola Stuart

Thank Goodness for Herald Owlett Vol.1
(came in an awesome handpainted envelope with a free colour sketch inside!)

Mark Ellerby

Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter

James Turner

Beaver and Steve Vol.2: The Owl of Regret

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey

All Knowledge is strange

Sarah McIntyre and David O’Connel

Airship

Kelly Hernandez

Daytripper No.1
Lowborn No.1

Luke Toomey

The Secret Origin of Shark Attack Three
(a free comic and CD!)

Woodrow Phoenix

Count Milkula

R. Stevens

How I Blew my Thursday Night
(I gave R. Stevens a bacon scented Mini-Comic, this fullfils a long held ambition of mine.)

Watch out London!

2009-03-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

There's plenty of good reasons to go to this year's UK Web and Mini-Comics Thing:

Sarah McIntyre
Meredith Gran
John Allison
Kate Beaton
Roger freakin Langridge

And a whole host of others. I, however, am not that great a reason to go but if you're there anyway you might as well pop by and say hello. Me, Gould, and some other guy called Joel (I've never met him but I'm sure he's very nice) have a table and if you feel the need to stimulate my economy a little you can buy some short poorly photocopied comics.

A sampler of some of my work with the fine people of The Action Age. It'll feature the first part of The Chronicles of Solomon Stone before any where else ever if this excites you.

Also joining with fellow member of The Royal Society for the Preservation of Sub-Literature Prfs. Samual Bridgett I will help in reconstructing some forgotten tomes from the past.

So come to the UK Web and Mini-Comics Thing and watch a guy with receding hair feel like a bit of a worthless fraud when surrounded by his betters...

Believe it!

The joys of pen sensitivity

2009-01-29T06:05:00.000-08:00

I have a new laptop which finally, FINALLY, allows me to use the pressure sensitivity on my graphics tablet.

Also I can use Google SketchUp which will be handy. Hence the bike.

I really like Hunter S. Thompson's Hells Angels, good book.

Drawing from a fashion photograph because I liked her shoes.

My Cinematic year.

2009-01-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

I will now review in no particular order all the movies I saw in the cinema last year. If there's anything missing it's because either I didn't see it (for various reasons) or I've forgotten that I saw it (which isn't a good sign really).

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

There’s a very good musical here shinning out of a movie that’s patchy at best.

The visuals were far too inconsistent, mostly just a slightly stylized costume drama, but with Depp and HBC were wandering around like kids going to a My Chemical Romance gig in Harajuku.

Come on Burton, do stuff I like again.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Another Indiana Jones movie wasn't strictly necessary, but it doesn’t hurt especially considering that the original trilogy was hardly flawless. On this principle I’m not too bothered that Crystal Skull ended up a bit lackluster.

It still looks like Indy, and it still sounds like Indy, and that’s enough for me. The inclusion of aliens and the red menace didn’t bother me much either. Pulp characters change to fit the times, and it felt right to have Dr. Jones team up with a greaser to fight a commie, with horrifying mind powers, in his old age.

The CGI gophers however, they did bother me. There are real gophers, why not film them?

Doomsday

This is a silly film. The fast editing was so disorientating that no one noticed it wasn’t being projected in focus for 20 minutes. The dialogue makes Minxy Flatbrush sound restrained. When Malcolm McDowell (who looks like he’s been left out in the sun for too long) turns up as king surrounded by medieval peasants you don’t bat an eyelid.

Which could be entertaining but the movie’s so derivative that it’sit's own constant reminder that you could be watching a better film. Watch Mad Max 2 instead.

It does feature TeamSmithy favorite Alaxander Siddig as Prime Minister though, so there’s that.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

I know that Del Toro is the very pinnacle of film making and all, but this was just, weird…

It was nicely designed but large portions of it seemed to revolve around a drunken mincing fishman’s troubles with love, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t get what was going on with the fading between characters during emotional scenes either.

It could just be me failing to get into the groove, maybe.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

I see the wisdom of making an X-Files movie like a standalone episode. The problem is that this would have been a pretty poor episode even if it didn’t cover the same subject as two of the best episodes of the whole series. On the plus side; this means that the next movie will be a self-referential comedy episode. The leads are still likable though just a shame they were in such a mediocre film.

Has anyone else noticed that Billy Connelly always seems to be talking in italics?

Iron Man

A fun superhero made awesome thanks Robert Downey JR overdosing you on charisma. So much so that I started to want the film just to be Tony Stark the robot suit was starting to get into the way.

I was bothered by the attack on Afghanistan though, not for political reasons but purely because I don’t like seeing superheroes killing people. Indy may have to off a nazi foot soldier occasionally but he’s just a man, once you get super powers everyone else is outmatched and you have to cut that shit out.

Wanted

Awful wretched hateful shit with an ugliness at it’s core which would have made it unwatchable even if the action bits had been any good.

Doomsday may have been a worse movie in some ways but I didn’t hate it. I hate this. It’s fight club for twats essentially. If you like see you are probably a bad person.

Shine a Light

This is my favorite film of the year. Why? Because they gave me a free t-shirt going in.

It’s probably not going to have much appeal to anyone who wouldn’t want to see a Rolling Stones concert movie but I liked it well enough. Balancing out the songs is some fine comedy scenes from both achieve footage and the show itself with Jagger attempting to sodomise Christina Aguilera in front of a live audience and seeing that Hilary Clinton has a an entourage of Asian girls like Gwen Stefani.

The last shot was a bit out of place though, not sure what Scorsese was thinking.

Quantum of Solace

If they decided to make a new James Pond game they could call it Quantum of Mollusks. Call me game developers.

You can’t really judge Bond movies against regular movies, you have to rank them against Bond movies. Thanks to the new series designer (replacing whoever fuckeded up the poker scene in Casino Royale, ewww) Quantum looks pretty as hell with a contemporary spin on the 60’s movie aesthetic. The look works quite nicely along side the ‘Jason Bourne with better tailoring’ thing the film makers were going for.

It’s definitely a Bond movie, it fills a certain need, and my need for a character to be named Strawberry Fields was thoroughly fulfilled. For everything else I have real movies.

WALL-E

Even Pixar’s worst are better than anything their competitors have done by a wide margin so obviously this is excellent. However Wall-E the move from Earth to Space half way through felt a bit jarring and it never seemed to properly hold the two together as a cohesive whole. Regardless it’s still a superb film. The photo realism is achieved through smarts as much as it is processing power, and as far as near silent acting from animated characters this is near Gromit level.

It’s sweet and it’s touching, and it made me smile, but it was nearly overshadowed by the short at the beginning which was transcendent.

The Forbidden Kingdom

This is not a good film. However it is a film where Jackie Chan and Jet Li team up to help out Monkey: The Great Sage equal to Heaven. These are all things I like and thus I liked it.

Even the budget Shia LaBouf wandering around with them didn’t upset me too much because he’s the kid from Sky High and I love that movie.

Though Hollywood needs to stop with the whole ‘Daddy left me and that’s why I’m a wreck of a human being’ shtick right fucking now. I like to think I’m the only one responsible for being an underperforming failure of a man.

Speed Racer

This is genius, fuck you.

Innovative visual storytelling is to be celebrated, the use of innovative visual storytelling to create a scene where a masked race car driver/secret agent jumps his car so he can punch a vicking race car driver armed with a bee hive catapult in the face is to be worshipped.

It could have been improved in a couple of ways however, if it was plotted a little tighter it would have been a far better kids movie, and the filmmakers could have chosen Zac Efron for the lead because Zac Efron improves everything.

I’d also like to point out that I’ve been in love with Christina Ricci since I was eleven years old and she’ll never know, this is my great tragedy.

Mongol

Because sometimes you just want to see a load of guys sitting around a fire drinking fermented Yaks milk and throat singing before they go and fight an epic battle. At times I imagined ridges on the characters foreheads and made believe it was a movie about Klingons.

Ghengis Khan is the man.

The Dark Knight

I thought this was overated, not because it was a bad film, it was an excellent film, I just disagree that it’s the pinnacle of Western civilization…

A Batman movie as an intelligent action thriller works well and translates the feel of the comics nicely. It’s a great improvement over Begins and while I prefer my Batman movies with speeches celebrating the self less heroism of marine life, this totally works too.

I did find it too long, Bale’s Bat-voice was just silly, and the ‘what’s happening’ action scenes still aren’t working for me, but I still liked it.

Actually the most interesting thing about the film was the new storytelling style that disregards all useless information without just becoming a series of plot notes. I’ve also seen similar approach applied to Final Crisis and the Rebuild of Evangelion movie this year, I think it deserves to be looked at in a little more depth by someone cleverer than I.

The Orphanage

This is an amazingly well crafted film, astoundingly so. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the director does next.

The film itself I could never quite get into due to a cascade of annoyingly clichéd horror motifs (it’s a spooky kid in a spooky mask, woooooh). Still the craft, hot damn.

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

It’s good for what it is but essentially what it is is a dull feel good romantic comedy with Simon Pegg doing some slapstick to pad out the plot.

It’s not awful, but it’s no Con-Air.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Most remakes just take out the old clichés and replace them with new clichés, this one adds some extra old clichés for good measure.

It’s tedious on just about every level, I’m sure Keanu Reaves is a wonderful guy but he has the screen charisma of a ceiling tile ( I hear he's playing Spike from Cowboy Bebop next, joy). All it has going for it is a giant robot who’s there just to remind you that you could be watching the original.

No Country for Old Men

A return to form for the Coens. Bleak and captivating yet quirky and endearing. There’s something mythic about the whole thing which won’t let go of your attention, from Javier Bardem’s Ringwraith with a gas canister to the perfectly photographed scenes of cities at night. That last scene really knows how to throw you into for loop too.

I should read the book some time.

Be Kind Rewind

A pleasing diversion from Michel Gondry (of whom I’m a big fan) et al rather than a life changing experience. It’s good natured, gently amusing, and rather sweet, but in the back of my mind I knew that Gondry is capable of more and I couldn’t help but dismiss it as light weight.

Son of Rambow

You wait years for a warm hearted movie about guerilla film-making from a music video director and then…

I actually preferred Rambow though, maybe the younger leads, or the setting helped but I like to think that it’s message of imagination and friendship triumphing over adversity delivered without sentimentality for the most part. Certain British comedy heroes of mine showing up in the cast was a nice extra as well.

It has a lot going for it and I hope it finds a wider audience. I was disappointed by Hitchhikers but this had lot’s of stuff that I like to see Music Video studios bring over to feature films.

Pineapple Express

For all intents and purposes an American Hot Fuzz, a comedy action film with strong a strong, and surprisingly sweet, homoerotic bond between the main characters. The plot is pretty loose and fuzzy but it’s very funny, with some big laughs in the set pieces and dialogue. The little touches (like how Seth Rogan say’s what he’s doing while he does it) stop it from just becoming an annoying stoner movie that you wouldn’t ever watch sober.

I’m looking forward to Green Hornet, the property’s better off in these guy’s hands than ending up as a bland mid-level movie release.

Tropic Thunder

Tom Cruise’s attempt to make me believe that he doesn’t take himself that seriously failed to convince.

It’s funny enough in places (RDJR’s good) and the little jokes raised a little titter, but it all just seems a tad overblown. There’s plenty of people who’ll just lap this up but I just didn’t find it that interesting.

Persepolis

I’m listening to an Iranian music station while I type this, never let it be said I don’t go the extra mile for my reviews.

It’s a fine adaptation of the excellent books if not quite reaching the same levels of excellence due to certain sequences being breezed over due to necessity. It’s a gorgeous translation into rich luscious animation from the original slightly crude drawings without loosing any of the charm. There’s some very nice visual storytelling on display as well.

It’s only real faults are the dub which I wouldn’t recommend if given the choice, and that the media took an interest in Satrapi and made their TV interviews look like comics which is annoying on a number of levels. Both of these are more than compensated for by this though.

Gone Baby Gone

This would have been a far better movie if it had finished half way through but instead it just turns into silly nonsense.

All said, Affleck’s pretty good behind the camera. Why do you have to be hating on Affleck people, didn’t you see his sad eyes in Hollywoodland? Didn’t you see that he was sorry? The way the community's revealed is actually very nice. He might do some good stuff in the future.

There Will Be Blood

To be honest when someone mentions this film it’s this I think of…

But still, it’s enthralling, unconventional, and well worth your time.

Burn After Reading

Seeing it with the big audience we did there was a palpable sense of bewilderment in the air. People had come for a comedy movie with Brad Pitt doing a funny dance and were a little confused at what they got, so they decided to laugh whenever anyone swore.

There’s an underlying level of amusment running through the movie but it never really builds into anything hilarious (except J K Simmonds who should be in every movie really). The plot built out of characters completely misconstruing what is happening works nicely but it didn’t really feel that essential.

Changeling

I was genuinely shocked to see J. Michael Straczynski’s name when the credits rolled. I couldn’t help it, JMS writes, Babylon 5, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, and bad Spider-Man comics, not Eastwood movies. The world, she has gone topsy turnsy!

The performances, direction, and original story are all so powerful that this movie is still well worth watching despite some problems I had with the script. I found that the overview approach to the story really lacked focus, maybe I’m just too conditioned by modern movies narrow subject, but it almost felt like five or more films frustratingly summed at as one. There’s also a few very clichéd moments showing up, but the cast and directors skill keeps you in the moment.

It’s (getting back to cliché here) all very powerful. So much so, that I had a really nasty dream about serial killers the next night.

Juno

This should be very annoying and yet instead it’s a delight on every level.

I loved it, in five years or so maybe I’ll catch it on TV and the magic will be gone, but this was the movie I enjoyed more than any other, nothing else captured the strange muddle of complex and simple and big and small emotions that make up coming of age story’s with such verisimilitude. And with that sentence I really should stop typing before I drift any further up my own behind.

Wishing you an extreme Christmas

2008-12-28T05:29:00.000-08:00

Because celebrating Christmas on the day it occurs is for losers.

Crossing genres

2008-12-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

Ebony is like Doctor Strange if Doctor Strange was a girl cat.

Leave me alone I'm tired.

I wonder if there's much money in drawing superhero fetish pics? Oh, don't look at me like that DC put it on the damn cover!

I'm a little surprised I'm still enjoying Final Crisis, maybe it's just because the central concept seems to be that Darkseid's evil is so great it WARPS SPACE AND TIME!

See I don't just read superhero comics with freaky sexual subtexts. I've been meaning to draw a DMZ pic for ages, it's a fine comic, highly recommended.

I love the way Riccardo Burchielli makes all the characters look completely knakered.

The TeamSmithy Sports Personality of the Year

2008-12-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

I don't care what the BBC say Shanaze Reade is the real Sports Personality of the year.

She's awesome.

I can't come up with a decent stone pun...

2008-11-20T02:57:00.000-08:00

Coming at some point from Action Age Comics!
The Chronicles of Solomon Stone!

Some of you may be wondering how I got such a prime gig like this, well the answer's simple. I've been a fan of Mr Sims' Blog for few years now and then one day he beat me up in an alley and carved his name backwards into my forehead...

This is pretty common practice in the comics industry. I believe it was Stan Lee who first originated the concept back in the Marvel bull-pen.

Gwen and MJ A-Go-Go

2008-11-15T09:48:00.001-08:00

"Hi my names Peter Parker and I have really terrible life. When I was only a lowly scientific genius, a freak accident gave me a number of incredible super-powers that let me perform the most amazing feats. If that wasn't bad enough there's these two models who really want to have sex with me and they're both so super-hot that I can't decide which one to choose. Man my life sucks. You should buy either the top selling comic book or the record breaking block-buster movie that I star in to hear me whine about all these problems."

Hmmm.

I picked up the latest issue of Jonah Hex the other day and Jordi Bernet's art inspired to draw some pretty girls. Still working on that loose inking thing.

I'm not sure why they have such tiny hands.

Air Water Earth Fire

2008-11-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

Waaaoooooh waaaah waaaaah waaaaaoooooooh waaaah waaaaaah etc.

Describing Avatar: The Last Airbender as the best American action/drama cartoon since Batman: The Animated Series sounds a little like I'm damning it with false praise, so I'll just say that's really, really, good on a number of levels and you should check it out if you haven't already.

Wenches

2008-11-08T01:50:00.000-08:00

I was reading the very enjoyable 'Jews with Swords' adventure novel Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon and was suitably inspired to draw this. Oh, many are the times I've longed to find my way to a tavern, to rest my weary feet in the orange glow of a roaring fire. A busty tavern wench bringing me a fine frothing ale, a suggestive look in her eye as she passes me the tankard...

Sorry got a bit carried away there. I also wanted to try inking in a faster and less precise way to try to get a bit more personality into my stuff. I was particularly inspired by a new comic artist I've found called Denis Bodart there's probably a bit of Mignola to it as well.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going back to my wench fantasy...

Shut up, that's why

It's a fine day.

2008-11-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

Good job America!

Take the time to revel in the fact that lots of hateful bigoted pricks are very unhappy right now, you (and they) deserve it.

Treats!

2008-10-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

No one seems to have bothered with Halloween much this year, and who can blame them. America has it's own horrors to worry about and Britain is probably too focussed on the first TV showing of the concluding Avatar episodes on NickToons (so excited!) to care. But I have warm memories of watching old Universal Monster movies in late October back when I was a lad so always feel the need to celebrate.

This is the first of two Halloween pics this year. I felt I had to draw the second one to apologise for the first.

Yes I know, it was just that I was watching this documentary on Bram Stoker where they suggested that a scene in Dracula seemed awfully similar to a, urm, certain sexual act. At this point I got that strange glint in my eye that people have learnt to fear at conventions when we're coming up with things to sketch.

In my defence there are literally thousands of comic book covers where this s done unironically.

A remixed classic.

And as a special treat read the original story here

If any of you feel the need to stab a design into a vegetable I have a Vichama pumpkin stencil you're more than welcome to use.

Need something to cover your hideously disfigured face? Why not try something drawn by Mr. DFC himself Zak Simmonds-Hurn , some super scary Halloween Masks.

And if you're still not in the mood have a listen to Stan Lee read The Raven! Via Mr Kevin Church's twitter.

Boxcar Dragon: Hobo Ninja

2008-10-24T03:04:00.000-07:00

Only at Action Age Comics! and here too obviously, and probably on DeviantArt, and maybe some message boards...

Rock along with the Shōnens

2008-10-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

I know it looks a lot like Scott Pilgrim but it was actually inspired by The Pokemon Adventures Manga I was reading.

Maid Service

2008-10-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

I know what you're going to say "Matthew" you'll say "haven't you always said that the fetishisation of female uniforms (maid cafe's surely the strongest evidence thereof) in Japan are just a symptom of the culture's deep seated misogynism and objectification of women? how can you justify this drawing without coming across as a hypocrite pervert?" well that a very understandable question but if you just stop to consider... Wait! What's that over there?!

*runs*

Exterminape!

2008-10-07T03:17:00.000-07:00

Exterminape lives so man might die!

Written by Chris Sims lettered by Benjamin Birdie drawn by some hack.

Drawings from comics I am currently enjoying.

2008-10-07T03:12:00.000-07:00

Armour from Astonishing X-Men.

DC caveboy Anthro as he appears in Final Crisis. Admittedly he doesn't look very boyish here...

Also Sprach Zarathustra

2008-10-03T00:52:00.001-07:00

Coming Soon to a theatre near you.

My cynicism is usually warranted

2008-09-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

I may have been a bit on the harsh side with my prediction of four months for the Anime Central channel. Turns out they were just shy of a year. Mind you if you take away the months where they only had two shows running...

Is this another of the symptoms of Anime's current economic trouble in the west? Who knows? Maybe if they didn't sell a six episode series for £50 they'd have better luck (yes I know it's very good but still).

In case you were wondering I did come around to Fullmetal Alchemist eventually (it's not that great, but there's some nice touches in there), Planetes was perhaps a little overstretched at 26 episodes (I eventually lost track and missed a fair few at the end, partly the problem of having a daily showing that includes weekends), GiTS:SAC grew on me and I just went ahead and bought the second season on DVD (which in contrast to that earlier DVD pricing was very reasonable), and I fell really hard for Gundam Seed (must have been all the melodrama, or maybe I just really love the colour pink?).

Wait, that's not arousing?

2008-09-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes (read: when I've been talking to Sam) I get the idea that I should try my hand at drawing some pornography. It might turn out to be a good way to drum up some new submissions after all. Now with this in mind we went looking for a porn equivalent of DeviantArt or similar as that would seem to be where the people who would be willing to pay us are most likely to hang out.

Having found one I looked through the Ratings and Advisory Policy on labels an artist should have on their work, and after getting past the expected Nudity, Sexual Content, and the like, I reached this -

Racism refers to the depiction of racist themes, bigorty, or hatred from one race to another. This applies both to the picture itself as well as any views put forth by the artist in their description. Mild - May depict symbols or objects commonly associated with racist themes (such as a Nazi swastika or the so-called "Rebel Flag"). Moderate - May include depictions of racist acts not including actual violence. High - For depictions of actual racist violence.

The next label was for Spoilers.

Fiery Parental Sri Lankan Doom!

2008-09-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

My parents have decided to take a holiday in the "resplendent land" of Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks, and to take my mind off the fact that there will be people actively trying to kill them I'm going to think about some of the funner aspects of that troubled country. The Ramayana.

They taught us about the Ramayana story in Junior school and while not a lot of it stuck I do remember that it's about a guy who teams up with a superpowered monkey god(I love those guys) to get his girlfriend back from a ten headed demon king. Which was a damn sight more entertaining than any of the Christian parables we got taught.

Okay I'm still a little concerned, this is going to take the Ramayana story as acted out by Devendra Banhart and Natalie Portman.

Ah well, if the Tamil Tigers get them at least I'll get the house.

And now Osamu Tezuka's Cleopatra: Queen of sex

2008-08-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

Because I've had a weird day...

Does anyone remember the time before Vertical's recent releases when everyone thought of Tezuka as that nice old man who created Astro Boy? Now it's all dog fucking and giant sperm attacks...

Last year I brought you pleasure. This year I bring pain!

2008-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Sims!

Isaac Hayes (1942 - 2008)

2008-08-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

Advertising horrors

2008-08-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

See originally I was going to post to say how this new Just for Men advert was kind of weird.

Just For Men - It's ..
Watch the ad...

Children conspiring to get their parents laid is pretty creepy when you think about it right? Then I saw this:

Orangina Naturally J..
Watch the ad...

Now I have a different perspective on what passes for creepy.

I know Will isn't directly (or even indirectly) responsible for these but I'm going to blame him regardless.

Mervyn Peake

2008-08-05T04:31:00.000-07:00

After all, there are no rules. With the wealth, skill, daring, vision of many centuries at one’s back, yet one is ultimately quite alone. For it is one’s ambition to create one’s own world in a style germane to its substance, and to people it with its native forms and denizens that never were before, yet have their roots in one’s experience. As the earth was thrown from the sun, so from the earth the artist must fling out into space, complete from pole to pole, his own world which, whatsoever form it takes, is the colour of the globe it flew from, as the world itself is coloured by the sun.

Mervyn Peake. From this biographical essay by Michael Moorcock.

"It was just gaiman... With Batman in it..."

2008-07-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

See before I wasn't too hyped up but now...

I hope this reaches neil himself. Never have i ever known of anyone as full of himself as well as shit, than you. Now another milestone in your over-hyped career, Writing Batman. Not only are you under the impression you can write, but write batman? Fuck You. You Tried before and it sucked. It was just gaiman... With Batman in it. Fuck You.

... but now I'm going to have to get it. Well done reverse psychology salesman, well done to you.

Sweet context

Two cool animated trailers

2008-07-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Before I go see Dark Knight and spend the walk home afterwards pissing off Ian by whining about the Watchmen trailer, here's some cool stuff.

Genius Party Beyound

Looks insane.

The Princess and the Frog

I'm apparently the guy who draws hot Disney girls (well that's what Bowers' says). So yeah, hot Disney girl.

SDSTRTC(k)C News!

2008-07-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, The San Diego Still Tangentially Related to Comics (kinda') Convention is done and dusted for another year. Bully
has the most adorable, and therefore best, coverage of the Con itself, but what news releases got me excited you ask oh hypothetical reader? Well I'll tell you.

There's some Darwyn Cooke noir adaptations coming. Not that I've ever heard of the originals but, y'know, Cooke.

Viz is putting out Naoki Urasawa's Pluto which is essentially Ultimate Astroboy except far better than the term I just used to describe it.

The Batman: The Brave and The Bold cartoon Trailer the target demographic of which is apparently Chris Sims aged 10.

The Ba/Moon twins deservedly sweep the Eisners. Also a new Vertigo book.

There will be new Pixar and Muppets comics from BOOM! The Muppets book will have artwork from Roger Lagridge which sounds like good stuff but they haven't announced any creative teams for the Pixar books (*cough* email in the sidebar*cough*).

Neil Gaiman will write a Batman story Which I'm not that excited about to be honest as his recent comics work hasn't done much for me (also my annoyance at novelists only working on licensed characters instead of original stories when they do comics work, but that's a rant for another day).

And that looks like it's about it in the news that gets me vaguely excited department. Apparently the buzz book this year was Watchmen which is only 2 years younger than I am, make of that what you will.

Season four, well I say season four...

2008-07-24T07:50:00.001-07:00

Dalek Caan predicts

The Doctor Who fanbase has an annoying habit of constantly complaining about everything from the invalidation of their fanfics to the existence of homosexuality. This constant barrage of whinging can often lead to legitimate worries and criticisms getting lost in the mindless noise. I was worried about Catherine Tate as a companion. The Catherine Tate show is a blight upon society, 'am I bovered' may actually be part of the anti-life equation, and the Christmas special from a few years back hardly convinced me otherwise.

But then in season four she turned out to not only be bearable, but actually very good. It was quite the shock, the best I'd hoped for was that I'd like the character enough to put up with the performance. Perhaps it was this shock (and my growing hate for Who fandom) which led me to take the season much more to heart than I would have done otherwise. Maybe in time I won't remember it as fondly, but for now this is what I thought:

Spoiler, duh.

Partners in Crime

Davies does love his kid friendly cultural satire and this episode is chock full, it's Super-Nanny fighting the growing obesity rate! This could be pretty off putting to the adult audience (who it should be remembered are a pretty small percentage, all things considered) if it didn't have some genuinely amusing moments. Imagine my despair when I found myself laughing at the comedy acting of Catherine Tate! My whole world view was shattered, up was down, night was day, hamburgers ate people...

Bernard Cribbins' Granddad character was a very nice addition, joyous and warm-hearted. Less welcome was Donna's Mother. For a start the Doctor antagonist mother had probably been overdone by Who at this point, but at least the previous two had redeeming characteristics or understandable justifications, Donna's mum was just a horrible person who had no apparent love for her daughter.

Still a funny, light-weight, and upbeat start to the season.

The Fires of Pompeii

'It's the big budget episode!' they seemed to cry, 'Look we went to Italy to film! Do you have any idea how often they let us out of Wales, let alone to somewhere you need passports for?! There's big CGI volcano like you see on those National Geographic documentries too! Big Budget episode!'.

The historical episodes tend to leave me with out making too much of an impression and this wasn't a great deal different. There was some nice set up for Donna as being both the companion who questions and the Doctor's conscience, which was nice. Also we learn that Latin spoken through the Tardis babel fish sounds like Welsh, I would have assumed they'd just hear translation server error over and over again.

Planet of the Ood

Ah, the Ood, they're always fun, those lovable lovecraftian beasties, with the fun to say name that the writers came up with just to fuck around with Tennent (getting a Scottish guy to mask his accent with a script full of double 'oo's is particularly cruel, as a guy called Matthew Smith who can't pronounce 'th's I understand your pain David).

New Earth episodes also tend to be little lacking in interest for me but I'd say this was one of the better episodes, Ood, Lord Percy, the claw, kid traumatising transformation sequence, all good fun.

I did hear some criticisms of the anti-slavery theme being a bit heavy handed, but considering that I've spoken to Primark shoppers who don't seemed that bothered that what they're wearing was made by child slaves, I think the Doctor asking Donna just exactly who made her clothes is point that needs reiterating.

The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky

My friend's sat-nav tried to kill me once on the way back from a Bill Bailey show; true story.

The first two parter in a Who season is never great (though the only time it was ever truly terrible was with that first piece of Cyberman nonsense) the characters go home for a bit and kids get a catchphrase for the playground on Monday. Martha reappearing and then, um, not really doing a great deal and The Doctor seeming a bit confused on how he felt about the military all just a little wishy washy. Still, UNIT finally making an appearance and the Sontarans being entertainingly pompous got me through.

The Doctor's Daughter

I wasn't too disappointed that we didn't actually get what the title promised, I like a little mystery in the life of The Doctor. Even so the episode still ends up as the weakest of the season purely because the central clever twist doesn't make any damn sense. It's almost as if they originally filmed with a different ending and then had to go back and re-shoot a few scenes to make new one in a hurry.

But in the end, Georgia Moffett's pretty and the expression Agyeman pulls when a load of fish people start stroking her was priceless. I am, on occasion, quite easy to please.

The Unicorn and the Wasp

I wonder which author's lined up for 2010? I'm hoping for Burroughs.

Another comedy heavy ep which ends up being genuinely funny. The whodunnit at the core isn't particularly good though which is a shame, I felt that if it had been a little smarter and precise and it would have been a classic Who story. Fenella Woolgar's performance, a giant wasp, and The Doctor's Belgian flashback all add up to a fun episode.

The Wasp reminds me of how good Who's effects have been this season, well done to whomever was responsible. Judging from the budget kids must have brought a hell of a lot of toys last year.

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

Ah a Moffat two-parter, the Who brand of quality. Will Who fans transfer their bizarre loathing to the new guy in charge and long for the days of RTD come 2010? Only time will tell, but I assume they'll be complaining about something.

Lots to like here, the feel of a New Adventures novel which sends a pleasing nostalgic shiver down my spine, a library the size a planet (I'd happily live there even if it did have darkness piranhas in the air), spacesuits, twisty turny time stuff with added emotional depth, excellent little sci-fi concepts (the communication device ghosts are just an extraordinary idea), the twisted face of a corrupted file, Donna's awareness of editing, The Doctor using his head as a giant USB drive, the dust you see in beams of sunlight.

And in the end it all comes together and we get the familiar and welcome cry of new Who 'Everybody lives!'. Wonderful.

But if you fuck up Tin Tin You'll still go on the list Moffat! Be warned!

Midnight

The fan's have a strange hatred for Davies, faint and subtle at first, it seems to have grown and warped into some horrific monster. All said, he isn't the best writer on the show, his episodes falling pretty often midway up the Who quality scale. So what from the preview looked like a bottle episode to save up some cash for the finale hardly inspired confidence.

And yet, it ended up being very, very, good. 'Perhaps Humanity is the true monster here' is far from the most original concept to set off from, but if you play the monstrosity just right you can still come up with something special. It's a haunting episode, both in the creepiness of the repeated voice and The Doctor stuck in a situation where he can't help.

So do the fans have a new found respect for Davies now? Um, well apparently the episode was a clear sign of the dreaded 'gay agenda' that they find so threatening for what is probably a number of deep seated psycoloical reasons, or perhaps they're all just twats. Fuck 'em.

Also immense respect for Lesley Sharp, learning all that dialogue, the speech patterns of the rest of the cast, and a frighteningly long amount of Pi for a role in which it's not that obvious that you're doing anything at all, hats off to you.

Turn Left

Wow! Billie Piper, Swindon's favourite daughter, is in this one! Is this the Doctor Who/Sally Lockhart crossover I've long been waiting for? Oh, it's just Rose speaking funny ...

My main criticism of Turn Left is that you're going to have to sell The Doctor not regenerating a bit harder than 'Uh, he was surprised, or something' not dying is pretty much what he does. That not with standing it's a nice enough episode setting up the finale and showing us that, yes, Tate is surpringly good. Bernard Cribbins gets some screen time which helps sell the humanity of the piece, but Donna's mum is still a horrible person regardless of dimension.

The Stolen Earth

It's a bit hard to review a shock and awe episode like this in regular terms, revelation after revelation, crisis of infinite Whos, all the little hints coming together, the dark secret of the bees!

It has it's faults, it's a touch on the melodramatic side, and the Shadow Proclamation turns out to be an office reception filled with bitchy albino ladies, but hell, it's the roller-coaster ride that keeps you interested. The demented ravings of Dalek Caan are fantastic, Davros is wonderfully played by Julian Bleach, the Doctor's 'children' coming together to fight against massive odds, and we get to see a platoon of Daleks fight Captain Scarlet's Cloudbase!

And then we have that cliff hanger. They should have just put Davies laughing over the top of the 'to be continued'. You know it's childish and silly t get so wrapped up, but you just can't wait for next Saturday!

Journey's End

This seems to be a love it or hate it episode and I'm squarely in the love it camp. It just felt like such a satisfying ending to me, not only to season four but for all of Davies' tenure.

Are the criticisms valid? We already knew Tennent would stay as The Doctor (because the BBC couldn't have kept a new Doctor under wraps for more than ten minutes after casting), so it's just a question of how he was going to stay. I didn't have a problem with the actual resolution as it played into the plot in a pretty convincing way. The Daleks did have a fair amount of there menace striped away when 'The Doctors Three' were monkeying around with them, which wouldn't have been so bad if it had felt a little more cathartic, but it just made them look a little foolish. Jackie didn't really need to be there, that's true enough, mind you anyone who criticised the scientific plausibilty of the Earth being towed home by the Tardis should just fuck off.

I liked the conclusions to the companions tales personally. I'd be fine with Rose living her life with a slightly melancholic air of mourning, but this is the only other ending that could make sense. I liked that the next season of Torchwood (which I still haven't seen a single episode of) will mostly involve Mickey trying to get into Martha's pants (and I assume failing in a comical manner). I liked The Doctor's sadness at Donna's death tempered with the Gilgamesh like immortality she earned across the universe on adventures that she'll never know she had. Quite moving really. I liked it.

Also there were Daleks speaking German. What's not to love?

So there we go, four specials and then it's out for Davies, I don't think he did a bad job myself.

Great Sage Equal of Heaven

2008-07-24T04:45:00.001-07:00

Look It's Jamie Hewlett's Monkey advertising the Olympics

I love Monkey. He's an unkillable monk who goes around beating people over the head with a stick until they either convert to Buddhism or die, whichever comes first.

This is thinking which should be used on some of the comments authors.

What happened to the "British" in BBC? This slightly jerky in parts cartoon has no British connections.
No Union Flag, no landmarks, no athletes.
Bet it cost a bomb - more licence payers' cash wasted - please change it so at least we have something British in it.
And the words are not even in English.
Fly the flag not the monkey.

BUT in these hard times the BBC should be cutting waste and this animation is completely unnecessary .
Think about the tax payer before doing this kind of stuff.

It could have been any of the Chinese Zodiac signs: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.
After all, astrology, which is a pseudoscience claiming divination by the positions of the planets and sun and moon, doesn't actually work - bit like this cartoon.
Never mind eh? Better luck next time for the London - read British - games - maybe Mickey Mouse?

Why must everything these days be animated cheapo drawing stuff - just look at the Childrens' programmes - packed full of this animated trash.
Just like the endless audience participation junk we see.
Cheap dumbed down television once again.

To twit

2008-07-21T03:59:00.000-07:00

I'm now on Twitter for those of you who want to witness my complete inability to understand grammar in regular short doses.

Just look in the sidebar ->

The continuing missing bee saga

2008-07-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

Japanese scientists are turning them into a weapon!

We're all fucked now.

Via BoingBoing.

The Erotic Adventures of Smithy

2008-07-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

It amuses me to think of the people I know who were totally dreading clicking on that title in their feed readers...

A while back I had a go at drawing a short porn comic purely to see if I could. I only got two pages into it and it's been laying around my room for a while now so I thought I'd colour it up. The comic itself is a pretty tame affair, I just don't have it in me to be a smut merchant.

Here are the two panes which I'm happiest with during my brief attempt to become a pornographer.

See, it all makes so much sense now!

2008-07-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

I can't be the only person who thinks that Haibane Renmei is about the girls from Azumanga Daioh in the afterlife after they committed suicide.

I just can't.

Also I hear that all the anime companies in the west are dying out, is this just over enthusiastic blogger doom-mongering or acurate blogger doom-mongering?

Also also can someone recommend me a decent anime news blog? I feel out of the loop (not that I was ever even in the neighbourhood of the loop realy, but still...).

Robin in Magenta

2008-07-08T03:18:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to learn how to use more shadow in my work. I've been looking at the work the late great Mike Wieringo and the inkers who worked with him, trying to get the same simple and attractive blocks of crisp fluid shadow. Obviously I have some way to go.

And now a quick poll. This image proves that:

a) I am a latent homosexual.
b) I am a blatant misogynist.
c) I read too many comics.
d) All of the above.

Show your working.

Keanu barada nikto

2008-07-07T04:27:00.000-07:00

My brain had apparently repressed the knowledge that they were remaking The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves.

Bah! Bah I say!

The wrath of Caan (Who spoilers, I guess...)

2008-06-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

I demand a spin-off show where Dalek Caan reads classics of world literature.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife, *Giggle*.

Expect a full season review round up in a couple of weeks.

Project Rooftop - Superman

2008-06-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

For the Project Rooftop Superman redesign competition, Which I don't stand a chance at winning.

Essentially the design comprises of a giant red arrow pointing at his crotch.

Turns out I got an honorable mention which I guess is good (unless that's all the other people who entered).

Swimming is the new flying.

2008-06-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

Trailer-ish thing for the new Miyazaki.

From The SFX blog

No I don't know what W.E.I.R.D is...

2008-06-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

A pinup that appeared in The Hard Ones debut Ashcan that Team Hard Ones* were giving away at Heroes con. I also did the tones for the book.

Sims' said we could draw whatever we wanted so I thought Nazi dinosaurs being kicked in the face was the way forward.

*They really do call themselves this.

Capitalism!

2008-06-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

I require money to exchange for goods and services, and am offering you the chance to give me money.

I'm opening myself up for commisions. They break down like this -

£10

A black and white upper body shot

A black and white full body shot

Add an extra five of your english pounds for colour -
As so and so

£15

For a scene;backgrounds, multiple characters (within reason), fights, hugs, etc. etc. - Like this or this

And again add five pounds for colour -
As so and so

After you email me (matthew_allen_smith@hotmail.co.uk) and give me a description I'll draw a pencil rough. When you're happy with that you can pay me (via pay pal in most instances) and I'll get to work on the final piece and send it to you as a high resolution digital file.

I can send original artwork and prints through the post to, but I'd like to do this to as near to cost as possible and I'm completely sure what that cost is.

I can also draw more complex scenes, gig posters, album covers, and the like at an arranged price working on that £5 price grading scheme.

I will draw comics pages but can't give a definite price without having a look at what you'd want first.

I will draw anything that doesn't freak me out and/or get me thrown in gitmo.

And depending on how I'm feeling at the time I may offer a discount to Americans to compensate for the exchange rate.

A fellow of my acquaintance already ordered this to promote a radio show he's doing -

Defective Fish Colon?

2008-05-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was a bit apprehensive about subscribing to The DFC, the brand new British weekly kids comic, as it sounded like one of those things I appreciate rather than enjoy and anthologies always have their ups and downs.

But it's great, thoroughly enjoyable. The strips are of excellent quality and it actually felt like something kids would enjoy (unlike so make comics which are aimed at adults who want to read kids comics).

Particular highlights for me were Spider Moon by Kate Brown, which I'm not just saying to stop her beating me up (though she totally could), Vern and Lettuce by Sarah McIntyre which is beautifully done and features a rabbit, Monkey Nuts by The Etherington Brothers which has plenty of laughs and the usual quality art work, and a special mention must go to Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner for featuring a unicorn secret service director with an eyepatch -

It's Nick Fury as a unicorn! That's gold.

My only quibbles are the matt paper which stopped it feeling like a real magazine to me, and that everything seemed to be printed a little dark which hurt the art in a few strips.

With a subscription it doesn't work out much more expensive than a regular American comic (and several times the quantity and quality), so I'd suggest that if it sounds like your kind of thing you should give it a go. If you don't like it you can always just give it to a kid.

STCO Anniversary special.

2008-05-30T05:28:00.000-07:00

Fifteen years old!

I contributed to the Crisis of Multiple Sonics cover and did a wallpaper pinup of a particually obscure character who I have a strange fondness for.

If Anime characters were real they'd have their hair styled at Toni and Guy's

2008-05-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

The Kaizen collection

I wish in motion.

2008-05-27T03:09:00.000-07:00

Upon rembering to put Vera Brosgol's Live journal on my feedreader I saw that a student film maker had produced a live action version of the I wish story from the first volume of Flight.

I think it's pretty awesome for a student short.

Alpha Waves 001

2008-05-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

My most latest mini-comic. Click to make big.

Come to think of it the Doctor wants to know too...

2008-05-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

Marc wahlberg poses a question.

Nick Cage Answers.

Mathew Alan Smith's Bristol adventures

2008-05-13T03:07:00.000-07:00

Bristol was hot this year, stupid hot, like a jungle.

This probably contributed to my enjoying it less than last year, not that it wasn't fun, just a bit, well, less fun. The table wasn't in quite so sweet a spot opposite the Tokypop honeypot and lost in the mini-comic table line up (at just the point when you lose attention), we are men of modest means and can't compete against anyone who could afford to spring out for a banner. We lacked a quick and direct selling point for the comics as well, I would have been tempted to sell it as the only comic in Bristol without a zombie in it but I'm too nice. Still Zak did well with his full colour book, but that's no surprise as he's Zak and we all cower before his might and glory.

Meh, what are you going to do. I sold enough to pay for the photocopying, called Chris an 'effeminate pimp', was pulled into a horrifying conversation about 'come to bed eyes' Wolverine, and listened to Jamie McKelvie's Alice in Sunderland like knowledge of Malvern.

The cosplayers seemed to be growing in number. The best by a huge margin was the lady who dressed as (or so I was told later) a Warhammer Terminator, a costume which looked like it weighed the same amount as the entire contents of the room I'm currently sitting in. The worst costume was the almost non existent one worn by an underage girl who decided to stand in my eyeline all day, making me feel like I was going to be arrested every time I gazed up from the table. Are there no anime characters who wear burkas?

Here I am in D'Israei's wall of Fame this was the only sketch I got (I even have my eyes open for the photo!).

Sketches I drew for people -

An angry Squirrel
A girl with large nipples
Zombie Jimmie Olsen
The Phantom
A penguin startled by a broken dog

Books I picked up -

2001 issue 3 by Jack Kirby - A strange whim I had.
Jack Staff by Paul Grist - A comic I really like but always forget to buy.
Fred the Clown by Roger Langridge - I heart Roger Langridge!
Toad Hunt by Will Kirkby - The best free mini comic I ever pulled out of somebody's oversized head.
The innocents by Gipi - I picked up Notes for a War Story a little while back and was blown away, so these huge slabs of Gipi were a must.
Phonogram by Gillen & McKelvie - "Worcester's shit" said McKelvie, I couldn't disagree.
Polar Opposites Mini by Marc Ellerby - Foul mouthed penguin are pretty much an instant sell for me.
Day at the Beach and The Monster in the Well Mini By Kate Brown -Which doesn't feature any boy on dragon sex, for better or worse.
Manga Midsummer Nights Dream By Kate again - The special variant badly drawn arrow edition.
The Pin-Up art of Dan DeCarlo 2 - Which has pretty much everything I could have ever wanted from anything.

Buh-buh-buh-Bristol coming soon

2008-05-06T02:32:00.000-07:00

This saturday! Where you can buy this and this (and probably some other high quality merchandise).

Come and meet Mathew Alan Smith, whoever he may be...

(poster drawn by be and coloured by the G)

Learning Comics

2008-05-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Paul Gravvett's recent interview with Dan Berry on comics based courses in higher education fails to mention my alma mater's Sequential Illustration degree course.

It then goes on to give a list of things that Berry believes will make the course an excellent start for students interested in comics and graphic novels.

All of which my course lacked (and most of which we requested repeatedly).

The refund invoice is in the post.

Get on your feet soldier!

2008-04-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

Be a man even if you're a 12-year-old girl I drew for years at a time without owning a desk. Be ready to draw anywhere, bust out your best work anytime. The best thing about comics is that it takes no money -- you could steal pens and paper and make the best comic ever sitting on a dumpster. This is the fucking trenches -- if I see you cry, I'll knife you myself.

Brandon Graham on making comics from King City vol. 1.

Happy Cosmonautics Day!

2008-04-12T01:53:00.000-07:00

Da!

Buh-buh-buh-Bristol 2008

2008-04-10T02:20:00.000-07:00

Yes in a just month's time me and the gang will be at The Bristol Comics Convention. As nothing particularly horrific happened last time we'll have a table again where you'll be able to buy our stuff, if any of them have any stuff this year that is, you'll have to ask them -

Chris G
Andy Silver
Zak Symmonds-Hurn
Rob 'The Rascal' Garrett

I'll have copies of my new rambling, incoherent, and more than a little whiny mini-comic Alpha Waves for sale (provided I finish it in time) and, in the unlikely event that someone email's me requesting a particular piece, some prints.

So come and say hi before moving onto Kate and Paul's table to steal their smarties.

His name's, Doom

2008-04-10T02:14:00.000-07:00

"Never again will mortal eyes gaze upon the hideous countenance of Victor Von Doom!

"From this moment on there is no Victor Von Doom! He has vanished... along with the handsome face he once possesed! But in his place, there shall be another...

"Wiser... Stronger! More brilliant, more powerful then ever before!!

"From this moment on I shall be known as... Doctor Doom!"

Life with Friends: Short Story

2008-04-10T01:57:00.000-07:00

Over on his blog, TwoFold Comics editor Adam Williams has the short story prequel I drew a little while back to the Life with Friends series.

I'm not completey sure what's going on with the actual series at the moment but there's some design work I did here.

Vichama comin' at'cha!

2008-03-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

The much delayed Vichama part 3 (or Emergency Program One if you prefer) by myself and Eddie the Rey is now available to be read online in Sonic the Comic Online no: 245 (Rob' The Rascal' Garrett also did me a solid with this great cover).

The unlettered version is available on DA as per usual.

Part 2
Unlettered

Part 1
Unlettered

Danger Ace Pin-Up

2008-03-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

A pin-up drawn yonks ago for the Danger Ace comic one shot thing that came out a little while back (it's in there apparently but I haven't actually seen it yet). I coloured it up as a tribute to neo-classical pulp master Dave Stevens who passed away recently.

David Lean

2008-03-25T04:06:00.000-07:00

...Would have been 100 today.

Happy Birthday me!

2008-03-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

It used to be in April, who even decides these things?!

Ah well at least it got me double pay.

Drainage

2008-03-20T03:09:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Ian!

Recent fanart

2008-03-10T01:15:00.000-07:00

Clickee makee the bigger.

Cameron from Terminator - The Sarah Jane Adventures. I'm not too certain on the series at the moment but there was a really sweet promotional photo (this one) of the cast in this month's SFX.

I didn't have any reference for the skull so that may be a bit off. Also I overplayed the texture, but it would have looked really dull otherwise.

A comics adaptation of a song/music video/film, which is woefully pretentious (even for me), but I had some stuff to try out and this seemed the best way.

The backgrounds were traced in photoshop, but they're photos I took so I'm not a complete hack/thief.

Yet.

Fanart for FreakAngels which I enjoy.

Tried something new (with a bit of a Cerebus infuence) for the orignal black and blue piece and then decided to colour it.

People probably won't get who the kid in the picture is a reference to.

Fumiyo Kouno on Town of Evening Calm

2008-03-10T01:08:00.000-07:00

This story has no end - only the feelings that these 35 pages may evoke within you will lead to the true completion of this story. As you go forth and lead full and abundent lives I believe this story will reach a powerful conclusion.

From the afterward to the excellent Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms

Some girly drawings

2008-02-22T07:12:00.001-08:00

Drawn from a photo as anatomy practice, and another excuse to try out drawing straight into photoshop.

Don't judge me.

Wanted to try colouring straight from pencils, also to try tracing over a rough I drew digitally and then printed out.

The Rough The Pencils

I regret putting the boots on her; a) They make the picture look more pervy than I would like, b) They caused me to fuck up the anatomy on her left calf and ankle, and c) I didn't draw them very well.

Inspired by characters from the Cerebus book I was reading, also wanted to try out the whole Josh Middleton Ligne-claire pencil thing.

She origially had feet but I drew the ankles so badly that I had to crop them off.

FLCL fan art based on those rad new Bond hardback covers.

More referenced drawings from my large collection of pervy photographs.

I liked the pose because it reminded me of a Brandon Graham drawing.

More Oort and Kuiper

2008-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Some further concepty stuff related to this.

Mostly done to try out drawing straight onto photoshop with my new tablet.

Ah maybe it's not so bad...

2008-02-14T11:47:00.000-08:00

The anti-love equation

2008-02-14T11:23:00.000-08:00

Phoo Action!

2008-02-13T02:11:00.000-08:00

He is Terry Phoo!

She is Whitey Action!

Together they are...

...on BBC iPlayer until the end of the week

Not perfect, but amusing certainly and a little imagination and ambition always help you to look pass the cracks.

Also with thanks to Stu here's the original comic.

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10

Bond covers

2008-02-08T04:09:00.000-08:00

Despite having no great love for Ian Fleming's Bond novels (because you could be reading Modesty Blaise instead) The new Hardback covers by Michael Gillette are pretty sweet.

The current paperback covers are nice as well.

Laaandaan...

2008-01-31T03:16:00.000-08:00

Saw Sweeny Todd last night, it was alright, but it just made me want to see the stage version.

The visuals were too inconsistent (no, not just the bits where it was meant to be like that) it looked ike several films edited together. While it was mostly just a stylised costume drama Depp and HBC were wandering around like kids going to a My Chemical Romance gig in Harajuku. It was all over the place.

Burton made what is possibly my favourite film of all time (Ed Wood natch') and this isn't quite the return to form I'd hoped for.

RedBearDead

2008-01-29T02:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.redbeardead.com/

Much funner than your average portfolio website.

Also on DeviantArt

Is this someting to do with Minovsky physics?

2008-01-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Why are all the explosions in Gundam Seed pink?

What does that even mean?

2008-01-24T11:23:00.000-08:00

From this month's SFX, taken from an interview with Tim Roth about the new Hulk movie -

So the Hulk is computer-generated, as in the Ang Lee version?
Oh, yes. The Hulk is a creature - but I think it's morelike the graphic novels than the comic book.

Um, what?

The happiest place on Earth?

2008-01-15T03:10:00.000-08:00

From AOL's article The worlds Weirdest theme parks -

Moominworld - Naantali, Finland Well, if it works for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, why not the Moomins? The exceptionally sinister cartoon trolls, which had a period of brief popularity amongst warped children in the 1980s, have their own theme park in Naantali, Finland. Aimed largely at kids, Moominworld gives visitors the chance to rampage around Moominpapa's boat and through a labyrinth accessed via a witch's hut. There are also invention workshops, theatres and out-of-work actors dressed as the fat, ghostly characters all over the place. In other words, it's absolutely terrifying.

http://www.muumimaailma.fi/

I demand that one you out there reading this take me there right now!

Scotch Mist

2008-01-09T08:02:00.000-08:00

My mother keeps giving me disaproving looks because I said I wasn't paying much on the download because I'd buy the record store release if I liked it, and I haven't got round to it yet.

I am part of the problem.

Artists who are awesome - Emmy Cicierega

2008-01-09T00:38:00.000-08:00

I need to spend more time showing the artists who make me utterly irrelevent -

This is Emmy Cicierega who I found on DeviantArt, she's about 12 or something...

On DeviantArt
On the LiveJournal

Kuro & Shiro

2008-01-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

I just watched Tekkonkinkreet, the last half hour of which is the film equivalent of a fine mist.

Plaid are pretty awesome aren't they.

Mysti-magical-spider-divorce

2008-01-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to comment on the whole One More Day thing, mainly because I haven't read it. Also if I had to comment on every piece of nonsense that comes out of Quesada's mouth/keyboard I'd be blogging full time (I mean the guy's been responsible for a lot of comics I've really enjoyed as EiC, but sometimes, jeez...).

Instead here's Chris the G's thoughts on the matter -

Do you think it's too late for Britney to file for magic anulment?

Comics review of the year 2008?

2008-01-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

I’d do a review of 2007, but I can barely remember what I just ate* so a full rundown of all the new comics I’ve read this year would be a bit too much strain on my fragile mental skills. Instead this is what I’m looking forward to in the coming year in no particular order and with some inevitable holes which I’ll edit later -

RASL by Jeff Smith

A multi-dimensional noir piece is a bit of an off the wall choice for Jeff Smith, but who can say no to Jeff Smith (except, uh, Dave Sim)

Battling Boy by Paul Pope

Modern day hipster Kirby Paul Pope draws a book about a kid who beats up monsters.

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam by Mike Kunkel

The crazy loony toons style Silvana alone is worth the price of entry.

Zorro by Matt Wagner and Francesco Francavilla

I freaking love Zorro, and killer creative teams.

Final Crisis By Grant Morrison and J G Jones

I usually avoid crossover events like they’re spiders with bird flu, but I like Morrison, I’ve dug the stuff I’ve seen J G Jones do, and I think it’s meant to be self contained.

Kick ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr

Now I’m not a great Millar fan but: a) The Romita/Janson tag team of art bliss, b) I’m really in the mood for a comic where a guy puts on a mask and hits people he doesn’t like in the face with a stick, and c) the book’s called Kick ass.

Teen Titans: Year one by Amy Wolfram and Karl Kerschl

I have an inexplicable fondness for the first Teen Titans group and Kerschl’s art is dripping with awesome.

Northlanders by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice

Admittedly issue one of this already came out, but this sounds like it’ll work really well in trade.

Luke Cage by Genndy Tartakovsky

Sweet Christmas this is right on so many levels.

Freak Angels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield

Sound's like a really classy concept from Ellis, and Duffield is good people.

Skin Horse By Shaenon K. Garrity and Jeffrey Channing Wells

Narbonic remains one of my favourite things ever, and this has all the hall marks of that, but with angora!

Tiny Titans by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani

Look at them! How can you say no to that!

New Frontier Special by Darwyn CookeI did so love New Frontier, if only DC would let him do more…

New York Four by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

When I bought an old copy of one of the same creative team's Local comic the guy behind the counter pointed out that it was the greatest single issue of any comic book ever. I might not go that far but still pretty damn good.

Water Baby by Ross Campbell

Campbell's much delayed Minx book. On a side note I wonder just how many teenage girl's read the Minx books?

East Coast Rising vol. 2 by Becky Cloonan

Waterworld would have been a far better movie if a giant squid with a skull for a head had attacked a load of hipster pirates half way through, but then so would every movie, imagine how much better Pretty Woman would have been?

Flight Explorer by various

It's Flight but for kids, even though the normal Flight is pretty much for kids. It doesn't really matter when a new Copper strip is going to feature.

*This is a lie it was a chunk of Dairy Milk.

The reason for the season

2007-12-23T10:16:00.000-08:00

A very merry Christmas to the three of you who read this!

Christmas Card 2007

2007-12-23T10:04:00.001-08:00

My Christmas card for this year.

I love Tchaikovsky, which I believe in classical musical circles means I have vulger tastes, make of that what you will. It's actually quite hard to find reference of a Nutcracker that doesn't look like a creepy Batman villian. I'd probably change the original drawing to make it look more like a lino-cut if I'd had the chance.

Our sentence is up...

2007-12-21T01:03:00.000-08:00

There's exactly five years left till the end of the world

Spend is wisely.

Oort and Kuiper

2007-12-20T02:08:00.000-08:00

I really don't use this blog very much.

Character designs for a possible mini-comic.

A few sparse details here

Kidnapped

2007-12-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

If you were wondering where I went to for most of last month well...

But don't worry, it actually turned out to be a lot of fun.

Attention Christmas shoppers...

2007-11-29T03:25:00.000-08:00

...Please be nice to your Sales Assistants, they have to deal with a near unending parade of moronic dicks at this time of year, don't make it worse. It's not their fault you didn't do your Christmas shopping months ago like someone with some sense. They're at breaking point, you don't want to have to try and comfort some sixteen year old girl who you've just reduced to tears in the middle of the shop floor, do you?

So be nice. If only because when you're giving your credit card details to someone on minimum wage you probably don't want to piss them off too much.

This has been a public service announcement.

Happy 250th Birthday William Blake

2007-11-27T03:30:00.000-08:00

It's the Birthday of the great English visionary William Blake. You could say that Blake's innovative juxtaposition of images and words and small scale self publishing eventually led to the development of comics, but that's probably a bit of a stretch.

The complete poetry and prose

Illustrated manuscript of the epic poem 'Jerusalem'

Poet of Albion documentry on Radio 4 (for the next week)

I just realised that I can still remember all the words to 'The Sick Rose' which I memorised 6 years ago for my a-levels.

The scariest thing I heard this Halloween...

2007-11-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

...McSpaced

Guh!

Panel of the Day 01/11/07

2007-11-01T07:12:00.001-07:00

Halloween Week

Lucha Libre - Bill & Jerry Frissen

Panel of the Day 31/10/07

2007-10-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

Halloween Week

Scary Godmother - Jill Thompson

Happy Halloweens

2007-10-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a crappy picture.

Panel of the Day 30/10/07

2007-10-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Halloween Week

Planetary - Warren Ellis & John Cassaday

Panel of the Day 29/10/07

2007-10-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

Halloween Week

Frankenstein - Grant Morrison & Doug Mahnke

Panelof the Day 26/10/07

2007-10-26T03:45:00.001-07:00

Skin Deep - Charles Burns