No Creeping Reclamation

I've gone and had another comic posted on that there internet! Now, if only I could get paid for this. Anyway, a little background:

Back when I was a spotty teen, the first short story I wrote of my own accord was "Green Fingers". An every-day tale of Death by Vegetation.

Years later, I had the idea of a sequel: "The Growth." This involved scientists trapped in a bunker, Dawn of the Dead style. They would bicker and argue and die while alien plants tried to get in. The idea went nowhere.

Many years later, one of the very first comic scripts I wrote was a one page variation of The Growth. Looking back, it was way too wordy. Each panel was a paragraph or more of description. I still find it hard to strike the balance between sufficient description for an artist and over-bearing amounts of extraneous, stifling, detail. But it did have a line I have always liked: "This was no creeping reclamation, this was an invasion."

Now, many, many years later, that script has been brought to life by Josh Mathus. You can go read it at Hadron Colliderscope, right  here. It looks a lot better than my rambles deserve.

"Kingpin gone to seed"

I'm a comics magpie - easily impressed by shiny, pretty pictures.

As a kind of follow up to my previous post, I should say that I am in awe of anyone who can draw a comic strip. The simple act of drawing the same character more than once, but getting it to look the same each time, is beyond me. So to follow a script and capture what a writer was thinking - well, that's doubly impressive.

Dan Cornwell (who I think is more talented that he realises) did just that when he drew Extras, another script I did for Clint. It's been hosted at Hadron Colliderscope, right here: Extras. Thanks again to Jim Campbell for lettering this.

In idle moments, I plan about putting together a portfolio of shorts and some longer stuff to put to editors along with a script. This would, I think, have been ideal for Wasted but for the fact it's already been around the internet (what with it being a Clint submission). Still, that's no reason for me not to plug it here!

I found it hard to cut a panel that didn't feature naked flesh, but here is one of a character I described as "Kingpin, gone to seed." I think Dan nailed it.

 You don't want to see what's happening in the

background. Especially if you're at work.

Be warned, this one is really not safe for work. REALLY, REALLY, REALLY not. I can do stories without naked ladies. It's just that the two I've mentioned here (Extras and Malignancy) were done for Clint and so I upped the naked body count. (Did I mention that my latest accepted script features hot succubus action...?)
 

Malignancy

Like a bazzillion other folk, I submitted some comic strips to Clint magazine. And then got ignored.

One of these was Malignancy. This is based on an idea I had years ago - a prose version, called If Thy Hand Offend Thee, made the Top 50 Short List in SFX's Pulp Idol back in 2007 (and you'll be able to read that version in an upcoming Starscape magazine, illustrated by Matt Soffe).

When I turned it into Malignancy, though, I made it a little more... visual. And Dave Thomson did a great job drawing it. I also have to give great credit to Jim Campbell, who kindly lettered it for nowt. His insightful blog is here http://clintflickerlettering.blogspot.com.

And here's a look at Malignancy.

It's now been posted on the American comic site Hadron Colliderscope. 

You can read it there by following this link. Only, it's not safe for work so be careful if anyone is looking over your shoulder. And don't tell my mum about it.

http://www.hadroncolliderscope.com/wp/2011/03/comics/malignancy/malignancy02/