Dead is Dead...

'Romero's Living Dead in Six Panels' was created for the Little White Lies 'Kick Ass Creative Brief' contest, and sums up the entire 'Living Dead' series from 'Night' to 'Diary' in just six comics panels.

Conor Boyle provided the brilliantly atmospheric artwork. Here are a couple of panels to...er...whet your appetite until I post the completed strip.

First Things First...

Dum-dum...dum-dum...

'The Thing in Six Panels' was adapted for the Little White Lies 'Kick Ass Creative Brief'. The rules were simple: translate film to comic in six panels.

After kicking a few ideas back and forth with my partner for the project, Bolt 01, it was decided to go for a quick-hitting comics 'trailer' of the movie. I wrote the script and Bolt 01 provided the outstanding artwork seen above (I've only posted the single panel, sans lettering, so not to give away too much just yet - I'll post the complete strip when the contest is over).

Glubbleblugg, Glubbleblogg...

'There once was an evil Thing that lived under a rock.'

That thing is Glubbleblugg, a nasty beastie that takes its name from the sounds children make when choking on their own blood.

Above is a little tease - you'll have to purchase Something Wicked #6 later this year to read the rest. Glubbleblugg features art by Conor Boyle and letters by Bolt-01.

Durham Red(ux)...

Sometimes a cool project arrives out of the blue...er...red...and 'Durham Red: Long Time Coming' is an example of that.

Rendered brilliantly by Matt Soffe, the strip appeared as a 'silent comic' in the pages of the (very cool) Strontium Dog fanzine Dogbreath. But when Mr. Soffe fancied the idea of adding a bit of narration to the strip, I'm glad he gave the writing duties to me; and although I wasn't so sure the clutter of captions was needed, I couldn't resist contributing to such beautiful imagery.

The biggest problem I faced was avoiding redundancy, and I think I did a fair job of that. I realized right away that the strip had to reman 'silent' and that no dialogue was needed. This only further heaped on to my second biggest problem: being locked into what was already drawn. There was no flexibility. A tough task indeed, working 'backward'.

For some time I sat and just stared blankly at the artwork...until the line "spirits drift with the fog..." came to me. After that the rest fell into place and I finished the script in an hour or so...it was a great challenge, but loads of fun. I hope you enjoy the redux even if you prefer the version without my words! And thanks to Mr. Soffe for giving me a chance to work with him - we've recently begun a followup collaboration, a creepy Gothic tale that is certain to shiver your nape-hairs.

Hither Came Jikan...

Exciting news: I've written a pair of scripts for Paragon Comics, both featuring Jikan, an inter-dimensional demon-hunting Ronin cursed to wander time and space destroying evil.

'Jikan: Witch Fires' has our hero flung from the vortex and into a small English town terrorized by the sadistic Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General and Demon-in-Disguise. 'Witch Fires' is essentially an epic 8-page sword fight which kicks into gear on the rooftop of a burning inn and climaxes amidst the swaying corpses decorating a gallows platform.

'Jikan: Cave of Death' finds Jikan hurled back to the dawn of time and captured by a tribe of demon-possessed apemen. Taken deep below the Earth through a vast network of catacombs, Jikan discovers he is to be offered as a sacrifice to appease the fire breathing monster that dwells within the 'Cave of Death'. My offering: 8 pages of devil-splitting, caveman-hacking, gore-soaked fury.

I'm not sure when the finished strips will appear in Paragon, so for now enjoy the above teaser rendered by Dave Candlish, editor/creator of Paragon Comics.

Order the latest issue of Paragon here.