"Vanguard" comic - an experiment

[Van Dom]

Some of you may have seen the comic page Crazyfoxmachine posted in the "Does my Art look big in this" thread. That's the first page of a strip called Mammoth-Jack, which appears in a wee comic I've been putting together these last few months. It's called "Vanguard" and I've been collaborating with Crazyfoxmachine, Cthulouis, David Blankley and Professor Byah on it for a few months now.

This came about following a discussion I had with locustsofdeath over the New Year about how to get some of our own series out there. We were looking into the idea of self-publishing, and having done some homework and figured out it wasn't that expensive for a small print run of a 24pp black and white comic, I decided to have a go at it, as a little personal project. I've been working on a few series ideas for quite some time and this seemed like the only way any of them were ever going to get a chance at seeing the light of day.

The project is now in its final stages. Nearly all of the artwork is in and I have our very own Ghostpockets lined up to do a front cover in his trademark, uber-colourful style. With a bit of luck I should be getting the first issue (optimistic, I know, but that's me!) printed next month and then I will offer it for sale at a very, very, VERY low price (probably only enough to cover the P&P, as I really want to get this out there and am conscious that people are reluctant to part with even a small amount of cash these days for something they aren't completely certain they will get their moneys-worth from.)

Before all that though - you can check out a synopsis of the stories and a sample page from each at this blog.

Please do have a look.
Please do click the little "Follow" button.
Please do try to give us some support us on this. The guys have done some tremendous work on the art and turned in stunning pages: David Blankley's work on Atomic Call is crisp and clean and he draws some very cool looking heroines; Cthlouis' art on Halo and the Gryphon is the best he's ever done (I'm sure he'd agree!); and Crazyfoxmachine has created something special in Duncan Mammoth-Jack, the most unlikely savage 'hero' you've seen in a long time. They definately deserve some recognition for their work, and I'm sure you'll agree when you see what they've done.

One unfortunate thing. You will notice on the blog a preview for a story called "The Sluagh". This was to be the 4th strip in the comic and Professor Byah was blowing me away with his work on it - just look at the first page on the blog. Sadly, some personal issues have meant he is unable to complete the art for the first installment at this time and so "The Sluagh" will NOT appear in Issue 1. It hasn't been abandoned by any means however, and should this project be reasonably successful (I mean in terms of people liking it) then it WILL debut in Issue 2. Let's just see how it goes! In the meantime, I am currently working on filling the gap with a surprise story featuring a different character...but more on that later!

Check out the blog guys - hope you like what you see! We're all doing our very best to put together a comic you will enjoy!

Dirk

http://vanguardcomic.blogspot.com/

[locustsofdeath!]

Yeah, man, this looks rocking. Glad to see it come together at long last (actually not that long since that initial exchange of emails)!!! Count me in for a copy.

[Dandontdare]

Looking good - when do you hope to have it out there?

[El Chivo]

Cool stuff VD & the Gang!

Chi

[flip-r mk2]

Looking good,following the blog and I'll be buying  a copy when it comes out.



filip

[Gavin_Leahy_Block]

This looks fantastic. Well done all involved.

[Bolt-01]

I'll be following when Blogger gets itself back on...

[Van Dom]

Cheers guys!
This has been a lot of fun putting together and I'm hopeful the end result will be a fun read.

Dan - should be hitting the printers early next month.

[Cthulouis]

Cthulouis' art on Halo and the Gryphon is the best he's ever done (I'm sure he'd agree!)

Yep! Just finishing off the art for my strip as we speak!

First time I've seen a good chunky piece of everyone else's work, and it's all looking pretty damned sweet.

[Greg M.]

That all looks great, lads, very well done to all of you!

[Zarjazzer]

they look great.

[maryanddavid]

Some great looking art there Van, looking forward to reading it.

David

[mygrimmbrother]

Nice one fellas, what a great time for the small press. Best of luck with this everyone involved

[Cpt Rhodes]

Looking forward to seeing this. Very old school title, like it!

[Darren Stephens]

Another small press title to add to my 'buying' list. Looks great.