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My kind of thread.

I usually do a quick doodle when an art comp theme is announced. It sits on my desk as a reminder. I get bogged down with work and sideline projects (unpaid!). Comp deadline appears out of nowhere. I get the idea in my head I can do a quickie drawing. I try the paper and pens route, digital route. Neither seems to work. I either manage to enter a very scrappy unfinished/underworked piece (rare) or I fail to enter. Come the next day I look at my attempts and think – they weren't as bad as I thought. Then, at my leisure, post-deadline I work-up my non-contribution and over-work that to heck.

This was my attempt to illustrate Eamonn's story 'Hotdog'. I wish I could say I didn't enter because I wasn't happy with the perspective on handlebars or the dullness of the colours but I was foiled by time. I don't think this captured what I was getting at with my initial doodle. I wanted to show the cadet Judge dwarfed by the Lawmaster and I didn't capture the energy of my sketch.

[Cider Barrel]

Oh wow, I'd forgotten about those - just googled them - Lyons Maid Cider Barrel and Cider Quench ("the drink on a stick").

Lyons Maid? Pah! They were what DC was to Marvel. Wall's Ice Cream was where it was at.

Anyone remember Count Dracula ice lollies? Would advertise heavily in Marvel UK comics on their luxurious glossy cover paper. The blood red jelly got sickly. I overdosed on these as I was collecting the stencil sticks.

Looks like Misty got a bum deal like Chips Whizzer.

Dan Lish has just blown my mind again...  I love this to bits.

How did he manage to make an engraving in your sketchbook?

Kitty Pride flipped over the term "Mutie-lover" and compared that to use of the n-word in 'God Loves, Man Kills' by Claremont and Anderson of 1982. IIRC that was Marvel's first or second graphic novel.



Interesting article here:
http://www.cbr.com/you-go-your-way-and-i-go-mine-kitty-prydes-use-of-the-n-word/

And another quick bit of detective work comes up with the m-word being used in the X-Men by Lee and Kirby in the 1960s.

Bloomin' heck if I didn't own about 80% of this I'd be all over this like a rash. An ASTONISHINGLY GOOD Humble Bundle made up of two of the truly greatest creator ever. Yes Kirby and Eisner joy to be had for next to nowt. If you don't own Silver Star this is worth it for that alone!
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/kirby-eisner-centennial-comics
Stunning!

Can't see the images on that link for some reason. Not sure if the Kirby stuff is by him or comics using his characters. But I can always enjoy some Silver Star (and Captain Victory). I guess those are the only original Kirby comics I own. Actually, I do have a Kirby Superman (or is it Jimmy Olsen?) comic, sans front cover. That was possibly the first American comic I had. Ruined by the redrawn Superman faces that were plastered on Kirby's art. Not by me – by DC.

The freelancer zero hour contract type existence!

In response to some of the comments about different writers on Dredd, I have no idea what level of coordination there is of various storylines at editorial level. But my fear would be, if there is too much control, that we end up with a US mainstream comic type editorial panel approach, that could dictate the overall direction of Dredd and almost reduce writers to fleshing out agreed plots.

All about finding a balance of continuity and allowing writers to develop their own ideas. No doubt that is something that Tharg has pondered over for some time.

That's an impressive bunch of entries there, Steven.

Same goes for me SIP, regarding art comp entries that weren't. I had a chuckle with one of the fellas at a Southers Gathering who told me has thought about starting an 'Almost entered into the art comps' thread. I would have one or two contributions to that.   

Oh and one other thing before I stop whittering Supersurfer knows I love him BUT you can't grow out of comics anymore surely, in the same way you can't grow out of film, or telly or books. You're just not finding the stuff that fills your current needs. There's comics out there for all tastes. Its not the medium that's the issue, its the bits of the medium you find and access.

You're right Colin YNWA – one can't grow out of comics as a medium. But when I pop into a comic shop and walk out empty handed, I can't help thinking "I'm just not interested" and often can't shake off the niggling thought "is it that I'm just too old for all that?"

I've often thought that in some ways, 2000AD ruined comics reading for me. It was so much better than everything else and I couldn't get the kind of buzz elsewhere that I would get out of the prog. Short stories in particular (ok, those are quite rare in non-2k mainstream comics) never seem to hit the spot as I always expect a Future Shock (or EC Comics) type ending.

No plan here to stop buying the prog, though I must get through the one foot tall partially read 2000AD stack that is sitting next to me as well as many other progs on my shelves.

Old and jaded? For sure. I have other interests now. Such as gardening. But worry not, folks, I'm not ready to be put out to pasture. 

BTW Colin – the feeling's mutual.

Impressive work!

Just out of curiosity about the photobucket issue can everyone see the cover image I posted above?

Yes, I can see it. Even after clearing cached images.

I find it odd that they don't show the payment plans on their sign up page. As a newcomer I would rather see the options more clearly before I sign up.

I see some Photobucket hosted images on old art comps are still alive and kicking.

In the 90s I had the whacky idea that it would be a good idea to chuck my biotronic stickers (minus the missing watch and eye) from prog 2 into a frame and hang them from the picture rail in my old bedroom at my Ma's house. 

They are still hanging there, now sadly faded away.

A can of worms, but points have been raised that I've been pondering over for some time.

Not sure if my general apathy towards all comics for the last few years is a result of what comics have become, or if it's just me growing out of them. I've mentioned that in the past round here. Well, it's a combination of all the above plus to a great extent too much other stuff sapping my time, enthusiasm and energy.

I just don't have the mental energy to invest in what seem to be long story arcs and world building. The Dredd format of mainly short self contained stories is what works best for me.

Often I just lose interest and fall behind, thinking I need to go back to the beginning and start again. Or I miss a prog and feel it's pointless reading on until I get a missing back issue. With Dredd I can start again at the beginning of the next story arc. Impossible with some of the other stories. I get the feeling more and more that I'm reading graphic novels broken up into parts, rather than stories written to work in a weekly format. But old style two or three parter stories perhaps won't make the best graphic novels.

Coincidentally, yesterday I was looking on Barney to see when the first episode of Brink appeared to start reading the series from the beginning, in an effort to catch up. So yesterday I read the first episode in full and my plan is to read all of that and then go back and do the same with other stories I haven't read such as The Order and Kingmaker. Not a case of missing progs, just apathy on my part and initial episodes that just didn't grab my increasingly shortening attention span. 

I often think it must be incredibly difficult for a casual reader to dip into the prog.