Hey Hey! So here’s the big announcement. This makes the Amperduke trailer look like shit; I’m getting a slot in 2000AD called:

The first story should be appearing either this month or next month and it’s a doozey. After that I have 2 more and then we’ll see what happens. I’m absolutely delighted with it. I was a huge 2000AD fan, even had a Judge Dredd T shirt at one stage. One of my first attempts at a comic was a Sam Slade story when I was 11 or 12. I loved it and was obsessed with it for ages.

It’s mad, I was over in the local net cafe and when I read the mail I let out a little squeal of joy like a ponce. Then when I was floating out, all dizzy and excited I saw my nemesis from school. She was always telling me how immature I was and used to tut everyday because I never had a pen . She used to rule her page like her life depended on it with a red pen, a double margin. Everyone said she’s go far, even the teachers.

And here she was all fucked up with kids and miserable looking and I wanted to say to her “Who’s immature now bitch? Fuck you and your double margins”

So give me the love and kudos I deserve. I’ll post a tiny preview of the impending story. It’s a story that I’ve had in me for around 10 years and it’s not bad at all.

Hey pigs! Here’s the trailer for the impending Mister Amperduke. So spread it like Hep C.

And here are the first 53 pages from it as a .pdf

Still netless, unemployed and trying to remove the daggers from my back. But I’m working on comics 10-14 hours a day and getting tons done. Man, I missed out on the Irish blog awards, wasn’t nominated for anything. I used to blog every weekday and this site gets more hits than a red headed stepchild so it’s a pisser. Definitely next year.

I’m still struggling on the cover design for Amperduke. I’ve done 20+ designs and it’s a head wrecker. I’ll put up a dozen soon to get your thoughts.

Hey Niglets! Still no internet at ‘home’ and I hate posting from web cafes. It’s like trying to shit in a pub toilet that has no lock and you’ve got your legs stretched out to keep the door closed. Probably the same amount of piss on the floor though.

The web cafes in Tallaght are filthy. Using the mouse with my hand up my sleeve lest I get Polish space flu.

Shiz 4 will be out in 2 weeks and here’s a page from it.

Yep, here’s the cover off the next one. Art by me. Should be out in a couple of weeks. The cover of the first issue was cute too and had a wider appeal. I used to throw a few copies of 2 and 3 on bus seats and see who’d pick them up and 90% of women would just brush it off like it was a turd. So it was either stick Paris Hilton or something vewwy cute on the front of ish 4. Don’t worry, there’s a sting when you open it up. Look at the blood on his hands.

Should definitely come first in google for that phrase. Done this 5 years ago and I’m still ashamed of it. It’s a cover for a comic called ATOMISER that was never published because the dude behind it found God and decided what he was doing was wrong. The theme was ‘Father’.
I think it’d make a great Shiznit cover! I reckon we could sell even less ads that way.

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Never mentioned this when it happened a few months ago but I feel like boasting today. In that kind of mood. Either this or I eat the giant sized Toblerone in bed while listening to The Smiths.

Yep, a group of comic fans in France with amazing taste dedicated an issue of their zine to me. Mad seeing an interview with yourself written in French. They pick an artist, mainstream or otherwise, interview them and big them up. Their site seems to be down but you can see the other covers here

The centre pages were occupied with this moderately unseen comic.

I got the idea for that comic after seeing this crazy BBC programme where this dude goes to live with a tribe and he does whatever they do and whatever it takes to gain their respect. He drank a bowl of fresh ox blood but it was coagulating as he was chugging it down, fuckin disgusting. I think they had him smoking some magic powder too. Some of the tribesmen were clearly just buzzing off him and loved making him to stupid or uncomfortable things. Did they ever really drink ox blood? Or was it just something they made up on the day? Reminded me of when I was in school and these straight laced kids would tag along after school to get a blow off a joint, once they were stoned we’d wind them up something rotten.

For example we’d pretend to that in order to get a toke off the spliff everyone had to talk in rhyme or with a Jamaican accent and these poor bastards, uncustomary stoned would presume that this is what we do normally. Ah, we’ve all been on the receving end of messing like that. But it’s funny shit.

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Got a mail from a cult who worships the Spire, asking to use this comic.

For those not living in Dublin or Ireland, The Spire is a massive vertical tapering metallic pole that looks completely shit. I hate it. What a disgraceful thing to put right in the middle of the capital’s main thoroughfare. And it’s not like other eyesores, it’s hard to avoid seeing it.

I suppose I can call myself a designer and say from a designer’s point of view it’s shit. Yes, they wanted to build high so what about a good old fashioned statue or a totem pole?. A blank metal pin that only attracts pigeons and culchies. I heard some lad on the radio a while back from the company that designed it. Not just one person, it took a whole company to design a pole. At least that huge angel thing in the UK has merit.

It really annoys me. It’s fucking useless. The IRA blew up Nelson’s Pillar and then they build The Spire in it’s place. They don’t even use it as a flagpole or anything. Complete waste of MY money. 4 Million Euro’s it cost.

When it was being contructed and was more or less finished an English geezer says to me in town: ‘ Ere, wassat?’ I told him it was the Spire and he says ‘ Wass i’ goin ta be when it’s finished?’

Nuff fuckin said.

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Been working on Amperduke for a couple of days, fixing and adding bits. There are loads of bits that just didn’t flow right so oversized panels are needed. Check out the difference in the quality of these; the single frame versions are about 2 and a half years ago and then the new stuff I done I done this week.

Some of the older versions are hilariously bad! I might show them to the world years after the book is finished because they’d make look like the hack that I am. Still, it just shows how your sensibilities and skills grow over the years. I think most artists have a 3 month window for their work where everthing outside of that looks shit to them because (you hope) you’re getting better.

Neh, not in the humour of writing so here’s some new bits of Amperduke, part of the added rampage scenes. Resumed work on it for a few hours on Sunday. And yes, ‘Lego Comic’ is a shamesless attempt to try get Lego fans interested in the forthcoming Graphic Novel. Did mention it’s a comic about Lego mini-figures in a Lego themed city?

Suck it.
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These are all the comics in me and Cian’s ‘Shoot the Red Brisket’ series. He’s off to Australia for a year tomorrow the lucky duck. I love most of these, not wild about the art on some of them. A few of them have appeared in the Shiznit and the Superman one was printed in 2000ad a few issues ago as part of an article. We wanted to give the 3 panel format a go after seeing The Perry Bible Fellowhip. I interviewed Nick Gurewitch and all, decent bloke.

Click em for enlargements.

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