Twisted Tales

Bob Byrne’s Twisted Tales is a series of self contained silent comics that I write and draw for the Galaxy’s Greatest comic 2000AD.

2000AD was my heroin when I was a kid. Waiting for each week to pass for the next issue was torture for me. Many mornings I’d leave the house early to walk in the opposite direction from school and wait for the newsagents to open so I could read it at lunch or covertly in class. Sam Slade: Robo Hunter and Rogue Trooper just did it for me.

A few years ago I submitted the original Mister Amperduke to the Judge Dredd Megazine as part of a small press spotlight series they were doing and Tharg liked it. I sent him another idea that I had, also told without words and he agreed to print it. The story was The Salesman, a creepy cartoony tale about a shady salesman trying to gain entry to a cosy house.

I originally thought it to be part of the legendary Future Shocks stories but since it was wordless and weird, they thought it better to start Twisted Tales and I’ve been drawing them (at a snail’s pace) ever since. Unlike a regular 2000AD story which may have 5-6 panels per page for 6 pages, some of the Twisted Tales have a total of 96 panels. It kills me that I can’t make produce them faster.

I know they’re not to everybody’s liking and I’m not sure how I’d feel if some odd, wordless comic bumped out my favourite gun toting space mutant back in the day but I get a constant trickle of mail from people who really dig them. I think the wordless medium is just so much hassle to the reader who wants the regular comic experience. I just feel that comics don’t need words. It’s a visual medium.

There is a TWISTED TALES gallery for you here.

Posted in comic-menu, Comics by admin on Apr 8th | Comments Off