The Twit Walks Among You

I got the dates wrong last time. Young Boris appears in Time Out this week, not last week. Readers are requested to make the necessary adjustments. (Update: It seems to have made the front page of the Media Guardian. Good lord.)

That witty and talented gent, Mister Chris Duffy, at Nick Mag asked me to do some comics for him this week. It looks like I can just about squeeze it in before the Muppets kick off . It's my interpretation of a TV show I've never seen or heard of called Back at the Barnyard -- currently wading through tons of reference and watching online video clips to get myself up to speed (Warning: that link has enought Flash junk at the other end of it to give my computer a small hernia). It'll be eight pages of cartoon goodness when it's done. The boy bovines all have udders in this crazy mixed-up world, apparently -- that, or four willies. Which I rather think would alter the entire character of the show.

Just for kicks, and because I don't have any other visual embellishments prepared this week as such, here's some old Nick Mag stuff for you to ogle. This is from a Spongebob Squarepants story I worked on in which Spongebob is reimagined in the styles of various old-time cartoonists. I remember thinking at the time that I'd been typecast...

Four Feet From a Twit

Looks like the "Young Boris" strip I did recently will appear in this week's issue of Time Out. For those non-Londoners who are interested, I'll probably post the full thing here in a week or two; for now, here's a teaser, the cover as it appeared in the ad in last week's issue.


Apparently, the fact that the Fin Fang Four stories Scott Gray and I have been working on over the last year will be appearing on the web before seeing print has caused a bit of a kerfuffle. (A good kind of kerfuffle, I should add.) It seems to me to be kind of a non-story, following as it does the publishing model I've been using since 1999. Still, it's all good if it gets the damn things read more widely. I think the online versions are supposed to start quite soon, but I'm not sure of the exact date as yet.

Keeping it short this week -- I've got to do my tax returns! That's what keeps me living this cartooning life -- the sheer glamour of it all.

The Captain, the Professor and the Idiot

This morning I finished writing the first of my all-ages Captain America six-page backups. I can't help thinking I'm a bit of a weird choice for the assignment, but it's been enjoyable to flex some writing muscles I don't normally use. I'm still not sure where they'll be appearing. I might find out when the cheque arrives.
Currently on the home stretch of colouring "The Disintegration Machine", a Professor Challenger story for Science Fiction Classics (spun off from the Graphic Classics line of literary adaptations). I honestly couldn't remember if I'd posted anything from this story or not, so apologies if I'm repeating myself here.


You'll notice that this sample is just pencils, as I haven't done the final fiddly stuff on the colour files yet. I couldn't tell you why I'd rather show off a half-drawn page than a completely drawn page that needs a minor tweak or two, but there you go. There are a lot of things I can't tell you, like recipes for buns, or how to work out the square on a hypotenuse. But I think you'll manage somehow.

Pet Goth

Back from Birmingham, where I had a most splendid time. I always do, mainly because I get a chance to catch up with a whole lot of people I hardly ever see otherwise. I also sketched a whole lot of sketchy goodness, sometimes for the many nice people who came up and asked for one, sometimes for my own amusement during the slow patches. Some of those done for my own amusement can be seen below (click for a bigger version).

I was pleasantly surprised how many Goths wanted me to draw the Muppets. I love Goths. I want to wrap one up and take one home with me. They'd be right at home in the cupboard under the stairs.