Monday 21 February 2011

SMALL PRESS UNITED!




Just for a giggle I thought i'd post a couple of pages I put together out of boredom while waiting for a new issue of Image United to surface. I redrew the first few pages of IU, replacing the Image characters with a couple of my own and some from some of my favourite small press comics of recent years. So we've got Badass (yes, really) from The Defenders of Justice and Agent Claire Cooper of S.C.I (both mine) in place of Badrock and Witchblade. Then there's Britannia from Britforce (created by Andrew Radbourne @www.moonfacepress.com and Britforce.com) in place of Spawn, Vixen from The O Men (created by Martin Eden @Spandexcomic.com) in place of Shadowhawk, Casper Kirby from Pest Control (created by Grant Springford @Abnormals Facebook) in place of that new Whilce Portacio character, Mongrel (created by John Doran - you may find some issues at smallzone.com) in place of Ripclaw, Sgt Mike Battle (created by Graham Pearce @sgtmikebattle.co.uk) in place of Savage Dragon and finally The Human Wonder (created by Gary Ochiltree @kryptonkomics.com) in place of Shaft. All the above comics are highly recommended. Please check 'em out if you haven't already.


I did 3 pages like this before thinking "hey wouldn't it be really fun to keep in the spirit of IU and draw each character in the style of it's creator?"(I was reeeally bored). So I opened up a load of my fave small press comics and "drew inspiration from them" (I think that's how Gene Simmons' kid puts it.) It was a fun little project and I hope to have some more pages to share soon (there are 6 in total). But boy, wouldn't it be fun to do something like that for real? It'll never happen though, as it would take too much time away from those other guys main projects. And I think I'd rather see more Spandex, or Sgt Mike Battle, or The Abnormals anyway.


Oh, and Image United turned out be just what most of us expected it to - poorly written, all style over substance and very, very late.