Emergency (or so it seemed) and slightly rough and definitely rushed visit to Ice Station Zebra yesterday, to find Agent Johnny
looking rather 'nakt' and 'done in' (not to mention being decidedly
leery and out of sorts). Inevitable that a run of good swills should hit
a brick wall eventually, and there's nothing much worth filing away
from the brief sojourn (other than the memory of the trip itself). No
fire to bask by (gone!), the rekkid player partly disassembled (Mono
records only....) and not much sense to the mumbled blethers. The Evil Hollywood dummy has been found, however, but there was no boast of any further artistic progress. Our Jimmy here says it all....
Sounds: Goldfinger, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by John Barry et al. (only played twice!)
The 'great depression' handouts continue.... Brief visit to Ice Station Zebra yesterday, a few hours sitting by the glow of the fire, swilling minimally and chuntering contentedly with Agent Johnny. But, my, what sudden productivity! Our man in Pester Wails
truly delivering by having fired ahead with his inking and roughing out
the concluding 10 pages to Evil Hollywood fer to draw (all by himself it
now seems). Plans to limit the introduction to a single page were also
agreed upon. Amazing what an encouraging letter (and a nod to a print
deadline) can do! Nothing much of worth on the 'one-eyed god' recently
and the 'rekkid player' wiz 'restin' up, so the chat turned to the
merits of the Star Trek fillums, Cordwainer Smith's science fiction, Live Dead,and the possible reappraisal and renaissance of John Byrne....
Sounds: nothing.... contented chuntering all the way....
Production Brawbot Rob Miller was flicking through his notebooks the other day and realised he had a page for each year, 2010 thru 2012, drawn on this very day. So here's each year in turn with the minimum of tedious exposition....
That'll be the genesis of Big Moff's Strap on Japan story. Somehow this tiny page of toilet-centric ideas stretched to about 10 pages of story and art. Padding? Never!
That'll be Mandi Dingo (and pal) arriving on the scene ready for her encounter with Briggsy in Braw! Seems we have a little sidestep into Buckfast Lane too, evidently attempting to capture the likeness of an "unfortunate" spied in town....
Aha! This'll be the teenagers taking their first tentative steps into the world of Buckfast Lane as Rob attempts to assemble the gang for a bus outing....
Short visit to Ice Station Zebra yesterday marked by a brief swill and a handful of accompanying records. Agent Johnny on good form, happy to report he'd done some inking to the 'Zappa-Kar' page and happier still to discuss the roughs for a few more concluding pages, agreeing that the art duties would now be 'carved up' equally between the contributors, help take the heat off. Of course, a lot of this relies on him finding the dummy to ease
continuity errors - it is officially listed missing in the vast
papertide. With that hunt duly cancelled it was time to settle down (a further hunt for the lp of Workingman's Dead aside) and crack on with the view to a swill....
Sounds: Live Dead and Workingman's Dead by The Grateful Dead: That's Entertainment by The Jam: Sky Pilot by Eric Burdon and the Animals: Nerve Pylon by The Lines and (grande finale time) Too Many Walls by Cathy Dennis....
Swift return to Ice Station Zebra for some serious swilling yesterday - "mighty swill!", as the Grateful Dead may as well have been singing! What more's to be said? No comic work progress in the interim or so our man was ashamed to say, just straight in with the speaker repair and we were off, the afternoon passing in a pleasantly stewed blur, the sole pause for thought when Agent Johnny took a moment to show me a recent postcard he'd looked out from the late Mikie Jacobs of the Gin Goblins, patting it affectionately. There was some lengthy chat as regards Thor: The Dark World and the proposed individual character pages to round out Evil Hollywood, the rest of the day rounded out with talk of Grateful Dead concerts and expressing an admiration for their studio musicianship.
Sounds: Two Mules for Sister Sara Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone: From the Mars Hotel by Grateful Dead: Reflections by Jerry Garcia: Anthem of the Sun by Grateful Dead: Pornography by The Cure: Left of Center 7" by Suzanne Vega: Sky Pilot 7" by Eric Burdon and the Animals: We Love You and Pretty in Pink 7"s by The Psychedelic Furs and Fields 7" by The Skids....
Throughly belated visit to Ice Station Zebra yesterday, to catch up with a rather 'nakt' looking Agent Johnny. Being 'seek as a parrot' aside - and with the swill cancelled momentarily until such a time as a flu jab was administered - our man was still on reasonable form, picking up somewhat once the rekkid player was fixed (or 80% or so) and The Pink Floyd were fizzing and fuzzing across the room for the first time in months. Slight progress with the Grande Finale to Evil Hollywood, but nothing to suggest the title will be out until early next year (at best!). 8 and a bit pages still to dodge! Not even much by way of fillums on the one-eyed-god (Hail Odin!) and precious little else to cheer us up. Eventually, of course, there was time for a single swill each, a timely taster for next week's visit....
Sounds: Psychedelic Archives by The Pink Floyd: The Littlest Album 4.0 by various artists: Casino Royale Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Burt Bacharach: Our Man Flint Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith: We Love You 7" by the Psychedelic Furs (the grande finale!)....
The Psychedelic Furs - We Love You (BBC Radio Session)
Oops.... a bit later than expected here's a big Braw! thanks to all the organisers, volunteers (and patrons) at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The
weekend's scope was tremendous and it seemed as if everyone had truly
entered into the spirit of things - its presence was simply inescapable when walking
through the main streets of Kendal, and the assistance and hospitality at the
main Comics Clock Tower and Brewery Arts Centre venues was first rate...!
We had browsers and customers of all age visit our table and
many were happy to engage (once they maybe worked out what exactly it
was they were looking at product-wise) and then buy. The mix of creators and exhibitors from right across the comics spectrum was
excellent, and there seemed to be no marked distinction that suggested
any sort of "industry" heirarchy was in place - just a great mix of
people having a genuinely great time (as I'm sure the organisers exactly
planned it!).
Personal highlights were chatting with
underground grandfather Gilbert Shelton (though I think my attempts at
gushing praise fell on genuinely deaf ears), modern master of "la ligne
claire" Dave Taylor and super inker Steve Leialoha, as well as just
hanging out with some seldom seen pals from Glasgow's very own TGC and
BHP....
Aside from the incessant rain our only other
disappointment was missing the advertised showing of Tamara Drewe. From
the poster I have to say that all things considered Brandon Lee's
looking in pretty good shape. Oops....
Good to see Agent Miller yesterday - although Ice Station Zebra beginning to live up to its chilly moniker despite the persistant sun shining in 'ze smoking room' - after several weeks away, enjoying a placid afternoon swill by the tiny speaker. Sandie Shaw's second adventure, completed some months ago, has been taken to Glasgore fer 'digital doctorin' fer print and the conclusion to Evil Hollywood takes a further twist, the most recent page seeing the Zappa-Kar in action! The back page colours have now been approved - 'a corker!' - and it's only a matter of time before the book wraps. The possibility of a further Una Kennedy strip for Production Brawbot Rob Miller 'fer to draw' was also discussed, should we move onto completing Tales of Unearthly Science Fiction later in the year/early next.
Sounds: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by The Pink Floyd: Electric Music for the Mind and Body by Country Joe and the Fish: Your Mind and We belong together by Love: Primary Colours by The Horrors: A Saucerful of Secrets by Pink Floyd: Some Friendly by The Charlatans....
Today we present the final original covers our production brawbot Rob Miller rescued from the vault concerning Electric Man. However, you might notice they concern not Electric Man himself, but his curious female companion/muse/foil(?), Scarlet Wrath.
And
the timing couldn't be better as the time has come for artists and
writers (and funders) the world over to step up to the plate to help the
creators of the movie make an associated comic! Head over to Indiegogo where director and writer Dave Barras and Scott Mackay will explain all. But be quick as the campaign ends in just 11 days!
You may recognise one of Production Brawbot Rob Miller's covers (on the left) has successfully made it into the promo mix....
More tantalising images are to be found across on the team's website, where we were very happy to see that Graham Manley
(who was responsible for the original Electric Man origin segment you
see in the movie's titles) has made a start on the proposed issue #1
itself! Just take a look at the wonderful images below to see what lies
in store....
And remember, this isn't just about contributing to the funding and creation of the comic - it's about creating Electric Man comics yourselves, making this a wholly unique venture! So what are you waiting for? Get scribbling!
With this year's Edinburgh Book Festival recognising comics and graphic novels with its stellar line-up of talks, workshops and events (for more info go here) Braw Books are proud to have been allocated a space at the Mini Comic Fair, taking place over this weekend of the 24th and 25th August at 5, Charlotte Square. As well as ourselves you can see from the flyer below there's a veritable plethora of excellent comics and graphic novels on offer from creators across the country. So be sure to pop along and check it out!
....alas it was all over too soon. Controls set for the standard 'leisurely' yesterday as Agent X27 and myself basked in the glow of the aforementioned job well done, taking the time to swell-headedly examine the results of our hard labour at Ice Station Zebra. "Are you nakt?" As such, there was nothing to stop the swill from flowing and we played countless records, stopping ourselves at times to discuss the conclusion to Evil Hollywood (1 page fully now inked), some minor "doctoring" to the back cover to allow for the naming of the characters and Our Man in Pester Whailes intention to see The Lone Ranger, having been impressed by The Wolverine at ye shoppy centre Odeon last week.
Sounds: Aoxomoxoa, Historic Dead and Vintage Dead by Grateful Dead: Blows Against The Empire and Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick et al.
At last we're proud to present this long overdue collection of the very best work (we could find!) by the late
Patrick "Pudsy" Morris, the fondly remembered adopted son of the Glasgow underground comic
scene.
Containing strips
from his early underground work (for International Times, Oz, COzmic and
Nasty Tales, no less!)....
....right on through his commercial cartooning and caricatures....
.... to his final burst of frenetic drawings for the deliciously dopey Northern Lightz, the comic he helped found....
Jumble it all together and it makes for a weird, wired and
simply wonderful trip, one that these pictures simply cannot do justice. See it! Believe it! Buy it (here)! (n.b. it will be available direct from the Braw Books site late August)
11.99 GBP (excl. shipping), 204 pages, A4 book format, b/w interiors throughout. Suggested for mature readers.
The long good Wednesday at Agent Johnny's this week, weightliftin' and shiftin' all manner of books and comics to satisfy the wolves at Ice Station's door. There was still time for a swill as over the course, and beers were duly downed by the exhausted as the day wore on. Seems it was a job well done and worth doing well as the gods have decided our Man in Pester Whailes is in the clear - there's smoke, but no chance of fire!
Inking continues apace on the final chapter of Evil Hollywood and the newly finished back cover inks - with a few tweaks that can be applied digitally - passed muster. An interestin' Superman illustration was discovered amidst the shifting debris and has been scanned, ready for inclusion in one of the big collections post-production.
Sounds: Byrds, Greatest Hits by The Byrds: Flying Doesn't Help and World Service by A. More: Echo and the Bunnymen by Echo and the Bunnymen: Kaleidoscope by Siouxsie and the Banshees: Treasure by Cocteau Twins: View from a Bridge by Kim Wilde (the "can't take any more" refrain perhaps giving an accurate insight into our Agent's mind as the day didn't end): The Flood by Blue Orchids....
Out of the frying pan.... Great to have a wee swill with Agent X27 yesterday, the first visit to Ice Station Zebra for over a month. Not too much 'weightliftin' to be done and further to the arrival of Red Atom the place was looking immeasurably tidier within the half hour. Hopefully this'll keep the wolf from the door until the 'Paymaster' funded shelving arrives next week. Agent Johnny himself on grand form, excited by the prospect of wrapping up Evil Hollywood, with 1 page nearly inked and another 3 already taking shape - looking to be quite the grande finale. Production Brawbot Miller also managed to get final approval on the back cover of the comic, thereby rounding off the day neatly. Fall of the house of Usher!
Sounds: Hang 'em High, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere: Zabriskie Point, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (various artists): Doll's House Darkness and Psychedelic Archives by The Pink Floyd: See Those Eyes by Altered Images (the grande finale!)
In spite of the fact production Brawbot Rob Miller'd much rather stay in doors all day, every day (his "screen tan" is coming along nicely), there are occasions when even he must dare to leave the house and sell his books to the great washed. As such, if you're lucky enough to be caught in the gaze of the above 'space woman' that means you're in the vicinity of some of the very finest underground comics and books, er, his table has to offer....
So hopefully you'll see her and she'll see you at one or other of the following events....
July 13th & 14th, Glasgow Comic Con @ CCA, Glasgow
At last, a return to Ice Station Zebra - it's nearing the summer Convention season, hence the silence as the production wheels turn, but more about all that soon - to see how Agent Johnny is gettin' on. Just fine, as it happens, looking and sounding rejuvenated as he enters his 60th year on this wot is our planet. Furthermore he'd been at the weightlifting and the place was very clean and tidy throughout, much to Ghostman's satisfaction (if not the cooncil's). Sandie Shaw was presented complete - aside from a few ink tweaks that, later on it was decided were unnecessary - and the title of Manderston Street Madmen has been given the same treatment. The pencils on this particular page are 'loose as hell' and might need significant tightenin' up before detailed work progresses. There's also an A3 Backbeat Records poster on the go, but I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of it - colour washes yet to be mixed and applied to this no doubt corker! Evil Hollywood rumbles ever sideways(!), a 2 & 1/2 page outline for the conclusion (which sounds almost like another book in itself!) was read out, underlining all the high drama therein. Our Man in Pester Wails hopes to get started on this soon. 8 pages to go...? Finally, it was certainly a day for swillin' to the Floyd as "Joke" Miller picked up 5 "unofficial elpee releases" only last week, with the version of Interstellar Overdrive - see the link below - bein' a significant highlight (though each recording was notable for its vintage crisp quality).
Sounds: Let There Be More Light, Doll's House Darkness, Flowers and Vegetables, Light the Fuse and Psychedelic Archives (side one) by The Pink Floyd: See Those Eyes by Altered Images (the grande finale!)
Great visit to Ice Station Zebra yesterday, kicking back with Agent Miller, swilling the afternoon away in a leisurely fashion, delighting in the lack of 'processions'. Now recovered from his 'bronchial influenza' (self-diagnosed, naturally) our man in Pester Whailes has returned to his comic drawing and letter writing with gusto - the new Sandie Shaw page is pencilled in its entirety, with 5 panels inked in. Further to that it seems as if Agent of S.M.E.R.S.H. is now concluded, the 2 pages that I saw, subtitled Manderston Street Madmen (and, yes, we're once again advised to 'dodge this page!'), were, as I gather it, the end. The Tales of Unearthly Science Fiction collection was mooted yet again, and the dummy of all 36 complete pages of ASJ#2: Evil Hollywood Over Subterrania was handed over 'fer approval'. A complimentary copy of Jupiter's Legacy#1 was duly passed over in exchange for the recent 'Fast Gun' Commando comic - one Agent X27 remembers readin' way back in 1963!
Sounds: Workingman's Dead and American Beauty by Grateful Dead, Crown of Creation by Jefferson Airplane, Hang 'em High, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere, Superstition by Siouxsie and The Banshees, Johnny by Sheena Easton(lined up as the grand finale just upon leaving....)
Here we go, a little further down the line in the recreation of Kounter Kultyur Kevn, his head and neck taking on a 'fully posable' shape, cheekbones finally established and the jawline firmly rounded. With a bit of hefty spin, Production "Brawbot" Rob Miller assures us he's about 1/3 of the way through the pencils of this epic....
Kounter Kultyer Kevn was always one of the more minimal strips in Khaki Shorts, rarely budging from his chair, the panels themselves mostly scaled traces of a few originals (Rob Miller's thinking being he wasn't spending any more time than absolutely necessary illustrating the adventures of a stoned bum)....
However, Kevn had his fans and the much mooted epic strip - as initially promoted in our post here - is finally being realised. Part of the challenge (and hold up!) was trying to find a look for Kevn that really allowed him to "move around" in a way the earlier strips never did, what with his chunky neck and the resulting unwieldy head. Below are a few sketches attempting to establish a workable appearance that'd make this possible. We'll pop up the first finished results in the next few weeks....
Finally made it through to Ice Station Zebra on Thursday, skiting across the lunar landscape to Pester Whailes railway station and heading on back to the valley with the bullshit detector. In spite of the sudden temperature drop Agent Johnny
was on fine - if initially slightly subdued due to a cold - form.
However, after an hour in ze smoking room, half 12 come and gone, a
jolly swill was duly underway. He recounted tales of his week's
exploits, numerous visits to BackBeat Records, Forbidden Planet and Deadhead Comics, showing off his 2 new Cure lps later in the day. With Adam J. Smith putting the finishing touches to his Chapter of Evil Hollywood it was agreed that a meeting at The Mono
should be arranged to discuss the story's conclusion, thereby putting
this title to bed in time for the anticipated summer release. A 2nd page
of Sandie Shaw was also underway, the pencilled title in place awaiting the script to be 'thinked up'. Whilst leafing through a few old White Bufflo Gazettes,
Agent (Rob) Miller discovered that there were two Secret Agent novels
completed at the turn of the century, novels that were supposedly being
'transferred to disc' at that time for submitting to publishers. As
things stand Johnny is on the hunt for the manuscripts in the Archives of Doom, Rob keen for these works to finally see the light of day.
Sounds: The Black Hole, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, by John Barry: Blows Against The Empire by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick et al: Zabriskie Point, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (various artists): Ace by Bob Weir: See Those Eyes and I Could Be Happy by Altered Images: Sometimes 7" by Erasure: The Lebanon by The Human League: Israel 12" by Siouxsie and the Banshees....
As well as asking Rob to restore a plethora of long-thought-lost Electric Man covers, the team behind the film were then fortunate enough to unearth the first 3 volumes of the Electric Manga series (which are very rare indeed), by the highly creative team of Daiki Barash and Shiro Makamoto. Printed by SOHOEntertainment these are thought to date back to the early 70's....
Not so long ago (2011), in a galaxy not so far away (Edinburgh), Production Brawbot Rob Miller helped out on the self-funded Electric Man movie. The team behind the film passed on a selection of rare issues from the comic's lengthy run across the decades, asking Rob if he'd apply some digital-pokery, archiving and restoring these comics to near as possible their original glory....
Electric Man - Trailer 2
Now that the film's available on DVD everyone can enjoy this "wonderfully twisty-turny comic caper, made and played with warmth, wit and genuine affection" (c/o Frank Quitely) at home, the eagle-eyed amongst you perhaps wanting to look out for (artistic) cameos by Curt Sibling, Graham Manley, Alex Ronald, Team Girl Comic, our very own John Miller and more.... Only a tiny handful of the restored covers were glimpsed in the film (much like the restorer himself, but that's understandable as he's camera shy and the bulk of them were worked on during and after production), so treat this as something of an exclusive premiere, several of these scarce issues thought lost forever....
Finally made a much delayed visit to Ice Station Zebra
yesterday to find Agent Johnny on fine form, basking in the knowledge
that the 'Art Deco' kitchen and Shunky installations are finally complete
after nearly a month's work. So, having heaved all the boxes of comics
and books back in from storage there was nothing to do but bid Ghostman
farewell (he's an awfy boy) and settle down to a view to a swill, chuntering away, chewing
over such topics as the past weekend's screening of The Omega Man (missed by this Agent), commenting on the soundtrack, the conclusion to Evil Hollywood over Subterrania, drawing another Sandie Shaw page (fer the back page of Braw! #2) and more letter writing.
Sounds: A Fistful of Dollars, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone: Hang 'em High, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere: For a Few Dollars More, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone: Superstition by Siouxsie and The Banshees....
Brief visit to (n)Ice Station Zebra yesterday, braving the cold to catch the work in progress as Agent Johnny's new 'Shunker 5' bog and kitchen installation continue apace. Our man in Hailesland seemed on good form as 'bangy noises' resounded all around us, having taken to his bedroom - and not his bed as rumours would have us believe - to continue the letter writing and comic drawing. At present he's about 1/4 of the way through a page of John Stark, but we've lost count of how many there are exactly. A further morale boost took the form of Adam Smith's brand new Evil Hollywood pages - 5 in all - which were put away in a special file fer readin' later.
Sounds: lots of quite contented chunterin', some of it concernin' the soundtrack elpee below....
At last! Limping into print too late to sail into those 'best of the underground' top tens of 2012 and dipping under the radar to hit the shops too early into 2013 - thereby guaranteeing it'll be a distant, lost memory in about, ooh, a week's time - Braw! has finally arrived!
Get a groove on.... to the gnarly social commentary!
Swing your pants.... to the silky smooth artwork!
Bustamove.... to the brillianty low pricing! But most of all.... buy (it here)!
Exhausting day spent at BASE yesterday, 'clearin' oot' lest Ice Station Zebra be 'decommissioned' by the Cooncil, at the risk of Agent Johnny findin' himself up the kreek without a drawin' table. And so a massive covert operation (weightliftin' a loada boxes about) was carried out and we got the place cleared to everyone's satisfaction. Now, assuming the workies are granted access to the palace of unearthly delights on Monday morning, we should be right, Johnny living to die another day. Hail Odin!
Sounds: Remembrace Day by B-Movie (a grand finale)....
A very happy New Year swill at Ice Station Zebra yesterday, Agent Johnny on good form, expounding on his desire to do another Sandie Shaw strip, possibly featuring our friend The Baron! Seems that other work is slowly ongoing, lots of projects on the drawing table - including the previously mentioned strip intended for Spaceship Away - but nothing new that he deemed worthy enough to show me. It's fair to say he's been relaxing and enjoying the Christmas fillums on the telly-visor, so perhaps that's one reason for a slight decrease in productivity, but a subsequent sudden jump in ideas. The biggest topic was Adam Smith making a start on his Evil Hollywood pages, pencilling the first 5, with 3 to be roughed up from John's notes (written down one fine day in the attic at Hope Street Studios).
Sounds: The Dirty Harry Anthology, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin: Hang 'em High, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere: Zabriskie Point, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (various artists): Superstition by Siouxsie and The Banshees: Point Me At The Sky by Pink Floyd: See Those Eyes and I Could Be Happy by Altered Images: Sometimes 7" by Erasure....
