MMM: AKIRA

MMM: Ghost In The Shell

MMM: The Expanders, Chapter 3....

Bit more of a manga kick as Mr Solid hops in a taxi - no superpowers (and not much by way of cash either), what a bummer! - and then ends up stealing a too hot chip from Heux's dinner. Still, no time for that now as....

....Metalhead's in sight! Just enough time for Hi-Def to criticize Mr Solid's bald spot, but not for the villian of the piece to finish his takeaway....

Well, it's something of a Mangxican standoff, I suppose, as our heroes limber up....

And we're off! Things finally get up to speed as everyone piles onto Metalhead to bring him down....

Mr Solid's on the deck but - as evidenced by the close up of his head, complete with mysterious flashing eyes - he's steeling himself to seriously pop Metalhead one (on a 6th page that doesn't exist, so use your imagination because I obviously couldn't be bothered to). Wait, didn't I mention Mr Solid had no superpowers...? Hmm, how to resolve all this in Chapter 4...?

Steve Hillage - Rainbow Dome Musick

13.04.79

Sketch Sunday

MMM: Ninja Scroll

MMM: Dragonball 3-in-1, Volume 1

Son Goku....

MMM: The Expanders, Chapter 2....

Architectural overload as this Chapter kicks off - obviously a fair amount of time has gone into setting out this flat balcony double paneller of Heux and Mr Solid sharing a cigarette....

Did I mention architecture? Bit too much of a squished perspective here, but 'A for effort' for even bothering! Mr Solid having a nice old daydream as he smokes his cigarette. Action packed stuff....

Mr Solid's cigarette dusted and flicked from the balcony. Heux flies on his way, contemplating the nature of his (seeming) invincibility....

Further thrills abound on this page as Mr Solid gears up for the day's adventure by, er, having a 'Perry White'. Heux's contemplation continues, his musings turning out to be a-

- 'real eye opener'. But soon enough Heux has pulled himself together while Mr Solid kicks the story into gear by popping a spot, reading a postcard and tackling a lift that's (bang) 'Out Of Order'.... 

Heux has now caught up with Hi-Def and, having rejected the contents of his shopping bag, The Boy Bulldog's ordered fish and chips - presumably no one told him Chapter 3 would be simply brimming with gut-busting excitement (or not)....

MMM: Vampire Hunter D

Mansun - Six

BUY>> 07. 09. 98

Sketch Sunday

MMM: The Expanders, Chapter 1....

So straight into the action with this opening Chapter - looks like Mr Solid and Heux are doomed, 'toast' even....

Ho ho, oh no! Seems they're just too busy gaming while their morning toast burns....

Manga influence overload on this page as Heux evidently decides burnt toast (with marmalade) isn't for him....

Mr Solid plays on, ignoring his aching back, as Heux pulls up a chair and flicks on the radio. Whatever's been reported about the sky means a call to the boss is in order....

Heux declines a look at the 'racing pages' as he's skint and Mr Solid discovers that Metalhead is out and about....

And here's Hi-Def doing the top-up shop, looking for today's fresh bread. Suddenly he's aware of what's going on outside and puts the call out to our resident gamers who, after trying to avoid a chat, opt to step outside for Chapter 2....

MMM: Appleseed

MMM: Black Magic M-66

MMM: The Expanders, Chapter 0....

As part of Manga Month it seems there's a (somewhat feeble) excuse for this blog to travel back in time to 1999, revisiting Agent Rob's first dalliance with the Glasgow comic scene and the resultant, unfinished/unpublished superhero strip The Expanders. Having visited the Byers Road Futureshock and picked up a 'Want To Draw Comics?' flyer concocted by writer Will Marshall and artist Jim Devlin - then currently working on the earliest incarnation of their own Dark Ascension series - a fresh-faced, pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. Rob was soon part of the team working on the proposed Evil Ink anthology. Many enjoyable Saturday afternoon's would be spent in Will Marshall's vast conservatory, our bold creators plotting and planning this (admittedly pretty exciting looking) title....

Spot the newbie.... L-R: C.Barr, J.Devlin, A.Amateur,

C.Alexander, H.Healy and C.Sibling (reclining)  

Alas, this website promo is all that survives from those 'sessions', the title never came to pass and for whatever reason the Saturday meets fizzled out and Rob eventually drifted away from the comic scene in general (until....). Luckily (and like all artists, who clutch and cling to their every idea as if it was pure comic gold) Rob stashed away the pages having assembled them into several rough chapters - the strip was conceived and structured along similar lines to those in 2000AD, a 'book' being formed of 7 chapters at 6 pages a piece. The basic premise - though from the meets I'm sure it was agreed the strips should NOT be set in Scotland - was that there was a plethora of heroes worldwide and that The Expanders were decidedly B-List, a bunch of guys living in a Glasgow high-rise, living off Scottish Plain bread (with marmalade) and hoping for a chance to be allowed to venture into outer space....

Above is, um, Mr Solid - who, if anyone is remotely interested, was partly visualised as Rob's idea of what a 9th Doctor Who would ideally look like - the leader of the team and only non-superpowered member, preferring computer games and male pattern baldness....

The second character was Heux: L'Enfant Unique AKA The Boy Bulldog - er, whose 'face' is based on a burglar alarm sensor situated between 2 sash and case windows, the sensor formed the mouth/nose and the moveable side jams to either side informed the angled eyes - a seemingly indestructible, er, hermaphrodite alien (adopted French!) who seems to be seeking his own Achilles' heel....

The third member of our quartet was Captain High-Definition (so named much later in a quasi-revival for a Khaki Shorts khreditorial) who was basically very tall and very skinny and (presumably) very clever. Hi-Def's head is, in fact, based on the look of a retractable pencil's pocket clip....

The fourth notable character was (at that time) known as Compass Head - er, as his head was based on the looks of a traditional school compass - but latterly he was rebranded to Metalhead. In the opening chapters he's evidently the supervillain of the piece. We'll get started on that next time and in the meanwhile here's some story roughs (which at the very least display some clarity of approach and vision for a first-timer)....

Roughs for Chapter 1 and (the start of) Chapter 2....

Roughs for (the rest of) Chapter 2....

Roughs for Chapters 4 & 5....

Brothers In Sound - Family Is For Sharing

BUY>> 00

Sketch Sunday

A Chronicle Of Doom....

Agent Rob wasn't the only thing to make a triumphant return to Ice Station Zebra on 'Woden'sday', as at last 'The Archives Of Doom' (rekkids, books, papers, comics, tbps. etc) have been reinstated! Well, assuming reinstated means hastily dumping a shitload of heavy boxes haphazardly in and aboot the hall and not even bothering yir bahookie to help Wir Man In Pester Wails put his stuff back in the order of chaos. Thankfully Agent Rob (AKA 'Mr Puniverse') put his back in (and perhaps out) to it and heaved the mighty boxes around sufficiently enough to restore slow shipping lanes fer to satisfactorily accommodate Agent Johnny's increasingly wide berth....

During all this 'back in action traction' our Agent wiz sat contentedly 'wrapping up' a(nother) Fireball XL5 short story, so the swilling took something of a back seat until such a time as that task wiz concluded (taking longer than expected as wir Agent was continually gigglin' to himself). This bizarre 6-pager, titled 'The Last Colonizers' wiz soon joined by a 2-pager (produced from 'The Drawers Of Doom') known as 'A Welter Of Gore'. It's unsure as to whether Agent Johnny expects Agent Rob to jam these into the 'long-time-printed-yet-not-yet-released' Unearthly Science Fiction anthology - perhaps this signals the beginning of Issue #2...?

Long time readers of this blog will know what happened next, the 'music box' - updated ter add something of a new soundtrack ter the proceedings - wiz mugdocked and the swill was cranked duly open! As well as Agent Johnny brandishing his 2 completed stories Agent Rob wiz also treated to a rough fer old Lanark pal Ron Harris 'fer to draw', a 'leery space comic' to do with the planet 'Polaris'. Glasgog's Calderpark Zoo wiz the source of much contented chuntering, with Philip K. Dick and Robert Silverberg muscling in on proceedings too (where wiz their combined might when 'hing's needed shifting?)....

No doubt that great excitement wiz generated by the news that from Monday the 13th March the True Entertainment Channel will be repeating the seldom-seen-super-cult-favourite The Prisoner, something that has even jolted Agent Rob out of his increasingly jaded and apathetic reverie. Of course, the 9-11 'pee-emm' timeslot time means Agent Johnny will have to rapidly reset his counter-clock world - if just fer the 2 weeks it'll take 'fer to show' all 17 episodes - ter be able to catch this. Here's to raising a glass to daytime repeats thereafter. Unfortunately Our Agents tuned in to Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers on 'Fillum Four' too late  - another abject failure of timekeeping - and Agent Rob had to slip oot 'fer to catch' the bus into town during the adverts. Following a quick Rumble pick up at Deadhead Comics Rob then concluded his awayday by meeting New British Comics Karol Wisniewski ('veesh-nyev-ski', pronunciation fans) for a final swill before being crated and shipped back to Glasgog....

Sounds: Live 1966, "The Royal Albert Hall Concert" by Bob Dylan: Time Of Ye Life/Born For Nothing/Paranoid Arm Of Narcoleptic Empire by Crippled Black Phoenix (a Hope Street Studios 'Day In The Attic' classic): Flood Bank by The Lines and Obscured By Clouds by Pink Floyd (and about an hour's worth of Tartan Techno at full blast from the defk*nt through the wall)....

Visions: Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers....

Crippled Black Phoenix - Time Of Ye Life/Born For Nothing

/Paranoid Arm Of Narcoleptic Empire....