"There ain't never not no new British comics not no more nowadays" or words to that effect are things I hear quite often on forums, websites, etc. Of course there are new British comics coming along all the time. It's just that the huge expense and restraints imposed by the newsagent/supermarket retail system are simply too prohibitive for independent publishers. Just because a comic isn't in WH Smiths or Asda doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
I'll cut to the chase. One of those comics is the one I self-published the other week. The one-off publication Brickman Returns! It's selling well but I thought I'd give it another plug for those of you who may have missed the news. Here's the PR about it....
BRICKMAN RETURNS!
sees the revival of one of my oldest characters as zillionaire
Loose Brayne once again dons the cape and cowl to patrol the streets of Guffon
City! The Poker! The Ostrich! Gnat-Woman! No criminal is safe when Brickman
flings his Brick-a-rang! Aided by his partner Tina Trowel, Brickman is back in town!
Initially created in 1979 for my fanzine AFTER IMAGE, Brickman has returned numerous times over the
years in various publications, most notably as a back up strip in 2006 to 2009
in ELEPHANTMEN, published in America by
Image Comics. It is those 20 stories that I've compiled into this new
collection! BRICKMAN RETURNS!
acts as a sequel to BRICKMAN BEGINS, a collection of earlier strips published
by Active Images in 2005, but it can also be read as a self-contained comic.
A prominent guest star in the Brickman strip is Combat
Colin, who many will remember from his own
regular strip in Marvel UK’s TRANSFORMERS and ACTION FORCE comics
in the late 1980s. The creator-owned character now occasionally appears in the ACES
WEEKLY digital comic.
BRICKMAN RETURNS!
also includes bonus back-up features:
• COMBAT COLIN: A
classic complete reprint from 1989 featuring Colin’s first encounter with his
nemesis The Brain!
• SUBURBAN SATANISTS:
My popular late Nineties strip, originally published in Norway and Sweden, finally comes to
the UK, translated into English. It features the De Villes; just an ordinary
suburban family with an unusual hobby.
• WELCOME TO THE LEWNIVERSE: A feature on the backstory of Brickman and his comic co-stars!
Obviously Brickman
is a parody of Batman, but only as a springboard to take the character into his
own daft direction. It’s not an intricate spoof of the minutiae of Batman
comics. It’s basically broad comedy influenced by the stuff that inspired me
over the years, such as the 1966 Batman TV show, seaside postcards, Odhams
comics, cheesy horror comics, Monty Python, the Airplane movies, Not Brand Echh
comics, and suchlike, and from all that hopefully my own style has emerged.
I’ve been freelancing in comics as a writer and artist for
over 30 years, and continue to do so, but it occurred to me that I have several
characters I own the rights to that I really ought to get back in print. BRICKMAN
RETURNS is the first of those. All being
well, I’ll release a couple more self-published titles in 2016. It’s been a
long time since I self-published any comics and technology has improved so much
now that a small circulation, digitally printed comic can look as slick as
mainstream publications.
BRICKMAN RETURNS! is
a one-off 32 page comic in full colour, rated Teen plus. Available to buy
directly from me at £6.00 including postage, via my online shop at
this address:
Copies are also available for £4.50 from Nostalgia and Comics, 14 - 16 Queensway, Birmingham B5 4EN.
Support British comics! And Brick-ish comics!
2 comments:
Thoroughly enjoyed this Lew. It really was a comic begging to happen, and I look forward to more of the same! It's nice having the Brickman material all in one place. Personally though I bought it for the Suburban Satanists strips. I think they're my favourite creation of yours second possibly only to Combat Colin. Can't wait for the Satanists collection. I mangled my way through the Norwegian Edition using google translate, this was much easier to enjoy :) I also rather liked the Colin strip. The decision to print it on a sorta sepia background makes it feel like you've just dug an old copy of Action Force out of the attic. I'm really glad to hear they are selling well. I think the modern comics market is very much geared up to these specialty comics. Where mainstream comics have come up against so much competition from other media these small print run comics can now get a level of exposure never previously possible. I think this also goes to show though how your engagement Lew with your fans through modern media is the way forward.
Many thanks. It's always good to get some feedback. I'm glad you noticed the tint I added to the Combat Colin pages. Yes, the idea was to replicate the off-white paper the strip originally appeared on. When I eventually get around to the Combat Colin book though it'll all be in black and white. A chunky book in colour would be too costly, and would take me ages to colour all the strips.
Yes, digital printing is so advanced now that I actually think it sometimes looks better than litho comics.
I'm hoping to publish the first issue of Suburban Satanists early next year, before Spring 2016. You'll hear about it here first of course. Thanks again for commenting!
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