You are Legend - Thank you Ron Smith

Two updates in a week. Aren't I spoiling you.

The 2000ad forum has been put together a one off print for legendary comic-book artist Ron Smith.

Ron's getting on a bit now and has worked in the British comic book industry for over 50 years. He first came to my attention when he took over the art duties for The Day the Law Died back in 1979 and his artwork blow me away! Since then, the majority of his work was illustrating Judge Dredd, The Daily Star Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper (Friday). He's not shy about doing the odd crown scene either.

Here's the page that I've done, just to say 'Thank You'. It's also the first script I've written too. Cheers Ron, you are a Legend!

Buck Tucker - Enemy of Love in Vanguard #2

Bloody hell, I can't believe it's three months since I updated my blog.

The next instalment of everyone's favourite psychopath - Buck Tucker is featured in Vanguard #2. If you downloaded this years Hallowscream you'll know that in the end Tucker got what was coming to him. So what the f**k is going on now!

Enemy of Love is written as always by Dirk Von Dom and it looks like Mr Tucker has taken a change in direction.

As well as Buck Tucker - Enemy of Love, this issue of Vanguard sees the continuation of the stories that began in issue 1. As before, art duties on International Woman of Mystery tale"Atomic Call" are by David Blankley, while Louis Carter continues to produce some brilliantly bizarre artwork on sci-fi, fantasy epic "Halo and the Gryphon". This issue's violent installment of 1800's "When Good Donkey's Go Bad" tale "Mammoth-Jack" features a change of artist however, as my good friend El Chivo takes over pencilling duties from Owen Watts. 


Here's the Deal (From Dirks Blog - don't you just love copy & paste!):
OPTION 1) READ FOR FREE!!
Yes, that's right, I've decided to put this issue up online to be viewed, in it's entirety, for free. Why? Well, because I would like a lot of people to read it, to be blunt. Although I practically sold my entire print one of issue 1 over the course of five or six months, that still only came to a small number of copies distributed (less than 50). Which means less than 50 people read the comic. I'd certainly like to have more of a readership than that but since it's difficult to persuade people to part with their cash for something they can't see in the flesh before they take a chance on, I thought this might be the way to go. That, and the fact that I will be in Japan for at least the next six months and the postage costs back to the UK would be ridiculous! So, with that in mind, you can, right this very minute, make your way HERE and enjoy the comic. 

The only thing I would ask in return is that you throw a few comments our way upon reading. The beauty of that site is that you can comment on each page as you read, so if something comes to mind, if you like something or hate something, if you have suggestions for how we could improve things, you can very quickly make a note of it before going to the next page. I would love to know what you think of the stories/writing and I'm sure my collaborators would love to know how you find their art so please do take a few seconds to do this.

Note - only issue 2 is available to view. I didn't think it would be fair to those who purchased a copy of issue 1 to then make it available for free, so I haven't done so. However, there is sufficient recaps given in the strips themselves that this shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of the comic. If you haven't read issue 1 and what you see here intrigues you enough that you would like to, I still have a few copies left which I would be more than happy to sell to you - failing that, the issue is also available to view as a myebook for the ridiculously low price of 50p - click HERE to access it.

OPTION 2 - BUY A PRINT COPY AND READ IT IN THE FLESH!
So, now that I've told you how you can read the comic for free, you're probably not going to be all that interested in paying for a print copy, are you. NEVERTHELESS, if you are the type of person (like me) who prefers his comics 'in the flesh' and likes to hold some really, physical paper in his hand whilst reading, let me see if I can entice you. Because for those who DO avail of a print copy of the comic there are a couple of extras. 

Firstly, you will receive - absolutely free - a copy of "Speed Date", a 16 page full-colour A5 comic that collects together both parts of slaser-serial killer story "Speed Date", which originally appeared in Hallowscream's 2010 and 2011 issues. Art on part 1 is by Ghostpockets and on part 2 by Bhuna. The story comes wrapped in a pair of beautiful covers rendered by Bhuna - check out his awesome "after Bill Sienkiewicz" homage: 

As Dirk is buggering off to the Land of the Rise Sun for a bit, I'll have a few copies that I can send out on his behalf. So if you want a copy of Vanguard #2, a FREE copy of Speed Date and some FREE nice little limited edition post cards, then just get in contaft with me.