Shed Story part 3

This was almost an audition piece. It was the first page I wrote, drew, lettered and coloured in Phase Two of what I laughingly call 'my career' (in the sense of helpless hurtling through life without a clue), back in early 1988.
Prior to this, I hadn't done any colouring for many years, but thanks to working with George Nicholas, creator of Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, I learned to use the at the time near-lethal Pantone pens (they aren't dangerous nowadays!)
Here is the first page of a four page story published in the last Scouse Mouse comic by Modelbrisk.
It was this issue that impressed Bob Paynter at Fleetway sufficiently for him to take over publication of the comic.
For more details about The Shed, click here
And if you want still more, click HERE

The Reject Pile

We all have to start somewhere... and we all have a stack of rejection letters... me more than most, as I kept on writing until someone, somewhere gave me a job. Here are some of my earliest...
First, left, 1973, and a letter from IPC (then publishers of Whizzer and Chips, Cor!!, Buster, etc) seemingly offering work in a few years time! exciting letter to get! Of course, it was not as easy as that!














Hedging my bets, I replied to an ad in the papers asking for comic artists at DC Thomson a couple of years later. Maybe I should have told them I was 14 because this is a simple standard reject letter.











Another reject, this time from Polystyle's Dennis Hooper, responsible for TV Comic. Anyway, this time I was at least offered some constructive advice, though Dennis does remind me of the mantra I was used to hearing "...strip cartoon is still regarded as something less than nice". Still, I wasn't about to give up now!











Finally, below- a 'yes'!
Note how "colour doesn't really interest us". This was in the letterpress days of spot colour for the Beano. Only 'Plug' and 'TV Tops' of this era had four-colour printing. Anyway, the letter continued "I must say your colour pages are very good" which is nice to hear, even if they weren't interested!
Anyway, the letter ends with "if you are prepared to work hard" which is the truest thing to pass onto anyone seeking to break into comics.
Anyway, although I got work from D C Thomson the following week (!) it was a far from easy ride, and there would be many rejections in the next decade and more.

Tales from The Shed part 1

In response to a record number of requests (two, as it happens!), I'm going to tell you a little about this barely-known title, Scouse Mouse Monthly.

In 1988, George Nicholas Creations was commissioned by Fleetway's Bob Paynter to produce a monthly comic featuring their famous character SCOUSE MOUSE who had just enjoyed a year's run with a London publisher called Modelbrisk.

I was one of the 'team' who put it together, in an extension to George's garage in the remote outermost outskirts of the edge of the outermost part of Melling. (Which is at the very furthest point of Merseyside, going outwards as far from Liverpool as is possible. And then a bit further.) We laughingly called 'The Shed' because it was basically a shed. George had come up with the concepts and characters some years before and had been trying new avenues for pushing them. This comic was a real labour of love (we got paid a weekly wage, and it JUST managed three figures!) and we took advantage of the trend Oink had started for slightly edgier and looser material to have a ball writing, drawing, colouring and lettering six days a week. Apart from Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags we had 'Stunt Man', (based on George's brother's career in the movies and TV!), 'Auntie Septic and Major Trauma', 'Fido Fax' 'The Swiney' ( a cop strip with literal pigs- ah, the 80s!) and 'Budgie Malone and Owl Capone, those Feathered felons!'
As the comic was never very well-known, I'm going to occasionally put a page or two up and tell you one of the many stories behind their creation. This front cover is from the 5th (of only six!) issue, pencilled by me and then inked and coloured by George. He used gouache, magic markers and Pantone pens by Letraset. I'd never seen Pantone pens before. They were filled with a petrolium base solution which played havoc with our lungs and livers and minds, sitting in a non-ventilated shed all winter. Nowadays they fill them with an innocuous fluid. Health and safety I expect.