Tuesday 21 July 2020

Manowar Comics (Mockups)

Manowar Comics - FAKE

I’ve been mulling over just how good a Manowar comic book could be. Besides questing for the Crown and Ring it could have Eric and Joey discussing the merits of a wet sword. And there could be a regular Grandfather's Story Time section at the back, like how Alan Moore adds additional world-building with Watchmen and TLoEG.

The comic itself would have to be printed on parchment and held together with staples made from the recycled chains of pleasure slaves. It's good for the environment.

It would be required practice to read it in the tones of Orson Welles, preferably by the light from the north star when winter skies are grey, or, if it's cloudy in England, with a few black candles - but not the supermarket kind whose melt pool smells like a mix of lard and soot.

Decades later it could be re-drawn by older hands and issued with a cover that has Roman Numerals added. But it wouldn't be as good. Most folks would read it only once and then shelve it, preferring the original and best version - in fact, let's call the original printing the only one worth its salt. The past glories endure while the new fads fade.

Until it happens, until the warriors' pleasures are eternally inked, coloured + lettered, I'll settle for some homemade mock-ups using existing official art. There's a few more below the cut.

Friday 17 July 2020

Mervyn Peake's Ancient Mariner Artworks

Mervyn Peake's 1943 illustrations for Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798)

Tuesday 7 July 2020

Scream! Comic Back Page Poster (1984)

Scream! Comic Back Page Poster (1984)
Related to the Scream! posts on The 7th and Last.

I wanted to make a post collecting the cover art of all fifteen issues of UK comic Scream!, but my own copies aren't in good order and I can't find good quality online scans of the issues I need.

However, I did find individual scans of the six-part poster that required a reader to cut off the back page of six issues in order to assemble.

That's part of the reason my own copies aren't usable. I cut them. I was young at the time. But it looked great and was on the wall for years!

Youthful folly aside, I did my best to piece the digital files together. It's far from perfect, with lines that don't meet and colours that don't match, but the original cheap paper version was the same, so it kind of adds to the nostalgia.

The image to the right is just a preview. A larger version (in better quality) is below the cut.

Wednesday 1 July 2020

HAMMER: UK Stamps (2008)

HAMMER Stamps - Royal Mail (UK)

In 2008 Royal Mail released a trio of postage stamps celebrating the Carry On films. Not being a philatelist or a Carry On fan meant I didn't care. However, more importantly, alongside Cleo and friends they released a trio celebrating HAMMER Films. Those I did care about. I bought the set.
Note: the banner directly above is just a preview. You can find larger images below the cut.