Month: February 2024

Hey ho, so I’m awful at updates, in my defence everything on a macro scale in the world is terrible and everything on a micro scale is similarly awful.  In fact, it’s largely why I’m not really blogging anymore. It’s just … too much.

That said, here’s an update:

Work that I can talk about ; well, finished all prior commitments, now working through a couple of simple things, primarily a war thing (short, 8 pages) more chimpsky – I’ll post some art when I can – and … a DC strip – following the adventures of Dr Psycho, the Joker and King Shark. It’s only 15 pages, but it’s lots of fun.

After that I pick up the pen for a 40 page thing I’ve been putting off for about a year, while other work piled up.

(Work that I can’t talk about, actually there is none, I’m entering the panic stage of being a freelancer after a lovely few years of solid work)

Now, all that said, I’ve written another story, this one is fun little thing originally written as a very overloaded two pages. I don’t think there’s enough in it, to be a 2000ad horror story (but who knows maybe I’m being too hard on myself) but here’s the second draft of it for your amusement.

When an offer is made for your soul, it’s important to read all of the small print…

Let’s try and convene some sort of weekly update.

Week 1!

Where am I, well, on the drawing table I’m finishing (at last!) the Lion and the Eagle. 9 pages of inks to go and done! It’s been a slog, I’m pretty happy with a lot of it (some bits more than others) the entire thing is digital – I find it works out better with war stuff where I can just gather up reference on screen and cheat with 3d models.

Once I’m finally done with that, I’m doing a short war story for a thing – tbh I’d rather not be, but I’d promised this over a year ago.

I’ve also another short thing, I don’t wanna talk about – but – while it’s short – it represents a promising break in my career, much like getting the first multiparter for 2000ad did (which was 3 years in to working for 2000AD). Approached by an editor to do a thing. It’s only 15 pages, but … look I promise you’ll see some of it when I get started. I’m very tempted to go back to pencil and paper for this one.

And thirdly/fourthly, I have more chimpsky to do, and a second part to a kickstarter project I was involved in last year.

I am running very late on a lot of these prior commitments, blame covid (and a big chunk was me drawing Soul Plumber which started as a drop in commitment to do a few pages and ended with me drawing maybe 60-80 pages? All between Lion and the Eagle issues 3 & 4) and family commitments, I’m still acting as a part time carer for my brother – who lives 50 minutes away, and who I end up staying with a couple of nights per week. More as a psychological carer than any actual grafting so it’s not hard work, but it is difficult to get in to a drawing flow when you’re in somebody else’s house. 

Anyway, more next week!

Sitting here thinking about 2000ad and accidentally came up with a terror tale pitch. Sometimes I post these half hearted thoughts on twitter and I get people saying “you should have sold that as a story” and the reality is i lack time(and possibly ability) to do so. So instead I’m gonna do these half formed thoughts here where if I *do* decide to actually pitch them then I can.

so here we go:

Terror tale: Tower

a team of modern day abandoned Building spelunkers have found an enormous tower, with vast basements. As they get further and further into the basements there are ghostly apparations. Then we see another character. Tall and in shadows, beside him a shorter character with a stammer sh..sh..should we stop them? No let’s see where this goes.

the climbers discover wonders machinary not unlike the mines in forbidden planet. The ghostly things get weirder and weirder.

soemthing happens. The shadowy figure decides to intervene, but it’s too late.

the people become trapped in the machines.

short guy “th… they’re trapped”

shadowy figure “yes. I’m afraid they are. No matter. The machine will consume them and use them and when the time is right I’ll send some droids in to harvest the new thrills. It’s been a long time but Kings reach tower may yet prove useful”

and With that Tharg and a run down, almost Frankenstein-like shell of Burt-1 walk away from the long abandoned Kings Reach Tower. 

Happy birthday 2000ad

yay! Suddenly, out of the blue and unbenkowst to me, my 2000ad debut as a writer is out this week, prog 2268. Once the prog hits I’ll show you the pitch and the script and the notes and then the new script (which was radically different from the old script, though the synopsis is identical.) In the meantime, here’s page 1!

So here’s what’s been happening, finally finished Soul Plumber – the six issue mini I helped out on – issue 1, pencilled 2 pages, issue 2 layed out 12 pages, issue 3 did all layouts and half the inks, issue 4 the same, issue five mostly the same and issue 6 mostly the same. All while trying to get the war book done!

There’s a few pages to be finished they’re on John – but will check in on monday and see if he needs me to help out (deadline is the 10th, so it’s doable but tight). Last couple of days I’ve inked between two-three pages a day on it – distilling super complex stuff into simple comic books (draw the Sistene chapel! the seven headed beast of the apocalypse! A crowd of thousands watch as 11 million aliens form for horses galloping across the sky…!)

Anyway, this weekend back on to the war book! I’ve forty pages to pencil and ink in the next … uhm… 28 days? (ok that’ll slip, but I’ve already pencilled the first 12)

After that a short (8 page) war think I’ve been putting of for yonks, then the second book of the v2a thing that I did last year – forty pages of post apocalyptic mad max style shennanigans. Was meant to do this last year, but you know… things got away from me.

Nothing solid planned after that, I’m gonna miss the insane workload I’ve had the past five/six months. No time to holiday, no time to do anything but work – but at the same time, I might have time to write up this second future shock/terror tale 2000ad pitch idea I’ve mostly finished (the first one sold, and I drew it just not sure when it’ll see print)

Have high hopes for some DC work though – they seemed very happy with the work I did (and I wrangled the deadline and kept the book on schedule – even as the script was running late) so it stands my best chance of a crack at the big two. I might try and take the time to send some samples to Marvel (I’ve drawn one page of marvel material, so I’m on their books, but no-one knows me from Adam over there) and I’m pretty sure Kenneth Neimand will want to do more Chimpsky (as will I)

Anyway, normalish service will resume and we’ll see how that goes. But I surely miss all the lovely money from all the extra work…

[I’ll be cross posting this to my blog but with less insider info!]

Never sure if it’s too early or late to post the old xmas card – but sod it, you get to see these things early.

Looking forward to next year; got a ton of stuff in print and I’m fairly optimistic about what’s ahead [it’s to feel your career has stalled, but Soul Plumber has fairly turbo charged things a little, exposure to DC editorial has been invaluable – hoping it lands more work, but we’ll see!]

I’m still working, and likely to be working up until XMAS eve-eve, so I’m sure you’ll see more posts by me later!

That’s the preview you can read everywhere online, and now, here’s my layouts (exclusivly to you guys!)

So you can see what magic McCrea has wrought over my layouts!

Well, I’ve done as much of Soul Plumber issue 4 as I might need to do – John’s got three pages to ink and about 9 days to do it in, so hoping covid stays at bay and he can get those done, leaving me to pour myself into doing some WWII stuff

By my count today, that means I’ve drawn 13 pages of Soul Plumber (plus a further 7 pages of pencils for it) and 12 completed pages of Time Before Time, so 25 pages in 21 days. Good lord. Anyway, I need another 10 to get back on schedule…!

Finished this earlier than I expected, but my issue of Time Before Time is now Done.

This is probably my best/favourite page. Tried to lean hard into scifi/heavy noir, so we’ll see how that looks in colour. Sometimes what I have in my head is a disappointment when I get it drawn, this page I think worked.

Or at least, release the books!

Two big announcements, one totally expeted: Lion and the Eagle Announced. Here’s some preview pages

AND THEN… Yesterday DC announnced that I was drawing issue 3 of Soul Plumber (I was helping John out from issue 1 and by issue 3 I’d ended up doing all of the layouts and about half the inks, still waiting to see what’s happening on issue 4)

DC’s announcement feels vaguely like a sea change in my career – it’s very front and centre, the headline THE TERROR CONTINUES WITH SOUL PLUMBER #3 with the subheading: Artist PJ Holden to Draw Issue #3 of DC HORROR’S Hit Series with John McCrea.

John is ok, but suffering with long covid, making work hard to do, especially the grinding work of monthly comics. I’ll be honest, John’s pages are a load better than mine (even when I’ve done the layouts John has made those pages sing) so I’ve been placated by the fact that well, I was only helping out, but finding my name in the sub heading there feels weird.

BUT – I suppose, DC comics pushing my name out in the header of press release (on the third issue of a comic) I think is them getting ahead of “why isn’t John McCrea drawing issue 3” (so making a feature out of a bug) but also I think it suggests my profile has raised a bit.

Anyway here’s some pages from this:

Soul Plumber is absolutely bonkers.