The difficult 21st strip!

‘Ever hear that expression “the difficult 2nd album”? This was a bit like that! – especially after going to the Dublin Comic Con the other week and seeing that there are LOTS of Irish comic creators, doing terrific work. Much more than I expected! As you may know, the « 20th strip went up here many weeks ago and I took some time to review the work so far and think about what works and what doesn’t, what are the strengths to focus on and make even better. I wrote a blog article about drawing faces for the comic that you may find of interest.

 

UPDATE! 24 Aug 2015

My wife Gabby suggested that the original punchline might have been a bit obscure. There was also a bit of a prob with one of the word balloons. Take a look for yourself.

 

Line art for the comic page

Above: A too-obscure, and not very 1970s reference! View larger

 

full colour comic art


Above: My slightly hidden word balloon idea, looked too much like a layout mistake! View larger

 

Getting Out and About

paul-bolgerI met Paul Bolger again, at the Con, after about 20 years away from the animation biz, and was astonished to see what he’s doing now. His second graphic novel is coming out soon, following the success of his excellent ‘The Hound’ and he’s running a Kickstarter Campaign for it. Check it out! Irish Celtic Folklore/Mythology.

 

Army Kids

There were probably a lot more children of soldiers living around me than I realised during the 1970s. In Scotland for example, there were council-type houses up at the bend in the road beside the forest, where ‘The Army Kids‘ lived. When we moved to Ireland in 1977, there was the Curragh Camp near Kildare town and The Barracks in Naas town, not far from where I’d later go to see Star Wars – and go to secondary school.

 

curragh army camp

Above: The tantalising glimpse I’d get of the Curragh Camp, from the road (Wikipedia)

 

 

Old Mister McDonald

The dad of one of my best friends, John S was in the army – and so was his uncle! Not only that, but old Mister Mick McDonald who lived two doors away was a British army tank commander in WW2. I worshiped him! One of my other pals said to me one day, after we rang his bell and waited for the door to open, “Now John, don’t ask Mick all about the war and things. He probably doesn’t like to talk about it.” It didn’t stop me, and he didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoy regaling me with the stories, and lending me war-related books. He and his wife lived in a small 1-storey cottage, but one large empty looking room had a bookcase all along one wall which was packed with goodies.

I even made a WW2 board war game on a large sheet of paper once and brought it around to him, and he played it with me! Which was great of him, because it was probably quite boring! I think I still have it around here somewhere. He was such a nice jolly old gent. Him and his wife were so loveable.

 

A final few words…

I’ve tried to keep my commentary short this week (and failed). I got into the habit of writing accompanying articles with the comic pages on my Star Wars age 9 and Alien age 11 webcomics – and people really enjoyed them. What do think?

  • Should I keep doing it here?
  • Or are you really here to read comics?

I also want to leave space – as it were – for you to give your own thoughts.

If you enjoy today’s strip and article, please leave a comment so that I know? And please ‘Share’ it – in whichever way you prefer. Every bit helps, to get my comic ‘out there’ – and – encourages me to stick at it.

 

** Stay Groovy, all you 1970s kids! **

– John White