Occasionally, Tharg permits some of his script & art droids to leave 2000 AD headquarters. In the Weekly Droid Watch, I’m going to be keeping an eye on what present and former droids have been up to this week. 2000 AD droids tend to go on to produce some of the most phenomenal U.S. comics, so I’ll also be listing what comics released each week have that extra special shot of thrill-power.

Webcomics

• Art Droid Simon Fraser posted TWO NEW PAGES of his web comic Lilly MacKenzie & the Mines of Charybdis

- Lilly Mackenzie & the Mines of Charybdis is a graphic novel being serialised, for free, on the well known Webcomics Collective ACT-I-VATE. The latest pages are Chapter 4, Page 29 & Page 30.

• Art/Script droid Bob Byrne added a new page to his weekly web comic, Spazzmoid.

- This week we get a comic that will be blown up to a ridiculous size as apart of this years Kings of Concrete festival.

• Art Droid PJ Holden uploaded has made some of his older comic work available to view for free on the website Myebook

- Click here to check out a free copy of The Simply Incredible Hunk. Or if you would like a higher quality version, PJ has made the comic available to buy in .cbz format. Click here for more details.

Blogs

• Former Art Droid Gary Erskine has a new piece of art up on Scotch Corner ,which an art blog called which features regular artwork from a collection of Scottish professional artists

Gary had this to say of the image:

Earthfall was a series commissioned by Dark Horse Comics as part of their Zombieworld line back in 1998. Gordon Rennie and myself were lined up for this three part story and then the plug was pulled and the series was canceled. Pity. It would have been really good. Great script from Gordon.

This is a new colour version of the proposed cover for the Dark Horse series. Who would have thought that in 1998 zombie comics would not sell? Resident Evil 2 was selling millions of copies on release but this comic series died. Permanently. It can be a very strange world sometimes. The writer Gordon Rennie went on to continue writing for comics and computer games. Still hopeful we can resurrect this project. The time is definitely right now.

The black and white lineart was done back in 98 and was the only work seen. I decided recently to colour up this image myself and rework some of the ideas slightly. The punctured suit and skewered arm still remain but the zombie face is replaced by a reflection on the helmet visor of the Las Vegas lights. The idea is to subvert the classic iconic Apollo and Neil Armstrong image, confusing the viewer with the neon sign reflection. Yes, this is on Earth!

I am still trying to find a balance between keeping the lineart clean and visible and having the overall feel and colour kept dark and ominous. Fairly pleased with the final result though.

• Art Droid PJ Holden posted amazing Rogue Trooper pages over on Eclectic Micks

>/p>

I think I’ve wanted to draw Rogue Trooper since he first turned up in 2000AD. Having been weaned on a diet of Warlord (warlord was to Battle as Multicoloured Swapshop was to Tizwas) and then moving over to 2000AD when the war comics ended (I suspect they lasted LONGER than the actual War, but not by much).

In order to bring about the ambition of drawing Rogue, I took a couple of swipes at it, with Gordon Rennie, I drew a daft one page Rogue Strip (before I’d gotten any work from 2000AD) called “The Adventures of Rogue’s Other Biochip Buddy” – riffing off the barmy idea that Rogue’s mate all had handy names that seemed to work well with the equipment Rogue ended up slotting their biochip’s into (“Helm” ended up in the helmet, “Gunner” the gun, “Bagman” the bag) – Rogue’s other biochip buddy was called “Buttplug”.

The next step on Mission: Rogue, was to ask Si Spurrier to write me a Rogue strip I could draw for Zarjaz – Si and I were at the first gentle shoots of our careers (his is still moving on, mine feels like it’s wilted). Si did it, I drew the first page (which I’ve included…) and then… Si revamped it as a story for Warhammer – which meant a) he got paid, and b) I ended up drawing that and I got paid to. Win, win. I took that strip (which was greywashed and very much set in a Rogue Trooper like universe – the Warhammer 40k world being filled with various places that look like they might have been nicked from 2000AD) and showed it (and Rob Williams suggestion) to Matt Smith (at this point, I think I’d done a Dredd and a futureshock). He liked it and said it’d really suit Rogue (I hadn’t made the suggestion.)

Gordon Rennie was still writing Rogue at this point and then, when Staz Johnston moved over to DC and while I was on Honeymoon in Barbados I received an email from the Mighty Tharg asking if I’d be interested in doing a six part series for 2000AD. And with that, my 2000AD career started properly.

This big image is a cover I did for Stak! – the Rogue Trooper fanzine. I haven’t seen the fanzine so presume it’s either been published and I missed it or it has yet to see print. Hope you like.

(and one final post script: I still think the page I did for the Si Spurrier Rogue Trooper strip for Zarjaz is the best page of Rogue I drew… sorry Tharg!)

PJ then followed this up with some extra images on his personal blog:

I’ve been doing stuff off and on with Steven Denton for a little while, he’s coloured a couple of things for me, which, sadly, haven’t ended up in colour (no fault of his or mine!) so it seems a shame not to show them off… so here’s couple of full colour Rogue Troopers…

• Art & script droid Bob Byrne also updated Eclectic Micks with a piece called ‘Ape Thing’:

Here’s a goofy pic for a fan drawn on actual paper and coloured with a letraset marker. An actual letraset marker.

Art Droid Leigh Gallagher has announced that the first two ‘books’ of his and Pat Mills’ Defoe are being collected as a graphic novel!!!

Finally 2000AD’s DEFOE 1666 graphic novel, written by Pat Mills, and illustrated by me, is hitting stores on August 15th!

It collects the first two “books” of Defoe, as well as a sketchbook section where I have a lot of the original character designs, plus a forward written by John (Watchmen, Razorjack) Higgins!

Here’s the official description:

“London, 1668. It is two years since the city was devastated by the Great Fire, the inferno caused by a comet passing over the capital. But from the ashes rose the undead, hungry for the flesh of the living. Protecting the populace are zombie hunters like Titus Defoe, a former soldier who now makes it his mission to purge the ghouls.”

This collection also features around twenty or so panels redrawn/retouched by me, so this is the “remastered” edition if you want to call it that!

If you haven’t asked for this at your local comic book store or book store, here’s a few links where you can get it online (by the way, the sites don’t feature the final cover as shown above): AMAZON UK , FORBIDDEN PLANET INTERNATIONAL and for the rest of the world THE BOOK DEPOSITORY where they actually ship worldwide for FREE! Bargain!!!

• Art Droid David Baillie posted a blog update

- Apparently, some of David’s art is going to be exhibited at The Mile End Ancestors Exhibit, which runs from the 27th July until 15th August.

• Art Droid Rufus Dayglo updated his blog with a couple of pieces of art:

Here’s a quick cover rough for the First issue of the US/International release of ‘Tank Girl – Skidmarks’, released through Titan books in November.

If perchance..you are in Toronto..come along and get a signed book, a free sketch, and say Hello!

• Script Droid Rob Williams has posted some cool news over on his blog

…the major news is that I was confirmed as the writer of the new ROBOCOP series from Dynamite…

…I’ve got an 11-page Daken (son of Wolverine, mohican, claws, tattoes can’t miss him) story running in DARK X-MEN: THE BEGINNING…

…The CLA$$WAR hardcover continues to do well, both in terms of sales and press… and just heard today that the CLA$$WAR softcover is being solicited for an October release in Previews….

… I’m sure MEET DARREN DEAD: EATS, SHOOTS AND KILLS starts in either the next JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE or the one after, with art by John (Watchmen) Higgins…

Misc

• Script Droid Simon Spurrier has posted issue of his Short n’ Curlies Column over at Bleeding Cool

- Posted this morning, in Short n’ Curlies #3 Si talks about his fear of modern inventions, the death of Michael Jackson, his new novel, and Steven Spielberg… for some odd reason.

Non-2000 AD comics out this week:

• Neil Gaiman (very briefly a script droid) has some stuff out this week

• Former script droid Garth Ennis and former art droid John McCrea have a new release this week:

• Script droid Dan Abnett has some new comics out this week:

• Former script droid Peter Milligan has a new comic out this week:

If I have missed any cool Droid news this week, feel free to let me know, and I’ll update the page

Check back later today for more Thrill-Power Thursday!

Related posts:

1. The 2000 AD Weekly Droid Watch: Keeping an Eye on What Tharg’s Minions Are up to Whilst They Should Be Hard at Work! – November 13th 2009 Occasionally, Tharg permits some of his script & art droids...

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