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.

Webcomic Updates

• Lilly MacKenzie & the Mines of Charybdis

  • Written and drawn by art droid Simon Fraser, Lilly Mackenzie & the Mines of Charybdis by is a graphic novel being serialized weekly, for free, on the well known Webcomics Collective ACT-I-VATE. The latest page is Chapter 4, Page 34 – Can Lilly save cosmo?!

• Spazzmoid

  • Written and drawn by art/script droid Bob Byrne Spazzmoid is a weekly webcomic with very weird, very random, and very funny updates.  There was no update this week, but just use that as an excuse to go through Bob’s back catalogue and catch up!

Art Blog Updates

• Eclectic Micks

  Eclectic Micks are a collection of Irish professional comic book artists. They include Stephen Mooney (Angel; After the Fall), Stephen Thompson (Star Trek; New Frontier, Presidential Material: John McCain), PJ Holden (Fearless, 2000AD), Nick Roche (Transformers, Doctor Who), Will Sliney (Farscape), Bob Byrne (Mr. Amperduke, 2000AD) and Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later, Frankenstein). Every day there is a new sketch posted there, with each artist posting on a certain day.

  Apart from regular updates by art droids Holden and Byrne, this blog is packed full of gorgeous art from insanely talented individuals, including the amazing Declan Shavley, who is currently working on Boom! Studio’s 28 days Later title – so check it daily!

  • Art droid PJ Holden posted a groovy robot character design sketch :

    Character design stuff. Full of little details that a) will never be used and b) make me laugh.

    • Art & script droid Bob Byrne posted a sketch of Batman & Robin?? I like it, it’s a really cool sketch, and I love the style he used, but where are the tentacles and stuff? Confusing:

      Hey hey! Look at me drawing Batman. I thought I’d give him a go since everybody else has and I need a few more finished pieces for the much vaunted and discussed Eclectic Micks Sketchbook.

  • Scotch Corner

    Scotch Corner is a collection of Scottish professional artists. They include Thomas Crielly, Gary Erskine, Andy Hepworth, Jon Hodgson and Graeme Neil Reid. Every day there is a new sketch posted there, with each artist posting on a certain day.
    Much like Eclectic Mick’s, you should check this blog every day, to check out amazing new artwork!

    • Art Droid Gary Erskine posted this awesome image of Ironhide from the Transformers series that he recently did for Titan Books:

      Occasionally I get the opportunity to work on some really cool toy licenses and film related properties. The most recent (and fun) has to be the Transformers series for Titan Books. Have included a cover from last year of Ironhide smiting some poor soldiers (in the wrong place at the wrong time) Ironhide is probably my favourite of the new movie designed Transformers. Nice proportions to him and some cool artillery on those shoulders.

      … Continued at source.

  Droid Personal Blog Updates

  • Script droid Dan Abnett has been answering fan questions by youtube videos. All of his reposes can be viewed on youtube user adeliehigh’s channel
  • With the first two books of Defoe being collected into TPB, art droid Leigh Gallagher asked Tharg if he would be able to go back and do some slight tweaks to his original art. Now the artwork before was amazing, but Leigh has made some definite improvments here, reflecting how he has progressed as an artist since the project started. Go read the blog post for the full list of changes, there are so very interesting subtle changes that he has made, but here is an example:

  • Art droid Dylan Teague posted some draw droppingly gorgeous sketches on his blog. Go check them out, they are astounding!

  • Art droid Sean Phillips has posted the first inked page from Criminal: The Sinners #1 on his blog, and guess what? Tracy is back!:

  • Art droid PJ Holden has started a new comics podcast called Sunnyside Comicast! You can find it here. And subscribe to it, via iTunes here
    

    Episode 1 we chatted about conventions – I keep trying to inject “how to be a comic pro” into every conversation, but I’m sorta outnumbered by normal people, so we only touched on that lightly. Episode 2 is up now, were the ground covered is somewhat astonishing in breadth (if not depth).

  • Script/art droid David Baillie posted some art titled Se La Vee. It’s very pretty but he didn’t leave any notes or anything

  • Script/Art Droid Bob Byrne is always updating his blog, none of it is 2000 AD or really even comic related, but you should definitely be reading, he is a very funny man!
  • Former 2000 AD editor David Bishop‘s previously mentioned Newsnight Scotland piece about creativity and professionalism, is now available to hear though the BBC’s iPlayer application. It’ll probably only be available for a few days..

  Public droid appearances in the Coming Week:

  • Art droid Charlie Adlard will be appearing at Sub-City comics in Dublin this coming Saturday, August 22^nd 2009 from 1.00pm to 6.00p – Again, if you like great art, it would be a little silly not to go. Adlard is one of the absolute best!

  • Art Gary Erskine will be appearing at Edinburgh Book Festival this coming Monday, August 24^th 2009 at 5.30pm for a ‘How to Draw Comics’ class – If you are in the area, it would be criminal not to attend!

  Misc

  • Script droid Simon Spurrier has posted a new issue of his Short n’ Curlies Column over at Bleeding Cool – In Short n’ Curlies #7 Si talks Comics, Cthulu and Coming Of Age

  Non-2000 AD Comics Out This Week:

  • Wednesday Comics #7 features Metamorpho by (very briefly) script droid Neil Gaiman and Komandi by former art/scipt droid Dave Gibbons:

  • Script droid Mike Carey has X-Men Legacy #227 out this week:

  • Art droid Frazer Irving has Doctor Who #2 out this week:
    

  • Script droid Tony Lee has Doctor Who #2 out this week:
    

Related posts:

1. The Weekly Droid Watch – September 4^th 2009 – Special Two Week Edition!! Occasionally, Tharg permits some of his script & art droids...
2. 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...
3. 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 20th 2009 Occasionally, Tharg permits some of his script & art droids...
4. The 2000 AD Weekly Droid Watch: Keeping an Eye on What Tharg’s Minions Are up to Whilst They Should Be Hard at Work! – October 24th 2009 Occasionally, Tharg permits some of his script & art droids...
5. The 2000 AD Weekly Droid Watch: Keeping an Eye on What Tharg’s Minions Are up to Whilst They Should Be Hard at Work! – October 31st 2009 Occasionally, Tharg permits some of his script & art droids...

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