The Weekly Droid Watch – September 4^th 2009 – Special Two Week Edition!!

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 35 - It’s the end!!!!!!!! I’m really going t miss my weekly dose of Lilly. I’m pretty sad right now!

Spazzmoid
- Written and drawn by art/script droid Bob Byrne Spazzmoid is a weekly webcomic with very weird, very random, and very funny updates. Bobhas done several updates since I last reported in, and you can now check out Uncle Spunk Nugget Paedo Apocalypse Part 17, Part 18, and Part 19 – be aware that these are NSFW, and not for the easily offended

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!
- This week art droid PJ Holden posted some awesome superhero sketches. You can see them all at Eclectic Micks, but here is a lovely Captain Britain to whet your appetite:
- This week art & script droid Bob Byrne posted a sketch from the upcoming second edition of his Mr. Amperduke book.
- Last week art & script droid Bob Byrne posted a sketch of the old man from ‘Up’:

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!
- This week art Droid Gary Erskine showed fans how he created the first appearance of Dan Dare in the recent Garth Ennis penned miniseries. To see the full sequence please go to Scotch Corner, but here is the original photo reference, and the finished product:
- Last week art Droid Gary Erskine posted a gorgeous sketch titled ‘Demonic Angel’ that he did at Gencon a few years back:

Droid Personal Blog Updates

Art droid Chris Weston has posted a “making of” post for the fabulous cover he did from 2000 AD prog 1650. Head to his site to read the notes!

Chris Weston also posted some cool sketches of Zorro and Captain America he did at SDCC:

Script droid Rob Williams has revealed that he will be writing Ghostbusters: Past, Present & Future, a Christmas one-shot from IDW that will be solicited in the upcoming Diamond catalogue. It features art by Chilean artist Diego Jourdan (ASTRO BOY) and covers by Nick Runge. He also posted a page of art from The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azreal (And the Dead Left in His Wake), an upcoming 2000 AD Thrill that he is writing. Ichabod is a supernatural western with artwork by Dom Reardon (Caballistics Inc) , with colours by Pete Doherty (Shaolin Cowboy).

Art droid D’israeli has composed an epic length post about Caption 2009. The following sketch of Nuala from Sandman: The Kindly Ones accompanies the post, and there are tons more gorgeous images at his site!

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Art droid Rufus Dayglo has been posting tons of stuff over on his site!

- First up are the byro rough and final line art for an upcoming Tank Girl splash page:

- Then he posted the cover to the upcoming Tank Girl: Dark Nuggets one-shot, which will be availble through Image Comics in December.

- Then he posted ome cover roughs for the Upcoming Tank Girl: Skidmarks series (see them all on his site). The last one was suggested by his son, and has picked as the cover for issue #2.

- Then he did a “making of” post for the cover to issue #2.

- … and finally, Line work for the first Issue of Tank Gir: The Royal Escape out in Spring 2010 from IDW Comics!

Script droid Dan Abnett has announced that he will be touring Scotland for will upcoming Warhammer 40K novel.

Art droid Leigh Gallagher has announced that, along with Pat Mills and Clint Langley he will be doing a signing at Orbital Comics in London on September 12th. Wait, Leigh is a man!!!! Oh noes!:

Leigh Gallagher also posted a pin-up to be included in the new edition of Barry Nugent’s novel “Fallen Heroes”.

Art droid Sean Phillips has posted some partial and final inks for an upcoming page from Criminal: The Sinners:

Art droid Sean Phillips also posted the first of a series of paintings he did for ANIMAL, a range of body-building supplements. The first ad has appeared using one of his paintings, in various muscle mags around the world. Each ad also has a comic type page to go with it which you can see online… If you head to his site he also shows all of his initial rough sketches etc.

Art droid PJ Holden has been mentioned a few upcoming projects that he will be working on, including a Phonogram 2: Singles Club B-Side story, a back-up for the TPB of Dwight L. MacPherson’s Interagents, a six-part John Wagner penned Dredd-verse story called ‘Interlude‘, a nine-page Alan Grant penned Judge Dredd: The Lost Cases story for Judge Dredd Megazine… and last but not least, a new Garth Ennis’ Battlefields story called ‘Happy Valley‘. Stay tuned to Hypergeek for more information on all of those!

Script/art droid David Baillie and friends, armed only with a copy of From Hell and some maps walked around the path of the fifty mile pentacle that Gull and Netley travel in chapter four of the book! He documents it here, and here!

Script/Art Droid Bob Byrne is always updating his blog, not of it is 2000 AD or really even comic related, but you should definitely be reading, he is a very funny man! However, he just did a post about his first full comic drawn completely in Manga Studio. Head over and check them out, becasue they are awesome!

Former 2000 AD editor David Bishop has been commissioned to write an episode of Doctors, due for broadcast on BBC1 next February. Also, his script THE WOMAN WHO SCREAMED BUTTERFLIES is a finalist in the 2009 Page International Screenwriting Awards. It’s one of the ten contenders in the short film script category.

Misc

Script droid Simon Spurrier has posted a couple of new issues of his Short n’ Curlies Column over at Bleeding Cool. In Short n’ Curlies #8 Si talks Comics, Scripting Fights in Comics and Screwing Fuckoids in the Commons. Then In Short n’ Curlies #8 Si talks Googlepsychology, Unicornology, and Twitter-based-Twunts

Episode #4 of the Sunnyside podcast was release this week, where PJ and the guys discuss the effect the internet has had on the comics industry, then we attempt to review Bryan Talbot’s new book Grandville. Also, Episode #3 of the podcast was release last week, where PJ and the guys discuss comic-book-inspired movies and review The Nobody by Jeff Lemire and Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter. .

Art Jock has been posting lots of images to his Twitpic account.

Non-2000 AD Comics Out This Week (Weds 2nd August):
- Wednesday Comics #9 features Metamorpho by (very briefly) script droid Neil Gaiman and Komandi by former art/scipt droid Dave Gibbons:
- Script droid Garth Ennis and art droid Carlos Ezquerra have The Boys #34 out this week:
- Art droid Clint Langley provides a cover for Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 (One-Shot) out this week:
- Art droid Sean Phillips has Incognito #6 out this week:
- Script droid Mike Carey has The Torch #1 out this week:
- Script droid Peter Milligan has Greek Street #3 out this week:
- Script droids Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, and art droid Simon Coleby have The Authority #14 out this week:
- Script droid Jamie Delano has Raw Bones #4 out this week:
- Script droid Steve Moore has Hercules: Knives of Kush #2 out this week:
- Art droid Steve Pugh has Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead #4 out this week:
Non-2000 AD Comics Out Last Week (Weds 26th August):
- Wednesday Comics #8 features Metamorpho by (very briefly) script droid Neil Gaiman and Komandi by former art/scipt droid Dave Gibbons:
- Script droid Grant Morrison and art droid Frank Quitely had Batman & Robin #3 out last week:
- Script droid Garth Ennis and art droid John McCrea had The Boys: Herogasm #4 out last week:
- Script droids Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning had Guardians of the Galaxys #14 out last week:
- Script droids Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning had Nova #28 out last week:
- Art Droid Jock provided a cover for Scalped #31 out last week: