Panini received a fee from BBC. BBC/Bad Wolf generously paid Dave and I an ex-gratia sum which they didn't have to do. But not Panini. UK comic publishers simply can't compute the value of 'doing the right thing'. The poor things genuinely don't understand. I feel sorry for them.
I've nothing but praise for the BBC, Bad Wolf, Russell, David Tennant and the production crew on Star Beast. They were all brilliant. But the original comic publishers –no surprise– don't come out of it so well. I didn’t get a bean in comic royalties.
Just heard the news of Kevin's passing. I'm lost for words. To quote Tony Skinner, who knew Kev well, 'Why can't cool people live forever?' Kevin was the coolest.
So sad to hear the news. Ian was a mainstay of 2000AD, especially in its earliest days, and helped set the style for a new, cool direction of comic science fiction. He will be greatly missed.
Hear! Hear! Absolutely agree. We need to go back to comics' working class roots. As one artist memorably said, 'Graphic novels are fat comics with bits of cardboard around them'
I'm amazed Elon Musk knows about Dredd - maybe he grew up reading 2000AD? In which case perhaps we have to take some responsibility for the way he's turned out.
Just received Volume One of Nemesis Definitive edition (softcover and hardcover).
@Rebellion
have done a fantastic job. My compliments to the designers who showed real imagination and style in putting the book together. Beautiful cover!
Heydihoh ! Après un an d'absence, je suis très heureux de vous annoncer le retour de Mythologics ! Cette fois ci, nous allons explorer les enfers vampiriques selon Mills et Ledroit. Voici REQUIEM : CHEVALIER VAMPIRE /// RT = 👹
Very touched by this framed Meep print that
@BadWolf_TV
sent me. Thank you to everyone who made The Star Beast such a fantastic Doctor Who episode and for your hospitality when
@davegibbons90
and I visited the set. Great memories!
@PatMillsComics
I’d bite your arm off to do Slaine, Pat. I’ve been told the rights issues are messy though. If that’s not true, I’m coming to get you. 🤓
We are profoundly sad to confirm that the legendary artist Carlos Ezquerra has passed away. It is difficult for us to put this into words, but we have lost someone who was the heart and soul of 2000 AD...
Great memory of a fantastic day on location in Cardiff for me &
@davegibbons90
for the Star Beast filming.
@David_Tennant
& Russell T. Davies read our
@bbcdoctorwho
original comic adventures in their youth. I relate how it came about in my Pageturners:
So sad to hear the news that Ian Kennedy has passed away. He was a brilliant artist on so many comics including Commando and Dan Dare. I met him only a few years back when he did the cover of my Ragtime Soldier. It was as superb as all his previous work. We will all miss him.
Particularly pleased for Gerry Finley-Day that Rogue Trooper is being made into a film. It was about time that this great creator got the credit he deserves.
Another recollection on the Meep. John Wagner pioneered cute characters with Walter the Wobot and the Gronk in Strontium Dog. So i knew how readers responded to them and would like the Meep
I had thought British comics publishing was changing for the better. In some ways this is true. But sadly not where creators are concerned. Last night I had no choice but to post about my latest dealings with Rebellion.
Fornicators! Lechers! Libertines!
Watch out - it's the Demolisher of the Depraved!
You really get your money's worth from Olivier.
I mean LOOK at all that detail.
From Requiem 7
Definitely going to binge watch the whole Doctor Who series from the beginning. So many I've not seen. And I need a palate cleanser after making the huge mistake of watching the Crown last night. What was I thinking?! It was obsequious, Barbara Cartland-style, fictional drivel.
Last night we watched the two Doctor Who specials that followed Star Beast. Fantastic. So well done. And so much comedy, fear and understandable science fiction. The Toymaker is an amazing villain. I'll have to watch the original now
Ian was as excited by the way Dredd was working out as the readers. He designed the earliest version of the lawgiver gun as a special feature. He'd always had that techno ability, going back to first issue of Battle when he drew the krummlauf German gun that fired around corners.
Indeed. In the very early days of Dredd, Ian drew a futuristic oil refinery in the 'Call Me Kenneth' saga. It was one of the key breakout episodes that took Dredd to a very special place in the readers' hearts. I remember being really excited by it.
Thanks. Yes, that was all down to Ian's enthusiasm. I suspect he worked it all out, maybe with some input from Kelvin Gosnell. A great achievement laying foundation stones for the future
We're using iplayer and a vpn tonight to watch Doctor Who: Star Beast. We'll download the episode because iplayer is notoriously glitchy and we want a pain-free viewing.
I'll go offline from transmission until we watch it, to avoid any spoilers!
#DoctorWho60th
Congratulations to Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons on Rogue Trooper movie! With
@ManMadeMoon
at the helm it should make for a fantastic movie 👏
@2000AD
I didn't know there was a Panini reissue as below. It wouldn't occur to them to send me a copy! No royalties for my comic Doc Who from them. As I said, everyone else was brilliant, kind and generous. But Panini come out of it as just typical comic publishers.
Olivier says Requiem 12: The Fall of Dracula will be out in France on 24th April 2024! Our English language digital edition will be out shortly after 👹
Excellent recent Slaine painting by Charles Gillespie. A couple of years back I tried to get a one-off Slaine story off the ground with Charlie, but it wasn't to be. Maybe another time. He did the recent cover for the Finn book.
That's a great Vesuvius! I wrote Star Beast solo, but I know John Wagner and I talked about the Iron Legion and I'm pretty certain he came up with Vesuvius
The most anti-establishment graphic novel you'll read this year – Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra’s ground-breaking classic of global capitalism, rebellion and exploitation THIRD WORLD WAR is HALF PRICE in our mega-sale
I'm still in awe of Kevin O'Neill's advert. The text and the art were all his. It's brilliant. Especially enjoy the visual punchline with that gross bastard tucking into his Flesh!
What is it about British comic publishers? is it a malfunction in their moral compass? Needs a repair, maybe with an appropriate insertion of a sonic screwdriver...
One of the great things about working with a top artist such as Olivier Ledroit & having the space of a long series, is that I get to create lots of fun supporting characters.
E.g. Inspector Kurse: afflicted with such bad luck he's regularly struck by lightning.
@PatMillsComics
One of the more dispiriting aspects of working in a comic shop was being repeatedly told by customers how “Dredd had the right idea” - particularly when you realised how many of them were coppers. Musk grew up in a police ethnostate; it’s probably nostalgia on his part.
Our pre-launch page for Sha Vol 1: The Shadow One is live on Kickstarter!
I'd love to get your support for my first ever crowdfunder, check it out and sign up to be notified when we launch, which will be towards the end of October.
Dr Dippel's bellicose creation, Deucalion, returns in Requiem 12 - in Dracula's Victory Parade. And in glorious colour in Vol 11, Dead Love. Deucalion's brain is the Pentagore.
Leo's just sent me the bw version of Slaine cover to share with fans. We both feel that a bw version of story would have been easier and aesthetically stronger. Fabulous as the colour version was, it involved a vast amount of (unpaid) development work for both of us
The majority of UK comic readers prefer b&w to colour. It's also a better bet costwise. Plus, B&W encourages the artist to draw better, rather than obscure weaknesses with colour.
In praise of
@PatMillsComics
. Godfather of the UK industry and our roguish Peter O'Toole. Created
@2000AD
, ACTION, Nemesis The Warlock and maybe the greatest comic of all time - MARSHALL LAW.
He's a sell-out and a betrayer of Labour who will do anything to get into power. You can see it in his troubled eyes. Karma will get him in the end. Good! He's lower than vermin. A contemptible skunk. Sunak - I dunno, he's just another revolting Tory. Am I missing something?
A royal parade in Hell as the people celebrate the return of their monarch Dracula. The citizens of Hell are completely insane and any similarity to any events on Earth is entirely coincidental.
BBC/Bad Wolf very generously paid us an ex-gratia sum for everything. And! They gave me a new pair of safety bovver boots to comply with Health and Safety on set. (Dave already had a pair). So I'm well chuffed!
Special thanks to comic artist Dave Broughton who drew this picture of me looking surprisingly youthful. And with an old-school typewriter to match!
It’s good to see Nemesis is still watching over me. I still miss him greatly.
#comics
#2000AD
@T0802348
@DegenerateBoy
@PatMillsComics
The original incarnation of the character was a sniper who only ever said A-1 or J-6
Any level of characterisation beyond that would be a retcon
Pineapples was shown wearing human clothes for the first time in his second appearance in 2000ad
Was that a retcon?
@ThePeterBriggs
@Muig
@PatMillsComics
That was Mills' great insight when he saw Ezquerra's first splash page of MC1
'Oh right, now I see where he lives, I suddenly understand who this guy is and the potential his stories contain'
One of 3 newly found photos of my dad Jack, who died when I was 2. Officially he's described as an introvert: quiet, shy & a very religious Catholic convert which I always suspected was bullshit! This pic proves otherwise so now I can honour him as he really was. As Jack the Lad
Just written to Rebellion telling them about fans' enthusiasm for a black and white Metalzoic. So maybe they'll contact DC and try and make it happen. Thanks to everyone for giving me a nudge.
Excellent French edition of Sláine, introducing the character to a new generation of readers! But it's unfortunate that the French publisher applies the Rebellion policy of often listing creators in order of importance, based on who they believe the book will sell to.
Love it! Mek-Quake is such a great villain - I guess because he's a really stupid bully. And crawls to the bosses. We all know someone a bit like that. Somehow Kevin O'Neill's truly inspired head epitomises all this! Comic magic beautifully brought to 3D life.
On Armistice Day, three panels from
@PatMillsComics
and Joe Colquhoun's CHARLEY'S WAR that contain more truth than any of the rhetoric we usually hear at this time.
We just watched
#AccidentMan
- laughed our heads off at many scenes. Great black comedy, great martial arts. Kudos to
@TheScottAdkins
for making it happen! Will write a review tomorrow on the blog.
The return of
@bbcdoctorwho
was fantastic tonight - a hugely fun romp, and great to see
@PatMillsComics
&
@davegibbons90
properly credited.
My kids loved it too: all through the first half they really wanted their own Beep The Meep; and all through the second half, even more so.
Nemesis the Warlock is a singular and groundbreaking comics series, now collected in its most Definitive form!
Join
@patmillscomics
, Kevin O’Neill and
@bryan_talbot
for The Definitive Nemesis the Warlock and pre-order Volume 2 today!
The hardcover Anniversary ed. of The Horned God appears to have sold out, but the paperback is still available
If you want all the back story on this classic, plus how we created Slaine, read my Secret History of Slaine: Kiss My Axe