March 31st, 2010 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Blah |

The Gorbals Vampire (actual show)

Here’s the link to the aforementioned Gorbals Vampire programme on the BBC iPlayer…

The Gorbals Vampire

It’ll be available to listen to for the next six days. To read the comic strip which may have started it all, click the link below…

The Vampire With The Iron Teeth

March 22nd, 2010 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Blah |

The Gorbals Vampire

In September of 1954, PC Alex Deeprose was called to Glasgow’s Southern Necropolis. Expecting to find a simple case of vandalism, he was instead confronted with an altogether more bizarre sight. Hundreds of children, some of them armed with knives and pointed sticks, patrolling the graveyard.

When asked, they told the constable that they were hunting a 7ft tall vampire with iron teeth who had already kidnapped and eaten two local boys. Children returned to the graveyard on subsequent nights to continue their hunt.

The incident was quickly blamed on American horror comics, such as those published by E.C., despite there being no evidence to suggest any of the children had ever read any such material. Nevertheless, the government responded to the moral outcry by introducing the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955, which banned the sale of magazines and comics portraying “incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature” to minors.

BBC Radio 4 will be broadcasting a documentary about the incident at 11pm on Tuesday 30th March, which will be available on BBC iPlayer.

More details of the story here…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8574484.stm

Update : Cartoonist, Lew Stringer has posted a blog entry on the subject which includes a number of interesting newspaper clippings…

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/03/1954-year-britain-got-horrors-over.html

March 20th, 2010 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Blah |

The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the DEAD left in his WAKE) : Trailer for 2000ad Strip

Starts in 2000ad this wednesday…

The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael from w3bz on Vimeo.

March 10th, 2010 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Original Comic Strips |

Temple APA Issue Six

The (somewhat overdue) sixth issue of Temple APA is now available to download as a free pdf file. Almost 100 pages featuring artwork and strips by Adam Grose, Dave Candlish, Dave Hailwood, Paul Eldridge, Simon Mackie, Tony Suleri and there are a few pages by me in there too. There’s also a feature on FutureQuake and a Small Press Directory, all put together by John Kirkham.

This is actually John’s final issue and someone new will be taking over from issue seven. Hopefully this new bloke won’t make a total mess of things or sully the memory of what has gone before. This is of particular concern to myself because I’m the new bloke. So, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish Mr. Kirkham well in his future endeavours and I promise to try my hardest not to ruin everything.

To download Issue Six right click here and “Save Target As…” or “Save Link As…” if you’re using Firefox. File size is 50.6 MB.

If you’re a UK based comic artist/writer who’s interested in joining the Temple APA, then more details are available on the site which you can visit by clicking this link… http://templeapa.ning.com/