LOST IN SPACE 2: Commentary corollary 2 (of 5)

 THE DUN COW

 

As well as changing the cover image for the second version of Time We Left 3 I also cut out seven pages from its first incarnation. These pages followed on from page two of The Recruitment Chronicle story and comprised Steve and Nigel the Octopus going round the pub asking random punters if they would like to star in a comic, namely Time We Left. All very meta and all very unfunny too unfortunately. I replaced this sequence with a few more comic character interview pages in the second version which were slightly more entertaining. Anyway, the pub in question was The Dun Cow, a real pub in Wellingborough which I used to frequent on occasion back in the early half of the 1990s. The centrefold of the first version of TWL 3 (above) was a drawing of Steve, Adam and Nigel The Octopus approaching the pub which I renamed for laughs. 

 

The real Dun Cow pub was an attractive building with plenty of character but it was demolished years ago. A rather uninspiring block of flats now stand in its place. That’s progress!

Next: “Copyright infringement”

 

LOST IN SPACE 2: Commentary corollary 1 (of 5)

MARCHEAN PRESS

 

 

The comic character interviews and fight scenes in the latter half of Lost In Space 2 originally saw print in my 1995 comic Time We Left 3. There were actually two versions TWL 3, the first of which had a black and white cover drawn by myself. The second version had a colour cover hand painted by my friend Adi Sellers (which was amended and reused for the cover to Lost In Space 1).  

 

 

The original artwork for the cover of the first version of TWL 3

TWL 1, 2 and the first version of issue 3 were originally printed at Marchean Press, a (now closed) printers in Wellingborough. When I took in the artwork for TWL 3 to Marchean Press I specifically asked for a white card cover for the 70 copies I was getting printed seeing as the wraparound cover was a space scene. When I returned to Marchean Press to collect the print run I was distinctly unamused when I discovered they had used this vile pink card for the cover instead of white card as requested. After I’d pointed this out, the printer guy started bullshiting me about how great the pink card cover looked which just pissed me off even more. I suspect the truth of the matter was they had a load of this shite pink card lying around and they just wanted to use it up. The printer guy made it clear it was a case of take-it-or-leave-it but after a bit of verbal argy bargy he said he’d knock off a tenner from the bill. I wasn’t in much of a position to argue really, I’d already paid the £20 deposit prior to the job plus he had all of my original artwork. I settled up and vowed never to step foot in Marchean Press again. Unfortunately, I was now saddled with 70 copies of my latest opus with garish and very crap-looking pink covers.

TWL 3 in pink

Some months later I landed a part-time job in the print room at at Wootton Hall, the Force Head Quarters of Northamptonshire Police in Northampton, meaning I was now able to print my comics myself (if you want a job doing properly…) The in-house copying prices were way lower than any of the local commercial printers too. The print room also had a great Canon colour copier meaning I could now afford to print decent colour covers on my comics. The first comic to get a colour cover was a new version of TWL 3 so into the bin went the horrible pink card cover first versions.

A couple of years later I bumped into the Marchean Press printer guy in Wellingborough town centre one Saturday morning. He stopped to tell me he had seen an article about me in the local paper The Evening Telegraph (see Reviews) about my stare-out comic being picked up for a comedy TV show. He was delighted to read that I had had some success with my cartoons and seemed genuinely pleased for me. Seeing as our final bit of business was a such a sour affair, this was actually pretty decent of him really.

Next: "The Dun Cow"

 

 

THE 1993 PRINTING COST OF MY FIRST COMIC

  

I came across this invoice recently. It shows the amount I paid for 120 copies of my first comic, Time We Left 1, back in April 1993. According to the Bank of England's inflation calulator, £126 in today's money is £265.

Out of curiosity, I just got a quote from an online printer for 120 copies of my first comic (with the same specifications obviously) and the price was just over £100 (including delivery). So printing my first comic today would be way cheaper in real terms than 30 years ago. The printing quality would probably be much better too.

Also worth mentioning is the original cover price for TWL 1 was £1.

 

RUDE MUM

Rude Mum - unfunny

Here’s a rejection letter I got from VIZ back in 1993 after I submitted a cartoon for their consideration. It’s not really very surprising my Rude Mum cartoon was passed on as all it was was a straight forward reversal of their own Rude Kid gag which hadn’t featured in VIZ for a while.

Maybe I should have just had Rude Mum insulting her kid in an amusing fashion rather than have her commentating on Rude Kid’s absence from VIZ? Maybe I should have then bombarded VIZ with some extended family variations such as Rude Grandmother, Rude Aunt, Rude Second Cousin Once Removed etc. Alternatively, Rude Identical Twin, Rude Baby, Rude Unborn Child or even Rude Pet Goldfish could have been an avenue worth exploring? Okay, perhaps not.

 

 

It’s also worth noting that back in 1993, VIZ’s “Editorial Office” clearly had its own franking machine with a suitably amusing design in keeping with their corporate brand.

 

Rude Kid - funny

 
 

Farewell 2000AD but before I go...

 

Four years after getting a letter published in 2000AD, I managed to gatecrash Tharg’s Nerve Centre once again, this time in Prog 504 (10 Jan 1987) when I had just turned 17. I have to confess that the story behind my second letter does not make me look particularly great unfortunately. The London address printed under my letter was obviously that of someone from the editorial team as they forwarded me a batch of no less than five letters from other Squaxx dek Thargos, including a whopper that was four (handwritten) pages long. To my unending shame, I didn't reply to any of those letters, which rather begs the question, why on earth did I write my second letter to 2000AD in the first instance? I don’t remember why I neglected to reply to those five letters I got, but laziness is probably the most likely reason. That said, I had rather fallen out of love with 2000AD by this time and I stopped buying it altogether with Prog 508, just four issues after my second letter saw print. What I do remember is my decision to cancel my 2000AD standing order was a really torturous one, one that I had been putting off for weeks. This decision was made all the more difficult by the fact that I had collected every issue of 2000AD since Prog 1 and so had the complete set as it were. That said, I couldn’t deny the reality that “The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic” was no longer Zarjaz enough for me.

It’s interesting to note that the 2000AD staff had some sort of safeguarding awareness way back in 1987. This is pretty ironic in my case as, by the age of 17, all the evidence available at the time clearly indicated I was developing into an “axe-wielding maniacal psycho type” myself, so the five 2000AD readers who made so much effort writing to me, clearly had a lucky escape.

Sucking up to Tharg...

 

The first time I ever saw print in a national periodical came all the way back in 1983 when I had a letter printed in 2000AD Prog 344. Let me tell you, getting a letter published in 2000AD at the age of 13 was totally thrill-powered, as was receiving a postal order for £5 from The Mighty One himself. Writing Tharg a completely sycophantic letter was clearly a smart career move. Incidentally, I wasn't telling pork pies, I did indeed buy a second copy of Prog 335 as it came with a great poster of Judge Dredd (by art droid Ron Smith) which I wanted to preserve in mint condition for future generations to marvel over.

 

 

As an interesting aside, when I posted this youthful brush with fame in a Facebook comics' group recently it was pointed out to me in the comments section that the artist behind the "Barik, Space Mercenary" picture (bottom right) was Earthlet Eoin Coveney who went on to become a professional art droid for 2000AD itself! You can see examples of Eoin's excellent work for 2000AD here.