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"