Out of Action

 About this time last year read Kevin O'Neills final story which featured this  toerag wielding  a big chain  I think his name is Baz  thought I'd make good on my promise last year  and re-colour it so it isn't a rozzer as Carlos didn't draw the victim as policeman but an innocent bystander who's only crime was been over 20 (I know how he feels now)the original colourist coloured guys suit navy blue so it matched the Policemans hat who ever it was didn't stop to think the outrage it would cause  mind you I feel Baz's rage with the world  right now  it's meeting a cresendo  and  the people that wield the power  are abusing it whilst everybody else caught up are in it are like  this innocent bystander  I'm sick to my back teeth of it  I coloured this as a hospital was bombed and the water switched off for refugees but it's nothing compared to the real victims on both sides the thing is there are no sides just manipulators and corrupters of the truth they are the ones that deserve the worst of it... they need to see the inside of cell in Holland  the sooner the better,

 This wasn't the actual last issue of Action before the Ban that was a Hellman cover featuring a Hammer and Sickle and Swastika on the cover but this is the cover that caught the presses attention .. I  may of saw this comic at school when it rained playtime would be spent in a classroom there were loads of old comics to read  among them Action and lots of Battles so you'd devour them and wish it would rain more lol -too young to remember Action when it first came out but was definitley a thing and wound up on Nationwide with Frank Bough throwing a wobbley  and ripping an issue up in a rage (must of been like Think Once Think Twice Think Bike advert lol )

 Here's someone who did read at the time and  has a thing about Hookjaw (who was  a way cooler shark than Jaws and I guess his spiritual ancestors would be Old One Eye from Flesh and Saturnus from The Cursed Earth and Nemesis the Warlock)

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I was asked on social media to colour this scene from Action, from a story called Look Out for Lefty which was a soccor strip  which wound up in a tabloid on it's crusade of outrage (even though paper itself would show topless models) for a piece entitled The Seven Penny Nightmare hopefully this will appear in a fanzine soon-Story Tom Tully- Art Toy Harding

You'd see this sort of thing once a year with England played Scotland after Swap Shop -Lefty's lucky to have a girl like Angie who should of been the star of the story, who started out as skinhead then went onto Bay City Rollers and eventually mod style suits the player she bottled was a real creep though and his bully of a brother-Lefty was a bit more realistic than say Roy Race or Hamish Hotshot , poor guy had to look after his grandfather who was pissed all the time and help him run antique shop. Heres a doc featuring Action as well as Viz , 2000ad , Deadline , Warrior and others -nice to see Brett Ewins as well .. opening moments gave me a shock but it's art really - BBC made this .. Aunty Beebs not in my good books better off getting news from Al Jazeera these days

Anderson PSI Division Colouring Project Part 4

Art Brett Ewins -thought I'd give Cassandra the Eagle Comic treatment similar to Bollands classic debut cover of old stoney face.
 Part 4 oif the first Judge Anderson Saga from 1985-The Four Dark Judges 

Story John Wagner  and Alan Grant -Art Cliff Robinson Lettering Tom Frame.

I'll return to Anderson sometime in the near future but right now I will be focused on Coolies Gun and Charleys War episode 12 as well as some one off things 

Recently Dredd lost one of his oldest supporting characters not sure she is the first female mega city cop to be depicted but certainly the first one to walk around without a helmet  here's my tribute to Chief Judge Barbara Hershey 2080-2145 - illustrated by her creator Brian Bolland

Battle Action Colouring Projects-"Johnny Red -Episode 2" & "Charleys War -Episode 11"

 A double dose of Joe Colquhoun in colour - First up Johnny Red Episode 2 written by Tom Tully.

 I Needed a front cover image for this post  it's been greatly altered from the original Battle (and in tiny letters Valiant ) cover from 1977 to Battle Action as it like The Falcon has risen again also removed the Hammer and Sickle that was in the original as when I started  these pages the War in Ukraine had broken out -so I changed it to the squadrons logo as Johnny was always battling the powers that be fought the fascists on both sides -but back to 1941 and Murmansk

Johnny Reds back alongside my first love Nina Petrova in five excellent issues of Battle Action -never thought I'd ever see the return of the title but thanks to these good folks  it's back  and will return in 2024 look forward to the next instalment of stories 

I'm currently colouring first episode of Coolies Gun but expect to see the next episode of Psi Judge Anderson first as those pages are almost complete - I wanted to go to this festival but it's impossible with my current situation -my real job is caring for my Mum( just like Dredger) so I can't get out much unless it's for groceries or to the chemist - colouring these pages is my freetime which suits me , no deadlines, I just get on with it but it's been about three years without a break (apart from the odd weekends which I tend to work on these anyhow) I completed Episode 11 of Charley over the weekend it took me a while and chose to colour Star Wars inbetween  as subject matter (The Somme) can be emotionally draining  no idea how Joe could keep bashing out pages week after week -seeing his drawings of the Tommies playing football as they run into machine gun fire makes me angry at the high command ,the politicians and the profiteers of war  Joe managed to draw these pages week after week he truly is the Guvnor as you will see here

 

Charleys War episode 11 written by Pat Mills who is currently writing another WW1 based story MI7 Assassin - 

I wonder if my hometown Folkestone gets a mention found out some fascinating facts about the early secret service back in 2014 , .. 

How things have changed since that time.

Star Wars Colouring Project-Resurrection of Evil (1981)

Resurection Of Evil! nah not the Tory Conference although would be apt slogan next year  if  that loon Suella gets her way

 

I wanted to get this out just before final episode of Ashoka -  something I've wanted to colour since early 80's (The original story  came out in 1981 in the first Marvel Comic run of Star Wars  .. these scans came from the UK reprints of  Empire Strikes Back Monthly so I didn't have to remove the the origiunal colours as we got these stories originally in black n white whilst the  seventh splash page comes from Walts artist edition Star Wars -  except I reversed the image to how it appeared on the front cover .of Issue 52-Luke having Jedi instincts would of reacted quicker than original so I added that image into the story

I'll return to this story once I get a few 2000ad and Battle Action  colouring projects  going again 

Good to see General Rieekan  again ..first saw him in Fawlty Towers bickering with Basil over a Waldorf Salad 

Heres the other spash  page I put the engines in as I don't think they ever turn those boosters off but here is a more faithful version of the opening splash page

Walt and Tom a dream team they'll plenty more to come -but it'll be in a few monthes but here's the late great Tom , my fave inker And Heres Walt -not as long as last vid but no doubt I'll feature more interviews as I post pages here , the vid  wont embed so I'll try and link this one instead https://youtu.be/KlTlYisxwX0?si=fiMMSw-uJtp0Owaa

Jeez what do people have against  embedding?

about 45 minutes before Ashoka starts my predictions .. Rays gonna either hook up with the Bendu (Tom Baker) or maybe even the Whills  .. but more than likely something entirely different-  but it's been a blast -