The Gentlemen Ghouls - Lord of this World

It's been a long time and a lot of change since writer Martin Hayes got in touch with me in autumn 2015 to work on a project for Aces Weekly digital comic. Elevator pitch; The Sweeney meets Hammer House of Horror. It's been a bit stop start going through three volumes and approx 120 pages of art drawn and coloured in that time. In that time I've experienced leaving London after 10 years, relocating up north, bouncing through a job or two, home ownership, Brexit, Trump, Boris and a global pandemic. And in that time also our Gentlemen Ghouls have chased vampire overlords, decked dodgy occult-lovin' rock stars and been dragged through it by the scruff of their pointy 70s lapels.

It's been really enjoyable spending time in the company of these characters again on this third volume, especially the coppers Pike and Roach; they're car-crash creating areseholes but they mean well, relatable. And the world of 70s London grime and seediness and shoddy decor and clothes is a treat to work within. I've really enjoyed pencilling and inking this stuff but have had a bit of crisis of confidence when comes to colouring. I feel more and more like a pretend colourist and begrudge the time-swamp of colouring eating into drawing time. On this material actively tried to make it a bit garish and... shite. Wanted to create nods to the over-saturated stylised colour schemes you'd get in a good over the top Hammer production twinned with ropey colour printing limitations of the 70s time period. It becomes a very fine line though between creating controlled bad work and plain bad work.

Martin Hayes has really wrapped things up a treat on this third volume. Things get batshit crazy along the way, he must have dusted off some devious dusty occult tomes and VHS cassettes for this one. The letterer Bram Meehan does his usual lock it down hassle-free lettering, it's just right for the project. Been a treat working with these two gents along the way.

Hopefully will get a chance to return to these characters and the demon-riddled dark streets of 70s London. The Gentlemen Ghouls: Lord Of This World begins in volume 47 of Aces Weekly starting 7th September 2020 and runs through volume 48.

Opening page for the first installment - 'Leper Messiah'
which featured in Aces Weekly vol. 21

Opening page for the second installment - 'What Is And
What Should Never Be' which featured in Aces Weekly vol. 31

Opening page for the third installment - 'Lord Of This World'
which runs in two parts through Aces Weekly vol. 47 & 48

The Gentlemen Ghouls - What Is and What Should Never Be

 

Along with writer Martin Hayes and letterer Bram Meehan, have returned once again to chronicling the macabre adventures of Professor Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mister Simon Bathurst, The Gentlemen Ghouls, alongside Detectives Jack Pike and Paddy Roach.

'What Is and What Should Never Be!' kicks off on December 4th 2017 in Volume 31 of Aces Weekly.

They were last seen in Volume 21 of Aces Weekly and this adventure picks things up not long after that. It's a similar mix of grimy 70s cop work and Hammer-infused hammy hi-jinx with a bit of decadent rock'n'roll guest star shenanigans along the way.

Really enjoy working on this material and hope the fun I had shows in the final pages throughout its seven week run. This time around I added a bit of ink wash to my pages, I'd like to think it helps subtly add a bit of dirt and grime and additional texture to proceedings.

 

 

Always a pleasure to work with Martin and Bram. Feel we're into a good groove with this material so hopefully a third outing clicks in to place in time ahead. Watch the skies...

The Corner of Some Foreign Field

Available to view online, eight-page folk horror creepiness The Corner of Some Foreign Field.

This project came about from myself and Martin Hayes kicking over and back a few things to best maximise our venn diagram of interests and to hopefully create a little story that would engage both of us creatively. I've worked previously with Martin on the Aces Weekly serial 'The Gentlemen Ghouls', had a blast on that and was keen to tinker on something else with him. I threw at him random points such; nature taking over, Swamp Thing Moore/Bissette/Totleben era, rural folk weirdness, Alan Garner, Nicolas Roeg films... All a real scattershot of points. He did sterling work coming up with this tight weird little chiller.

After script and inked linework was completed we were fortunate to get the colouring services of Chris O'Halloran, who did a great job I think of depicting the sharp clear unnnerving quiet of a bright warm sunny day in the countryside. Chris is steaming ahead with professional colouring work with titles for Dynamite etc.

And finally Bram Meehan came along to do final lettering on the project, have worked with him before on Gentlemen Ghouls, he comes in, does tidy, solid professional work with little if any issues raised. All in all the creative team were just great to deal with; diligent, down to earth, hassle-free, job done.

Enjoy this little trip in to folk horror rural weirdness...

The Gentlemen Ghouls - Leper Messiah

In October 2015 writer Martin Hayes got in touch with me after seeing a piece I did for Inktober titled 'Pungent'. He gave me a brief low-down for a serial story to be created for Aces Weekly. The boiled down pitch was essentially 'Hammer House of Horror meets The Sweeney'. I was immediately sold as I do enjoy so much stuff from that time period that would intersect with this, movies like 'Get Carter', 'Performance', 'The Wicker Man', 'The Devil Rides Out', grimy crime and grimier occult horror.

It was obvious from the start that Martin had a great knowledge and affection for all this stuff and it really came across in the scripts, reverential and irreverant in equal measure, sharp and funny. All in all I had a blast working on these pages, and I can only hope that comes across to some degree.

I had real fun depicting the time period, naff browns, turquoises and oranges, naffer cuffs and collars. There's something I find alluring about this early 70s time period, the shiny plastic space age dream of the 60s starts to rot and becomes a bit seedier and grimier, and in a lot of ways, all the more interesting for it. Although it's probably better to look back at this time period than to have lived through it.

As I'm living in London, where the story is set, I was able to visit specific streets, specific pubs that were mentioned in Martin's script for references and shots, this really added to me engaging with this project.

Had a lot of fun depicting these characters, especially Detective Inspector Jack Pike and Detective Sergeant Paddy Roach, they can be right arseholes but that just adds to the fun of depicting them.

Special mention goes to Bram Meehan, the letterer and logo designer, who really nailed the look and feel that's just right for this project. It was so good to see the final skin of lettering applied to the pages and for it all to sync in with the project so well. All in all, been a pleasure working with Martin and Bram on this, down to earth but also diligent when comes to hitting marks and aiming for the bullseye.

I'm a big fan of a lot of hoary old music from this period, Hawkwind, Thin Lizzy, T-Rex, Black Sabbath... so was excited to see possibly the greatest musical star of that period making a small appearance early on in the script. He was someone who not just reflected these times but also defined them. When I started drawing these pages in November 2015 he was among us, only to pass away in January 2016. So what began as a playful piss-take is after the fact, a clumsy tribute of sorts. But hopefully it's evident that Martin and myself have great affection for the artist, specifically this incarnation of him.

Hopefully, I have the opportunity in the near future to return to this world of seedy crime and scary monsters and it's main cast of characters.

You can subscribe now to Aces Weekly to receive weekly downloads of Volume 21 which contains this serial of 'Gentlemen Ghouls' which runs over a 7 week period, the volume will also include other work from other great creatives and teams, all of which, I'm really proud to be a part of.

Awesome Podcast-A-Go-Go

I'm guest on the 35th Episode of the Awesome Comics Podcast. A great fun podcast that focuses on all things small press helmed by Vince Hunt, Dan Butcher and Tony Ezoyeh.

They're really passionate and supportive about all things small press and up and coming creators.

I talk about childhood influences, working methods, my Charlatan Tales series. And work with writers Lee Robson, Ryan K Lindsay and Martin Hayes, of whom there should be more news soon of our 'Gentlemen Ghouls' project in Aces Weekly.

First time I did a podcast so was bit jittery/waffley but they treated me gently.