True Romance Comix

not here no more

2007-05-31T22:37:00.000Z

But you really should check out www.comicspace.com/danielcox
a world of mind-bending heart-wrenching fun awaits...

Kar-Lin

2006-10-10T21:43:00.000Z

Available NOW kids!

Oh yes. The first episode of 'Kar-Lin's Last Summer' the heart warming tale of one dysfunctional family and the dying robot with a messiah complex debuts in Zarjaz issue three. (Price £2.50 available by clicking the Zarjaz link on the right)

Art by Dan Bell

'But wait...' the comics literate among you cry 'Zarjaz is the respected and critically acclaimed fanzine for Britain's long running sci-fi fantasy comic 2000AD and I recognise neither the characters nor the situation as being from that august organ.'

Erm, no. Well spotted.

In an act of characteristic boldness editor Colin Dinnie has decided that 'Kar-Lin' fits the attitude of 2000AD in their more innovative moments and is the kind of thing they should publish. So we're in. It'll be interesting to see whether the fans agree.

So buy it, read it and if you like it and you want to see episode five please let Zarjaz know. We may not make it without you.

Eloise 3

2006-10-10T21:39:00.000Z

Something beautiful for you all

'She spends her time happy, talking to the sea on her shell phone'

Art by Amera Mussa

Frequent Flyers 5

2006-10-10T21:34:00.000Z

Extracts from 'The Secret Origin of Fishboy' art by Bob Bobson

Goldfish

2006-08-07T22:20:00.000Z

Test art from Bob Bobson for 'Goldfish'

PAGE 6

Panel 1
Time jump. Day.
Inside tank. Fish 2 looking decidedly peaky is between us and glass. Holly’s distorted face pushed up against glass.
HOLLY
‘FISH 2’S ‘ SICK. WILL YOU TAKE ME TO THE VET?

Panel 2
Boy playing computer game…same hideous demon thing as before, slashing open his chest.
MICHAEL
IT’S BECAUSE HE’S STUCK IN HERE. GIVE HIM TO ME I’LL FLUSH HIM DOWN THE TOILET, OUT TO THE OCEAN. HE’LL BE HAPPIER THERE.

Panel 3
Him throwing console down in disgust at dying again. Holly, fists clenched pouting
HOLLY
YOU’RE HORRIBLE I HATE YOU…

MICHAEL
GOOD

HOLLY
…AND ‘FISH 2’ IS A GIRL STUPID.

Panel 4
Tom and Jerry houswife shot. We have from Holly’s shoulders up but not as far as mum’s face. Panel needs to be relentless. Lots of space, mum just entering right of panel, Holly waiting arms up. Fill this space with Holly's speech ballons, broken as per / . Mum's voice floats small, lost in the mass.
HOLLY
MUM! / MUM! / ‘FISH 2’S’ SICK AND / MICHAEL SAID HE’S GOING TO
/FLUSH HIM DOWN THE TOILET AND HE’S SICK/ CAN WE TAKE HIM
/TO THE VET?/ THE VETS/ CAN WE TAKE HIM?

MUM
MUMMY’S TIRED NOW BABY
PLEASE BE QUIET

Panel 5
Mum shouting , Holly shocked to silence
MUM
IT’S ONLY A GOLDFISH!

Panel 6
Close on holly, tears starting
HOLLY (SOB)
BUT IT’S MY GOLDFISH!

Frequent Flyers 5

2006-08-07T22:12:00.000Z

Extracts from The Secret Origin of Girl! drawn by Bob Bobson

Frequent Flyers 4

2006-06-18T10:30:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone at Bristol for the positive response and special thanks to those who sacrificed life giving money for us. Your support is appreciated.

We also have to welcome on board the talented Mr Riordan. John has taken over art duties on 'Whiteout', take a quick look at his site to understand why we're so excited about this http://www.johnriordan.co.uk/
see below for his concept sketches for The Mentors and Yumi.

Big hi also to Luke Norman. Luke is currently creating some mini flash animations based on the free gift on the back of the 'Flyers flyer. For those of you who weren't at Bristol a teaser...

bunny go pop!
http://www.lukenorman.co.uk

And finally...all I currently know about this is some guy was wandering around getting artists to draw on his surfboard and he's going to paint it up and...do something with it. I'll add details as I get them.

Bristol 2006

2006-05-06T20:18:00.000Z

Sadly I won't be at Bristol Expo (http://www.comicexpo.net/) this year but Iain Buchanan, Cosmo White and the Underfirecurrentcurrant crew will be. look out for a free gift on the back of these...

...and tickle the boys under the chin if you see them.

Art

2006-05-06T20:06:00.000Z

I have become art. well, kinda. As part of the Brighton festival and to celebrate the launch of The Strip B'town's new free comic there is an exhibition at The Nest gallery St James St.
This features work by a talented multitude of folks including stuff from my collaborations with Iain Buchanan (Frequent Flyers), Alun Edwards (Fairies), David Gooding (Deleted Scenes) and Jon Ridley (Birds). So i'm in the exhibition...and also not. S'weird being a writer sometimes.
The exhibition and mag also got a mention in The Guardian's media supplement. The writer kindly changing Underfire's name to Undercurrent. Which I'm going to suggest we keep but spell it with an 'a'.

Eloise 2

2006-03-30T21:59:00.000Z

For your delight we present the first jaw droppingly beautiful images from Amera for my children's story 'Eloise' about a little girl and the secret life of butterflies. Enjoy.

Once We Were Fairies 3

2006-03-30T21:54:00.000Z

Just because we love you here is the first page of the preview.
Art as ever by Alun Edwards.

Frequent Flyers 3

2006-03-30T21:50:00.000Z

It's a perfect day to drop the bomb

Once We Were Fairies 2

2006-02-19T23:24:00.000Z

Alan has just decamped to the Pyrenees to redraw the trailer, in the meantime he has, in his own words been 'doodling'.

Don't know about you but the splash of the fairy storm made me go SQUEEEEEE!

Frequent Flyers 2

2006-02-19T22:47:00.000Z

Bad news is the book won't be ready for Bristol Comics Expo in May. But we are using the time well. Cosmo White who's take on our heroes can be seen above is doing a 5 page Ultronix story and I'm working on some text pieces.

You will be able to get 'Going Straight' in Underfire Comics Presents which will be on sale with a cover by Flyers CoCreator Iain Buchanan and there's a three page preview on http://bristolpreview.engine4.net

For more of Cosmo's work check out this amazing cover for top 2000AD zine Zarjaz

deleted scenes

2006-02-19T22:34:00.000Z

'Deleted Scenes' is a short gag strip that doesn't allow it's love of SF to blunt it's
black humour or it's darkness to consume it's tender soul.
The first installments reveal the fabled lost ending of ET and a heartbreaking incident in cinema's greatest love triangle.
You know, the one we all pretend never happened.
Future installments reveal Aladdin's one true wish, the real threat of Hitchcock's Birds and the hidden meaning of Blade Runner.

Here are a couple of extracts by series artist David Gooding.

eloise

2006-02-19T22:20:00.000Z

top news. The fantastic Amera Mussa has started work on 'Eloise' my children's story about a little girl and the secret life of the butterfly. The book will be a mix of watercolours and computer colouring. I'll post you some images as soon as she'll let me. In the meantime here are some sketches I did for the 'script'.

Why Can't I Be You?

2006-02-19T19:16:00.000Z

One shot with Mick Trimble appearing in some form somewhere soon.

"Your mobile. Your last 20 quid. Your underwear.
Your body???
There's a limit to what your boyfriend can borrow"

Artist Wanted: Kar-lin's Last Summer 2

2006-02-19T19:02:00.000Z

Still looking for an artist for this seiries. (See earlier Artist' Wanted post). Dan Bell has kindly drawn up a few test pages for us. This incident takes place at the start of episode two, the increasingly insane Karlin decides to reinforce his alien superiority and blow off steam by picking a fight. Denny admires the picture that got him his first psychiatrist. And Karlin can no longer deny his health problems. The script is 4 five page episodes. If you're interested drop us an email.

Dan Bell's fantastic fantasy epic Mountain Rex, (think Gormenghast with sex and violence) is available from Underfire Comics now.

Frequent Flyers

2006-01-16T00:53:00.000Z

Created by Daniel Cox and Iain Buchanan.
Frequent Flyers Special Issue 0: Escape Velocity 56 pages Price tbc Available May

The ongoing misadventures of blaggers extraordinare Fishboy and Girl, cast adrift in the infinite voids of the multiverse.

Chapter 1. 'Going Straight' Experience the Mcjobs of the future today.

Chapter 2. 'Bad Monkeys' A plauge of monkey tatooists is unleashed on an unsuspecting world. They have no respect for your personal space and what they lack in skill they make up for in enthusiasm. Run. Fast.

Chapter 3. 'Whiteout' The adverts for suspended animation say it's like a deep sleep. In reality it's more like a light death. Our heroes awake from cryogenic suspension with gaping holes in their souls. A depression so deep they forget the rules of modern living. Don't take drugs. Don't take drugs designed for alien physiologies. Don't mix drugs designed for alien physiologies. Check what it is before you swallow.

Chapter 4. 'An Infinite Chain of Stupid Mistakes' Doctor Demented, reality show star, conceptual artist and supervillain is redefining the limits of evolutionary art. By firing an asteroid at the luckless planet Antioch. Now is a really bad time for your spaceship to be a smouldering pile of rubble slap bang in the middle of Antioch's largest desert. "Our karma is rancid".

Once We Were Fairies

2006-01-16T00:09:00.000Z

A collaboration with creator Alun Edwards.

A 90 page original graphic novel.

Extract from the synopsis follows.

"My name is Elodie and today if i am strong enough and brave enough I can make all our dreams come true"

The surface dwellers who know it exists call it Recycling Plant 5, the people forced to live buried underground processing their garbage cal it 'The Squall'.

Here the Yaga rules supreme and she has only one rule. "Finders Keepers".
Elodie and her brothers are sick unto death of it.
To escape she will have to cheat the Yaga and break every promise made to her dead mother. To escape they'll have to travel alien worlds, up through the tunnels to the unknown city, into the air and the wasteland beyond.
To escape they'll have to stay alive.

Her mother told her impossible stories of a a place beyond The Squall.

Bit's of it fall down to them, hidden in the waste. Pictures, writing, scraps of hair, skeleton wings.
A place without disease, a place without death. The fairy kingdom.

Elodie thinks she can get them there. Elodie hopes she can get them there...it's not like they have anything to lose.

Scrogles

2006-01-15T23:37:00.000Z

'Gristlemas is coming, the time of blood and bone...'

Scrogles is a twisted little fairy tale that has been described as Fraggle Rock by Emile Zola. Which is pretty fair.
It follows Oot a Scrogle who is sick of his life farming the treacle tar swamps as a slave of the Weald. His grandfathers death gives him the spur to escape...but he has no where to go. Joining him, against his will, is Weald a... Weald (they're all just Weald, the concepts of names eludes them) who is trying to escape the torments of his tyrannical brother. (Un)together they set off on a journey over the desert wastes to the city of glass and deep into the heart of the swamps to discover the shocking secret that links their races and will destroy their societies forever.

Illustration shows a wood sculpture by artist Amera Mussa which is the basic character design for the plant like Weald.

Scrogles will be appearing as a special edition book soon. ish.

Collaborators : Coming Soon

2006-01-15T23:17:00.000Z

Bios, contact addresses and links to other works on the web or in print will be up soon. Promise.

The Graveyard Cats

2006-01-15T23:03:00.000Z

Working on this at the moment and it makes me smile everytime I think about it.

Birds

2006-01-15T22:35:00.000Z

This short appears in Underfire Comics Presents: Youth Gone Wild
It was a kind of jam session, artist Jon Ridley gave me some paramaters, I came up with a script, Jon drew something not entirely unlike what I'd written and then gave it back to me to put a story over.

I'm a really big fan of Jon's stuff and highly recommend that you pick up a copy of his autobiographical 24 hour comic 'The Knott Family' which deals with the horror of his boarding school experiences.

'Jonathan Livingstone Superstar'

Hey! May the Scientist Deity Host look upon me!
Please lead me on the path with your great love!
When I roam the life cycle driven by strong instincts,
May the Hero Scientists lead me on the path
Of the clear light of orgasmic wisdom
May their consort angel host back me on my way
Deliver me from the dangerous straights of the between
And carry me to perfect Buddhahood!

-The Tibetan Book of The Dead
trans. Robert Thurman

Love Story No 1

2006-01-15T21:15:00.000Z

Another short this one drawn by the supremely talented Cosmo White and appearing in the Rapid Fire Horror Special. Still available kids.
A dark romance that answers the time old question, 'Can a vampire live of another vampire's blood?'

Artist Wanted: Siren

2006-01-15T20:46:00.000Z

Blowing me own trumpet here. Dan Didio and Michael Avon Oeming both loved this when I pitched it at Bristol Expo. It came second on the public vote (the winner had a story about zombies with lots of dick jokes...safe bet every time). Everyone who's read it loves it but I've had a really hard time attaching an artist to it.

If you like sick romances, doomed rescue missions, strange drugs, stranger drug dealers, swashbuckling misadventure on the high seas, demons, mermaids and a night out at the theatre then this is the script for you.

Artist Wanted: The Winter Fountain

2006-01-15T20:38:00.000Z

An alternative present. In a city devastated by war, brutalised by occupation four boys scavange in the ruins for the only thing that matters anymore. Power.

1 episode 10 pages

Artist Wanted: Kar-lin's Last Summer

2006-01-15T20:14:00.000Z

Denny is a young boy struggling to deal with ADHD. His best friend is Kar-Lin, a synthizoid sent to Earth as an agent of the Highest Gestalt of The Krill Commune (an alien race of Zen fascists who travel the Universe 'healing' diseased worlds).
That was 300 years ago and as Kar-lin faces up to the fact that he is dying and his masters aren't coming he loses the plot, with disastrous consequences for Denny and his family.

4 episodes, ep 1-3 5 pages each, ep 4 10 pages.

If you'd like to see the script please email me.

Rapid Fire Shorts

2006-01-15T19:59:00.000Z

I've been really lucky to work with some great artists, which means that even though I cringe when I read these, my first published stories, I still get a warm glow from the pretty pictures.

These were published in the first two issues of Underfire Comics original anthology title Rapid Fire.

First was 'Conatus' which everyone hates (including the artist, who went mad from having to draw so many versions of Macca that he went AWOL and refused to ink it) but I still like. A dying colony of clones, desperate for new genetic material learn to love the alien.

'Hell is Round the Corner' was my first attempt at writing action. It's simply the Orpheus myth mixed with the Doom computer game and features excellent art from the lost lovechild of Cam Kennedy and Mike Mcmahon Mr Nick Dyer.

And last and least 'Pain is Profit' with Jamie Mitchell which stemmed from a drunken rant about why robots are rubbish. They either try to dismember you or go on and on about why they can't sneeze/understand humour. So I created one that did both.

baby steps.