Fred Fortune Preview Issue Cover Art

Here's a sneak peak at the cover art for the forthcoming Preview issue of my Fred Fortune comic book. It'll be available ASAP in print and digital formats. Stay tuned for details as and when... 

The background is made up of various pages from the book itself, and the two images were traditionally drawn with dip pen and brush on bristol board, then all put together and colored digitally. Being relatively new to digital coloring some of my efforts can be hit or miss. I think this one works quite well and conveys the right mood for the comic. Hope ya like it...

Fred Fortune Comic Cover

Here's the cover for the first issue of  the collected Fred Fortune comic from way back in the summer of 1994. Back then color printing was way beyond the means of most self-publishers, so the next best thing was to photocopy your 'zine in B+W with covers on color paper. These days everything's much better of course, the only limits being the imagination of the creator, but I still have a fondness for the raw, punky, cut and paste feel of the old stuff. Lots of my favorite titles and creators are rough around the edges. This outing was A5 size and 20 pages. The 'stories' included the first few Fred one pager gag strips and the first part of a  dystopian sci-fi strip entitled 'The Garbage Man' about dumping rubbish in the future and the end of the world (cheery story, that)! Two more issues and a one-shot followed cataloging most of Fred's early misadventures- there's still a few that have yet to see the light of day- and sold mostly through the classified ads in the back of 'Comics International'. 

Poverty Press... coming back after all these years.

The Future Of Digital Comics!

There's a new digital comic format in town! It's in landscape format and is very reader friendly... I've never been massively keen on digital comics, mostly because of all the zooming and scrolling you have to do to read them. I tried it on my I-Pod and just didn't like it at all. Then I tried reading CBR files on my desktop... all reads okay, but you can't slob out with a giant mug of tea, a packet of biscuits and your favorite Alan Moore graphic novel at a computer desk in quite the same way as you can on the sofa. The limitations spoil the enjoyment for me. I've also had a go at those motion comic things... they work reasonably well I guess, but my problem with them is they're neither one thing or the other. Adding sound and animation looks good on the surface, but underneath is it really a comic? I've got a copy of the 'Watchmen' motion comic and I like the animation, especially as it faithfully retains Dave Gibbons' awesome art, but I didn't read any of the balloons as the voice over did all that for me... so what is it, a comic or a cartoon? The new format smashes through all these obstacles digital comics throw in the way of reader enjoyment by  being beautifully simple... and still comics... no animation, no sound, but using the technology to deliver a great read. The page/screen is in a landscape format to fit your tablet, phone, laptop, pc, screen and each panel, word balloon is revealed    when you click on the next page, sounds dull, but the implications and storytelling possibilities are endless, and it makes for a very good read... as long as the story and art are good...

There's a few sites offering their comics in this format, notably Mark Waid at Thrillbent.com where all content is free to view online or download. Mojo Pop Comics, a very new site, who I'm involved with and are offering lots of all ages comics for a small price, as of this writing the first issue MojoPop's debut title is on sale now, with more to follow as soon as they're ready.

I've started a new one in this format too that I'm calling my Comic Blog Thingy. You can download the first episode for free here. When the page comes up click on 'Index of...' to open the PDF. It may take a while as it's 25 MB. Then either read it online or save the file and read it at your leisure in your preferred PDF reader. Use the arrow keys to jump to the next image as opposed to scrolling down the side of the document or you won't get the desired effect. I've tried it online in several browsers, Mozilla Firefox and Avant Browser worked perfectly, while Google Chrome doesn't have arrow keys so you'll have to save it from there, and Internet Explorer crashed completely and refuses to open it at all... never liked Explorer much anyway... haven't tested it on Safari yet though.

If you enjoy the Blog Thingy and the new format, feel free to tell your friends and pass on the links to whoever you think might like them...

If you contact Mojo Pop or Thrillbent, please tell them I sent you.

Please post any comments, ideas, similar links, sites using this format that I haven't mentioned etc. below, thanks.

The future of digital comics is here!
Spread The Word!