The Daily Doodle

Updated As Often As Possible
#5 of 5...

The ability to draw has always been strong in my family...

My nephew Henry also has it...
Here are some of his character studies in pencil on paper circa 2015 at the age of seven. The Bar-Thing from my Fred Fortune comic (pictured in a photo from 3005) is a big fan.

#4 of 5...
The ability to draw has always been strong in my family...

My niece Cara has it too...
Here are some of her painted wildlife studies from 2015 at the age of ten.

#3 of 5...
The ability to draw has always been strong in my family...

I also had it from a young age...
This was an early attempt to capture the essence of the subject with portraiture using pencil on paper at the age of six.

#2 of 5...
The ability to draw has always been strong in my family...
My sister also had it from a young age...
This is from her pointillist scratchy swirly phase when she was a couple of months short of two years old.

#1 of 5...
The ability to draw has always been strong in my family...
My father had it from a young age...
This was in his cowboy period, probably late '40s/early '50s which was followed by his dinosaur phase...
You can see his later works on the Facebook page dedicated to his art at:
https://www.facebook.com/Michael-Odds-Art-849499341763884/ 

We're back, so here's Doodle #313...

Yay, it's that futuristic beer fueled reprobate, Fred Fortune... Pen and ink with digital color. Don't forget you can get #s 0-3 of his main title- 'The Incredibly Stupid Misadventures of Fred Fortune and his chums!!' (currently on sale at $2.99 each) and issues 1-4 of his companion title ;Fred Fortune: Gold' which collects all the old strips from the 1990s at $3.99 each... There's a poster too!!

http://www.comicfleamarket.com/brands/Abbot-Comics.html

With #4 ready to roll and #5 well on it's way, we're hoping to get Fred onto some digital platforms in 2016.

Here's another quick painting of an old tree in Burnham Beeches similar to Doodle #s 214, 223 and 236. Like them it was done with acrylic paint on paper. Hmm, I really must do an illustration of the Swamp Thing at some point...

We've been away for a bit, back now...
Here's a pencil sketch of Camden Market, north London, from the early 90s. I was regularly up there buying old 2000AD progs to replace my childhood ones that by then were falling to pieces, from the back issue boxes at Mega City Comics, off Camden High Street... Haven't been there for years, but loved that shop :)

A classic cover from 1994 sporting the mighty fine art of Mr Paul Knight.

Here's a close up of a figure study from 2008. It was done with traditional pen and ink with digital colour. I used lots of sharp flat tones, rather than smooth blended colour to give it a graphic look.

This one is an earlier depiction of one of the characters in the previous Doodle. It was done in traditional pen and ink on bristol board back in 1999, with new digital colour added to bring it to life. Would you like to read the actual story at some point?

Here's an idea/design for a couple of characters that will appear in a story set in Fred Fortune's world that may or may not appear at some point in the future. It was done in marker pens on layout paper back in 2004.

Another random sketchbook page... this one was in a pub in England's north east back in the mid 90s.

Here's Mondo's Christmas 2002 tongue in cheek send up of the comic board games you used to get in the UK weeklies from time to time...

Today's Doodle is an old skool 3D anaglyph that requires retro stylee red and blue glasses to view it... It was done digitally as an exercise when I was working out how to do it. The landscape is an acrylic painting on canvas and an almost finished 2D version can be seen way back on Doodle #39. For another of my attempts at 3D from around the same time have a look at Doodle #160.

This one was an old art college project about modernity and the digital age... The spider's web represents the internet consuming and overwhelming traditional media like books. Originally painted on thick art board the web was made of pins and thread.

And we're back... Apologies to everyone missing their dose of Daily Doodles, this is due to several circumstances beyond ye editors control... Anyway, here we are today with the first Doodle of 2015, a classic Mondo cover from 2000 illustrated by Lee's very talented wife Anna Robertson-Davis.

This one needs no introduction... who'd have thought we'd get this far?

As promised here's the final version of the last Doodle. I've added a background to give her some context. The character, a mysterious futuristic highway/flyway robber will be appearing in #7 of my Fred Fortune comic (out as soon as it's ready!) and is part of the mega epic and stupidly titled 'The Really Groovy Story' which will run over several issues. More info as and when...

I recently got myself a copy of 'Manga Studio 5', which I've been learning how to use. It's absolutely fab(!), especially the pen engine which makes using the pen tools so much smoother and user friendly than other much more expensive image editing software that I could mention. You can use it for the whole process of comic creation if you choose to, but personally I'll still be penciling traditionally for now. I'd recommend anyone interested in drawing comics to give it a go :) I'm still on that learning curve, but here's my first go. The finished version of this illo will be on the next Doodle...

'Victim of Circumstance' page seven.
I thought I'd add a bit of ironic work/corporate satire for the bitter conclusion to this story, hope you enjoy it. Originally the walls in the background on this page were a deep golden yellow colour, which was totally wrong for the feel of this story, so I've toned it down to suit the mood of the piece.

'Victim of Circumstance' page six.
 This story is certainly showing us one of those days where everything that can go wrong will go wrong. It's pushing poor Graham past his limit. Though he's not psychotic, so this story isn't going to turn into Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down'. I think of him more like Basil in the 'Fawlty Towers' episode where he gives the car a 'damn good thrashing!'. Having abandoned his car to the Friday rush hour traffic jam and catching the tube on this page, Graham will probably go back for the car the next morning.
Have a great weekend... we'll be back on Monday for the last page of this story.

'Victim of Circumstance' page five.
Poor Graham is having a very bad day... I've always loved the idea of drawing atmospheric rain and this story was an early attempt at depicting that to aid the drama and mood of the strip. Though crude compared to my up to date rain pictures (check out the previous rain Doodles) it still stands up quite well. This particular style of illustrating rain was inspired by a 'Tank Girl' splash/pin-up page by Jaimie Hewlett in 'Deadline' (TG's original home, a UK newstand comic the ran from 1988 to 1995) donkeys years ago. TG stands grinning at the audience in ferocious, atmospheric storm, tank silhouetted in the background and the rain is full of colour, it was fantastic. 

'Victim of Circumstance' page four.
I've re-lettered the whole strip, because of the colour bleeding and smudging into the balloons as mentioned previously, and to make the story flow better by using a comic font rather than my old hand lettered balloons. I've also lightened the colour on this page which did look a bit murky and muddy in the exterior shots.

'Victim of Circumstance' page three.
As usual with these old strips this has been digitally restored. The original art is still in good condition, but there's a fair bit of colour bleeding and black lines blurring due to using the wrong inks and markers together. The blurring works quite well in the exterior shots in the rain, so I've left that in and tidied up the rest.

Page four on Monday, have a great weekend...

'Victim of Circumstance' page two.
Originally, this strip was a project at art college. At the time lots of ideas floated around my head that eventually formed my 'Anytown' story (new version out as soon as it's ready), a social satire about an average family in an average town. So it seemed fitting that this comic become part of 'Anytown' as it shares very similar themes and ideas. It's the late 90s and the central character is one Graham Grey, average Joe with an average job. We'll meet him again years later when he's married with kids in the 'Anytown' comic proper, so this is a kind of prologue...

It's bucketing down with rain and there's a cold blustery wind in  the air here in the UK. Textbook start to an October week really... ho-hum. But, don't worry if you've got a serious case of the Mondays because starting today we have the first page a comic strip about just this very thing. Except that it's set on Friday...  but, it is raining! Mondo... your antidote to ordinary life! Page two tomorrow...

This promo appeared in Mondo #20 back in March 1994. The strip was never published and I don't know much about it at all. I'm guessing it was inspired by the early 90s westerns like 'Tombstone' and I love Nick Raybould's art here... The shoulders and hand are a bit wonky, but it's so polished and stylish it could give Brian Bolland or Steve Dillon a run for their money. The cross reminds me of 'Preacher' and if I'm not mistaken the gun is an 1851 Colt Navy revolver and check out the bullet holes in the character's hat... Shame it never appeared... Who' like to see a new version in new Mondo? Colours by yours truly.

Mondo- A fast, sexy, dancing, party on the page that shines out of the dark kind of comic.

Another sketchbook page of our cat, (see Doodle #248) drawn very quickly in pen from life back in the summer of 2006.
 
This is some design work for a comic strip that is set in the same world as my Fred Fortune character, only 500 years in the past around the mid 25th century and will tie in with Fred's continuity at some point. Without giving too much away the story focuses on this character, an ex-cop from Imperium- nicknamed Shitty City in Fred's time- looking for her long lost daughter in a gigantic orbiting shanty town. The idea is to do it as a back up strip in Fred's main title, or to tell the story in flashback within Fred's story... At the moment I'm veering towards the latter because I like the idea of different narratives running at once in the same story, but I haven't made up my mind which yet...

Here's another early go at digital colour. It was traditional pen and ink, scanned and coloured with a mouse (!). The same character and part of the same series as Doodle #s 238 and 276.

It's another random sketchbook page today...

Today's Doodle is brought to you by Paul Knight, Mondo alumni of old. First appearing in 1993, Paul brought the 'British Bulldog' and 'Darkness' strips to life with his great artwork. Paul got in touch recently after spotting his art on an earlier Doodle- #213. His work also appears on Doodle #55... if you ask him very nicely he might be persuaded to draw some new comics for new Mondo...

Fred Fortune's alien pal the Bar-Thing goes to see Star Wars Episode 527 on a hot date in Fred #4... Coming soon... (and it'll probably be in Mondo too). Watch this space for more info as and when...

I just couldn't resist doing this one...

And we're back, refreshed and ready to go after taking a summer break of rain and beer in August... Here's hoping you all had a great summer whatever you were up to. Ideas are coming thick and fast as new Mondo starts to take shape... Better get your summer shades back out as the future's bright! Here's today's Doodle.

The Mondo team is moving into our swanky new state of the art offices in London's plush Docklands, near Canary Wharf...

 Hmm... BURRPP! 'Nuff said!

Art college life drawing of a cat skeleton... Everyone drew it from the side or the front... I had to be different...

Hmm... not sure if this one will be appearing anytime soon...

Bum #2... Pen and ink and digital colour. The same character from Doodle #238.

Bum #1... pencil on A2ish paper.

As well as publishing Mondo, North London Comics of old also ran several sister comics, 'Union Jack' which lasted for 8 issues in the early 90s, 'Equinox' which ran from 1995-1999, NLC Presents, and quite a few summer specials and collected editions of some of the stories. Among these other titles was this little gem. In 1994, the gang published the first issue of their Star Wars fanzine, 'Clear Skies'. I'm not sure if it survived to #2 or beyond but I do have a battered copy of #1... I don't know who drew it, but here's the cover.

Here's a Mondo cover from 20 (!) years ago by the great John Woolley, whose recent art can be seen in the current issue of 'The Incredibly Stupid Misadventures of Fred Fortune and his chums!!' (#2). On the left hand side of this pic, one up from the bottom you can see what is probably John's first drawing of Fred, smiling and standing next to British Bulldog. In #2 of Fred's new title he's co-illustrating  part one of the epic 'The Sirius Job'. Fred joins forces with has-been space hero, Bash Barnsley, to rob the richest territory in the Solar Empire. In episode one they embark on a galaxy wide pub crawl to recruit the rest of the team for the heist of the century! The issue also includes Part Two of 'Changing Haircuts'- an article all about Fred's history in the UK small press and the strange text piece 'Abner Fortune's Big Pile of Nonsense', all wrapped up in 36 fun packed pages on sale at 
http://comicfleamarket.com and here:

http://ukondisplay-com.mybigcommerce.com/abbot-comics/

'This must be Thursday, I could never get the hang of Thursdays...' Can anyone guess where that quote comes from?
Nevermind if you can't cope with Thursdays because here's today's Daily Doodle to cheer you up... This is the painting that formed the backdrop for the model used in Doodle #s 93, 115 and 237. It's acrylics on wood and is A2 in size.

This was part of 'Party On', a strip about the Mondo crew at the time on a boozy night out, by Lee Davis and Mark Yarwood. I quite like the idea of a series of off-the-wall stories that focus on the Mondo crews adventures in publishing peppered with a large doses of unreality, beer and nonsense. How about you? Would you like to see a comic about us fighting dinosaurs or giant warrior robots before the pub shuts and we miss the deadline?!

Here's another Fred one for you on this fine summer day. It's a promo type image done to get the feel for a new Fred story. The first draft of which was written at the time this was drawn back in the 90s. The plot centers on Fred and Daze's relationship. Since then the story has stewed away in the back of my head but has yet to appear. It will at some point though because it fits neatly into Fred's current continuity and will change his world forever... The seeds for the story are being sown in Fred's title right now... especially in the upcoming #4 and 'Downtown' will probably start sometime after the mega-epic 'The Really Groovy Story' which begins in #7... More info as and when...
See ya tomorrow... Cheers and beers...

This one is a drypoint etching which was part of an old college project that became a kind of proto-Anytown story because it's central character is a much younger pre-married-with-kids version of Graham Grey, the father of the family that star in Anytown. The story is kinda like my version of the movie 'Falling Down' without anyone getting killed and it will run on the Daily Doodle soon...
    

Yet another art college sketchbook page, predictably drawn in a pub with a beer on the go...
 
Here we go... it's the last page of our British Bulldog story from Xmas 1993. The end is literally a 'party on the page'... In fact there's a lot of parties, bars, pubs, clubs and boozers in quite a few Mondo stories... must be something to do with our love of fine wine, beer and the occasional very expensive single malt!

We're heading towards the conclusion now with page six of British Bulldog. Check out the Adam Ant lookalike/guest star... Would you like to see Prince Charming appear in his own story? While we're on the subject I've still got the script of 'The Dandy Space Highwayman' starring a similar character, that Lee wrote a few years ago and has yet to be illustrated... hmmm...

The action kicks in with Lord Thunder (the star of his own Mondo strip) and Flyguy!

Streaming summer hay-fever? Up at stupid o'clock in the morning to get to work? Still hungover from a fun weekend? Sounds like a serious case of the Mondays that only a swift dose of Mondo's Daily Doodle will cure! Here's page four of our British Bulldog story by Lee Davis and Nick Raybould from Xmas 1993... 

Now Lee and Nick introduce the villain of the piece... the Black Swan. No prizes for guessing who he is based on, and when it came to the colour, I couldn't resist giving him green skin. Perhaps I might've overdone it with the red hair though! I love the little touch of his '666' badge/pin and the newspaper panel, that vintage style van in the last inset panel and the wooden crates are just masterfully handled.

Page two of our British Bulldog re-publish. Check out the fantastically rendered manor house in Panel 3... If only we knew where Nick is now...

Here we go then... It's page one of the death of British Bulldog. Don't you just love Nick Rayboud's logo for the story? As stated last time it was originally published in black and white in the Christmas 1993 issue of Mondo (#17). At the time Mondo was unique amongst the UK small press for keeping a regular monthly schedule, a phenomenal achievement in itself when you consider everyone was doing it in their spare time. So it's hats off and a huge beer to everyone involved!

Remember back in the early 90s when DC Comics published the epic 'Death of Superman' saga that ran for a couple of years? Not to be outdone by the big guys, our plucky little Brit small press upstart, Mondo, responded with it's own take on the idea. The stage was set and in the Christmas 1993 issue one of Mondo's stock superheroes, the British Bulldog was killed off... briefly:) Lee and Nick condensed DCs huge marketing ploy plot into seven pages and this splash page. It's also significant for being the first issue of Mondo to sport a colour cover (re-published on Doodle #57) and I can still remember the free limited edition tissue for mourners falling out of the issue as I opened the pages to read the story, harking back to the days of free gifts taped to the cover of the Brit weekly comics we all read as kids...  Only Mondo would be that creative and clever on such a tight budget. It was hilarious! The strip has all been digitally restored and is now in colour. Here's the splash page... Touch of Steve Dillon about Nick's fantastic art. Enjoy...

We've got a classic Mondo strip from 1993 for you on the next eight Doodles... It was written by Lee Davis and drawn by Nick Raybould... Now it's digitally restored and in colour! It starts tomorrow, so here's a teaser...

This guy needs no introduction... Dredd has been a solid favourite since I first came across 2000AD sometime around 1979/80 at the age of ten or so, though I didn't start reading it regularly until Prog 198 in 1981. This one was part of a submission to Rebellion (which was rejected)not long before graduating in Illustration in 1999, though the colour is new.  I was particularly pleased with the eagle, but can see the faults with the rest of it these days... and my drawing style has evolved somewhat since then...

Here's another sketchbook page... It's from the mid 90s when I was at art college and is of a fellow art student in a pub sketching the punters, just to be different.

'Midnight Queen', created by Lee Davis as a villain in his 'British Bulldog' superhero strip span off into her own series in 1995. Written and drawn by Nick Raybould it was a world-spanning actioner in the vein of Modesty Blaise and James Bond.

'Astro-Knight', by Steven Corps, was a rollicking deep space adventure and it appeared in the June 1995 issue (#35). A prolific cartoonist during the 90s, Steven also published it under his 'Corps Comics' banner along with his other titles 'The Phantom Bog Roller', 'The Stupendous Super Prat', 'Gor' and 'Crusher The Caveman'. Steven has a very distinct warped cartoony drawing style and has a couple of books, both in print and digital formats, on sale over on Lulu...

  'The Phantom Bog Roller' had a cross-over/team-up story with a certain Mr Fred Fortune which was written and drawn by both Steven and Fred's creator Jonathan Odds. Not seen since 1993, the story will be reprinted soon in 'Fred Fortune: Gold' #s 4 and 5.
This version of 'Astro-Knight' was illustrated by Ade Hughes.

 Way, way back I was a big fan of the movie Highlander... The first one, not any of the sequels... Mind you, I haven't watched them all and didn't see the teevee versions either, so I'll reserve judgement on the ones I haven't seen for now. This was my version of the Kurgan- one of the coolest bad-ass screen villains of the 80s. It's from 1989 and I added the gun for good measure and make him even more bad-ass!

'There can be only one!'

For the last one with this image I've added a few layers of digital colour to pull it all together. Hope this quick run through of my current creative process (it changes all the time) has been informative. Tomorrow we've got a really old picture for you...

Then I've added some tone using a grainy texture that I made digitally from an old photocopy. I've been playing around with this technique for a while now and really like the affect, though it can be quite time consuming, this one has four layers of the texture. I like the contrasting idea of creating something smooth out of something harsh and grainy, which is why I used it here. Would you like to see a whole comic strip using this technique? See also, Doodle #s 1, 8, 26, 45, 53, 60, 63, 66, 69, 157, 158, 190 and 233.

Next I've traced the image, still with a drawing pen, only this time keeping it neat and tidy with a smooth line. Also, I've kept some of the lines that mark where the shadows will fall, these will serve as a guide for the next step in the next Doodle...

One exercise I do from time to time to practice figure drawing is randomly pausing a TV show and drawing whatever is on the screen. It helps because you can never have too much practice at figure drawing and it helps you to build up a stock of pose references you can draw on later... This one took a couple of hours and was done with a drawing pen (no pencils) on an A3 sheet of layout paper.

A2 figure study... pencil on paper. Sometimes drawing comics gets too small and over detailed... I'm terrible for overworking stuff. It's good to draw something big now and again to loosen up the creative muscles... As usual though, I don't do it as often as I should...

This is our first cat Pebbles, sketched very fast one night in 2006- she kept moving! A good exercise for artists to get the basic shape and information down as fast as possible, it forces you to learn how to draw. Drawing people in a pub is another good practice, with the added bonus of a pint or two of beer as you do it. I don't do it as often as I should...
Pebbles was a rescue cat that had obviously been abused by her previous owner and was terrified of people. For the first few weeks she hid in the cupboard under the stairs, but slowly learned to trust us. With us she was like a normal playful happy cat, but whenever anyone came round to visit she would scarper upstairs and hide in the cupboard in the bedroom until they'd gone.

Retro stylee flying cars and missiles! What more do you want? Mondo- The Big Bang! 

'Anytown' is coming soon to the Daily Doodle! Ahead of our remixed and now colour version of the old (circa 2001) newspaper style satirical cartoon strip 'Anytown' (itself coming ahead of a new comic book format version), the Daily Doodle will play host to a seven page prequel strip from 1997 entitled 'Victim of Circumstance'. More info as and when...
For further 'Anytown' info please see the Daily Doodle #s 3, 216, 218 and 229. 

'Space Babe' was a sci-fi adventure comedy strip written and drawn by yours truly back in 2000. Originally in full colour painted with acrylics and black ink, four pages of it's six page debut episode appeared in Mondo in black and white copied form the colour artwork. The plan was to add two new pages to the first story to make up a second episode. In the end, though, I reworked the entire story in black and white using digital grey tone- the first time I'd attempted that. Alas, that version was never published, although a second episode was scripted and the story was planned to last for least twelve. The plot involved the main character, Trixie, hiring the legendary Space Babe- a rebel and pirate, to save her planet. Lots of action and adventure was to follow, interspersed with lots of humour and offbeat characters. Would you like to see the 'Space Babe' in new Mondo? Maybe I'll finish of those original two painted pages...

'Starguard' an outer space future war strip appeared in the early days of 'Equinox', Mondo's sister comic from 1995-1999.

'Hyperion' was one of Mondo's earliest strips appearing during '93 and '94. It was an action packed superhero story that was scripted by Lee Davis and illustrated by Paco Garcia. The first series was collected as a one-shot and it was last seen on Mondo's first website back in 2003.

'Simply Splendid', Mondo's newspaper style cartoon strip appeared in almost every issue, usually at the bottom of the editorial page, and from time to time as a one or two page strip. The character is, amongst other things, a beer drinking radio presenter on Mondo FM. Quite often satirical, and always funny it is written and drawn by Mondo creator and co-editor, Lee Davis. It also appeared in Mondo's sister publications- the short lived 'Union Jack' from 1993 and the 1995-1999 comic 'Equinox'.
See also Doodle #83...
I have it on good authority that Simply might return starring in 'Simply Splendid In Space'!!

Another Fred one today... This is a cel from an animated version of the Fred story 'Waste Not Want Not' which I did at art college in 1998. Since then a lot of spare time during the early 2000s was spent digitally reworking it, adding a new sequence, tidying up the and recolouring the artwork, putting in new lighting effects and more activity in the background. As things stand at the moment I still have one sequence left to finish- the opening bit which consists of 108 cels. I'll get it done eventually! The comic strip version of the story, which serves as an introduction to Fred and his world, can be read in #1 of his new comic... on sale now from here:

and here:

Also on sale are Fred #s 0 and 2... and Fred Fortune:Gold #1- a six issue series that collects all the old stuff from Mondo's early days.

You can read reviews of Fred #s 0 and 1 here:

 

and here:

This was one of the first goes at my Space Ace character, done before I'd even attempted to write the story. It was done to get a feel for the ideas that were swirling round at the time. Then I jotted down the plot and began to write...
The Space Ace has changed a lot since then, going through various re-writes and re-designs... At one point it was a newspaper style strip, then a cartoony pocket library comic, you know, like DC Thompson's Commando... around A5 size with maybe two or three panels per page. Two episodes of that version appeared in Mondo during the early 2000s. The basic premise, though, remains the same- it's a very British PG Woodhouse, 1920s style Flash Gordon send-up... A new, less cartoony and colour version is on it's way... Further info as and when...

... And we're back after the Easter break, hope everyone had a fun time. Here at Mondo HQ we indulged in the cinematic escapades of Captain America and Noah with some beer and chocolate thrown in for good measure... Cap was great... Noah was enjoyable, but really stupid.
Here's today's Doodle... It's from 'Rip Kane', a strip from Mondo's early days which was written by your friendly co-editor and Mondo head honcho Lee Davis, drawn by John Maybury and lettered by Siobahn Hillman.

This was one of my first attempts at digital colour from the early 2000s. The pen and ink drawing was scanned and the colour all done on one layer with a mouse (!!) as it was before I bought a graphics tablet... took hours to get right!

This one is the original sketch for the model used in Doodle #115.

Yet another of the old warped and twisted trees like Doodle #s 223 and 214. It's painted in acrylics on paper.

Here's a big version of the main image from the cover of Fred Fortune #0- the preview issue of my new 'The Incredibly Stupid Misadventures of Fred Fortune and his chums!!' title. #s 0, 1 and 2 are on sale here: 
http://ukondisplay-com.mybigcommerce.com/abbot-comics/

here: 
http://www.comicfleamarket.com/servlet/the-470/Fred-Fortune-%230/Detail

here: 
http://wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=243643

here: 
http://graphicly.com/abbot-comics/fred-fortune-2/1

 and here:
http://www.indyplanet.com/front/?product=87282

Also on sale is #1 of 'Fred Fortune: Gold', a six issue series that collects all the old Fred comics from 1990-1995.

From Mondo #14 (Sept. 1993), the classic Danny Baker mask!! Print it out and cut around the dotted line and you too can scare your friends at Halloween and fancy dress parties!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MONDO-Britains-Best-Comic/523142171057453

Summer's on it's way! 
This is the bottom of the high street in Burnham, where I grew up. The white building is a pub in which were spent many beer fuelled nights back in the 80s and 90s...
It's a pen and ink line drawing with digital tone, fx and textures...

 Back in the day when he started Mondo, your editor, Lee Davis, used to adorn it's hallowed pages with some hilarious 'Star Trek' spoofs. Not only that, they were done in homage to the early 80s fad for photo-strips (such as 'Doomlord' et al in the 80s 'Eagle'). If you ask very nicely he might consider doing some new ones for new Mondo...

Classic covers department... Here's #6 from way back at the start of 1993...

Lee Davis' 'The Gladiator' character illustrated by Ade Hughes back in 1993. New Gladiator is coming to new Mondo...

"Messa wanna clubbing!!"... Some of Anytown's youth leave a lot to be desired... especially this literal knuckle dragger. 'Anytown', our social satire strip is on it's way... Starting with a newly restored and re-coloured version of the original newspaper style strip from 2002. Watch this space for Anytown detail as and when...
Don't forget to check out Mondo's Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MONDO-Britains-Best-Comic/523142171057453

Can you feel how pure evil oozes out of the very walls of this strange place? Can you hear the cries of the damned echo hauntingly through it's dank empty halls? Is it the tomb of Dracula, or perhaps the final resting place of Satan himself?! Nah... it's an office of the Conservative Party on Monday morning! See also, The Daily Doodle #s 88, 99, 131, 150, 153, and 192.

Here's Page 2... That monster is so cool... and I love the punchline.
Have a great weekend everyone :)

Here's a Mondo classic by Scott Eason from #12 back in July 1993. It's been digitally restored, re-lettered and coloured. Page Two tomorrow...

"Mondo... Mondo... my kingdom for a copy of Mondo..."

Here's the cover of Fred Fortune: Gold #2 which will be on sale soon. Watch this space for more details as and when... You can get hold of Fred Fortune: Gold #1 and #s 0, 1 and 2 of his new series, The Incredibly Stupid Misadventures of Fred Fortune and his chums!! here:
http://www.comicfleamarket.com/servlet/the-472/Fred-Fortune-cln--Gold-%231/Detail

here:
http://wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=243643
here:
http://www.comicfleamarket.com/servlet/the-470/Fred-Fortune-%230/Detail
here:
http://www.comicfleamarket.com/servlet/the-471/Fred-Fortune-%231/Detail
here:
http://www.comicfleamarket.com/servlet/the-593/Fred-Fortune-%232/Detail
here:
http://ukondisplay-com.mybigcommerce.com/abbot-comics/
and here:
http://www.indyplanet.com/front/?product=87282

This is another of the warped old trees in Burnham Beeches, (see Doodle #214). It looks to me like some sort of tortured soul reaching up to the heavens... hmmm... 'Swamp Thing' anyone..?

Old school Mondo... 'The Hitman' appeared in early 1994, scripted by Lee Davis and Ricky Douglas and illustrated by Mike Kinsella.

This was the corner of the room I used to work in back in 1991-1995... It was at a printer where I worked with lots of light sensitive materials, so there were no windows and yellow lighting.

Garth from the Daily Mirror. Need we say more?

Mondo, more than just a comic... home of the babe...
Inks on A2 paper, late 90s.

Here's a character design from my 'Anytown' strip... This is 'Silverback'... he's a bit of an ape!!

Weiss Johniemuller was Mondo's blockbuster movie superstar... and he'll be back!

The design of the shopping mall that's part of my 'Anytown' strip. 'Anytown' began life as an art school project back in the mid-90s and evolved into a newspaper style web-strip that was posted weekly on my first site back in 2002/3. The story is a social satire about modern life and follows the lives of the Grey family... the average family in the average suburban town. It has since evolved further into a the usual comic book format which will be out as soon as it's ready. Also, the old black and white strip is being coloured as I write and will be represented soon. Watch this space for news as and when...

This one is a random character idea that's yet to be assigned a story... What sort of tale do you think she could star in? What kind of character is she?

In Burnham Beeches, a woodland area near where I grew up, there's several trees that are so old that they've become warped and twisted into some very strange shapes. I don't know if they're still there as I haven't ventured there for quite some years, but if memory serves I think they're protected. This bone-like one was originally sketched from life in pencil and then painted in acrylics sometime in the early 90s.

Lord Thunder has the coolest airship in comics!!
Art by Paul Knight 1993... If you're out there, Paul, drop us a line...

Never let it be said that the Mondo crew don't appreciate the finer, subtler, more delicate things in life... So here's  BIG, BRIGHT, BOLD flower!!! ahem...

 This is a character from a comic strip I've yet to draw entitled 'Reality Check'... Conceived in the early 2000s, it tells the tale of a small squad of cops who police reality when the lines between fiction and reality blur to the point where the fictional realms spill into the real world. The first tale deals with a band of ghost pirates spilling out into the real world from the deranged mind of a failed movie writer and our plucky band have to deal with both the writer and the deranged figments of his imagination on the rampage!! Like the sound of that? Would you like to see it in Mondo?

The heart of a publishing empire! Yes, it's Mondo towers! No... wait... isn't that where James Bond lives?

Secretive espionage oil pastels on paper.

Mondo- Biker friendly comics... Art by Tom Carney, who worked on 'The Gladiator' for Mondo before graduating to 2000AD, 1993.

Pencil drawing of London's Camden Town market in a sketchbook... early nineties...

Darkness... Mondo's Batman... Will he return? Time will tell...

Mondo listens intently...

This one is dedicated to Spinal Tap!

This one is the original version of the figure from Doodle #7... It was done in Indian ink with a dip pen and brush on Bristol board, then colour added digitally.

 Mondo- The party on the page! A comic that can drink lots of beer and dance 'til the end of the world!!

'Let's catch the last rays
Of civilisation and tune-in to a
Sub-space station
Turn up the DJ
Let's get lost in intergalactic
Punk rock hip hop'

Lyrics PWEI- X, Y and Zee... 1990.

Some trees in acrylics, on paper, painted from life.

This one is in pencil on A2 paper.

This one is self explanatory...

Page Two... bet you saw that one coming...

Here it is... Page One of CCChickenski... a Mondo classic from 1993.
Story by Lee Davis and Mark Yarwood.
Art by the late great Haydn Walker.
Digital restoration, letters and colour by Jonathan Odds, 2013.
Page Two tomorrow. Enjoy...

Here's another random sketchbook page... Next- Mondo Classics... CCChickenski! Be here on Monday.

 This climber is still making her way up the mountain to get that lost copy of Mondo... (see Daily Doodle #82). Cor, it's a blooming long way, but well worth it when she gets to the summit and can read it. It's a classic issue starring Lord Thunder, The Gladiator, Darkness, Fred Fortune, Simply Splendid, Iron Ed, British Bulldog and loads more! Mondo... worth climbing a mountain for!

 Yay... it's Fred! Issue 2 is on it's way with Part One of 'The Sirius Job', where Fred and his pals embark on a mission to liberate the riches of the wealthiest system in the Solar Empire! It's scripted by Mondo's creator, Lee Davis, with art by yours truly and Mondo super-cartoonist John Woolley.

 Don't forget that #s 0 and 1 of Fred's main title and #1 of Fred Fortune: Gold which collects all the old stuff are still on sale both in print and digital formats here:

A little later than planned, (oops) the Daily Doodles are back! All of us here at Mondo hope everyone had a great festive season and that 2014 will be a year to remember and brings everyone good fortune, good times and good beer! Here's the drawing, a pencil rendition of the hub of the UK comic empire... Mondo Towers. Yeah... right...

The last Daily Doodle of 2013. They'll be back in the new year. This one was a cel from an animation idea from around 2004. The project is the story of a homeless girl and a hard boiled private eye, set in the wondrous underwater Art Deco city of Aquator, deep in the oceans of Jupiter's ice encrusted moon Europa, sometime in the early twenty fifth century. Maybe at some point I'll do the comic version... Who'd like to see that?

Are these grim stairs the steps down that lead to the gates of into hell itself? ... Nah, it just the back entrance of Conservative Party headquarters!! See also, The Daily Doodle #s 88, 99, 131, 150 and 153.

Our cat, Pencil, just loves to watch the world go by.

This one is a jazzed up picture of the same moonbase model used in Doodle #132.

Here's the final Ray Gunn Doodle for now. It's an A1 sized illustration of the poster for the movie about Ray's adventures mentioned in the story (Doodles 165 and 166) and seen on the wall in yesterday's Doodle. It was first seen in the real world on the wall at my degree show many moons ago and strategically placed so that Ray's giant boot was just above eye level to have maximum impact on the viewer. Where the strip was drawn traditionally in pen and ink and coloured with marker pens, the poster was painted in acrylics with ink on top.

Hope you all enjoyed this Ray Gunn tale, let us know what you think, and if you'd like to see more Ray Gunn stories in the future...

 We're almost there... Just enough space to remind everyone that you can get hold of the printed manga sized comic of Ray Gunn on Indyplanet, $4.99 for 40 full color pages, here: http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=8928 Or you can download the digital version on Comicsy for the knockdown price of 50c (and it the digital version has 4 extra pages too), here: http://www.comicsy.co.uk/povertypress/store/products/ray-gunn-2/
Monday's Doodle will be the last Ray Gunn for now... Let us know if you like more Ray Gunn stories...

As the first Ray Gunn story draws to a close, what did you think? What did you like or dislike about it? Would you like to read more Ray stories in the future? ... And what's with those big feet?

That's the end of that alien insectoid monster.

 Ebony saves the day!

Ray shows his true colours...

There's always something isn't there? It must be one of those days...

 Left on his own facing the deadly alien insectoid monster... Will Ray be able to hold his nerve and save the planet?

 Here's hoping...

Poor old Norman... loyal to a fault...

How will Ray defeat the insectoid alien monster thing on his own?!

Looks like Norman doesn't have much of a choice though...

 It's about time someone told Ray how it is! Good for you, Ebony...

Apologies for the erratic schedule on the Doodles at the moment. This is due to forces beyond my control and the normal Monday-Friday schedule will be resumed as soon as possible. I'll be posting them as regularly as possible, but there will be the odd day or two that I miss (like yesterday). Suffice to say that because of changing hours of the day job most Doodles will now be posted around 9-10 AM UK time until after Christmas when they'll go back to the usual afternoon post.

Anyway, here's Ray Gunn page fifteen. Enjoy...

Page fourteen and Ray's being a bit obnoxious... I guess someone needs to brush up on those people skills... Poor old Norman having his feelings hurt again and again by a 'friend' who deep down is very insecure!

It's page thirteen... unlucky for some... perhaps mostly for Ray who clearly can't cope with murderous insectoid alien monsters.

This guy's fierce! Has the famous Ray Gunn, space adventurer extraordinaire finally met his match? Nah... his mates will bail him out!

Here's two for the price of one as yesterday's Doodle didn't appear here... ooops!

It's Ray Gunn page nine with a bang! What horrors await Ray and his gang on the planet's surface? Find out in the next time...

Here's page eight... I was very pleased with how the rocket turned out.

  Apologies to all who have been waiting for the next Daily Doodle. Last week our rickety old router finally gave up the ghost and died and we lost all access too the web. Luckily we now have a bright shiny new hub, courtesy of Mr. Sky and we're back on line.  So without further ado, here's the Daily Doodle #168... Ray Gunn page seven. Enjoy...

If you had a movie made about you, like Ray, would you watch it? I don't know if I would more than once, if at all... Ray, of course, has watched his film over and over again because it massages his oversized ego!!

But, if there was one, who do you think should play you? Here's page six...

If you have a serious case of the Mondays today at least you can read page five of the Ray Gunn project...

You can get the  printed comic for $4.99 here:

Or the digital download with four extra pages for the sale price of 50c here: 

It's page four... I wanted everything to have a distinctive curvy look when designing Ray Gunn. The rocket-ship interior works particularly well. Though the old style tube monitors and Ray's video tape betray it a bit... This story must be set in an alternative universe retro future where flat screens and DVDs etc never existed!

Here's page three. Those stars took ages! Hand done with white acrylics and a brush... 

It's Ray Gunn page two with a bang! Or rather 'Splat'! I wouldn't like to be in this guy's gigantic shoes...

Here we go... Ray Gunn starts today!

If you can't wait to read it day by day, or would like to read it all in one go, you can buy the printed version from Indyplanet for $4.99 here:

http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=8928

It's a 40 page full colour Manga size book. If you'd prefer to read your comics digitally you can also download the CBZ file with 4 extra pages for the knock-down sale price of 50c here:

http://www.comicsy.co.uk/povertypress/store/products/ray-gunn-2/

Or, of course, you can read it for free here on the Poverty Press blog 

Come back tomorrow for page two...

Mondo #35 from Feb '95, I love this cover, with the British Bulldog character bursting through the earlier #17 cover from Christmas 1993. Unfortunately I don't remember who drew it and the artist's signature is obscured by the 'Britain's Best...' line. If it was you, or you know who it was, please let us know so we can give them a shout out. 

Don't forget Ray Gunn, Mondo's first Webstrip begins on the Doodle tomorrow!


As suggested back in Doodle #124 here's the 3D version of that one. It's a traditional anaglyph 3D image, so those old cardboard red/cyan glasses are required to view this one. This is the first anaglyph I've attempted after reading up on how to do it. Does it work? Tell me what you think...

It's the long hot summer again and Mondo mainstays Simply Splendid and Leopard Woman enjoy a Pimm's and a laugh at Lord Thunder's expense! Art by Mondo superstar cartoonist and all round good chap BJ Wilson. Here's hoping that BJ's comics will grace the pages of the new Mondo Minis title (coming soon...). The eagle eyed among you will be able to spot BJ's character Iron Ed in the background. You can buy the Kindle version of the Iron Ed comic on Amazon for the dirt cheap price of just £2.05! What a bargain!! Check it out:

Told ya!!

The countdown continues... In 4 Doodles time the Ray Gunn comic strip begins, yay!! It starts with The Daily Doodle #162 and will run through to #189!

Those clouds look a bit ominous... I think rain is on the way.

Abedair, written by your Mondo co-editor Lee Davis and illustrated by his wife, Anna Robertson. I reckon it needs a printing in new Mondo.  What does everyone else think, who wants to read it?

This one is of some fishing boats on a Spanish beach one cold day in January 2001. It's an acrylic painting on board.

It's on it's way... the Ray Gunn story starts with Doodle #162... In the meantime here's another design piece... It's traditional ink on paper...

The dark, dank corridor is quietly ominous... the mood is one of despair foretelling the horrors to come. It's roof held aloft by the bones of dead peasants, they also litter the floor. What is this vision of hell...? Where does the corridor of the damned lead..? There's only one possible place... the Conservative Party conference! See also Daily Doodle #s 88, 99, 131 and 150.

Today it's another random sketchbook page...


Yet more trees, on an island, in a park, in a sketchbook... like Doodle #s 102, 116 and 133... 

Today's Doodle is in gouache and ties in with Doodles 88, 99 and 131- check them out on Mondo's Facebook page.


The trees are supposed to be like bones and the strange draped green canvas-like leaves are meant to evoke dead skin... A vision of hell... or life under the Conservatives!

Here we go with today's Doodle... and I can't believe I'm actually using these old things for it! As a kid growing up on the original Star Wars trilogy and 2000AD, one of my favourite movies at the time was the ultra camp 1980 version of  Flash Gordon and watched all the Buster Crabbe ones from the 30s when they were aired weekday mornings on BBC1 during the summer holidays. As soon as I knew I wanted to do comics one of the first projects embarked on was this Flash Gordon parody. It was scribbled down on various bits of paper in biro with no forethought or script or anything. Then later I redrew it on plain A4 paper and stapled it together to look like a real comic. Then I did a sequel... and another... and another... etc. They were all truly awful, the only redeeming feature being the logo, that I was particularly pleased with at the time and the look of Flush himself was based one of the popular characters from the Beano. I guess it was a very wobbly first step into the world of comics creation. If you're a fellow creator what did your first forays entail?