Best of 2012

Indie comics superstar Paul Rainey has picked Spandex as one of his favourite comics of the year!
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2012/best-of-the-year-2012-paul-rainey/

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOUUUUU!

Spandex Black & White final day!

This is the final Spandex Black & White pic! It’s Pussy by some chap called Martin Eden. After creating the character Pussy, Martin actually found it difficult to call her that, which is why she’s often referred to as Alicia in most of the Spandex issues – and it’s also where one of the big twists in Issue 7 came from.

Martin has started work on the Spandex Special and is also working on the 3rd (of 5) O Men books – both due out in Autumn 2013. He’ll be contributing to the 6th issue of Rol Hirst’s Too Much Sex & Violence comic, and will hopefully have something new out in May, a collaboration with T’Sao Wei! 😉

In the meantime, while all this is being worked on, he is plotting his next big project, an epic to end all epics!!!

Spandex Black & White Day 17 by Yifeng Jiang!

This is a pic that isn’t in the Spandex Black & White mini-artbook (because it was only done very recently)!
I met Yifeng Jiang recently and he is a Shanghai-based artist who also studied at the Joe Kubert school in New York. Yifeng has illustrated a saucy comic called Punishment which is available on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Punishment-Yaoi-Yamila-Abraham/dp/1933664452) and he regularly works for a Chinese publication, coming up with all sorts of amazing comic stories – the publication is called 尚漫 [shang man], which means ‘Super Comics’!.
I sent Yifeng the Spandex series and he really liked it – so much so that he decided to draw this beautiful picture of Pussy and Ms Fantastic! Thanks so much, Yifeng!!!
You can see more of Yifeng’s work here http://comic.ishangman.com/comic/read.php?id=10742 and here
http://jyf1982.deviantart.com/gallery/
What a talented guy!

Spandex Black & White Day 16 – James Bend by Rob Wells!

This is a pic that isn’t in the mini-artbook, so it’s exclusively revealed here (exciting eh?! Tomorrow’s is new too!). This is a second James Bend piccie – ‘Bottom of Solace’ (tee hee) – by Mr Rob Wells. Rob did two JB pics, I chose the other one for the mini-artbook, so this is the other one!
You can check out Rob’s stuff here http://www.crispbiscuit.co.uk and have a look at his brand new series called Department of the Peculiar, which is written by indie comics legend Rol Hirst – highly recommended by me!

Spandex Black & White Day 15! Neon by T’Sao Wei!

A couple of years ago, I met T’Sao Wei at a Thought Bubble, and we’ve since struck up a friendship where we occasionally share con tables and we often email each other about our comics and our Countdown addiction. I’m a huge fan of Wei’s work – he started creating comics called Neon Loneliness, Through These Slanted Eyes and A Lonely Raven, which were very thought-provoking.

This year he launched his new series Windrush which I think is stunning – it reminds me of a Gothic Doom Patrol. I can’t wait for issue 2! Each time I see a new page by Wei it just seems to get better and better – I think there are big things ahead for this chap.

Wei is always drawing pictures of my characters for me, and I already invited him to draw the art for Spandex Issue 6’s Cherry Blossom Girl mini-comic. Wei decided to draw Neon for Spandex Black & White – thanks Wei!
You can check out Wei’s comics at http://daventerprojects.blogspot.co.uk/

Coming up next are two pieces of art that aren’t in the Spandex Black & White artbook! Stay tuned!

Spandex Black & White Day 14! Liberty by Garry McLaughlin

I’ve known Garry for a while now – we have a good old chinwag about comics every now and then, and we share a lot of the same comics tastes.

Garry already kindly drew the Hag mini-comic which came with Spandex issue 6, and for Spandex Black & White he turned his attentions to Miss Liberty!

Garry’s been creating comics for a while now, with such titles as his Year of Fear and Old Folk’s Home, and recently he released the amazing Taking Flight – his Frank Quitely-ish art is really getting better and better.

At the moment, he’s working on Black Leaf with John Lees (the writer of the mighty The Standard comic) – but watch this space, as he has big plans ahead!

You can check out Garry’s projects here – http://garrymac.daportfolio.com/

Spandex Black & White Day 13 – Glitter by Matthew Craig

Matthew Craig is an absolute indie-comic legend and he’s plugged away with his cute and funny comics for a long time now – do yourself a favour and check them out here http://www.thematthewcraig.com/!

Oh, he also recently had a story in Markosia’s Bayou Arcana, which teamed UK male talent (on writing) with indie female talent (on art)! http://www.markosia.com/titles/bayou-arcana-songs-of-loss-and-redemption/

Matthew has had problems with his drawing hand recently, which sadly means he hasn’t been able to do many new things. He sent me this Glitter picture and said he wasn’t able to finish it properly – but it looked good enough to me – thanks so much Mr Craig!

Spandex Black & White Day 12: Butch by Mike Georgiou!

This is Butch by Mike Georgiou!
Mike is one of the nicest chaps on the indie comics scene and he is also a freelance illustrator. I met him at a con a year or so ago where he was selling his awesome comic Elemental Micah, which is about strange powers and strange relationships and it’s a lot of fun!
I had the pleasure of sharing a train journey with Mike to Thought Bubble this year, and it was a right old laugh – we had a good old gossip about the indie comics scene and put the world to rights! He was also kind enough to lend me his spare tablecloth for my stall!
You can check out Mike’s comics and work at his website – mikedraws.co.uk. Hire him!!

Spandex voted #6 Best Comic of 2012!

Wowee! Q Magazine has voted Spandex the #6 Best Comic of 2012! Yippeeeee!