Saturday 9 December 2023

The Christmas Rad-Ion Times (Mega-City One Tri-D Guide) & Judge Dredd In The Chimera Never Dies

Here's part of the upcoming Christmas viewing schedule and by upcoming I mean in about 122 years time...


Basically, it's part of a telly guide for the future metropolis of Mega-City One, from the world of Judge Dredd, made for this year's official 2000ad Forum Advent Calendar.

On the subject of Dredd, the following is a "repeat" from earlier in the year, originally created as an entry for the 2000 AD Art Stars competion...

Click on the images to make them bigger and Jingle Borags, as they say in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.



Thursday 30 November 2023

HotchPotch Issue 10




The final thrill packed issue of HotchPotch is out now on Amazon!

Caspian Thrall and friends accidentally vanquish an evil king, Double O Ducky blows the top off a secret cloning project taking place inside an active volcano, Dank the goblin assassin returns home after wild adventures to find his family under threat from local hoodlums.

All this and more in this full colour comic anthology for children age 8+






Wednesday 22 November 2023

Cosmic Masque XVIII (and a certain freelance peacekeeping agent)

Doctor Who returns to screens this weekend in the first of three 60th anniversary specials and it features a character who first appeared in a comic strip in Doctor Who magazine in the 1980s, namely Beep The Meep.



Coincidentally, a drawing I did of another character the Doctor has met on his comic-strip travels  recently appeared within the pages of issue XVIII of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society's free quarterly digital magazine, Cosmic Masque.

This drawing here.

It accompanies an article on Draw Death's Head Day , Death's Head being the character in question.  Originally created by writer Simon Furman, (whose birthday 'coincides' with DDH Day), and artist Geoff Senior, the robotic bounty hunter freelance peacekeeping agent has encountered quite an eclectic mix of characters over the years. Being a Marvel UK character, there's the obvious array of superheroes, but initially he was a supporting character in the British Transformers comic, before encountering said Doctor and other Marvel UK types, (he even once joined in a fracas started by the aforementioned Meep).

I actually had a letter printed in the original run of Death's Head own comic back in 1989, coincidentally, (again), in an issue which co-starred the seventh Doctor...


There's the letter there...


That building looks familiar.

That toad-like character on the cover, (and the main protagonist in the story), is Josiah W. Dogbolter, who coincidentally, (again), also seems to be making a reappearance in Doctor Who media soon, if that is indeed him on the cover of this new audio drama coming from Big Finish Productions next month, (he has appeared in other Big Finish stories previously)... 


Coincidentally, (this is just getting silly now), Phil Boyce has recently started doing a retrospective of the Death's Head comics over on his Oink! blog.


Click HERE to read the Death's Head entries.


Issue XVIII of Cosmic Masque is available to download HERE, along with the subsequent issue XIX and all previous issues.


Tuesday 31 October 2023

Back From The Depths Presents : Hallowscream! Hallowe'en Special 2023

Something comes a-creeping...



Returning from whichever Hell it was banished to for the previous twelve months, Hallowscream is back with a blood-curdling fifteenth issue!

Here's the Download Link (for Dropbox right click and 'save as') :

Hallowscream 2023 (file size = 50 mb) :  MEDIAFIRE   DROPBOX   GOOGLE DRIVE


These are the full contents behind the phantasmaphotographical cover by Malcolm Kirk...

Page 3 : Return Unto Me  Story by Dan Whitehead, Art by Mal Jones
    
Page 9 : Apocaly-Oops!  Story by Tim West, Art by Carol Kewley
    
Page 10 : Deadvertisements  by Malcolm Kirk
          
Page 11 : The Misplaced Tick  Written by AndrĂ©s Briano, Illustrated by Ciaran Duke, 
Lettered by Tim West   
     
Page 15 : The Jogger  Story by John Crowther, Art by Emi Utrera 
           
Page 19 : Undercurrent : The Good Samaritan  Story by Paul Bradford, Art by
Randy Valiente
    
Page 27 : Uncle Fred's Puzzle Page  by Malcolm Kirk
      
Page 28 : Terror of The Sheep 2 : Chapter 10  Story and Art by
Malcolm Kirk
    
Page 31 : Called It  Story by Gate Karain, Art by Rob Gaughran, Letters by
Tim West
           
Page 33 : Grim Gallery  Artwork by Tony Rothwell & Andrew Milne
       
Page 36 : Back Cover Skull  by Malcolm Kirk
 
You can also download all previous issues of Hallowscream at www.hallowscream.net

Sunday 4 June 2023

Hallowscream! Fiendish Fifteenth Issue Submission Guidelines


It's the time of the year when we at Back From The Depths are once again looking for contributors for our freaky free annual pdf horror comic, HALLOWSCREAM, so here are the submission guidelines...

Submissions should be horror orientated and must be weird or spooky to make the final cut.

We are mainly looking for completed comic strips between 1-7 pages in length. Anything already completed is far more likely to make it into the comic.

Script submissions should also preferably be around 1-7 pages in length.

Eerie illustrations and artwork along with interesting horror/comic articles, scary short stories, petrifying poems or anything just plain creepy will also be considered.

To get an idea of the sort of stuff we're after, you can download previous issues of Hallowscream here.

If you're looking to illustrate something, get in contact and we'll give you details of available scripts to see if anything suits your fancy.

We'll also consider material previously published elsewhere, as long as the contributors own the copyright.

Completed artwork can be either colour or black and white, and should preferably be A4 (21cm x 29.7cm) 300 dpi jpeg or png.

Submissions can be sent to merjeagles@yahoo.co.uk or ghastlymcnasty@backfromthedepths.co.uk

As this is a non-profit, small press publication, contributors will not be paid but they will retain copyright on any material submitted.



DEADLINES :

Scripts, articles and text submissions :  Monday 31st July 2023

Artwork : Monday 16th October 2023

Completed strips : Friday 27th October 2023.

The finished issue will be available online as a free pdf by October 31st, with a physical copy becoming available via Lulu.com, at a later date. You can also keep up to date with Hallowscream news via the Facebook Page.



Monday 2 January 2023

Sam Slade ZX Spectrum Game Walkthrough

I got the impression some people may be having trouble progressing past one of the first rooms in my recent Sam Slade ZX Spectrum game, ( details and download HERE ), so I made a walkthrough video. Be aware that it's a video of the whole game, so only watch as far as you need or want to...


Sam Slade Robo-Hunter is a completely unofficial, not-for-profit fan-game by Malcolm Kirk.
Created using Iain Christopher Hayward's 3D Game Maker.
Robo-Hunter™ Rebellion A/S, © Rebellion A/S.

Friday 9 December 2022

HotchPotch Issue 9



Issue 9 of HotchPotch comic is out now on Amazon!

An evil king who just wants to be loved, a daring raid on an elf city, a hazardous trip through the Temple Of Argh, and more in this full colour comic anthology for children age 8+

Mad King Numbles attempts to embrace the New Year’s spirit by ending his wicked ways. But is his Kingdom ready for such drastic changes? Find out in the penultimate part of The Last Of The Navel Navigators by David Hailwood, Brett Burbridge and Ken Reynolds.

Double O Ducky and Agent Stamper brave the dangers of the Temple Of Argh in an attempt to dig up treasure for the school show and tell.

Goblin assassin Dank Grapple and his Orc companion Bog trick their way into an elf city, with theft on their minds, in Sneaky Goblins by Rene Pfitzner.

All this and more await you inside the ninth thrill-packed issue of Hotchpotch.




If you’re a fan of Phoenix Comics, The Beano, Adventure Zone or Hilda then this ongoing comic anthology is for you.