December 2009 Archives

OUR FINAL greeting of the season comes all the way from Mexico!

This fun cartooned card comes courtesy of Alejandro Palomares and is drawn by Oscar.Gonzalez.Loyo, both of them being ¡Ka-Boom! Estudio members.

o find out more about their work visit:www.ka-boom.com.mx, for more about Alejandro visit: www.alexpalsketchbook.blogspot.com and a link for Oscar's work can be found at:www.sketchbookdeogl.blogspot.com

OUR LAST but one card of the season is by Jimmy Broxton.

Jimmy is a skilled graphic designer whose talents will be put to use on a forthcoming British anthology comic caled Hardware.

GRAHAM HIGGINS is the artist behind today's Xmas card.

From Punch magazine to 2000AD, through to adapting Terry Pratchett books into graphic novels, Graham has delighted fans with a great variety of work.

CIRCLE OF Confusion supplies today's email Xmas card, featuring art by Dan Brereton.

Circle of Confusion is an American company that acts as an agency link between those producing comics and those in the world of film and TV who wants to use them in their media.

NEW YEAR won't be so much a celebration as a promise of danger aplenty, a treachery too far and fiendish foes hidden behind every snowy mountain in Carter's Column when 2010 gets underway!

Next Sunday sees the debut of an event-packed new adventure saga titled Shang Ri La La La for Speech Balloons's intrepid investigative reporter.

Carter, Lauren, and another familiar face from the series are sent by Joe Stone to do an expose report on Dragon Brand Cigars.

Alas, and perhaps not unexpectedly, they get cut off in their prime - Midflight over the Himalayas! Thereafter it all goes downhill... without a pair of skis in sight!

We're more than pleased to welcome on board Gary Crutchley for the full duration of this epic!

During the horror comics boom of a decade and a bit back, Gary's prolific output could be found between the pages of such scary tomes as Gore Shriek, Shriek itself, and Killing Stroke. He illustrated Stratosfear, a series published by Caliber, has contributed to 2000AD in more recent years, and is doing his bit to keep the independent British comic industry strong these days, as well as drawing a graphic novel for Insomnia Publications, that we'll be getting him to reveal more about here at Speech Balloons in 2010.

Gary is pencil artist on the entire Shang Ri La La La series. This feature includes an early characte sketch he did of our leading characters, and one of a, ahem, interesting character we'll be seeing before too long!

Garen Ewing, author of The Rainbow Orchid graphic novel series published by Egmont helped give the new series a look of its own by inking the first four episodes. Then Gary stepped in for a couple, after which you will see Seek & You Will Find series artist Mats Engesten taking over as inker, as he and Gary climb to new heights creatively, seemingly inspiring each other.

Mats actually starts the series as our colourist, a role he's played well before, and The Princess of Tsyzac's letterer John Robbins returns to help us uphill and should our heroes survive not freezing to death, the return of Andrew Dodd and Donald Jackson as colourist and letterer respectively.

Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride... At time it might get scary, but you know how that can be at the fair, it's likely to be fun too!

For more on our featured artist visit: www.gcrutchley.blogspot.com

TODAY'S A scary rush for those husbands and boyfriends having to accompany their better-halves as the Boxing Day sales begin, so what better visual celebration than a festive Franekenstein's Monster from Shane Oakley.

For more on the Albion and Channel Evil artist visit: www.shaneoakley.blogspot.com

CARTOONIST and Carter's Column colourist Andrew Dodd gives us two for the price of one with his Christmas greeting cards.

For more of Andrew's work visit: www.timebombcomics.com

Batman: The Battle For the Cowl
DC Comics hardback by Tony Daniel and Fabian Nicieza

The trouble with killing a character as iconic and popular as Bruce Wayne/Batman as happened during DC Comics' Final Crisis series is what happens next?

Is Batman's character so entwined with Bruce Wayne that nothing can replace him? Does the character return from the dead? Or can anyone fill the great man's shoes?

The Battle for the Cowl hardback collects the three issue series which dealt with these very questions as heroes and villains come to terms with the post-Batman Gotham.

Dick Grayson's Nightwing, Tim Drake's Red Robin and Damian Wayne's Robin face the onslaught of rampant villains taking advantage of chaos created by the power vacuum. Leading this onslaught is the Black Mask and an evil army recruited during an Arkham Asylum prison break.

But the real villain of the piece seems to be a new Batman who has abandoned Bruce Wayne's moral code and thinks nothing of killing villains and dishing out brutal justice.
The whole feature is set up to pave the way for a new Batman and sets the tone for a new caped crusader.

This is achieved with some style with cameos from many, if not all, Gotham favourites and you are left to conclude that Batman is the attitude and the outfit, not necessarily Bruce Wayne.

The Battle for the Cowl is published alongside a Companion paperback which compiles several one shot issues featuring Commissioner Gordon, the Network and the Riddler in their attempts to deal with the death of Batman. These are a real mixed bag.

BEANO AND Toxic artist Laura Howell reminds us it's a time of giving and sharing... Not just scoffing back mince pies!

To find more about what the incredibly talented Birmingham based writer and artist is up to visit: www.laurahowell.co.uk

CARTOONIST Tim Leatherbarrow supplies us with today's decidedly funny Christmas card.

From scathing sketches for editorials in newspapers, to gag strips and charicatures drawn from life, Mr Leatherbarrow has been around the world and done it all, and still going strong. To see more of his work visit: www.madbadninky.blogspot.com