Triclops collage postcards

If you haven't popped over to see the Stripped show at Orbital Comics, you are either outside of London or out of your ever-lovin' mind baby!
There are some groovy goodies on show, by some talented and unusual artists.
Case in point these amazing collage postcards by Rob & Luke of Triclops Studio.

As with the delightful Len Bellinger I first encountered these guys through working on Topps Star Wars Galaxy 4 sketch cards.

Rob put together 3 beautiful collage cards, not to be out done Luke raised the bar with his amazing multi layered 3D cards, cheeky and irreverent though they be.

All cards are for sale at £20 + p&p each (mail for quote) contact  info@orbitalcomics.com

Comix Zombies unite!

If you love comics, or even comix!, why not send in a snap of you perusing your favourite periodical.

Stripped is all about the love of comics.

Don't be shy, get your geek on in public & bask in the praise and adoration of your nerdy peers.

(This photo was found on the internet with no identifying details, I'm told it's horror mask artist supreme 'Darrell Vidauri' if that's you please get in touch and claim your sensational Stripped-prize)

Images Degrading Forever

One of the artists to contribute to the postcard section of Stripped is Robin Banard of Broadside of a Barn Productions.

Robin is responsible for the regular pamphlets & 'zines, that can be found at the front desk of Orbital, entitled Images Degrading Forever & Images Degrading Monthly. In these publications Robin examines the work of classic comic creators by re-drawing, page by page, key issues.
The latest of these being an analysis of Jack Kirby's classic 2001 issue 1.

Robin brought in 3 cards for Stripped representing his past, present & future, and elements of what he loves about the medium.

Firstly 'past',

This is a panel from the first comic Robin featured in Images Degrading Forever, Jim Steranko's marvelous adaptation of 'Outland', Steranko of course being the master of high contrast 'comic's noir' artwork.

Robin's present is Kirby's 2001, Kirby's deceptively simple and powerful artwork looks beautifully powerful in a 4 panel grid. 

Kirby was the King of making very complex abstract compositions look incredibly simple, crude even.

As Robin says "I ironically have the "caveman" state 'it's not primitive'"

The future, or at least one possible future, as once the current 2001 project concludes Robin is considering looking at Dave Gibbon's seminal work on The Watchmen graphic novel.

The third of Robins' cards focusses on lettering. Being the third of 3 the speech bubble repeats 3 times.

I'll let Robin explain "finally for a bit of fun and more irony I actually hand traced around computer lettering of the rather infamous 'comic sans' font, yes even on the Dave Gibbons one, which would probably annoy him endlessly

But it kind of abstracts the message about lettering even more so given it's almost like a chant and makes you wonder what the real message is, especially given the panel i chose of Rorschach unmasked" 

Look out for "Images Degrading Monthly" at Orbital Comics or contact Robin care of his blog: Images Degrading Forever

These hand drawn postcards are available for £20 each, contact info@orbitalcomics.com for details.

FLASH COSMIC SAVAGE ltd. edition art book.

"FLASH COSMIC SAVAGE"

is Jason Atomic's attempt to discover the active ingredients of his 

silver/bronze age comic collection by way of a homeopathic distillation.

This experiment led to the genesis of the 'Stripped' exhibition at Orbital comics. 

For the full story see this previous post.

"FLASH COSMIC SAVAGE"

 is a hand-finished artist book limited to 10 signed & numbered copies.
40 full colour, heavy duty pages & hard bound leatherette cover

MMXII

£35 + p&p. 

contact: atomic@jasonatomic.co.uk

Jason Atomic

Today's Q&A features Stripped curator/contributor Jason Atomic.

pic by Billa

What kind of art do you usually do?

I suppose I'm best know these days for my portraiture & live sketch performances, although recently I've been doing more and more work examining re-occurring obsessions with comics, sci-fi and Satanic imagery that has fascinated me since childhood.

I also do t-shirt designs for Tokyo fashion house Milkboy.

For Stripped I made a ltd edition book of my comic collages & painted on the vintage cereal packets that I used to store my comic collection in (before selling it)

When did you first start reading comics?

My first comics were Gold Key Tarzan comics and Bat-Man annuals in the early 70s. 

My first collage, made in 1971 at age 4, is constructed from Gold Key Tarzan comics.

The first comic to truly blow my mind was the Burne Hogarth Tarzan graphic novel of 1973. 

Soon after that I discovered Kirby through the Alan Class reprints of his Atlas monster work & Marvel UK reprints. Kirby blew my mind, his work still does. Hail to the king!

Do you consider yourself a fan of 'pop art'?

As a child I hated Lichenstein with a passion, I really felt he missed the point and disrespected the originators of his source material, I've mellowed a bit to him now but still not entirely convinced.

The graphic appeal of pop art in undeniable, but to me the supermarket and the comic shop are museums of pop art, do we really need some art school graduate to take things of their natural environment into a white wall space in order to appreciate their power and beauty? 

What is the best bit of a comic book for you?

Having just cut-up a stack of old comics, it's the cover graphics, the printing process and the adverts that really appeal to me now.

If we are talking specifics it's the double page splashes in 70s Kirby comics.

Have you ever dressed up as a comic character?

I recently dressed as a grown-up Atomu when we went to see the Tezuka ballet at Sadlers Wells. We sat in the front row & kept catching the cast checking us out.

pic by Manko

As a child I was always bugging my mum to make me comic related garments, a Spider-man mask & shirt, Michael Morbius vampire 'wings' etc... 
I even used to patrol the streets of East Grinstead as the East Grinstead Avenger in black wellies, green boiler suit, green hood and cape. I never  avenged anyone but I did spend a lot of time playing on rooftops, in building sites and abandoned houses doing dynamic, leaps, climbs and poses.

Worse than dressing as them though, I've seen comic characters dress up as me! 

The Shinigami in Death Note actually wears my FFD performance costume, sheer black top with fur shoulder detailing, raggedy kilt with hanging pocket/pouch, silver rings, blue/black wig, extended black lipline etc... I don't think this is a coincidence as my look was well documented in Japanese style mags such as STREET & Kera & even on TV throughout the 90s & noughties. 

Have you ever made a comicbook?

I used to make self published photocopied comix back in the early 90s which achieved a minor degree of notoriety via fanzines like ZUM!.

Technotribe/Superculture Classics (with Fin Savant) Wongo Batonga & Wongo Boy.

Wongo Batonga was supposed to be the kind of comic a collector might find while dreaming, all the imagery and situations of my favourite comics smooshed together in a surreal psychosexual mish-mash with a character who looks like a mutant Batman & his were-cat girlfriend fighting giant monsters, dinosaurs and space gods from the jungles of Borneo to Highgate Cemetary.

Wongo Boy featured SD manga versions of the same characters in an explosion of ukiyo-e inspired erotica.

Do you have any other comic related memories you'd like to share?

Since I started concentrating on painting and drawing from life I have been lucky have some of my favourite comic creators pose for me. 

Go Nagai allowed me to sketch him during a meeting at Dynamic productions. That was a real thrill because they were discussing an issue of "Devilmanlady" where our diabolical heroine visits Hell with Dante and discovers Devilman trapped there. After that the character had something of a rennaissance.

This became the first of my 'favourite artists' series of paintings.

More recently I was delighted to break the 4th wall and have some of my work published in the background of one of my favourite comics, David Hine & Shaky Kane's delightfully meta-fictional, "The Bulletproof Coffin" read the full story here.

Atomic has 3 blogs currently on the go:

Jason Atomic general blog about art & jobs

Atomic Sketchbook new blog looking back at his sketchbooks dating back to 1985

Satanic Mojo a tongue in cheek look at the influence of satanism on pop culture & future exhibition theme

(Satanic Mojo is an anagram of Jason Atomic!)

Steve Cook

Steve Cook's Stripped contributions (mentioned in the previous post) include photographic recreations of classic Romita comic panels.

He is also a prolific blogger, see what he's up to over at Secret Oranges. 

What kind of art do you usually do?

My type of art varies according to where my head’s at, at the time, though as long as it has an aspect of fantasy or absurdity I’m happy. You only need to take a look at my website and you’ll see what I mean.

When did you first start reading comics?

I was reading comics for as long as I can remember. I started off with Teddy Bear, Playhour, Rupert and a title called (believe it or not)Bimbo. This was my favourite until I had a recurring dream about a wizened old hag telling me “Don’t buy the Bimbo... DON’T buy the Bimbo: still gives me shivers and it was enough to stop me reading it. I think I migrated onto TV Comic after that, followed by Beezer, Topper, Lion, Valiant, TV21, Countdown, in fact, I don’t think I missed much in the way of comics as I grew up. It got interesting with the advent of Fantastic, Terrific, Wham! Smash! And my favourite, Pow! This period for me was the beginning of a fascination with the Marvel Age of Comics.

What is your most treasured comicbook?

Hmmm... That’s a tricky one. There have been so many, but I guess it would most likely be Spragg! I’ve already mentioned it on my blog, but I can recount the story here.

It was a sunny day in 1967 and Spragg! Stared at me from his lofty position on the shelf behind the counter in my favourite sweet shop. Every day he caught my eye and every day I asked my mother if I could have him. Luckily there were no other takers and one day, having been worn down by my persistence, my mother relented. Two shillings and sixpence was a fair price for the onslaught of hideous, pre-comic code nightmares to come for this eight year-old boy.

A couple of disturbed decades later and I'm standing in the 2000AD office watching the mail pile up on Alan McKenzie's editorial desk and I see something poking out from under the deluge. Just a corner, but it was enough to recognise Spragg! My long-lost childhood treasure, but what on earth was it doing here? "Dunno", Alan said, "a reader sent it in, here's his letter". I read it, but there was absolutely no mention of Spragg! or why he'd sent him. There was however, a phone number. I called him and told him I'd love to buy it from him, but he wasn't interested in money. He just wanted a 2000AD mug!

Anyway, I sent him far more than that and in return, my long lost... Spragg! ...He came back.

Do you consider yourself a fan of 'pop art'?


Yes, I first became interested in Pop Art when I was given a book on the subject as an Art prize at high school. I think they tried to give me something that seemed relevant to the kind of work I was doing in art class. A particular favourite was an eight-foot high rendition ofSteranko’s, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle on the art room wall. I’ll always be grateful that Miss Grace, my art tutor was up for any weird ideas I had, though it seemed a tad untimely that I was adding the final touches to one of Sheena’s ample breasts at the exact moment the Head Master decided to show the governors round the school. The art room visit seemed rather hurried.

I particularly like Warhol’s work and I’m forever thankful that I managed to wangle my way into his birthday party in London shortly before he died and get a couple of shots of him and his ‘hair’.


What is the best bit of a comic book for you?

Everything really, but you just can’t beat the smell of old comics, or magazines for that matter. They should synthesize it and sell it as one of those home fragrances.


Have you ever dressed up as a comic character?

Erm... it has been known. There were three of us at Junior school who decided we’d have our own secret identities. We each made a costume to wear beneath our school uniforms. Unfortunately, lycra or spandex were still to be invented and mine was made of rather itchy wool. It’s a wonder we didn’t all pass out in the blazing heat of summer, but I got my special moment as I was leaving school that afternoon. A girl in my class (who obviously knew my secret) said to her mother who was waiting beside the school gates. “Look, Mum... look at this boy’s secret identity!” and forced me to pull back my school shirt and tie to reveal a rather pathetic home-made attempt at aSpider-Man costume.

I never could find anything suitable for a mask. The closest I got, was one of those string net 

bags that you buy oranges in, but to be frank, it looked ridiculous, so I gave up on that. 

This very same ‘costume’ had one more outing the night my father discovered a burglary was in progress in a house on the other side of the street, and was on the phone to the police.
It took me 3 minutes to get changed and run down the stairs to the front door and 3 seconds for my father to stop my heroics as he yanked me back in by the scruff of my neck.

Have you ever made a comicbook?

Apparently, I used to make little funny animal comics for any sick kids in my neighbourhood when I was eight or nine. They were usually about Mighty Mouse, Atom Ant, or my own incredibly original creation, Super-Rabbit. I recently found one that I’d made for my own amusement in my parent’s loft.

Do you have any other comic related memories you'd like to share?

Well, I guess I have another that relates to my Spidey costume fascination. You see, there was a great cut-away in my favourite issue of Spider-Man showing the costume hanging in Peter Parker’s closet and I always wished I had one to hang in mine.

When I decided to leave my staff job at Marvel UK in 1988 and go freelance, the MD offered me a studio space in the basement as a sort of incentive to continue doing freelance for them, which was great. A few months later they decided to relocate to another part of town leaving me behind until I found another studio space of my own. Anyhow, they’d left a lot of old rubbish down there in the haste to vacate the premises, and one night I was packing up to go home after a completed deadline and I was looking for some change for the tube journey home.  A coin fell out of my hand and rolled across the floor to rest behind a big old cardboard box in the corner of an abandoned office. As I shifted all the rubbish to get to it, I saw, in the dim light, a red webbed hand hanging over the edge of the box. I peered in and there was a complete (if a little ragged) Spider-Man costume. I couldn’t believe my eyes!

I knew that the publicist had invested in a new one for public appearances a few months back, because we used to share an office, but it hadn’t occurred to me that she’d just binned the old one. A bit of a wash and some needlework renovation and my childhood wish had come true!

Stripped blog-a-thon.

Following the Stripped opening on Thursday evening there's been something of a blog-a-thon kicking off between David Hine and Steve Cook, how could I resist joining in the fun?

Steve Cook, mentioned in the East End Life (our local newspaper) above, shot Manko (along with the view from our window) as the Black Widow for Stripped.

Here they are together at the opening. Manko as well as being a sensational model is also the editor of my pornographic scrapbook "One Honey Of An O" which caught the eye of mr David Hine who snapped up a copy and reviewed it on his blog "Waiting For Trade" not one to miss a trick he got us to deface our obscene publication with Sharpies, snapped here by mr Cook.

More pix on the way same Stripped time same Stripped channel...