CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: WHAT THE -- ?! COVER GALLERY

Monday, 30 September 2013

WHAT THE -- ?! COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Well, we're at the end of our short trip as far as looking back at 21 of the covers to the 26 issue run of WHAT THE - - ?! goes. Hopefully you've enjoyed the journey, along with our occasional detours into NOT BRAND ECHH territory - I know I have.

Y'know, one of the most tedious comics I've ever read is FANTASTIC FOUR ROAST, published back in the early '80s. I usually enjoy FRED HEMBECK, but it just went on forever and it seemed that it would never stop. However, I suspect that not every What The - - ?! story was an unparalleled example of joyous jollity and could probably rival the unceasing turgidity of FFR.

One day I'll sit down and re-read them and find out for sure. (I re-read Roast last year, and almost lost the will to live less than halfway in. As I was reading it in the loo at the time, my legs had lost all sensation by the time I got through it.)

Anyone got any favourite stories from any of the featured issues that they'd care to recommend? If so, feel free to share your picks in the comments section.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: For "What The" I would recommend issue 2's John Byrne's Superman v Fantastic Four. He also did a great Avengers parody in issue 6 (Byrne imho is a fantastic cartoonist). Any strips by Hilary Barta (especially his Punisher parody) are all very funny and most of Hembeck's stuff is good (I agree with you comments on the the FF Roast comic zzzzz) - you can't go wrong with the first 10 issues. For Not Brand Echh, well Marie Severin is always good and is in most issues, but as stated previously, Gene Colan's strips are worth checking out. He did a great Avengers one and a Doctor Strange, Deadman, Spectre parody, as well as a fun Capt Marvel one, but sorry, forget the issue numbers (issue 4 for the Avengers). I think Steranko did something for Not Brand Echh (slagging of Scotland, the wee jobby) but it was funny - McScotty; 1 October 2013 at 02:21
Kid said...: I'm not 100% certain, McS, but I think Steranko did the original story that the NBE tale parodied, but the actual parody was drawn by someone else. I've got both of them, but I'm not sure where they are at the moment, otherwise I'd double-check. I could be mistaken, of course.; 1 October 2013 at 13:07

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

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