The 2000 AD Weekly Droid Watch: Keeping an Eye on What Tharg’s Minions Are up to Whilst They Should Be Hard at Work! - October 16th 2009

Occasionally, Tharg permits some of his script & art droids to leave 2000 AD headquarters. In the Weekly Droid Watch, I’m going to be keeping an eye on what present and former droids have been up to each week. 2000 AD droids tend to go on to produce some of the most phenomenal U.S. comics, so I’ll also be listing what comics released each week have that extra special shot of thrill-power.

I haven’t been able to do this column for a few weeks due to certain circumstances, so this is the first week back up! I have only covered stuff that has happened in the last week, rather than trying to catch up and cover everything I have missed. I considered it, but then came to my senses and realised no one would really mind

Enjoy!

Droid Appearances

• Script droid Dan Abnett will be doing a mini-tour of Scotland this weekend in support of his latest Warhammer 40K novel. Check out the poster below for details!

• Also, art droid PJ Holden may be seen this Saturday, and EVERY Saturday from 09:00 - 15:00 at St. George’s Market in Belfast. PJ Will be selling original comic art, prints, and self published comics. In honour of World Pirate Day he’ll be doing pirate sketches for £5! For more details, see here!

Droid Personal Blog Updates

• On Tuesday art droid Leigh Gallagher posted some snippets of art from his upcoming Judge Dredd Megazine strip. I can’t wait to see this one!!!! Make sure to click through to Leigh’s site to see all the art, here is a taster:

• On Friday Leigh went on to do one of his fabulous ‘making of’ posts for he following image. The image is a Werewolf print card that he did for the guys at Renegade Arts Entertainment! Make sure to click though to see the process and see all of Leigh’s notes!

• Art droid Dylan Teague posted on ‘making of’ sequence for one of the pages in his French language book Le Casse (The Diamond). Below is the final case, but click through to see more, and to see his notes on the piece:

• Art droid Simon Gurr is going to South America next week to draw comics about Darwin’s work in The Pampas. He posted a big update on his site about the journey, so click though to find out more! His journey will be retracing the same route Darwin traveled in 1831-1836!

• This Tuesday, art droid Rufus Dayglo posted the opening page from a new Tank Girl story. The story is set in WWII and the scene is intended as an homage to the artwork of famous war comic artist Mike Western

• Art droid Sean Phillips posts a ton of stuff on his blog, nearly everyday, and it is all amazing! I’m not going to repost everything here, because that would just be rude, so check out his blog here. Check out these Marvel Zombie versions of Cyclops and Wolverine to whet your appetites!
  

Art Blog Updates

Eclectic Micks

Eclectic Micks are a collection of Irish professional comic book artists. They include Stephen Mooney (Angel; After the Fall), Stephen Thompson (Star Trek; New Frontier, Presidential Material: John McCain), PJ Holden (Fearless, 2000AD), Nick Roche (Transformers, Doctor Who), Will Sliney (Farscape), Bob Byrne (Mr. Amperduke, 2000AD) and Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later, Frankenstein). Every day there is a new sketch posted there, with each artist posting on a certain day. Apart from regular updates by art droids Holden and Byrne, this blog is packed full of gorgeous art from insanely talented individuals, including the amazing Declan Shavley, who is currently working on Boom! Studio’s 28 days Later title – so check it daily!

• This Friday, art & script droid Bob Byrne posted a page from an upcoming 2000 AD strip as well as a page from an upcoming Zuda submission.

Scotch Corner

Scotch Corner is a collection of Scottish professional artists. They include Thomas Crielly, Gary Erskine, Andy Hepworth, Jon Hodgson and Graeme Neil Reid. Every day there is a new sketch posted there, with each artist posting on a certain day. Much like Eclectic Mick’s, you should check this blog every day, to check out amazing new artwork!

• This Thursday, art Droid Gary Erskine posted a painting that he did in 1994 of Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Make sure to click through and see his notes on the piece:

Webcomic Updates

• Spazzmoid

Written and drawn by art/script droid Bob Byrne Spazzmoid is a weekly webcomic with very weird, very random, and very funny updates.

This week Bob posted a strip called ‘Everything you know is WRONG!’, which offers a harsh warning to people who think that rice makes pigeons explode!

Misc

• This Thursday, script droid Simon Spurrier posted a couple of new issues of his Short n’ Curlies Column over at Bleeding Cool. In Short n’ Curlies #15 Si talks about… I dunno, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet

• Episode #11 of the Sunnyside podcast was release on Monday. This week the guys had a trio of guests - Adam, Andy and Ryan Brown - three brothers who started the Berserker Comics company last year to produce titles such as The Dead and Church of Hell.

• Episiode 13 of the Everything Comes Back to 2000 AD podcast went live on Wednesday. In this one the guys look at progs 1655 and 56 as well as this years Halloween Special. They also chat about some of the 2000AD Audio books available and Richard tries to remember what went on at BICS this year apart from the drinking.

Other Comics Out This Week That have a special Dose of Thrill-Power

• Script droid Mike Carey has The Unwritten #6 out this week:

• Script droid Neil Gaiman and art droid Mark Buckingham have this insanely overpriced Absolute Death HC out this week:

• Liberty Comics: A CBLDF Benefit Book #2 is out this week and has contributions from script droid Neil Gaiman, art droid Dave Gibbons, and many more!

• Script droid Tony Lee has Doctor Who #4 out this week:

• The Act-I-Vate: Primer HC came out this week and has a contribution from art droid Simon Fraser, among others:

• Lettering Droid Simon Bowland has a couple of comic out this week, including Incredible Hercules #136 & Marvel Zombies Return #2: Iron Man:

Related posts:

1. The 2000 AD Weekly Droid Watch: Keeping an Eye on What Tharg’s Minions Are up to Whilst They Should Be Hard at Work! September 19^th 2009
2. The 2000 AD Weekly Droid Watch: Keeping an Eye on What Tharg’s Minions Are up to Whilst They Should Be Hard at Work! September 26th 2009
3. Thrill-Power Thursday - The Weekly Droid Watch - July 16th 2009
4. The Weekly Droid Watch - August 20^th 2009
5. The Weekly Droid Watch - September 12^th 2009