Have you bought your Brickman yet?

"There ain't never not no new British comics not no more nowadays" or words to that effect are things I hear quite often on forums, websites, etc. Of course there are new British comics coming along all the time. It's just that the huge expense and restraints imposed by the newsagent/supermarket retail system are simply too prohibitive for independent publishers. Just because a comic isn't in WH Smiths or Asda doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I'll cut to the chase. One of those comics is the one I self-published the other week. The one-off publication Brickman Returns! It's selling well but I thought I'd give it another plug for those of you who may have missed the news.  Here's the PR about it....

BRICKMAN RETURNS!sees the revival of one of my oldest characters as zillionaire Loose Brayne once again dons the cape and cowl to patrol the streets of Guffon City! The Poker! The Ostrich! Gnat-Woman! No criminal is safe when Brickman flings his Brick-a-rang! Aided by his partner Tina Trowel, Brickman is back in town!

Initially created in 1979 for my fanzine AFTER IMAGE, Brickman has returned numerous times over the years in various publications, most notably as a back up strip in 2006 to 2009 in ELEPHANTMEN, published in America by Image Comics. It is those 20 stories that I've compiled into this new collection! BRICKMAN RETURNS!acts as a sequel to BRICKMAN BEGINS, a collection of earlier strips published by Active Images in 2005, but it can also be read as a self-contained comic.

A prominent guest star in the Brickman strip is Combat Colin, who many will remember from his own regular strip in Marvel UK’s TRANSFORMERS and ACTION FORCE comics in the late 1980s. The creator-owned character now occasionally appears in the ACES WEEKLY digital comic.

BRICKMAN RETURNS!also includes bonus back-up features:

• COMBAT COLIN: A classic complete reprint from 1989 featuring Colin’s first encounter with his nemesis The Brain!

• SUBURBAN SATANISTS: My popular late Nineties strip, originally published in Norway and Sweden, finally comes to the UK, translated into English. It features the De Villes; just an ordinary suburban family with an unusual hobby.

• WELCOME TO THE LEWNIVERSE: A feature on the backstory of Brickman and his comic co-stars!

Obviously Brickmanis a parody of Batman, but only as a springboard to take the character into his own daft direction. It’s not an intricate spoof of the minutiae of Batman comics. It’s basically broad comedy influenced by the stuff that inspired me over the years, such as the 1966 Batman TV show, seaside postcards, Odhams comics, cheesy horror comics, Monty Python, the Airplane movies, Not Brand Echh comics, and suchlike, and from all that hopefully my own style has emerged.

I’ve been freelancing in comics as a writer and artist for over 30 years, and continue to do so, but it occurred to me that I have several characters I own the rights to that I really ought to get back in print. BRICKMAN RETURNS is the first of those. All being well, I’ll release a couple more self-published titles in 2016. It’s been a long time since I self-published any comics and technology has improved so much now that a small circulation, digitally printed comic can look as slick as mainstream publications.

BRICKMAN RETURNS! is a one-off 32 page comic in full colour, rated Teen plus. Available to buy directly from me at £6.00 including postage, via my online shop at this address:

http://www.comiconline24h.com/page7.htm

Copies are also available for £4.50 from Nostalgia and Comics, 14 - 16 Queensway, Birmingham B5 4EN.

Support British comics! And Brick-ish comics!