Scottish or English Splank?

Splank NHS Thank You art by Joseph McCafferty

Further to my mentions of the newly launched Splank digital comic annual, thought it might be fun to compare the 'Scottish' and 'English' versions of one of my strips!

I have other contributions in Splank 2020, but the panels below come from a fun one-page strip called 'Boom from the Room', which is a hospital inspired piece originally included in Colin Maxwell's CHAS charity comic. The story is fired by children's imagination, regardless of where they are and was originally in black and white and, CHAS, being a Scottish charity, in my native Scot's dialect. It was fun to do and perhaps a homage of sorts to my artistic hero, Dudley Dexter Watkins, of Oor Wullie and Broons fame; Boom from the Room = Broon?

The very talented and reliable Matt Soffe provided the colours and for the strip's new audience, I took the opportunity to 'translate' the dialogue into something more recongisable to most readers, although I do have rather a fondness for the original!

Don't forget to download Splank! for the full story and some 150 pages of comic goodness and also to please contribute to editor Peter Duncan's NHS fundraiser if you are able.

Splank! Annual 2020!

John Farrelly's epic Splank 2020 annual cover!

Delighted to see the coverage that Peter Duncan's Splank! digital comic collection is receiving since it's launch a couple of days ago. It's a monster of a comic collection and just perfect for this warm sunny spell we're (hopefully) all experiencing.

The collection is free to download and is an entertaining diversion for these odd times but also provides a showcase for the contributing artists who, like myself, have lost income through the cancellation of all comic conventions and events and also acts as an NHS fundraiser.

I was delighted therefore to submit a couple of pieces including a special NHS message and, for the first-time, the Matt Soffe coloured version of my one-page strip, 'Boom from the Room', originally a black n white hospital inspired piece for Colin Maxwell's CHAS charity comic. It's fun to finally see it in all it's glorious colour alongside many other talented contributors.

Please check out Peter's contributor links for more information and download a version to read, (I found the Google Drive download option the most user friendly for my kindle) and consider making a contribution if you are able. Splank!

Coverage at the always reliable Down The Tubes comic news site is also worth reading and includes a link to an interview with Peter himself.

LIFE SUPPORT!

Life Support is a wonderful idea to raise funds for Children's Hospices Across Scotland - the charity CHAS. It's the brainchild of Colin Maxwell, a Fife based comic creator who before Christmas made a request for comic creators to donate Sci-Fi themed strips and pin-ups to form a comic to be launched at Edinburgh's Capital Sci-Fi event in early February, which is also an important fundraiser for CHAS.

Many creators answered the call and I wanted to contribute but not having any existing 'Sci-Fi' themed material to hand quickly wrote a hopefully fun one-page comic strip which I drew over the festive period, completing in the New Year to get 2018 off to a creative start!

I won't reveal my finished strip but show instead a panel's progress from 'BOOM from the ROOM!', my wee homage to the Tin Tin & Oor Wullie strips of my youth!

Pencils

Inks & pencils (Uncleaned)

Cleaned Inks

Finished Lettered Version (Scots edition!)

I submitted the above finished black & white version but wondered how it would look in colour so turned to Matt Soffe, who has done an amazing job on several of my Moments of Adventure strips (and forthcoming ZULU!), who once again did a splendid job!

Matt's fantastic colours!

Complete coloured & lettered version

You can support the project and guarantee yourself a copy of the finished comic by backing the current Kickstarter campaign to cover printing costs here or at its launch in Edinburgh on 3rd & 4th February.You'll have to wait a little longer to see the full coloured version of my strip which may well be included in one of my future projects 😉