Vanguard in Japan, Number 1 - Mammoth-Jack

Since I am currently living in Japan I thought it might be a nice idea to have some special images featuring our comic's characters prepared, showing them in some recognisably Japanese situations.

There will be four of these in total and they will be produced as a second set of laminated postcards to be given out free with issue 3 later in the year. First up is Tony Rothwell's rendition of mutilated, donkey-with-a-grudge Duncan Mammoth-Jack, taking a leaf from the famous Hachiko's book:

                                   


Hachiko was a stray Akita dog taken in by Professor Hidesaburō Ueno in 1924. Every day, Hachikō would go to meet the Professor as he arrived home from work at Shibuya Station, a routine which continued until May 1925, when the Professor did not return. He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at work, never again to return to the station where his loyal pet waited. Every day for the next nine years though, Hachiko would travel to the station at the same time to await his master, and he became famous as a result. He died in 1935. A bronze statue was erected in his memory in August 1948. It still stands and is a popular meeting spot at Shibuya station. The station entrance near this statue is named "Hachikō-guchi", meaning "The Hachikō Entrance/Exit". It is at this statue that Duncan is pictured sitting in the image below. It seems appropriate. He may not be a dog, but he is as loyal to his mistress, Jamie, as Hachiko ever was to Professor Ueno. Even if he does show it in a much more violent way!


Stay tuned for more "Vanguard in Japan" images coming soon.

Review and Facebook Info

Hey folks!

Been a bit quiet around here lately - mainly because I've transferred my Vanguard updating to the Facebook page recently introduced - it's a much more convenient means of posting images and updates, so if you aren't already following us there, you can do so right now. There's loads of behind-the-scenes info and unseen artwork, as well as links to blog posts about the stories by some of the creators. Check it out here!

In other news, we've received a write up of issues 1 and 2 on The Hipster Dad's bookshelf, which is an overall positive assessment. The article makes the point that all of us involved in producing the comic are newcomers to the scene, but are doing our best to produce the goods! We are improving all the time - wait til you see how things progress in issue 3! Check out the review and I'll see you all on Facebook! Dirk

ISSUE 2 AVAILABLE NOW! TO BUY OR FREE-VIEW!!

Slightly later than advertised (click HERE for the full gorey details and behind-the-scenes rundown on why) Issue 2 of Vanguard is now available, and there are a couple of ways you can read it, which I'll get to in a moment.


Vanguard 2 cover art by David Blankley

This second issue sees the continuation of the stories that began in issue 1. As before, art duties on International Woman of Mystery tale "Atomic Call" are by David Blankley, while Louis Carter continues to produce some brilliantly bizarre artwork on sci-fi, fantasy epic "Halo and the Gryphon". This issue's violent installment of 1800's "When Good Donkey's Go Bad" tale "Mammoth-Jack" features a change of artist however, as my good friend El Chivo takes over pencilling duties from Owen Watts. But fear not, Mr. Watts is still on board providing some fantastic lettering work for the 6 page tale...and that's not his only contribution to this issue, as you will see when you take a look.

Apart from this there is another Tucker story, featuring glorious, blood-soaked, full colour artwork by Bhuna. This tale features a change of direction for the psychopathic character originally created for Hallowscream, bringing a fantasy-based twist to proceedings in order to 'lighten' the serial-slashing tone somewhat. I've also got another two wonderful pages of art featuring the comic's fictional editor 'Redbats' by David Withers, who also provides lettering for two of the strips herein. And, of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention that lettering master Jim Campbell has also deigned to grace us with his presence lettering David Blankley's noir-tastic Atomic Call pages. It's 24 pages of cover to cover action, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, alien creatures, ass-kicking babes, angry donkeys, demons and deceased serial killers. Honestly, what more do you want from a comic? What's that? Free gifts? Oh alright then....but we'll get to that. First...have a look at some preview pages why don't you?

Page from Atomic Call - art by David Blankley


Page from Halo and the Gryphon - art by Louis Carter


Page from Mammoth-Jack - art by El Chivo


So, how do you get your hands on this? Well, there are two ways.

OPTION 1) READ ONLINE FOR FREE!!
Yes, that's right, I've decided to put this issue online to be viewed, in it's entirety, for free. Why? Well, because I would like a lot of people to read it, to be blunt. Although I practically sold my entire print one of issue 1 over the course of five or six months, that still only came to a small number of copies distributed (less than 50). Which means less than 50 people read the comic. I'd certainly like to have more of a readership than that but since it's difficult to persuade people to part with their cash for something they can't see in the flesh before they take a chance on, I thought this might be the way to go. That, and the fact that I will be in Japan for at least the next six months and the postage costs back to the UK would be ridiculous! So, with that in mind, you can, right this very minute, make your way HERE and enjoy the comic.

The only thing I would ask in return is that you throw a few comments our way upon reading. The beauty of that site is that you can comment on each page as you read, so if something comes to mind, if you like something or hate something, if you have suggestions for how we could improve things, you can very quickly make a note of it before going to the next page. I would love to know what you think of the stories/writing and I'm sure my collaborators would love to know how you find their art so please do take a few seconds to do this.

Note - only issue 2 is available to view. I didn't think it would be fair to those who purchased a copy of issue 1 to then make it available for free, so I haven't done so. However, there is sufficient recaps given in the strips themselves that this shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of the comic. If you haven't read issue 1 and what you see here intrigues you enough that you would like to, I still have a few copies left which I would be more than happy to sell to you - failing that, the issue is also available to view as a myebook for the ridiculously low price of 50p - click HERE to access it.

OPTION 2 - BUY A PRINT COPY - GET FREE GIFTS!!
If you are the type of person (like me) who prefers to read comics 'in the flesh', let me see if I can entice you into purchasing a print copy. For anyone who does decide to avail of this option, there are a couple of extras.

Firstly, you will receive - absolutely free - a copy of "Speed Date", a 16 page full-colour A5 comic that collects together both parts of slaser-serial killer story "Speed Date", which originally appeared in Hallowscream's 2010 and 2011 issues. Art on part 1 is by Ghostpockets and on part 2 by Bhuna. The story comes wrapped in a pair of beautiful covers rendered by Bhuna - check out his awesome "after Bill Sienkiewicz" homage:



Secondly, you will also receive a set of four, full-colour, gloss laminated artcards featuring art by some of the comic's contributors. There's an unlettered version of Liam Byrne's groovy issue 1 cover art, an unlettered version of David Blankley's issue 2 cover and brand new images by Owen Watts and Louis Carter, featuring 'Mammoth-Jack' and 'Halo and the Gryphon' respectively. They look really, really good, if I do say so myself.



So there you have it. If you would like to support us by purchasing a copy, you can order via paypal at the below rates:

For ROI orders, the cost is 3.50 Euros, including p&p.
For NI orders, the cost is 3.50 Sterling, including p&p.
For UK orders, the cost is 4.50 Sterling, including p&p.

Payments should be made to vanguardcomic@gmail.com.

There are also copies of the comic on sale in Sub City, Exchequer Street, if anybody Dublin-based wants to check that out.

That's it! I hope you all enjoy the comic, whichever way you choose to read it!

And don't forget - let us know what you think!!!

Dirk

Vanguard Presents...

...a tribute to the video nasties of yesteryear in the form of "Speed Date", a gloriously deranged, blood-soaked 'comic nasty' in two acts, which has to be seen to be believed. Written by Dirk Van Dom, with full colour art (on act 1) by Liam Byrne and (on act 2) Bhuna, this chilling tale of modern horror originally appeared in the 2010 and 2011 editions of online horror anthology "Hallowscream", produced by the good folk over at Back from the Depths. Both installments of the tale have been collected together as a 16pp comic, with brand new cover art - shown here - by Bhuna (channeling the awesomeness of Bill Sienkiewicz no less!)



Set during a very unorthodox speed-date, which is not at all what it appears, the tale features objectionable psychopath Buck Tucker, who appeared in a one-page, darkly comedic "sit-com" type strip in Vanguard issue 1. That tale, it turns out, was nothing but a delusion our homicidal lunatic was sharing with us. What he REALLY gets up to is much MUCH worse! If you like your horror in-your-face and bloody, with plenty of twists and no holds barred, then "Speed Date" is for you.

So how do you get one? Simple - just order a copy of Vanguard and we will include a copy with your order, absolutely FREE! Issue 2 of the comic will hopefully be out by the end of the year (or very shortly afterwards), but if by some chance you haven't ordered issue 1 yet you can still do so, and we will include the free copy of Speed Date with this instead (though I must add there is a VERY small handful of copies left so you have to act fast!) If you're not interested in purchasing Vanguard at all but would still like a copy of Speed Date, we can do that too, just email us at vanguardcomic@gmail.com and we will sort something out.

This is only the start of the free gifts we have planned for future issues of Vanguard. A second volume of Vanguard Presents... is in the works, along with a set of full colour, laminated postcards featuring the characters from the comic, but there'll be more news on all of that later. You can't say we aren't good to you! :)

Cheers guys, thanks for reading and keep an eye out for more updates and previews from issue 2 soon!

DVD.

Issue 2 Cover

The cover of issue 2 will spotlight Call Malone and the other wonderful ladies (of the night) who star in "Atomic Call". The pic features, from left to right: Raquel "Rack" Wiseman, Sally Marrett, Colleen "Call" Malone and Mandy S.N.A (Surname Not Applicable.)

Art is by series artist David Blankley.

Forbidden Planet and Comics Bulletin Reviews

Here's a link to the final review of issue 1, as provided by Kelvin Green at Line of Fire Reviews. It's the most positive one yet, and very welcome, as I've been following Kelvin's reviews and they are always very insightful. He knows his stuff so if he's giving us the thumbs up, we must be doing something right! :)

Also, a review from Forbidden Planet International which is not quite as glowing but still has positive things to say. It's a bit "hit and miss" the review states, but that's probably always going to be the case with an anthology comic - different strips will appeal to different people, as I've already seen with previous reviews. I could call 2000ad a "hit and miss" comic, seeing as of the 5 stories that appear each week, its very rare all five of them appeal to me. There tends to be 2 or 3 strips running at any time that I love and another two that I'm not that bothered about. So that's the nature of the beast then.

Nevertheless, all comments and crits of issue 1 have been taken on board and duly processed, in order to make sure issue 2 builds on them and improves all around. And it is looking pretty good. It will have 4 extra pages, to accomodate an additional story, a cool Atomic Call cover by series artist David Blankley and a full colour 1 page strip on the back cover by Redbats' newest captive artist BHUNA - check his work out HERE.

There will also be - wait for it - FREE GIFTS! In the form of some snazzy, exclusive artcards AND...something else, that I can't talk about just yet. But needless to say, it will make money spent on this issue VERY well spent indeed! More on that closer to the time.

In the meantime, I am happy to report sales have been good for issue 1. I only have a handful of copies left and have just about made back my printing costs, which is the icing on the cake in my book.

Keep an eye out for issue 2, in early (ish) January!

Bye-bats!

DVD, October 2011

2nd Review and Digital Download Info

Second review of issue 1 is up HERE on Irish Comic News.com - another pretty favourable one too. Interestingly, this review is almost the polar opposite of the one that appeared on ECBT2000ad here. That reviewer liked the cover, "Tucker" and "Mammoth Jack" but wasn't a fan of the fantasy-themed "Halo and the Gryphon". This reviewer doesn't like the cover, loves "Halo and the Gryphon" and was (reading between the lines) so offended by "Tucker" and "Mammoth Jack" that Tucker doesn't get a mention and Mammoth Jack only receives one comment, that it is a "gorefest" which will "not be to everyone's tastes". Well--that's kind of what I was going for, so I'm fine with that really! The one thing the reviews have in common is that they both seemed to enjoy Atomic-Call. More reviews needed I think!

In other news, for those of you who have fully embraced the "Digital Age" and no longer read comics the old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy paper way (for shame!) there are now two new ways for you to check out Vanguard!

If you like Lulu.com (and who doesn't like Lulu.com) you can download a copy HERE --- for only 99p, I might add!

And if you are a Myebook.com user, you can do the same - for the same price - HERE.

Simple!