The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy

Have a Good One!

2011-12-14T20:17:00.000Z

Zaucer of Zilk: coming in 2012

2011-12-14T20:14:00.001Z

The Zaucer of Zilk coming to 2000AD in 2012. More details here

Stop It

2011-11-05T20:32:00.001Z

Zenith Art for Sale

2011-11-02T08:28:00.000Z

Another selection of Brendan's original art is up for sale. The new pieces on Albert Moy's site include a design for 2000AD's Zenith (link)

Travesty

2011-10-29T17:46:00.003+01:00

Original artwork now on sale

2011-10-26T14:24:00.003+01:00

A fresh batch of Brendan's original artwork is now on sale at Albert Moy's website (link)

Unfortunately the artwork from the previous posts (Zenith, Paradax, Mirkin, Arkham Asylum) has been hoovered up by private buyers. But there's about half a dozen other pieces still for sale.

Original Zenith/Paradax Art on Sale

2011-10-22T19:54:00.000+01:00

Brendan: The art dealer Albert Moy has asked me for any more artwork I may have... I spend a day recently unpacking storage boxes and found some really old gems I had forgotten about.

I came across a Paradax! and Zenith picture done around the time I was designing Zenith for 2000AD. It was pretty smudged as I had done it in pastels. I cleaned it up and then fixed it. Not the greatest drawing, but still, a collectable curio.

There's a nice A3 Paradax! drawing too.

Also, there 's a coupla sketches I did for Arkham Asylum when, for a brief moment, I was the artist on the project... It got put back and I was doing a movie or something and wasn't available. Anyway, Dave McKean did a far better job that I could have.

Even found an unpublished drawing from the 'Sometime Stories' era and some Freakwave scribbles. And some blue line color pages from Strange Days 2.

It'll all be up for sale from Albert (www.albertmoy.com) in about a week I'd say.

New Original Art For Sale

2011-10-15T17:04:00.002+01:00

Brendan: Albert Moy has aquired another cache of my original art. I'd say he's pretty much got most of my remaining originals now and is now the main agent of my comic art. Much of the art for sale has been drawn over a thirty year period and features collectible rarities like Zenith design pages (with Paradax in the pictures). Abandoned try-outs for Batman and Joker, and designs from unmade comic series like YoYo and Travesty. The standout piece is probably a very large Jack Empty color drawing (best Paradax villain) from an exhibition of my work staged at UKAC in London, twenty years ago. There's a some nice Paradax headshots too. And the first design drawings of Mirkin The Mystic. Even a few Freakwave drawings from the early 80s.

Go to albertmoy.com where you can look up all the new material available.

Basil Wolverton meets Picasso

2011-10-11T15:40:00.002+01:00

Six Pictures

2011-09-10T19:52:00.002+01:00

Righteo, back with some artwork after a couple of weeks away...

Ear'oles McTavish

2011-08-20T21:19:00.000+01:00

Morning Neuro

2011-08-13T20:28:00.001+01:00

Black Kat

2011-08-06T21:19:00.003+01:00

The Prying Eye

2011-07-30T14:53:00.007+01:00

Brendan: A very early sketch of the character that would evolve into Paradax.

Five Minute Interview

2011-07-28T16:09:00.004+01:00

New interview with Brendan over at comicrelated.com (link)

Grant Morrison's Top Superheroes

2011-07-24T09:49:00.005+01:00

Recent Grant Morrison Guardian article where he lists his favorite Superheroes. Among them is Brendan's Rogan Gosh, not really a 'superhero' though (link)

The Art of Brett Ewins

2011-07-23T23:21:00.004+01:00

I love Brett Ewins as much as Brendan. To me they are inseparable, two artistic heads joined to the same body. So I have to mention the recently released 'The Art of Brett Ewins'. More details here

Rocketeer Adventures update

2011-07-23T13:21:00.004+01:00

Brendan's Rocketeer story will appear in issue four and not issue three as previously stated, sorry. Issue three is out now so Brendan's issue will be on sale sometime next month. Here's another quick preview...

Crossed Clouds

2011-07-23T13:16:00.000+01:00

Reboot: The Definitive Mainframe Edition

2011-07-17T12:26:00.002+01:00

Brendan: A fantastic package arrived in the post this morning... The complete box set of the Mainframe cgi animated TV series REBOOT, courtesy of Rainmaker Studios. It's got all the episodes from all 4 seasons and an extra DVD full of goodies. I was asked to judge a fan art selection for the presentation, and my introduction and commentary is in a supplement booklet. The whole thing looks gorgeous. Shout Factory have done an amazing job of putting this together. I was involved in designing the first three seasons but I had nothing to do with the fourth. I think you'll notice a difference.

It's such a shame that this show is hardly seen in the States, as it was pretty much killed by the ABC network when Disney took over. They wanted to buy REBOOT outright and take control of it. Nobody at Mainframe Animation wanted that, so the inevitable happened. Luckily, strong sales around the world meant we could continue. There's now some talk of a REBOOT cgi movie, but don't hold your breath, as they say.

That we weren't able to parlay the success of REBOOT, BEAST WARS and WAR PLANETS into a cgi feature film was a great shame. We were doing this stuff well before Pixar and Dreamworks. And they pretty much hired everyone who was working at Mainframe over the years anyway!

I spent about 5 years at the Mainframe Studios in Vancouver, and I had a really fun time. I left the comics scene to help shape the earliest days of computer animation and there was a real sense of pioneering totally new territory. You can see how the cgi animation progressed in REBOOT, from the early, more 'primitive' episodes to the sophistication of the brilliant singing finale of season 3. You can't get to AVATAR without REBOOT.

There's plenty of REBOOT clips on You Tube, if you want to see what was going' on with cgi TV animation back in those days of cyber-yore.

These are a great and original bunch of characters: My favourite is the completely demented, digital witch, Hexadecimal. Seriously bonkers.

There's also a second volume of a book featuring many of my designs for the series, called REBOOT FOREVER, which is just out now.

The Fabulous Four

2011-07-16T07:52:00.002+01:00

Brendan: These are some sketches from when I was fiddling about with an idea for a mini series about The Fantastic Four... A kind of 'What If' alternative take on the FF... Stan Lee originally titled them "The Fabulous Four" and later changed it to the title we now know. I never pitched this as I figured it was a bit too whimsical for Marvel, so I never took it past the stage of these inital scribbles. I have subsequently re-thought the idea into something much better. But I'm not sure if Marvel have much appetite for my style of comics.

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Casanova Hipster Interview

2011-07-13T14:19:00.003+01:00

Matt Fraction interviewing Brendan. The interview appeared in Matt's excellent comic 'Casanova' a while back...

Reboot:Forever ready to order

2011-07-12T16:09:00.005+01:00

Preview of Brendan's artwork which features in ReBoot:Forever. Now ready to order online

Strange Ketchup

2011-07-09T08:48:00.000+01:00

Scalped 50

2011-07-06T15:17:00.003+01:00

On sale now from DC/Vertigo, Scalped issue 50. Which includes a contribution from Brendan...

Rocketeer Adventures

2011-07-05T17:53:00.003+01:00

Here's a preview of Brendan's upcoming story for 'Rocketeer Adventures' issue three...

Brendan: I enjoyed working on this story, my little homage to the late and great Dave Stevens. I met Dave in Los Angeles, way back in the early 1980's on my first trip to LA. He was a very nice man and we hung out a bit in his studio. He liked my art and we kind of shared a sensibility... I had been really getting into the few installments of The Rocketeer that had been published so far. He introduced me to Dean Mullaney at Pacific Comics, and they commissioned my first American comics gig, Freakwave. That led onto Strange Days, and the rest is a minor footnote in comics' history.

IDW's Scott Dunbier approached me about doing an 8 page story for his Rocketeer anthology a few months ago... He's assembled a great line up. I had an idea for a story about a flying femme-fatale called The Aeronaut. I asked for an American writer to script it, as I wasn't sure I would have an ear for that period US dialogue. The great John Arcudi did a superb job. I really liked his tightly-written script.

It's out sometime in August. Hope you enjoy it.

Reboot Reboots

2011-07-04T08:48:00.011+01:00

Recently released in North America 'ReBoot: The Definitive Mainframe Edition' the complete ReBoot box set. The box set features a booklet on the designs with an interview with Brendan.

Also Beach Creative Studios/Jim Su are putting out a companion to their 'Art of ReBoot' book. This new book is titled 'Reboot:Forever' and features all new material plus Brendan's concept design and storyboard work for the TV series and work from other Mainframe artists. The book will debut at Fan Expo Canada in August, will reach stores in November but can be ordered online next month. Both books will be collected into a box set next year. Jim Su has a facebook page called 'Reboot Forever' and will be at SDCC with the book

Brendan provides all new artwork for the cover...

All Warped Up

2011-06-25T20:52:00.001+01:00

Messiah Car Chase

2011-06-11T20:55:00.000+01:00

An Insect Bite

2011-06-04T16:21:00.003+01:00

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Pop Sequentialism Art Show

2011-05-28T20:50:00.003+01:00

A piece of Brendan's original comic book art from Shade The Changing Man in a group show at uber-hip La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition is called Pop Sequentialism, and is curated by Matt Kennedy (link).

Now over to your weekly dose of McCarthy splendor...

final DeaDredd cover

2011-05-26T22:30:00.003+01:00

Details on 2000AD's website

DeaDredd on sale now

2011-05-25T12:03:00.000+01:00

On sale from today...

Judge Dredd: DeaDredd by Rob Williams and Brendan McCarthy
Judge Dredd Megazine 311
Drawn in Superdigidelic Zombiescope

the FEVER tree

2011-05-21T11:26:00.004+01:00

Brendan: The FEVER trees picture is a page of sketches that I did for the FEVER book. Just came across them a month ago again. It's me trying out some ideas that never made it into the comic. Albert Moy's already got the page for sale! (link)

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Two New Old Pictures

2011-05-14T12:20:00.005+01:00

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
join the strangeness on Facebook: www.tinyurl.com/strangepage

Inspekta Cathedral

2011-05-07T16:42:00.003+01:00

Brendan: INSPEKTA CATHEDRAL is a new story I'm working on... I've got quite a few of them stockpiled, but the problem is, where to publish them? Most indy companies don't have any money -- or want to keep lots or all the rights if they have... So the deals available have really gone downhill since the days when I was more active in the industry.

Also a new Strangeness Facebook page if you want to do the whole 'like' thing (link)

The Walking Dredd

2011-05-01T11:55:00.003+01:00

From this week's 2000AD...

Three Pastels

2011-04-30T08:58:00.003+01:00

Brendan: "These three pastel drawings were jointly created with LA-based pop-surrealist artist Mike Street. The 'purple cat' picture now hangs in the private gallery of Pasadena curator Maureen Linehan, an avid collector of bizarre and unusual artworks"

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Matt Seneca on POP

2011-04-29T09:34:00.005+01:00

Matt Seneca's insightful look at Brendan's one page story 'POP!' (link)

The Beginnings of Mirkin

2011-04-23T09:20:00.009+01:00

Brendan: Two pages of the original sketches for "Mirkin The Mystic", the very British "Oscar Wilde meets Dr Strange" character created by myself and Peter Milligan in the 1980's. I've added a bit of digital jazz on the right hand image just to tart it up a bit. It was in a bit of a sorry state.

These are now with comic book art dealer Albert Moy and are available now.

A couple of recent McCarthy related links...

Over on Mark Cardwell's Bad Librarianship blog Brendan talking about Graffiti art...

"Based on one of my own images: Street Toads, by Ben and Raph of the IFC. The lettering next to the image says, "toad", but is sprayed in an almost abstract whirl of shapes. I think it looks really fantastic... The image is over 40 feet in length. These young guys are the new spraymasters: The new Banksys and Failes. It's happening now -- an urban comics and graffiti fusion"

Also on Ugo.com: Rolling (Funny) Papers: The Best Stoner Comics

More Original Art for Sale

2011-04-21T15:44:00.005+01:00

More original Brendan McCarthy artwork on sale. Visit Albert Moy's site for more details...

DeaDredd Cover Rough

2011-04-16T09:43:00.003+01:00

Colour rough for Brendan's upcoming Dredd cover

DeaDredd Previews

2011-04-14T22:57:00.006+01:00

Judge Dredd: DeaDredd
by Rob Williams and Brendan McCarthy
On sale May 25th
Judge Dredd Megazine 311
Drawn in Superdigidelic Zombiescope

More at Bleedingcool.com

4 New Old Pictures

2011-04-09T08:33:00.003+01:00

New Strangeness Facebook Page

2011-04-07T13:38:00.000+01:00

The new Facebook home for 'The Strangeness of...' is:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002206103048

So please pop over there for all future updates. news. etc... I'll be closing the old group down in the next week or so.

Zombie Dredd Pitch

2011-04-06T07:39:00.004+01:00

Pitch drawing for Brendan's new Judge Dredd zombie story, 'DeaDredd'. Appearing in the May issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine

Sometime Stories number 2

2011-04-02T10:34:00.004+01:00

Brendan: "Here's an image of the cover of Sometime Stories number 2, incredibly rare, it turned up recently and I snapped a picture of it on my camera phone. I hadn't seen it for about 20 years... Brett Ewins now has the original safely locked up in a padded bag in super-secret laser-protected vault.

Although we actually wrote and drew two issues, the first one was the only one published. Then the publisher went out of business. Nothing of the second one was ever seen. Until now."

More info about Sometime Stories here

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Paradax Long Lost Pin-up

2011-03-26T08:10:00.002Z

Lost for 25 years and recently rediscovered by Brendan...

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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More Dredd Ahead

2011-03-24T23:13:00.015Z

You won't have to wait several decades for Brendan's next Judge Dredd story, because coming this May is 'DeaDredd'. I've read the full story and personally I rate it alongside Brendan's classic Dredd strips. It also features a lot of Zombies so how can it get better! Written by Rob Williams the story will appear in Judge Dredd Megazine 311 in May.

There's no 'punch drunk Fat Elvis' period in Brendan's future as he continues to evolve and innovate. Also coming up a new Rocketeer strip for IDW, script by John Arcudi also a guest piece for the Scalped 50th issue. Also in development is a mysterious new series with ace Brit writer Al Ewing, called 'The Zaucer of Zilk'.

It's about time Brendan did a Creeper series for DC, don't you think?

Xombi

2011-03-23T19:22:00.003Z

On sale now from DC Comics, Xombi #1 with a variant cover by Brendan

The Spark and Battery Girl

2011-03-19T11:36:00.001Z

Brendan: The Spark and Battery Girl were two electrically-powered superheroes that looked great, but I never did anything with them. A sort of cross between 'Electro' and 'The Steel Claw'. I thought Battery Girl was pretty sexy!

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Spidey-God

2011-03-12T10:36:00.004Z

Brendan: Weird Spider-Man pastels... 'Lemon Dream Exit' and "Spidey-God' were two pictures I generated whilst doing the FEVER books for Marvel. Sometimes, after days spent drawing small B&W panels in a comic strip, I want to loosen up and be more expressive in colour and a bigger size. I never plan these type of pictures -- for me the fun is seeing what randomly comes through the 'automatic artistic ether'.

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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It's Paradax Time

2011-03-05T10:43:00.002Z

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
join the strangeness on Facebook: www.tinyurl.com/sobmfacebook

SOLO Sketchbook: Eljor-El

2011-02-27T12:20:00.004Z

Apologies for the slight delay but I've been involved with an Arts Festival over the last couple of days. First up some more of Brendan's SOLO sketchbook followed by a better version of the 'Paraclesus Trey' pic

Yes

2011-02-19T19:09:00.001Z

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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The Drunk Cat

2011-02-12T11:02:00.000Z

Brendan: "The Drunk Cat. It's self-explanatory... or not, I don't know... it's a drunken cat!"

New Original Artwork for Sale

2011-02-09T06:25:00.003Z

New pieces of Brendan's original artwork now on sale from albertmoy.com

SOLO Sketchbook: The Creeper

2011-02-05T14:33:00.001Z

Sketchbook ideas generated when Brendan was working out material for his issue of DC Comics' SOLO

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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SWIMINI PURPOSE cover sketches

2011-01-29T10:29:00.006Z

Some of Brendan's original ideas for the cover of SWIMINI PURPOSE. You can see more on the evolution of SWIMINI PURPOSE's cover here

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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777 Heavenly Trip

2011-01-22T10:43:00.002Z

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
join the strangeness on Facebook: www.tinyurl.com/sobmfacebook

Spidey GeekGaktus

2011-01-15T08:32:00.005Z

A bit of Spidey, pre-FEVER

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Crowley's First Balloon

2011-01-08T10:33:00.002Z

Brendan: "Aleister Crowley pastel sketch was done while I was drawing the part in FEVER where he appears... I was reading a fair bit about him and so he was in my thoughts when I relaxed and knocked off this picture for my own amusement. These days I find his prose almost unreadable, almost as awful as William Burroughs... How I managed to immerse myself in all that hipster 'literature' when I was in my late teens is beyond me... "

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
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Happy New Yar

2011-01-01T11:00:00.007Z

Happy new year. To greet in 2011 some rarely seen classic McCarthy artwork from way back...

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy: New artwork every Saturday
join the strangeness on Facebook: www.tinyurl.com/sobmfacebook

Broken Bird

2010-12-25T13:06:00.008Z

Happy Christmas Day one and all. Take a break from immobilising yourself with mince pies and chocolate...

Brendan: "Pitched this one to one publisher a while back. Sadly, this bird didn't fly with them... I thought this was one they'd go for. It was meant to just be a little book, like those illustrated books by Tim Burton or Dr Suess, text and pictures. Something along the lines of the Gaiman/McKean kids' books. This was my "Emily The Strange" outsider-goth-girl piece, a little urban fable: She lives in the rafters of her Dad's house, in the attic, and falls in love with Faraway Boy, who lives in the next door house. The two of them elope at night onto the roofs... The designs are based on those little bald, baby birds that fall from nests, that you see on the pavements in spring."

Flash Remix

2010-12-24T13:24:00.003Z

Remix by online digital artist SYDELIC of the Flash sketch featured a few weeks ago

The Strangeness of Facebook

2010-12-20T20:50:00.002Z

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy on Facebook, join us...

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_173853349313182

The Lord of Nothing

2010-12-18T08:10:00.000Z

Brendan: "I just came across this rejected DC Comics pitch artwork for a LORD OF NOTHING series from a year or so ago. It didn't fly, for whatever reason... but I had some good ideas for a LON comic.

His character was a bit mysterious, kind of like a 'Sandman' of Trash and Garbage and of the Discarded and Unwanted. I was going to use a lot of litter picked up from the street to create a graphic 'trash' look, as suggested in the story that appeared in SOLO 12. I'd use a lot of big graffiti lettering, as well as sprays and stencils to get a unique look to the comic. Print it on rough paper.

I thought he might possibly hang out with the Kubert version of Ragman."

Merry Crimbo to You and Yours 2010

2010-12-15T14:17:00.006Z

It's almost that time of year. This year's Christmas Greeting from Brendan is a vintage card he drew back in 1985 of the infamous slacker superhero, Paradax!

Merry Christmas

Spider-man: FEVER sequel (again)

2010-12-11T15:19:00.005Z

Some bigger versions of the FEVER 2 pictures posted last week. Including this one which is part of Brendan's Big Xmas Art Sale...

Brendan: "An outtake page from FEVER which I decided not to use, painted on canvas, the only known representation of the Realm of Agamotto, with Dr Strange in it."

Give the Gift of Weirdness this Christmas!

2010-12-07T13:50:00.004Z

Brendan: "GIVE THE GIFT OF WEIRDNESS THIS CHRISTMAS!

The comic book art dealer Albert Moy has acquired a large cache of my art from all periods of my career. It includes outtakes from my DC SOLO book, Marvel's FEVER, character designs like The Spark and Battery Girl, some great concept art for a Beatles' project and many other rare and bizarre pieces.

He's doing an online sale of the work, on the run up to Christmas.

Below, two sheets previewing some of the art for sale. This is a real one-off, as this stuff will never be available again.

Contact Santa Claus at: www.albertmoy.com

Merry Christmas!"

Spider-man:FEVER sequel

2010-12-04T11:08:00.000Z

Designs for a possible Spider-man:FEVER sequel...

Brendan: "Some pitch images from a recently rejected proposal for a sequel to FEVER called CARNIVAL OF LIGHT, for Marvel Comics. They are tightening their line up and stuff like FEVER is probably a bit "fringe" and sales aren't likely big enough in these recessionary times... "

McCarthy Big Xmas Art Sale now On

2010-12-01T08:43:00.027Z

Running up to Christmas Brendan will be releasing numerous pieces of artwork from his vaults, all to be sold through art dealer, Albert Moy. More details to follow. In the meantime here's an exclusive look at some of the pieces going on sale...

Brendan: "An outtake page from SOLO 12 that DC Comics published in 2006. it features a cartoon Johnny Rotten extolling the magnificence of an idea for an underwater hero called CORAL, and all the merchandising that will flow from its inevitable success. It didn't really fit the overall tone of SOLO, so I scrapped it.

Some years back, I approached Apple about doing a graphic novel sequel to The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. I wrote a pitch and drew some loose concept art pages. Only two of them survive, as the rest of the art got ruined in damp storage place"

Brendan & Brett's Superman

2010-11-27T17:21:00.002Z

Superman piece with Brett Ewins, their first collaborative drawing for over 25 years!

SOLO Sketchbook: The New Flash

2010-11-17T18:34:00.003Z

Sketchbook ideas generated when Brendan was working out material for his issue of DC Comics' SOLO.

Hi-res Judge Dredd: Dr. What?

2010-11-17T15:17:00.008Z

Hi-res versions of the Judge Dredd:Dr. What? preview pages (Warning! Large-ish files)

BRENDAN McCARTHY returns to JUDGE DREDD and 2000AD

2010-11-16T17:29:00.008Z

Veteran 2000AD artist BRENDAN McCARTHY has plotted and illustrated a new JUDGE DREDD two-parter, with comics writer AL EWING scripting.

In a new story called Dr. WHAT? Judge Dredd tracks down a time-travelling Doctor who rides a Mega-City Portaloo along the timewaves, altering history and changing the future in a potentially catastrophic way.

The two-issue story appears in 2000AD Prog 1712, which will be on sale in the UK on November 24th, next week.

Splundig er, Drokkit!

I'm going, I'm gone

2010-11-13T12:25:00.002Z

The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy - New artwork every Saturday

Justice 2500 (part 2)

2010-11-06T09:03:00.004Z

Justice 2500 (part 1)

2010-10-30T16:43:00.014+01:00

So, after hosting problems, the death of one computer and the difficult birth of a new computer I'm finally getting back to regular weekly updates.

This week some designs for a proposed early 90's TV series called JUSTICE 2500. Which Brendan describes as 'a cross between Judge Dredd and Rumpole of The Bailey.'

The Broken

2010-10-25T13:08:00.004+01:00

House of Mystery

2010-09-28T13:47:00.004+01:00

JohnMK: Some unlettered artwork from Brendan's recent issue of 'House of Mystery'

SPIDER-MAN:FEVER trade on sale today

2010-09-09T17:36:00.006+01:00

JohnMK: From today SPIDER-MAN: FEVER the trade paperback is available from all good comic vendors. The collection reprints issues 1 - 3 of ‘Spider-man: Fever’ plus a special reprint of one of Spidey’s earliest adventures into the wondrous world of Dr. Strange, ‘Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2’. More details on the Marvel website.

Also new today, an interview conducted by Mark Kardwell

Wicked & Sponge

2010-09-05T19:41:00.002+01:00

JohnMK: Brendan's cover for a bizarre story by Los Angeles fantasy writer Sara Standel about two time-traveling cats

Furbar and new interview

2010-08-28T18:02:00.004+01:00

A new interview by Matthew Badham of the Judge Dredd Megazine.

FUBAR a new superhero character...

Age of Heroes - out this week

2010-08-22T20:34:00.009+01:00

JohnMK: Apologises for the lack of updates but I’ve been on holiday (which was slightly longer than planned). In future if things go a bit quiet here pop over to Mark Kardwell’s Bad Librarianship blog. He’s your McCarthy backup man. If it’s not on here you’re find the latest news and artwork over there.

Speaking of... Out this week you’ll find more McCarthy comic splendour. ‘Age of Heroes’ issue 4 features a Captain America story written by Elliot Kalan and drawn by Brendan, you can finds more details on the Marvel website. For your viewing pleasure some unlettered artwork from the story...

As you can see above next month ‘Spider-man: Fever’ will be collected into a trade paperback which reprints issues 1-3 of Spider-man: Fever’. Plus a special reprint of one of Spidey’s earliest adventures into the wondrous world of Dr. Strange from ‘Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2’. The collection is available from September 9th and you can find more details on the Marvel website.

From now on I’ll be definitely updating the site more regularly. Brendan’s got some more upcoming comic projects and if you’re an age-old fan of his work there’s one story you will not want to miss.

FEVER issue THREE preview

2010-05-26T16:07:00.006+01:00

Click on the picture below for exclusive FEVER issue THREE preview pages plus some added extras.

FEVER issue TWO preview

2010-04-19T20:41:00.007+01:00

Click on the picture below for preview pages from FEVER issue TWO plus some exclusive extras.

Fever SFX

2010-04-16T08:33:00.002+01:00

Recent Brendan/Spider-man: Fever feature from SFX magazine

Fever Reviews and New McCarthy Art

2010-04-10T15:19:00.003+01:00

Well it's seems 'Spider-man: Fever' has gone down a storm, with some glowing reviews across the internet (5 out of 5 from Comic Book Resources). Here's a few of them:

comicbookresources.com
ign.com
theouthousers.com
mania.com
brokenfrontier.com
craveonline.com
spidermanreviews.com

In the previous incarnation of this Blog I tried to give you all a little something for the weekend with a weekly dose of Fresh McCarthy art. And that's something that's going to continue with the new site. To start off you have two colored pastel pictures that Brendan had in the latest group exhibition at Los Angeles' famous "La Luz de Jesus" Gallery...

The Strangeness is Back, Good People!

2010-04-07T10:04:00.002+01:00

Welcome to the relaunch of 'The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy' , the official Brendan McCarthy fansite. Today in all good comic shops you can buy the first issue of Brendan’s first full length comic story in nearly 20 years – ‘Spider-man: Fever’. Do I need a better reason to get the site back up and running!

Everything from the old site/blog is still here but with a few new additions. Above is a ‘Spider-man: Fever’ interview with some exclusive artwork, with more to come. Another change is the RSS feed you can find the new one further down the page. Brendan's got more comic wonderfulness coming up, so come back for all the news and more exclusive artwork.

The Meaning of Loaf

2009-09-01T13:01:00.007+01:00

Original Artwork > Dredd: She Devils

2009-07-06T14:21:00.006+01:00

Original art from the Judge Dredd story 'She Devils' published in 1987 (for sale on Ebay)

Artoon of the Day

2009-06-28T11:31:00.002+01:00

Dream Gang

2009-06-14T20:35:00.003+01:00

Some People

2009-06-07T12:54:00.004+01:00

Delinquent Jimmy Olsen

2009-05-28T11:00:00.010+01:00

Brendan: A sketch image for a pitch I concocted for DC Comics:

DELINQUENT JIMMY OLSEN was an idea for a three part miniseries that I planned to write and draw.

The Reverse-Flash, Professor Zoom, attempts to reverse-engineer a Bizarro back to human form, but instead unleashes a terrible reverse-Bizarro plague. Superman is imprisoned in a purple-kryptonite cage. As society crumbles, Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen, finds that he and a few others are immune to the contagion. They are outlaws in a lawless, bizarro world. It is up to these delinquents to save our lives.

DELINQUENT JIMMY OLSEN
Coming soon.

They didn't go for it, but I think it would have made a good comic miniseries. Saturn Girl was in it too. And a new character, Dr. Zyxtiplytk, appears as well. Something a bit different...

Art School Days

2009-05-18T22:40:00.005+01:00

Brendan: A polaroid picture from my art school days at Kingston Poly from over 30 years ago, when I was 18 doing my 'foundation art' course, before I went on to Chelsea to study painting. As you can see, I was producing dodgy early-Hockney "homages' at that time.

Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival

2009-05-08T17:21:00.008+01:00

JohnMK: Brendan will be hosting a talk as part of The Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival 2009

Saturday 16 May
Minet Library
2.30pm

To avoid disappointment please book tickets for the event

For more details visit the Festival website here

You can also download the Festival brochure here

The Specials

2009-05-02T14:45:00.010+01:00

JohnMK: As The Specials are reforming here’s some vintage McCarthy artwork from 1979. Also some Johnny Rotten artwork done around the same time.

Sooner or Later

2009-04-27T19:59:00.013+01:00

Brendan: I was clearing out some old cupboards and a few old copies of 2000AD fell out. I'd kept them because there were episodes of SOONER OR LATER on the back covers. This was a one-page strip that I did with writer Pete Milligan over 23 years ago. When I saw the dateline on the cover, I had a hard time believing it was so long ago.

Unemployment was the big social theme back then... and Swifty is feeling like a contemporary character again. I guess things really do go around in a circle.

Pete Milligan wrote S&L. We just knocked it up one afternoon on a phone call. We had the title first, but no idea of what it would be about. Pete named the hero after one of his favourite writers, Jonathan Swift. Tony Riot drew about a third of the strips with me and was the unofficial "other artist".

That reminds me, I must go and revisit Tony's one and only solo strip for 2000AD, "Tribal Memories", which also written by Pete. Wonder if anybody remembers it!

It's astonishing to think of the variety of strips that Pete was writing around that (white-hot) time in British Comics: Bad Company, Paradax!, Johnny Nemo, Mirkin The Mystic, Sooner or later, Skreemer, Shade The Changing man, Rudcliffe and Williams, The Extremist, Rogan Gosh, Skin... That's an amazing slab o' stuff! A very wide difference in tone and mood, from very dark violence to a surreal and foppish wit.

And, whatever happened to that 'Bizarre Boys' comic thing written with Grant Morrison and to be drawn by Jamie Hewlett? I saw one weird bit of art and that was about it...

Interestingly, it was Jamie Hewlett who took over Sooner or Later for a sequel, which was also written by Pete.