It’s been nearly a year since the last update, so maybe it’s time to officially close the door on the Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy. I think websites have a certain lifespan and the Strangeness has run longer than most. But priorities change, life’s road get bumpy and changes in directions you never expected, so time and enthusiasm to run a blog become hard things to find. But the site will remain online as an archive.

Below you'll find the cover to the second and final issue of the Zaucer of Zilk American edition. Zaucer of Zilk issue one will be in stores October 2012 published by IDW.


As Mad Max 4: Fury Road is finally in production lots of Brendan's design have leaked out all over the internet. Here are a couple...

Announced at this year's San Diego Comic Convention: Zaucer of Zilk will get an American reprint courtesy of IDW

You've recently seen Paradax in his fat Elvis years, below is a little seen appearance from his heyday. This 1987 Milligan/McCarthy story appeared in Strip Aids, a charity comic for London Lighthouse (England's first day-care centre for people affected by AIDS)

100 Drawings was a planned book by Brendan. Unfortunately due to a faulty hard drive most of the hi-res scans were lost. Fortunately the artwork that survived will be appearing over the next couple of posts.

I'll be changing the site's RSS feed in the next couple of days. The new address is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/dkwU?format=xml

Feedburner page: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/dkwU

Let me know if you have any problems (my email) or use the comments section below

Brendan: "These two pages are from my issue of SOLO. The original idea for the short story had two teenage wasters dressed as Batman and Superman for a fancy dress party. DC wasn't too keen on seeing their characters - or even other characters dressed as them - using the Worlds Finest title watching old porn videos and drinking beer, so changes were asked for. I was happy to oblige as I had been given a total free hand on the book, which is one of my favourite pieces of work, and it didn't seem like that big a deal."

The final part of Zaucer of Zilk (episode ten) goes on sale today (2000AD prog 1784)

Sketchbook work for Brendan's issue of SOLO

I've never had a great passion for the DC/Marvel characters. Maybe it has to do with childhood nostalgia, before I read The Dark Knight Returns aged eighteen my only other exposure to US comics were a few Jack Kirby stories in an old British annual. Then there's Bizarro... for some reason he is the only superhero character I find interesting maybe because I can't fathom how a character than odd popped into creation in the first place but then goes on to inhabit the world of the DC characters all these years later.

How does this relate to Brendan? Well below is one of my favourite images from his issue of SOLO, (DC's oddest superhero rebooted into an Alan Bennett play) and the next few posts will feature some previously unseen artwork and sketches from Brendan's issue of SOLO. 

Brendan and Brett Ewins. Taken in the late seventies while working on the Dan Dare TV series

2000AD prog 1783 goes on sale tomorrow, featuring the penultimate episode of The Zaucer of Zilk. Below you'll find some of Brendan's early Zaucer sketches/ideas and if you stroll over to the Forbidden Planet Blog (link) you'll find a directory's commentary of the first episode by Brendan and Al Ewing

Some wallpaper I knocked together. They are 1920 x 1080 but if you want a different size or colour let me know in the comments below.

Marvellous 'Zaucer of Zilk' article by Q Magazine's Colin Smith (link)

Fellow McCarthy adherent. David Rees recently commissioned Brendan to draw the characters from Strange Days (guest appearance from Skin's Martin Atchet). This is the glorious result. Unbelievably this is Brendan's fist ever piece of commissioned artwork.

Over the next couple of months I'm planning on some major site renovations, new design, new direction and even more new content. Unfortunately things may get a little rough round the edges as I find time to finish everything. The site has a new host so some of the old links may not work. But the main addresses will stay the same...

Blog: strangenessofbrendanmccarthy.blogspot.co.uk

Main site: bendanmccarthy.co.uk

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Several pieces of Reboot concept artwork drawn by Brendan are up for sale on Ebay (link). Two from the Mad Max inspired episode 'Bad Bob' ...

Due to some health problems I received as a Xmas present the Blog has been a bit quiet the last few months, actually it’s been cold dead. Thankfully I haven’t shared the Blog’s fate, I’m still not 100% fit but with the abundance of Brendan’s work appearing at the moment I needed to get up off the floor and start posting again.

You probably already know but Brendan currently has an all new series “The Zaucer Of Zilk” appearing in 2000AD. I read the first couple of episodes before Christmas and can’t wait to read the story in its entirety. Brendan informs me the final episode was completed last week and if things go well a sequel may appear. Below you’ll find some promos, hopefully there’ll be more Zilk artwork appearing on the Blog soon...


In other news: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ finally begins filming next month in Africa. If you don’t know, Brendan spent a couple of years co-writing and designing the movie with original Mad Max director/screenwriter, George Miller. Fury Road has had a long and troubled production, shooting was scheduled to begin several times since 2003 but abandoned due to everything from the Iraq war to flowers blooming early. Brendan’s been promising to show me the designs for over a decade now, so now finally we can all get to see them. One those lovely hardback ‘The Art of…’ books would be perfect.

Some of the Mad Max vehicle designs have leaked out online. The main one being ‘The Gigahorse’. Neither the design or the concept drawing below are by Brendan and were done after he moved on from the project but they are in the style of his production artwork...





Finally some exquisite ink featuring everyone’s favourite beer drinking slob of a superhero...



I know things have been quiet lately but from this point on I’m determined to see the site grow and expand, definitely not fade away. So spread the word that the Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy is back... again

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

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)