Lew Stringer Comics: Suburban Satanists

Showing posts with label Suburban Satanists. Show all posts

Saturday, 20 November 2021

The Suburban Satanists

Between 1997 and 2007 I produced a regular comic strip for Herman Hedning comic, published only in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The strip I created was The Suburban Satanists, just your ordinary suburban family who just happen to worship the devil.

This is an example of the type of humour involved. I really enjoyed doing the strip but kind of ran out of steam with it after ten years. However, there are a lot of strips and I own the rights so one of these years I’ll collect some of them and publish them for the UK market.

There’s a lot of work to do on them though as I need to dig out my old scripts and re-letter every strip into English, plus colour them all. Maybe next year!

The strip was popular but it received some complaints from Christians for being blasphemous and also from Satanists for not being an accurate portrayal of Satanism! Ya can't please everyone!

Monday, 11 September 2017

Plans for the future

Tentative logo design. May change before publication.

It's been 20 years since I created the Suburban Satanists strip, the story of an ordinary family who just happen to summon up demons from time to time. It first appeared in the short-lived Norwegian comic Geek in 1997, then was revived for Egmont's Herman Hedning comic in 1998, also published in Norway (and Sweden). It resided there for several years and there was even a collection of early strips published in 2003.

As regular readers of this blog will know, for years I've been intending to publish a Suburban Satanists comic for adults in English. A handful of the strips have already appeared in the UK, such as in the back of my Brickman Returns comic and in Time Bomb Comics' Bomb Scares anthology.

The plan was to publish Suburban Satanists No.1 this year and launch it at the Raptus Comic Festival in Bergen in November. However, as it's a time consuming process I won't be doing it this year now. Basically I need to scan the strips, colour them, and letter them in English. 32 pages. I won't have time to get that done and printed by November.

Page from a future issue.

Therefore, I've had to decline the kind invite to Norway this year and the new plan is to launch the comic next year, in 2018. I'm not sure exactly when; hopefully before the summer, and hopefully I'll be at the 2018 Raptus event later in 2018 to take copies over to my friends in Norway. (And if you're wondering why Norwegians would want an English-language edition of strips they read 20 years ago in the native language, well, most Norwegians are more articulate in English than some English people I've met.)

So; Suburban Satanists No.1 is scheduled for 2018, and further issues appearing once or twice a year thereafter, depending on sales and spare time.

In the meantime, I'll be continuing producing Combat Colin comics, with issue 2 scheduled for November 2017, and issue 3 for March 2018. That's the plan anyway! Keep reading this blog for further updates and news! Thanks for your interest.

Sunday, 1 January 2017

Plans for the Future!

Happy New Year! After the successes of Brickman Returns! and Derek the Troll in the previous two years, one of my intentions this year is to self-publish more comics. Now, this is all dependent on whether I have time of course, as mainstream comics work must take priority as that's what pays the bills. However, 2017 is an anniversary year for two of my creator-owned properties so I really want to get them back in print. (And yes, that's print. Not digital.)

With that in mind I'll soon be starting work on Combat Colin No.1, the first in a series of comics I'll be publishing from time to time that will reprint all the old 1980s Combat Colin strips from Action Force and The Transformers right from the very start, in the right order. 2017 is the 30th anniversary of Combat Colin so it's time he had his own title. I don't have all the original art now so some pages will be scanned from the original art, some from the old comics, and will be reprinted in black and white with brand new full colour covers. There's the working logo design above, although that's not necessarily the final version.

The other property I'm considering reviving is Suburban Satanists, the adults-only humour strip I did for Norwegian and Swedish comics. It's been 20 years this year since their first strips appeared so what better time to release the first English-language collection? I have all the original art so the pages will be new scans and newly coloured and lettered. The plan is to publish them in five or six full colour comics over the next few years.

Anyway, that's the plan! Life is unpredictable so whether I achieve that or not remains to be seen. Hopefully Combat Colin No.1 will be out by April (the character's 30th anniversary month) and Suburban Satanists No.1 later in the year. Fingers crossed! In the meantime I need to get back to work on The Beano, Epic, Toxic, and Doctor Who Magazine, but I'll keep you posted of developments right here as things progress!

If you're interested in my previous self-published comics and prints and you still haven't bought them you'll find my online store here:
http://www.lewstringer.com/page7.htm

UPDATE: Just to clear up some confusion: With the very best intentions, The Birmingham Comics Festival plugged my forthcoming Combat Colin comic on Facebook this morning (Jan 2nd) but they used the cover of a Combat Colin Summer Special that I did 20 years ago. It's being shared around Facebook but that's not the cover of the new one so the price and info is incorrect. There's also some confusion over the date of the festival, which seems due to the April Birmingham Comic Con using the Birmingham Comics Festival web address (!). I'm a guest at the Birmingham Comics Festival in June, NOT the "Birmingham Comic Con" in April.

Wednesday, 31 August 2016

Rough and ready

Back in 2005 I was asked by Nemi creator Lise Myhre to design a contents page for the next issue of her monthly Nemi comic in Norway. (Different guest artists did a page every issue.) As my Suburban Satanists strip was appearing over there in Herman Hedning comic at the time it made sense for me to use a couple of them in the contents page art.

Above is the idea I roughed out, and below is the finished artwork. Text was dropped into the blank areas and the page was coloured over in Norway.

That was my only contribution to Nemi comic but it was fun to do and an honour to be part of it. I'm pleased to say that Nemi is still going, and reached issue 150 this month. (Thanks again for sending me a copy, Lise!)

As for the Suburban Satanists, it's their 20th anniversary in 2017 so I'm planning to publish them in their own UK comic next year! News as to when exactly that'll happen will be revealed on this blog!

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Bits and bobs

I took a day off and went over to Birmingham today to browse the shops. A quick reminder that Nostalgia and Comics still have a few copies of my Brickman Returns comic left. You'll find it displayed alongside the comics produced by my good friends at Panini UK such as The Mighty World of Marvel and The Astonishing Spider-Man.

Nostalgia and Comics is based at 14 - 16 Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham B5 4EN, just a few minutes walk from the new and impressive Central Station (the refurbished New Street Station).

Alternatively, if you're not visiting Birmingham, you can order the comic directly from me at this link (along with the earlier collection, Brickman Begins if you wish):
http://www.lewstringer.com/page7.htm

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I'm coming back to The Beano! I was recently commissioned to do six episodes of a strip. I've already drawn three. More news soon.

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Finally, here's an old photo I found today which was taken back in 2002 at the Raptus Comic Festival in Norway. I'm afraid I can't remember who took it but they snapped me autographing a copy of Herman Hedning, the comic that featured my Suburban Satanists strip at the time. Fellow artist Dave Windett is facing us at the right of the photo. Good times!

Friday, 1 January 2016

Resolutions for 2016

I'm not usually one to make New Year Resolutions but one thing I'm determined to do this year is get one or two more self-published comics in print. Brickman Returns! had a successful launch at Birmingham's International Comics Expo in September and sales were brisk afterwards, so I'd like to get more of my creator-owned characters back into print. I'm not sure which comic I'll be publishing first, but this is one likely contender...

That's just a teaser of course, and the logo design may change before publication, but hopefully in a few months I'll be launching Suburban Satanists No.1 at one of the comic shows I'll be attending this year. The format will be the same as Brickman Returns at 32 full colour pages on quality paper. The artwork is already drawn as the strips originally appeared in Sweden and Norway nearly 20 years ago, but I need to colour and re-letter 28 pages of strip (as they've never been published in English). That's going to take some time to fit in between my regular paying comics gigs so don't expect it too soon, but it will happen sometime this year. It's possible I may publish a different comic first, while Suburban Satanists goes on the back burner for a while but I'll keep you updated of developments on this blog so stay tuned.

Naturally, my regular work on Toxic, Doctor Who Magazine and other titles has to take priority and I'll be updating you on those strips as always. I'm also attending several comic shows this year, drawing sketches and selling comics (and possibly prints too) so I hope to see you at those if you can make it. Here's the list of events I'll be at...

London Film and Comic Con: Spring

27th and 28th February 2016

Olympia,

Hammersmith Road,

London

W14 8UX.

http://www.londonfilmandcomicconspring.com/

Cardiff Film and Comic Con

5th and 6th March, 2016

Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff.

http://filmandcomicconcardiff.com/

The Birmingham Comics Festival

Saturday 23rd April, 2016

Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham.

http://www.thecomicfestival.com/

Manchester Film and Comic Con

21st and 22nd May, 2016.

Event City.

Phoenix Way,

Barton Dock Road,

Urmston,

Manchester

M41 7TB.

http://www.filmandcomicconmanchester.com/

Lancaster Comics Day

Sunday June 5th, 2016.

(Not much info about this so far so stay tuned!)

http://downthetubes.net/?page_id=21591

London Film and Comic Con

29th to 31st July 2016.

Olympia,

Hammersmith Road,

London

W14 8UX.

http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/

Bristol Comic Expo

Saturday August 6th, 2016.

Double Tree by Hilton,

Redcliffe Way, Bristol.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1613954822203865/

ICE (The International Comic Expo)

Saturday September 10th, 2016.

The Studio, Cannon Street, Birmingham.

https://internationlcomicexpo.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, 2 December 2015

"Rollickingly Revolting"

Quoted from Olly MacNamee's review of my Suburban Satanists strips in the Bomb Scares anthology:

"Alongside truly spine chilling stories like Flesh of My Flesh sits the comedy stylings of Lew Stringer (The Beano) who brings the tradition of UK children’s comics and comic artwork and mashes it up with the conventions of horror to produce a set of devilishly delightful strips that are both reverential and rollickingly revolting. This ain’t for littluns, make no mistakes about that."

To read the rest of Olly's review, see here:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/11/29/macs-book-space-captain-no-2-blood-red-moon-no-1-and-bomb-scares/

To buy the Bomb Scares book, visit the Time Bomb Comics website:
http://timebombcomics.com/products.html

Sunday, 25 October 2015

Satanist Scares

I was at the MCM London Comic Con on Saturday (read my review on my other blog by clicking here) and I was very pleased to see that Time Bomb Comics had launched their new 92 page book, Bomb Scares 2015. Not only is it a packed anthology of all-new horror comic stories by some great talent, it also features three pages of The Suburban Satanists by me. This is a different set of strips to those that appear in my new Brickman Returns comic, and these strips won't be appearing in next year's Suburban Satanists comic either, so to see them treat yourself to Bomb Scares! Here's the link for more info:
http://timebombcomics.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/bomb-scares.html

Cover by Richard Elson and Dave Kendall.

Friday, 4 September 2015

BRICKMAN IS BACK! New comic launches in Birmingham on Saturday

Here it is! Brickman Returns! is fresh from the printers and will be on sale at the International Comics Expo (ICE) in Birmingham on Saturday 5th September! My oldest character is back in print with stories never before published in the UK, and in full colour too!

Who is Brickman? He's zillionaire Loose Brayne, who was stuck for something to do one night when suddenly a brick was lobbed through his window! Naturally, as it's a comic strip it instantly inspired him to become... the Brickman! Yes, it's a Batman parody, but the daftest parody you'll ever see.

The 32 page comic features:

Brickman Returns! The 20 page saga that originally ran in the USA in Image Comics' Elephantmen comic in 2006 to 2009. Now collected into one comic for the first time, the full colour adventure kicks off by recounting Brickman's origin and early days in a new spin on the old stories, before bringing us up to the present to find out what happened to our hero after the events of Brickman Begins! Co-starring Brickman's partner Tina Trowel and special guest star Combat Colin!

Speaking of the bobble-hatted buccaneer brings us to the back up strips:

Combat Colin! A three page classic from 1989 where Colin and loyal assistant Semi-Automatic Steve first encountered their deadliest nemesis, The Brain!

Suburban Satanists! The long-running strip that originally appeared in Norway and Sweden finally comes to the UK! The De Ville family just like to bond over their hobby. It's just that their hobby involves devil worship!

Plus: A feature on the history of Brickman over the last 36 years!

Brickman Returns! is a limited edition, full colour, one-off 32 page comic. If you're attending ICE you can buy it directly from me for £4.50. Support British comics!

For those of you unable to attend ICE, when I get back I'll work out the postage rate for the comic and will update this post with the details of price and how to order copies. Review copies will also go out next week.

My thanks to Stuart and Hal at UK Comics Creative for doing a fantastic job on the printing and getting the copies to me on time. I'm really over the moon with how it's turned out! If you need a printer for your comics I thoroughly recommend them: http://www.ukcomicscreative.co.uk/

Sunday, 24 August 2014

Suburban Satanists!

Looking through some old files I came across a strip I hadn't thought about for a while. Suburban Satanists! I created this strip about a family of dysfunctional devil worshippers in 1997 for Geek, a Norwegain comic. Geek folded after a few issues but Suburban Satanists was picked up a year or so later to continue in Egmont's Herman Hedning anthology comic, published in Sweden and Norway (and Finland too I think).

The strip ran for four (later five) pages an issue and was a regular feature until about 2004, so there are a lot of pages. It also had a one-off book in Norway in 2003. I own the rights to the strip and have all the artwork so one of these days I really must get it published in English language editions.

I spend all my time focused on freelancing for various comics, and that's what pays the bills of course, but I do need to try and set time aside to get my own characters back into print: Combat Colin, Suburban Satanists, Derek the Troll, Brickman...

Every year I promise myself I'll self-publish those old strips but I never get around to it. I will... one of these days!

A brief history:

I've worked as a freelance professional humour comics artist and writer for over 40 years. I sold my first cartoon in 1983 and since then have created many characters such as TOM THUG, PETE AND HIS PIMPLE, COMBAT COLIN, BRICKMAN, ROBO-CAPERS, DEREK THE TROLL, TOUGH GUY AND SCRUFFY, SUBURBAN SATANISTS, SGT.SHOUTY and others.

My clients include IPC, Marvel Comics, Egmont, Panini, D.C. Thomson, Rebellion and many others, covering the comics field from originated characters to licensed properties, pre-school to adult on comics such as BUSTER, OINK!, BEANO, DANDY, TRANSFORMERS, SONIC THE COMIC, TOXIC, VIZ, CiTV TELLYTOTS, LEGO ADVENTURES, HERMAN HEDNING, SWEET FA, ACTION FORCE, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, RAMPAGE, LUCKY BAG COMIC, SWIFTSURE, WARLOCK, WHITE DWARF, ACES WEEKLY, THE DAREDEVILS, THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL, and many more.

My recent comics work includes:

'The Daft Dimension' for DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE 'Keyhole Kate' and 'Postman Prat' for THE DANDY ANNUAL and THE DANDY SUMMER SPECIAL 'Sgt.Shouty' for The77.

'Bad Pets' for ANIMAL PLANET Magazine.

'Short Sharp Shocks' for THIS COMIC IS HAUNTED

Now semi-retired to focus on my own comics and creator-owned characters.

Info:

Images are Copyright © their respective copyright holders and used for reference only. Combat Colin, Brickman, Derek the Troll, Rock Solid, Suburban Satanists, Sgt.Shouty, Short Sharp Shocks, Tough Guy are ©Lew Stringer. All news items and written articles, except for company press releases, are ©Lew Stringer. Any opinions expressed in my posts are my own and not representative of any publisher. Opinions expressed by other people in the comments section are those of each particular writer, not necessarily reflective of my own personal opinions. Comments posted to this blog are moderated. Personal insults and character defamation will not be passed for publication.