Thursday 24 July 2014

Shucks! It's Alex Ronald!


Prog 1891 sees the debut of Leigh Moore, John Reppion and Steve Yeowell's brand new thrill 'Black Shuck.' The series features vicious Vikings, mythical monsters, terrifying trolls and a terrible tribe of totally twattish twats - it looks to be a winner!

If you're wondering about the name, the Black Shuck is a legendary ghostly dog that allegedly roams East Anglia, there is an artist's impression below. However, in the story, Black Shuck is a mysterious, shipwrecked warrior who claims to be the heir of the Viking King Ivar. But is this just a shaggy dog story?

The Black Shuck with his terrifying red eyes...

I'm absolutely delighted that Alex Ronald, one of my very favourite artists, has been asked to produce the first cover for the series. What a cracker it is, I love the composition! I asked Alex how much reference material he got, with it being a new strip and all. He said "I received three black and white pages and the following brief: 'Black Shuck himself central with his sword out and roaring trolls all around him!' Cool!

Below we see his 3D roughs, a troll based on my wife and Shuck, based on my lover, Justin Lee Collins...

Egor was legless again.

Shuck shows us his funky moves

Next is the composition that was sent to Tharg for approval...

Put that away, it's a family comic! 

With the mighty one's blessing, Alex painted the cover in his usual jaw-dropping style...

"Oh trollocks!" 

And here's how the cover looks in your local thrill merchant.

"I want to hug him and squeeze him and call him George!"

HUGE, troll sized thanks to Alex for sending the lovely images. Please check out his blog for more amazing work!

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