Scott, McCaffrey re-tell "The Last Days of Man"

Released in time for last year's Thought Bubble, Paul Scott of Omnivistascope fame put together a US comic-sized collection of the strips he's done with artist Paul McCaffrey, under the title The Last Days Of Man.

Since the release, Paul tells us the collection has garnered plenty of praise - no surprize give Paul's past awards for projects such as the humour title Solar Wind and his other works such as Midlam Miniatures.

Reconstructed through genetic and data records, just over three million years in the future, the two Pauls have worked on recreating some of Professor Brabblepap’s most important work for the University of Flobobobapple on that most enigmatic and pervasive extinct species, the human race.

Join us them a journey through the great hives of Earth, where the curious descendants of the human race still live. Visit the distant asteroid base of Professor Milius, where the last great human experiment is about to reach its conclusion. Tune in to the exclusive Thoughcast™ from Kesney Towers as the inventor of Bodyclock™ runs out of time. And in deep space, the transmitted shadow of a long dead race threatens the entire galaxy.

Included in the comic is all of their work from across five issues of the critically acclaimed science fiction comic, Omnivistascope, with four stories, re-mastered and presented in a new 36 page US format comic book.

• The Last Days of Man is on sale online for just £3 at: www.midlamminiatures.co.uk/books/LDoM.html

 

In Review: Keegan Jask - Tales From the Heaven-11

You know that slightly dodgy bloke in the pub who is known for exaggeration and who likes to embellish his stories? Well writer Paul Von Scott and artist Leigh Shepherd have given him a name, Keegan Jask, and sent him into space to the Omega Bar of the Heaven-11 space station.

Tales From The Heaven-11 tells nine interlinked tales of Keegan Jask as he manages to overcome all the odds, as well as various intergalactic hitmen, Mafioso and police, to return to the Omega Bar to get a drink. Do some of the most dangerous beings in the galaxy really hate him that much because he upset their plans, or is he prone to a little too much exaggeration?

Paul Von Scott has been producing anthology titles for well over ten years now beginning with the National Comics Award winning Solar Wind, an affectionate parody of British boy's comics like 2000AD and new Eagle before moving on to his roughly annual science-fiction anthology OmniVistaScope which ran for seven issues and was regularly labelled Fanzine Of The Month by SFX magazine.

Keegan Jask: Tales From The Heaven-11 reprints the eight Jask strips from OVS as well as the various adverts and one pagers that appeared in that title, plus a brand new tale, Down Among The Admin, and adds to the package with a string of extras from a Jaskopedia of all the places and characters in the strips to Paul and Leigh's 'conversation' about the creation of one of the comic strip stories. With Paul's interest in gaming, both in game creation and modelling miniatures, it is unsurprising that there is also a Keegan Jask RPG game included.

Looking at the board of the RPG made me think of the old British annuals, which often included a dice game, and perhaps the best way to describe this Keegan Jask package is that it resembles a British comics annual for the character. While many other small pressers aim to produce something that looks to all intents and purposes like a US format comic or graphic novel, the 96 page, A4 sized, perfect bound Keegan Jask: Tales From The Heaven-11 could readily be viewed as a softcover British annual, with its selection of contents reminiscent of the best of the 1980s Judge Dredd annuals.

Leigh Shepherd's greytone artwork, with its multitude of different aliens, is a great benefit to the book and while the art in the early tales is less accomplished, you can see how Leigh improves in confidence as the stories progress. It is always worth checking the backgrounds for in-jokes, with Judge Dredd helmets and Dr Seuss hats appearing or one bartender to looks like he is a Doctor Who fan, showing that the artist is enjoying himself as much as the writer is.

Keegan Jask: Tales From The Heaven-11 is an impressive package which combines Paul Von Scott's tongue-in-cheek writing with Leigh Shepherd's multitude of alien creatures to create a remarkably detailed universe for one rather lovable rogue to spin his next tale.

There are more details of Keegan Jask - Tales From The Heaven-11 on the OmniVistaScope website and the book is available from the OVS shop.

Paul Scott will be launching Keegan Jask - Tales From The Heaven-11 at the Bristol Comic Expo at Brunel's Old Station Passenger Shed on 12 and 13 May 2012.

OmniVistaScope Model VII Now Available

The 2011 issue of Paul Scott's yearly Omnivistascope has been released. Model VII continues the A4 science-fiction anthology format of the previous issues and comes in at a whopping 114 pages, the longest issue of OVS yet.

Behind the wraparound cover by Matt Herbert are the variety of comic strips that we have come to expect of OVS, virtually all written by Paul Scott. Dirk Despair returns in three different stories with art by Chris Geary, Space Lord gets two stories with art by David Goodman, while Keenan Jask also returns with art by Leigh Shepard. Paul continues his affectionate send up the photo stories of the early 1980s Eagle comic with a three part trilogy about his consulting magician Warlock Holmes (and the Amazing Dr Wizard TM).

In addition there are a number of text articles covering everything from BBC TV's Artemis 81 to Alan Frank's 1970s Sci-Fi Now book.

Omnivistascope Model 7 is a 114 page, perfect bound A4 book with colour cover and monochrome interiors. Cost is £5 and it is available via Paypal on the Omnivistascope website.

More details of Omnivistascope are on the OVS Facebook page.

Paul Scott will be selling Omnivistascope at the Canny Comic Con in Newcastle this Saturday, 10 December 2011.

OmniVistaScope Model 6 Now Available

The latest issue of Paul Scott's annual Omnivistascope has been released. "Model VI" is dedicated to the memory of Patrick McGoohan and features an article by Ed Berridge on the real life inspiration for The Prisoner's Village. The cover by Paul McCaffrey, of a human astronaut finding a desolate Martian Tripod on the surface of Mars, is inspired by the article by Jeremy Briggs on Orson Welles' radio version of The War Of The Worlds.

However the main reason for buying OmniVistaScope is for the comic strips, mainly written by Paul Scott. The robot Rathbone returns in the forth part of 'The Last Of The Organic Wars' with art by Brian Coyle, Dirk Despair returns in 'Conservatoire De La Mort Et De Paranoia' with art by Chris Geary, while Keenan Jask is back with art by Leigh Shepard. Paul Scott also continues to affectionately send up the photo stories of early new Eagle comic with two stories of his consulting magician Warlock Holmes (and the Amazing Dr Wizard TM).

Omnivistascope Model 6 is a 100+ page, perfect bound A4 book with colour cover by Paul McCaffrey and monochrome interiors. Cost including UK postage is £6 and it is available via Paypal on the Omnivistascope website.

More details of Omnivistascope are on the OVS Facebook page.

Omnivistascope 5 Now Available

"Omni-Vista-Scope"

1. A device upon which all things may be viewed.
2. The Omnivistascope Corporation, a universal broadcaster.
3. A high quality science fiction comic anthology written by Paul Scott.

The latest issue of Paul Scott's excellent annual Omnivistascope has been released. "Model V" features comic strips written by Paul and illustrated by various artists including Bryan Coyle, Julia Bax, Darren Stephens and Leigh Shepard. David Goodman's work on Space Lord continues with the universal Emperor attending a SF style convention in his honour only to be told by the cosplayers that his costume isn't accurate enough. The consulting magician Warlock Holmes returns in two photo-strips plus a making of feature presented by the League of International Atheistic Revisionist Scientomerists (L.I.A.R.S.).

This issue also includes articles on various incarnations of the Rebelstar computer game, the parts of the second radio series of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy that Douglas Adams didn't use in his novels plus an in-depth interview with author and critic, Kim Newman.

• Omnivistascope issue 5 is a 100+ page, perfect bound A4 book with colour cover by Oliver Redding and monochrome interiors. Cost including UK postage is £5 and it is available by sending a cheque made payable to Paul Scott to 13 Kiln Crescent, Bishop Middleham, Ferryhill, County Durham, DL17 9AP.

• Alternatively it is available via Paypal on the Omnivistascope website.

• Overseas postage rates are available by e-mailing Paul via paulvonscottATyahoo.co.uk.

Solar Wind: The Last Hurrah

The are some constants in life: night follows day, the episode written by Steven Moffat will be the best story in any given season of new Doctor Who, and original Eagle fans will always hate any new version of Dan Dare.

Here is another one - Paul Von Scott will send a copy of his latest fanzine to SFX magazine and they will make it Fanzine Of The Month.

We have reported before that each of the four issues of his excellent A4 SF anthology title Omnivistascope have received the award, while his previous humorous title Solar Wind was also well received by the magazine's reviewers as well as winning a National Comic Award in 2004 and being an Eagle Award nominee in 2005.

The latest issue of SFX, number 175, has the Bumper Book Of Solar Wind as the Fanzine Of The Month. The pair of softcover annual size books between them reprint the entire 500+ pages of the long running fanzine and are available from the Omnivistascope page at Lulu.com. Priced at less than £6 each these are remarkably good value and don't be put off by the print-to-order supplier as the print quality is excellent.

In the meantime Paul plans to have issue 5 of Omnivistascope available in time for the Hi-Ex comics convention in February 2009. We are looking forward to both it and the convention.

The Bumper Book Of Solar Wind Volumes 1 and 2 are available at Lulu.com

Omnivistascope issue 1 to 4 and the few remaining back issues of Solar Wind are available direct from Paul at the Omnivistascope website.

2000AD Playing Cards For Free

The August issue of SFX, number 172, comes with a nice little freebie of a set of 2000AD playing cards. Nicolai Dante is, appropriately, the Jack of Hearts while Halo Jones is the Queen of Hearts, although that perhaps should have more appropriately been vampiric mutant Durham Red who only manages the Three of Hearts.

Our congratulations must go to Paul Von Scott as the fourth issue of his excellent SF zine Omnivistascope is Fanzine Of The Month, making OVS four for four with that award. Our review of OVS 4 is here and you can buy the title directly from Paul at the OVS website.

SFX, which modesty describes itself as "The world's number one sci-fi and fantasy magazine!" (despite, according to their ABC sales figures, being outsold by Doctor Who Adventures by almost five to one) is available in all the usual newsagents for £3.99.

In Review: Omnivistascope

The latest issue of Omnivistascope, Paul Scott's stunning-looking SF anthology comic, was released at the Bristol Comics Expo last month but what with one thing and another -- among other things, scripting Ex Astris, writing a story for an upcoming Misty anthology and the day job at ROK Comics -- I have only now had chance to post a review.

Such laxity is a disservice to the OVS team, because each issue of this indie just gets better and better. While I do at times find some of the scripting in need of some stronger editorial rein, the art throughout this 80-page extravaganza is awesome, so much so that it makes you weep that there are so few fully professional outlets in British comics for these talents to be financially rewarded for their great work.

While my favourite story of the issue is probably the spooky Holy Island written by Ben Clark, with art from Chris Geary - a cheery tale of a relentless zombie attack on a northern isle! - it's the cover art and interior strips drawn by Paul McCaffrey that proves, for me, the icing on the cake of this excellent title.

Editor and main writer Paul Scott consistently delivered a brilliant comic in the form of the award-winning humour title Solar Wind in the past but now he's turned his attention to, for the most part, more serious fare on OVS, he's producing an even higher quality comic. Mixing a range of strips, with art from the likes of Chris Geary, Ian Stacey, Beyan Coyle, Mike Donaldson and others, with features from authors such as the ever reliable Ed Berridge (an enjoyable Jeff Hawke retrospective) and Ben Clark (who provides a splendid feature on the TV series Dark Shadows, currently screening on digital TV in the UK), OVS is a delight, pretty much from cover to cover.

As I said, given the sheer number of scripts Paul himself has written this issue, I do have some concerns as regards plotting and pacing, but tales like The Bodyclock Murders and Juggerman -- surely a character ready to become standout -- are a great read as well as pleasing on the eye, and the continued appearance of Space Lord more than makes up for any inconsistency - a funny strip where the spirit of Solar Wind lives on.

Overall, Ominivistascope is an excellent indie title, well worth tracking down, or, if you're a comic shop, stocking. It's always a pleasure to read and the team consistently raise the bar on this title with every new issue. Recommended!

• You can buy Omnivistascope from the OVS shop online. The price is £3 plus £1 postage in the UK (please enquire for Europe and the rest of the World) and you can pay by PayPal or cheque, visit the OVS Shop for e-mail and real world addresses.

Solar Wind Collected

The Bumper Book of Solar Wind, a two-volume collection of all of the issues of the award-winning and very funny Solar Wind and its equally madcap companion titles, are now available from Lulu.com thanks to publisher and editor Paul Scott.

"The books collect the best part of five years work from a host of contributors to all 11 issues of Solar Wind, Sunny for Girls and Big War Comic across two 250+ page volumes," Paul tells downthetubes. "Solar Wind was a spoof kid's comic, in the mould of those great comics from the late 1970s and early 1980s, helmed by a criminally irresponsible editor called Cosmic Ray.

"The comic was created by myself and Gareth Whitty after we'd written a story (Deathsphere, a future sports strip) and didn't want to give it to a publisher," he continues. "Solar Wind was my first experience of creating a comic book, and I learnt a lot from it. Especially that I don't envy the work of an Editor! But we got great reviews, won a National Comic Award, nominated for an Eagle and best of all, lots of praise from readers.

"Highlights for me included Issue 4, the Action!-inspired Aggro issue," he reveals, "Griefbringer (by Ben Clark, which is soon to become a web comic) the tale of a past-haunted tyrant in a distant fantasy kingdom and Jack Knacker, a man who deals with all of socities problems with a piece of 2x4 wood.

"There are so many other good strips that people did, that I felt it was a shame that it was doomed to oblivion once the print runs ran out, so I put together a reprint via Lulu.com (an on-demand internet publisher) to keep it available for contributors and readers alike.

"While the publisher takes its cut, I take no profits myself, so it's possible to order both volumes and all 500+ pages for £15," says Paul, who is impressed by the lulu service, also used by other UK comic creators such as Chris (Moon Queen) Reynolds. "I think it's a publishing revolution more small press people should take advantage of, and I couldn't have dreamt of doing this without it."