Lew Stringer

Last updated

Lew Stringer
Born (1959-03-22) 22 March 1959 (age 65)
England, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Area(s)Artist, writer
http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

Lew Stringer (born 22 March 1959 in England) is a freelance comic artist and scriptwriter.

Contents

Biography

Stringer began his career from the late 1970s with a series of fanzines, many featuring his popular Brickman character; these were read by several professional creators (including Kevin O'Neill, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) who encouraged Stringer to try comics as a profession [1] and Stringer recalls that "Alan Moore actually introduced me to one of the editors at Marvel UKBernie Jaye who was editor on The Daredevils ". [2]

He sold his first professional cartoon to Marvel UK (the British branch of Marvel Comics) in 1983 where it appeared in The Daredevils comic, after which he worked for a short time as art assistant to the cartoonist Mike Higgs (creator of Moonbird and The Cloak). Since then Stringer has freelanced for numerous British comics for various companies and audiences.

His best remembered creations are Tom Thug and Pete and His Pimple for Oink! comic (1986), which outlasted that comic and continued into Buster comic, and Combat Colin the halfwit hero who featured in Action Force and The Transformers comics. Prior to Colin joining Transformers, Stringer had written another, similarly slapstick, strip Robo-Capers for that title. Robo-Capers was replaced by Combat Colin when the reprints of American G.I. Joe strips were added to the Transformers comic. Robo-Capers returned for a single story, which featured Colin and his sidekick, in Issue No. 200. After a change of editorial direction in 1991, Marvel UK handed the rights of Combat Colin to Stringer and he has used him in small-press titles, such as the Combat Colin Special and Yampy Tales. [3] On 30 September 2012, Combat Colin returned in an all-new story for the launch of new David Lloyd's new online comic Aces Weekly and two other new stories featuring the character have appeared there since.

Stringer has also worked as a writer on CiTV Tellytots ; was one of the main writers on Sonic the Comic , where he created several fan-favourite characters and stories; and has been a long time artist/writer for Viz and many other publications. He has written Toxic!'s Team TOXIC! strip since the first issue (and drawn it since issue 15); this proved popular enough with the readers to gain two pages an issue and lead to other comic strips being brought in. [4] In October 2012 reprints of Team Toxic began to appear in the magazine but brand new stories resumed in January 2014, concluding in February 2019.

He broke into the international market in 1997 creating the Suburban Satanists for the Norwegian comic Geek . From 1999 to 2007 those characters appeared in the Swedish comic book Herman Hedning .

In April 2005, Active Images published a collection – Brickman Begins – of all of Stringer's Brickman strips since 1979. In 2006, a brand new Brickman series began in the American comic book Elephantmen , published by Image Comics, and in 2007, Combat Colin became a guest star in the strip. The series concluded in Elephantmen No.24 in 2009. In September 2015 Stringer reprinted all 20 episodes in a self-published comic entitled Brickman Returns. [5] Stringer has since self-published other comics that reprint his older material, such as a Derek the Troll / Rock Solid special and a Combat Colin mini-series.

He began freelancing for The Beano in 2007, drawing a Fred's Bed story for the Christmas issue and a one-off Ivy the Terrible strip for an issue in 2008. In October 2008 Stringer became the artist on a new strip, Super School which is about five superhero children and their non-superpowered teacher. He started drawing for The Dandy after its revamp in October 2010, providing the illustrations for Postman Prat and Kid Cops and writing and drawing The Dark Newt.

In 2014 Lew announced that he would be contributing a regular new cartoon strip to Doctor Who Magazine . [6]

In recent years Lew has scripted and illustrated Rasher and Joe King (The Beano) for The Beano and in 2018 began work on a revival of Big Eggo for that comic. He also created Sgt.Shouty of the Moon Force for independent comic The77, and Short Sharp Shocks for horror comic This Comic Is Haunted.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

The Beano is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Lord Snooty and His Pals, Ivy the Terrible, General Jumbo, Jonah, and Biffo the Bear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Snooty</span> Character in the UK comic The Beano

Lord Snooty is a fictional character who stars in the British comic strip Lord Snooty and his Pals from the British comic anthology The Beano. The strip debuted in issue 1, illustrated by DC Thomson artist Dudley D. Watkins, who designed and wrote Snooty's stories until 1968, but the stories would continue featuring in Beano issues until 1991, with occasional revivals and character cameos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivy the Terrible</span> British comic book character

Ivy the Terrible is a fictional character featured in The Beano. She is a four-year-old girl who annoys her parents with her misbehaviour. She first appeared in The Beano in 1985 in the comic strip of the same name, but has starred in other comic strips throughout Beano history.

<i>Big Eggo</i> Comic strip character by DC Thomson

Big Eggo was a British comic strip series about an eponymous ostrich, published in the British comic magazine The Beano. He first appeared in issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, and was the first cover star. His first words in the strip were "Somebody's taken my egg again!" It was drawn throughout by Reg Carter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British comics</span> Comics originating in the United Kingdom

A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper. As of 2014, the three longest-running comics of all time were all British.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel UK</span> Imprint of Marvel Comics that has become defunct since 1995

Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon, and Grant Morrison.

Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, which also produces collectible stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy. The company publishes comic books in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as manga in several non-English-speaking countries through the Planet Manga publishing division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Furman</span> Comic book writer

Simon Christopher Francis Furman is a British comic book writer who is best known for his work on Hasbro's Transformers franchise, starting with writing Marvel's initial comic book to promote the toyline worldwide, as well as foundations for both Dreamwave Production's and IDW Publishing's takes on the Generation 1 minifranchise.

<i>The Daredevils</i> Comic book series

The Daredevils was a comics magazine and anthology published by Marvel UK in 1983. Aimed for a more sophisticated audience than typical light superhero adventures, The Daredevils featured Captain Britain stories by Alan Moore and Alan Davis paired with reprints of Frank Miller's Daredevil stories. It has been speculated this was in response to Dez Skinn's new anthology Warrior.

<i>The Mighty World of Marvel</i> Comic book series

The Mighty World Of Marvel was a British comic book series published first by Marvel UK and then by Panini Comics. Debuting on 30 September 1972, it was the first title published by Marvel UK and ran until 1984. The series was revived in 2003 by Panini Comics, who are licensed to reprint Marvel US material in Europe, and was published monthly until November 2019.

<i>Oink!</i> (comics)

Oink! was a British comic book magazine for children which was published from 3 May 1986 to 22 October 1988. It set out to be deliberately anarchic, reminiscent of Viz but for children. The creators also cited Mad magazine as a major influence.

Combat Colin is a slapstick comedy adventure comic strip created, written and drawn by humour comic artist/writer Lew Stringer. It appeared in a number of Marvel UK titles.

Brickman is a humour comic strip and character created by UK cartoonist Lew Stringer. A parody of Batman, the spoof features the adventures of zillionaire Loose Brayne and his partner Tina Trowel who fight crime in Guffon City, fighting villains such as the Poker, the Mad Cobbler and Gnat-Woman. The strip's humour uses heavy amounts of puns, sight gags and absurdism.

TV Century 21, later renamed TV21, TV21 and Tornado, TV21 and Joe 90, and TV21 again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Century 21 Productions, it promoted the company's many science-fiction television series. The comic was published in the style of a newspaper of the future, with the front page usually dedicated to fictional news stories set in the worlds of Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and other stories. The front covers were also in colour, with photographs from one or more of the Anderson series or occasionally of the stars of the back-page feature.

<i>Smash!</i> (comics)

Smash! was a weekly British comic book, published initially by Odhams Press and subsequently by IPC Magazines, from 5 February 1966 to 3 April 1971. After 257 issues it merged into Valiant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Power Comics</span> Comics imprint of Odhams Press

Power Comics was an imprint of the British comics publisher Odhams Press that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 and 1968, the Power Comics line consisted of five weekly titles: Wham!, Smash!, Pow!, Fantastic and Terrific. The first three of these titles were essentially traditional The Beano-style British comics papers, supplemented by a small amount of Marvel and DC Comics material, while Fantastic and Terrific were more magazine-like in style and were dominated by their Marvel superhero content.

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<i>Spider-Man Comics Weekly</i>

Spider-Man Comics Weekly was a Marvel UK publication which primarily published black-and-white reprints of American Marvel four-color Spider-Man stories. Marvel UK's second-ever title, Spider-Man Comics Weekly debuted in 1973, initially publishing "classic" 1960s Spider-Man stories.

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References

  1. "Blimey! It's The Brickman Man!". Comic World News.
  2. "Lew Stringer interview". fractalmatter.com. 10 July 2006. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009.
  3. "Lew's News". lewcomix.tripod.com. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  4. Freeman, John (31 August 2005). "Toxic Turns 50!". Down the Tubes.net. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  5. "Brickman: The Dim Knight!". brickmancomics.tripod.com. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  6. "New strip for Doctor Who Magazine!". lewstringercomics.blogspot.co.uk. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2017.