It's PJ!!

PJ Holden doesn't grace these digi-pages nearly as much as we'd like anymore (that said, the rest've us aren't exactly regular contributors these days...), but he still remains very much a founding member of the Micks. Gone are the days where he'd draw several great images for each theme, then not be able to decide on one, then re-draw it again, then lose the hi-res when the sketchbook is due out, then draw it again...

He's got one interesting attention span. Plus he's got amazing bloody talent. One of the most naturally-gifted of our gang for my money, PJ produces the goods week-in, week-out in the pages of 2000AD and the upcoming, fantastic-looking MONSTEROLOGY.

Will Sliney + Guest Mick Tom Galvin

Will Sliney is another man who's really supported the book all the way along. He's doing great things over at Marvel and here at home with his Celtic Warrior book, which is selling like hotcakes.

Here, he depicts Irish and his whiskey, two pals ne'er to be separated.

Though, (ambiguous) truth be told, this is pretty much me on any given Friday night in the studio.

BONUS!

This is a pinup done for the book drawn by legendary Irish Storyboard and Layout artist, Tom Galvin.

I worked with Tom for 2 years in Dublin animation company Boulder media, in the BG department, straight after college. Tom is one of the most talented fellas I've ever worked with, and I learned an awful lot from him about basic storytelling and framing techniques, plus annoying youtube clips. We were led by the fearless David O'Sullivan, then head of the BG dept. in Boulder, now drawing The Crimson Blade for Atomic Diner comics!

Declan Shalvey + Guest Mick Stephen Byrne

Declan has been a huge supporter of the series from day one, really helping me get the message out there and banging the drum for HPD. I owe him a lot, figuratively and literally. Here's his variant cover for the second issue, coloured by the delightfully red-maned Ms. Jordan Bellaire, to whom I am also in fairly constant debt. Top sort, both.

BONUS!

Also! Here's a rather great pinup done by the extraordinarily talented friend to the Micks, Stephen Byrne. Stephen is a Dublin-based comic and freelance artist who's really going places. I'm a genuinely big fan of his work, and am so glad he decided to aim his talents in HPD's direction. DIRECT HIT.

HALF PAST DANGER: T-MINUS 1 WEEK

This day next week sees the launch of the first issue of Half Past Danger, the book I've been working on for the last year and a half. It's been a long road, but I couldn't be happier with how things have turned out. I asked the other Micks if it'd be cool to have a week-long buildup here to count down the days to release, and if they'd all contribute a piece for the book. Everybody obliged with some truly amazing stuff; some of which you'll have already seen in one form or another online, but plenty of which you won't.

Tomm kicked things off yesterday with that bloody amazing new piece you can see beneath this post, and he's really set the bar right where I want it to be.

For today's post I'll show again all five of the images I've completed for the regular covers of the series so far, with the sixth and final cover still to come.

In the days to follow I'll post HPD images by each of the other Micks (assuming Thompson finishes his soon enough...). They're all well worth the wait!

Mooney

Half past danger

Trying to rustle up something as a tribute to Steves upcoming masterpiece ...fun stuff

Desperately seeking

They say God loves a trier, so he really must have a warm spot in his heart for myself and Dirk Manning. Now I'm back to the Micks after a prolonged absence and we're both back to Farseeker, now titled FARSEEKERS. Dirk went to C2E2 to do his magic and I put this piece together to gussy up the pitch. How far will things go this time around? Too early to say, but we're very hopeful indeed. In any case, I hope to be bringing the rest of our first story arc later this year, by hook or by crook.

Mirror, Mirror

This is one of the first things I've drawn in yonks- it's Ywehbobbobhewy, yucky minor god of magic mirror portals and it's (naturally) for a D&D book called PETTY GODS.
All a bit of cthulhu-y fun.

Oh, and be sure to go and pick up your FREE COPY of CLA$$WAR #1 today as part of Free Comic Book Day at Comixology! Written by Rob Williams, with art by Trevor Hairsine and colors by me.

BOTTOM

In lieu of anything meaty to share, I thought I'd mark a return to this old place with this stunningly accurate photograph I took earlier today of Richie and Eddie off of 22-year-old sitcom, Bottom, a TV show emphatically not for birds, smashing blouses or not.

Night Ghost Colours

....Aaand the coloured version, which I got done over the weekend. Had a great time working on this; was nice to get revisit to the Atomic Diner characters. Hopefully I'll get the time and opportunity to do more covers further down the line.

Night Ghost Inks Complete

Finished inks for this Atomic Diner cover. I'll stick the coloured version up next week, assuming i get it done in time around HPD deadlines.

Nobody tell Dec I posted this on a tuesday (his day for posts, remember those?)

Not like he ever looks at this thing anyway! SCREW YOU DEC!

Peter and the wolf

This is just my "fan art " copy of the beautiful poster from the stop motion short Peter and the Wolf that won loads of awards a few years back. I love the intensity they achieved in the puppets eyes.

Night Ghost Cover In Progress

Me again! Been neglecting the Micks blog so much lately that I figured I'd post twice in the same day.
This is the cover for an upcoming NIGHT GHOST one-shot, and marks my first work back at Atomic Diner in over 6/7 years (since whenever Dec was on Freakshow and I was doing variant covers, when the hell WAS that?)

I've been working on this bad boy for two days now, and it's still not bloody finished. Probably because it has almost all of the Atomic Diner characters ever ('cept the Freakshow crowd...sniff) on there. Composition for this thing was tricky.

I'll post the finished piece up here whenever I eventually finish it...

Trinity College Lecture

This March is Irish Comic Book Month, and as part of this event two Irish comic book publishers, Lightning Strike and Atomic Diner are hosting a talk discussing Irish Comic Book production in Trinity College Dublin. I've been invited to participate in the lecture, and am delighted to do so, since both my mother and my wife have/are attended this prestigious seat of learning.

Guests include myself(Mooney), Declan Shalvey, Robert Curley, Darrin O'Toole, Robert Carey and Ciarán Marcantonio, so a wide spectrum of Irish comics are covered; from those working in mainstream comics, to creator owned comics, to self-published comics and so on. 

The Lecture will be hosted in the Trinity Arts Building, Room 2041B at 7.15pm, and is free for all to attend.

Spidey!