Tag: comicbook

Slaine: The Horned God – Live on Stage

Slaine, a barbarian warrior standing bare-chested.

My friend Rik Hoskin has told me about an intriguing new UK theatre event that might be of interest to readers:

Professional storyteller Jason Buck will deliver an official adaptation of 2000AD‘s Slaine: The Horned God, based on the story written by Pat Mills, as a theatrical performance at Oxford Playhouse on 19th September. Tickets are available to buy now.

The Oxford performance is a preview show for a tour later this year; a show adapting a tale of Celtic heroes, villains, monsters, magic, dragons, demons, goddesses and gods for the stage, it’s been created by Jason in partnership with 2000AD and Rebellion.

Originally created by Pat Mills, “the godfather of British comics”, and his wife Angie Kincaid, Sláine has captured the imagination of comics readers for generations.

Set in a “time which is not a time” when Britain was rife with magic and mischief, this one-man production of Slaine: The Horned God brings together the epic heroic exploits and divine transformation of the one who would be High King of the Tribes of the Earth Goddess.

This production reimagines ancient mythologies and brings to life the traditional art of storytelling for modern audiences.

Jason Buck has been a performer most of his adult life, including gurning, comedy and sword swallowing, but his passion lies in stories.

“There’s nothing like getting lost in a story, the pictures in your head are better than film,” the prize winning storyteller says.

Jason has also written and published seven illustrated collections of stories, including Stories from the Towers of Stone and Steel and Jack in the Blood, the latter inspired by testing on Jason’s ancestral DNA.

 A teller of tall tales, a weaver of whimsies and a fashioner of fables, Jason draws on traditional favourites and new ideas. His stories are told in the oldest and best ways – as live performances for modern audiences. 

Based in the West Midlands of England, as well as a global online audience, Jason has performed across the UK and mainland Europe, blending traditional and contemporary motifs, vocal sound effects and pure, unadulterated fantasy.

• Book your tickets for Jason Buck’s interpretation of Slaine: The Horned God at Oxford Playhouse on Friday 19th September 2025 here

• Jason Buck is online at jasonbuckstoryteller.co.uk | Facebook | Instagram | Threads

Vampire Invasion and other news

Hello there! It’s another quick round up of news from myself and friends this time.

After Hangmen was an enormous success for Bolton Little Theatre and myself personally getting some of the best notices I’ve ever had for playing Syd Ambleside, I have gone back into the control box for the next play of the season – Player’s Angels by Amanda Whittington.

In 1950’s Nottingham, John Player’s girls have the best jobs, the best wage and the best hairdos in town. And now, there’s a new face on the Navy Cut machine as 15-year-old Mae comes fresh from the country for her first job at the tobacco factory. Mae lodges with her Aunt Glad who sits alongside her on the production line but keeps her assignations with the young factory foreman to herself. Led by workmates Cyn and Vee, Mae takes her first steps into the world of the Player’s Angels: where a young girl can lose her halo and find her wings.

Running 22nd – 27th April, it’s a warm-hearted play about a group of friends supporting each other and facing a changing Britain, as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II ushers in a new age. You can book tickets now from Ticketsource.

Rik Hoskin and Chatri Art have been busy with a project of their own, a graphic novel called The Vampire Invasion. Set in 1969, their wild story imagines an alternative history where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s landing on the Moon triggers a retaliation from a colony of Nosferatu-like vampires who have been living on the dark side for centuries. It’s a very entertaining romp that recalls the best of Warren’s 70’s Creepy and Eerie horror comics. Renaissance man Chatri Art composed the theme for my podcast and his dazzling artwork has been featured in games and album art. He came up with the initial concept for this book when he was a teenager.

Available from Viking Press in both hardback and paperback.

Rik also has a short story out this month in HyphenPunk magazine. The President’s Been Shot is a satirical cyber-punk with his trademark ingenuity. You can order it from Amazon Kindle or a PDF version from Ko-Fi.

Finally, my cousin Terrance McAdams has the second volume of his YA science fiction series out now. Biocode: Resolution finds Ciara and her friends discovering new twists to the mystery of a race of telepathic aliens who want to take over the Earth. Ciara has been seeing visions of her ancestor William on Captain Cook’s second voyage, but now she must travel into the past to save him and the future. Available now from all good bookshops.

It is time to keep your appointment with – Wikkaman

Portrait of Wikkaman

Some days I am amazed by what appears in my inbox. Such as this, the latest project from the indefatigable and talented Rik Hoskin. Wikkaman is a brand new comic strip appearing in the pages of Aces Weekly – an online comics anthology edited by UK comics legend David Lloyd, the artist responsible for V for Vendetta, Hellblazer, Night Raven and many more memorable guest strips.

Wikkaman will run for seven weeks beginning Monday 15th October.  It’s based on a real life band – a Dorset acoustic folk group – who’s company includes Rik’s wife Hannah. Now he has put them into some comic book adventures, which are in the style of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons he and I grew up with in the 70’s and early 80’s. It will run for seven weeks, beginning Monday 15th October. A labour of love for Rik, to me it is a project that harks back to his early, more personal work, and the indie anthology Nu-Comix.

Artwork is courtesy of Nick Taylor. Incidentally the colouring is by Chatri Ahpornsiri, no mean musician himself who provided music for my own Fine Line and Agents of Psyence audios.

Rik recently talked about the origins of his new work on John Freeman’s long-running comics blog Down the Tubes

Aces Weekly is a comic art collection of serials and short stories beamed directly to readers through cyberspace, featuring a mixture of new talent and established names. Subscriptions to Aces Weekly are a mere US $9.99 or UK £6.99 for about 150 pages over seven weeks. 21 of those pages are written by Rik. So it’s a pretty good deal, even if you don’t enjoy the Wikkaman story! You can find out more about this exciting project from its webpage.

And if you are interested in what band look/sound like, you can check out their Youtube promo too:

And why not visit their Facebook page too.

Red Rising – Sons of Ares

artwork

In a distant future, man has colonised the solar system, but this brave new era of exploration has led in turn to a tyrannical caste system of genetically modified humans, ruled by the Golds. Down in mines of Mars, a young Red called Darrow decides to fight back. So begins Pierce Brown’s bestselling series of YA SF novels. However I must admit though I had not heard of them until my friend Rik Hoskin told me about his current comic project – Red Rising – Sons of Ares.

redrisingsoa-01-cov-a-cypress

Published by Dynamite Comics, Sons of Ares is a prequel series, exploring the early life of Fitchner au Barca, the leader of the resistance movement calling themselves the Sons of Ares. The first two issues are out now and it has been well received by fans of the series. Rik is working closely in collaboration with author Pierce Brown, just as he did with Brett Sanderson on last year’s graphic novel White Sands. The splendid artwork meanwhile is by Eli Powell.

You can see a few preview pages and find out more details on this page. The series is available in comic shops and also on the Kindle.

More recently Rik has been interviewed by Dynamite about his latest series, and looking forward to issue four.  Its a great read too. You can find it here. I’m hoping to post some impressions of it soon.

aop1

Talking about my old mate Rik also prompts me to talk about the latest addition to this blog. If you look to the left of the screen, you will notice I’ve added a new permanent section, containing downloadable copies of our original audio series – Agents of Psyence. These MP3 files used to be available at Westlake Films’ site, until I took them down during that site’s revamp. Now I’ve brought them in-house so to speak. At the moment the page is fairly bare-bones but I intend to expand it in time.

Agents of Psyence is an action adventure series based on Rik’s early self-published comic Psyence Fiction. Set in present day Britain, an enigmatic billionaire called Sebastian Hayward has assembled a team of unusual specialists, including a cybernetic warrior, an ex-MI6 agent and an occult expert, to investigate supernatural crimes. It’s mixture of horror and SF, with an emphasis on pace and thrills. My own approach was definitely influenced by the work of radio director/producer extraordinaire Dirk Maggs (Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Radio 1 version of Batman: Knightfall amongst many others)

The first story Truth and Bone was adapted by Rik from the pages of the first two issues, and the second, Bloodlines, written exclusively for audio by Rik and myself. I think they’ve got some of my best production work in them and its always been an intention of mine to continue the series. Several other scripts were written by ourselves, John Isles and Peter Grehen. I released the series under the label Phantom Frame, which is where the title of this very blog comes from.

You can experience both stories for free, playing them on this site or downloading them. Hope you enjoy them, whether you’re a new listener or a returning fan.

Discover the Agents of Psyence by clicking this link

Shapeshifters and crime – “Hopcross Jilly” the first Mercy Thompson graphic novel

Mercy Thompson GN
Mercy Thompson GN

I’m delighted to learn that the first run of comics featuring were-coyote Mercy Thompson has been collected together into one hardback volume. Based on the popular series of horror-fantasy novels by Patricia Briggs, this series has been written by my good friend and in-demand comics scribe Rik Hoskin, based on a storyline by Briggs. Illustrated with marvelous artwork by Tom Garcia.

Mercy Thompson is a beautiful young woman by day, and coyote and honorary member of the Tri-State werewolf clan by night. When the pack uncover a mass grave of children’s skeletons, it leads her into conflict with a terrifying supernatural being. Worse, Mercy’s stepdaughter Jesse is now endangered.

You can find out more from the Dynamite Comics website – http://dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C1606906682

In addition to the comic strip, this collection also includes Rik’s original script for issue one, which is interesting reading for writers like me wanting to more about how storytelling works in such a visual medium and how it is formatted. Recommended reading!

Brand new Mercy Thompson comicbook

MercyHopcross01-Cov-Garcia2

My good friend and fellow writer Rik Hoskin (creator of the Agents of Psyence, whose audio series I produced) has just told me about his latest project. He’s scripting the Mercy Thompson horror comic for Dynamite Publishing, working alongside author/creator Patricia Briggs.  Mercy Thompson is the heroine of a series of popular urban fantasy novels. A young Native American woman who can shapeshift into a coyote, and who’s life inevitably brings her into touch with mysteries and dangers within Washington’s hidden supernatural community

You can view some excellent preview art here:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/07/31/exclusive-first-look-at-patricia-briggs-mercy-thompson-1/

Issue 1 (of 6) can be ordered now and will be out in October.  A full listing of Dynamite’s October titles is here: http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/previews.html

Rik’s been an inspiration to me as a someone who’s made that transition from part-time amateur to full-time professional writer. He’s done it by not only being very good at writing, but by his versatility, working on many children’s comic titles, horror short stories and SF novels, sometimes under pseudonyms.

And someday I will return to the Agents of Pysence audio series. Yes, someday…