Two of Scotland’s top comic creators have revived DC Thomson’s classic character “Invisible Dick” whose adventures, when a name like that was more innocent and not, perhaps, considered hilarious, appeared in a number of titles across several decades, including the 1960s and 70s title Sparky.
The revamped character – one of a number of re-imagined DC Thomson characters created by the Glasgow League of Writers, which initially featured in the now-cancelled Comic Heroes magazine – will appear in Invisible comic, which will be available at MCM Scotland Comic Con this weekend (6th – 7th September).
Invisible follows the story of Rick Dickson, a Glaswegian school boy who suddenly has the ability to become invisible and is written by Glasgow-based Gary Chudleigh, a critically acclaimed writer, letterer, comic producer who has written and produced a variety of comics across a spectrum of genres and publications and whose current projects also include Plagued: The Miranda Chronicles published by Black Hearted Press.
Artist Graeme Kennedy provides the art on the new title, Gary’s partner on projects for Obscure Reference Comics.
“It’s high school drama with a supernatural twist,” Graeme told Geek Chocolate when the first part of the story was released on the Comic Heroes app earlier this year. “There is a definite Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe to the world of Invisible, as a huge Buffy fan it’s a real fun project to be a part of.
The character that enjoyed two incarnations, first in the Rover – published in 1922 – and The Dandy in the 1930s. But it’s The Sparky’s incarnation that I suspect most will remember, featuring Dick Dixon, a schoolboy who is given a torch brough back from space by his astronaut father. The torch’s beam renders things invisible and got him into many scrapes.
“There have been a few iterations of the “Invisible Dick” character over the years,” notes Graeme, “each with their own various changes to his back story and how he activates his invisibility powers, so we had a lot of varied source material to draw on but at the same time we didn’t feel the need to be too precious with any single aspect of the character. This gave us great creative freedom as we aren’t tied to one particular origin and let us expand out the cast of friends and foes the Rick meets in his adventures.”
“With Invisible we wanted to take an old character from the vast vault of DC Thomson’s excellent creations and bring them to light for a modern audience,” says Gary. “We’ve crafted a relatable story about growing up and going to high school in Glasgow and filled it with drama, comedy and action.
“We worked closely with DC Thomson to ensure that we have stayed true to the character’s spirit while putting our own modern twist on the story.”
Martin Lindsay, Licensing Manager at DC Thomson said, “The creative team have done a good job in reimagining the character for a new generation.”
MCM Scotland Comic-Con (www.mcmcomiccon.com/scotland) debuted last year to 20,000 visitors and is one of the biggest conventions in the country. Both Gary Chudleigh and Graeme Kennedy will be personally selling Invisible over the weekend and signing copies from the exhibitor table B9, under Obscure Reference Comics in the Comic Village section.
• More about Invisible on the official web site: www.invisiblecomic.co.uk
• More about earlier incarnations of “Invisible Dick”: www.internationalhero.co.uk/i/invisdik.htm
Invisible Dick © DC Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2014
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Classic British Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, Events, Featured News
Comic artist Dudley D. Watkins honoured with plaque