Peter Duncan spotlights John Farrelly’s much appreciated work…
All of us here at downthetubes, and my Sector 13 publishing team are very sorry to hear that my friend, author and comic creator John Farrelly, isn’t too well at the moment.
I first met him when I was looking for artists for the first issue of Splank!, and went to an exhibition of his Captain Wonder strips, which was part of a Belfast Comedy Festival. He made an immediate impression as a friendly, funny and talented guy.
From that visit, I got the superb “Beans and Tucker” and the cover that was eventually used on the Splank! Annual. Both were very special pieces of comic art.
When, later, he contributed a “Flesh” strip to Sector 13, it changed the whole outlook of the team, made us determined to be just that little bit better at everything we did. It was the first strip that we thought of as being of pro-quality in the zine and set a standard for the future.
We were delighted, when earlier this year, we saw John’s name in VIZ, with the very funny, “Beverly Hills Shop”, in a style that I think echoed one of his heroes, Mort Drucker from Mad magazine, but was still recognisable as John’s work.
Add all this to his very funny (and slyly educational) Deadly! Irish History books and the lovely little hardcover Farrelly’s Field Guide to Irish Faerie Folk, which all conveys the same twinkle in the eye and humour you detect when you speak to the man himself and you have one of the finest cartoonists to come out of Ireland.
But more importantly than all that, John himself is always a pleasure to speak to. Funny, smart and hugely knowledgeable on the subject of comics he’s one of the world’s good guys.
Send him good thoughts, folks!
Peter Duncan
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Peter Duncan is editor of Sector 13, Belfast’s 2000AD fanzine and Splank! – an anthology of strips inspired by the Odhams titles, Wham!, Smash! and Pow! He’s also writer of Cthulhu Kids. Full details of his comics activities can be found at www.boxofrainmag.co.uk
Categories: Comic Art, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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