Enter “Doc Dino” by Tom Ward and Chris Welsh – Opening Chests Near You Soon!

By John Freeman on November 30, 2015

Tom Ward (Merrick: The Sensational Elephantman) and Chris Welsh (Wart – The Comic) have just launched a new Kickstarter for their buddy-comedy-medical-drama comic – Doc Dino.

The project, which has some adult humour themes, is a 68-page graphic novel from two successful Kickstarter stalwarts, about a dinosaur who’s the world’s greatest surgeon and there’s an 11-page preview on the Kickstarter page, with pencils and inks are by Mac Radwanski, colours from Dee Cunniffe and lettering by Micah Myers.

“Doc Dino was born during one of Chris and Tom’s Pitch Parties, where we get together to throw ideas for new stories at each other to see what sticks,” Tom explains. “I don’t remember who brought up the esteemed gentleman dinosaur first, but whoever did, they made history. We beat out the story first, took turns to write the opening chunks, then mashed them together. Pretty much all of the second half was written in a pub in Amsterdam after Dutch Comic Con.

“It honestly wasn’t until after the script was finished that we took a step back and asked ourselves ‘Is this too beautiful to live?’ and by beautiful, we of course meant ‘outrageously silly’.

“Doc Dino started life as a reaction to our original work – Wart and Merrick,” he expands. “A colourful, skewed and sweary antidote to dank asylums and filth-sodden Victorian streets. Something we could have a load of fun with and filter our creative energies into. So we decided that yeah, this terrible lizard deserves a shot at the big time.

“We truly love this stupid jerk of a dinosaur, a creature constantly at odds with his surroundings and struggling to find a place to fit in. On the surface he’s a cocky tyrannosaur with an attitude problem, but if you scratch his surface, dig a little deeper… well, he’s still that, but you’ll also find an ego so frail it has to be constantly reinforced and a sincerity often not found in dinosaurs. Dig deeper still and you’ll find his heart of gold. (You’ll also kill him, because digging deep inside anyone’s chest will do that. You monster.)

“It’s been a blast already working on this comic and it still makes me laugh, hope you guys check it out.”

Tom Ward is grumpy, like an old man, but sometimes people laugh when he says or does stuff. He is the writer/creator of the cult hit series, Merrick: The Sensational Elephantman, that comic didn’t have many laughs. Ever since he was little Tom thought dinosaurs were super cool, however all his knowledge about them is based on outdated books that have long been proven wrong. His only experience of hospitals is that he once broke his foot kicking a door frame, no-one cared. Follow him on Twitter @highbrowtrash

Chris Welsh is responsible for most of the Jurassic Park puns you’ll find in the book. He’s also the writer and co-creator of the equally culty Lovecraftish Cosmic Horror comic Wart. He’s loved dinosaurs for as long as he can remember, and he’s been to a hospital more than once, so it makes total sense for him to combine these things into a comic book about a surgeon dinosaur. Follow him on Twitter @C_W_Writes

Artist Mac Radwanski just hit 30, and since he read his first Batman comic at age seven, that’s all he ever wanted to do. Be Batman. He did seriously consider being Batman, but it didn’t work out. Now he’s happy he gets to draw comic books. If Mac’s not drawing, you can usually find him playing guitar, or Playstation 4.

Colourist Dee Cunniffe is an award winning designer who worked for over a decade in publishing and advertising who gave it all up to pursue his love of comics. He currently colours, letters and designs comics every waking moment. He has worked for nearly every publisher as a flatter/colour assistant to some of the world’s top colour artists. Recent credits include The Wicked + The Divine and ODY-C. He also coloured Granuaile: Queen of Storms for the O’Brien Press, Mayday for Blackmask Comics and lettered The Hound for Pillar Stone Productions. He is currently working on The Six for Michael Bay’s 451 Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @deezoid or check out his blog at deesaturate.blogspot.com

Micah Myers is a freelance comic book letterer from Portsmouth, Virginia. He lives with his wife, Tiffany, and is training his two children, Jacob and Charis, in the ways of comic book fandom. He’s lettered comics for multiple companies such as Zenescope, Alterna Comics, 215 Ink, and Devil’s Due Entertainment. Follow him on Twitter @micahmyers

• Check out Doc Dino and read an 11-page preview here on Kickstarter – please note that there’s some ‘adult’ content

John Freeman

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.