Frontier Tales is a new comedy western, available now in hardback direct from creator Atholl Buchan, which has gained some great attention from mainstream media this week.
Frontier Tales, from Buchan Comics, is the brainchild of comic creator and western fan Atholl Buchan, who describes himself as a “Dad with an iPad”, who diverse range of interests also include manga, classic comics, westerns, crime drama, World War Two aviation and vehicles, and Western comics. He’s also a member of Tranquility Wild West Town, a small wild west town near the Glendronach Distillery in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
In the adventure, the Sheriff of Frontier stands alone against the evil Colonel Simmons and his band of ex-Confederates – until hapless Scottish cowboy Jimmy Nicol stumbles into the thick of it and gets himself deputised! Can the two stand up to a small army themselves and will no one else help? And what other secrets does Frontier hold?
The new book has gained the attention of Grampian Online, who Atholl reveals his love of Westerns stemmed from watching the films as a youngster on Saturday afternoons with his late grandfather.
“I’ve been a member of Tranquility Wild West Town near Forgue since 2014,” he says, “and have used my inspiration from it and my love of westerns to complete and self-publish a hard back comic.
“I have been drawing and working on it for the past four years using my iPad and an app called Comic Draw.
“The comic book is published through a website called Artithmeric.com which is a fantastic made to order self-publishing service. Creators keep all rights to their work but don’t have to go through expensive print regimes or Kickstarter campaigns.”
Alongside creating Frontier Tales, Atholl has also been busy creating some illustrations for the RAF Peterhead Heritage Society, an organisation whose role is to gather stories, information, documents, photographs and memories of those that served at RAF Peterhead from July 1941 to August 1945.
The art is confirmation of just how much he enjoys researching and making comics and comic style images out of old photos or historical details – with a hope that it will catch the eye of younger generations
• Read the full interview with Atholl Buchan here on Grampian Online
• Buy Frontier Tales Volume One here on Artithmeric.com
• Atholl can be followed on social media on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook
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, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News