The boys are back in town! Yes, that crazy pair, artist Danny Cushion and professional musician JP Rodell, whose love of cult TV and classic British comic annuals knows no bounds, have created another hilarious comic with plenty of nods to Starsky and Hutch, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and much more… and it’s free to read, right here on downthetubes.
This time out, attention is turned to the Arse Kickers – two well-meaning, strangely familiar, but pretty incompetent detectives on a mission to find out who murdered a pretty terrible pop group – a story that spans the mean streets of London to perilous adventure below the sea!
Danny worked for years as a character licence illustrator/package designer, but ended up getting very disillusioned. Today, his day job is a law firm archivist, a job he initially took to pay the rent, but ended up loving the job, and has been doing it for the last 20 or so years, while illustrating in his spare time.
“I met Jez (JP Rodell) in the 1990s,” Danny tells downthetubes, whose love of British comics was spurred by his older brother who was in the Merchant Navy and used to bring home bundles of comics like Hotspur and Action. “Everything I do creatively is with Jez (JP ) under the ‘Thurston Nudge’ banner.”
Plus, don’t forget Buttocks Rogers, Agent of A.R.S.E are also available in a free collection here on downthetubes, too – in the Buttocks Rogers Adventure Annual 2020 (PDF link). Featuring, possibly, the craziest space action adventure hero you are ever likely to meet, it’s another gem from Danny Cushion and JP Rodell under their joint creative banner, “Thurston Nudge“!
(For those wondering, the pair of them came up with this perhaps unlikely name after putting two ripped beer mats together in a pub that spelt Thurston Nudge…).
Danny tells us he and JP are looking for someone to fund a printed version of both Arse Kickers and the Buttocks Rogers Annual. Drop us a line and we’ll forward your enquiry!
Our thanks to Danny and Jez for granting permission to post this comic – please enjoy, and take it in the scurrilous manner intended!
• Check out the music of JP Rodell on Soundcloud
Buttocks Rogers and Arse Kickers © 2020 Danny Cushion/ Thurston Nudge
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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.
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What a crazy hoot! Both of them. Love! Thanks for the links and heads up.