Psycho Gran Comic Capers Cavalcade marks the return to print of the cult cartoon character who made her first appearance in much-loved, and missed, kids comic, Oink! back in 1987.
Please, please, please – at least one of you reading this, for buy a copy of the latest issue and tell her where you heard about it! I’ve been getting strange bits of meat through the mail, ever since I got my review copy, and I’m pretty sure there are less door to door salesmen on the street than there were last week…
Created, written and drawn by David Leach, Psycho Gran was his first professional cartoon character. With the demise of Oink, David sent her off to a care home in South Wales until she was tempted out of retirement in 2011 by the Spirit of Hope charity appeal book, for victims of the Japanese Tsunami, and David started drawing new stories for his titular character.
In 2012, Titan Comics published two issues of her digital-only comic and V for Vendetta co-creator David Lloyd invited her to join his new digital comic magazine Aces Weekly.
David now produces two Psycho Gran titles, both published by Aylesbury comic shop impresario Ian Hine, owner of Dead Universe Comics.
The first title, Psycho Gran Versus, saw Psycho beating up various comic book and movie characters and features a guest art section by artists as diverse as Tom Mandrake, Davy Jones, Rian Hughes, Doug Braithwaite, Alex Zaviuk, Lew Stringer, Mike Collins and Mike Perkins – to name a few. There are two issues available, with a third in the works, which promises a Donald Trump section.
David’s second Psycho Gran title is Comics Caper Cavalcade, of which issue #1 was launched earlier this year at the Spring LFCC, and this bonkers second issue, which launched at LFCC, contains material never previously published in print before and features 28 pages of surrealistic slapstick comic strips and two special pull-out posters.
This edition continues to bring us Psycho Gran’s stories of comeuppance – for burglars, rude cyclists, rude motorists, door to door religion hawkers and more, and if you really, really shouldn’t be read while trying to read a cup of tea (dearie).
Presented in “widescreen” format, as ever Psycho Gran takes revenge on everyone no-one ever thinks they are, until a cartoonist like David throws their rude behaviour right back in their face – and exacts a delicious revenge on them. With sharp scripting and great visual storytelling, no-one comes off better when they encounter Psycho Gran – be they bullies, baddies or painfully stupid, like the leader of Scout Pack 157.
Of course, I’m saying these are all stories drawn from personal experience and a desire for revenge. I mean, David couldn’t simply be recounting stories of a real Psycho Gran, could he? No-one could be that dangerously vicious in their dotage, could they?
Got to go. Amazon is at the door with another package, and I think it’s leaking…
• Both issues are available from contacting Psycho Gran direct on her Facebook Page or the Dead Universe Comics Facebook Page. Each comic retails at £5 with P&P extra. Or, pop along to Dead Universe Comics at 5 Bourbon Street, Friars Square Shopping Centre, HP20 2PZ Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and buy your own copy!
David Leach – Who will be appearing at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal in October – has been a professional cartoonist and comic book editor for over 32 years, as a cartoonist he has worked for Marvel Comics US, Marvel UK, IPC, Egmont, Panini and Fleetway. His comic work has appeared in Private Eye, The Sun, Sunday Times, Saturday Telegraph, Whizzer & Chips, Oink, Toxic!, Brain Damage, Gas and Moose Kid.
He currently works for Titan Comics as their Senior Creative Editor and currently edits Blade Runner 2019 and Shades of Magic. In 2018 he wrote the plot for The Prisoner: Uncertainty Machine, which he also edited. Previous editorial credits include: Dan Dare, Captain Kronos, Fighting American, Anno Dracula, Supermansion and Blacklist. On top of all that, he also edits Titan’s range of vintage collections including Flash Gordon, Dan Dare and Betty Boop and Roy of the Rovers, as well as the critically acclaimed Original Art edition of The Prisoner, which featured the long-lost, and unpublished art of Jack Kirby and Gil Kane’s aborted Marvel Prisoner comic first drawn back in the mid 1970s
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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.
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