“Mr. Testy” book debuts from comics creator Paul Eldridge

By John Freeman on December 23, 2016

Satirising a line of famous children’s books Paul Eldridge‘s Mr. Testy is the kind of project that might strike a chord with fans of VIZ, or Keith Lemon.

An illustrated book rather than comic from this independent British comic creator this Mr Men parody features Gonad the Barbarian (“still the worst joke I ever made”, Paul notes).

“As you can imagine,” he tells us, “it’s perhaps not the most highbrow of humour, but people have shown an interest.”

Without spoiling thectale (it’s only a short book!) in Mr Testy – A Gonad The Barbarian Adventure, follow Mr Testy as he visits Jollytown and the delightful adventure that he experiences whilst there.

“Created very much in tribute to the great books themselves and dedicated to Mr. Men creator Roger Hargreaves, this particular book is in no way for children,” Paul cautions, “rather for those grown ups that have not really grown up.

“This year is the 45th anniversary of the very first Mr. Men book, Mr Tickle, and now we have a Mr Men book for those that were children all those years ago, but maybe now like a little more sauce.”

• Assuming Mr. Grumpy and Mr. Lawyer haven’t come after him, Mr. Testy is currently available from Paul Eldridge’s page on Lulu.com

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John Freeman

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.