If you’re at London Film and Comic Con this weekend, be sure to swing by comic creator David Leach’s stand, and check out a preview for his upcoming silent gag book, MONOLITH: Adventures in Hollywood.
You probably best know David as creator of the brilliant Psycho Gran, a character who first appeared in Oink! and, since then, her own comics down the years, and in volumes of David Lloyd’s digital anthology, Aces Weekly. This new project is very different, but equally funny, something David showed me pages from back at the last LFCC, and if you’re a film fan, I think you’ll love the concept.
MONOLITH is, simply, a collection of some of the movies that the Monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey auditioned for but didn’t get.
David will be Kickstarting the book in the New Year, but in the meantime he’s produced a special 16-page Comic Convention Exclusive, which he’ll be selling it at conventions starting with London Film and Comic Con this weekend (19th – 20th November at Olympia).
“This special contains a small selection of films and your job is to try and guess the movie referenced,” says David.
The finished book will be an A5, 80-page, full-colour, hard-back book available in 2023 and will retail for £15.00.
The special is on sale for £5 while stocks last!
David Leach’s career as a cartoonist, writer and editor spans over 35 years, when at the age of 23 he started working as British animator, Bob Godfrey’s ‘ghost artist’ drawing “Henry’s Cat” comic strips. He created his most popular character, Psycho Gran in 1987 for the much-loved kids’ comic, Oink. He also worked for Whizzer & Chips, Gas, Brain Damage, UT, Casper, Action Man, and LEGO Adventures.
David’s work in the cult British 1990 comic, Toxic! (where he co-created The Driver, and created The Dinner Ladies From Hell) led to him writing and drawing The Toxic Crusaders (issue #8) for Marvel US.
During his career he has written and edited newspaper comic strips of Ren & Stimpy, Spider-Man and Wallace and Gromit for a variety of newspapers including The Sun, The News of the World, The Sunday Times, The Saturday Telegraph, and he’salso written for Private Eye.
David is currently the Senior Creative Editor at Titan Comics, where he edits their Blade Runner range of titles: (2019, 2029, 2039, and Origins), Rivers of London and the upcoming Conan the Barbarian title, launching next year. He’s also edited The Phantom of the Opera and Man Who Fell to Earth graphic novels, V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic, and ExtraOrdinary, and Lavie Tidhar’s Adler. His previous editorial and writing credits include The Prisoner (which he plotted), Dan Dare, Fighting American, Anno-Dracula, The Blacklist, Captain Kronos, Hammer’s The Mummy, and Adventure Time.
He also edits Titan Comics’ vintage range of comic book titles including Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Elric and Peanuts.
Psycho Gran currently appears in David Lloyd’s digital comic Aces Weekly and her own comics, published by Dead Universe Comics. The first three issues of David’s autobiographical comic – David Leach Conquers the Universe are also published by Dead Universe Comics.
Outside of comics, in 2014, David won Channel Four’s Come Dine With Me.
• Follow David on Twitter @davidleach2000
OTHER ARTISTS, COMIC CREATORS AND PUBLISHERS AT LONDON FILM AND COMIC CON WINTER 2022
All these creatives can be found in the “Comics Village”
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, Comic Previews, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
Weird sci-fi Commando incoming, plus online events with the war comic’s creators, too 
Coming Soon, The Witches of Islandmagee, a graphic novel exploring the last Irish Witch Trials