Chris Mole, official biographer to Professor Elemental and the organisational mastermind behind his comic misadventures, has just launched Splendid Comics and an associated a Patreon page, hoping to secure fan back for further stories.
If you haven’t encountered the Professor before then you’re in for a treat. The creation of Paul Alborough, he’s a steampunk-flavoured mad Professor with a taste for Hip Hop, his inventions and adventures have taken him around the world, and he first got myself noticed with the track ‘Cup Of Brown Joy’ which notched up over a million hits on YouTube. This was followed by his scuffle with Mr B, resulting in the video ‘Fighting Trousers’.
He’s produced a short TV series entitled The Chronicles of Professor Elemental (financed entirely by crowdfunding ), brought out his new album The Giddy Limit to critical acclaim, and been named the ‘Greatest Living Eccentric’ by the British Eccentric Club.
His live act (which has helped inspire the comics, is a lively combination of comedy and music with some friendly audience banter and plenty of improvisation – you may have seen it at events like the San Deigo Comic Con, the Glastonbury Festival, the Canadian Steam Expo and Dragon Con.
Some time ago, Sheffield-based writer Chris Mole approached the Professor to discuss the creation of a comic about his character, having established that he was also a lover of comic books and shared Chris’ enthusiasm for the medium. Several comic anthologies have been released to date, featuring an impressive line-up of creators that include Charlie Adlard, Deadpool artist Michael Hawthorne, Verity Glass, Jennie Gyllblad, Christian Wildgoose and downthetubes very own Owen Watts.
Now, Splendid Comics will bring more Professor Elemental stories to fans, a series we highlighted way back in 2015 here on downthetubes, a a series of glorious comics anthology series filled with short, whimsical tales of adventure. All of course centring around the mad Victorian scientist/ explorer/ inventor/ drinker of tea Professor Elemental and his friends and accomplices, including Geoffrey (his monkey butler) and his beloved partner Sadie Bell.
“In brief, we want Splendid! Comics to be a new imprint which hosts stories featuring not just Professor Elemental but a number of other characters,” enthuses Chris, “produced by a range of diverse artists and writers from the worlds of steampunk, sci-fi and fantasy.
“The only deciding criteria? It must be splendid!”
The team behind the comics have now turned to the crowd funding site Patreon to help try and fund this endeavour, with their first story due to be started in February/ March 2017. The Patreon page, where you can back the project with different levels of monthly support starting at just $1.50 per month, will be the official home for all Professor Elemental comic stories going forwards, so if you’d like to keep following his comic misadventures, you’ll want to pledge.
“I’m very excited about what we can achieve with Patreon,” says Chris. “We have a host of amazing ideas that we’d love to bring to life with your help!
“… We want Splendid! Comics to be more than just one annual issue,” he enthuses, who is keen to support the independent comics scene. “We want to build our very own Marvel/DC style universe of stories and characters with a whole range of different themes! With your help we can fund enough artists and writers to create a roster of different and exciting stories and characters.”
• Find Splendid Comics – Professor Elemental on Patreon at: www.patreon.com/splendidcomics
• Professor Elemental Comics: www.professorelemental.com
• Professor Elemental on YouTube
• Professor Elemental on Facebook
• Find Chris Mole at www.chrismole.co.uk
- About the Author
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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.
Categories: British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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