Tales of the Buddha: A Wasted Gem (Among Others!)

By John Freeman on March 2, 2009

Classical Comics and Panini artist Jon Haward has a new blog, Haward Art House, where he’s posting many a splendid piece of art from his burgeoning and impressive portfolio, including this cartoon featuring his “Tales of the Buddha” character that features in Alan Grant‘s very funny, over-18s only Wasted comic, which is about to re-launch.

"Tales of the Buddha" by Alan Grant and Jon Haward - 2009

The team sent downthetubes a copy recently, and Jon and Alan’s strip is just one of the highlights as the would-be religious icon tries to find the right religion to hang his hat on.

The preview edition and first issue of Wasted #1 - cover by Frank Quitely — The preview edition and first issue of Wasted #1 – cover by Frank Quitely

Wasted Issue 1 comes wrapped in a cover courtesy Frank Quitely: the comic is the brainchild of Jamie Grant (proprietor of Hope Street Studios and digi-inker/colourist on All Star Superman) and award-winning writer Alan Grant.

The varied comic strips and artists involved in Wasted include:

“TALES of the BUDDHA”
Drawn by the aforementioned Jon Haward, a long-time Spider-Man artist.

“WACCY BACCY RACES”
Juan McGarcia used to paint Judge Dredd under the pseudonym Xuasus. He is now a top animator, having worked on some of the decade’s biggest animated movies.

“WAR on DRUG$”
Gibson Quarter is a young Canadian artist fast making a name for himself. This is inked by Jim Devlin and coloured by Derek Dow.

“SPLIFFY the STONER CHICK”
John Short is one of the UK’s best-known and most successful independent comics creators. His Vietnam war comic is a classic of the genre.

“The FUN GUYS – They Crash Parties”
Alan Burrows has drawn Dan Dare, Judge Dredd and many others and the Fun Guys have crashed several other comics and always proved a hit.

“REX the SNIFFER DOG”
By Steve Sampson, once the regular “Judge Anderson” artist and who painted many a stunning Overkill cover for Marvel UK, now working in computer games. “Hoodies” is by his friend Charles Gillespie, also a one-time Anderson artist, now Creative Director for a computer games company.

“HELL’s BELLES”
Largely the brainchild of Dave Alexander, creator of “The MacBams”, Scotland’s answer to The Furry Freak Brothers. “Hell’s Belles” is inked by Colin Barr. Jim Devlin (“The Dopranos”) inked the “War on Drug$” strip and also works as a colourist for DC Comics.

“The DIRTY DOG”
Drawn by Simon Bisley, one of the UK’s very top artists – as if folk here needed telling. He painted the first, sell-out Judge Dredd/Batman crossover, and the first ground-breaking LOBO mini-series. Simon now works mainly for Hollywood as a concept artist, but is currently working on a new zombie comic with Alan.

“LUSI SULFURA”
Alan Kerr, alias ‘Deadboy’ is fast making a name for himself in Glasgow’s incredibly hot art scene.

“BLACK CAPE”
Written by Fraser Campbell and drawn by Iain Laurie is Watchmen meets The Boys from the Blackstuff. Beautifully coloured by Derek Dow.

“FAST as F***”
Dave Taylor is a long-time collaborator with Alan Grant on Judge Anderson and Batman: Shadow of the Bat.

It’s a great comic if you’re a fan of the Furry Freak Brothers, and there’s a glorious patrick Troughton-inspired Doctor Who parody that has to be seen to be believed!

• More about wasted at: www.wastedcomic.com – NB now 2009 Wayback snapshot

John Freeman

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.