If proof were needed of the enduring appeal of comics as a medium, it’s the way companies the world over continue to use the form in their marketing.
Last year, Doctor Who artist and writer Mike Collins and I began writing strips for UK company Cardium, to promote a suite of software products, Your Office Anywhere offering off site back up of documents, email services and more.
Cardium have now cranked up their creation, Your Office Anywhere Man, and turned him into a major part of their promotion for their products, creating a standee for Mike’s interpretation of the character and blowing up frames of the promotional strips that appear on the YOA web site to decorate their trade stands at exhibitions.
I always hoped to make it big as a writer in comics — but giant panels wasn’t quite what I had in mind! They do look great, though.
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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.
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Writing these sort of comics can be great fun, but also a real challenge in integrating the companies marketing messages and the techy “geek” speak into a fun and entertaining story.
I write a promotional comics for a couple of software companies. The longest running series is Virtualman who has also gone on to appear at trade shows and even as an animated key-note speaker at one conference.
You can download the various Virtualman books here.