Electric Hoax (from Sounds 1978, by Milligan and McCarthy):

Dr. Cypher from Cipher Magazine (1980)

The excellent DC/Vertigo series Scalped by Jason Aaron reached the landmark 50th issue this week and as part of the celebrations for reaching this milestone the great Brendan  McCarthy was asked by Jason to contribute a page – the magnificent result (which to me is hinting at Ghost Riders in the Sky, after at least 3 tabs of acid) can be seen above. Bren also tells me that he’s started working on a new strip for 2000 AD, the Zaucer of Zilk, which sees him working together with the very fine Al Ewing, who Matt B has flagged up to us more than once as someone to be watching (and Matt knows his 2000 AD – you can see his interview with Al here). Bren describes it as “Sooner Or Later meets The Wizard of Oz by way of The Mighty Boosh… A great big dollop of British comics surrealism.” Oh yeah, liking the sound of that…

Brendan McCarthy kindly shares some gorgeous artwork with us, including Imaginary Story (as if they aren’t all imaginary, as Brendan commented) set in the Silver Age of Superman (above) and U-Babe 3, a  “great underwater adventure!” (below):

But much as I enjoyed these I have to say I think this one is the piece de resistance, which Bren describes as “Doctor Doom — plotted by Steve Ditko, pencilled by Barry Windsor-Smith and inked by Mike Royer.” I describe simply as bloody fabulous comics artwork. Feast your tired eyeballs on this and give thanks:

If you loved these then check out Brendan’s site for more visual treasures to lavish your photons upon, and if you have a bit of pocket money to spare then the Albert Moy comics art site is selling some of these and other works by other creators. (all art in this post by and (c) Brendan McCarthy)

From the FuckyeahGrantMorrison Tumblr. Originally published on The Strangeness Of Brendan McCarthy fansite where Brenden had this to say:

“I found this DOOM PATROL script the other day that I had doodled all over, from Grant Morrison… It was an episode that Grant wrote for me to draw back in 1991/92 or thereabouts: I asked for an old style DC ‘imaginary story’ with Danny The Street as the central character. But by the time the script turned up, I had to do a film so I couldn’t draw it and I think eventually, we all sorta forgot about it… It would be fun to draw it up after all these years and release it as a VERTIGO ANOMALY one shot.”

Yes, that would be bloody brilliant. Draw it Brendan, draw it!

(Bruce Timm gorgeousness from the very, very worth bookmarking Grantbridge Street Tumbler)

(Christopher Jones does a whole Doctor Who / Bill & Ted mashup. Via Mark Kardwell.)

(Charley Brown and Snoopy by Boulet. Via Drawn)

(Brendan McCarthy’s Dredd – always a favourite; I always loved the way McCarthy did his own unique version of Dredd’s helmet. Art from 1988 2000AD Annual. Via 2000ADonline)

(Scott Pilgrim customised Munnys by Keith Trent Renick. Via Buzzfeed/Albotas)

(2000 AD Prog 1713, cover by D’Israeli, after McCarthy; Dredd and 2000 AD (c) Rebellion)

Look at that art and look at those colours – oh yes, unmistakably the excellent Brendan McCarthy! Bren has collaborated with that fine chap Al Ewing to create a new Judge Dredd tale called Dr What?, which features a time-travelling doctor in a Mega City portaloo changing history (no, I have no idea where they got such an idea from!). Dredd: Dr What? will be a two-parter starting in Prog 1712 of 2000 AD next week. Holy drokk. (art by Brendan McCarthy, Dredd (c) Rebellion)

“Mark: This is your first piece for Marvel Comics. What was it like working for the fabled “House of Ideas”?

Brendan: Other than to cut a few lines of text, they pretty much left me alone to get on with it, which suited me fine. The editor, Steve Wacker, suggested that I add The Vulture to the opening sequence, which worked well. They seem to like the new sparkly kooky-book style: David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes video, with all that great ‘black sky’ video feedback, fused with a Tim Burtonesque surrealism — with a light sprinkling of silver-age stardust.

Marvel got a fun and unusual comic — and I was able to get the Ditko/Dr. Strange thing out of my system. The FEVER trade collection also reprints the 60′s Spider-Man Annual by Lee and Ditko that inspired my story. I wish they could have scanned it directly off the old printed pages to get the period feel. Still, artistically it’s Ditko at his peak. His genius is there to be enjoyed. Sadly, I am not worthy to sharpen his pencil!

That said, another story has started to take shape, probably just starring Dr. Strange and Clea… I’m interested in different forms of magic and enchantment, not just that dark Aleister Crowley angle… Hollywood, for example, is certainly a place of magic: Enchantment by the manipulation of projected light. The name ‘Hollywood’ has a deeper esoteric meaning too. The wood of the Holly tree was used by Druids to make wands. I think Dr. Strange should get involved with The Light-masters of Hollywood. There’s some great online articles by Jay Weidner on the esoteric symbols concealed in corporate Hollywood movies. I recently suggested to Vertigo a Sandman/Dr. Strange cross-over as I think the characters go together well. I’d like to see Mike Kaluta do a Ditkoesque Dr. Strange too. I think he’d be a total genius on it.”

I also suggested to Marvel a Lady Gaga/Dr. Strange team-up. A comic and video combination on a new song. It’s only a matter of time before the fantastic visual world of Ditko’s Dr. Strange is brought to a wider public.”

Well, someone, somewhere, if there’s any justice (or indeed taste) in the world of comics today, needs to be getting the cheque book and the contracts ready – Brendan McCarthy, wonderful, marvellous, legendary artist has a new superhero series called FUBAR that he’s looking to tie up with a publisher. Brendan says “I’m looking for a good publisher, with a decent deal. Anyone out there interested, get in touch!  swiminipurpose@yahoo.com”

(Via Mark Kardwell)