Tag: monster fun

After launching in April 2022, Monster Fun has become the UK’s hit new comic for children and families. Such a hit in fact, the comic is moving monthly due to popular demand from its readers!

From June 2023 – the Dino-Scare Special – Monster Fun will have new issues hitting newsagent shelves and subscriber’s doorsteps every month. Children, parents, and Monster Fun fans have shared their thoughts and have said every two months is just too long to wait for more mischief, more mayhem, and more Monster Fun!

“We’ve always known Monster Fun was special and once we started to outsell other comic titles on shelves last year within our first few issues we knew Monster Fun needed to step up the frequency.” says Monster Fun Editor, Keith Richardson, “In fact, over the last twelve months we’ve had so many readers get in touch via email and social media asking for more issues; and so many of us being parents ourselves we know moving to a monthly schedule fits in far better around busy family life. So just like our very own Frankie Stein, going monthly became a no-brainer!”

This announcement comes hot on the heels of big changes to Monster Fun subscriptions – now with lower prices, and brand new exclusive gifts available just for subscribers who renew their subscriptions or join within the next year. This includes a bonus issue, the Spooky Subscriber Special, packed with highlights from the comic so far plus THREE brand new stories, puzzles, and activities. Older fans of Monster Fun will love this issue too, with Sweeny Toddler making his return in another outing of his (in)famous Easter story previously only available in a special edition version of Issue #1 from last year.

“We’re all really proud of Monster Fun and how children are connecting with the comic; giving them a reading experience beyond standard books and novels.” says Rebellion CEO, Jason Kingsley, “We’re building a community of readers that love our Monster Fun characters and creations, and we can’t wait to see what they all think of them – and new ones – over the coming months and years ahead!”

The move to a monthly schedule from June 2023 is just the latest update to the successful Children’s comic, with Monster Fun starting 2023 with new stories and new characters inside it’s pages. This includes the spell-tacular ‘Witch Vs Warlock’ from Dexter’s Laboratory and Powerpuff Girls writer, Derek Fridolfs, alongside the modern reboot of the classic comic strip, ‘Gums’. With more new strips to come later in the year too, there is plenty for Monster Fun fans to look forward to!

The Monster Fun Dino-Scare Special hits shelves on the 7th June 2023, followed by the Horror Holiday Special on 5 July 2023. Both issues, and Monster Fun on an ongoing basis, can be picked up in the UK from selected WHSmiths, Martin McColls, One Stop, Waitrose stores, and local newsagents.

It can also be bought via the Monster Fun website, where back issues, international orders, and subscriptions to the comic can also be purchased. 

Britain’s kookiest, legendary anthology returns from the great beyond with 48 pages of brand new, HELL-arious comic strips!

The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular is out now!

Frankie Stein, Kid Kong, Draculass, Sweeny Toddler, Gums, Teddy Scare and the Hire A Horror crew have returned with a diabolical host of new frights – including one of Britain’s best loved superheroes, The Leopard from Lime Street – to usher in the witching season with SPOOKTACULAR fashion!

Don’t forget – Monster Fun launches next April as the UK’s first all-new on-going humour comic for kids in 30 years! With new issues every two months and packed with all new stories, the first regular issue of Monster Fun will be available from all good newsagents and comic book stores in April, but readers can subscribe now at monsterfun.co.uk and receive brilliant free gifts!

BUY NOW & SUBSCRIBE >>

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Out right now, the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular brings you 52-pages of classic British humour comics from all-new creative teams. You’ll see the return of Frankie Stein, Gums, Kid King, Sweeny Toddler, and many, many more from the likes of Cavan Scott, Tiernen Trevallion, Tom Paterson, Kek-W, Lew Stringer, John Reppion, PJ Holden and many more!

BUY THE SPOOKTACULAR & SUBSCRIBE >>

But, alongside the return of many much-loved Brit humour strips, you’ll also find the return of one of THE classic Brit comics characters, as we get the continuing adventures of Billy Farmer, better known to generations of comics fans as The Leopard From Lime Street!

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After getting scratched by a radioactive leopard, young Billy Farmer soon discovered that he had acquired the strength, agility and senses of the mighty jungle cat – and so he became The Leopard from Lime Street!

Created by Tom Tully, Mike Western and Eric Bradbury, The Leopard from Lime Street is one of the most fondly remembered creations in British comics history and it’s quite right that he should be making a reappearance in the pages of the first new kids comic for many years – Monster Fun!

That’s happening from April 2022 – but before that, there’s the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular to enjoy, including the first spooky tale of the new adventures of The Leopard of Lime Street, Totem, from writer Simon Furman and artist Laurent LeFeuvre, and we were lucky enough to catch up with Simon and Laurent to talk about the fun of bringing back a favourite!

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So Simon, Laurent – I guess the first thing to ask is just what it’s all about for you?

SIMON FURMAN: For me, it’s revisiting a strip I loved as a younger comics fan. Here’s the quick story: I was 15, and comics were kind of behind me by then. I’d moved on to movies (horror movies in particular), books and (in theory) girls. But I saw the cover to Buster that announced the debut of Leopard From Lime Street, and just got pulled back in. I loved it. And got that it was a British version of Spider-Man (all the tropes were there – kindly aunt, irascible editor, radioactive bit [scratch] etc) and just loved it more for that.

So, yeah, I was a BIG fan of the original strip. Great stories (and, perhaps more important, Fun stories) and the art of Eric Bradbury and Mike Western just blew me away. Both at the top of their game (and that’s saying something!).

LAURENT LAFEUVRE: I discovered the Leopard when I was around 7 or 8 in France, in the mid-80s (I was born and still live in Britanny). Like many other English series, The Leopard from Lime Street was then published in small booklets of 130 pages, in novel format, with a colour cover. This format was very widespread among us, although very ignored in my country where the standard of the genre remains the traditional hardcover album (Tintin, Asterix etc.).  These formats have long played the role that manga embodies in the current market: a popular, inexpensive form of black and white comics. And yet the names of the authors were not specified there, unlike the Marvel series which were then a hit in France at the same time.

Anyway, I instantly felt the English aspect of them all, which added to my interest. This is how I discovered The Leopard. And I found it amazing.

I was born in 1977, so I read the Leopard at the perfect age, between 7 and 10. I remember that perfect catchphrase: ‘Attrape-moi si tu peux…chasse-moi si tu l’oses’ – ‘Catch me if you can…hunt me if you dare!’ (Ok. It sounds so much better in English!)

Laurent, I don’t know – as a non-speaker of French past the age of 14, I think that scans really well!

Simon, you’ve already had some experience with the Leopard in your Vigilant trilogy with Simon Coleby, but that was a rather different sort of version of young Billy Farmer.

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So, what can we expect from your new version of The Leopard?

SF: For The Vigilant, it was more of a revamp/reinvention (while staying true to the original wherever possible). Here, it’s as if just a year or two have elapsed in the life of Billy Farmer/The Leopard and we pick up his adventures (as both) in exactly the same vein as the original strip, if somewhat more slanted to a creepy/supernatural threat/storyline.

How did you get involved in the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular?

SF: I’m hugely lucky that editor Keith Richardson likes my stuff, so I was in line for The Vigilant and then the Leopard as his writer of choice. We found we had a lot of the same IPC/Fleetway touchstones, and as excited as I was using characters like The Steel Commando and Blake Edmonds (Death Wish) in The Vigilant it was the Leopard I was most keen to get to grips with.

LL: Keith Richardson and I met at the Angoulême BD festival in January 2019. At the time, I was presenting some new opus of my own Fox-Boy series, a sort of French version of Spider-Man, with less muscles. My graphic universe being largely marked by my childhood readings, I imagine that the obvious parallel between my character (a teenager who embarks on a career as a vigilante of the block) and the Leopard will have intrigued him! I remember Keith walking on eggshells then wondering if I knew the Lime Street Leopard, which of course I did!

I can even admit that Billy Farmer’s outfit was a big inspiration to Pol Salsedo when he created his own in 2011 (You can even see my own booklets drawn in a panel, back in 2012).

So you can imagine that since the day he told me about the Leopard from Lime Street rebirth project in Monster Fun until today, I’ve been so proud to finally be able to say that I am the new designer!

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And why Leopard from Lime Street?

SF: For all the above reasons and the fact that through the Treasury of British Comics collections of Leopard from Lime Street I’d already re-immersed myself in the world of Billy Farmer/The Leopard. I was raring to go with some new material and grabbed the chance with both paws!

It’s a very Halloweeny episode of Leopard, and one that definitely leaves us with a few questions about the nature of Billy’s powers. Now, I’m hoping you’re going to tell me that you’re both going to be involved in doing more Leopard for the new bi-monthly Monster Fun – will we be getting this as a story slowly unfolding?

SF: At the time of writing Totem, I had no idea if it would end up a one-off or the start of something bigger. But my instinct is just to ask questions about the character (and often go right back to the beginning). Y’know, I love the Leopard‘s origin, but radioactive leopard? Really? It’s kind of hokey but I had no intention of messing with that. Just… looking beyond it a bit and, as you say, posing some searching questions. Did I have half an eye on being able to continue that slight bombshell the Totem story drops? Of course.

And with the bi-monthly Monster Fun just around the corner, it looked like I might get to probe even deeper into the origin of the Leopard‘s powers, and Billy’s life before the original storyline in Buster.

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Now, assuming you’re both taking this on in future Monster Funs… what sorts of things can you tease us with? What can we expect for Billy?

SF: Definitely more creepy bad buys (and gals), definitely peeling back more layers of Billy’s past and his powers. Seriously, I have some game-changing stuff up my sleeve, which I think (hope) will serve to expand the world/cast/reach of the Leopard of Lime Street.

LL: And I must say that I can’t wait to draw more!

Okay then, let’s put Simon on hold for a moment and talk art – Laurent, let’s start with that logo! As a fan already, how wonderful was it that you got to do that classic logo? – something that all of us who’ve ever experienced the greatness of the strip have loved seeing.

LL: Absolutely! This logo is one of the great ideas of the series as a trademark. Keith thought it was important to keep it as close as possible and I couldn’t agree more, just as Simon’s script kept the special flavour of the original series – with a special touch of his on top of that.

Of course, the obvious similarities with a certain web-head have been mentioned. But it’s just a starting point and the magic of The Leopard is that you NEVER think of Peter Parker when you read his adventures, so singular is this universe. In fact, it’s the Leopard who tells the child in me, and then the artist, what I can make him do… or not!

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How do you work – what’s your process? Did you approach the Leopard of Lime Street with a view to the work that’s gone before – all that stunning Western and Bradbury artwork?

LL: That’s exactly it, yes. I’ve tried to keep this particular layout, with boxes of all shapes, as if the Leopard was too wild to be consigned to neat little boxes. Even the fastest draughtsman should not be able to lock him up! This is the way Western and Bradbury showed us.

Oh yes, I was going to mention the fabulous page designs and all those wonderfully different panel shapes!

LL: So, after translating Simon’s script into French (thanks Google translate), I reread it several times to make sure I understood the sometimes complex movements for a non-English speaker like me.

In this respect, I must say that it is very appreciable to have someone who writes with such a rich and evocative vocabulary because he immerses me in the right mood, the right tone.

First, I visualise key images that I try to project onto the paper while trying to insert a coherent reading movement so that the reader’s eye moves from one image to another. This is the rough sketch stage. You mustn’t censor yourself, try things out, without detailing, so that you can eventually mourn the loss of a first idea, which is a bit weak, and take it back to satisfaction. You have to be concentrated. This is the stage in absolute silence!

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LL: Then I rework my compositions digitally, even adding the first semblance of inking to determine the location of the masses of black, optical greys (the hatch areas, for example), and whites that will blend with the text. I can then listen to the radio, at the other end of the room. And relax a little!

I’m not inventing anything, these are methods that allow a narrative to be developed step by step through drawing, while correcting at each stage the problems of articulation from one panel to another, from one sequence to another.

When everything is settled, I draw the borders of the boxes, and draw the bubbles and define the lettering (the size of the letters, for example, gives the intonation – I then rely on Simon’s script: EVERYTHING is already there!)

Then comes the inking – also done digitally (this is the coolest part!). I can even sing while I work in my studio – that’s saying something!

The colour helps to bring everything to life (movement, atmosphere, clarity…). I think of the colour stage as the music in a film: everything can be nuanced, amplified… or ruined! Far from simple colouring, it is literally the emotional dressing of a sequence.

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The new Monster Fun comic, beginning right here in the Halloween Spooktacular and continuing into the new Monster Fun bi-monthly that begins in April, is the first big new children’s comic to come out since The Phoenix – so it really is something of a big deal.

SF: HUGE! On the newsstand again. That’s SO important. Something for a new generation of kids to discover and get their teeth into! I envy them. They’re going to have that moment I had when I walked into a newsagent and saw that first Leopard cover! I think they need more Monster Fun (and Leopard from Lime Street) in their lives.

LL: Well said Simon!

SF: A comic (for kids specifically) that’s about more than a bunch of licensed characters and how many free gifts you can wedge on a cover. More, more, MORE!

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SF: I got into comics first by loving comics, the thrill of running to the newsagent or it dropping on my mat. Then, in some strange quirk of fate, I ended up working for IPC and getting to scratch that itch all over again – and get paid for it! Who knew? I started in Scream! and now, nearly 40 years later, I’m in the Halloween Spooktacular. Kinda neat, huh?

LL: There’s also an aspect of it where we’re celebrating something that we should think of as Europeans, our common comics culture. Whilst Marvel succeeded in creating and transmitting its own mythology from generation to generation, and in exporting it all over the world, we should also do the same with our own stories, our own characters, which also say something about our common culture as Europeans? That Euro-Brit comics adventure thing that doesn’t come to us with American superheroes. After all, with comics and popular culture – take Harry Potter for example, we ALL grew a little more English, I can assure you!

And in this case, I think that the working-class origins of the Leopard speaks to everyone, after all, as cool as they are, I never recognized myself in a billionaire in armour or a bat suit! I was far more in tune with young Billy!

Oh yes, absolutely! Here in the UK, we may have a comics culture based in the superheroes in so many ways, but our roots, all that adventuring, all those humour comics, and so many of our comics makes with their roots in Asterix, Tintin, Lucky Luke and the rest, we have a comics culture that’s a wonderful mix of both that European and US comics culture and our own unique sensibilities.

Now, for both of you – how about influences?

Influences? Who is it that really makes you sit up and go wow?

SF: My main (biggest) influence was Stan Lee (and Marvel as a whole). But Alan Moore, Chris Claremont and others are who fed my professional passion for comics.

LL: Same for me. Claremont, Miller, Eisner, Corben (and I won’t even mention Italians, French or Spanish !). The usual suspects. And just to stay in England, I could mention many English comics that have meant a lot to me when I was a kid : Janus Stark, Kelly’s Eye, Marney the Fox, Adam Eterno, King Cobra, Klip & Klop or Darkie’s Mob (These last two were also drawn by Mike Western – not by chance!).

Alan Davis is also someone I praise since I discovered his work on Excalibur. He embodies the perfect combination of clear storytelling, respecting the characters and the continuity, and yet always exploring angles, movements. I had the chance to meet him and Mark Farmer in Paris a few years ago. Same for Barry Windsor Smith. Frank Quitely is also someone whose work is always inspiring. I could go on for hours!

And finally, what’s next from you both?

SF: More creator-owned projects (including more To The Death in fellow newsstand comic Shift), more Transformers (natch) and a bunch of exciting things I can’t talk about yet. But really, top of my pops right now is the Leopard from Lime Street – loving every page, every panel of it!

LL: I’m doing more of my Fox-Boy series… and drawing Simon’s wonderfully evocative scripts of the Leopard at the same time. Hey, maybe they’ll have a crossover sometime! More seriously, I’m very honoured to be part of the return of this old childhood friend and I really hope that readers won’t be disappointed in me.

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Thanks so much to Simon for taking the time – you can catch The Leopard from Lime Street in the brand-new Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular – out from 6 October at all good newsagents and from the 2000 AD web shop and Treasury of British Comics web shop.

Plus, you can subscribe to the all-new bi-monthly Monster Fun comic at their website.

And be sure to follow Simon on Twitter and Laurent at his website and on Instagram – I believe the kids are calling it the ‘gram.

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And once you’ve delighted to the all-new adventures of Billy Farmer, remember you can go back and read the classics by Tom Tully, Eric Bradbury, and Mike Western with the Leopard from Lime Street collections!

And as for Laurent’s Fox-Boy – well, here’s a shout out to Europe Comics and Cinebook – let’s see it translated!

And finally – here’s that cover to Buster of 27 March 1976, the one that introduced the Leopard and started the young Simon Furman on the route to right here!

The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular! is out this week with 52 pages of fabulous new comics featuring a veritable pantheon of the great and the good bringing back a load of classic British humour characters from the past, as well as plenty of brand-new characters to giggle and guffaw along to!

This special is just the opening salvo in the Monster Fun revolution – the title is coming back in April as a bi-monthly on-going comic, bringing the Monster Fun to you every two months!

So, who better to talk to about this than the editor responsible for bringing it all together, Keith Richardson?

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Keith, you’re the editor on the new Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular and the new Monster Fun bi-monthly – this is a big deal, right?

KEITH RICHARDSON: I think that it is a huge deal. There hasn’t been a new, regular, all ages UK comic out for a long time.

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The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular brings together some wonderful names in comics, both well-known and fairly new, along with a collection of both new characters and the return of some classics from the long and wonderful history of Brit humour comics. What was the process behind selecting both the creators involved and the strips we’re going to see?

KR: First and foremost I must say that everybody involved in the Halloween Spooktacular did a tremendous job. I knew that they would because I have worked with so many of them before – a lot of the creators here were also involved with our Cor!! Buster specials. I have Tom Paterson back – a creator who is on my Mount Rushmore of Comic Artists! Tom is a creative genius whose work looks as contemporary today as it did back in the 70s. And Thanks to Jamie Smart’s fantastic Moose Kid Comics (one of the best kids titles in the last twenty years), I was introduced to the great work of Chris Garbutt and Matt Baxter.

Oh absolutely – Tom Paterson’s really getting the acclaim he’s due, with Monster Fun and the forthcoming Tom Paterson Collection bringing a load of his work together in one place at last!  

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KR: And with all anthologies I believe that there should be a wide array of art styles and stories displayed. I don’t really like one standard house style. That’s boring and turns off so many potential readers.

In regards to the strips featured, many were pitched by the creators or they had already worked on them before, again in Cor!! Buster. It’s important that we feature characters and strips that today’s youngsters can get on board with. Hopefully we have done that.

Having said that Monster Fun is full of Brit humour classics, there is one strip that breaks the mould, The Leopard From Lime Street. Why include that one in the new Monster Fun?

KR: Well, you know that humour comics traditionally ran one, occasionally two adventure strips and Monster Fun is no exception! March of the Mighty Ones ran in the original Monster Fun – a great story about two siblings chasing down some out-of-control robot dinosaurs that their father had created for a movie! The adventure strips were a nice touch and gave titles that extra dimension and offered up a story that the readers could really get stuck into.

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KR: The inclusion of the Leopard from Lime Street was a no brainer for me. He’s easily one of the most popular superheroes in British comics. The character was originally inspired by the success of Spider-Man and, just like Marvel’s finest, I think that the Leopard can still appeal to a new generation. He’s also very suited to a monster comic – just look at some of Mike Western’s glorious Leopard strips. So much of the story was set at night. There are panels with the Leopard looking quite sinister, hiding in the shadows or perched, ready to pounce out of a tree. In some stories he looks downright bestial! Couple that with Simon Furman and Laurent Lefevure’s infectious excitement for the character…I think that we have one hell of a hit on our hands.

I know what you mean about Simon and Laurent having that infectious excitement – I got just that from when I interviewed them about it (that particular interview will be up this week as well!)

KR: And The Leopard from Lime Street will be joined by another action/adventure strip from the first issue in April. Where the Leopard has a slightly darker tone, this other story is more of a fantasy/sci-fi adventure.

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What are you hoping for with both this Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular and the on-going Monster Fun comic?

KR: More than anything, I want Monster Fun to find it’s intended audience and bring this great medium to the attention of a broader spectrum of youngsters.

You’ve been the go-to guy for all-ages comics at 2000 AD/ Treasury, having been the one responsible for the 2000 AD Regened idea all the way back to the 2018 FCBD Special.

Given this, are you rather living the dream right now, with the first new kids comic in many years (since the Phoenix) coming out very soon?

KR: I’m so happy to be working on Monster Fun. When I pitched this, I wasn’t too sure it would get the green light. Compromises had to be made of course, but fair play to the Kingsleys for taking a chance on this. The Phoenix and Beano are great, but I think that we are offering something a little different.

When it comes to kids comics, the prevailing thoughts tend to be that the future has a spine, as in the future of comics is in books – going down the Dav Pilkey/ Raina Telgemier route of original graphic novels in million selling digest format. So will we be seeing collections in that format for Monster Fun?

KR: For the foreseeable future, I do think that it is the books that are going to do the real business. With that in mind, we have no plans to rush out any Monster Fun trade collections. We have to invest the time in that and make sure that it is done properly for that market.

What’s the importance of getting kids into comics?

KR: Comics encourage kids to read and nurture the imagination. They’re terribly important for that and much more effective than games, for example. I speak from first‑hand experience.

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One thing I have seen with the all-ages comics we’ve been seeing from Rebellion thus far, Regened and Treasury, is a load of ‘fans’ coming out of the woodwork and complaining that these comics are just wrong, they’re absolutely not the thing they want to see, want to read. Now, to my mind, that can only mean you’re doing it right – because the nay-sayers are older, harking back to the comics they used to read, used to like.

I’ve had the benefit of working in schools and introducing comics to the chidren there and it’s very obvious that the reading preferences of the kids out there is completely different to anything we (as grown up folks) ever imagined. They’re far more self-aware, far more literate, far more intelligent, and far more able to express exactly what they like.

KR: Yes, there are an element of fans who are consumed by nostalgia. And if that works for them then that’s okay. They’ve not grown up with the same influences, trends and styles today’s generation have so they can’t identify with the things that their kids may gravitate towards. I get it. Manga doesn’t do much for me. But I can appreciate and downright admire what Manga has achieved, especially in its power to captive and grow a younger readership.

Most of the strips have been brought straight out of the archive and as I said before, I think that with the creative teams involved, they are all strips that will appeal to day’s 8-13 year olds given the chance. That is where our focus lies. But if older fans are on board, well that is just a bonus. And don’t forget, we also have our Treasury of British Comics graphic novels for those who want to revisit stories from their youth.

Thanks to Keith for answering the questions, especially since he’s now hard at work putting together the regular bi-monthly Monster Fun comic for us all, beginning in April 2022! Be sure to subscribe to the all-new bi-monthly Monster Fun comic at the website.

But before then, take the time to pick up the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular, out on 6 October and available wherever comics are sold, from the 2000 AD web shop and Treasury of British Comics web shop. But do everyone a favour by making sure you get it into the hands of all those kids who could find a love of comics from the fabulous collection of comics inside!

The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular! is out right now – 48 pages of the creepy and the kooky, mysterious and spooky! It’s the scariest fun you can have this Halloween, packed with the greatest creators giving you the very best of classic characters from Brit Comics past and all-new strips.

One of those classics being brought back is the fun-filled Hire A Horror, with writer and artist Matt Baxter joining in the fun for a tale originally seen in the pages of Cor!! back in the 70s!

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Hi there Matt, hope you’re doing well amongst the chaos of these times?

MATT BAXTER: Pretty well, all things considered. Phew!

You’re responsible for Hire A Horror in the new Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular.

So, I guess the first thing to ask is just what it’s all about for you?

MB: It’s all about making the best, most entertaining, funniest, most lovingly produced comic we can. It’s about being reverential and sensitive to the original comic from the mid-70s, without relying on nostalgia. And it’s about having fun. Monster Fun, in fact.

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Now, am I right in thinking this is the first thing you’ve done here at the Treasury or 2000 AD?

MB: Yes, that’s right. I’ve been telling people that this commission means that I’m on nodding terms with Tharg The Mighty. 

Previous to this you’ve mixed up the worlds of comics with your work over at the Phoenix and work in the worlds of whatever it is you do over at the rather successful Baxter & Bailey creative agency.

MB: Correct! I’m a designer by training and co-founded Baxter & Bailey in 2012, where I’m creative director. We’re a ten-strong team working with clients all over the world. We specialise in brand identity and we’re lucky to work with brilliant organisations like NSPCC, Oxford University Press and the Royal Mail.

But, when nobody’s looking, I write and draw comics too. It’s my sort-of secret identity. I was part of the design team that originally created the masthead and editorial look for The Phoenix Comic. Through that association, I managed to convince the lovely editorial team at The Phoenix to let me draw and write for them as well. I ended up drawing the cover for Issue Zero of the comic and contributing to the first 160 issues.

To go from zero comics experience to a weekly half page strip for three years was very much an in-at-the-deep-end kind of deal. I loved it!

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But you’ve been quiet on the comics front for a while – so why the return now?

MB: As Baxter & Bailey grew in size and profile, I made the decision to dial down the comic making for a while. A tough decision, but I think you need to be careful about saying ‘yes’ to everything and then burning out as a result. I’m old enough to have seen that happen to a few people and know that I personally need to be careful not to take too much on.

I have dabbled in the world of comics a little bit in recent years: Titan commissioned me to draw a set of covers for their Doctor Who comic and kids comics maestro Jamie Smart asked me to get involved in his wonderful Moose Kid Comic, which I very happily did. And I’ve been getting my head around long form chapter fiction for kids too, which is hugely challenging but good fun.

But I can’t be a secret maker of comics if I don’t actually make any comics, so it was time to jump back in.

How did you get involved in the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular?

MB: Editor extraordinaire Keith Richardson tracked me down and asked if I’d like to contribute. He’d seen some of my comics work in The Phoenix, but it was my Nantastic strip for Moose Kid that really caught his attention. So, thanks Jamie! 

And why Hire a Horror? Your choice or something Keith wanted you to do?

MB: That was the strip Keith offered me. Which was good news, as it’s probably the one I’d have chosen to develop given the choice. I love the overall conceit, the setting and the fact that it’s chock full of monsters. What’s not to love? I’d seen that Mick Cassidy had already drawn a great Hire A Horror strip for the Cor!!Buster special, which was a very useful jumping off point for my version. 

And are you going to be involved with more Hire A Horror with the new bi-monthly Monster Fun?

MB: Yes, I’ve been invited to create Hire A Horror for all of the upcoming 2022 issues of Monster Fun, which I’m thrilled about. And a bit daunted too.

Hire a Horror was a long-running strip from the late 60s, early 70s in Cor!! The whole concept was one of those oh so strange things where an agency hires out the various monsters to all and sundry – just your standard sort of ridiculous and crazy sort of set-up you could expect from that age of Brit humour comics. It’s one of the many horror comedy strips we see through the history of the Brit comics of the time. So, was it something you grew up with?

MB: I was born in ’73, so I was too young for the earliest iterations of Hire A Horror in Cor!!, but I was definitely buying comics from the newsagents of Burnley as soon as I had the pocket money to do so.

As far as the history of Hire A Horror, this was very much Reg Parlett at his height, replaced by another great, Robert Nixon, so it’s something with a big, big history artistically.

MB: Very much so. I’ve been reading back through some of the archive material owned by the Treasury of British Comics and it’s properly lovely work. Deftly rendered, lovely lines, really dynamic and, crucially, very funny. 

So, no pressure there at all, eh?

MB: Like almost every creative person I know, a little bit of imposter syndrome does tend to creep in when I think about the interest and expectation around this publication. Best to just crack on and enjoy making it, I find!

What sort of look are you going for here with your version of Hire A Horror – I think it’s safe to say it’s not the Hire A Horror that originally featured in Cor!!?

MB: I’ve worked hard to be sympathetic to the original. The basic idea remains the same – a mysterious store where customers can hire monsters of all shapes and sizes – but I’ve also tried to develop it in a way I think is interesting and appropriate. The original Hire A Horror was typically a single page story, very much focused on the monster hired that week. As a result, they worked as self-contained, one off gags. I was keen to switch the focus onto the Hire A Horror shop itself, the creatures who work there and to build a story around them. I hope it’ll make for a satisfying, recurring character-led but still very silly strip.

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The new Monster Fun comic, beginning right here in the Halloween Spooktacular is the first big new childrens comic to come out since The Phoenix – something you have just a little knowledge of!

MB: Yes, it’s fair to say that I’ve made comics solely for kids since I started with The Phoenix nearly ten years ago. They’re the best audience to write and draw for in my opinion. That said, I think I make my comics for all readers, it’s just that they’re appropriate for kids and they’re the reader I have in mind when writing and drawing.

And now you’re onboard with the brand-new bi-monthly Monster Fun coming out in April – something that we think is a really big deal for comics.

MB: Oh yes, I think so, and I really hope that readers find it and love it. It’s great that Rebellion is putting their focus, energy and money into this. The more high quality British comics for kids we can make available and affordable, the better.

What do you think of the decision from Rebellion to launch a bi-monthly kids comic rather than going the route of the kids graphic novels that have been selling in the millions from the likes of Dav Pilkey and Raina Telgemier? Is it something of a radical move?

MB: Is it that radical? I don’t think it should be. The creative talent is clearly out there to make great comics in the first place. And young readers are definitely out there, looking for fun, exciting, affordable things to read. And Rebellion has the marketing nous and distribution clout to get this thing seen.

And I’ve run enough comics workshops to know that kids flipping LOVE reading comics. We should do more!

I hope that it’s read by as many kids as possible. That’s who it was made for. I hope it’s picked up from newsagents and WHSmiths and, ultimately, that young readers subscribe. I hope that those readers who might love The Phoenix, or Dogman, or Beano, will also add Monster Fun to their reading diet! 

And a little more generally – kids comics? Discuss…

MB: It’s perhaps too obvious to say it, but I’m going to anyway. Comics once ruled the roost in terms of entertainment for young readers. They were everywhere, plentiful, and cheap.

Not so much now, where television, streaming media, gaming and affordable devices are all vying for the attention of kids. But there’s a place for comics within all of that. Comics are accessible, affordable, enlightening, entertaining, they encourage reluctant readers to enjoy reading, they’re lightweight and transportable, they don’t need to be plugged in and charged… they’re the perfect unit of fun. I’m very glad to see that kids comics have also elbowed their way into bookshops too, thanks to the successes of Dav Pilkey, Raina Telgemier, Neill Cameron, Jamie Smart, Jess Bradley and others.

This is a very positive, encouraging time for kids comics, after 30 years of gloomy grown‑ups taking over the comic shelves!

Absolutely right – we swung way too far in the past few decades… from the whole ‘Comics aren’t just for kids anyway’ rallying cry to something more like comics aren’t for kids anymore. Thankfully, we seem to be realizing that the comics readership is young, passionate, and voracious!

You’ve told us some of how you started making comics, but how did a young Matt get into comics as a reader?

MB: Well, I read anything I could get my hands on as a child, including comics. They were easy to find and cheap. I don’t think my parents and step parents ever minded that I enjoyed comics, despite the fact that the medium was generally seen as a little throwaway and unedifying in those days. They were happy that I was enjoying reading anything for fun, I think.

I’d get odd Beanos, Whizzer & Chips, Buster, Dandy and the occasional US Marvel or DC import that mysteriously and unpredictably found their way to the newsagents shelves. I didn’t subscribe to a single title regularly until I saw a Saturday morning TV ad for the first issue of the relaunched Eagle in 1982 when I was nine. I was properly hooked from then on. Our local corner shop Ramsdens was implored to order a growing succession of titles: Eagle, the wonderful Scream, Action Force, Secret Wars, 2000 AD of course, the Dredd Megazine, those Eagle 2000 AD reprints (with amazing Brian Bolland covers), Spiderman & Zoids, the various Star Wars titles. Then came the Marvel UK titles: Death’s Head and the brilliant Dragon’s Claws. And then I was just about the right age to be blown away by the wave of edgier comics which emerged in the late eighties, like Crisis, Revolver and the mighty Deadline.

After an education like that, there was no going back!

Gah! I nearly forgot to mention Oink! Another formative influence, stuffed with crazy and irreverent stuff. Which makes it doubly marvelous that Oink alumnus Lew Stringer is contributing to Monster Fun. Lew is great.

Oh yes, Lew is definitely great – and in the Halloween Spooktacular he’s doing his typically brilliant thing with Kek-W to give us Wiz War!

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How about your artistic influences? Who is it that really makes the artist in you sit up and go wow?

MB: We’re lucky enough to live in a city that has a brilliant comic shop, Dave’s Comics here in Brighton. I go ‘wow’ every time I step foot in that place. I have to ration my visits to avoid overindulgence.

There are so many great books and talented creators around that it’s nigh on impossible to single out any one title or artist. In terms of recent reads, here are a few that jump out; I’ve loved the Black Hammer books by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormstron; I massively enjoyed the Geiss books by Alexis Deacon and can’t wait for book three; I love Headlopper by Andrew MacLean; This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews was a stunner; I’ve just this week picked up Oni’s Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters on the strength of its amazing art.

And if you were to twist my arm and make me choose my all-time comic favourites, I’d say that the drawings of two people – Cyril Pedrosa and my south coast chum Warwick Johnson Cadwell – are, in my opinion, pretty much peerless.

Oh, you’re absolutely right! Seriously, someone should throw enough money at WJC that means he can get on and finish Gungle!

MB: I’m also lucky that the job I do for most of my working time brings me into contact with all sorts of truly inspiring work by other designers, animators, photographers, illustrators, 3D designers… I’m a sponge for all of that good stuff!

How do you work – what’s your process? And does it change with the job in hand – if so, how’s Hire A Horror done and how is it different?

MB: I’m an infrequent enough maker of comics to feel that I’m essentially reinventing my process – or at least re-remembering it – every time I start a new comics project. Not good for the old imposter syndrome!

But, very much like the design process, everything starts with an idea. A strong concept, a silly joke, a good ending… something to hang the story off. With a good, strong, robust central idea, I always feel I’m on solid footing.

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MB: My process then goes into a weird combination of note-making and sketching, working out the story, the dialogue and some of the drawing, all at the same time. With a good idea of structure and a page-by-page story, I often then type a script for myself. It used to be the case that I’d go from my script to rough pencils on paper, then to inks on paper via a lightbox and then into Photoshop to colour the scanned inks and letter the pages. My illustrator friend Joe Berger taught me some very handy Photoshop tips that I’ve used for years across every comic I’ve made.

But more recently, I’ve pencilled, inked, coloured and lettered the whole thing in Procreate on a nice big, second hand iPad Pro my wife bought for me a couple of birthdays ago.

Hire A Horror was created in exactly this entirely-tablet-based way. I find it very natural to use the screen and Apple pencil to sketch, draw and colour, though I must admit that my trusty brush pens are looking a bit forlorn and neglected. And I do still like to use them to sketch ideas and doodle thoughts, just so they don’t feel entirely abandoned!

And finally, what’s next from you?

MB: More Hire A Horror! All through 2022, in fact.

And, eventually… if I can pull it off… my ambition is to complete something longer and more chapter based. Still for a readership of kids and still illustrated, but definitely a new, more wordy venture. All that and a busy design business. Better get on with it!

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And thanks so much to Matt for talking to us! Now, get back to all the work! Now you’re one of Tharg’s minions, even if it’s just on those nodding terms, as you say, you know he’s going to be working you hard! Catch up with Matt over on Twitter and say hi!

You can grab the Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular right now from wherever comics are sold, including Matt’s own favourite Dave’s Comics, as well as both the from the 2000 AD web shop and Treasury of British Comics web shop.

You can also subscribe to the new regular bi-monthly Monster Fun comic – coming out in April 2022! Be sure to subscribe to the all-new bi-monthly Monster Fun comic at the website. And finally – do both kids and comics a favour and be sure to get Monster Fun into as many kids’ hands as you possibly can!

Watch out parents – Britain’s newest comic is going to create little monsters everywhere!

Rebellion is proud to announce that Monster Fun will launch next year, the UK’s first all-new on-going humour comic for kids in 30 years!

The first issue will debut in April 2022, with new issues every two months – perfectly designed for holiday entertainment, whether it’s Easter, half term, summer, or Halloween!

The 32-page bi-monthly title is not only Rebellion’s first brand new title since it acquired the legendary 2000 AD in 2000, but also the first to be inspired by its mammoth archive of classic comics.

Packed with all new stories, the first regular issue of Monster Fun will be available from all good newsagents and comic book stores in April, but readers can subscribe now at monsterfun.co.uk and receive brilliant free gifts!

>> SUBSCRIBE TO MONSTER FUN

Every issue, young readers will laugh out loud all new adventures from familiar faces such as Sweeny Toddler, Frankie Stein, The Leopard from Lime Street, and Draculass, while new stories like Tokoloshe, Hell’s Angel and Scare Salon will quickly become firm favourites thanks to breakout talents like Juni Ba (Monkey Meat), Robin Etherington (one half of the Etherington Brothers (How to Think When You Draw, the world’s most successful crowd-funded art and writing tutorial series), Matt Baxter (The Phoenix), and kids’ comics legends like Tom Paterson (The Beano).

And it all kicks off this Halloween, with the 48-page Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular Special issue! Out on 6 October from newsagents, comic book stores and treasuryofbritishcomics.com, Britain’s kookiest anthology returns from the great beyond with plenty of brand new, HELL-arious comic strips that will have you howling with laughter, including Gums, Hire A Horror, Kid Kong, Teddy Scare, Wiz War and a diabolical host of new frights!

>> PICK UP THE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Jason Kingsley OBE, CEO of Rebellion, said: ‘They said British comics were dead – but Monster Fun is returning from the beyond to take over! I’m immensely pleased that we are launching the first new kids’ humour comic to hit newsstands for decades. There’s a huge market for all-ages titles out there and I’m proud that Monster Fun continues our commitment to bringing quality comic books back to life.’

Ben Smith, head of book, comic books, film and TV at Rebellion, said: ‘Monster Fun is a legendary and much-loved title from the golden age of British comics, that we’ve revived and reimagined for today’s kids. The team have put together a fantastic Halloween special to whet everyone’s appetites for the launch next year.’

One of hundreds of classic comic properties now owned by Rebellion, Monster Fun was a weekly British comic strip magazine for children aged seven to twelve. Published by IPC Media, it ran for 73 issues in 1975–1976, before merging with sister title Buster.