In 2005 – in between
Volumes One and Two – Martin decided to get an O Men anthology together.
It was an exciting project and was set to be full of short stories
based on the O Men supporting cast. It was also an opportunity for
Martin to sit back and not actually do any work. However, a couple
of months into planning the Anthology, Martin then got a mortgage
and the Anthology was shelved. Also, a couple of people had to drop
out, which was understandable as they were busy and weren’t being
paid for this whatsoever.
However, a few people did supply their contribution and I think it’s
only fair to showcase their hard work. So you can see some of the
artwork and contributions below. First up, here is a list showing
how the Anthology would have worked out (all agreed and everything!)...
O
Men cast cover – Gary Spencer Millidge
Pathe story – Written by Nick
Jones, drawn by Garen Ewing
Seraph pin-up – Drawn by Tim
Doe
Frenzy story
– Written by Leon Renshaw, drawn by Barry Renshaw
Anathema story
– Written by Gary Simpson, drawn by Sean Azzopardi
UK Ultra Knights pin-up – Drawn
by David Baillie
Blackie story – Written by
Martin Eden, drawn by John Paul Howard
Vicious Circle story – Written
and drawn by Mardou
Arachnid story – Written
and drawn by Kelvin Green
Snow Leopard story – Written
and drawn by Marcus Scudamore
O Men story
– Written by Martin Eden and drawn by Grant Springford
Miss Scarlet pin-up – Drawn
by Roger Mason
Each story or piece of
art would have been preceded by an intro page with a new piece of
art by me and a little intro to the character and creator.
Cover
Gary Spencer Millidge creates the phenomenal Strangehaven indie comic,
which was actually one of the inspirations for starting up The O Men.
I see Gary every year on his stall at comic cons and I think it’s
only the last couple where I’ve been confident enough to think that
he actually recognises me lol. I’m always like ‘er, hello, you don’t
remember me, do you’. But he does. So anyway, I love his stuff and
I fired off an email to ask him if he would do a cover for me, and
was shocked that he said ‘yes’. I think it was gonna be a shot of
Rob, Grace and Red in a field or something – I don’t think he made
a start before I told him I had canned the whole idea. Would have
been good though. You can find stuff on Gary and Strangehaven here:
http://www.abiogenesis.co.uk/
Pathe
story
My workchum Nick Jones I believe has a flair for writing, and loves
indie comics and I think, if he had time, he’d probably have a go
at his own. So I asked him if he’d be interested in writing something
for the Anthology. He was quite familiar with the O Men and suggested
a day-in-the-life-of Pathe story. It’s a top notch tale and I really
wanted Garen Ewing of Rainbow Orchid fame to illustrate it. Garen
is a really nice guy and his stuff is exquisite, and I was so glad
he said yes, but I think he had reservations over the (utterly ridiculous)
deadline and the amount of panels in the story. You can find Garen’s
website here: http://www.garenewing.co.uk/
Click here for the story.
Seraph
pin-up
A guy approached me at the London comic fest a couple of years back
and showed me his portfolio. I really liked his stuff – it was very
erotic and well done! I immediately saw him as the person who should
do a Seraph pin-up for me, so here is his take on her. Oh, the guy’s
name, you know, I think it was Tim. Maybe Tim Day. I can’t remember
oops
Frenzy story
I know Baz quite well, and he volunteered to contribute something
for me. I’m not actually that familiar with Leon the artist, but Baz
wanted to use him, which was fine by me. I suggested a Frenzy story
set just before O Men’s ‘Frenzy’ story arc, showing him in prison.
I don’t think Baz had time to do much on it before I told him the
Anthology wasn’t happening.
Anathema
story
My good pal Gary (‘2000AD’) Simpson toils away on his own horror writing
many hours in the week, and he enjoys The O Men, so I asked him to
write an Anathema story for me. Around the same time I really started
to like the art of Sean Azzopardi, so I teamed the guys up together.
Provided here are Gary’s script and some
design art from Sean. You can check out Sean’s work here: http://www.phatcatz.org.uk/
UK Ultra Knights
Good ol’ David Baillie sent me a UK Ultra Knights
illustration out of the blue, which I was going to include. It was
a nice li’l pic. I can’t actually find where I put it but I will pop
it on here if I ever do find it. You can check David’s life, loves
and universe at http://www.davidbaillie.net/
Blackie
story
I met John Paul Howard a few years ago at a London comic festival
and I really liked his artwork. His art was also showcased in a small
press section of Comics International, and it was one of the few that
really stood out. So I got John to draw this strip from a script that
I popped together. He sent it in in record time and even added rude
bits...! Here is the unlettered artwork
and I have also included my script.
Vicious Circle story
The AMAZING Sacha Mardou was going to write and draw a Vicious Circle
story for me. Apparently it was going to be a lot of fun and feature
a song and dance routine. I was really excited but in the end Sacha
had other commitments (I think getting married was one of them lol).
A shame but I can imagine what it would have been like! Sacha, or
I should really call her ‘Mardou’, does her own comic called Manhole
and she contributes to the Whores of Mensa with Jeremy Dennis and
another lady whose name escapes me. You can check Mardou out at mardouville.com
Arachnid
story
Ah good old Kelvin Green. I haven’t quite known him since Day One
on The O Men, but it’s pretty close. Maybe Day 31. Kelvin enjoys the
comic and also, luckily enough, happens to be a reviewer for Comics
International and silverbulletcomicbooks.com,
and has given me many good reviews (including an infamous ‘10 out
of 10’ which the CI editor knocked down to 9, boo hiss!). I actually
think Kelvin worked on an Arachnid story without even knowing I was
doing an Anthology, and when I found out, I wanted to include it.
I like his story, there are some nice little extra elements to it
about other characters. It’s cool to get someone who who knows the
series because they can play around with it. I was a bit mean, by
asking him to change the ending slightly, which he kindly did, but
apart from that it is great.
You
can read the story here.
Snow Leopard
My workchum Marcus Scudamore – who has also helped me out so much
with the design/technical side of the O Men (boy, has he helped me
on that side) - was also the creator of Snow Leopard, a hero he came
up with when I think he was, like, eight or something, and which I
gladly stole for the O Men. I wanted Marcus to do a one-page fun little
Snow Leopard strip, and to this day I think he doesn’t believe I was
serious so he never did anything. Ah well, it doesn’t matter now!
O
Men story
I did actually do some work on the Anthology. I wrote a script which
Pest Control’s Grant Springford was going to draw. Looking back, I
am kind of glad it didn’t happen as I think the script gives too much
away. In fact, I am not going to post the script here until O Men
2.2 is out lol
Miss
Scarlet pin-up
Mostly the Anthology was a case of me chasing people for art, but
I was really excited when Roger Mason approached me to do a pin-up
of Miss Scarlet. Here it is. Roger draws his own indie comics, such
as Mice, and has also had a lot of success in Europe with his published
work. He also does storyboards for adverts. I am very jealous.
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