This week's issue

[Digifiend]

And they were colour the first time.

[Peter Gray]

April fools day in September!!
Funny choice for a reprint..

[kevf]

And they were colour the first time.

The 3 Bears strips appear to be computer coloured this time, whereas they would have been watercoloured by Mike the first time round. I noticed this with the Halloween reprint last year too.

So how did he used to deliver his art? As line art and as coloured art? Seems a bit unnecessary. And why recolour his art, when Les Pretend gets away with looking old-school? (Admittedly Les Pretend looks old school and rubbish, but I don't think it's the "being in waterclour" that's to blame for that).

Kev F

[Jonny Whizz]

Another thing - I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but the Calamity James reprint in this week's issue was a page and a half long when it first appeared, however the reprinted strip only runs to one page.

In the original strip, James managed to get the peanut back off the bird but it turned out he was allergic to peanuts and ended up in bed with instructions not to eat for a week, but in the reprint it ends with James going crazy after falling from a tree.

[Digifiend]

Didn't notice that. Last week's ended with him falling down a manhole, this week's with him falling out of a tree, no wonder Alexander complains about him always getting the best plummets!

April fools day in September!!
Funny choice for a reprint..

Good point, should've waited seven months to use that one.

And they were colour the first time.

The 3 Bears strips appear to be computer coloured this time, whereas they would have been watercoloured by Mike the first time round. I noticed this with the Halloween reprint last year too.

So how did he used to deliver his art? As line art and as coloured art? Seems a bit unnecessary. And why recolour his art, when Les Pretend gets away with looking old-school? (Admittedly Les Pretend looks old school and rubbish, but I don't think it's the "being in waterclour" that's to blame for that).

Kev F

They've probably been colour stripped like they do sometimes for Classics from the Comics.

[MikeC]

Logic suggests he supplied some colour artwork, some b/w artwork and DCT took care of the colour work on both occasions in the case of the latter?

[NP]

The 3 Bears strips appear to be computer coloured this time, whereas they would have been watercoloured by Mike the first time round.

Why do you assume Mike Pearse water-coloured his strips? Most DC Thomson colouring has always been done in-house (not all of course).

[kevf]

The 3 Bears strips appear to be computer coloured this time, whereas they would have been watercoloured by Mike the first time round.

Why do you assume Mike Pearse water-coloured his strips? Most DC Thomson colouring has always been done in-house (not all of course).

Good point. Because of the style & consistency of his colouring I'd always assumed Mike did it himself. And I've always coloured my own too. So, can anyone settle that one? Who coloured MP's painted strips?

Kev F

[NP]

How about I ask him?

[Peter Gray]

Laura I liked the eye patch on the squirrel..no goggles hey!

[NP]

The 3 Bears strips appear to be computer coloured this time, whereas they would have been watercoloured by Mike the first time round. I noticed this with the Halloween reprint last year too.
So how did he used to deliver his art? As line art and as coloured art? Seems a bit unnecessary.

I asked Mike and he said he hand-coloured all the long stories (except the football one) and everything for about 2 years, then supplied black and white only. He's busy on an exciting new project.

(Didn't you know we all live in one big house?)

[felneymike]

(Didn't you know we all live in one big house?)

Does it have giant pencils for fence posts?

[Digifiend]

Sounds like a recent Wallace and Gromit strip in The Sun. Wallace had built a robot pencil sharpener. But it went wonky and started trying to give everything in sight a sharpening. Bushes, a gnome, someone's beehive hair, and of course fence posts, among other things, all ended up with cone shaped ends.

[Peter Gray]

Finally got it..might use some of the free gifts for the Halloween quiz coming up..

Liked the theme issue loved Fred's Bed and good pun in Meebo football on the brain!!

[Jonny Whizz]

I love this week's Meebo and Zuky as well, it's very funny!

I also agree that the theme issue of the power cut was done well, as nearly all the strips fitted into the theme. I noticed that, of the strips other than the reprints, Meebo and Zuky was the only one not to fit into the theme. Does this imply that they don't live in Beanotown like the other characters?