Squeezing another one out

There's always time! Going to go ahead and end the year (in "blog" terms anyway) on a thematic level. As in, something to do with comics. A Christmassy comic, like what Lew Stringer's been doing. Have some highlights from 1992's Acne Christmas Bumper Special:

Festive thrills throughout in this one, mostly taken up by Lee Healey's seven-page take on the greatest story ever told, featuring two other folk who I'm assuming are competition winners:

Elsewhere, we have uncharacteristic warmth from Nick Miller's Fred the Fly:

Seasonal body horror with Mervyn Johnston's Brad Bin:

Festive reverse-cannibalism with Brian Smeaton - He's Dying to Get Eaten - drawn by Tone and written by Dean Wilkinson:

And yuletide scatology from Jimbo's Jobbies, by Phil Neill:

Jimbo gets a mini poster in this issue as well:

And... there we go! Ho ho ho and all that!

That's definitely IT for this year now - I said "Merry Xmas" to everyone in the last post, so for this one, it's a case of gratitude. Thank you VERY much to everyone who reads this thing, and EXTRA thanks to those who leave comments (people who "do" blogs will understand the bread-and-butter nature of comments). A huge thanks as well to all of the artists and writers who've been all too happy to comment/discuss their experiences of the comic world, instead of hurling accusations of copyright infringement at me like I was initially dreading. Also, eternal appreciation to those that have sent me things over the course of the year - many issues of the fantastic Khaki Shorts from Adam Smith, an envelope full of comics from Nigel Maughan, a copy of Sarkylocks and the 3 Bears from Arfon Jones, Lee Turnock's "festive" Fat Arse, courtesy of the ever-pleasant Dexter Cockburn of The Comix Company... Seriously, the appreciation for all of these things, I can't think of the words for it.

We'll end on a modern classic, eh? - Matt Groening's Olive, the Other Reindeer:

"See" you all in 2015 for what's left of the "adult comic boom" of the 1990s (maybe around ten titles left?), followed by further interesting items from here, there, then, now and beyond, perhaps.