The77 : Richie’s Review

Philty Rich Reviews: 1,2,3 Go!

“Whatvid? Covid, doesn’t matter we’ve got a new comic to read and as soon as you touch it you can feel the difference thanks to the paper stock. It may seem trivial but it just feels like quality before you even start on the stories, my favourites of which I’d like to highlight now. Division 77(Dave Heeley, Elliots, Bolt) lol one little virus eh? Once we get up to 96 pages of this it’s destined for a collected edition, good pacing great art work.
V(Bully from the boot camp, Ade Hughes, Annie Parkhouse) I was hooked from page one of this and it has just gone from strength to strength, my only issue with this one is I want more of it.

Division 77

The Screaming Hand (Kek-w, Conor Boyle, Annie Parkhouse(If you can find the A team you use the A team)) Wonderfully atmospheric, Conor Boyle is definitely picking up what Kek is throwing down and I can envision the screaming hand on a nice T-shirt.#

issue 1 special mentions: Mal Earl for Prodigal just missed my top three, awesome solo work here with really nice colour pallete changes through issue 2&3.
Neil Simms and Brendon Wright for great colour and texture, both a joy to behold.
Lew Stringer for, well, being Lew Stringer.
Drew Marr: a nice touch of originality for one so young.#

Prodigal

Issue 2 we get a new writer(to me anyway) burst into the77 with 2 whopper stories Gut Crawlers and Jerico-5 with PJ Holden and Paul Williams on art duty. Gut Crawlers especially is right in my horrible future jobs wheelhouse.

V

with all of our returning stories from issue1 resolving cliffhangers and world building this is a very enjoyable read.

Issue 2 also sees the beginning of the Cell (Bambous Georgiou, Andrew Sawyers, Filipo) Probably the most visually striking strip in the mag, you just have to see it really.

Can’t forget The Ghastly United either, I love grey scale with touches of colour so this ones a tap in, easy goal.

Issue 3: We are in full swing baby, all of the stories above are in full stride and we finally get to meet Sgt. Shouty’s Nemessis, roll on issue 4 and beyond.

Big Love and lots of Vitamin D to the whole 77 crew.”

Philty Rich Flannery.

The77 #3 cover unveiled

The77 issue 3 Cover by Ade Hughes

The77 issue 3 cover by Ade Hughes Featuring Anat from V by Steve Bull and Ade Hughes has been unveiled

“Wow, what a cover!!! Ade’s really bought V to life makes me want to watch the movie” -Steve Bull writer of V

The story behind the cover here

On sale from comic stores beginning of November. Available also from getmycomics.com

Links
The77 Facebook Group
Ade Hughes Art Page

The77 issue 3 T-shirt now available!

Stand out from the crowd in our exclusive ‘blue ‘n yella’ edition T-shirt!

Only £16.95 which includes free UK delivery

Pay with PayPal: benksy@mail.com

State your size and address.

The77 Issue 3 Cover unveiled : Ade’s Aced it Again!

Ade Hughes cover to issue 3 of The77

I see the cover as a movie poster with the tagline It takes opposing forces to create the storm

Steve Bull writer of V

The Cover to issue 3 of The77 by Ade Hughes has been unveiled. Foreground is the heroine Anat (her with the axe in issue 2), behind her, is the mysterious Haydn the head of the corporate bad guys and Han, Chief of security

Ade painted it tradionally “I did it after work for about 6 days, so approx 15-20 hours. Its primarily Acrylics with a little bit of pastel pencils for the occasional highlight.”

Earlier Draft

The Cover was heavily influenced by 70s scifi movie posters like Flash Gordon

It also premiers Anats new Costume as “she can’t go running around in the future dressed like a barbarian” according to writer Steve Bull

V writer Steve Bull

“The new costume pays tribute to one of my favourite out there movies and maybe my first crush. Barbarella”

Steve Bull

Jane Foda in Barbarella (1968)

Links
The77 Issue 3 Kickstarter page
The77 Facebook Group
Ade Hughes Art Page

Issue Two signing at Newport’s Heroes – ‘77 takes Island by Storm !!!

The77 comic had a comic signing on a successful comic signing on Thursday 27 August at Heroes Comic shop at Newport, Isle of Wight with Divion 77 artist Andrew Sawyers

“What was cool whilst there was a steady stream of customers who’d specifically come in store for The ‘77 – including a backer who his KS copies signed bought more !!! Better yet was the kid who put down the gaming cards and bought a ‘77 instead and the mother of two daughters who were comic fans, but not interested bought one for herself – never read a comic and now has a signed copy of The ‘77 … Reactions varied from its like 2000ad when it was good, it’s like Heavy Metal to I like the variation of stories or different art etc – through to its a breath of fresh air to we’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time !!!”

Artist Andrew Saywers and Heroes manager Rob Mead

According the Heroes Manager Rob Mead the signing went well “The signing went great, there was a steady steam of people for the whole day, Andy was amazing and drew sketches for everyone that wanted one. It was going to be a 2 hour event which turned into a 6 hour one”

Heroes

The signing happened due to a chance meeting between Andy and Rob at the Heroes shop. “Andy came here on holiday and popped in to the shop and introduced himself and handed me a copy of The77 #2. We like to support new comics and I was already in the process of getting copies for the shop through Get My Comics. Andy spent a couple of hours in the shop and we just hit it off straight away, liking the same stuff talking comics movies and music. After he left I contacted Adrian at Get My Comics and asked if he could send some more #2’s so I could get Andy to sign them before he went home, he said yes then I thought hang on a min lets see if he would be up for a signing which he very kindly was, “

Links
The77 issue 3 kickstarter
The77 at GetMyComics
Heroes Shop

The77 Issue 2

 The77 issue 2: The SUMMER SPECIAL! 
available here on 16th August
https://getmycomics.com/Release/Indie/The77?fbclid=IwAR2ZDYdAL_tuINHu4C2sGMLfkiMhGJZMymP-IoDa9XRV50XL8Lck-CPuwhM

Benksy: Editor of The77 by Cullis/Sims

Issue two Contents
V – part 2: ‘Enter, The Tormentor!’
Prodigal : Part 2.
Gut Crawlers part 1: Essential workers doing the Galaxy’s dirtiest jobs
Undertow:’ Day 1′ New story debuts in issue 2
The House That Never Was: The second instalment
The Cell: Could you survive the cell?
Lifeboat: The second feature
Division ’77: Fighting a future war without end
Trompe La Mort: Death comes to Brittany
Jericho-5 The Boat That Screamed
Martian Law: He is the Law on Mars!
The Collector: A Sci-fi yarn from BLAZE!™
Penny Pentagram: London’s grooviest Paranormal detective
Skate Worm: ‘Resuscitated – (not) educated – Skated!’
Ghastly United: 70’s footie action with a twist!
SGT. Shouty of the Moon Corps! In space everyone hears him shout.

Issue 2 collector’s variant edition cover by PJ Holden (available as a signed print too!)

DIVISION ’77 created by Dave Heeley & Sinclair Elliott. Artwork by PJ Holden

Issue 2 Exclusive T-Shirt

The77 blue edition T shirt – available as a reward!

 BIOMANIAC STICKERS

Our BIOMANIAC stickers are based on Neil Sims amazing tattoos, not a well known free gift from 1977! (And will be smaller than illustrated here)

The77 Preview:

V – part 2: ‘Enter, The Tormentor!’ by Steve Bull (The77) and Ade Hughes (SpaceWarp)

V by Steve Bull and Ade Hughes

Prodigal returns. Created by Mal Earl 

Prodigal by Mal Earl

Gut Crawlers part 1: Essential workers doing the Galaxy’s dirtiest jobs by Dan Whitehead – (Speccy Nation, Hex Loader, Midwinter) and Paul Williams (2000AD: Judge Dredd)

Gut Crawlers by Dan Whitehead and Paul Williams

Undertow:‘ Day 1′ by father and son team Joe and Jeremy Dunn

Undertow debuts in issue 2. By Joe and Jeremy Dunn

The House That Never Was: The second instalment by Kek-W (2000AD: Deadworld, Fall of Deadworld) and Conor Boyle (Hook Jaw)

‘The House That Never Was’ by Kek-W and Conor Boyle

The Cell: Could you survive the cell? by Bambos Georgiou (2000AD: Chopper Song of the Surfer’ Marvel UK: Knights of Pendragon) and Andrew Sawyers (debut)    

The Cell by Bambos Georgiou and Andrew Sawyers

Lifeboat: The second feature on the unpublished masterpiece by Ian Gibson (2000AD: Halo Jones, Sam Slade, Judge Dredd)   

Learn more about this unpublished masterpiece

Division ’77: Fighting a future war without end by Dave Heeley (The77#1) and Sinclair Elliott (Zarjaz: Judge Dredd) 

DIVISION ’77 by Dave Heeley and Sinclair Elliott

Trompe la Mort: Death comes to Brittany by Dave Bedford (The77#1: The Tempered Curse) Andrew Richmond (Greyborough)  

Trompe La Mort by Dave Bedford and Andrew Richmond

Jericho-5: The Ship That Screamed by PJ Holden (2000AD: Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper) 

Jericho-5 ‘The Ghost Ship’ by PJ Holden

Martian Law: He is the Law on Mars! by Brendon Wright (The77 #1: The Tinkling Triangles)     

Martian Law by Brendon Wright

The Collector: A Sci-fi yarn from BLAZE!™ by Steve MacManus (Action! 2000AD, Crisis, TMO My life inside the Nerve Centre, The SheerGlam Conspiracy) and Charlie Gillespie (2000AD: Sinister Dexter)   

The Collector by Steve MacManus and Charlie Gillespie

Penny Pentagram: London’s grooviest Paranormal detective by David Thomas (WP Comics, Night Hunters, Avatara) and Jon Roydon (The Lost Graveyard)    

Penny Pentagram and friend by David Thomas and Jon Roydon

Skate Worm: Created by Smith & Conan (Skate Muties from the 5th Dimension) with art by Morgan Gleave (The77 #1: Tempered Curse)

Skate Worm. Created by Smith&Conan, art by M. Gleave

Ghastly United: 70’s footie action with a twist! by Barrie Tomlinson (Tiger/Roy of the Rovers/Scream!/Eagle) and Neil Sims (The77#1: Temporal Anarchy) 

Ghastly United by Barrie Tomlinson and Neil Sims

SGT. Shouty of the Moon Corps! In space everyone hears him shout. Created by Lew Stringer (BEANO, Combat Colin, Brickman, Oink!)   

SGT Shouty of the Moon Force! by Lew Stringer

The77 issue 2: The SUMMER SPECIAL! 

 The77: Benksy’s Retro World!

Benksy’s Retro World poster reward by Phil Elliott – available as a reward!

The77 issue 2: The Summer Special!

Do you remember as a kid, when the summer stretched out way before you?  A carefree time when ‘being back by tea-time’ was the only rule and your biggest worry was the newsagent selling out of your favourite comic’s Summer Special?

It’s back!

‘The Summer Special’ is coming and will be delivered in time to save your summer packed with stories from today’s hottest talent, tomorrow’s stars and the coolest creators from your childhood.

Order your copies from https://getmycomics.com/Release/Indie/The77 where you can buy the standard issue or either of the 2 amazing variants.

The very first backer of Issue Two of The77

Kevin Symonds

The77 Launched on on Saturday 13th June at 9.05 am and the very first backer was long time 2000ad fan, Admin of 2000AD Original Comic Artwork and Art Collector Kevin Symonds!

“I was a backer for the first issue and was just eagerly awaiting the next one”

Kevin selected just the issue with the Biomaniac stickers as a reward as “however much I’d have loved the full package I can’t be spending that much atm, maybe with a future issue but love the idea of sticking to the old style “freebies”

The BIOMANIAC stickers are based on Neil Sims amazing tattoos, not a well known free gift from 1977! (smaller than illustrated here)

Kevin had previously bought issue 1 “Very nice, some great stories and artwork. Main complaint is that some really didn’t have enough pages! I know they will continue in further issues but who wants to wait? It’s really nice to see the work done by others you’d probably not otherwise see”

Kevin is a long time time 2000ad fan and art collector “Never been a DC or Marvel fan. Eagle and Scream sort of thing after Whizzer and Chips etc but 2000ad from around prog 455 and ever since that’s been it for me.

2000AD prog 455

“I’m lucky enough to have a page of Cam Kennedy’s artwork from that issue. I have a few hundred pages of 2000ad artwork too, very proud of my collection. Lucky enough to have some great stuff, including a couple of Halo Jones pages…. have never spent a fortune on the tiny US comics, most of my knowledge of characters come from the movies and online articles!
2000ad has been my mainstay all through school, college, uni and all the way to now. Things like 77 slot in very nicely just wish I’d also got into Dogbreath and Zarjaz when they started too so making sure I am in on the ground for new stuff”

The77 Issue Two Summer Special Kickstarter can be backed here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/the77comic/the77-the-summer-special/

The77 Issue One can be ordered here https://getmycomics.com/the77

The77 Kickstarter #2 launches on Saturday 13th June

The77 Kickstarter #2 launches on Saturday 13th June 

https://www.kickstarter.com/…/the7…/the77-the-summer-special
Full list of Rewards:
Digital copy of The77 #2: £4
The77 #2: The standard edition: £7 PJ Holden variant: £8
The77 #2 with BIOMANIAC STICKERS: £10

The77 #1 & #2 standard editions: £14

The77 #2 + signed cover print by Neil Sims + stickers: £18

The77 #2 + Signed RETRO WORLD POSTER by Phil Elliott: £19

Unique signed Penny Pentagram script: £20

The77#2 PJ variant + signed print + stickers: £24

The77 #2 & stickers & T shirt: £25

2 SIGNED SCRIPTS & The77#2 BIOMANIAC + Stickers: £27 (Dave Bedford – Trompe la Mort, Steve Bull: V, Joe Dunn: Undertow, Bambos Georgiou – The Cell, Dave Heeley: Division 77, Kek-W: The House That Never Was, Steve MacManus: The Collector, David Thomas: Penny Pentagram, Barrie Tomlinson: Ghastly United, Dan Whitehead: Gutcrawlers)

Standard + variant & prints + stickers: £29 Both editions of #2: Standard edition with Neil Sims cover. Variant collector’s edition with PJ Holden cover. Both prints signed by Neil and PJ Holden. BIOMANIAC stickers included!

Artist sketch & The77 #2: £30-40: An A4 single character sketch. We thank the following artists for their generosity in supporting this Kickstarter: Conor Boyle, Jeremy Dunn, Mal Earl, Sinclair Elliott, Morgan Gleave, PJ Holden, Ade Hughes, Andrew Richmond, Jon Roydon, Andrew Sawyers, Neil Sims and Lew Stringer. PLUS The77 issue 2 + BIOMANIAC stickers!

Signed Lifeboat print + both variants: Pledge £42: Ian Gibson’s Lifeboat – Signed limited edition A3 print. Plus both variants of The77 (issue 1 by Nick Percival and issue 2 by PJ Holden) plus BIOMANIAC stickers.

Your name, company or face in a strip! Pledge £50: Go down in history – get your name or business logo in one of The77 strips. Alternatively get your face a friend’s in a frame too. You will also receive a copy of The77 issue 2 with BIOMANIAC stickers!

The exclusive variants plus signed posters package: £50 The ultra rare issue 1 Nick Percival variant with signed A3 print and The77 #2 PJ Holden variant with signed A3 print and the BIOMANIAC stickers PLUS Benksy’s Retro World by Phil Elliott and Ade Hughes cover: issue 1 signed prints

Your name on the front cover! £99 Do you remember back in the day the newsagent writing your name on your beloved comic? Now you can have your name written on everyone’s standard copy. This reward comes with issue 2 with your name adorning it and the BIOMANIAC stickers

Benksy’s Retro World original art: £99 Phil Elliott’s line art for BenKsy’s Retro World poster. Commissioned for the super rare variant edition of No1. A one-off in every sense of the word – The original artwork for this soon to be legendary artwork! This reward also comes with issue 2 and the BIOMANIAC stickers + the signed A3 print.

The whole 77 kaboodle: £200 (Doing a Burdis)
Issue 1 standard edition: Ade Hughes cover.
Issue 1 Ba’al A3 print, signed by Ade Hughes
Issue 1 variant collector’s edition: Nick Percival cover
Issue 2 variant Ba’al A3 print, signed by Nick Percival
Issue 2 standard edition: Neil Sims cover
Issue 2 standard cover A3 print, signed by Neil Sims
Issue 2 variant collector’s edition: PJ Holden cover
Issue 2 variant cover: A3 print signed by PJ Holden
Variant edition: Benksy’s Retro World A3 print signed by Phil Elliott
Lifeboat A3 print signed by Ian Gibson
Leonardo Manco A4 limited edition print
Limited edition: BIOMANIAC stickers
The77 blue edition T shirt
The77 blue edition Hoodie
The77 red edition Truckers cap 16. All Digital editions as pdf’s
Set of 4 badges
Postcard set
The77 keyring
A surprise gift from Benksy

The77 #2 cover artwork by Neil Sims: £250 The77’s mysterious editor Benksy debuts on the cover of issue 2: The Summer Special. You can own the exquisite multi-media artwork by renowned artist and sculptor, Neil Sims. This truly one-off piece of art is signed by Neil.

Be our guest of honour at Lawless 2021: £500 Hot off the press! We are sponsoring Lawless 2021 on Saturday 15th May. Be our guest and join us at The DoubleTrees (not Peach Tree) in Redcliffe Bristol. We’ll show you around, introduce you to our creators and have a drink or two with you! You’ll receive exclusive merchandise and we’ll throw in accommodation for one night and tickets for two. This reward is subject to cancellation or postponement caveats. Please confirm you are available to attend the event on Saturday 15th May 2021. The accommodation is for up to 2 persons and both will receive complimentary tickets to the event on Saturday.

The story behind our Editor and the front cover of Issue 2

Neil Blackbird Sims cover for Issue Two of The77 is surely going to stir memories of Garry Leach’s early work on “Marvelman” for Warrior with that dramatic “Krackle”, but it’s his own, distinctive and eye-catching work. Impressive stuff!”

John Freeman Creator and Editor of Down The Tubes

Issue 2 of The77 features a cover by Neil Sims of The77’s own editor. “That’s Benksy, the fictional editor of the 77, a character Ben had in his head for years until we got together and put some meat on his bones” according to The77 issue 2 Cover Artist Neil Sims.

• 

• 

• 

“My name among certain zines fans of a certain age is Benksy. I based the character on the 70’s TV character Mr Benn but with a punk edge” – Ben Sky

Mr Benn

The Cover took Neil three days “Paper with acrylic paint, no digital to get a more traditional 70s/80s feel” says Neil

Dave Heeley (The77 Editorial Team) was impressed “Breathtaking. The colours are vivid and yet there’s a softness of touch that shows how masterful Neil’s art is.”

“The blue colour is quite striking against the pale yellow border, which enhances the image of the bowler hat wearing character, who’s eyes are radiating who knows what! The way the flashes covers just enough of the character, that means you have to pick it up to see what they are partly hiding is clever. The only thing for me would be the supposedly hand written name of the person who it’s to be delivered to. That is way too neat from what I remember all those years ago!” – long time 2000AD reader,Cellar Of Dredd blogger and Everything Comes to 2000AD podcast member John Burdis

The 77 issue 2 Cover Artist Neil Sims

Don’t forget to sign up to be notified when Issue 2 of #The77 goes live on Kickstarter.