Merry Christmas!

You could have had more than this nasty looking scrawl, but my scanner's just given up the ghost, (of Christmas Past), so it looks as if I'll be hunting for a new one in the January Sales. BAH! HUMBUG! etc;

Merry Christmas and Happy Slightly Different Year, peoplefolk!

Monster From Green Hell

This'll make most sense to British viewers of a certain age...

Edit : Video blocked on YouTube due to a visual copyright claim, (which I thought might happen, even though I'm not profiting from it), so here's the Facebook version...

YouTube have blocked this due to a copyright claim, so I've uploaded it here as well. (Gets a bit nasty at the end because it's Hellraiser).
Posted by Malcolm Kirk on Tuesday, 1 December 2015

A political debate involving David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn...

That's what I calls a fine politeral discurskin. Ugugug!

Run To Fraggle Rock

I got bored and this happened...

Back From The Depths Presents : Hallowscream! Hallowe'en Special 2015

Mandrake root and zombie's spleen, it's time once more for Hallowscream!

The 2015 Hallowscream! Hallowe'en Special is here! A free 56 page feast of fear and phantasmagoria in pdf horror comic form! Yummy!

Here Are The Download Links (right click and 'save as') :

Lo-res Version (file size = 24.3mb) :       MEDIAFIRE     DROPBOX

Hi-res Version (file size = 89.1mb) :       MEDIAFIRE     DROPBOX

You can also read the issue online at :      ISSUU

 These are the full contents behind the wickedly witchy cover by Malcolm Kirk...

Page 3 : Bestiary of Beasties : The Common Moth by Malcolm Kirk
Page 4 : Fine Dining Script by Chris Sides, Pencils and Inks by Jim Lavery, Colours by Aljosa Tomic, Letters by Ken Reynolds
Page 10 : Spooky Puzzle Time by Ben Peter Johnson
Page 11 : Monster Vision Script and Letters by Tim West, Art by Ryan Taylor
Page 13 : Widow's Peak Story and Art by Gordon Innes
Page 17 : Bestiary of Beasties : Bloody Norah by Malcolm Kirk
Page 18 : Caverns of Despair Script by Troy Vevasis, Pencils and Inks by Nick Valente, Colours by Matt James, Letters by Adam Wollet
Page 23 : The Conductor by Paul Childs
Page 24 : Tokoloshe Script by Paul Bristow, Art by Andy Lee
Page 28 : Phantasmagoria Presents : The Grave Robber Script by Bob Fisher, Art by Patrick Halpin
Page 38 : Terrorvision Guide by Malcolm Kirk
Page 39 : Bestiary of Beasties : The Weegee Mermaid by Malcolm Kirk
Page 40 : The Statue Story by David Stoddart, Art by J Graham Stoddart
Page 45 : Big Foot Loose Story and Art by Gordon Innes
Page 49 : Grim Gallery Artwork by Juan Pablo Wansidler, Nicolas Krizan, Ivan McCann, Edgar-Max, Ric Chamberlin and Malcolm Kirk
Page 55 : Gothic Prince by Paul Bradford, Typography by Gary Scott Beatty
...and...
Page 56 : Back Cover Skull by Malcolm Kirk

Previous issues of Hallowscream are available to download from
backfromthedepths.co.uk/hallowscream or you can buy real-life monochrome paperback versions from Lulu.com. HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

Zombo For The ZX Spectrum

You've read the comic, you've bought the action figure, now play the brand new game for the ZX Spectrum!

Not a dream! Not an imaginary thing like what someone does for a joke or something! This is the real thing - an actual thing that you can download right now, right here.

Artwork by Henry Flint

FEATURES

• Predefined keys!
• The ability to fire in two different directions - left and right!
• Roughly ten whole minutes of semi-challenging gameplay!
• Random teleportations into different areas, becoming trapped in the scenery for all eternity!

More stuff from the comic. © 2015 Rebellion.

THE PLOT

When Flight 303 crash-lands on the proto-sentient and highly lethal deathworld known as Chronos, it does not bode well for the surviving passengers. Only one well-mannered zombie/man hybrid can save the day. He is Zombo, the result of a top secret Government™ experiment to create the ultimate soldier or weapon or something. Trust your Government™.

GAMEPLAY

You must rescue 6 survivors and defeat the secret end of game baddy to win. Colour coded keys are scattered around the planet, as are several other items, some of which may help, others of which may not, but there's a gun somewhere which'll probably come in handy. However, please bear in mind that the Shootybang 2000™ can only fire horizontally. To fire vertically, you'd require an upgrade to the Shootybang 3000™ and that's not available to you within this game.

CONTROLS

• Kempston Joystick
• Sinclair Joystick
• Keyboard 

Q - Up

A - Down

O - Left

P - Right

SPACE - Fire
H - Pause

3 - Instantaneous Death Button (Quit Game)

BADDIES

Killer Space Fruit - Bounces, requires 1 shot to kill.

Killer Space Scorpion - Moves erratically, requires 1 shot to kill.

Killer Mutant Space Hillbilly - Moves vertically, unkillable.

Killer Space Zombie - Moves horizontally, unkillable.

 Killer Rogue Death Shadow - Follows player, requires multiple shots to kill.

WHY HAVE YOU MADE A ZX SPECTRUM GAME ABOUT ZOMBO?

Because the plot of the 2000 AD comic strip is exactly the sort of bizarre premise that a lot of those old 8-bit games used to have, and I knew there was software available that meant that I could if I wanted to, (in this case, Arcade Game Designer by Jonathan Cauldwell). Add to that the strangely British sensibilities and twistedly nostalgic pop culture references, and a slightly buggy game for the Spectrum just seemed a perfect tie-in.

Zip file includes the instructions above, tzx, tap, z80 and sna files, and a mock cassette inlay. You'll need a Spectrum emulator to play, but you should have no trouble finding one of those online.

TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME CLICK HERE!

This is a completely unofficial, not-for-profit fan-game by Malcolm Kirk.

Programmed in Jonathan Cauldwell's Arcade Game Designer.

Zombo™ Rebellion A/S, © Rebellion A/S.

Incidentally other, older, official spectrum games based on 2000ad properties are available from HERE and  a recently rediscovered Judge Dredd game by Virgin games is available HERE.

Splundig Vur Thrigg, as they say on Quaxxan.

SEPTEMBER 2015 UPDATE :

To view the walkthrough mentioned in the comments CLICK HERE.

To see a game map CLICK HERE.

For an infinite lives poke CLICK HERE.

To see a retro advert for the Zombo action figure/toy thing, featuring Tharg The Mighty, alien editor of 2000 AD,  CLICK HERE.

DECEMBER 2016 UPDATE :

Now includes Zombo in Mint Choc Chip flavour, (essentially a bugfixed version which removes the 'teleporting').

Hallowscream! Scareific Seventh Issue Guidelines

We at Back From The Depths are once again looking for contributors for our freaky free, annual pdf horror comic, HALLOWSCREAM.

Submissions should be horror orientated and must be weird or spooky to make the final cut.

We are mainly looking for completed comic strips between 1-7 pages in length. Anything already completed is far more likely to make it into the comic.

Script submissions should also preferably be around 1-7 pages in length.

Eerie illustrations and artwork along with interesting horror/comic articles, scary short stories, petrifying poems or anything just plain creepy will also be considered.

To get an idea of the sort of stuff we're after, you can download previous issues of Hallowscream here.

If you're looking to illustrate something, get in contact and we'll give you details of available scripts to see if anything suits your fancy.

We'll also consider material previously published elsewhere, as long as the contributors own the copyright.

Completed artwork can be either colour or black and white, and should preferably be A4 (21cm x 29.7cm) 300 dpi jpeg or png.

Submissions can be sent to merjeagles@yahoo.co.uk or ghastlymcnasty@backfromthedepths.co.uk

As this is a non-profit, small press publication, contributors will not be paid but they will retain copyright on any material submitted.

DEADLINES :

Scripts, articles and text submissions : Sunday 26th July

Artwork : Sunday 4th October

Completed strips : Sunday 25th October.

The finished issue will be available online as a free pdf by October 31st, with a physical copy becoming available via Lulu.com, shortly afterwards. You can also keep up to date with Hallowscream news via the Facebook Page.