ALEC WORLEY: PORTFOLIO

DURHAM RED: THREE GIFTS

12/12/2018

The revamped Durham Red is back for a yuletide one-shot in the 2018 Christmas bumper edition of 2000 AD with art by Ben Willsher (Judge Dredd, Doctor Who, Roy of the Rovers) and letters by Annie Parkhouse...

It’s Christmas Eve. The city is in thrall to a powerful criminal gang whose envoy comes bearing a gift for Durham Red. But the mutant vampire has brought offerings of her own. Three gifts are exchanged, each one revealing the next step in a deadly game...

“You’re the angel of death, Red. That’s why every goon in this galaxy is afraid of you. But I’ll bet that reputation weighs heavy on the soul... especially around Christmas.”

"After their triumphant revamp earlier this year, it’s good to see Worley and Willsher return to the bloodiest of all the Strontium Dogs."
Comicon.com

Featuring a bundle of other new stories, including Judge Dredd, Caballistics, Inc. and Slaine, the 2000 AD Christmas Special is available from all good newsagents and comic shops, and from the 2000 AD webstore.

You can also download the 2000 AD reader app for the iPad, Android and Windows.

Download one of these to your mobile device and get access to legendary British sci-fi weekly 2000 AD and monthly sister-publication the Judge Dredd Megazine, as well as TONS of digital graphic novels collecting stories from the past four decades, including Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Sláine, ABC Warriors, Nikolai Dante, and Robo-Hunter!

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STORMSEEKER: A SPACE WOLVES STORY

11/28/2018

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My very first short story for Black Library was a tale of aerial combat between a grouchy Iron Priest and a pair of crazed Drukhari aces. Stormwolf vs. Razorwings! Top dog vs. top guns!

Foul-tempered and superstitious, Iron Priest Anvarr Rustmane of the Space Wolves has a bad feeling about this mission. He and his brothers have been deployed to capture a marauding Drukhari pirate unexpectedly stranded on a crystalline death world. Sure enough, upon arrival, Anvarr’s squadron are ambushed by the Drukhari’s rescue party, led by the pirate’s equally lethal twin sister. Anvarr must lead his surviving packmates in a desperate defence while imploring his own ship’s truculent machine spirit. His situation appears hopeless, but only a fool would underestimate a cornered wolf...

“Rest assured, little brothers,” Anvarr laughed. “Should we burn, my guts shall be filled with drink enough to light our passage all the way to hel!”

Cover artist unknown

"Entertaining throughout."
Track of Words

Stormseeker: A Space Wolf Story is available as an e-short from iTunes, the Black Library webstore, Amazon UK and Amazon US.

It’s also available as part of the print collection On Wings Of Blood: An Aeronautica Anthology, alongside other tales by writers including Gav Thorpe, Cavan Scott, James Swallow and Guy Haley. You can pick this up from Amazon UK, Amazon US and the Black Library Webstore.

Check out the rest of my Black Library work right here on my Warhammer page.

And you can find out more about the first story in my Sisters of Battle series, Whispers: An Adepta Sororitas Story.

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PRIDE AND PENITENCE: A BLOOD BOWL STORY

11/20/2018

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A saintly psycho must choose between victory and virtue in a fantasy football tale that’s just been collected in a shiny new paperback...

The Bright Crusaders have somehow made it to the Purity Cup final against the Doomtown Rats, but the saintly humans are 2-1 down at halftime and most of the team have been eaten by the Skavens’ ravenous Rat-Ogre. The surviving players are now forced to rely on their unpredictable star player Gerhardt the Penitent. Insanely puritanical, Gerhardt is famed for giving away his winnings after every match (along with everyone else’s), sharing team tactics with the opposition to ensure no unfair advantage, and purging himself of pride for scoring a touchdown by nailing himself to whatever comes to hand. But will the prospect of saving an imperilled orphanage be enough to convince Gerhardt that winning is more important than piety?

"I wish I could have been a fly on the wall of the Crusaders’ dressing room, Jim."
"I know a wizard who could arrange that, Bob."

"Hugely entertaining... Characterful, beautifully paced..."
Track of Words

Pride and Penitence: A Blood Bowl Story is available as an ebook from iTunes, the Black Library webstore, Amazon UK, and Amazon US.

It’s also available as part of a softback print collection, alongside other tales by Black Library legends including Josh Reynolds, David Annandale, Gav Thorpe, David Guymer and Guy Haley. You can pick this up from Amazon UK, Amazon US and the Black Library Webstore.

Check out the rest of my Black Library work right here on my Warhammer page.

And you can find out more about the first story in my Sisters of Battle series, Whispers: An Adepta Sororitas Story.

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WHISPERS: AN ADEPTA SORORITAS STORY

11/14/2018

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The first of my Sisters of Battle shorts for Black Library introduces Sister Adamanthea, a zealot driven by a twisted sense of faith and with a prodigious talent for violence...

Charismatic missionary Marcus Amouris must convert a tribe of heathen savages to the glorious creed of the Emperor, but something in the forest beyond the village is preying upon his newfound disciples. Eager to win the tribe over and prove his worth, Marcus summons the Adepta Sororitas, the Sisters of Battle, led by the brutish Sister Adamanthea, a legend of the Order of the Valorous Heart. Marcus must guide Adamanthea and her squad to the so-called ‘City of Whispers’, a mysterious ruin at the heart of the forest, a place said to be the haunt of worse than ghosts! Will Sister Adamanthea’s ferocity prove a match for what lurks within or will Marcus’s vanity prove the undoing of them all?

"I am Sister Adamanthea, Dominion Superior.
I am told you need me to kill something."

"A pleasure to read a story which really shows the Sisters of Battle as a characterful, powerful force... Plenty of action balanced out by a strong sense of atmosphere all wrapped up in a smart concept."
Track of Words

"What makes Whispers stand out is the excellent execution and masterful representation of the Adepta Sororitas... Worley has a vivid, descriptive style, and he brings these stoic, lethal ladies to life... utterly engrossing and exhilarating... Top-notch stuff."
Voxcasts from the Void

Whispers: An Adepta Sororitas Story is available as an ebook from iTunes, for £2.49 from the Black Library webstore and Amazon UK, and for $3.26 from Amazon US.

You can check out the rest of my Black Library work right here on my Warhammer page.

And you can find out more about the next story in my Sisters of Battle series, Repentia: An Adepta Sororitas Story.

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REPENTIA: AN ADEPTA SORORITAS STORY

11/8/2018

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Continuing my longstanding obsession with the Adepta Sororitas – the Sisters of Battle – my latest short story for the Black Library explores an order of the Emperor’s faithful who speak softly but carry a big chainsaw...

Lost on a feral world, a nameless Sister Repentia has miraculously survived the suicide mission that claimed her fellow penitents. Through faith and ferocity, she has recovered a powerful relic that could turn the tide in a failing campaign against the Ruinous Powers. But when her rescue ship crash lands, she and a handful of Battle Sisters must protect the relic from a ravening pack of Khornate butchers who seek the artefact for themselves. As the hunters close in on the ragged company, the Repentia must choose between protecting her newfound squadmates and honouring her own death wish

“I shall know victory only ever as defeat,
Until the blessed Throne restores my name,
Be it upon my living flesh or be it upon my ashes.”
From 'The Repentia’s Lament'

“Relentless, gruelling, fast-paced and action-packed – cuts to the heart of what makes the Sororitas such engaging characters.”
Track of Words

Repentia: An Adepta Sororitas Story is available as an ebook for £2.49 from the Black Library webstore, Amazon UK, and iTunes, and for $3.29 from Amazon US.

You can check out the rest of my Black Library work right here on my Warhammer page.

And you can find out more about the first story in my Sisters of Battle series, Whispers: An Adepta Sororitas Story.

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OUT NOW in the 2018 SCREAM & MISTY SPECIAL from Rebellion: BLACK BETH: THE MAGOS OF MALICE!

10/25/2018

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Superstar artist Dani and myself have resurrected an ancient comic-book heroine, one that’s obscure even by standards of vintage British comic books!

Black Beth first appeared in the Scream! Holiday Special back in 1988, four years after the comic itself had ceased publication. Unusually for a Scream! story, Black Beth wasn’t actually a horror strip, but a 23-page sword opera set in a brooding medieval world.

With beautifully sinuous art by veteran Spanish illustrator Blas Gallego (link NSFW), the strip was a mashup of Red Sonja and The Punisher with shades of MacBeth, in which our vengeful young heroine becomes a knight with a unbreakable vendetta against evildoers.

The identity of Black Beth’s original writer has unfortunately been lost in the mists of time.

Art by Blas Gallego

The original strip was created in the mid 1970s for another IPC title (also called Scream), but the comic was cancelled before issue one saw print. Beth was left discarded in a drawer somewhere in the IPC offices until she was exhumed over a decade later by editors looking for material to fill up the specials.

I picked up that 1988 Holiday Special at an age when I was beginning to fall so very deeply in love with Warhammer, Fighting Fantasy, Dragon Warriors, Conan, Hawk the Slayer, etc. and would obsess over any scrap of sword and sorcery I could get my hands on.

So when I heard Rebellion were publishing a second Scream/Misty annual, I begged editor Keith Richardson to let me and Dani pitch him a Black Beth tale.

We wanted to tap into that vintage Scream! magic, as well as the kind of unabashed pulp vibe that pervaded Creepy, Eerie, and Savage Sword of Conan.

We dared to be unhip!

Art by DaNi

Driven by her crusade to punish the unjust, Black Beth must save a group of sacrifices from a warlock intent upon unleashing evil upon the world. But the witch Moldred has given Beth a dire warning: to undertake this mission will have terrible consequences! Will Beth heed Moldred’s advice? Or is her homicidal thirst for vengeance all that matters to her?

The 2018 Scream and Misty Special is available from all good newsagents and comic shops, as well as the 2000 AD webstore and in North America from Midtown Comics.

Cover art by Kyle Hotz

Variant cover art by Lenka Šimečková

Lee Carter joins Durham Red!

4/10/2018

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My team-mate – artist Ben Willsher – has been stretchered off our Durham Red project, but fear not. Indigo Prime and Dredd supremo Lee Carter is joining the team!

Panel from 'Angelic' by Gordon Rennie (writer), Lee Carter (artist) and Simon Bowland (letterer)

Sorry to report that the Durham Red revamp I’ve been scripting for 2000 AD has hit a spot of behind-the-scenes bother, resulting in an injured artist and a minor delay. A few weeks ago, my project team-mate – Judge Dredd artist Ben Willsher - badly scalded his hand (on one of those fancy boiling-water taps) resulting in a severe burn that required hospital treatment. The injury was compounded by the fact that Ben made the mistake of trying to soothe the wound with a bag of frozen peas! As his nurse apparently went to great lengths to explain, never ever cool a burn with ice or iced water! (Instead, run it under cool or lukewarm running water for 20 minutes.)

With his hand strapped up during recovery, Ben has been unable to work at his usual capacity and has therefore been forced to step down from Red at the risk of missing his allotted deadline.

I want you guys to know just how hard Ben has worked on this project. Durham Red and the Strontium Dog universe mean the world to him, and this project has been a genuine labour of love. Ben came to this with a distinct vision in mind from the very beginning, which he’s been seeing through by colouring his own pages and spending several weeks obsessing with me over Red’s new design.

Ben has managed to get four episodes of Durham Red: Born Bad in the can, leaving another four to go. “I am absolutely gutted to have to step away from Red, especially over such a silly and avoidable mishap,” says Ben. “But ‘C’est la vie’, as the French Esther Rantzen fans say. Despite the disappointment of leaving the series, I am overjoyed to have Lee Carter take over!”

Panel from Indigo Prime: Perfect Day by John Smith (writer), Lee Carter (artist) and Simon Bowland (letterer). Click to enlarge...

If you’re unfamiliar with Lee’s art, go check out his website this instant! His dynamic work on strips including Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Angelic and Indigo Prime are something to behold. His pages boil with mood and atmosphere, his action scenes have thump and grit, while his flights into psychedelia are mind-blowing! In short, he’s perfect for this new version of Durham Red. Ben adds, “Honestly, I couldn’t be leaving Red in better hands – and both of Lee’s hands work! He’s an incredible artist. I’m so glad he’s joined the team. You’re all in for a treat when you see his pages!”

Our strip was originally intended to run in the recent ‘jumping on’ Prog #2073 in lieu of John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra and Ellie De Ville’s Strontium Dog: The Son. The two strips have now switched slots.

The first episode of Durham Red: Born Bad will now be published in Prog #2082, out on 23 May 2018, available at all good newsagents and comic book stores, plus digitally from the 2000 AD webstore, along with the official 2000 AD apps for iOS, Android and Windows.

Get 3,000 coffins ready...

Panel from Durham Red: Born Bad, art by Ben Willsher

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DURHAM RED - PREVIEW PIC RELEASED!

1/8/2018

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A preview pic for the new DURHAM RED revamp by me and artist Ben Willsher got released last week in 2000 AD.

And here it is...

Click to enlarge.

Regular 2000 AD readers will know Ben from his long-time art duties on JUDGE DREDD, but he’s also worked on various other comics, including several DOCTOR WHO projects, and has recently been drawing attention from overseas... Combining sharp design with dynamic linework and fluid storytelling, Ben’s the perfect artist for a cinematic action-adventure series like this.

To see more of his work, go check out his website.

Rest assured, Durham won’t be spending the entire series in her underwear! Her final redesign has been approved by the Mighty Tharg, but is yet to be revealed...

This new look needed to land somewhere between the original version by Carlos Ezquerra (which first appeared in Prog 505, back in 1987) and the far-future rebirth devised by Mark Harrison and Dan Abnett in the early 2000s - although we favoured the Ezquerra version, since those adventures are closer to the timeline of our story.

We wanted something fresh that would appeal to a new and contemporary readership, while remaining instantly recognisable to old-schoolers. Balancing the two is a tricky proposition, but such revisions have been achieved with aplomb recently, notably by DC’s NEW 52 BATGIRL by artist Babs Tarr and writer Cameron Stewart, as well as Nicola Scott’s redesign of VAMPIRELLA...

From this Batgirl (by David Finch)...

To this Batgirl (by Babs Tarr).

From this Vampirella (by Jose Gonzalez)...

To this Vampirella (by Nicola Scott).

From this Durham Red (by Carlos Ezquerra)...

To this Durham Red (by Mark Harrison)...

To God knows what!

However, form must also follow function. The redesign had to reflect where this series sees Durham as a character, that is, a down-on-her-luck bounty hunter struggling to maintain a moral compass against her vampiric nature. (Everyone in the STRONTIUM DOG universe is terrified of Durham; in this series you’ll see exactly why...)

Me and Ben went back and forth for WEEKS about how best to convey everything we wanted to say about her. As a baseline, I always start by ‘casting’ a character, just to get a vague visual sense of who they are and how they’ll look on the page. I was thinking someone with the smarts and venom of Lauren Bacall in TO HAVE OR HAVE NOT and Linda Fiorentino in THE LAST SEDUCTION, but who could throw a punch like Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey, while Ben was petitioning for someone lithe and snakey like Jaimie Alexander from THOR and TV’s BLINDSPOT. And so it went on, week after week, covering everything from body type, hairstyle, clothes, weapons, the whole shebang!

All will be revealed in 2000 AD March 2018.

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DURHAM RED – REVAMPED!

12/14/2017

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Created by John Wagner, Alan Grant and Carlos Ezquerra for the legendary 2000 AD strip Strontium Dog, DURHAM RED returns in a new solo series BORN BAD by me with art by Ben Willsher (Judge Dredd, Doctor Who).

This eight-part series sees the mutant vampire bounty hunter struggling for work following the closure of the Search/Destroy Agency. Forced to take on whatever job may come her way, Durham is hired by a dying gangster to track down his long-lost mother – a woman prepared to take deadly measures to cover her tracks.

Now here’s the thing, guys... This is a BRAND-NEW take on Durham!

New direction! New costume! New readers welcome!

Scary, huh?

But fear not, old-schoolers, I’ve been working on this for the best part of a year – and been gearing up for even longer to take a shot at writing this. In that time, me and Ben have been working our buns off in terms of research, getting the re-design just right, figuring out what makes Durham tick and seeing where we can take her next.

Rest assured, we’ve done our homework.

I’ve seen the artwork for the opening episode and it’s unlike anything I’ve seen Ben produce before. No hyperbole here, but it’s freakin’ amazing! I can’t wait to give you a sneak peak...

Anyway, the first part of DURHAM RED: BORN BAD will be published in 2000 AD #2073, available in stores and online from 21st March 2018.

There will be blood...

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Freeway Fighter: The Comic (a quick review)

3/7/2017

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I’ve got a free hour and a new comic on my hands, so here’s a quick review...

I’m a huge fan of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, created back in the day by Games Workshop founders Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. This seminal choose-your-own-adventure series originally totalled almost sixty titles, from The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982 to Curse of the Mummy in 1995. I was primarily a TV/video kid, but these books got me and plenty others reading. It’s perhaps not an overstatement to say they were the Harry Potter of my generation.

Fanboy that I am, I badgered the good folks at Titan Comics for an advance copy of Freeway Fighter, a four-part mini-series inspired by the Ian Livingstone book of the same name, first published in 1985 and the thirteenth in the original series.

Set in 2024, in a familiar post-apocalyptic desert (this one devastated by a virus rather than atomic war), the source-book sent the reader/player into the hazardous wastes to scavenge supplies and save their frontier town. Clearly inspired by the Mad Max movies (the third of which – Beyond Thunderdome – was also released in 1985), the book introduced the post-apocalyptic cars-and-carnage genre to a readership far too young to be watching ‘80s Mel Gibson movies. (The book was also part of a lively sub-genre of tabletop/roleplaying games that included Car Wars, Battlecars and Dark Future.) However, Freeway Fighter the comic – published almost thirty years on and featuring a ruthless, whiskey-slugging heroine happy to beat scumbags to death with a crowbar – perhaps doesn’t feel entirely child-friendly. In a good way.

Described as an ‘origination’ rather than an adaptation, the comic follows former racing driver turned post-apocalyptic wanderer Bella De La Rosa, who runs into trouble in a deserted town while scouting the wasteland in search of supplies.

The first issue is sparse in terms of plot, but otherwise brims with hot car-on-car action. Writer Andi Ewington has got a filmmaker’s eye for the punch and rhythm of high-octane action sequences. The whole book simmers with atmosphere too, thanks to Simon Coleby’s brooding artwork, which gives this desolate landscape an appropriately diesel-splattered feel, complimented by Len O’Grady’s sweltering colours. Kudos too to Jim Campbell’s lettering.

This is the first time the Fighting Fantasy series has come to comics and, as an official spin-off, Freeway Fighter feels both authentic and committed. Original author Ian Livingstone is on board as Executive Producer, while editing is handled by Jonathan Green (himself the author of three Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, as well as You Are The Hero, a highly recommended history of the series). Ewington (a prolific yet underappreciated writer who deserves greater attention) also comes with a fitting pedigree, having previously worked on Hollywood-branded comics for Michael Bay, Rob Cohen and George Pelecanos. Freeway Fighter issue one feels like a genuine event – and the lime-green back cover with the zig-zag header is a stroke of design genius that fans of the series will appreciate.

The book’s creative team could have settled for pastiche and fanservice (as do far too many old-school geek franchises these days). Instead, the team has dug a little deeper into the original (if admittedly well-worn) concept, giving us a glimpse of Bella’s pre-apocalyptic past (the switch from past to present pulled off with a zinger of a page-turn). This not only brings a fresh angle to a character that would otherwise be your archetypal wasteland badass, but also gives us a crucial sense of the civilised world that’s been lost to barbarism.

An intriguing first mile in a post-apocalyptic road-trip and a must for Fighting Fantasy fans, Freeway Fighter is worth a look for the widescreen action and scorching artwork alone. One issue in and this series is already burning rubber.

Artwork by Simon Coleby

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I'm Alec Worley.
I write comic books and fiction, including Judge Dredd, Judge Anderson, Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Warhammer.

Here's where I blog, mostly about about writing...