Lew Stringer
Encyclopedia
Biography
Stringer began his career from the late 1970s with a series of fanzines, many featuring his popular BrickmanBrickman
Brickman is a humour comic strip and character created by UK cartoonist Lew Stringer, and appears to be Stringer's most recurring character. A parody of Batman, the spoof features the adventures of zillionaire Loose Brayne and his partner Tina Trowel who fight crime in Guffon City, fighting...
character; these were read by several pro creators (including Kevin O'Neill
Kevin O'Neill (comics)
Kevin O'Neill is an English comic book illustrator best known as the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law , and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen .-Early career:...
, Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
) who encouraged Stringer to try comics as a profession and Stringer recalls that "Alan Moore actually introduced me to one of the editors at Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
- Bernie Jaye who was editor on The Daredevils
The Daredevils
The Daredevils was a comics magazine and anthology published by Marvel UK in 1983.Aimed for a more sophisticated audience than typical light superhero adventures, The Daredevils featured Captain Britain stories by Alan Moore and Alan Davis, as well as new Night Raven text stories, and reprints of...
".
He sold his first professional cartoon to Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
(the British branch of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
) in 1983 where it appeared in The Daredevils
The Daredevils
The Daredevils was a comics magazine and anthology published by Marvel UK in 1983.Aimed for a more sophisticated audience than typical light superhero adventures, The Daredevils featured Captain Britain stories by Alan Moore and Alan Davis, as well as new Night Raven text stories, and reprints of...
comic, after which he worked for a short time as art assistant to the cartoonist Mike Higgs (creator of Moonbird and The Cloak). Since then Stringer has freelanced for numerous British comics for various companies and audiences.
His best remembered creations are Tom Thug
Tom Thug
Tom Thug was the title of a long running comic strip in the British comic Buster. However, it first began in Oink! in May 1986. Created by cartoonist Lew Stringer, Tom was encouraged by his skinhead father to be a school bully like he used to be. However, Tom was so incompetent he couldn't even tie...
and Pete and His Pimple for Oink! comic (1986), which outlasted that comic and continued into Buster comic, and Combat Colin
Combat Colin
Combat Colin, a slapstick comedy adventure comic strip created, written and drawn by humour comic artist/writer Lew Stringer. It appeared in a number of Marvel UK titles.-Publication history:...
the halfwit hero who featured in Action Force
Action Force
Action Force was a 1980s range of European action figures initially based on Action Man, and later used to introduce G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toys to European markets...
and The Transformers comics. Prior to Colin joining Transformers, Stringer had written another, similarly slapstick, strip Robo-Capers for that title. Robo-Capers was replaced by Combat Colin when the reprints of American G.I. Joe strips were added to the Transformers comic. Robo-Capers returned for a single story, which featured Colin and his sidekick, in Issue #200. After a change of editorial direction in 1991, Marvel UK handed the rights of Combat Colin to Stringer and he has used him in small-press titles, such as the Combat Colin Special and Yampy Tales.
Stringer has also worked as a writer on CiTV Tellytots; was one of the main writers on Sonic the Comic
Sonic the Comic
Sonic the Comic, known to its many readers as STC, was a UK children's comic published fortnightly by Fleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002...
, where he created several fan-favourite characters and stories; and has been a long time artist/writer for Viz comic
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
and many other publications. He has written Toxic!
Toxic magazine
Toxic magazine was launched in September 2002 by London-based Egmont Publishing UK. The intention was to address the elusive boys' magazine market...
's Team TOXIC! strip since the first issue (and drawn it since issue 15); this proved popular enough with the readers to gain two pages an issue and lead to other comic strips being brought in.
He broke into the international market in 1997 creating the Suburban Satanists
Suburban Satanists
The Suburban Satanists is a comic strip that appears in Herman Hedning, a comic published eight times a year in Sweden and Norway. The strip began in 1997 in the comic Geek before restarting in 1999 in its current home. It is created, written and drawn by British cartoonist Lew Stringer...
for the Norwegian comic Geek
Geek
The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to...
. From 1999 to 2007 those characters appeared in the Swedish comic book Herman Hedning
Herman Hedning
Herman Hedning is a humorous comic strip from Sweden drawn and written by Jonas Darnell.-The story:...
.
In April 2005, Active Images
Active Images
Active Images is a publisher of fonts and comic books based in the United States.Founded by Richard Starkings the company publishes fonts which are used by their commercial comic book lettering division Comicraft and comic books featuring the character Hip Flask....
published a collection - Brickman Begins - of all of Stringer's Brickman strips since 1979. In 2006, a brand new Brickman series began in the American comic book Elephantmen
Elephantmen
Elephantmen is an American ongoing monthly comic book published by Image Comics and written by Richard Starkings with art by Moritat and a number of other artists...
, published by Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
, and in 2007, Combat Colin became a guest star in the strip. Brickman seems to be Stringer's most enduring character. The series concluded in Elephantmen No.24 in 2009. Stringer is considering reprinting all 20 episodes in a self-published comic entitled Brickman Returns.
He began freelancing for The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
in 2007, drawing a Fred's Bed
Fred's Bed
Fred's Bed is a comic strip in the British comic The Beano. It originally appeared in the The Topper section of the merged The Beezer and Topper comic in 1991. In the first strip, Fred breaks his old bed and when Fred and his mum go out to buy a new one, she buys the cheapest bed in the shop...
story for the Christmas issue and a one-off Ivy the Terrible
Ivy the Terrible
Ivy the Terrible is a fictional character featured in The Beano. The strip involves a four-year-old girl whose mischievous antics are a constant annoyance to her parents.-Introduction:...
strip for an issue in 2008. In October 2008 Stringer became the artist on a new strip, Super School
Super School
Super School is a comic strip, which started in November 2008 and is drawn by Lew Stringer. This strip, which is stated in the book The History of The Beano: The Story So Far as originally having the name The Ultras in the planning stages, and was inspired by the X-Men...
which is about five superhero children and their non-superpowered teacher. He started drawing for The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
after its revamp in October 2010, providing the illustrations for Postman Prat and Kid Cops.
He currently draws the following stories for the following comics:
- Team Toxic for the Toxic
- Super SchoolSuper SchoolSuper School is a comic strip, which started in November 2008 and is drawn by Lew Stringer. This strip, which is stated in the book The History of The Beano: The Story So Far as originally having the name The Ultras in the planning stages, and was inspired by the X-Men...
for The BeanoThe BeanoThe Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink... - Suicidal SydSuicidal SydSuicidal Syd is a character in the British adult comic Viz. Strips featuring Syd are usually drawn by Lew Stringer, an artist and regular contributor to the comic....
and Felix and his Amazing UnderpantsFelix and his Amazing UnderpantsFelix and his Amazing Underpants is a strip in the British comic Viz.As the simple title suggests, Felix has a pair of underpants that are - so he suggests - possessed of fantastic powers...
for VizVizViz. and the adverb videlicet are used as synonyms for "namely", "that is to say", and "as follows".-Etymology:... - Postman Prat and Kid Cops for The DandyThe DandyThe Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...