Another day, another legendary series comes back – this time it’s The Bogie Man by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Robin Smith, coming from the77 Publications.
Oh yes, here’s me, just the other day telling you about British publisher the77 inking a deal to publish Ian Gibson‘s Lifeboat and wouldn’t you know it… they’ve only got a second, rather huge announcement that’s sort of sneaked out. (Or at least it’s sort of sneaked out to me. Hell, I could have missed the meeting for all I know.)
Yep, he we are… a simple Facebook post where the77’s publisher Ben Cullis just happens to mention that their collection of The Bogie Man will be Kickstarting soon!
Yep, the legendary John Wagner’s offering retro Bogie Man t-shirts – great in itself and available through John on Facebook – but it’s the news that John is working with the77 to get a collection of the much loved and very well-remembered Bogie Man.
Right now there’s no more news than that – a Kickstarter coming later in the year. No details on what it will collect, no dates, nothing. But that will come. In the meantime, just enjoy the good news.
Now, for those of you yet to experience the brilliance of Bogie Man, here’s a little summary of what to expect…
Francis Forbes Clunie is a Scotsman who thinks he’s Humphrey Bogart… sort of. It’s more that he imagines himself as Bogey’s characters in his movies. And yes, he is under psychiatric care, where he’s known as Clunie the Looney to the staff.
Through a series of magnificently off-the-wall series, Wagner and Grant spun their magic and, together with Robin Smith’s always magnificent linework, gave us something funny and fascinating, with each adventure seeing Clunie put his own unique spin on events happening around him, a spin with a very Bogie twist.
Wagner and Grant, together or separately, have a long, long history of turning their hands to some riotously funny material in the pages of 2000 AD, but there’s plenty that would tell you they’ve never done anything quite as fine, quite as funny, as Bogie Man, with spectacular plotting, loaded with misunderstanding and ridiculousness that makes for wonderful reading.
It all started in 1989 with the first four-issue series self-published through Wagner and Grant’s Fat Man Press. Following this, we had various series from various companies over the next few years, including The Manhattan Project, with Clunie rescuing Vice President Dan Quayle from an imaginary assassination plot. After quite a break, Bogie Man returned in the pages of the Judge Dredd Megazine in 2005 for Return to Casablanca.
The comic was even adapted into a 1992 TV movie, screening on BBC2 and starring the late, great Robbie Coltrane as Clunie. It just took the central idea and ditched all of the complex and clever writing and dialogue from Wagner and Grant. It didn’t do too well.
So, no doubt there’s going to be more news to come about this one – but in the mean time, have a little look-see at a few of the covers…
Another day, another legendary series comes back – this time it’s The Bogie Man by John Wagner, Alan Grant, andCOMICONRead More