Andrew J. Lewis is a writer, musician, artist and co-founder of the .

Biography

In 2001 Lewis created the 'Top Notch Tosh'

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

comic. He wrote a range of short, punchy sci-fi/horror strips, illustrating many himself and collaborating with other artists including Justin Askham and Darren Chandler. The comic ran for 6 issues. Regular characters included space loonies Baldy and Maud, intergalactic conman Jez Scullar, and righting other people's wrongs- Obadiah LaGraisse. Jez Scullar featured in a spin-off comic of his own, 'Caliburn' illustrated by Justin Askham, which has so far only seen its first issue completed. Other spin-offs were 'The Man who Saved the World' a cynical 4-parter printed under the Dry Ice Factory banner, and 'Brain Fungus' a collection of strips, single-frame gags and assorted nonsense. Lewis was the creator of ''

Zarjaz ''Zarjaz'' is a comics anthology fanzine for the long-running British science fiction comic '' 2000 AD''. Publication history ''Zarjaz'' was started in 2001 by Andrew J. Lewis. The fanzine contained comic strips based on various ''2000 AD'' ...

'', editing its first four issues during which time it won the

National Comics Award The National Comics Awards was a series of awards for comic book titles and creators given out on an annual basis from 1997 to 2003 (with the exception of the year 2000) for comics published in the United Kingdom the previous year. The votes we ...

for Best Independent Comic. He wrote and lettered several strips, interviewed Alan Grant and

Frazer Irving Frazer Irving (born 1970) is a British comic book artist known for the series '' Necronauts'', published by the British magazine '' 2000 AD''. After breaking into the American market he has worked on a number of superhero titles, including a s ...

and wrote a major piece on breaking into comics writing which featured advice from a range of leading editors, writers and artists. For UK

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

comic '' 2000 AD'', Andrew Lewis wrote the Future Shocks 'Goldie Locke and the Three B.E.A.R.S.' and 'Escape'. Lewis also reviewed comics for

Comics International ''Comics International'' was a British news and reviews magazine about comic books. Founded in 1990, it was published monthly by Quality Communications until 2006, and then by Cosmic Publications Ltd. until 2010. Over time, ''Comics Internation ...

, and from 2006 to 2007 was a daily contributor to

Mike Read Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...

's morning show on

Big L (Radio London International) Big L was the name of a short-lived broadcasting company registered by the British licensing authority Ofcom fro11 June 2002 to 10 June 2003for a satellite radio service known as Big L. The license stated that the station ''"… will provide an ...

radio station, where he was known as 'Lord Tosh' or 'Lord Top Notch of Tosh'.

Awards

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

''Zarjaz'' won the "Best Self-Published/Independent"

at the annual Bristol Comic Festival and came second to ''

Jack Staff Jack Staff is a British superhero created by comic book writer/artist Paul Grist. Billed as "Britain's Greatest Hero", it is known for being in the style of an anthology title and for its multi-linear plotlines. He first saw print in comics pu ...

'' in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Bibliography

Comics Lewis has written include: *''

Tharg's Future Shocks ''Tharg's Future Shocks'' is a long-running series of short strips in the British weekly comic '' 2000 AD'' in 1977. The name originates from the fictional editor of 2000 AD and the book titled ''Future Shock'', written by Alvin Toffler, publi ...

'': ** "Goldie Locke & the Three B.E.A.R.s" (with art by

Boo Cook Boo Cook (born 1972) is a British comic artist, whose work mainly features in the comic '' 2000 AD''. Career Cook's art has appeared in the '' ABC Warriors'' and ''Judge Dredd'', as ''Asylum'' (written by Rob Williams) and ''Dead Men Walking'' ...

, in ''2000 AD'' #1288, 2002) ** "Escape" (with pencils by

Gary Crutchley Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...

and inks by Cliff Robinson, in ''2000 AD'' #1410, 2004)

Notes

References

Andrew J. Lewis
at 2000AD online *

External links

Zarjaz details
on Comics Village {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Andrew J Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British comics writers