''Brickman'' is a humour

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

and character created by UK cartoonist

Lew Stringer Lew Stringer (born 22 March 1959 in England) is a freelance comic artist and scriptwriter. Biography Stringer began his career from the late 1970s with a series of fanzines, many featuring his popular '' Brickman'' character; these were read by ...

. A parody of

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

, the spoof features the adventures of zillionaire Loose Brayne and his partner Tina Trowel who fight crime in Guffon City, fighting villains such as the Poker, the Mad Cobbler and Gnat-Woman. The strip's humour uses heavy amounts of puns, sight gags and absurdism. The strip began in the

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

''After Image'' No.3 in 1979, before moving on to other

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 ...

fanzines and

minicomic A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 (105& ...

s. ''Brickman'' then turned up in his own title published by short-lived UK independent

Harrier Comics Harrier Comics (officially known as Harrier Publishing) was a British comic book publisher active in the mid-to-late 1980s. Harrier was notable for putting out black-and-white comics in a mold more similar to American comics than to typical Brit ...

in 1986, featuring guest pages drawn by

Dave Gibbons David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries ''Watchmen'' and the Superman story "For the Man ...

, Mike Collins,

Mark Farmer Mark Farmer (born 1957 in Birmingham) is a British comic book artist. He is best known as an inker, often working with Alan Davis. Career Farmer got his start in the UK comics industry before becoming part of the British Invasion, the wave of ...

, and Kevin O'Neill (with an introduction written by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

). He also made a cameo, alongside discontinued Marvel UK comedy characters in a ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

'' homage, in Stringer's ''

Combat Colin ''Combat Colin'' is 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 ''Combat Colin'' appeared as a back-up humour ...

''. After a ten-year gap while Stringer focused on his other comic characters, ''Brickman'' was revived in 1996 in the small press comic ''Yampy Tales''; the character returned to a crime-stricken Guffon City to defeat the evil Mr Cheese and his own sidekick Tina, who had gone rogue. In 2005, the Los Angeles publisher

Active Images Richard Starkings (born 27 January 1962) is a British font designer and comic book letterer, editor and writer. He was one of the early pioneers of computer-based comic-book lettering, and is one of the most prolific creators in that industry. ...

released a

digest size Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately , but can also be and , similar to the size of a DVD case. These sizes have evolved from the printin ...

collection of all the ''Brickman'' stories under the title ''Brickman Begins!'', with a brand-new opening story by Stringer and ''Brickman'' illustrations by guest artists including

Hunt Emerson Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

Alan Davis Alan Davis (born 18 June 1956) is an English artist and writer of comic books, known for his work on titles such as ''Captain Britain'', ''The Uncanny X-Men'', ''ClanDestine'', ''Detective Comics'', ''Excalibur'', '' JLA: The Nail'' and '' JLA: ...

, Tim Sale and

Charlie Adlard Charles Adlard is a British comic book artist known for his work on books such as '' The Walking Dead'' and ''Savage''. Career Adlard began his work in the UK on ''White Death'' with Robbie Morrison and '' 2000 AD'' series including ''Judge Dre ...

. A new ''Brickman'' series titled ''Brickman Returns'', initially with new strips retelling Brickman's early days and then moving on to modern-day strips set after ''Yampy Tales'', began running as full-colour back-up strips in

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

' ''

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. Issue #1 was released in July 2006. Overview Some 200 years from now, the M ...

'' comic in 2006. It concluded in 2009.

References

External links

Official website
British comic strips 1979 comics debuts 2009 comics endings Parody superheroes Superhero comics Humor comics Parody comics Comics characters introduced in 1979 British comics characters {{UK-comics-stub