So the very final episode of Nikolai Dante is now published and available to buy. It may not be the ending that you wanted, but it’s always been the ending that was planned. Whatever happens next he won’t be the same character he was before.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the many many people who have been a part of Dantes adventures with us. Dante was the first story that Robbie and I did for 2000AD and it was John Tomlinson who commissioned it, he also came up with ‘Tsar Wars’ as a title. David Bishop was there at the birth, was a firm supporter of the early stages of Dante and wrote several novelisations of Dante exploits. He’s still the only other writer to ever write Dante’s adventures. I’m not sure we would be here to day if he hadn’t had a lot of faith in us. Annie Parkhouse has had a hand in every single episode of Dante right from the beginning, her deft and confident lettering is a big part of how this story looks. Thanks to the many other artists who have drawn Dante’s rascally countenance. To Andy Clarke, Charlie Adlard, Chris Weston, Paul Marshall, Steve Yeowell, Henry Flint and lastly the legendary John M. Burns. There are no finer artists working in comics.

My first colourist was Ally Kirkpatrick who did a wonderful job until her family life took over. Gary Caldwell has been a complete rock for me , I can honestly say that if Gary isn’t colouing my stuff, it just doesn’t look right. Gary is a superb collaborator and this has been the best professional relationship I have had with anyone… ever. 

Robbie Morrison IS Nikolai Dante, in his heart and soul. He cares about what he does and most importantly he can make us care, there is no greater attribute for a writer in my opinion. Robbie’s passion, conviction and ambition is what has brought us to this day. He is a great storyteller and a great friend.

2000AD is blessed with an extraordinary fanbase, many many more than I can name and many of whome I only know by your talkback handles. Rest assured we know who you are and we appreciate immensely the dedication you have shown to our story over the years. It has meant a lot.

Finally I need to thank Anne, who came in at the beginning and showed me what a romantic leading man needed to be .  Mia cara, era tutto per te.

Simon Fraser

Brooklyn 2012

I think I was fundamentally changed by seeing Frank Brunner’s drawings of Beverley Switzer in ‘Howard the Barbarian ‘.

So I was in the Getty Museum in L.A this afternoon and they positively encourage people to draw from their paintings. They give you paper, a board and one of those cool sketching stools. I couldn’t help myself.  So here’s a painting of some old saint guy begging to some Roman emperor ( who looked a lot like Napoleon) . If I had thought for a second I might have written down the name. Anyway the drawing is pinned to the board at the museum now, so I can now say I have work in the Getty collection.

See the full gallery on Posterous

So the fabulous MTVGeek website is now running Lilly Mackenzie & The
Mines of Charybdis in it’s entirety. This will be the extended 8 part
version that saw print in the Judge Dredd Megazine last year. In
addition there will be an extra 9th Chapter that will be the 12 page
‘When Lilly Met Cosmo’ prequel story that I did for the ACT-I-VATE
Primer last year and has never been online before. MTVGeek use the
Comixology engine to display comics so this version will be the
absolute best quality that the internet can provide.

I’ve been very lax with my commissions in the last few months. I need
to get on top of this again. Sorry to all those who are waiting. This
card belongs to Ian Leonard

This is so fabulous I felt I should draw it to your attention. Drawn
by Tom Berry ( Radiator on the 2000AD forums and @TheRealTomBerry on
Twitter ) it’s nearly the entire recurring cast of The Adventures of
Nikolai Dante. Not even I have drawn ALL of them at once! Spectacular.

From the Drawbridge blog.