What's all this then?
You may well ask. Well, first things first – Bubba the Redneck Werewolf, for those of you who don’t know (where have you been?), is an independent comic book published by Brass Ball Comics, the main emphasis of which is utterly bonkers humour with occasional acts of gratuitous violence thrown in for good measure. It focuses on the exploits of one Bubba Blanche, a former dog-catcher who was transformed into a snaggletoothed hairy beastie after being bitten by a radioactive poodle (no, really), and who now does pretty much whatever he wants, because very few people are particularly inclined to argue with him. He’s generally found in the company of his girlfriend Bobbi-Jo (the brains of the operation), his uncle-by-unmarriage Booger (a surly mechanical whiz who thinks he’s the brains of the operation, but isn’t), and his cousin Clovis (an idiot), and he can stay in his wolfy form permanently having discovered that remaining in a state of constant irritability prevents him from reverting into a human. He also drinks, smokes and swears a lot, and you can find out lots more about him by visiting the official Bubba website, which is here. So that’s cleared that up then.
As to why he’s been given his own little corner in the lobby of Crazy Lizard Studios, the reason is as simple as an incredibly uncomplicated thing. October 2004 saw the release of Bubba's sixth issue, and it was a bit unusual. It was, in fact, the Fan-Powered Issue, an edition written and drawn entirely by the readers – and one of the readers involved was our very own Matt Smith. (Hello! -Matt) Cripes, eh?
Matt illustrated a 10-page story written by none other than Larry Williams (AKA Scary Larry, the toppingly talented bloke who created all those nifty animation cels), which revolved around the invasion of Earth by evil mutant alien cow people and the individuals with whom they made first contact, which just happened to be a certain lycanthrope and his certain girlfriend. It was entitled Close En-Cow-Ters, as you may have gathered from the big teaser-poster thing on the front page (particularly attentive readers may recall seeing the villains of the piece in a previous instalment), and was by far the most excellent work of fiction about war-mongering extra-terrestrial bovines ever committed to paper. Oh yes.
The Fan-Powered Issue was a genuine first in the comic industry*, and it also featured contributions from Edward Roche (better known to Crazy Lizard visitors as BlueEyesWolf, fanart artist extraordinaire), Rob Guillory and Russ Malbreaux (the chaps who came up with the tremendously excellent cover, a tiny version of which you had to click on to reach this bit), and a chap who goes by the pseudonym of Redstreak, whose real name is Bill Tayor. If you want to purchase a back issue you may be able to order one from your local comic-vendor of choice, and this special mini-site should give you a pretty good idea what Matt and Larry's story was like, as it contains a bundle of excerpts along with some bits and pieces from Matt’s sketchbook, showing how it all came together. Just click on one of the links below, and peruse the images that appear upon your futuristic electro-screen.
See you in the funny pages, folks!
(Oh, and while we're all here – gigantically huge thanks to Bubba's creator, Mitch Hyman, for making all this possible. An almighty Hurrah! from all of us.)
*We think.
Bubba and his girlfriend Bobbi-Jo, in a state of befuddlement
Click on a title for sneaky preview type things.
Everything to do with Bubba the Redneck Werewolf is © & TM Brass Ball Comics, and don't you forget it, bignose.