The Jock

The Jock was a small-press comic I self-published back in the 90’s. Running to 27 issues plus assorted specials, it chronicled the adventures of Dean ‘ Jay’ James and his friends (including Johnny, Suzy, Walkman, Pepper’s Ghost and Mike Van Zandt – the Shock Jock), fighting against the evil corporation Yourent who were controlling the world through the use of mind-numbing, emotion-deadening muzak.

A variety of artists contributed to the comic – including Tim Chapman, John Woolley, Adrian Bamforth, Steven Roberts, Chris Askham, Stephen Prestwood, David Metcalfe and Garen Ewing – but the regular artist was the excellent Nigel Lowrey, whose work gave the book a distinctive look that made it stand out from the majority of small press comics at the time. I was extremely fortunate to work with them all, but especially Nigel who contributed to every issue and helped keep the book on an almost-monthly schedule for the majority of its run - a feat many professional comic book artists can’t achieve these days… and those guys are getting paid!

The comic was well-reviewed and counted among its loyal, supportive readership the writers Warren Ellis (since famous for work on best-selling comics such as Transmetropolitan, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Hellblazer) and Dr. Will Brooker (author of ‘Batman Unmasked: Analysing a Cultural Icon’ and ‘Using The Force: Creativity, Community and Star Wars Fans’, among others).

A couple of years back, Nigel and I began plans to revive the character for the new millennium… you can read the early fruits of that labour by clicking here.

Artwork by Nigel Lowrey