Rowan Tree Legion

Rowan Tree Legion - The Skeleton Key, is our new all ages comic, due out next year. Sort of "Dad's Army with witches". It does feature some characters and places from Inverclyde, but also from all across Scotland. We thought we'd share the first few pages as it's the Season of the Witch and all that. The full 48 page epic will be along next year featuring gargoyles, nazis, seamsters and gigantic scary crows...

UPDATE - You can now check out the cover online

Artwork is by the smashing Mhairi Robertson, who you should totally follow on Instagram - she's been doing some sterling work for the Inktober 2015 challenge. Mhairi has also produced some exclusive artwork for our new The Wonderful Worlds of Alice project...here's a wee sneaky peak of some of that artwork too....

Alice and the Time Pirate
by Mhairi M Robertson

Tales of the Oak Launch - Doors Open Day

We've been working on our Tales of the Oak comic for almost a year now, and we're really pleased to say it's finally away to the printers and will be available exclusively at the Dutch Gable House on Doors Open Weekend, 14th and 15th September. 64 fully illustrated pages of local terror featuring shambling tunnel dwellers, cursed hiflats, ghost pirates, zombies and evil cultists. Oh, did we mention that it's FREE.

Tales of the Oak is funded by Heritage Lottery Scotland, like our storytelling project and our childrens book Wee Nasties. We'll also have our last remaining copies of Wee Nasties available on the day, along with an exhibition of some of Mhairi and Andy's original artwork and sketches from the book and comic.

And that's not all you'll be able to enjoy. We've now moved lots of Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes furniture and curios out of storage and into his replica study in the Dutch Gable where you will be able to experience his life and times, the wonderful Newark Products shop will be open, selling a wide range of bespoke and handcrafted gifts, plus there will be folk music in the Back House and films in the Secret Cinema. It's all good.

We'll be along from 10 - 4 on both days, hopefully see you then.

And I don't want to panic ye or anything, but the last time there was a local heritage graphic novel, Identity The Archivist's Treasure, there were 4000 copies and they were all gone in quicksharp time. That's why you can only get it online now. There's only 1000 Tales of the Oak. So get em while they are hot...

Enjoy our trailer for the comic below...

Hallowe'en

Happy Halloween! As a wee treat, here's a preview of our promotional postcard for the new project, put together by our artist Andy Lee. It's good eh?

Part of our Tales of the Oak project is the production of a comic of scary local stories, due for release next year. We've based the comic format on the classic EC horror comics of the 1950s. Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear showcased "twist in the tale" stories, with over the top artwork. The comics have been copied and parodied many times since.

One of the more popular elements of the series, was that the stories were introduced by 3 different hosts, the Crypt Keeper, the Old Witch and the Vault Keeper, all trying to outdo one another with their tales of terror. We've added an Inverclyde twist to our version, our hosts are Auld Dunrod, Granny Kempock and Captain Kidd.

Our comic isn't going to be as controversial as the EC classics, but there are some good scares in there already - we've got cursed treasure, evil trolls, Catman in the railway tunnels, poisonous oaks, serpent worship cults and moorland ghosts. We'll share a few sketches next month and maybe even a few pages before Christmas.

If you are interested in the history of the Tales from the Crypt series, this documentary is excellent, and also shares a few of the stories. (so be warned...horror ahead...)

If ye like yer scares a bit more "U" rated, then have a listen to Wee Nasties instead

Time for a Sea Serpent Sculpture?

New archaeological evidence, published last month, suggests that there may be more to local legends about sea serpent worship than we previously thought. The original discoveries are detailed in Skelmorlie : The Story of The Parish Consisting of Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay (Walter Smart).

In Skelmorlie is one of the most remarkable antiquities in Scotland a ‘Serpent Mound’, supposed to have been used by the  ancient Britons in the worship of the Sun and the Serpent, and other religious rites. The head of the Serpent lies behind Brigend House and the ridge forming the body is now severed by the road running up the hill at Meigle. In the 1870’s Dr. Phené of Chelsea made some interesting excavations, discovering a paved platform some 80 feet long, and evidence of early cremations. The details were fully reported in the Glasgow Herald and the Scotsman at the time and there are specimens in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.

Recent examination of the pieces at Kelvingrove confirms that they are indeed burned human bones, something which was always disputed about Phene's original findings. Artefacts found at the Kempock Stone during similar excavations in the 19th Century are now also due to be tested alongside items found during the controversial excavations at Langbank, recently rediscovered at the National Museum Edinburgh. It is suggested that dating of the artefacts and remains will show them to be contemporary, and that the strange serpentlike drawings uncovered on stones at Langbank are linked to the "serpent mound" at Skelmorlie, via some sort of celtic river or serpent worship cult.

Sadly at this point no one has discovered any evidence of a big monster in the river. But of course there is certainly plenty of myth and legend linked to serpents and the West of Scotland, believed by many to be largely due to our links with Ireland. Certainly we have our own "Saint banishing serpent" legend for the area, and of course the washing up of the mysterious "Gourock monster" at Cardwell Bay during the Second World War.

The discovery has prompted local calls for a sculpture of the beast to be sited somewhere on the riverside, with space adjacent to Newark Castle, or locations at Cardwell Bay or Lunderston Bay being suggested.An online petition to pledge support to the potential sculpture has been set up.

Public art is itself a strange beast, wee Annie Kempock seems very popular, debate is still raging on the Endeavour sculpture up the Port, and its largely safe to say no one is altogether fussed about Ginger the traditional Greenock Arabian Stallion carthorse. We still think we've missed a trick on a Captain Kidd statue. But I'm happy to pledge support to this one...though I think the good people of Skelmorlie might have something to say about it...but who doesn't like sea serpents? Apart from sailors obviously.

Some Art Is Useful

It's a typically grim New Year Monday, so here's just two things that have cheered us up over the weekend.

We were delighted to see the arrival of a facebook page to celebrate the legend of The Greenock Giant Squid. And it wasn't even us that set it up. What legend? Well..the legend printed in popular music paper NME in a live review for the band Tailgunner in Rico's Wine Bar...an event now itself the stuff of legend. We reckon the squid might be a wee bit of a retake on the Legend of the Gourock Monster....which this year, celebrates it's 70th Anniversary of being dead and buried under some Gourock school or other.

Also down in Gourock, we've been slowly won over by the arrival of the new Gourock statue "Girl on a Suitcase". It's dead easy to be cynical about public art, I've done it myself loads of times. Generally though, it works best when it connects with people, whether that's about involving community in the design, or selecting a subject that resonates with the community that surrounds it. That's why a wood nymph and a big daft dead horse might reasonably struggle in Greenock town centre, but a wee lassie on a trip "doon the watter" fits just right at the Gourock riverside. And apparently the kids involved on the day of the unveiling called her Annie...not sure if that's official, but it has a nice ring...Annie Kempock.

Nope. Not everyone likes it. Why would they? It's art. But it's nice, just for a change, to see at least some people liking something, making her part of the community by dressing her in hats and scarves for winter...

Wee Annie Kempock, watched over by her Granny up on the hill.

Gaun yerself.