Not that long ago in galaxy not too far away...
Future Mock is a cartoon feature I created in the late eighties after seeing a Gary Larson cartoon in the London Evening Standard of an Alien with eyes on the end of tentacles cheating at cards in a saloon. I thought as I was sitting on the Metropolitan Line crammed in with all those sad looking commuters, I wonder what rush hour would be like on another planet? Perhaps they have the same mundane, everyday domestic issues we have. Yes they would most certainly be physiologically different , more technically advanced perhaps and intelligent? (possibly not) but very much like us. There has to mileage in a cartoon feature on this subject on it's own.!!! Sci Fi then was still for Geeks and Nerds only but it seems to have more kudos these days. I hope at least!
When I finally arrived home I picked up a pencil and an old diary of all things and started sketching creatures in very human situations. I have always loved science fiction and been a bit of a doodler and my way of chilling is sitting and letting my mind wander to other worlds so this was right up my street. That evening ' The Infinite Universe 'as it was originally dubbed was born. The name Future Mock came from the 2000AD comic title which was called Future Shock probably pinched from the book by futurists Alvin & Heidi Toffler in the first place. My main goal at that time was to get out of the rat race of city life and hopefully to do this for a living and I tried for many years but with limited success and that dream was never realised. Thinking I was creating a completely unique cartoon feature I was also a little put out when after ten years of trying 'Futurama' was broadcast in the UK (which I love by the way) and I thought to myself I could never compete with that, so I stopped. Silly really you should never give up on a dream.
A couple of years later I had a bit of luck when a friend of my hairdresser was looking for a cartoon feature for his magazine but could not afford to pay for them as it was a free publication. Oh Well! I thought what the hell I could get a bit of publicity from this I suppose, sadly not enough. It ran for about four years before the magazine was taken over and they dropped it. Since then I have just carried on sketching and keep the ideas in my files just in case . Unfortunately due to my wife's hatred of clutter and some technology issues most of the original drawings and electronic cartoons have now been lost for ever ( sadly the three below are the only ones left ). Fortunately I still have my memory although that worries me at times.
After a recent visit from Carolyn a good friend of ours from New Zealand who is a brilliant artist got talking about her artwork and she how she was promoting via a website she designed herself http://www.carolynjudge.com/ She explained how easy it is now to create one. Why not I thought, it doesn't look that difficult, go for it you've got nothing to lose. So here it is, apart from the few electronically drawn ones that were salvaged the rest are scans so I must apologise for the quality of some.
Perhaps the internet , social media etc it will give them a new lease of life. My one and only daughter Grace enjoys them even though she is only young and does not really understand them but she is one of the reasons I have decided to give it another go.
Hopefully these cartoons will not offend humanity too much but more importantly any alien species out there.
Of course it would be fantastic if somebody will show some interest and publish or syndicate them at some point but until then please enjoy some extra-terrestrial silliness and you might even learn something there is some science and word play in them.
So I suppose this cartoon feature is a mutation of the Far Side the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy with In The Year 2525 as the sound track?
Finally a word of thanks to Gary Larson, the late Douglas Adams and Zager & Evans all who have heavily influenced the content of this daft feature.
Regards
Byng
When I finally arrived home I picked up a pencil and an old diary of all things and started sketching creatures in very human situations. I have always loved science fiction and been a bit of a doodler and my way of chilling is sitting and letting my mind wander to other worlds so this was right up my street. That evening ' The Infinite Universe 'as it was originally dubbed was born. The name Future Mock came from the 2000AD comic title which was called Future Shock probably pinched from the book by futurists Alvin & Heidi Toffler in the first place. My main goal at that time was to get out of the rat race of city life and hopefully to do this for a living and I tried for many years but with limited success and that dream was never realised. Thinking I was creating a completely unique cartoon feature I was also a little put out when after ten years of trying 'Futurama' was broadcast in the UK (which I love by the way) and I thought to myself I could never compete with that, so I stopped. Silly really you should never give up on a dream.
A couple of years later I had a bit of luck when a friend of my hairdresser was looking for a cartoon feature for his magazine but could not afford to pay for them as it was a free publication. Oh Well! I thought what the hell I could get a bit of publicity from this I suppose, sadly not enough. It ran for about four years before the magazine was taken over and they dropped it. Since then I have just carried on sketching and keep the ideas in my files just in case . Unfortunately due to my wife's hatred of clutter and some technology issues most of the original drawings and electronic cartoons have now been lost for ever ( sadly the three below are the only ones left ). Fortunately I still have my memory although that worries me at times.
After a recent visit from Carolyn a good friend of ours from New Zealand who is a brilliant artist got talking about her artwork and she how she was promoting via a website she designed herself http://www.carolynjudge.com/ She explained how easy it is now to create one. Why not I thought, it doesn't look that difficult, go for it you've got nothing to lose. So here it is, apart from the few electronically drawn ones that were salvaged the rest are scans so I must apologise for the quality of some.
Perhaps the internet , social media etc it will give them a new lease of life. My one and only daughter Grace enjoys them even though she is only young and does not really understand them but she is one of the reasons I have decided to give it another go.
Hopefully these cartoons will not offend humanity too much but more importantly any alien species out there.
Of course it would be fantastic if somebody will show some interest and publish or syndicate them at some point but until then please enjoy some extra-terrestrial silliness and you might even learn something there is some science and word play in them.
So I suppose this cartoon feature is a mutation of the Far Side the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy with In The Year 2525 as the sound track?
Finally a word of thanks to Gary Larson, the late Douglas Adams and Zager & Evans all who have heavily influenced the content of this daft feature.
Regards
Byng