Wattie CheungMuch-loved Scottish comedy Still Game is coming back – as Jack and Victor return in comic book form.
Creators Greg Hemphill and Ford Kiernan have worked with a team of writers and artists to adapt the stories for a new format.
The popular BBC comedy about a group of pensioners ran for nine TV series and sold out three live show runs at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow.
The first book is released next month. Hemphill, who played Victor McDade, said the comics were like looking at the show again “with fresh eyes”.
Wattie CheungHe said: “We still love Jack and Victor, and Ford and I are still always talking about them. The comic version of Still Game has its own flights of fancy.
“There are things in the comics which the cartoonists have put in which didn’t exist either in our head or in the TV show.
“So there are loads of Easter eggs in there for readers.”
Scottish publishers Scunnered Ink were brought on board to create the cartoon version, with editor Gordon Tait having previously worked on classic characters such as Dennis & Gnasher, Oor Wullie and The Broons.
He said: “A few of the artists we approached were really busy and in high demand, but the minute they found out it was for a Still Game comic book, they signed up right away.
“Not every TV show will lend itself to the comic book treatment, but Still Game has been perfect.”
Scunnered InkKiernan, who starred as Jack Jarvis in the show, said he felt the idea tapped into a long-standing Scottish tradition.
He said: “We have a long history in Scotland of waiting for Christmas to get an annual, then spending an hour on Christmas Day in a corner reading it.
“It’s an old fashioned idea in that respect, back to roots, and I love that about it.
“Gordon has taken our idea to see the Still Game gang in comic book form, and turned it into something wonderful.”
The first volume – He Who Hingith Aboot Getteth Hee Haw – is released on 16 September. Work is already underway on a second volume of stories.
