Tyrone artist breathes colour into classic series and comic book

A Coalisland comic book artist has been living his childhood dream by breathing life into a series of childhood classics from yesteryear by illustrating new adaptations of Gerry Anderson’s ‘Captain Scarlet’ and ‘Terrahawks’.

Connor Flannagan said his interest in art and design developed at an early age, with some of his earliest memories consisting of creating homemade comic books.

This love of art continued as he got older, studying Art at A-Level at St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon, before going on to study Visual Communication at Ulster University.

Connor has a pretty creative day job, too, what with working in TV and film.

Currently, he’s working with a team in Belfast who have been tasked with remastering the special effects for classic episodes of Doctor Who by the BBC.

Some of his handy work can be seen in the classic Tom Baker episode, ‘Horror Of Fang Rock’, where Connor helped to control a physical puppet.

Connor’s first work in the comic book industry came in 2018 with the publication of ‘Space Precinct Reloaded’ for Anderson Entertainment, where he worked as an illustrator on the project.

“Space Precinct Reloaded, which was based on the 1994 TV series, was my first true foray into drawing comics,” he reflected.

“As I was creating it alongside a full-time job, it took the better part of a year to draw and ink on paper.

‘An incredible opportunity’

“As it was a show I’d loved as a boy, and I even collected the comics, it was an incredible opportunity for me.”

After this, Connor was off to the races, and has since worked on the Anderson Entertainment comics which are based on classic TV series, ‘Captain Scarlett’ and ‘Terrahawks’.

“Next time out the gate, I opted to apply all I had learned, but also take on the role of colourist, too,” he said.

“This new project, based on the TV series, ‘New Captain Scarlet 2005’, was a complete graphic novel, and it took a few years to bring to completion.

“The result, ‘New Captain Scarlet: Operation Sabre’, released in 2022, was beyond my wildest dreams. “

“Such was the reception and success of that book, that it finally afforded me the opportunity to draw full-time,” Connor added.

“So, in 2022 I leaped, and after a year of drawing and colouring the result was ‘Terrahawks: Deep Blue Z’.

“Released in January 2024, it is by far the most assured of my works to-date.

“The book is colourful, exciting and action-packed, much like the TV series upon which it was based.”

For more information on Connor’s work, you can follow him on all social media with the name @flanavision.

To purchase the comics he has worked on, you can visit shop.gerryanderson.com or ‘Forbidden Planet’ in Belfast.