Katapillar Karnage Komix

[Paul Slade]

Insect Horror | Webcomic by Paul Slade and Hans Rickheit

The link above will take you to a six-page comics story inspired by one of David Attenborough's short wildlife talks on Radio 4. The story's scripted by me, drawn by the cult US cartoonist Hans Rickheit, and appears exclusively on my website for the first time this week.

I'm a London journalist, and PlanetSlade is purely a hobby site, which produces no income for me or anyone else.

This particular project began in June 2010, when I heard Attenborough describe how the UK’s Large Blue butterfly, the Sabuleti ant and the Ichneumon wasp engage in a constant dance of violence and deception to ensure their respective children survive. This set me imaging a short story built round these facts, narrated by the butterfly at its centre.

Seeing the story play out in my head as a series of comics panels, I dramatised it in that form, and set about finding the right artist to draw it. When I discovered Rickheit’s magnificently creepy art, I managed to persuade him to take the strip on, and he did a great job.

You can read more about the background to all this at the link above, which will also take you to the online comic itself. If you like it, please spread the word.