The Really Heavy Greatcoat by Virtual-lancaster’s John Freeman and Lancaster-based artist Nick Miller was published fairly regularly for about 20 years in alternative Lancaster print titles such as On The Beat and Off the Beat and online on virtual-lancaster.net.
The strip’s last regular appearance in print was in the now defunct Comics International, but Nick has recently published a number of RHG-inspired strips on the web platform Tapastic alongside his The Worry Man pocket cartoon. Sadly, both Skid Avenue and The RHG are on hiatus, as is Worry Man – he’s a busy man doing stuff that pays (but always open to approaches for work).
John Freeman also works on comics by day – audio comics available on the ROK Comics app for iPad and iPhone and The Beatles Story – and reports on them in his spare time on downthetubes.net
When last seen in a regular strip, Kevin, the current owner of the Greatcoat – a talking garment with transcendentally dimensional pockets – was a student. He was clearly not postgraduate material so Nick and I reckon he’s in a bedsit in Skerton, Lancaster somewhere, eking out a life on benefits…
If anyone ever offered to pay us to write it, it might still be running today – but Nick still creates an annual Review of the Year, bless him!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
• John Freeman’s comic web site is at www.downthetubes.net
• More by Nick Miller at: http://teamsputnikblog.blogspot.com
• Greatcoat Review of the Year 2013
• Greatcoat Review of the Year 2012
• Greatcoat Review of the Year 2011
• Greatcoat Review of the Year 2010
• Greatcoat Review of the Year 2009
• Greatcoat Review of the Year 2008