Wormwood - the other green meat.

We like plugging Australian artists here at absinthe.com.au, even ones that have found a degree of success already.

One such individual of note is Ben Templesmith. Never heard of him?

Well, he is probably most recently known as the illustrative genius behind the vampiric graphic novel, 30 Days of Night, that has recently been transformed into a major motion picture. Not bad for a Curtin University design grad who is just ticking into his early thirties, eh?

As the one of the biggest artistic exports from down under to make his mark on the US comic and graphic novel scene, his unique sense of the gothic and individual style has seen him work on the illustrated installments for Star Wars, Army of Darkness, Silent Hill and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

But maybe the one I like best, as an absintheur, is his wonderfully named Wormwood - Gentleman Corpse.

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The synposis has been wonderfully described as being about an English-accented, beer-drinking, sentient corpse possessing a maggot expat from the Hell dimension. If he’s not attempting to save Earth from demonic, parasitic fungal infections or undead strippers, then he’s off drinking with Mr. Pendulum, his homemade mechanical sidekick constructed out of a grandfather clock and Guinness cans. A great little YouTube animation gives a flavour for the tale.

While Ben has not constructed our dear friend under the influence of the Green Fairy (and god only know what he would do to her….), in previous interviews he has strongly expressed the desire to become more familar with absinthe.I can only but assume that as fame and fortune are smiling upon him we can happily call him one of our own by now.

Dear old Aunty has a good interview with him worth reading. It is also worth bookmarking his blog to see where the journey is taking him.

Wormwood- Gentleman Corpse is available through IDW publishing.