ABOUT

Hello!

My name is Angelo and I was born in 1975 in the United Kingdom. Growing up, I didn’t have a great family life and the only good things I can member were weekends with my grandmother, hanging out with my uncles and… comic books and cartoons. They were my escape from a harsh reality and I couldn’t get enough of them.

As I got a little older and the 1980s arrived, I remember rushing home from school one day, dumping my school bag and running into the living room, eager to watch the after-school cartoons. I picked up the chunky one-button remote control, clicked on the TV, and five fearless young orphans flew across my screen for the very first time. I was mesmerised, frozen in my seat and my jaw dropped as I had never seen anything like it before, or felt so instantly connected. It was safe to say that this was my first experience of an obsession, I just didn’t know it.

As those bird costumed kids spun, kicked and punched their way through that first episode I was in absolute awe. They had watches than turned them into ninja, cool vehicles, amazing weapons and, to make it even better, they had a spaceship, but not just any old spaceship, but the coolest looking spaceship my tiny mind could ever imagine and guess what… it tuned into a a giant firebird, a firebird! Can you imagine that? Was it sorcery, magic, science? I had no idea, but with that, Battle of the Planets was forever etched into my mind. I didn’t think it could it get any better but, as I hit my teenage years, I discovered Gatchaman, and I got to fall in love with it all over again.

Four decades later, Battle of the Planets and Gatchaman have remained my first and most passionate obsession. I have other obsessions too, just like any mega-geek, such as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen, The Shining, skateboarding and a few things here and there but nothing has endured longer or been so prominently in my heart as those kids with numbers on their t-shirts and those super cool watches. Did I mention they have a fire ship?!

In between that first episode and now, I’ve spent 30 years working in graphic design and branding, been published by Image Comics and acquired two cats, all the while occasionally screaming “TRANSMUTE!” to myself as I walk out of a room or brush my teeth and chuckle to myself. You get it right? You know what I’m talking about, thats why you’re here too, you love it just as much as I do. Tell me you don’t so the same!

Anyways, the Gatchaman Project, whats that? Well, it’s my way of meeting other fans and hopefully a place where likeminded folk can share their love of Gatchaman and Battle of the Planets and maybe create something cool along the way. So, having spent decades pushing pixels, I decided I should put my skills to use and create some very cool projects with, and for, fellow fans. For example, I’m working on a quarterly (to start with) high end fanzine called Transmute for 2024 publication but, in the meantime, I really want to start with a fun community sourced Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets Art book which would not only be an amazing community project, but a great addition to any fan’s book shelf or coffee table.

Thats the plan, it’s evolving every day, but I think we can do it, so send in your work, spread the word and lets see what we can create together.

TRANSSSSSMUUUTTEEEE!

Oh, and one more thing… I wanted to say a special thank you to my long time friend, and very talented professional comic book artist, Ian Churchill, for the beautiful artwork he created for the homepage (see above). He’s a star and if you don’t know who he is, you should check out his work (and his creator owned, Marineman), you won’t be disappointed. Thanks, Ian, it’s much appreciated.