Bananaman vs Stephen Hawking - the comic strip

A few weeks ago a fantastic photo appeared in the news, of a stag party taking a group photo with Stephen Hawking. I thought this was too good an opportunity to miss and promptly turned it into a Bananaman script for The Beano. Our much wiser editor decided it wasn't right for the comic, so it won't be seeing print. Here's my script, in its original biro layout form.

It is a bit too complicated, and not funny enough (indeed it's a rare script where I can't find a gag I could re-use somewhere else but this, I fear, has no hidden gems). Plus it hinges on a photo which the readers wouldn't have seen, and which the Beano probably couldn't get the rights to run. So it's one for the blog and for posterity. And here's that photo again if you missed it.

Kev F Sutherland runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something.