"I've always considered my early work in underground comics as my apprenticeship. THE EXPLOITS OF HIERONYMOUS FLASK for TIMELORD was my PhD. I crammed everything I could in there to produce my ideal comic story: experimental, adult, as rich as a text novel. It made my name as a comic creator and influenced many, now famous, names. The biggest innovation, of course, the one that the book is justifiably famous for, was having the courage to have a hero with a huge fat belly. You have to remember that, at the time, all comicbook heroes were musclebound hunks with tiny waists. Well, yes, I know he'd been around for years and... no, I didn't invent Hip Flask, that's right, er...but he'd never been in THAT sort of story before. That was the thing that REALLY pushed back the boundaries of the comic medium."

— Bryan Talbot

Hip Flask and all related characters and artwork © 2002 Active Images. All rights reserved.