Crikey! Goes Colour

The latest issues of British comics magazine Crikey! is on sale this week - and has made the leap to full colour throughout.

Running to 84 pages the first issue of the now bi–monthly Crikey!, with a Dennis the Menace cover, boasts some of the best talents around. Interviews include Dez Skinn, legendary publisher of such notables as Warrior and Comics International; Steve Holland talks about Bear Alley Books, which has just released collector editions of The Phantom Patrol and Cursitor Doom; plus Beano editor Euan Kerr takes a bow as he leaves Beanotown but not before giving us an exclusive interview about his life at DC Thomson.

Last, but certainly not least, Pete Nash offers an insight into creating Striker, one of the longest running comic strips ever produced.

Also featured are the usual favourites: Nutty Notions and My Comicy Saturday, and Glenn B Fleming's strip cartoon 'Hatch' makes its debut. There are also articles on David Wright's Carol Day, Sydney Jordan's Jeff Hawke, and the one and only Dennis the Menace.

"This is an issue dear to this sad fanboy's heart," says Tony Ingram, co-dditor of the magazine. "Not only is it effectively the first issue of the new and (hopefully) improved Crikey! but also the issue in which we got to talk to a couple of the most revolutionary thinkers in British comics.

"Dez Skinn, of course, first came to prominence in many people's eyes with what was more or less a literal revolution, the 'Marvel Revolution' of 1979 when he revamped Marvel UK's moribund reprint line, but far more significant was his creation of Warrior, a magazine in which, against decades of traditional thinking, the creators actually owned their own characters (and yes, one of Warrior's characters was Marvelman, also in this issue)! Heresy!

"Pete Nash is no less forward thinking. He has, for 24 years, been charting the course of Nick Jarvis in Striker, both in The Sun and (from 2003-2005) his own comic. But when Striker ran into trouble financially, how many publishers would have thought of seeking investment from the readers? America might claim it invented comics, but if you want some examples of re-inventing comics, look no further than these guys..."

• Pick up your copy for just £4.99 at your nearest Borders or Forbidden Planet and a host of other comic outlets thoughout the UK or order through the official Crikey! website: www.crikeyuk.co.uk