New British Comics Gets UK Distribution

UK Indie distributor Smallzone is now selling the first issue of New British Comics, an 80-page comics anthology featuring, 13 stories and 17 artists including Dave Thomson, Malcy Duff, Paul O’Connell and Rob Miller.

Reviewed by us here last month, the book has been self-published in Poland in both a Polish and English edition by Karol Wisniewski, the contents and strips are the same in both editions but the only difference is language.

New British Comics is now available through SmallZone's online shop - smallzone-shop.co.uk, and Karol tells us that other UK
shops should soon be distributing the book, too.

The book will be sold at Bristol Comics Expo at the SmallZone stand.

• There's now a new web site about the project at: newbritishcomics.blogspot.com

Muppets, Giant Cuboid Chickens and Other Weird Creatures

Starting an "adaptation and inspiration" month on the Strip! radio show on ResonanceFM, Alex Fitch and Robin Warren talk to two humour cartoonists - Roger Langridge and Hugh Raine (a.k.a. Shug) - about their work.

As we've previously reported, Roger has just started drawing the new The Muppet Show comic for Boom Studios! (Just a quick reminder, this title is not on sale in the UK for licensing reasons).

Born in New Zealand in 1967, Roger, who lives in London, says he decided to become a cartoonist when he was six years old; for some reason it stuck (perhaps because it was more attainable than his previous career goal of "mad scientist"). Roger drew a lot of comics with his brother Andrew when he was growing up. Eventually one of these evolved into Art Dekko (later "Art d'Ecco"), which was his first minicomic, in 1988. And things sort of rolled on from there...

He moved to the UK in 1990 to try and go professional, and has worked for most major comic publishers since then, including drawing strips for Doctor Who Magazine, DC Comics, Marvel Comics and Dark Horse.

Hugh, who hails from Dewsbury, has just completed the 37th and final issue of his comic REET!. By day, he's an illustrator and designer at UK Greetings and makes comics in his spare time.

As well as meaning 'arse' in Dutch, REET! was a free monthly comic distributed around Leeds and Hull until August 2008. Hugh drew most of the strips but the title gained a growing number of contributors, who offered a mix of styles, from 'slice of life' to the absurd. The REET! name continues through various comic projects. All 37 issues of REET! are available to read here for free.

Alex and Robin talk to Roger about his career so far and bringing Jim Henson's beloved creations to the page, while Alex talks to Hugh about Northern humour, self-publishing and his influences...

• Strip!: Muppets, Giant Cuboid Chickens and Other Weird Creatures is broadcast at 5.00pm on Thursday 7th May and 11.30pm Sunday 10th May on Resonance 104.4 FM (London), streamed at www.resonancefm.com, podcast soon after transmission at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

• REET! is a good ol'-fashioned Yorkshire word, the meaning of which can be found here!

TOXIC Goes Star Trek

The latest issue of Egmont's TOXIC - out today - comes with free Green Alien Ears and an Outer-space Water Blaster, capitalising on the hype for the new Star Trek film. (We remember Spock having green blood, but not green ears, unless Kirk slapped him on the noggin in a cut scene...)

The magazine, one of the few kids titles on the UK news stand with at least some regular comic strip - in this issue, there's an all-new Team TOXIC adventure - The Return of Frankendrac - also includes a Star Trek preview, a Richard Hammond Blast Lab experiment, rates the top five dinosaurs in ITV's Primeval and challenges readers to a Monsters vs Aliens - Which Monster Are You? quiz.

We have heard on the grape vine that along with the arrival of Jamie Smart's Count von Poo strip, other changes are planned for the comic-magazine: more news when we get it...

• TOXIC web site: www.toxicmag.co.uk

In Review: Western

Reviewed by David Hailwood

Well, what can I say? The contributors to Accent UK’s latest anthology must’ve played some very bizarre games of Cowboys and Indians when they were children. In fact, I’m willing to bet their games had almost no Indians in them at all. More likely they’d have had zombies, werewolves, Cthulu-esque aliens, demons, mad professors, mutated donkeys, and elves (yes, you heard me…elves!)

Not that the cross-genre approach many of the contributors have taken is a bad thing of course. For starters, it means that even if you absolutely hate westerns, there’s still plenty for you here. From Dwight L. MacPherson (of the brilliant Edgar Allan Poo series published by Image) and Kirk Manley (who also provides a glorious wrap around cover for the anthology) there’s a hellish tale about a cursed man who deserted from Custer’s army, only to discover there’s no escaping retribution from Custer’s 7th Cavalry in the afterlife.

Kate Brown’s Coyote and The Giant looks at first a little out of place in a Western anthology, but fortunately comes with a brief explanation that it’s based on a Native American folk tale, which made me a little more accepting of all the pesky elves and giants, and the distinct lack of six-shooters. The fact that it’s brilliantly written and illustrated also helped (and who wouldn’t want to see elves eating their way out of a giants stomach, eh?).

Indio treats us to A Fistful Of Corpse Meat; a story that’s madder than a bag full o’ hamsters that have been permanently deprived of cheese. This particular offering, as you may have cunningly deduced, is one of the strips that has zombies in it. Not only that, but it’s also got a twenty-two fingered banjo player, an evil maggot eaten villain called Black Frank The Hat, and a brainless knife-wielding demonic saviour named Johnny Slash. Insane story, insane art, and definitely one of my favourites. It’s welcoming news that Accent UK are harnessing Indio’s artistic talent for their upcoming Stephenson’s Robot bi-monthly series, which will certainly be one to watch out for.

"But wait one moment!" I hear you cry, "What if I love westerns, but hate zombies, elves and all of the above?’’ Well, there’s plenty in this anthology for the hardcore Western fanatic as well; tales of love, vengeance, betrayal and honour, which incorporate authentic wild west phrases such as ‘Hands up, you varmint!’, ‘Saddle Up!’ and ‘Damn you and the horse you rode in on!’

For instance, Leah Moore, John Reppion and Dave Hitchcock team up once again to tell the emotional tale of Mrs Henry, a woman who’s cheated on by her husband, and decides to settle the matter in a traditional western fashion – with a gun (none of that messy ‘divorce’ business. Things were so much simpler in those days). The story’s nicely juxtaposed against a marvellously grizzled looking musician belting out ‘oh bury me not on the lone prairie’ on the piano.
Steve Bissette’s Tenderfoot displays a terrific piece of scripting, with excellent character descriptions such as "he looked like the hind quarters of bad luck" and "if his brains had been dynamite there warn’t ever enough to blow his nose".

The Men Who Built The West by Kieron Gillen and Andy Bloor rounds off the anthology perfectly (and also this review) by treating us to the best punchline the Wild West’s ever witnessed, and probably had all 54 of the anthologies other contributors muttering "Damn! Why the heck didn’t I think of that?"

Anyway, to sum up: Western is another solidly put together package from Dave West and Colin Mathieson. Out of the 37 strips contained in the anthology, most are good, none are bad and very few are ugly.

• Western is black and white with a colour cover, costs £7.99, has 190 pages, and is available from www.accentukcomics.com. Or you can pick up a copy from their stall for a "convention special price" of just £7 at the upcoming Bristol Comics Convention.

Well, what are ya waitin’ for, pardner? G’wan! Git!

Major Alan Moore Interview Published

Alan Moore and interviewer Pádraig Ó Méalóid. Picture via Forbidden Planet International

The Forbidden Planet International blog - earlier this week announced as one of the Top 50 blogs in the UK and the only comics blog in the list - have been hinting at it for a while but the first part of Pádraig Ó Méalóid's new and "smegging huge" interview with top award-winning writer Alan Moore has just been published, with the following two parts due to appear in the next few days.

As you’d expect from Alan the subjects and references are many, from Threepenny Opera to Monty Python and the Clangers (and the especially nice thing is you just know he’ll attach as much importance to a Clangers reference as he would to a classical literary reference). This part also includes more background on Alan and Kevin O'Neill's latest book, Century: 1910, and some of his past music work. Will he perform again? Read the interview to find out.

When we say huge, we mean it by the way. "The interview ran to two hours long, all of which I then had to type up, with the exception of a very small personal piece that got left out," says Padraig. "The whole thing was 27 pages and nearly 15,000 words long." Not quite as long as one of Mr Moore's famous comic scripts, then.

• Read Part One of the Alan Moore Interview Here
• Find out more about FPI's Top 50 Ranking in the UK's Top Blogs

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie...

-- Out, Out, Out! What's that? She turned into a man and re-named herself Tony Blair? The cunning minx...

30 years ago today (4th May) Margaret Thatcher walked through the doors of 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister, quoting St. Francis of Assisi. As far as I'm concerned, she totally failed to bring harmony where there was discord, and any hope where there was despair was ruthlessly crushed for anyone who was not a Fat Cat business tycoons or bank manager. But of course, opinions differ about Maggie, scourge of miners, students, pensioners... oh, all right, I'll come quietly, officer...

Noting the divisions she fostered, London's Cartoon Museum has asked two veterans of the ideological battles of the Thatcher years – Kenneth Baker, who served in her cabinet from 1985 until 1990 and is vice-chairman of Museum and Steve Bell, the Guardian’s chief cartoonist – to select some of their favourite cartoons of Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, her colleagues, her critics and her adversaries. (The opposing views she generarated are perfectly captured in the featured cartoon above caricatured by Charles Griffin, via Bloghorn)

The London-based Museum's latest exhibition shows how she has been both loved and loathed by politicians, the press and the public, featuring a selection of nearly 100 cartoons by 35 cartoonists from across the political spectrum. Steve Bell, Michael Cummings, Stanley Franklin, Nicholas Garland, Les Gibbard, Charles Griffin, Jak, Peter Kennard, Gerald Scarfe, Posy Simmonds and Ralph Steadman all feature in an exhibition that chronicles her rise to power, the Falklands war, the miners’ strike, privatisation, the poll tax, Europe, her eventual downfall and her long term impact on both the Conservative and Labour parties.

While Thatcher ws the butt of many a cartoon (although, off the tope of our heads, she was never drawn to look like one), the British Journalism Review noted back in 2007 that she did not care how she was depicted – she rarely looked at cartoons and never bothered to watch Spitting Image. "She appeared to be a gift for cartoonists, but the more the left-wing artists attacked her, it seemed, the stronger she became," the site states. Indeed.

The exhibition is accompanied by a gorgeous, fully illustrated 100-page catalogue, including contributions by Kenneth Baker, Steve Bell, Lord Carrington, Michael Foot, Les Gibbard, Charles Griffin, Geoffrey Howe, Ken Loach, David Owen, David Steel, Norman Tebbit and Admiral Sir John ‘Sandy’ Woodward.

• Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! Margaret Thatcher – Mother of the Nation or Monster from the Blue Lagoon opnes on 6 may and runs until 26th July. The Cartoon Museum is at 35 Little Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London and open: Tuesday – Saturday, 10.30 – 17.30 and Sun 12 – 17.30. Web: www.cartoonmuseum.org

• BBC News: Maggie's Cartoon Legacy Item

Tube Surfing: 4 May 2009

• Over on Comic Book Resources, Brian Cronin has just completed a month of posting reviews of a different self-published comic book each day. Check out the archive of reviews here

• Meanwhile, Matthew Badham has perhaps taken a leaf from Brian and has started his own recommendation challenge for self-published work etc., entitled 100 Days, 100 Cartoonists, so far plugging the likes of British talents such as Francesca Cassavetti, Steve Larder, Eleanor Davis, John Allison and others. Follow Matt's blog here

• Talking of self publishing, over on Bear Alley, Steve Holland has announced he's risking his bank balance with his first Bear Alley book, reprinting an as-yet un-named collection of an old British comic. We have no idea what the comic is, but we're rooting for a collection of Come on Steve by Roland Davies, which we know one of Britain's top comic experts has a fondness for, as do we.

Seriously - given the work Steve has done bringing the work of talents such as Don Lawrence to the attention of today's modern comic fans, he deserves support. "The artwork is scanned, the introduction written in rough, a cover is being prepared and I have some quotes in from printers," Steve says.

"At the moment it looks like it will be a 300-copy limited edition hardcover which means the unit cost is huge so the eventual selling price will be £15. Which isn't unreasonable for a hardcover...

"The title... well, I'll be announcing that shortly. I'm still trying to figure out how the hell I'm going to sell 300 copies and what I'm going to be living on while all my savings are tied up in piles of books. Roast book... fried book... raw book..." Check Bear Alley for updates

• Web site 2000AD Review has posted a round table feature with creators Alan Grant, Al Ewing and Rob Williams, talking about writing the comic's most famous strip. "Mega-City One is one of the most prescient SF worlds ever created," argues Ewing along the way. "After all, we're more than halfway there - MPs, making full use of the 'Big Lie' technique and our own increasing hysteria, are now legislating everything they can imagine and a few things nobody else dared to. Did you know that there's an upcoming law that could technically make owning a copy of Watchmen a sexual offence? And if you don't agree that that's necessary, you support paedophilia. Maybe the Judges will be knocking on your door one of these nights..."

• Talking of writing comics, Jim Medway offers some thoughts on that process - in particular, speech and thought - on his blog, part of his ongoing publication of his work as a Comic Workshop tutor. Well worth checking out if you're interested in writing comics.

• And since we seem to be plugging writers in this round up, Alan Moore has just been interviewed over on Newsarama about the just release League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume, Century: 1910. Moore expresses high regard for publishers Top Shelf in the piece and a shift in his way of working for this project as a result. "It’s been something of a revelation. Not because I’m surprised at the production job Top Shelf is doing, or how pleasant they are to work for, because those are things I decided when they published Lost Girls by me and Melinda. But what has been a bit of a revelation is the effect working at Top Shelf has had on me, and I think Kevin [O'Neill] as well.
"I think we both decided that because we were not working for anything we recognized as a mainstream comics publisher, we have changed the way we think about the work. It’s a subtle thing, but if you’re working in mainstream comics, as both of us have been doing for getting on 25 years or more, then really, it’s a thing that you kind of take in by osmosis. You absorb the values of the field in which you’re working." Read the full interview here

• Hunt Emerson has a new strip in the Beano, a revamp of the classic Fred’s Bed which many of you reading this may be suddenly remembering very fondly right now. "Reprints of the Tom Paterson Beezer strip Fred's Bed had been running for a couple of years," notes fellow Beano artist Lew Stringer, "but now the strip has been given a makeover with an all new series illustrated by Hunt Emerson. The reprint had always proven popular with Beano readers but the source was finite, so commissioning new strips was always likely... The new version of Fred's Bed has a few changes to the original; Fred himself has been redesigned and he now sets his alarm clock to control where he travels in time instead of the random occurrence in the original strip."

• (via Forbidden Planet International): Paul B Rainey has just published the ninth part of his There’s No Time Like Present series (available from his web site). Paul says he’s been pondering endings and now thinks that the whole TNTLP series will wrap up with part twelve - although he adds that “I have been warned by people more intelligent than me that endings can often take longer than anticipated"...

• Quick Surfs: Declan Shalvey has just posted preview covers for Boom! Studios 28 Days Later book, which he's drawing; to celebrate The Specials reforming (yay!), Brendan Mccarthy has published some vintage artwork of the band from 1979, and some Johnny Rotten artwork done around the same time; and Dave Morris pays tribute to the legendary comic store Dark They Were and Golden Eyed here.

• Compiled with thanks to Matthew Badham

In Memoriam: Adrian Kermode

Artist Terry Wiley and the late Adrian Kermode and partner. Photo courtesy of Terry.
"I'm sorry this picture is a bit gormless," says Terry. "It's just that he was the sort of chap who would always
pull a funny face in pictures; believe me, this is the least gormless one I could find..."

downthetubes regrets to report the death of British journalist and comics writer Adrian Kermode who was found dead at his home on Saturday morning, cause of death at present unknown. He was 45.

As a journalist, Adrian contributed to independent titles Vicious and Borderline Magazine and was co-creator with Terry Wiley on the much-loved Petra Etcetera, which won the National Comics Award for Best Independent British Comic in 2001, and was nominated again in 2002, and Deadman & Hyde (the latter reviewed here on comics bulletin) and writer of Doctor Sorrow, drawn by Mike Juniper.

He also contributed a number of strips to The Girly Comic such as Doctor Lovemonkey.

"We've lost someone great," notes Andrew Luke, previously saying of an issue of Petra Etcetra, drawn by Terry Wiley, "Adrian Kermode’s script captures the minute, commonly visible social and accompanying appliances with links galore. It’s quite physically facilitating, Any sweetly-sickly personal turmoil is coated with an edge from a laughter production manufacturing, which has a dual smart infection option... delicious."

"Sadly, in the last few years the demands of Ady's civil service career effectively put an end to his writing," notes 'Israeli in his tribute. "He'll be sorely missed by his many friends."

"It's going to take a long time to figure out what we're going to do without him is all I can say," says Terry Wiley.

Comic Expo Countdown...

There’s just one week to go until the 2009 Bristol International Comic Expo (featuring the Small Press Expo) at the Ramada Plaza Hotel on 9th and 10th May 2009 (and Mercure Holland House Hotel (Sat 9th only) and whilst the full allocation of two-day tickets are long gone, a very limited number of other tickets: SPExpo-only tickets for Saturday 9th, and ComicExpo-only tickets for Sunday 10th can be obtained from the relevant websites.

The organisers stress these extra tickets are strictly limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis – it's possible that a few will be available on the door at one or other event, but it’s recommended to reserve your ticket online to be safe and avoid disappointment on the day.

The websites listed below also contain full panel, signing and exhibitor details, but here’s an update on the very latest news from a number of attendees:

Factor Fiction will be selling the 10th Anniversary issue of Violent!, which was originally launched by Mike Sivier at the Bristol Comics Festival in 1999. They will also have the latest issue of The Girly Comic, featuring not one, but two Terry Wiley strips, including his new series Verity. The issue also includes regular strip Space Girl and brand new Lee Kennedy strips.

If you haven't already picked one up then don't miss out on your chance to pick up a copy of The Girly Book Volume 1, which collects strips from the first nine issues. It's a lovely hardback edition and a "very reasonable price of £15" according to the review on the Forbidden Planet International blog. For newcomers to The Girly Comic, the publishers will have bargain packs featuring early issues of the comic.

Classics Illustrated (www.classicsillustrated.co.uk) will bring their latest pair of titles – Jungle Book and Goldilocks – to the show, as well as having great show-only offers on all of their books – check their website out for full details of all titles available in the series so far.

Self Made Hero will be bringing Emma Vieceli and Ilya to Bristol for signings of special advance copies of their latest Manga Shakespeare books (Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear respectively). Rob Deas will also be in attendance on Saturday to sign copies of his Macbeth book. They will also be bringing Ian Edginton and INJ Culbard along for a special Sherlock Holmes panel and signing.

Insomnia Publications will be bringing the third volume of their anthology series, Layer Zero (cover by Scott James, colours by Jason Millet, above). Choices features work from an incredible range of new talent alondside experienced professionals from the world of comics (with work under their belts for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, Calibre, Heavy Metal, 2000AD, to name a few) and some bold individuals experimenting with crossing over from other creative fields such as journalism, animation, screenwriting, sculpture, fine art and graphic design.

(Talking of Insomnia, the creators of their new book CancerTown, just reviewed by Geek Syndicate, have just been interviewed by JazmaOnline, so you can read more about what on earth they thought they were doing in creating this monster: Cy Dethan Interview here,
artist Stephen Downey interview here, while another of their creators, Simon MILK Wyatt is interviewed by Jazma here).

Finally, May 2009 and the Bristol Expo sees the release of Fetishman issue 9 'Space!', a rude rollicking romp across the final frontier and beyond decency!

• For SP Expo Tickets and Info see: www.spexpo.co.uk • For ComicExpo Sunday tickets only and info see: www.fantasyevents.org

Watchmen Gets DVD, Blu-Ray Date

Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that Watchmen will be available to purchase on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 27th July 2009.

Directed by Zack Snyder (300), Watchmen is a based on the 1986-1987 comic book limited series Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Listed in Time magazines "All-Time 100 Novels", the film adaptation stars Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Patrick Wilson.

• Watchmen will be available to buy on 1 Disc DVD, 2 Disc Limited Edition DVD & 2 Disc Blu-ray which also includes Digital Copy