The Children's Trust launches Big Book Challenge

With school holidays fast approaching (wasn't it just half term?), a special reading challenge for young bookworms has been launched in aid of Britain's The Children's Trust.

Over the next three months, children of all ages are invited to take part in the Big Book Challenge, which aims to encourage children to read as many books as possible during their summer break, and ask friends and family to sponsor them to raise money for The Children's Trust, a national charity which supports some of the UK's most profoundly disabled children.

No matter how old, everyone loves a good story and this sounds like a great opportunity to encourage kids to read some graphic albums as well as novels to me. Plus, it's a great opportunity for all the family to get involved.

The children at the Trust will be joining in too with storytelling evenings and activities and every penny raised will make a positive difference to the lives of the children and families that The Children's Trust supports.

Jacqueline Wilson, award-winning children's author who is supporting the special challenge, said: "I've been a bookworm since I was six years old. Books delight, entertain and inform - they're the most magical way of enriching our lives. It's also great fun discovering other worlds and meeting wonderful characters within the pages of a book. I hope children will really enjoy taking part in this challenge - and that a lot of money is raised to support the work of The Children's Trust."


The Children's Trust, based in Tadworth, is a national charity providing care, education and therapy for children with multiple disabilities and complex health needs, and rehabilitation services to children with an acquired brain injury. The Trust runs the UK's largest residential rehabilitation centre for paediatric acquired brain injury and has an on-site special school, The School for Profound Education (formerly St Margaret's), which publishes The Profound Education Curriculum for children and young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD).

Everyone who takes part will receive a certificate and those who raise over £50 in sponsorship will receive a free copy of 'The Bestest Ever Bear' poetry book.

• For more information and to get started go to www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/bigbookchallenge

• The Big Book Challenge Sponsorship Form (PDF)
Download your sponsorship form and start your reading adventure

Scottish MP savages Dundee University's new comics degree

(Last Updated 9/6/11, added comments from Stewart Hosie MP) Scottish Labour MP Tom Harris has condemned news of Dundee University's new 'Comics Studies Degree' announced earlier this week - despite the city's long history as a comics publisher.

Dundee University announced its new degree this week, playing up the city's "strong local traditions and expertise to launch the UK's first degree programme in Comic Studies.

"Dundee can lay claim to being the spiritual home of the British comics industry as the output of Dundee-based publishers DC Thomson & Co Ltd includes iconic titles such as the Beano, Dandy, Commando, Starblazer and Bunty. This means legendary characters such as Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan, the Bash Street Kids, Oor Wullie, and the Broons were born in the city.

"As such, the English department at Dundee is perfectly placed to offer the new postgraduate Masters in Comic Studies degree, which is being led by Dr Chris Murray, one of the UK’s foremost authorities on the subject. He has researched comics and graphic novels extensively, and is editor of the journal Studies in Comics."

Tom Harris MP as he might
appear in a Vertigo comic.
Caricatures welcome!

But MP Tom Harris rounded on the idea on Twitter, arguing the new course "plays right into the Tories' hands.

"Dundee University is launching a degree in comic books," he noted. "That'll show those who say degrees are being dumbed down!"

Challenged on his view, the MP, who did not at this stage seem to have read the full details of the course but was perhaps responding to initial press reports which gave the impression studying the Beano and The Dandy was part of it, declared: "Wait for the cries of outrage when people realise that a MA in the Dandy is considered less valuable than PPE from Oxford" and, apparently noting Dundee's comics history, added he was "looking forward to Sheffield University doing a degree in forks."

Respondents to his criticisms - including comic creators such as Simon Coleby, Vicky Stonebridge and Dundee MP Stewart Hosie - have praised the idea, although political commentator Conor Pope agreed the announcement was "poor timing", but felt "a select few" graphic novels should be included in Literature courses.

Although a comic fan himself, Mr Harris views expose the continued snobbery of much of the chattering classes when it comes to comics, despite the quality of many publications and the success of DC Thomson, Titan Magazines, Egmont and other publishers whose comics have contributed much to the nation's economic (eco-comic?) health of the nation.

Commenting on comics contribution to the local Dundee economy down the years as the home of DC Thomson, publishers of The Beano, Commando and many other comics, Mr Harris told downthetubes "Investment and encouragement are great - but I question the value of an academic qualification in the Beano.

"I don't think you can just take any subject that you're interested in and make it the subject of an academic qualification," the MP, who studied journalism at Napier College, told fpinternational. 

When it was explained to him that the course was not just about studying comics, but also creating them he retorted: "Did writers of the past need a degree in comics to produce them?" Which could, perhaps, be interpreted to suggest that any arts degree is pretty pointless, but Mr Harris is clear that this is not a view to which he espouses. "On the contrary, academic subjects are always worth pursuing as a degree."

Responding to Mr Harris, Dr Murray told downthetubes: "Worldwide, comics and graphic novels have never been so popular, and are widely read by both children and adults. Far from being the preserve of children, comics represent a multi-million pound, global industry and it is our intention that our graduates are at the forefront of this.

"Whilst we are proud of Dundee's contribution to the comics industry, the much-loved publications Mr Harris so derisively refers to will not actually feature on the course. We will be examining critically acclaimed comics such as Maus, which deals with Holocaust, and works by Glasgow's Grant Morrison, one of the most celebrated graphic novel writers in the world. These texts easily stand alongside any work of contemporary art or literature.

"Comics and graphic novels are increasingly sophisticated, and are studied both for their artistic merit and their literary value," he continued. "They are an increasingly important medium in terms of popular culture, as shown by the number of comics and graphic novels adapted into hugely popular films, TV shows and computer games in recent years.

"Comics scholarship is an expanding field, reflecting the status of comics as an important part of contemporary art, literature and popular culture. Students will be required to think critically about complex ideas, examine comics from around the world and develop an understanding of them in the context of theory, politics and history, as they would in any other field of literary study."

After being challenged and corrected on the course content on Twitter by Dr Murray, Joe Gordon at Forbidden Planet International and others, Mr Harris appeared to apologize for his original remark and expressed surprize that the comics industry had no apprentice scheme that could assist in training. He continued to argue, however, that academic degrees are not always the most appropriate way of improving employment chances.

"As an employer, I would look more favourably on a candidate with history degree than a comics one," he said.

He might be surprized, then, to learn that courses in gaming at Dundee's other university, Abertay, had helped many people get jobs in that industry; educational provision which has not gone unnoticed by Dundee's Scottish Nationalist MP Stewart Hosie.

"Tom Harris is entitled to his opinion but I believe that he is talking down Dundee University and this excellent and timely new post-graduate course," he says. "He also appears to have basic facts wrong – this is a postgraduate course for people who already have a degree. It is not offering 'an MA in The Beano'.


“We live in a fast-moving world where cultural influences extend into major industries. And in Dundee, we know all about the jobs value of comic books as the city is home to DC Thomson & Co, one of the most successful companies in the field.

“Comics tie-in with films and TV, with the computer gaming industry, with art and design, music and popular culture on many levels. This is an enormous global industry employing hundreds of thousands of people and with an estimate value of more than £5bn.

“The success of Mark Millar from Glasgow who is now one of the most-celebrated comics writers in the world, and whose work inspired hit movies Wanted and Kick-Ass, as well as the purchase of Marvel Comics by Disney for $4bn in 2009 show the global economic value of the industry.

“Dundee is already heavily-involved in the computer games industry which employs nearly 3,000 here and anything which can help to develop that into new areas of employment is very much to be welcomed."

Dundee University is clearly proud of its new course and  Mr Harris' views have stirred up a hornets' nest on Twitter and other social media. "Far from being the preserve of children, comics and graphic novels are increasingly sophisticated texts which comment on culture, politics and values, and cross over into areas such as television, film, computer games and the internet," the University argues in their announcement for the course.

The MLitt in Comic Studies programme, delivered on a one-year full time or two-year part time basis, is expected to appeal to local, national and international graduates with an interest in pursuing academic careers, or working in the media, the creative industries or publishing.

From September, graduates will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of the comics medium and the comics industry, and their relation to different genres, cultures, and media.
Dr Murray said students will be required to think critically about these ideas, and develop an understanding of comics in the context of theory, politics and history.

"This is a very exciting time for comics scholarship, and I am delighted to be able to offer this postgraduate course on comics," he said. "This is a unique opportunity to give this important medium the attention it deserves, and to allow those with an interest in comics to study it in detail.

"I hope that this course will help forge the next generation of comics scholars, and may even help some students with creative ambitions to find their way into the highly competitive comics industry."

One of the modules on offer will look at autobiographical comics, one of the fastest growing and critically acclaimed fields of comics production in the last 20 years, whilst another will look at the relationship between various international comics cultures, from Scottish publications, and the wider British context, to French, Russian, American, Japanese and Chinese comics.

An undergraduate module focusing on contemporary British comic writers and graphic novelists is already taught at Dundee, and the Masters programme will allow graduates with an interest in the comics to pursue this at postgraduate level. Those who want to progress further may even study for a PhD in comics once the MLItt is completed.

Those with an interest in the creative side of comics, either as a writer, artist, or both, will find the course very useful in terms of expanding their knowledge of the history of comics, and the artistic and literary potential of the medium. There will also be the opportunity to enhance practical skills related to the creation of comics.

The creative elements of the course will be delivered by Phillip Vaughan, a lecturer in Graphic Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University. Mr Vaughan has a great deal of experience in animation, computer game design and comic art.

"As well as studying different genres, styles and uses of comics, there will be a focus on writing for comics," said Dr. Murray, "with classes and workshops on scriptwriting skills as well as on artwork and the creative process."

"A range of activities of interest to students, such as conferences, talks and workshops featuring some of the most influential figures from the comics industry, and worldwide experts on comics and graphic novels will support the academic work. These will be of great interest to students and will allow them to make contact with influential figures from within the industry."

Dr. Murray also outlined how the degree could help anyone taking it up in terms of future employment.

"Employability is an important consideration for any postgraduate programme, and it lies at the heart of what we aim to do with this course," he saud. "There will be practical advice on publishing and developing a career as a comics scholar, writer or artist, and we hope to arrange work placements for students.

"Comics and graphic novels are becoming an increasingly important form of literature, art and field of study, and it is our intention that our graduates are at the forefront either as researchers, writers, artists or filling other roles within the industry."

Dr Murray also organises an annual comics conference in Dundee. The Dundee Comics Day has featured such celebrated figures as Warren Ellis, Alan Davis, Pat Mills, Rian Hughes, Hunt Emerson, Dez Skinn, and manga artists Ilya, Emma Viceli and Nana Li in the past.

The 2011 Comics Day, part of the Dundee Literary Festival, will be held on 30th October, and features a stellar line up of writers and artists, including Frank Quitely, John Wagner, Cam Kennedy, and Colin McNeil.

• More information about the MLitt programme is available by visiting the Comics studies webpage or emailing Dr Chris Murray on c.murrayATdundee.ac.uk

Related Links on DTT:

• Learning the Comics Art: other comics courses 


• Comics Industry Facts and Figures


• UK Comics: News Stand Sales (Updated June 2011)

In Review: 2D Comics Festival

Last weekend saw Northern Ireland's 2D Comics Festival take place within Londonderry's city walls with entrance, workshops and talks all completely free. Patrick Brown, of Belfast Comics, reviews the event for downthetubes.

The weekend just past saw the fifth 2D Comics Festival in Derry, Northern Ireland. I was there for the fourth time, my third as an exhibitor, and my first with my name in the programme.

Derry (or Londonderry if you insist) is Northern Ireland's second biggest city, after Belfast, which doesn't make it especially big. In the middle, on the west side of the River Foyle, is the Walled City, and at the south end of the Walled City, just inside the Bishop's Gate, right at the top of a steep hill that's a bugger to climb if you're carrying a case full of books, is the Verbal Arts Centre, venue for the daytime portions of the festival. All the way down the hill and out through the Shipquay Gate is Sandinos Bar, venue for the evening bits.

The festival is just what you might expect for something split between a community organisation, dedicated to supporting literacy and storytelling, and a pub. 2D is not big or impersonal or corporate. There's mercifully little fan rancour or jadedness, no division between commercial and small press creators. Nothing gets taken too seriously. All of it, through whatever funding miracle David Campbell, of the Verbal Arts Centre, and his team have been able to conjure up, is free.

At the centre of the event is the open day on Saturday at the Verbal Arts Centre. On the mezzanine floor, a handful of lucky artists are stationed to do the hardcore sketching. I did it a couple of years ago and my hand's still sore. This year the mezzaniners included Gary Northfield from the Beano, Jim Medway from the DFC, Belfast legend Davy Francis (above), late of Oink! and Holy Cross, Vicki Stonebridge of Slaughterman's Creed and the Scottish Hi-Ex convention, and 2000AD's digital genius D'Israeli.

The theme this year was robots, and lots of lucky kids got themselves drawn as a droid by a fantastic artist. The rest of us, including Gar Shanley (right), writer of Supernatural Showcase and simultaneously the most miserable and the funniest man in Irish comics, and Tommie Kelly (far right), rock star, writer-artist and hellraiser, take our places upstairs in the main hall, show off our wares, sell them if we can, and do our fair share of sketching as well. The punters range from your usual thirty-something comic book con crowd, to young families, to teenagers, and I recognised plenty of faces from previous years in the crowd as well as behind tables.

Either side of the main daytime event, on the Friday and Saturday evenings, are the panels, held upstairs at Sandinos and lubricated generously with alcohol. There's a quiz, and the winners get a goodie bag of dreadful comics, including Zwanna, Son of Zulu, a breathtakingly racist comic from the early nineties. On the panels crime novelist Denise Mina admits to feeling like a chancer when writing comics, to pangs of recognition from every writer and artist in the room, and shares her delight at having one of her books adapted to TV. DC's art director Mark Chiarello gets a lecture in how to pronounce his own name from David Hine (Mark says it "Cheer-ello", David knows Italian and insists it should be "Keer-ello"), and gets to speak a little less guardedly than he does at bigger shows - he gets a round of applause for saying he hates Green Lantern, before reassuring us he's only joking.

There is, inevitably, a panel on "breaking into comics", during which Will Simpson (left with Adam Law) does an impersonation of Dave Gibbons that starts off as a recognisable caricature and degenerates into a peculiar cockney barking noise, and Glenn Fabry shares a rather revolting story of the unpleasant habits of a former editor. The Sunnyside Comics podcast panel on digital comics and creative ownership gets a bit rowdy and decides piracy is rude but probably inevitable. All the panellists, especially Rufus Dayglo, genuflect before guest of honour Mick McMahon, a modest and unassuming bloke whose choppy lines and memorable character designs just happen to define the childhood reading experiences of all of us over a certain age.

And then the panels wind up, and we stick around inside and outside the bar, spending the specially printed 2D drink tokens, for as long as our constitutions will let us. I'm a bit of a lightweight I'm afraid, but hair-raising stories reach me of the somewhat NSFW permanent marker 'tattoos' drawn by Deirdre de Barra on Archie Templar's torso, and how Archie's going to explain that to his other half when he gets back to Dublin. Finally, a handful of survivors gather on Sunday morning for breakfast in the local Wetherspoons and set the world to rights over an Ulster fry before heading for home, wherever that is.

2D's a great show. Long may it continue.

Patrick Brown has been creating and self-publishing comics since the mid-1990s. The Cattle Raid of Cooley, his adaptation of the ancient Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, has been serialised on the web since 2008 and is about half done. It, and a selection of his other comics, are available at http://paddybrown.co.uk/.

There are many more photos from 2D 2011 at the following Facebook pages -

2D Festival

Vicki Stonebridge

Ciaran Flanagan

Redondo returns to 2000AD for Terror Tale

2000AD Terror Tale 'Birth of Mazzikim'
by David Baillie and Redondo

Veteran 2000 AD artist Jesus Redondo is returning to the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic for the first time in more than a decade.

As announced at the recent Bristol Comics Expo, the Spanish artist – perhaps best known in the UK for his work on Book Two of Nemesis the Warlock for 2000 AD and The Mind of Wolfie Smith from the short-lived  1980s comic Tornado – has drawn a one-part Terror Tale, written by newcomer David Baillie.

The one-off 'Terror Tale', entitled 'Birth of Mazzikim', will appear in 2000 AD prog 1737 – available from Wednesday 8th June from all good stockists (and some evil ones).

After beginning his career in the early 1960s, Redondo entered the British market with work for DC Thomson and IPC, working on strips such as 'Suzette of the Silver Sword' for the girls title, Diana, 'Marmaduke' and many other stories, drawing romance, police, fantasy and war strips with equal accomplishment.

A panel from 'Suzette of the Silver
Sword' a strip Redondo drew
for Diana in the 1960s

Comics encyclopedia Lambiek notes that he cites the comic story 'Edward', which he drew for the Dutch magazine Tina with writer Otto Veenhoven in 1974 as his favourite series. In the same year he drew the Spanish series 'Centauro' and 'SOS Dossier Ecológico' with writers A. Martín and F. P. Navarro.

Redondo's 2000 AD credits also include episodes of M.A.C.H. 1, Tharg's Future Shocks and Missionary Man.

His credits also include 'Dan Dare' (in 1986), 'El Capitán Trueno' (1987) and 'Mr. Black', a horror series for the Spanish Creepy magazine in 1991.

Art You Grew Up With offers limited edition X-Men prints

British art store Art You Grew Up With is offering some limited edition X-Men prints for sale, to tie in with the launch of X-Men: First Class in UK cinemas.

The selection of limited editions on paper and canvas by some of the hottest talent in illustration and comics today includes 'Visionaries', right, along with other images by Jim Lee, plus an 'Astonishing X-Men' piece by Simone Bianchi, and more.

Beautifully printed, they're superb editions and comic representations although they don't come cheap - the signed 'Visionaries' print will set you back £565 unframed and £655 framed. (Other items aren't as pricey, though).

Art You Grew Up With, which sells a wide range of art featuring children's favourites ranging from 2000AD and The Beano to Paddington Bear and was recently featured in the Express, is also offering Father's Day gifts of Harold's Planet cartoons and Simpsons art. Its prints are sold in a variety of stores across the UK as well as online.

They will also try to track down art for individual prints. “If you want the original art used in the 1970s Spider-Man cartoon, we will find it,” owner  Russell Singler told the Express. “Then again it will be no problem if you suddenly recall a limited edition that you first saw on a trip to Disney World in the 1990s.”

• Art You Grew Up With is based at Catalyst House, Centennial Park, Elstree Village Herts WD6 3SY. Tel: 0800 098 8743 (International: +0044 208 736 5868). Web: www.artyougrewupwith.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArtYouGrewUpWith

WebFinds: Gail Scott, Space Pilot

Fans of Dan Dare and 1950s space comics might want to check out this fun web strip by Mark Toner - Gail Scott, Space Pilot.

Featuring a group of Scottish friends exploring space, the current adventure -  "Who is Mr Mentor?" - finds Gail and chums (all broad Scottish banter kindly translated for dumb sassenachs) on their way to Mars in a futuristic spacecraft.

The art is a little rough around the edges and the lettering needs much improvement, but the story's chuntering along nicely - Mark's includes some humour in the adventure as the characters first experience space flight, for example, which all helps add to the fun.

The strip's been running for a few weeks now, with a new episode from Dumfries-based artist Mark Toner every Thursday.

"If you like the Gail Scott series and would like to put it on your site, email me," says Mark.  "I'm always happy to help other impoverished web content providers as long as they let me approve the use. If you've got commercial plans for my comics, I insist on my share of the proceeds!"


Describing himself as a "Comic artist, astronomer and guitarist" (check out www.twitter.com/ArbelosMusic for his band), you can check out more of Mark's comics work at www.spacepilot.co.uk.

• All Gail Scott artwork and stories are copyright © 2011 Mark Toner, all rights reserved.

Manchester Comic Collective Bigs Up its gathering

This month the Manchester Comic Collective is doing something a little more special than its usual gatherings of creators for a friendly drink - along with the Sandbar, they'll be hosting the first Big Drink n’ Draw on the very first day of the Not Part Of Fringe Festival!

As always the Drink ‘n’ Draw will be free to attend, and they’ll have the usual drawing games, free snacks and pizzas, free comics at the Comic Swap table, materials provided and 10% off at the bar! But that’s not all…

As part of the Big Drink ‘n’ Draw they’ll have a little Comic Fair with tables set aside to sell indie comics, plus a few of table for creators with lots to sell and one communal table for anyone’s comics, minis or zines.

Tables are free but limited, so visit the MCC web site and leave a comment to show your interest and they’ll be in touch! If you can’t make it but would like to sell your comics, please drop them off at Sandbar with a note saying “For the BIG Drink ‘n’ Draw”.

As if that wasn’t enough Matt Badham will be hosting an informal chat and Q&A with Andy Diggle, writer of The Losers, Daredevil and former editor of 2000AD. The starting time for this is to be confirmed but will last about an hour.

The MCC are hoping to have another talk with some comics professionals too! Names and times for that are still to be confirmed.

The BIG Drink ‘n’ Draw will also be continuing late into the night. There’s a comedy event starting at 8.00pm and after that a short film night running through the evening, but all the while the DnD will continue in a reserved area of Sandbar with a big Comic Jam on a Wall.

• More info: http://manchestercomixcollective.com/2011/06/big-drink-n-draw

• RSVP on the Facebook Event page and see who else is attending! Join the Drink ‘n’ Draw Facebook Group while you’re there too, for updates of all future events.

Forbidden Planet lines up Peter Hogan and Chris Sprouse signing

Forbidden Planet London has announced a special signing in August by Peter Hogan and Chris Sprouse for their graphic novel Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom (Titan edition)

As Tom Strong and his family prepare to celebrate a wedding, the unthinkable happens: before their eyes, reality alters to become a world conquered by Nazis and ruled by Tom’s nefarious son, Albrecht. To restore the world he knew, Tom must journey back in time and seek help from the only man he can trust: himself. But will even two Tom Strongs be enough to stop the Robots of Doom?

Chris Sprouse first met Alan Moore when he drew several issues of Moore’s script for Supreme. A year later, he and Moore created Tom Strong for America's Best Comics, for which Chris won two Eisner Awards in 2000, for Best Single Issue and Best Serialized Story.

Taking over the scripting of Tom Strong, Peter K. Hogan started out as editor of cult political British comics Crisis and Revolver in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before working for 2000 AD and American comic book publishers Vertigo and America's Best Comics.

• Pre-order a signed copy of Tom Strong and The Robots of Doom

• Peter Hogan and Chris Sprouse will be at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR on Thursday 25th August 6 – 7.00pm. For more news about our signings please go to: http://forbiddenplanet.com/events/?affid=downthetubesfp  

IDW republish Grant Morrison's final 'Doctor Who' story

IDW's Doctor Who Classics series, now re-publishing the Seventh Doctor's adventures from Doctor Who Magazine has a 'first' and 'last' feel to Issue 5, on sale this month in the US.

The collection sees the publication of 'Culture Shock', Grant Morrison's final Doctor Who comic story to date, but Bryan Hitch's first Who work - not that the accomplished artist would like to be reminded of it.

With a new cover by Robert Hack and colouring from Charlie Kirchoff, also included is 'Echoes of the Mogor', a cracking spooky tale from Dan Abnett and John Ridgway.

Grant Morrison, whose past Who strips included the hugely popular Cybermen origin story, 'The World Shapers', may have gone on to better known comics such as The Invisibles, All-Star Superman and X-Men but he has always been a Doctor Who fan.

“These stories were very early on, when I was starting to work in comics,” Morrison told MTV in 2008, with the focus of Culture Shock – a living creature playing host to a microscopic universe all its own – pre-dating wider exploration of such themes in series such as The Invisibles. “It came up because I met John Ridgway through some other work, Liberators, on Warrior, so it was kind of through John, he suggested it,”

“I was a big Doctor Who fan all my life, so it was a good fit..." says Grant of his time working on the DWM. "I absolutely enjoyed doing it, and I would love to do more Doctor Who.” Although not necessarily as a comic, “because I’ve done enough of it in the comics.”

Might Grant one day follow Neil Gaiman and write a TV episode?

Bryan Hitch, now well known for his stunning work on Marvel's Utlimates and Fantastic Four and more, would rather skate over his first ever Doctor Who strip, which he drew when he was just 17. "I usually encourage people to burn my early work," he pleads.

Notable as the first appearance of Dan's Foreign Hazard Duty, a futuristic version of UNIT, Dan Abnett confesses that although he is “ridiculously good” at archiving back issues of his work, his Doctor Who Magazine collection seems to have disappeared into an alternate dimension, and, like Alan Grant, he has few memories of 'Echoes of the Mogor'. “I hope it’s a good one, and not an ‘Ooh, did I really write this crap” one,” he opines.

“The funniest part of all is where working on DWM got me. I loved it, but I never expected to write for Doctor Who again. I tried to get a Virgin novel commission early on, and they didn’t even reply. I felt I was very much ‘not in the Who clique’ and had only been lucky enough to write for the good Doctor because I knew you and Richard.

"Then, suddenly, in the last few years, it all came back to haunt me. Gary Russell came to me for a couple of Big Finish adventures, which led to the likes of my Torchwood novel and audios, and the Martha novel, and the Tenth Doctor audios for the BBC etc., and that train of events only happened because Gary had remembered how much he’d liked my DWM strips and came looking for me.

“The FHD were envisaged as a future version of UNIT,” he confirms. “I can’t be sure, but I think that connection actually gets made somewhere. I intended it too, anyway. They’ve popped up from time to time in all sorts of places, not all of them Who stories.”

“The FHD was originally a very infantile piece of slang that was invented by my mates at college,” Dan reveals. “An FHD was a really good night out, because one got so drunk, one had a terrible hangover in the morning, otherwise known as a F****** Horrible Death. Obviously, for DWM purposes, I changed what it stood for!”

At one point an FHD US title was considered, along with a number of other projects (including an Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer story by Steve Moore), but it was shelved after editorial changes instigated by Marvel Comics directors in America.

Other IDW Doctor Who titles on sale this month are Doctor Who #6, written by Tony Lee (with interior art from Matthew Dow Smith, who also provides a rare variant cover, the other by Tommy Lee Edwards), which sees the start of a three-part tale, 'When Worlds Collide', featuring Sontarans, a rift world, cowboys and Romans.

Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life #3 (of 4) by Eisner Award-nominated writer Matt Sturges (with art by Kelly Yates) features a cover by Mark Buckingham, in which the Doctor is forced the question, what's better, an ugly reality or beautiful fantasy? Meanwhile,  Amy finds herself reluctantly cast as a damsel in distress on a medieval fantasy world...

• While print editions of  IDW's Doctor Who titles aren't officially available in the UK, you should be able to buy the digital editions of these comics.

• IDW Comics is at: www.idwpublishing.com

Temple APA Issue 9 showcases British comics talent

The ninth issue of the Temple APA digital comics showcase is now available to download as a completely free PDF file.

Featuring 48 pages of artwork and stories from a host of creators, including Tony Suleri, John Owens, Dave Hailwood, Dirk Van Dom, Matthew McLaughlin, Paul Eldridge, Malcolm Kirk and Simon Mackie, (who also provides the cover artwork, displayed above).

The Temple APA is a showcase of UK based comicbook talent, both amateur and professional. If you'd like to contribute or just want more information, check out the Temple website at http://templeapa.socialgo.com

• To download, click here and "save target/link as" (15.19 mb file)


• You can also obtain it from Clickwheel, Mediafire or it's available to read online at MyeBook