Rian Hughes brings British science fiction comics to Image

US publisher Image Comics will present Tales from Beyond Science, an outrageously pulpy collection of science fiction short stories in December in one hardcover volume, all drawn by Rian Hughes and written by some of Britain’s finest comic writers, including Mark Millar (Kick Ass and WANTED), Alan McKenzie (The Harrison Ford Story) and John Smith (Devin Waugh), all together in one colorful oversized hardcover, specially designed by Rian.

Rian began his career as a designer working for Smash Hits, i-D magazine and a series of record sleeve design companies. His early comic strip work appeared in the alternative press magazine Escape, and this led to work for Belgian art-house publisher Magic Strip. His first mainstream UK comic work was Dan Dare with Grant Morrison for Fleetway’s short-lived Revolver title, and from there he moved to 2000AD, illustrating such series as 'Really and Truly', again with Morrison, and 'Robo-Hunter' with Peter Hogan.

Dividing his time between illustration and design, he has provided design, custom type and illustration for advertising campaigns, CD and record sleeves, book jackets and graphic novels, and numerous comic book logos for mainstream comic publishers such as DC Comics and Marvel. Recent publications include Cult-ure: Ideas can be Dangerous (Fiell) and Yesterday’s Tomorrows, published by Knockabout in the UK and Image in the US.

Tales from Beyond Science will invite readers to follow Hilary Tremayne on eight surreal journeys into the unknown, where they may discover the truth behind the mysteries of spontaneous human combustion, the Bermuda Triangle, the lost 13th month, and the real reason men have nipples.

"I worked with some great writers on these stories," said Hughes. "And it's nice to be bringing all these tales together in one beautiful volume, with all-new material, via Image."

- Tales from Beyond Science (OCT110500, ISBN: 978-1-60706-471-8), an 88-page full-colour sci-fi mystery and suspense hardcover for $16.99, will be on sale in US stores 21st December and is available for order in the upcoming October issue of Previews.

- For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com

STRIP Magazine Issue 1 Sneak Preview Online

Read
Strip Magazine
Issue 1
- Sneak Preview

I'm delighted to let downthetubes readers know that a special sampler of STRIP Magazine Issue 1, Print Media Productions new British comics anthology, on sale from 20th October 2011 in all good UK comic shops, is now online.

As some of you know, I'm the editor of this new Magazine which has been a long time in the making, but it's finally on its way.

STRIP Magazine Issue 1 is a 68-page issue, featuring comics by PJ Holden, John McCrea, Phil Hester, James Hudnall, John Ridgway, Jon Rushby, Mauricet, Keith Page, Stephen Walsh and others - including a re-presentation of the classic Action strip, Hookjaw. It comes with a pullout Warpaint mini-poster by John McCrea and a dazzling giant poster promoting Mirabilis, one of our ongoing graphic album series.

I'd like to thank everyone for their patience and support for this project and I do hope you'll check out the print edition when it appears in your local comic shop.

The online sampler features pages of some of the strips - plus feature spreads from an exclusive interview with artist PJ Holden and our feature on 1970s comic Action - to give you a taster of the new title.

Also revealed are the first winners of the magazine's STRIP Challenge - David and Graham Stoddart, whose Agent Syber features in Issue 1. Pages from this great strip feature in the sampler.

There are still some strips to be decided but we have agreed on the first three winning strips - now I just need to convince publisher Ivo Milicevic about three more!

• To order the print magazine, give your UK comic shop this Diamond Previews order code: JUL117915. 

• You'll be able to subscribe to the Magazine from the title's web site, which launches soon - www.printmediaproductions.com. This currently redirects to their blog


• For more about Print Media projects bookmark: www.printmediaproductions.com

STRIP Magazine is © 2011 Print Media Productions. All strip material © respective creators

Panel Borders: War - The Human Cost

Continuing radio show Panel Borders month about War Comics, they will broadcast a final panel discussion recorded at the 'Comics and Conflicts' conference at the Imperial War Museum in August tonight.

Alex Fitch chairs a discussion on 'The personal and the political' as the publisher and two of the contributing artists - Sean Duffield, Daniel Locke and Ben Naylor - talk about their anthology War: The Human Cost.

They are also joined on stage by writer Eileen Cassavetti and cartoonist Francesca Cassavetti who published her mother's wartime journal Philip and Helen in comic book format.

• Panel Borders: War - The Human Cost airs at 5.00pm, Thursday 22nd September, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

(Please note: this is the penultimate episode of Panel Borders to be broadcast on a Thursday evening, before the show moves to Sunday nights from October)

Sci-Fi and Superheroes at next month's London Comic Con

A record number of artists and writers will be flocking to MCM Expo London Comic Con’s Comic Village next month – and the organisers have just announced that acclaimed American comic book writer Gail Simone and best-selling British science fiction author Peter F. Hamilton will be among the special guests.

Perhaps best known for her acclaimed work on DC Comics’ Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman, Gail Simone’s writing credits also include Secret Six and The All-New Atom. Most recently, Simone has been penning Batgirl and co-writing Fury of Firestorm as part of DC’s massive September re-launch.

Noted for combining epic scale space opera with startling perspectives on tomorrow’s technological and cultural trends, Peter F. Hamilton’s novels include the much-praised Void Trilogy - The Dreaming Void, The Temporal Void and The Evolutionary Void - as well as the galaxy-spanning Commonwealth Saga and the groundbreaking Night’s Dawn Trilogy.

Speaking of sci-fi, Empire Magazine’s Ian Nathan will be interviewing Alien associate producer Ivor Powell and SFX supervisor Brian Johnson (who also worked on Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds, back in the 1960s) about the making of Ridley Scott's seminal movie on-stage at London Comic Con.

He will also be signing copies of his new book Alien Vault, a celebration of the film featuring never-before-published on-set photos and exclusive interviews.

• For more information on the comics creators already confirmed for 28-30 October’s London Comic Con, visit www.londonexpo.com/comicvillage. For London MCM Expo tickets please go to: www.mcmexpogroup.com/store

• To stay up-to-date with Expo news, follow www.twitter.com/mcmexpo; www.facebook.com/mcmexpo or visit: www.londonexpo.com