Wasted #6 heading for stores... mind your heads!

The latest issue of adult comic Wasted (#6) has gone to press, with a cover by Cam Kennedy featuring Jon Haward and Alan Grant's Buddha.(Jon by the way, was recently interviewed here on the title's blog).

The new issue features, amongst other random things, these recurring strips - War On Drugs, Tales Of The Buddha, Lusi Sulfura, Total Fear, S*** The Dog, Junkie Dad, Amber Nectar and RamRod.

Contributors this issue are: Alan Grant, Cam Kennedy, Carlos Ezquerra, Johnny Horney, Dave Alexander, Russ McPherson, Liam Bryant, Craig Collins, Simon Bisley, Jon Haward, Rob Baker, Garry McLaughlin, Nick Very, Gibson Quarter, Ray Manta, John Miller, Robert Smith, Lex, Jamie McMorrow, Adam Smith, Claire Deakin, Jacek Zabawa, John Wagner, Martin Smith, Alan Kerr, James Corcoran, Paul McCann, Kent Taylor, Jules Boyle (ahem, apologies...), Jamie Grant, Jim Devlin and Pudsy (rest in peace).

Comics guru Brendan McCarthy says: "Wasted is the best new comic since Deadline!" And, Bad Press assure us, Brendan has never been known to be wrong!

• Buy Wasted: www.badpressltd.com

Glasgow Comic Mart With Added Small Press Goodness

The latest of the half yearly Glasgow comic marts will be taking place this Saturday, 3 April 2010, in Hillhead. In a change from the mart's traditional home in recent years at Hillhead Library, Saturday's event has moved down the road to the Queen Margaret Union building in University Gardens where is has been re-christened the QM Union Comic And Toy Fair. The doors are open from 11am to 3pm and entrance is free.

In addition to the usual local dealers selling comics, graphic novels and other related merchandise, Glasgow's small press creators will be displaying their wares under the banner of Underground Overkill. These creators from the Scottish Cartoonists Ning group include Dave Alexander, John Alexander, Jim Devlin, Dave Gordon, Garry McLaughlin, Curt Sibling and Jim Stewart and between them they publish titles such as Gangaman, Khaki Shorts, My Excess, Nexion and Total Fear.

After testing the water at the last Glasgow comic mart where they were selling a selection of their own titles, the group has come together to create two compendium books that will be launched at this mart. These are the large anthology Underground Overkill which will retail at £9.99 and the pin-up collection Babes, Bullets and Blades which will be £7.99 and consists of illustrations of... well you can probably guess that one.

• More details of QM Union Comic And Toy Fair are available on the mart's Myspace page while more details of the various Glaswegian small press titles and their creators are available on the Scottish Cartoonists Ning group.

In Review: Wasted #2 - Back With Bite!

The second issue of Bad Press' adult humour anthology mag Wasted is on sale now, cranking up the quality several more notches on its launch issue with some terrific strips from a wide range of creators that include Alan Grant, Jon Haward, Martin Hayes, Adrian Bamforth, Jamie Grant, Frank Quitely, Alan Burrows and many others.

Wrapped in a stunning cover of demon teen Lusi Sulfura by Alan Kerr, this 70-page magazine is not for the lily-livered - crammed as it is with strips such as The Dirty Dog (toilet humour extreme from Grant, Quitely and John Wagner) and the brilliant Tales of the Buddha (from Grant and Haward, the Buddha partnered this issue with a very angry Jesus).

Alan Kerr's superb Lusi Sulfura - surely a character of Tank Girl and Nemi cult potential - a wonderful gem, as is Holmes Has It Large by Martin Hayes and Adrian Bamforth; and there's more gems in the form of Fun Guys (by Grant and Burrows, drawing in a much looser style than you'd expect from this line man-extraordinaire, and I liked it), The Dopranos, Space Cabby and tons of other strips.

Anthology titles - especially humour titles - are never going to score on every page, because there's no telling what will make any one person laugh out loud. But when even 'throwaway' strips like Rom McPherson's Amber Nectar raise a smile, the good outweighs the occasional dud.

With full colour throughout for a measly £3.25, Wasted eats rival titles like Viz - perhaps these days over reliant on a trusted formula for its continued success - for breakfast. Yes, there are some rough edges (not literally - it's not that dangerous), but for a second outing, Wasted #2 is another cracking read and well worth tracking down.

• Wasted is available from www.wastedcomic.com and selected newsagents and other outlets. "You can Try Before You Buy" by grabbing this still-available preview edition of the first issue