Great Beast awakens - a new UK indie publisher

The cover to Ellerbsims by
Marc Ellerby

Just launched is a new indie UK publisher, Great Beast, described as "the home of the UK’s best independent comics and creators."

The brainchild of creators Adam Cadwell and Marc Ellerby, Great Beast aims to provide the most fun and creative stories to as wide an audience as possible. All of their titles will be creator owned and professionally self published.

The fledgling publisher launches with two collections of successful self published and award nominated comics to Great Beast; Marc Ellerby's Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter series, and the vampire slacker series Blood Blokes by Adam Cadwell.

Both creators will also be publishing long-awaited collections of their previous web-comic work, Ellerbisms and The Everyday, later in the year.

• For more information visit: www.greatbeastcomics.com

2000AD Book Schedule announced

As it celebrates three and a half decades of some of the greatest comics of all time, 2000AD is unleashing a flurry of top-notch thrills in graphic novel form this year.The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic has lined up a sizzling schedule of new releases, collecting classics and new strips alike – with new formats and a celebration of amazing Judge Dredd artwork from the past 35 years!

February sees the first in the new line of stylish ‘Manga-style’ books reprinting classic tales from Judge Dredd in a fresh pocket-sized format. The perfect format for new readers, this new series breaks classic Judge Dredd stories out from the best-selling Case Files to open up the world of Dredd to new readers and fans at a low price point.

JUDGE DREDD: THE CURSED EARTH SAGA (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-08-5) collects the first Dredd ‘mega-epic,’ as the Lawman of the Future crosses the radioactive hell of the Cursed Earth, complete with mutants, monsters and crazed war robots, with a vaccine to save Mega-City Two from a deadly plague.

The second release in the series, JUDGE DREDD: THE DAY THE LAW DIED (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-09-2) arrives in May and features art by legends Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland as Dredd is forced to take on the tyrannical Judge Cal. And the third title, due in September, reprints the first appearance of Judge Dredd’s ultimate nemesis, Judge Death, in JUDGE DREDD: THE DARK JUDGES (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-45-0) by John Wagner, Brian Bolland and Brett Ewins.

In March, Dan Abnett and Richard Elson’s breakout post-apocalyptic series, Kingdom, returns with 144 full-colour pages of KINGDOM: CALL OF THE WILD (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-98-8). Genetically engineered dogsoldier, Gene the Hackman, and one of the last human beings realise they’ve wandered into the territory of a new pack … and into danger.

 The first critically-acclaimed Mega-City Undercover collection in 2008 was a runaway hit, and April will see MEGA-CITY UNDERCOVER 02: LIVING THE LOW LIFE (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-41-2). Writer Rob Williams (Iron Age, Daken) and artist D’Israeli (SVK, Scarlet Traces) return for more of the undercover judges who work in the crime-infested Low Life – the nastiest part of Judge Dredd’s Mega-City One – in action-packed, humour-filled stories.

Rebellion continue putting the law in order in May, with JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES 19 (£21.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-96-4) collecting the Dredd stories of three of the world’s biggest comic book writers: Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis and Mark Millar, including Morrison’s first Judge Dredd story, Inferno.

One of the biggest hits from 2000AD of the last year, the sarcastic, grumpy supernatural detective Absalom gets his first collection in June. ABSALOM: GHOSTS OF LONDON (£10.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9) by Gordon Rennie and Tiernen Trevallion sees the veteran Cockney copper may be dying of cancer, but that doesn’t stop him taking on demonic entities in modern London. A stylish mix of police procedural and occult forces, this collection will be fresh from the weekly comic!

 Pat Mills’ popular Celtic barbarian returns in SLÁINE: TREASURES OF BRITAIN (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-97-1) in June with art by Dermot Power and Steve Tappin. The follow-up to the best-selling Sláine: Lord of Misrule, this celebrated story has been unavailable for years and includes a new introduction by Mills.

Another of Mills’ enduring creations is collected in July. SAVAGE: THE GUV’NOR (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9) by Pat Mills and Patrick Goddard continues lorry driver Bill Savage’s fight against the forces now occupying Britain in this taut nourish epic about guerrilla warfare in a contemporary bombed-out London.

It was one of the most famous deaths in comics history, but what you think you know about mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha’s passing is wrong. July’s STRONTIUM DOG: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHNNY ALPHA (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-43-6) by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra sees the veteran writer revive one of the most beloved characters from 2000AD as the most famous Search/Destroy agent of them all spectacularly returns from the grave…

 In August, JUDGE DREDD RESTRICTED FILES 04 (£19.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-46-7) features writing by John Wagner and Mark Millar, with art from Bryan Talbot, Henry Flint and many more. Featuring rare thrills from 2000AD annuals and specials this best-selling series features never before collected material.

He’s the most startling new character to emerge from 2000AD in a decade – a murderous monosyllabic entity bent on revenge for his murdered race. SHAKARA: THE DESTROYER (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-38-2) collects the second half of Robbie Morrison and Henry Flint’s stunning series. Reality teeters on the edge of oblivion in this tale of monumental carnage and devastation, packed with incredible artwork from this breakaway talent.

 And in the same month the new Dredd film starring Karl Urban hits screens, September sees the first ever 2000AD collectable art book – 2000AD COVER ART FEATURING JUDGE DREDD (£34.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-44-3). Edited by 2000AD graphic novels editor Keith Richardson, this highly-collectable tome will celebrate 2000AD and Judge Dredd’s joint 35th anniversary with a compilation of the most stunning and innovative Judge Dredd-related covers, illustrated by some of the greatest talents in the industry – a must for 2000AD and Dredd fans!

The January to September 2000 AD graphic novel schedule in full: 

January:
AMPNEY CRUCIS INVESTIGATES – VILE BODIES (£11.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-94-0)

February:
JUDGE DREDD: THE CURSED EARTH SAGA (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-08-5)
JUDGE ANDERSON: THE PSI FILES 02 (£19.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-95-7

March:
KINGDOM: CALL OF THE WILD (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-98-8)

April:
MEGA-CITY UNDERCOVER 02: LIVING THE LOW LIFE (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-41-2)

May:
JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES 19 (£21.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-96-4)
JUDGE DREDD: THE DAY THE LAW DIED (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-09-2)

June:
 ABSALOM: GHOSTS OF LONDON (£10.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9)
SLÁINE: TREASURES OF BRITAIN (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-97-1)

July:
SAVAGE: THE GUV’NOR (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9)
STRONTIUM DOG: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHNNY ALPHA (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-43-6)

August:
JUDGE DREDD RESTRICTED FILES 04 (£19.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-46-7)
SHAKARA: THE DESTROYER (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-38-2)

September:
2000 AD COVER ART FEATURING JUDGE DREDD (£34.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-44-3)
JUDGE DREDD: THE DARK JUDGES (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-45-0)

Remembering Lis Sladen, aka Sarah Jane Smith

Aurum Press will release Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography this week - an occasion tempered with sadness, given her untimely death back in April - but a release that prompted my own memories of 'working' with the accomplished actress back when I was editing Doctor Who Magazine.

When Lis first appeared as journalist Sarah Jane Smith in the 1973 Doctor Who story The Time Warrior, little did she know the character would become one of the most enduring and fondly remembered of the series' long history.

The years that followed saw Lis traverse time and space alongside classic Doctors Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, whilst a generation of children crouched behind the sofa, terrified but transfixed as their tea-time heroine found herself menaced by Daleks, dinosaurs, Cybermen, Egyptian mummies, actors in green Bubble Wrap and even the Loch Ness Monster.

By the time she quit the TARDIS in 1976, making front-page news, Lis had become one of the most familiar faces of a TV golden age.

But you don't just walk away from Doctor Who. Fandom made Sarah Jane Smith their own, while Lis Sladen took on another adventure - bringing up her daughter. But even then, she was asked to reprise her role many times, appearing in anniversary specials, the ill-fated 1981 spin-off with robotic sidekick K-9, radio plays, for the BBC's Children in Need and, in the first Doctor Who comic strip I edited for Doctor Who Magazine, Train Flight.

Written by Andrew Donkin and Graham S. Brand, drawn by John Ridgway, I recall I wanted to make a statement with my first edited strip and like editors before me, put my own 'stamp' on what I wanted to see in the magazine's comic section. That included, on occasion, utilising more elements of the TV show than just the Seventh Doctor, such as featuring some TV monsters and, eventually having Ace (played on TV by Sophie Aldred) join the Time Lord in the TARDIS.

John Ridgway work in progress
for Train-Flight

I'd already been in contact with Lis Sladen before her comic appearance: as part of its obligations to the BBC and actors union Equity, in my time as editor DWM had a requirement to pay 'appearance fees' to actors for the use of BBC photographs not connected with recently-transmitted episodes. While these fees were quite low, the paperwork required to secure permissions from actors and their agents (and the owners of rights on some of the monsters such as the Daleks, Cybermen and Yeti) was quite time consuming (but needed to get new photos from the BBC Photographs department featuring those actors) and hadn't been carried out for some time before I took on the Magazine.

As a result there was a small backlog of monies owed to some actors, which I got resolved with the support of the rest of Marvel UK's magazine department (even though I think they thought I was mad to take on such a task).

Despite the cost, the bonus of sorting out this paper work was a much improved relationship with some of the show's key actors and rights holders. It meant that when I asked Lis if she would give permission to feature her likeness, as Sarah, in the strip, she happily agreed for the princely sum of £40 per issue.

It was also, I believe, the beginning of her stepping back into attending more fan events: I recall the first of these was one in Birmingham, which I went to along with then Who producer, the late John Nathan-Turner.

I don't recall if Lis liked her comic appearance but she gave permission for a further use (in a K-9 & Company inspired strip drawn by Vincent Danks), so it can't have been too badly received.  John Ridgway did a cracking job on the art, I felt, which I'm sure didn't hurt.

During my time as editor (and even after I had moved on from DWM) Lis occasionally phoned me up and asked me advice on some matters relating to fan invitations and other opportunities relating to her role as Sarah Jane Smith. She was always a pleasure to deal with.

Down the years, she toured the weird, wide and wonderful world of Doctor Who fandom and of course, as we know, became one of the series' all-time favourite companions. So when TV wunderkind Russell T Davies approached her to come back again, this time to a show backed by multi-million-pound budgets and garlanded with critical plaudits, how could she refuse?

This warm and witty autobiography, completed only months before Elisabeth died, tells her remarkable story, from humble beginnings in post-war Liverpool, through an acclaimed theatrical career working alongside stage luminaries such as Alan Ayckbourn, to Coronation Street, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and the furthest reaches of the Universe.

A unique insider's view of the world's longest-running science fiction series, and of British television yesterday and today, Elisabeth's memoir is funny, ridiculous, insightful and entertaining and a fitting tribute to a woman who will be sadly missed by millions - myself included.

• Elisabeth Sladen: the autobiography is published by Aurum Press on 7th November 2011 at £18.99

• Inside Doctor Who Magazine: an article about a day in the DWM office while I was editor by David Bishop

Desdaemona by Ben Macallan

There's a new book out from Solaris books which should be of interest to dtb readers. Here's the blurb:

New town. New girl. New job. That’s good, right?

Not really. Not when the girl can pretty much tear a vampire in two and the job is trying to find her kid sister, who’s in trouble with creatures even worse than the ones that have been trying to find you for how-many-years-has-it-been?!

In Ben Macallan’s terrifying, sexy, sinister urban fantasy debut, Jordan may look like a teenager but he treads the line between mundane reality and the supernatural in a world where vampires don’t glitter and runaways don’t just disappear – they’re hunted.

Macallan is not only a pseudonym of award-winning crime and thriller writer Chaz Brenchley, but has also appeared as a character in his books, Dead of Light and Light Errant. Brenchley has now let Macallan out to speak for himself in Desdaemona, a whole new kind of urban fiction. Dynamic and emotionally charged, Desdaemona will delight fans of Neil Gaiman and Clive Barker.

Check it out at the the publisher's website. Or you can buy the kindle version on Amazon.

Dan Dare inspired a lifetime of science for Professor Pillinger

Dan Dare fans inspired by his adventures might well be interested in Professor Colin Pillinger's new book, My Life on Mars.

Colin gained his PhD from the University of Swansea, Wales, in the late 1960s , and became one of the lucky few Britons to work on the lunar samples brought back by the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission. Later, at Cambridge and the Open University, he developed techniques for classifying meteorites according to their chemical composition, and has worked on a NASA mission to collect a sample of the 'solar wind', and ESA missions to investigate how meteorites erode in space.

He's perhaps best known for his work on the European Mars Express project and the the Mars Lander, Beagle 2 and his experiences surrounding its development are a major part of the new book.

Journey in to Space -
like Dan Dare, an
inspiration

Born in 1943 and growing up in the 1950s, it should come as no surprize to learn that Professor Pillinger was inspired by reading Dan Dare in the Eagle and the BBC's  Journey into Space radio adventure serial as a child. 

"Like many kids, I used to read Dan Dare comics and listen to Journey into Space on the radio," he revealed in an interview for the European Space Agency web site. "And I would draw rockets, which, of course, bore no resemblance to how they are now. It was a big surprise when I first saw that spacecraft didn’t have a point at the top and fins at the bottom!

"But I was not an anorak," he insisted in another interview for the Daily Telegraph. "When I went to class, it was to sit in the back row. School was a place to meet other kids and play football. I didn't want to be the next Einstein."

"My Life on Mars is a dual autobiography," Professor Pillinger says of the book. "Mine interwoven with the untold story (including the bits some people didn't want anybody to know) of Beagle 2. For seven years the British mission to look for life on the Red Planet captivated the public all over the World."

Stories about about the mission appeared in the media all over the World, particularly in the United States as the following extract from the book’s dust jacket reveals:

On 12 March 2010 Astronauts Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, Gene Cernan, the last man to do so and Jim Lovell, who piloted the stricken Apollo 13 home, broke a journey back to the United States to attend an event at the Royal Society designed to encourage an audience of young people to follow careers in science and technology. Among the Fellows of the Society present was Colin Pillinger.

As Colin got up to leave at the end of the afternoon, he was grabbed by a US Embassy official who said “The Astronauts would like to meet you.” Of course Colin wanted to meet them but he wasn’t prepared for the greeting he received from Neil Armstrong, perhaps the best known man on Earth, “You analysed some of my samples!” Being recognised by such a trio must make Colin, a man with a passion for telling the public about science, one of the best known scientists in Britain.

Colin owed Armstrong et al. a great deal. He had come from what can only be described as an under-privileged background, via the Apollo programme to lead the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission to Mars. In 1996 he gathered around him an unlikely team consisting of the Rock Band, Blur, the country’s most controversial artist Damien Hirst, combined them with top University scientists and engineers from the satellite Industry, designed a spacecraft on the back of a beer mat, built it in a garage and set off 250 million miles to answer one of life’s ultimate questions: “Are we alone in the Universe?” Colin’s wife, Judith, named the spacecraft Beagle 2; it had the British Nation on the edge of its seat at Christmas 2003.

This then is Colin Pillinger’s story and the full, previously undisclosed, account of the Beagle 2 mission.

Published by the British Interplanetary Society, this 369 page book features over 100 illustartions and a foreword by Sir Patrick Moore. It  costs £16.50 (plus £2.50 P&P in UK, overseas please enquire) when purchased from British Interplanetary Society’s website at www.bis-spaceflight.com and is also available from all good bookshops (ISBN 978-0-9506597-3-2).


• For signed and dedicated copies contact the author at www.barnstormpr.co.uk


• More famous Dan Dare fans listed here on our main site


• Inside Out - 2004 BBC interview with Professor Pillinger 


• The Guardian, 16th January 2009: Britain needs a real-life Dan Dare to inspire the young

John Hicklenton's '100 Months' Goes on Sale

100 Months, the final work of the late, great 2000AD artist John Hicklenton is now available from publisher Cutting Edge Press. Pat Mills describes it as "magnificent" and hints that despite John's passing earlier this year there is more work yet to be seen.

100 Months is John Hicklenton's final graphic novel, a parable of environmental devastation in which Mara, Warrior and Earth Goddess, seeks revenge against the Longpig: a satanic personification of capitalism, red in tooth and claw, whose followers, a legion of the damned, look quite a lot like... us.

John is best known for his work on 2000AD, Nemesis the Warlock and Heavy Metal Dredd was one of Britain’s leading comic book artists, famous for the brutal, visceral draughtsmanship he brought to the 2000 AD/Judge Dredd titles, transforming their cartoon dystopia into a circle of hell. His artwork was and remains uniquely disturbing and powerful, and often too much so for some comic book fans, and his career was dogged by requests that he 'tone it down'.

In writing and drawing 100 Months, John faced no such censorship, and gave free reign to a vision that is both starkly beautiful and apocalyptic. The world of the Longpig is rich in killing fields and scenes of mass crucifixion recalling Goya at his darkest.

The title, taken from HRH Prince Charles's warning that there were 100 months remaining to prevent cataclysmic climate change, reflects the urgency of both the book's prophetic voice, and the spirit and circumstances in which it was written.

"I was lucky enough to have Johnny Hicklenton draw my first published story, and I knew from the start that his was a unique and powerful vision," says Neil Gaiman. "100 Months is a heartbreaking final vision: one man going head to head with death, and with Death, and with life. I felt lucky to be allowed to read it and fortunate that Johnny made it for us before he left. It lingers and it haunts, and, ultimately, affirms."

John took his own life with the assistance of Dignitas in Zurich on the 19th March 2010, following a heroic struggle with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (His life, work and illness are the subject of the Animal Monday documentary Here's Johnny, which was broadcast on More4 and was the first film in history to win two Grierson awards). 100 Months was drawn and written in foreknowledge of his own imminent death, and its quality of intimate insight into universal themes of life, death and the planet's own survival seems at times to come from a place between worlds, to have been transmitted from the Hades, Western Lands or Sheol of the ancients to the 21st century as a cry of warning.

Despite Johns death, in a recent Facebook post, Pat Mills praises 100 Months, calling it "magnificent", and also hints that John left a lot of other unpublished work, including "artwork for a book with the title Bedlam," which he would love to see in print, too.

"You can imagine what that looks like!" he enthuses. Johnny lives on...

• More info: www.cuttingedgepress.co.uk/100months.html

Life Begins at 40 for Who fans?

Life Begins at 40, a new book by authors Chris Newton and Mark Charlesworth, is the story of two 30-something fanatics sharing a flat in Blackpool, out of pocket, out of luck and clinging to the hope that Life Begins at 40...

It's now available on pre-order from publishers Hirst (who also published Blue Box Boy, several books by Colin Baker and Anneke Wills' autobiography).

Jeff is a barman, constantly forestalling marriage to his neurotic new-age girlfriend, preferring the company of Pete, an agoraphobic misfit with some serious baggage. United by their social detachment and love of Doctor Who, their world view is tainted by too much cult TV, and the walls between reality and fantasy begin to blur, with hilariously disastrous consequences.

With middle-age fast approaching, can they really spend the rest of their lives hiding behind the sofa? Life Begins at 40 deals with the big questions. Should we get married? Are children a good idea? And, in the future, will we all be walking around with one eye and no arms from too much teleporting?

With a foreword by Doctor Who star Sophie Aldred, Life Begins at 40 is hilarious and essential reading for Doctor Who fans, anyone who sees middle age looming, or anyone who loves a good laugh. The book is available for pre-order, and if you buy it now you'll be lucky enough to get a signed and dedicated copy with your name in the credits before the book hits the shelves!

• To pre-order your copy (price £9.99) go here  on www.hirstpublishing.com

• To read Pete and Jeff's fictitious blog go to: www.peteandjeff.blogspot.com

Matt Smith's Doctor Who Covered in New Book

Books about Doctor Who aren't exactly rare these days and downthetubes wouldn't even begin to try to cover all of them. But every so often, a title of particular interest emerges which is worth looking out for. Often these are labours of love from smaller publishers, devoid of official status and the BBC Doctor Who logo.  

The Pandorica Opens by Frank Collins (contributor to the Doctor Who Appreciation Society's Celestial Toyroom magazine and the man behind the excellent Cathode Ray Tube blog) looks like being a highly informative and interesting look at Matt Smith's first season as the Doctor.

This is not a "who directed which scene on which day" kind of book. To quote Frank: "this is not an episode guide. You won't find a minutiae of detail about the production of the series, nor will you find exhaustive cast and crew lists.

"It's not a 'making of', it's more of a 'what does that episode really mean' book."

• Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens is available for pre-order from Classic TV Press.

In Review: The Art of Pho

By Julian Hanshaw
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
ISBN: 9780224089845
Out: 1st July 2010


The Book: The noodle soup called pho is the national dish of Vietnam. When Little Blue - having been dropped by a mysterious man with a red car and being told to count to 500 - finds himself in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's baffling, daunting capital,his salvation is his own mobile pho stand. Little Blue's relationship with the city and its food brings an understanding to what it means to never want to return home and the fact that everyone goes away in the end.

The Review: Comics fans should already be familiar with Julian Hanshaw, an animator, cartoonist and illustrator who won the Cape Observer Comica Graphic Short Story Prize in 2008 (the 2010 prize has just launched, details here on the ComICA site). The Art of Pho is his first graphic novel, an eclectic, quirky love story of the strange entity Little Blue - an alien in a strange land, just like Hanshaw was when he visited Vietnam. The story - complete with Pho recipes, a pleasant bonus, comes across as a love story not just with Blue and some of the characters but Ho Chi Min city, too, which reflects Hanshaw's own links with the subject matter.

Crammed with strange, bizarre images, weaving a peculiar and occasionally impenetrable tale of estrangement and romance, The Art of Pho won't be everyone's cup of tea. It's the kind of graphic novel Guardian reviewers and the literati will (and indeed, have) enthused about: working on levels beyond many action-adventure or humour titles that secure larger readership but are dismissed by the chattering classes as beneath their attention.

This isn't to dismiss Hanshaw's work as some intellectual curiosity: there are some genuinely moving scenes in the story, as Blue's romantic nature clashes with the realities of the world he's plunged into. When, at one point, Blue finds himself a plaything rather than a person, having misinterpreted the attentions of a customer at his pho stand, there is plenty of resonance with the way relationships sometimes develop beyond the pages of this challenging graphic novel. Art-wise, crammed with the kind stunning imagery that earned Hanshaw his Short Story Prize for 'Sand Dunes and Sonic Boom' back in 2008 (published in the Observer Review), it's sure to capture the imaginations of many, but in terms of story, it perhaps needed to be a little less labyrinthine.

• Buy The Art of Pho from amazon.co.uk

Web Links

• Julian Hanshaw's Official web site: www.julianhanshaw.co.uk


• For those of you impressed by Hanshaw's thought-provoking art, there's an exhibition of some of the pages at the Arts... Exhibition Space and Bar in Camberwell, London until the end of the month - more details here on ArtSlant. Some of Julian's work is also on permanent display at the Pho Restaurant in Clerkenwell.

• The Guardian: Graphic novelist Julian Hanshaw on the Art of Pho
When Julian Hanshaw went to Vietnam in 2006 he was bowled over by the sights and sounds of another world. Here the Observer/Cape graphic prize-winning artist talks us through the transformation of his experiences, from early sketches into the finished pages of his first graphic novel

• Guardian Podcast: Graphic Fiction (18 June 2010)
In the week that the 2010 Observer/Cape prize for graphic short stories launches, Ned Beauman and Rachel Cooke discuss the best in the genre, and Julian Hanshaw gives us the backstory to his new book, The Art of Pho

More Reviews...

• BookMunch
"Something of an oddity... a ragbag of glorious art and either mixed-up or inconsequential narrative hamstrings what perhaps should have been an interesting, loosely linked art installation. Graphic yes – novel, not so much..."

Competition: Win a Rude Britannia Book!

Marking the launch of the Rude Britannia Exhibition at the Tate, downthetubes has THREE copies of the tie-in book - Rude Britannia: British Comic Art by Martin Myrone, Tim Batchelor and Cedar Lewisohn - to give away!


Comic art - art that gains its effect through visual humour, caricature, exaggeration and slapstick, whether in print, reproduction or through the moving image - has long helped shape and inform British culture.

This 160 page, entertaining and irreverent history - featuring 100 colour illustrations - aims to present a wide-screen vision of comic art, from the eighteenth century to the present day, it features works by classic cartoonists and caricaturists, from Gillray, Rowlandson and Cruikshank, to Steve Bell, Robert Crumb, David Low and Ronald Searle. Beginning with the origins of the caricature, the book encompasses cartoons, comic books, film, photography, audio, new media and contemporary art. It traces the development of different genres and techniques, and deals with the development of successive media, from the engraving through to the newspaper and the online blog.

Through extensive illustrations of classic and little-known facets of comic art, the book succeeds in telling an alternative history of Britain. Leading critics are joined by well-known comedians, cartoonists and historians, making this a very contemporary take on what is still a rich and vibrant seam in the public life of the nation.

Martin Myrone is Curator (18th & 19th Century British Art), Tate Britain and is the author of The Blake Book, Henry Fuseli and George Stubbs. Tim Batchelor is Assistant Curator at Tate Britain and Cedar Lewisohn works for Tate Media and is the author of Street Art.

HOW TO ENTER: Simply answer the question below and send us the answer by e-mail to johnfreeman6-tatebritaincomp@yahoo.co.uk to arrive by 12 noon on Friday 25th June 2010. Please include a contact address. Sorry, UK readers only, due to postage costs! Three winners with the correct answer will be drawn at random from the downthetubes straw hat by the office cat and the names will be published on the web site.

• Which British national newspaper publishes Steve Bell's "If" comic strip?

Good luck!

• More about the book here on the Tate Britain web site


• Tate Britain is at Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Tel: 020 7887 8888 E-mail: visiting.britain@tate.org.uk. Web: www.tate.org.uk/britain/. Entry is free except for major exhibitions: Entrance to Rude Britannia is £10, Concessions £6. Open every day 10.00–18.00. Last admission to exhibitions

Hairsine delivers "Masked" cover

Top artist Trevor Hairsine has provided the cover to a new superhero short story anthology edited by my friend and ace SF book editor Lou Anders, who used to work for me on Star Trek Magazine and Babylon 5 Magazine.

To be published by Gallery Books, Masked also includes a short story by Paul Cornell.

The stories in this 384 page collection are 'Cleansed and Set in Gold' by Matthew Sturges, 'Where their Worm Dieth Not' by James Maxey, 'Secret Identity' by Paul Cornell, 'The Non-Event' by Mike Carey, 'Avatar' by Mike Baron, 'Message from the Bubblegum Factory' by Daryl Gregory, 'Thug' by Gail Simone, 'Vacuum Lad' by Stephen Baxter, 'A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows' by Chris Roberson, 'Head Cases' by Peter David & Kathleen David, 'Downfall' by Joseph Mallozzi, 'By My Works You Shall Know Me' by Mark Chadbourn, 'Call Her Savage' by Marjorie M. Liu, 'Tonight we fly' by Ian McDonald and'A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)' by Bill Willingham.

Trevor Hairsine sprang to deserved fame as an artist on 2000AD, but has since drawn Captain America, Wisdom, Ultimate Galactus, Black Panther and many other comics.

A 2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2007 Chesley Award nominee and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books' science fiction imprint Pyr, as well as the editor of anthologies Fast Forward 2, Sideways in Crime and more. In 2000, he served as the Executive Editor of Bookface.com, and before that he worked as the Los Angeles Liaison for Titan Publishing Group, writing a huge number of brilliant articles for me on STM and other Titan Magazines, as well as authoring The Making of Star Trek: First Contact.

Due for release in July, Masked looks to be another great collection from an editor who's a dab hand at assembling great anthologies (but never let him try and make you drink grass).

• Buy Masked from amazon.co.uk


• Buy Masked from amazon.com

Dying to be dead? Forbidden Planet has the answer...

The top comics and specialist store Forbidden Planet London is offering horror fans an exclusive opportunity to win your own gruesome demise in John Meaney’s (Thomas Blackthorne’s) next Angry Robot title – or to get your hands on a gorgeous replica Aztec calendar offered by Aliette de Bodard.

All you have to do is be at the signing of their latest Angry Robot titles Edge and Servant of the Underworld at Forbidden Planet’s London Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue on Friday 12th February 6 – 7pm.

There will also be a unique opportunity to interview the authors – and to speak to them about their work – after the signing.

Writing as Thomas Blackthorne, John Meaney - whose credits include Bone Song and Dark Blood, set in a dark, gothamesque city called Tristopolis, and exploring other parts of that strange alternate Earth - brings his readers the terror of Knife Edge – the reality TV show where wannabe blade fighters are the celebrities in a nation going to hell. Take a bloodied trip through a future London where prime-time gladiatorial combat has taken on a deadly bite...

Paris-based author Aliette de Bodard is a winner of the Writers of the Future Award and a Campbell Award finalist. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of venues, such as Interzone, Realms of Fantasy, Asimov’s, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction.

Servant of the Underworld is her debut novel, an Aztec mystery-fantasy featuring ghostly jaguars, bloodthirsty Gods and fingernail-eating monsters – and revealing her passion for, and knowledge of, Aztec mythology and culture.

• For more news about Forbidden Planet London signings visit forbiddenplanet.com/events

New Biography of Showbiz Legend Lew Grade

A new biography of British media entrepeneur Lew Grade - without whom shows such as Thunderbirds, UFO and The Muppets might never have been made - is to be published by Aurum Press next month.

All My Shows are Great is the first biography of a giant of British show business and the story of a pioneer of commercial television. A portrait of a genuinely larger-than-life figure legendary for his witticisms, Lew Grade was the last of the old-time media moguls – a genuine show business tycoon. From humble Jewish immigrant beginnings in east London, he became the world Charleston dance champion (and could dance it well into his eighties), from which he drifted into theatrical agenting, at which he discovered he was extremely good.

Soon he was a top impresario, with his brothers Bernard (Delfont) and Leslie Grade putting together variety bills, owning theatres, and eventually booking showbiz’s biggest names from both sides of the Atlantic.

The birth of commercial television saw him win a franchise with ATV, where Grade was a pioneer of popular culture, responsible for such TV hits as Saturday Night at the London Palladium, Robert Powell’s epic portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth and bringing shows like Thunderbirds, Space:1999 and The Muppets to British TV screens. It was his genius that also, then, paved the way for fan favourite comics such as TV Century 21 to reach the news stands.

Grade then went into films, most notoriously with Raise the Titantic! whose cost over-runs inspired his most memorable witticism, that “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic”.

Grade was still working until he died in his early nineties, in the office at dawn, puffing on his trademark giant Montecristo cigars, and never losing his love of a deal. “Some of my shows are good, some are bad,” he once said. “All of them are great”.

Former Sunday Times journalist Lew Chester’s biography – the first to be written, is an entertaining portrait of someone who was truly larger than life.

• All My Shows are Great by Lewis Chester is published by Aurum Press on 18th February at £20 in the UK

Terry-Thomas Bio Released in Paperback

The first biography of comedian Terry-Thomas - considered by some to be the inspiration for Captain Britain villain Mad Jim Jaspers and who made frequent British comics appearances - has just been released in paperback by Aurum Press, also publishers of facsimile editions of The Broons and Oor Wullie.

One of Britain's most beloved comics, Bounder! by Graham McCabb - also the author of Spike & Co., Dad's Army and Morecambe & Wise - traces Terry's life from his humble days in suburbia, to his dandy-like persona in Hollywood. With his sly little moustache, braod gap-toothed grin, garish waistcoats and ostentatious cigarette holder, Terry-Thomas certainly was an absolute bounder - both onscreen and off.

From an early age, Terry-Thomas set his sights on show business, making his television debut in 1949 in the groundbreaking How Do You View?. Cinema soon called and ith hit films such as School For Scoundrels and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, he went on to form a long and lucrative celluloid career. America loved the gap-toothed, English cad.

Terry also featured in several comic strips, including strips featured in Film Fun, such as this one by George Wakefield from a 1957 edition.

Sadly, in the 1970's, Parkinson's disease eventually forced him out of the limelight and into comparative obscurity.


Well-received on its hardcover release last year, Bounder! taps into a widespread nostalgia for the golden age of British entertainment. Terry-Thomas has become a cult figure, cited as a key influence by contemporary comedians such as Paul Whitehouse and Vic Reeves.

• Read an extract from the book, published by the Daily Mail on its hardcover release

• The Times review of Bounder!

Ray Harryhausen at Forbidden Planet in October

Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton will be signing An Animated Life at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Saturday 24th October between 1 – 2pm.

The last great animator before the introduction of CGI, Ray’s book takes us through 60 years of bringing dreams to life. From harpies and skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts to the six-armed Kali in Sinbad, Ray explains the films' journeys, from original concept through to the critics' reviews, as well as the basics of special effects and stop-motion animation. Now re-issued in softcover, An Animated Life is a wonderland guide through a golden age of SFX magic.


Inspired at 13 years old by seeing King Kong, Ray knew his future lay in special effects. Following on from his mentor Willis O'Brien, creator of Kong, Ray took the art of stop-motion animation one step further, weaving his magic on every concept from dinosaur to alien.

Probably the single best-known name in special effects, Ray Harryhausen is both visionary and artist and has written two previous and very successful books on the subject.

Angry Robot UK Launch in October

It’s a brand-fusion to reinvent science fiction in the UK, a union that may yet shake London to the core. Forbidden Planet London will be hosting the official UK Launch of Angry Robot Books on Saturday 10th October at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JR, with 2000AD, Marvel and DC Comics writer Dan Abnett, Andy Remic and Colin Harvey on hand to sign for their many fans.

Angry Robot is a new imprint from HarperCollins which started back in June, offering a wickedly fresh take on the SF, F and WTF industry. Publishing the best in dark and edgy fiction from renowned authors and the hottest in up-and-coming new talent, the Robot is set to bring you teenage serial killers, zombie detectives, howling axes, sex-crazed vampires, murderous gods and steampunk swordfights. And that’s for starters.

Featured guests Dan Abnett (Triumff), Andy Remic (Kell’s Legend) and Colin Harvey (Winter Song) will be on hand to allay (or possibly enhance) fears, chat to fans, answer questions and sign copies of their Angry Robot titles. There will be free prints available of the Larry Rostant cover of Triumff as well as a chance to see the Kell’s Legend promotional video... up close and personal.

There will also be a wide range of Angry Robot’s other titles available.

• Angry Robot Books: http://angryrobotbooks.com

• The following film was written, directed, and stars our Andy Remic, and gives a good taste of the flavour of his book Kell’s Legend, which is launched in the UK and Australia next week. Music by th3 m1ss1ng.

WexWorlds Sci Fi and Fantasy Fiction Festival Invades Wexford

Artemis Fowl creator Eoin Colfer, Darren Shan (The Saga of Darren Shan) and Hugo Award-winning author Ian McDonald (Brasyl, Desolation Road) are among the many creators who will be attending the first WexWorlds Festival, in Wexford, Ireland from Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd November 2009.

WexWorlds is the first Sci Fi and Fantasy Fiction Festival in Wexford, the brainchild of Eoin Colfer and the Wexford Arts Centre, and is supported by Failte Ireland, Wexford Borough, Wexford Council, Wexford Library, Wexford Chamber, hotels including Talbot and Whites of Wexford, book stores and other businesses.

Over the course of the weekend a range of activities will be taking place – including talks and readings, science experiments, comic art workshops, an exhibition on the process of writing for a comic, activities for younger children, discussions about fantastic literature, a selection of competitions and performance events – at varied venues in Wexford town, which will include Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford Library, book stores, related businesses and hotels.

Other professionals expecting to attend include:

• Judge Dredd and Warhammer comic artist Paul J Holden

• Transformers artist Nick Roche

• Author Oisin McGann (Small Minded Giants, Strangled Silence).

• 2000AD comics writer Michael Carroll (also author of The New Heroes series).

• Author Sarah Rees Brennan (The Demon’s Lexicon).

• Comics writer Andrew Donkin (Transformers, Batman, Doctor Who).

• Freakshow and Eagle Award-nominated comic writer and publisher for Atomic Diner comic books Robert Curley

The majority of the events over the weekend will be free, with only a minimal charge (€5) for three of the workshops.

As well as books and comics, the weekend is a celebration of all fantastic fiction, so there will also be workshops on costuming, light-hearted sessions with kids and foam weaponry, and movie screening. The festival will coincide with an exhibition by emerging visual artist Vera Klute at Wexford Arts Centre.

Situated on the south-east coast of Ireland, Wexford’s history is steeped in myth and legend and makes this a perfect location for a festival of the fantastic. A story tells of its origin in the mists of time, when Garman Garbh was drowned on the mudflats by waters released by an enchantress. The vast expanse of harbour thus created was named ‘The lake of Garman’ or Loch Garman, the Gaelic name for Wexford.

Wexford is also home to one of the top fantasy fiction writers: Eoin Colfer, author of the famed Artemis Fowl series, currently working on the much anticipated new follow-up to Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which is due to be released a short time before WexWorlds.

Accessible from mainland UK and Europe via sea (Rosslare Harbour) and air (Waterford/Dublin), with bus and train access from major cities in Ireland, this festival in Wexford will make a great weekend away for any international and national tourists with a taste for the fantastic.

The orgnaisers say they're currently working on programme development and will update progress on the festival website in due course.

• If you are interested in participating – as an artist, trader, visitor or volunteer – please email info@WexWorlds.net or visit www.wexworldsfestival.com

Pullman, Rowling part of books "Influential Elite"

The DFC comic writer and award-winning author Philip Pullman and fantasy author JK Rowling, creator of Harry Potter, have been listed as two of the UK book trade's elite, in a definitive list published by The Bookseller magazine.

Called The Bookseller Century, the list, available to read online as well as in print, recognises the UK's 100 most influential people in 2009, including publishers, booksellers, agents, journalists, bloggers and authors.

Overall, the list features 15 booksellers, 34 publishers and seven agents.

Pullman, a huge comics fan, revealed earlier this year that he planned to revive his character, John Blake, who featured in The DFC which sadly has fell victim, like many other things, to the current financial situation.

"Everyone connected with the comic hopes that The DFC will rise again one day, and so do thousands of readers," he noted on his official web site, "but the story of John Blake must be told. So I’m going to write it as a film and as a graphic novel."

"This is a significant and long overdue moment for us and for the trade, a rigorous and thought-provoking selection of the decision-makers and innovators that make the book trade tick," argues Bookseller's editor-in-chief Neill Denny.

The first of what is to be an annual list was compiled by the magazine's editorial team, led by features editor Tom Tivnan. Entries were selected using four criteria: longevity, influence, innovation and turnover. Tivnan said: "It was a challenge; there is enough top level talent to fill two or three lists. We had to make some hard, difficult choices to whittle it down to 100."

Planet of the Apes Chronology Book Published

A new independently-published book about the Planet of the Apes films is now available. The 322-page Timeline of the Planet of the Apes, by Rich Handley, is described as 'the definitive unauthorised chronology' and is released to coincide with the franchise's 40th anniversary.

As fans of the movies and TV series will know, Planet of the Apes continuity is complicated and at times appears to be contradictory - this book aims to sort out the mess! Even the cartoon series is included.

Find out more and order copies of this worthy project, which is very reasonably priced at under eighteen quid, at: www.hassleinbooks.com

Gothic Gasoline!

Top London and New York-based independent publishers Merrell -- well known for their art and graphic design books and more -- have announced the forthcoming release of Gasoline, an entrancing graphic novel by cult illustrator and musician Dame Darcy describes as a gothic story with a timely ecological message.

Gasoline is set in a post-apocalyptic world where petrol has become more precious than gold, survivors have had to adapt to life without technology. The Armbusters, a family of orphaned witches, are among the few survivors of a fiery apocalypse that struck at the height of society’s corporate greed and corruption. Recycling and inventiveness – which had been overlooked in times of relentless materialism – have become essential to survival.

The Armbusters have created a utopian commune where they grow their own food, make their own clothes and exchange goods and services rather than use money. They own the only remaining working car, and their search for precious fuel for it takes them from the safety of the Karoi Utopian Survivalist Compound and pits them against the sinister nihilists who lurk in the decaying urban sprawl below.

"Gasoline is a gothic fairy tale of danger and suspense, heartbreak and redemption, and, above all, the perseverance of magic and love," Merrell's publicist explains. "It’s also a thought-provoking story about society’s changing priorities and about man’s relationship with the earth and its limited natural resources.

"Although nature had been coaxed into flourishing in Karoi, there had been centuries of damage before the founding of the community, and everyone was suffering the repercussions. The erratic weather was incited by the nuclear disaster of long ago or by the depletion of the ozone layer; the cause didn’t make a difference now, only the effect: storms."

The magical characters are brought vividly to life by Dame Darcy’s detailed and intensely atmospheric illustrations, a graphic artist, cartoonist and musician based in Los Angeles and New York. Her comic book Meatcake has been published by Fantagraphics since 1993. Her other publications include Frightful Fairytales (2002), Dame Darcy's Meatcake Compilation (2003) and The Illustrated Jane Eyre (2006). Darcy also sings and plays bass in the group Death by Doll.

• Pre-order Gasoline from amazon.co.uk
• Pre-order Gasoline from amazon.com
• Visit Dame Darcy's official web site
• More from Merrell Publishers