Keith Page reveals sequel to "London Calling"

Ace artist Keith Page continues to tease his loyal fans with more of his work over on his blog, this time revealing a part scan of the cover for Squadron of the Screaming Damned, the sequel to one of his Charlotte Corday stories London Calling, which will be published by Timebomb Comics.

Keith's latest comics work includes an issue of Commando, set in World War 1, and "Hush, Hush", a strip for STRIP Magazine Issue 1 (still on sale in UK comic shops), which is a prequel to his graphic novel The Iron Moon.

(Via Keith Page.)

In Review: London Calling

Artist Keith Page, best known for Commando but who has also illustrated Thunderbirds and Dan Dare over the years, has an unusual character in the form of dimension hopping French agent Charlotte Corday whom Page considers to be something of a Jerry Cornelius figure -- although Garth or Adam Eterno might be closer from a comics perspective.

With a story by Commando writer Stephen Walsh, London Calling places a confused Charlotte in 1950s London in which not everything is quite as it should be. During World War II, the French experimented with giving their troops vampire blood to try to make them impervious to bombs and bullets but post-war this backfired with an outbreak of vampirism in the country. To prevent the vampires taking over Paris the city was taken out of time using captured Nazi technology and now, as it tries to return, it is causing ripples in the fabric of time that are affecting Charlotte Corday in her undercover mission in London.

There, befriended by a charming vampire called Luca and while looking for another French agent, she gets caught up in a raid on a vampire club by the Metropolitan Police's V-Squad and is arrested suspected of being a vampire herself.

The whole plot is book ended by a different Charlotte recovering her children from a flooded London and telling them the story of the book to pass the time.

As the above might suggest the main story is a little bizarre. This is partially deliberate, due to the time ripples caused by the French which throw up images of a Nazi-occupied London, HG Wells' Martian invasion and Orwell's 1984, but also because there is just too much trying to happen.

As much as I would like to read more about the French vampire problem, I think that a straight French agent caught up in the London vampire underworld would have worked better without the whole out-of-time-Paris trying to contact a confused Charlotte, which only serves to confuse the reader as well.

That said, there is much to recommend the book. Stephen Walsh's script revels in in-jokes from TV film, radio and novels - they come thick and fast and I'm sure that I didn't even catch them all. Keith Page's black and white artwork, so familiar from his many issues of Commando, has more depth and detail that that title allows for and his designs for the V-Cars squad with their black cars, Vespa scooters and crossbows will raise a smile while he manages to get many faces familiar from 1950s and 1960s film and TV into his crowd scenes.

Charlotte Corday gas had a somewhat unusual history with stories appearing on the ROK Comics mobile comic platform and on Keith Page's blog before finally appearing in this softcover black and white book and now in the hardcover colour book, The Iron Moon. Full marks must go to Steve Tanner of Time Bomb Comics for choosing to publish this first paper version of the Charlotte Corday character. With the majority of Time Bomb's output being colour US size comics, a 52 page, A4, black and white graphic novel is a step in a new direction for the publisher.

With its story and artwork brimming over with ideas, London Calling is an impressive first outing for Keith Page and Stephen Walsh's Charlotte Corday character which is worth looking out for.  

• There are more details of London Calling and how to purchase it on the Time Bomb Comics website. Keith Page's blog with previews of future issues of Commando and other graphic novels that he is working on is here. 

• There is an interview with Keith Page on the downthetubes main site and his Witchcraft Street strip featuring a young Charlotte Corday is serialised on the Witchcraft Street blog.

Charlotte Corday Times Two - graphic novels, that is...

Time Bomb Comics has confirmed their next release, the graphic novel London Calling, will be launched at the British International Comics Show next month (October 2010).

Written by screen-writer Stephen Walsh with stunning artwork by renowned Commando artist Keith Page, London Calling is a complete thrilling adventure, told in a style that harkens back to classic British comic strips of yesteryear.

Set in a 1950’s London one-step sideways to our own, secret agent Charlotte Corday encounters invading Martians, talking puppets, unexpected cameos, and the vampire-hunting coppers of the Metropolitan “V” Squad as they deal with an outbreak of vampires at Highgate Cemetery.

Both Stephen and Keith will be attending a signing session at the Time Bomb Comics table during the BICS weekend, where another Charlotte Corday tale featuring a different incarnation of the universe-hopping femme fatale - the steampunk adventure The Iron Moon - will also be on sale from Print Media Productions.

• For more information on London Calling visit: www.timebombcomics.com

Keith Page Launches New Web Comic

Commando artist Keith Page, who's also working on a new steampunk comic, Iron Moon, for Spaceship Away, has just started a new web comic, Dennis the Donkey on a dedicated blog entitled "Witchcraft Street".

This is the backstory to his mobile comic strip, Charlotte Corday, published on ROK Comics, revealing just how French resistance fighter, Parisian gangster and occult enthusiast Jean Corday got turned into an invisible crime fighter that looks like a donkey.

"I've drawn the first phase of the story already (54 strips) and will be posting regularly up to around 150 in total," he told downthetubes. "Each strip is one-third of a standard art size."

• You can view the strip here: dennisthedonkey.blogspot.com

• Keith's personal blog, featuring his latest work, is at keithpageukcomicsartist.blogspot.com

• Read a downthetubes interview with Keith here

Tube Surfing 26 June: Awards, Phantom Patrol and Steampunk!

• Comics artist Francesca Cassavetti has confirmed her brand new 24 page comic will be on sale at the upcoming 176 event in London tomorrow (Saturday 27 June). Put your best foot forward and stride on down to 176 for a fab day out in Camden and pick yourself up a copy while you're there.

• Other exhibitors at 176 include Oli Smith, Sean Azzopardi, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, David Baillie, Thomas Plaskitt, Juan-Carlos Cambon, Phil Spence, Paul Rainey, Gavin Burrows, Sally-Anne Hickman, John Maybury, Andy Luke and many others - a great line up and well worth checking out if you're in the smoke!

• Commando artist Keith Page is having fun teasing his fans with art from his upcoming steampunk adventure Iron Moon, which features an alternate version of his heroine, Charlotte Corday. Iron Moon will be fully painted and appear as part of the new line up in Spaceship Away: coincidentally, the latest issue features a cover by this terrific artist.

• Jon Haward, who reveals he's back at work on a Judge Dredd story for 2000AD - his first strip for the comic since 1993 - also reports that Classical Comics award-wiining comics adaptation of Macbeth is to be published in Turkey. In more good news for the determined publisher, another of its titles, Frankenstein received its first award, given by the Association of Educational Publishers in America, for Distinguished Achievement in grades 9-12. Every notable educational publisher enters these awards, so to win on their first attempt is a great accomplishment.

• Chris Weston has just posted the final art for his cover for Bear Alley Books upcoming Phantom Patrol - and as you can see, it's truly stunning.

Both Phantom Patrol and Cursitor Doom will ship in August: ordering information will be online soon at bearalleybooks.blogspot.com.

• Artist Rob Davis, whose working on several projects at once, reports he busy working on layouts for a 10-page Doctor Who comic strip that will be "a bit of a tribute to a true comic genius.

"Dan McDaid has written me a mad little story full of genius characters.

"I'm also juggling two other comic strips with the help of Geraint Ford and Faz Choudhury. I'm trying not to keep using the word busy in all my posts, so I'll just say that I'm... fully occupied."

• Boychild Productions' Sean Michael Wilson reports he has opened up a new blog to tell people more directly about the Bespoke Comic book service that he's now developing with various artists.

• And finally: Simon Furman reminds us the latest issue of Wildstorm's StarCraft Issue (#2), written by Simon with art by Federico Dallochio, hits stores this week (24th June in the US, 25th in the UK). A spin-off from the upcoming StarCraft 2 game, due out later this year, the second issue sees the recently reformed, hard bitten team of ex-cons, The War Pigs, running up against serious opposition in the shape of space-going cutthroat mercs. Will their quest to find and ‘retire’ ex-marshal and StarCraft mainstay Jim Raynor collapse before it’s even started? Probably not, as this is issue #2 of an ongoing series, but there’s still 22 packed pages of searing story action waiting for you, with a twist or two thrown in for good measure.
"Things are really starting to hot up, and whether you’re a fan of the game or not, you’d do well to jump onboard now!" Simon urges.

Keith Page: Raiding the Past and Future

Comics artist Keith Page, co-creator of the mobile strip Charlotte Corday, is one of the regular interior and cover artists on British publisher DC Thomson’s Commando as well as writing and illustrating the Dan Dare prequel Rocket Pilot in comics magazine Spaceship Away.

As a part-time artist he worked on UK titles such as 2000AD, Dan Dare and TV Comic annuals before going full time illustrating Thunderbirds and Stingray in the national newspaper The Sunday Times.

Now, in an exclusive interview, Jeremy Briggs talks to Keith about his varied career for the main downthetubes site, including his work in the mobile comics arena with his creator-owned strip Charlotte Corday.

Plus, working with a number of other British comics experts, we're pleased to present a detailed stripography charting Keith's work down the years.

• Read the Keith Page interview
• Read the Keith Page Stripography

Commando © DC Thomson