"Heroes and Idols" up and running in Edinburgh

Heroes and Idols is a new retail presence at the Games Hub, Edinburgh.

The store stocks a whole range of comics and related merchandise, and tells downthetubes theywill be organising exclusive signing events and comic and toy marts in the future.

"We are happy to order stock in for customers," James Lundy tells us, "and offer massive discounts on pre-order items."

• The Games Hub is at 101 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9JB. You can find out more information from their blog here: www.heroesandidols.com/blog/101 

• downthetubes Comic Shops UK Map (via GoogleMaps)
 

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New comic shop to open in Perth

Perth's only comic book and collectables store, Venganza, will have its grand opening on Saturday 10th September and with loads of special offers on throughout the weekend and loads of freebies and prizes, owner Brendan Dalton promises it's going be a great weekend.

Promoting British independent publications as well as Marvel and DC, Brendan tells us he has 10 signed and numbered copies of Becky Cloonan's self published Wolves on offer, along with a few copies of the first issues of UK self-published comic anthology Solipsistic Pop.

10 limited edition shirts will be given away at random for purchasing customers throughout the day, and there will be offers on many items, including graphic novels.

- Venganza opens 10th September 2011 at 44 Princes Streeet, Perth PH1 3BN. Contact email: enquiries@venganza.co.uk. For more information visit: www.venganza.co.uk. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/venganzacomics

Above artwork by Becky Cloonan - http://inkandthunder.blogspot.com

Comic fans rally to help Leeds-based OK Comics store from closure

Comic fans around the UK and beyond - including TV and Radio presenter Jonathan Ross - have rallied to try to stop a popular Leeds-based comic store, OK Comics, from going under after building work caused a huge drop off in passing trade.

People who have visited OK Comics in Leeds over the last couple of weeks will have noticed scaffolding outside the shop as Thornton's Arcade, owned by a private company, renovates the area.

Unfortunately, the work is causing havoc for the award-winning comics retailer.

"The ongoing work, the presence of scaffolding, workmen, dust and noise has had a massive negative effect on the amount of people visiting our shop," says owner Jared Myland.

"The work was due to start in February when it would have least effect on trade, and last for six weeks in total. The work was to be carried out in three stages, two weeks per stage... this hasn't happened.

"The first stage of the work started in June and is now moving into it's fifth week. It's not known how long it will last."

The ongoing work - and the uncertainty over how long it will last - means the shop could go under, but now fans across the globe - including TV presenter Jonathan Ross (an ex comic shop owner himself) - are rallying to urge fans to support the store, relaying Jared's appeal for custom via comics sites such as Geek Syndicate and Bleeding Cool, twitter and facebook.

"There is a bare minimum the shop needs to take to continue trading," says Jared. "The reduction of income because of the renovation work has, in one month, damaged OK Comics very badly, and threatened our ongoing existence.

"Our regular customers have been great, enduring the restricted conditions to continue buying comics and graphic novels from us," he continues in a much-republished online appeal. "But we've lost pretty much all our passing trade and all our casual browsing customers. New customers have dried up almost completely.

"OK Comics has never been about making money," he comtinues. "It's important that the bills get paid, staff get wages, and that stock is paid for. But it's not a high profit venture. It's about comics, and the people who read them."

If you can help OK Comics by buying from them online, that's going to help the store, which was the first shop ever to be honoured with the Retail Legend Award in the Leeds Retail Therapy Awards, voted the outright winner by the city’s shoppers over other shortlisted shops - including Marks & Spencer.

"We'll continue to sell back issues for 50p (we recently acquired two great new collections), says Jared, "and we'll be running sales and special offers daily over the next few weeks... We'll continue to receive new comics and graphic novels regularly every week."

If there is a book or comic you were thinking of trying, do OK Comics a favour and try it now. If you've ordered something and have yet to pick it up from them, do it today. If you live in the Leeds area and shop at OK Comics, recommend them to your friends. If it's been a while since you collected your standing order from OK, do it very soon.

If you've got a friend who's got a birthday coming up, buy their present from OK Comics now: help OK Comics through this hopefully temporary, difficult time. Don't let them go under through no fault of their own.

Check out their web site (www.okcomics.co.uk) for the latest events or follow them on Twitter or via facebook.com/OK-Comics


• http://www.okcomics.co.uk/ is at 19 Thornton’s Arcade, Briggate, Leeds LS1 6LQ UK. Tel: (0113) 246 9366. Email: shop@okcomics.co.uk


• Google Map | Bing Map


• Twitter: http://twitter.com/OKComics

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OK-Comics

• Check out how Twitter has spread word of this appeal via trendMap

Tube Surfing: Alternative Press, Bryan Talbot, Comic Sales Figure and more Mackie!

• The Alternative Press Fair is back! Taking place in London on 13th February, this is a free event celebrating all things self-published and DIY: Comics and Zines, Radical Literature, Poetry, Printmaking, Book Arts and even a bit of DIY Fashion come together in this carnival of modern cottage industry!

There will be a huge variety of things to see and do, including collaborative drawing and live screen printing where you can make your own poster of the day. Plus, in the evening there will be a party to celebrate the first birthday of the Alternative Press Fair with an open mic night for all comers to try, also featuring poetry, spoken word and music. Get along and help the organisers blow out the candles! More info at www.alternativepress.org.uk

• Talking of events, Bryan Talbot and Denise Mina will be attending Glasgow's Aye Write Festival on Friday 12th March at 7.30-21.00. Bryan will of course be well known to most readers as the creator of Luther Arkwright, Alice in Sunderland, hailed by the Guardian as one of the ten best graphic novels ever and, more recently, Grandville, inspired by the work of the nineteenth-century French illustrator Gerard. Denise Mina is well known as a crime writer but recently worked with Leonardo Manco on John Constantine: Hellblazer: Empathy Is the Enemy, set in Glasgow. They'll be discussing graphic novels in a specially illustrated event with Stuart Kelly. Tickets are £7/£6 and you can find more info here on the Festival web site.

• (via Bugpowder): British independent Unico Comics is on the look out for British artists who can complete books they intend to publish in 2011! Unico's plans include a series of 22 page one shots published in b/w or using grey scale. Paul H Birch has the story at speechballoons.

• News that Kieron Gillen and Steven Sanders' S.W.O.R.D. series from Marvel, which guest-starred Death's Head in its first two issues, is to meet an untimely demise has prompted a flurry of debate over on the Marvel UK-inspired It Came from Darkmoor blog. #3 came out this week, to be rewarded with the news that #5 will now be the final issue, and the Darkmoor editor has joined others campaigning for its continuation, offering several insights into the state of US comic publishing. It's worth checking out the comments on the piece, where we learn the success threshold of a US comic is, apparently, some 27,000 copies. (#1 of S.W.O.R.D. sold 21,988, according to ICV2)

• A much longer living comic was Britain's weekly title Film Fun, which celebrated its 90th anniversary last week. One of the most successful comics from Amalgamated Press, it ran from 1920 to 1962, compiling over 2,000 issues before it merged into new kid on the block Buster and Lew Stringer has published an affectionate tribute on his always-entertaining Blimey! It's another blog about comics blog...

• And finally... comic creator Simon Mackie, who kindly dropped us a line about his new blog devoted to The Beezer earlier this week, is certainly keeping busy. He's currently working on 'digitalising' an old comic strip he drew with Ben Rowdon Called 'Ride Your Horse Cowboy' and you can view the first two pages over on the Drunk Duck web comics portal. Also, look out for an autobiographical story of his coming out very soon in the mature readers only US comic Satyr, in #10, available from Dimestore Productions and other online stores.

(Compiled with thanks to John Owens and Matthew Badham)

Adventure Come To... Kirkcaldy

In these downbeat times, it's rare to have something to celebrate - especially the opening of a new comic shop. But that's exactly what's just happened north of the border.

Kingdom of Adventure, which opened complete with a visit from Darth Vader and Stormtroopers on 20th June, intends to offer comic and games fans across Fife the chance not just to buy comics and games -- but play the games on show as well. And not in any small way: while game areas are nothing new in specialist stores, KOA is spread over two storeys and is fully kitted out to deal with up to 40 players at any one time.

The store will also be running classes including sessions on how to play the games on sale and others on how to paint the miniatures used to play them.

"Up until now Fife comics and games fans have had to travel to Edinburgh and Dundee or further to get the latest range of products, services and knowledge that Kingdom of Adventure will offer," says Dave. "Now they will have one of the best stocked shops of its kind in Scotland on their doorstep."

Despite the economic downturn and the closure of comic shops elsewhere in the UK, Dave believes that Fife is the ideal location for Kingdom of Adventure this nee store.

"Fife has a thriving comics and games community and Kirkcaldy feels like the ideal location for this new kind of shop. Plus, we’re a first in Scotland – offering the comics and games with plenty of space to play them in.

“I’m really hoping that the shop can play a big role in the Fife community," he continues. "I've ran games clubs in Edinburgh so I know that the facilities that we offer are in demand.

"I’ve already had a phenomenal response in talking to people about the shop, so I’m hopeful that people will come along and see what we have," he reveals enthusiastically. "There’s a huge demand out there."

Expect various events to be part of the store's schedule in coming months. "As well as the day to day running of Kingdom of Adventure, I'm also in talks with various comic and gaming industry celebrities about having signings and other special events," says Dave. "We've already had a special guest for the launch with Dungeons & Dragons writer Keith Baker in the shop running games and chatting with fans."

For Dave, the new venture is more than just a commercial venture he's been planning for years.

“I live and breathe comics and games," he says, "and I can’t wait to get started turning my hobby into my business.”

• Kingdom of Adventure is located at 21-23 Whytescauseway in Kirkcaldy. Tel: 01592 328121 or e-mail shop@kingdomofadventure.co.uk. Web: www.kingdomofadventure.co.uk

20 Years and Celebrating!

Canterbury comic shop Whatever Comics is holding a grand re-opening celebration on Saturday 18 October to mark its 20th anniversary and relocation to a fantastic new spot on the city's main high street.

Laurence "Punisher" Campbell and comic book writer and journalist Rob "Indy /2000ad Jones" Williams are confirmed guests at the event, along with Cy "Starship Troopers" Dethan, Nic "Cancertown" Wilkinson and Ian Sharman, co-founder of Orang Utan Comics.

In a posting on the shop's blog (boy, these guys are organised when it comes to making the most of their web presence), shop owner Manny Amariohas written about the reasons for the continued existence of what has become known as Whatever Comics and the decision to relocate in such uncertain times for retailers. Here are the edited highlight...

"The answer is simple. Faith," he writes. "I started Whatever Comics at a time when everyone told me that it was insane to start a business of any kind, let alone a comic shop. 'A what shop? is that like, jokes?'

""No, it's like in paper pamphlets which tell cartoon style stories,' was the easiest way to try to explain it to the average Sun Reader.

"'You're MAD!' was the usual reaction."

"'You need to grow up was another,' and this coming from someone clutching the Sunday Sport. Yeah right.. We had, negative equity in those days, not to mention unemployment, banks and stock markets crashing and burning... bit like a credit crunch, same soup, but in a different kitchen.

"It had come to a point where I could have walked away, or stayed doing what I do... so in the spirit of Whatever, in the face of all opposition, and also finding myself without any ties, I decided that now would be a good time to go mainstream and hit the high street.

"...So why not walk away, after twenty years? Simple answers is, I wasn't ready too, after years of believing in something, and then seeing that something become mainstream, with blockbuster movies, TV shows, and Superhero outfits available at Argos for your Friday Night fancy-dress party, it would have been rude not to have stayed, after all, it was down to the likes of myself and other forward thinking people that made it has come to pass... I may be at the bottom run of this industry as a retailer, but I am working in comics. I like to think that I have in some small way helped to open the doors of perception which could have very easily have been closed.

"...What was it like to move twenty years of life in three days? Hellish, much blood sweat and heated moments. Was it worth it? Hell yes, I am doing what I want to do, rather than doing what I am told to do, it doesn't get much better that, discounting a date with Gillian Anderson that is... so as a summing up, wanting to believe is not enough, you actually have to believe."

Congratulation to the Whatever Comics team and if you're in Kent, look them up. Especially on the Saturday 18 October!

• Full details of the event can be found on the Whatever Comics website. The shop is located at 9 St. Peters St. High Street, Canterbury, CT1 2AT.
Telephone 01227 453226.