ROK releases first Beatles audio comic in new eight-issue series

ROK Mobile Comics has released the first issue of its new audio comic The Beatles Story for iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices.

The eight-issue digital series collects, for the first time in its entirety, the classic and highly-acclaimed Beatles strip created by the late Angus Allan and Arthur Ranson for the British weekly comic, Look-In.

With new covers by Martin Baines, the digitally-enhanced audio comic also includes rare Beatles videos and other material to complement the comic, including audio commentary memories from writer and radio broadcaster Angie McCartney.

Working closely with artist Arthur Ranson - with some pages scanned from original artwork - and the estate of writer Angus Allan, the eight-issue digital audio comic is available for for iPad, iPhone, Android and other mobile devices, the strip complemented by fully authored audio enhancements that further bring this unique comic biography of The Beatles to life.

The launch coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four's beginnings back in 1962, when The Beatles - John, Paul, George and Ringo - took the charts by storm in 1962 with their first official release, "Love Me Do", quickly followed by "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You". Beatlemania soon swept across the globe as the Fab Four recorded a staggering 12 studio albums, 13 EPs and 22 singles from 1962 to 1970.

It is estimated they have sold over one billion records worldwide and The Beatles continue to influence many musicians and artists today, attracting a new generation of fans.

Beautifully realized, The Beatles Story charts the history of the band from their struggle for success in the early 1960s through their entire career until the band's split in 1970.

DJ Mike Read has called the strip "the only worthwhile strip record of the Beatles" and the creator-owned comic, first published in British comic Look-In has only ever been reprinted in an abridged form, both in the UK and in Europe.

The opening page of The Beatles Story
© Angus Allan & Arthur Ranson

"Before The Beatles - Their Story in Pictures strip, Angus Allan, comic-book and Paperback Writer, and I had been teamed up by Look-in Editor Colin Shelbourn to do The Elvis Story," recalls Arthur Ranson of the origins of his acclaimed Beatles comic strip. "Like Dreamers Do I suggested to Angus that we might retain the copyright - prompted by belief in its future possibilities and thinking possible returns When I'm Sixty-Four.

"Rather than just the Money there was also pride in ownership and an interest in creators rights. Creator ownership was at that time even less usual then it is now and Nobody I Know at the time had done that. Can’t now imagine the hubris that made me pushy so don’t Ask Me Why.

"When Angus heard the idea he was nervous about it," Arthur continues. "Apart from the gamble that a reduction in fee would later be recouped I think it ran against his idea of how professional comics guys worked and he might be seen as a  Bad Boy. I convinced Angus We Can Work It Out and the Two of Us took the proposal to Colin. I said I would not draw the strip on any other terms. (How was it I was so cocky?) With much less argument than I expected Colin agreed. Thank you, Colin.

"When Colin wanted The Beatles strip it was more or less understood that the same terms would apply. At Look-in’s expense Angus and I became Day Trippers, took A Ticket to Ride and went to Liverpool for research, visiting  Penny Lane and all.

"ITV Publications reproduced the strip as a paper book only four months after its first appearance in Look-In, hardly Any Time at All. The impression I was left with was that whoever organised the reprint was so miffed when he discovered that Angus and I had the copyright that he made no attempt to sell it on so it wasn’t exactly Here, There, and Everywhere. Angus and I took on an agent to act on our behalf and he landed some foreign versions.

"Some of the artwork was displayed at the Walker Art Gallery in their 1984 'Art of the Beatles' exhibition."

"Do You Want to Know a Secret? Drawing a weekly story with the hope of seeing it reappearing in a complete continuous format did need some thinking about," Arthur reveals. "The space where the title would go required filling, but not with anything that was essential. For new readers the breaks are then not apparent and the story will move without interruption, Act Naturally..." 

The Beatles Story is the latest audio comic project from ROK, who launched their first audio adventure comic Team M.O.B.I.L.E. earlier this year, with several new titles, including Houdini, new adventures of the world's greatest escape artist soon to follow, along with spy adventure Tomorrow We Live, written and drawn by Mike Collins.

The company is also working on a number of music comics featuring up and coming bands, and a collection of Angus Allan and Arthur Ranson's other creator-owned strip for Look-In, The Elvis Story.

• The Beatles Story by Angus Allan and Arthur Ranson, with new covers by Martin Baines

• From iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/the-beatles-story/id569176209?mt=8

• Android Edition: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rok.comics.beatles001

Bellamy, Beano and Buster comic art up for grabs in latest ComPal auction

The Autumn 2010 auction at British comics auction site Compalcomics has just opened, with 315 lots in the catalogue including a magnificent Beano front cover artwork drawn by Dudley Watkins and some rare Thunderbirds artwork from TV Century 21 by Frank Bellamy.

The signed Bellamy art - which appeared in Issue 220 of the classic 1960s comic and is expected to sell for over £700 - shows Thunderbird 2 landing near Project City where the Mole tunnelling vehicle is deployed to bore through the concrete walls with Virgil and Brains at the controls.

But the walls are live - and they’re being electrocuted...

The Beano cover - Issue 1406, cover dated 28th June 1969 - features longtime cover character Biffo highlighting the publication of that year's Beano Summer Special which is also enclosed with the lot.

ComPal say they have auctioned only three Beano cover artworks in the last twelve years and the art is expected to sell for over £200.

Another rarity on offer is at lot 10 where six of Mrs Hippo's Annuals reside, including the first from 1926. Starring the female versions of Tiger Tim and The Bruin Boys, Mrs Hippo, Tiger Tilly and the girls never made it in to comic form, just these annuals published between 1927 and 1935, which are in nice condition.

Tiger Tim is also represented with his own Bruin Boys' Bagatelle Game, a rare survivor from the 1920s and in full playable order at lot 42. Beano, Dandy and Magic early issues published by DC Thomson are in evidence from 1938 and 1939 - including The Dandy's first April Fool (Issue 18) and Christmas numbers.

The 1960s are represented by a near complete run of Hurricane in five lots (one containing a flyer for No 1 of The Big One), Commando, Battle Picture Library and various lots of Lady Penelope - including Issue 1.

In addition to the Bellamy art, there's also more comic work on offer including Look and Learn pages by Ron Embleton, Battlestar Galactica art from Look-In by Martin Asbury, a page of Frankie Stein by Ken Reid (and some of his great World Wide Weirdness pages from Whoopee), s1977 Bionic Woman art by John M. Burns for Look-In, Buster original front cover artworks from the 1980s by Reg Parlett, plus pages of The Broons and Oor Wullie by Dudley Watkins - the latter a regular staple of these fantastic ComPal auctions.


The auction's US section profiles The Batman #12 (1942), Fantastic Four #1 with CGC late 50s issues of Detective, Lois Lane and Batman and along with our usual runs of 1960s Marvel and DC titles, there's some high grade horror from the 1970s and four original artwork pages drawn and signed by Sal Buscema.

• Bids will be accepted until Tuesday 7th September at 8 PM UK time. To go directly to the main page for the catalogue, click here

Arthur Ranson exhibition opens at Orbital

Tonight (Thursday 14th January) sees the opening of an exhibition of art by 2000AD contributor Arthur Ranson at London's Orbital Comics.

The exhibition spans his 30-year comic career: Arthur's credits are numerous, including, of course, "Button Man", "Judge Anderson" and "Mazeworld" for 2000AD; but also strips such as "Sapphire and Steel" and "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" for the Junior TV Times title Look-In (sadly, no longer published). His first ever strip appeared in that title - "Les Dawson - Superflop" but other credits on that comic include "CHiPs", "The Beatles", Dangermouse" and "Michael Bentine's Potty Time".

As well as his work for 2000AD, he's drawn issues of Batman - Dark Legends for DC Comics; and X-Factor and Xtreme X-Men for Marvel Comics.

Arthur recently launched his own web site and is currently on the hunt for examples of his work for Look-In.

"For completeness I would like the Look-in section to have an example of every strip I did for them," he says, but "Due to not having access to some of the work this is presently not possible."

If any one out here has examples of unrepresented strips - The missing titles are "Doctor on the Go", "The A-Team", "Logan's Run", and "CHiPs" - they could be emailed to the contact address on the web site.

"A "Worzel Gummidge" and a "Just William" pic with the eponymous hero in would be nice too," says Arthur.

In December, Arthur posted a sort update on the much-rumoured Button Man movie, based on the 2000AD strip created by John Wagner. "Despite what you might see on the internet, there is not as yet a Button Man movie, not even one starring Leonardo di Caprio," he noted.

"Dreamworks have a few months to decide whether to either go ahead, pay for more time to decide, or drop it. You will be informed."

• Arthur Ranson's Official web site: www.arthurranson.com

• Orbital Comics is at 8 Great Newport Street, London, WC2H 7JA. Tel: 02072400591. Web: www.orbitalcomics.com. It's open every day from 10.30 - 7.00pm except Sundays, when it's 11.30-5.00pm

Sapphire and Steel Art For Sale

A page of Sapphire and Steel art by Arthur Ranson from Look-In, the "Junior TV Times" of its day, is up for sale on eBay.

Inspired by the mysterious ITV drama created by P.J. Hammond, Sapphire and Steel appeared in 76 issues of Look-In and it looks as though the page on sale may be the final one published featuring strong likenesses of actors David McCallum and Joanna Lumley who were the series stars.

The strip itself was written by the late Angus P. Allan and, like many Look-In strips, beautifully illustrated by Arthur Ranson.

The art (pictured above, final published version below) measures 16 x 22 inch (41 x 56 cm) and sees Sapphire and Steel defeat another strange entity trying to distort time.

Appropriately for this 'scare story', the auction closes on 31st October.

The art is the latest piece from the IPC Archive to be auctioned on eBay by Blase Books, part of a huge collection the company sold off some years ago. (There is of course, some controversy about this, as some artists have argues the physical art is their property, not that of the company).

Other art on offer at present include a page of Janus Stark, drawn by Solano Lopez; a 1965 Steel Claw page by Jesus Blasco; a Spider page by Reg Bunn; and several pages of art from various girls comics.

• View the Sapphire and Steel item on eBay

• More British comic art on sale on eBay from Blase Books

• More about the Sapphire and Steel Look-In Strip

Andersonic 8 Is Go

The latest of the superb Gerry Anderson fanzine Andersonic has just been released. Issue 8 includes a new interview with artist Mike Noble, who discusses his work on Anderson-related comic strips in TV Century 21 and Look-In, talking about his techniques, influences and drawing everything from cowboys to bedsteads!

Other features in the latest 40-page magazine include:-

• Stingray - is there more to Stingray's longevity than all that colour? Line out to Deepsville with Commander Daddio to find out about the Andersons' foray into inner space.

• Joe 90 - City of Dolls - a look at how the series captured the zeitgeist of the late 1960s.

• The Metamorph Retrospective - Changes were deemed necessary to get the series back on the air, but did they do the trick? Andersonic examines the colourful opening episode of Space:1999's reboot.

• Beyond Century 21 - A look at the fate of costumes, instrumentation and miniatures from the Anderson series after the closure of the studios... but where exactly do Sid James and mashed potato fit into the equation?

• Space:1999/ Missing Link - a look at Edward di Lorenzo's thoughtful offering from the first series. Is it more important to feel than to think? Koenig's not sure...

The magazine also features reviews of two classic episodes – Joe 90: Business Holiday and UFO: The Square Triangle, reviews Fanderson's Stingray CD and two volumes of Reynolds and Hearn's TV21 reprints, and more.

• Andersonic Issue 8 is available via the website www.andersonic.co.uk - price £2.25 including UK postage and also from eBay for a limited period. If you'd prefer to pay by cheque or PO, please get in touch for our postal address.