Multiverse Mgazine blasts back into action

Mike Conroy's comics news and features magazine Multiverse is finally back in print - with a spanking new look for Issue 7 from Barry Renshaw and packed with industry news from both the US and UK, complete with an intriguing supplement from Blase Books, "Scraps", offering some rare UK and US comic oddments and a brand new one page comic strip from Mike Higgs.

The magazine has a range of news features, leading with an overview of upcoming US comics projects including the latest Marvel revamp and Marvel Now!, which will deliver refurbished Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova titles.

There's also a look at Paul Levitz' new DC Comics Golden Age book and an affectionate tribute to Karen Berger, who recently stepped down after 20 years at the helm of DC's mature readers imprint, Vertigo.

There's plenty for British comics fans too, with a look at IDW's Judge Dredd title and David Hine and Doug Braithwaite's Image Comics title, Storm Dogs.

Described as "blatant advertising", the Blase Books "Scraps" supplement will have comic art fans salivating, perhaps, at the double page spread of some of the art it offers for sale from the IPC/Fleetway archive, including pages from strips such as Spider and The Phantom Viking alongside girls comics work and pages of the British Star Trek strip that were published in Valiant and TV21 in the early 1970s.

It might be advertising, but it's done with a sense of fun, wrapped in a great strip from Mike Higgs which we're only showing you part of below. Go and buy a copy to read the rest!

Mike diplomatically explains the troubles for the title in his editorial, which resulted in its 12 month absence in print - although digital editions of #5 and #6 were released. Let's hope his new partnership with UK Comics Creative and his unfailing enthusiasm for this magazine bring better fortune for him moving forward.

• Multiverse #7 costs £3.99 and is available in all good UK comic shops. For purchase information visit http://multiverse-magazine.com 

Multiverse #6 Digital Editions on sale

Multiverse #6 - available on Graphic.ly

While the print edition of comics magazine Multiverse #6 has yet to hit UK comic shops, it is available at various online locations, including  Graphicly, Myebook and Comicsplus.

Edited by Mike Conroy, each 52-page issue includes Multiverse’s regular news and reviews sections together with Mike’s long-running comics-to-movies column, Frame to Frame.

Multiverse also includes exclusive interviews with established creators as well as up-and-coming talents, many accompanied by rarely seen art.

This issue's exclusive interviews include Robert Kirkman, discussing Thief of Thieves, The Passenger, Skybound – his Image Comics imprint – and, of course The Walking Dead; Andy Diggle and Jock talk about their latest creator-owned series, Snapshot.

Also in the issue, it’s Avengers Assemble as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes hit the big screen and Brian Michael Bendis enters the home stretch as his association with Marvel’s super team comes to an end; Ragemoor’s Jan Strnad and Rich Corben talk about their latest collaboration for Dark Horse; and Grant Morrison and artist Mukesh Singh go back in time for Dynamite’s Dinosaur vs Aliens.

The digital edition costs $2.99.


• Multiverse Digital Editions page

Multiverse comic magazine heads for America

It's the magazine I, Vampire writer Joshua Hale Fialkov hails as “beautifully designed, with a modern, smart sensibility about mainstream comics that’s been missing from print comics journalism for a long time” -- and Multiverse will be available in the US for the first time in February.

In conjunction with Ardden Entertainment, British-based Hell Freezes Over is launching a US edition of its flagship title. Highly regarded not only by its readers but also by comics professionals, whether they be writers, artists, editors or publishers, Multiverse is the full colour magazine that prompted one reader to say: “The content is informed, easy to read, lacks post-modern nonsense and packed into a well-structured format. I loved the balance of popular heroes and emerging or independent coverage with what comes across as educated and balanced prose.”

Multiverse is Britain’s leading comics magazine. Promotionally priced at $4.99, the first issue of the 68-page American version is being offered on page 239 of the current Previews (for February-shipping product) under order codes DEC110838 and DEC110839.

Discussing the title, publisher/editor Mike Conroy said, “Its main focus will unashamedly be the popular – read commercial – end of the business. That’s not just the ubiquitous superheroes but Star Wars, Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Transformers and similar spin-offs and licenced titles alongside zombies, vampires and other such horrors.

“Even so,” continued the veteran comics author/historian, “we certainly won’t be neglecting the innovators out there on the cutting edge, whether their print run is 100 or 100,000. We’ll be covering their latest titles as they continue to expand the boundaries of our medium.

“My goal has always been to produce an entertaining title that occupies the middle ground between the late Wizard and the moved-to-another-plane Comics Journal, " he added. "That is, just straightforward reportage without to the hype or the cerebral dissection.

"I think Multiverse is that magazine.”

• More info: www.multiverse-magazine.com

Multiverse muses on DC makeover, Com.X and Valiant reboot

The latest issue of British comic news magazine Multiverse is on sale now in all good UK comic shops - and back issues are now also available digitally from graphic.ly.

Edited by Mike Conroy, Issue 4 sports a DC Comics revamp-inspired cover, as, inside, Scott Snyder, Paul Levitz, Jimmy Palmiotti and Peter Milligan are among the writers offering their thoughts on the nuDCU.

Levitz also joins Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman, Denny O'Neil and others to discuss comics then and now and their work on the DC Retroactive titles.

The issue also includes exclusive interviews with Valiant chief executive officer Jason Kothari, who talks about the plans to relaunch the 1990s powerhouse; the new Ghost Rider creative team of Rob Williams and artist Matthew Clark discuss their incarnation of Marvel's Spirit of Vengeance; and com.X's Bluespear co-writers Andi Ewington and Eddie Deighton and artist Cosmo White offer an insight into their spin-off from last year's Forty-Five while writers Brian Michael Bendis, Nick Spencer and Jonathan Hickman provide an insight into Marvel's reboot of its Ultimate Comics line.

• Priced at £2.50, Multivese is on sale in British comic shops and from the official Multiverse web site: www.multiverse-magazine.com

• Back issues of Multiverse are now available as digital editions from graphic.ly via http://graphicly.com/hell-freezes-over/multiverse 

Multiverse springs back onto the shelves

The second 52-page issue of comics news and features magazine Multiverse is now at the printer with copies due to go on sale at the end of the month in all UK comic shops.

Alongside the £2.50/$3.99 title’s regular news and reviews sections and Frame to Frame, publisher Mike Conroy tells us Multiverse #2 also includes exclusive interviews with Garth Ennis, Frank Quitely, David Lapham, Mark Waid and the new Silver Surfer creative team of Greg Pak and Stephen Segovia. Also, newcomer Ross Mackintosh talks about his new com.X graphic novel, Seeds, while Dave West discusses the new Accent Press title Fall of the Wolfmen and the burgeoning British small press scene.

Multiverse #3 is scheduled to hit shops on 21st April.

Among exclusives lined up for the issue are Missy Suicide and artist David Hahn talking Suicide Girls; Peter Milligan, Tomm Coker and editor Sebastian Girner discussing Marvel’s latest Wolverine saga, 5 Ronin; writer Chris Roberson discusses Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse and Elric: The Balance Lost; and Christopher Monfette reveals all about resurrecting Clive Barker’s Hellraiser.

• Latest information at: facebook.com/pages/multiverse

Multiverse magazine marooned no more

After being marooned at its Scottish printer for well over a fortnight – just one more victim of the worst snow the country has seen in 40 years – Multiverse #1, the first issue of Britian's new British comic magazine, is finally on its way to the shops.

“There is something more than a little ironic about the launch issue of title from a company calling itself Hell Freezes Over being delayed by freak winter weather conditions but that’s exactly what happened,” explained publisher/editor Mike Conroy, who's hoping the new title will fill the void left by the demise of Comics International.

“The very day Multiverse #1 was due to leave our printer the snow started falling and the temperature plummeted right along with it. It wasn’t until last Wednesday, 8th December, that the trucks could actually get in to Bonnyrigg to collect the print run.

“Copies are now reaching the shops but I’m advised that the backlog is so large that it could still take a week or more for orders to get to every outlet,” Conroy added. “The difficult circumstances have led me to scrap my plans to have a second issue out before Christmas. We’re now reworking the pages already produced for #2 and aiming to have it in the shops in early January... weather permitting, of course!"

“On behalf of the Multiverse team, I would like to thank all those who have sent messages of support and encouragement during what has been an extremely frustrating start to this new venture,” Mike concluded.

It's clear Mike feels the problems he's faced keenly, especially given his association with Comics International, whose frequency suffered for a number of reasons towards its end. He must be feeling the fates are conspiring - let's hope they give up and move on in 2011.

Multiverse Sneek Preview Released

After some teasing of comic fans last month, Multiverse - a new comics news magazine from by former Comics International editor Mike Conroy and team, which will be distributed to UK comic shops - has been announced.

A 20-page sampler available to read online here (or download here, PDF link) and other places on the web.

Visitors to the British International Comic Show this weekend will be able to pick up copies of a print version and the actual magazine itself is set to debut at the London MCM Expo at the end of the month (although copies may also reach BICS, too).

The free Zero Issue, which includes items on developments for Batman into a global franchise and Marvel's Spider-Girl will also be distributed in comic shops.

Barry Renshaw, perhaps best known for his work on the new Eagle Initiative and Redeye Magazine, is also involved in the project.

"I’m extremely proud of Multiverse," says Mike in his editorial. "It will be a £2.50 news magazine running to 52 pages and will plug the huge hole left on this side of the Atlantic by the demise of Comics International."

Unashamedly populist each issue will offer a mix of reports, interviews and features covering all aspects of the comics industry.

"It’ll provide straight forward reportage without hype and without bias alongside the much-missed rundown on all the UK-based comics events, in-store happenings and new
shop openings," says Mike.

After the problems Comics International had, why is Mike, who came off badly from that whole debacle, taking the risk of lanching a similar title? Is he mad? Isn’t print heading the way of the dinosaur, the dodo and the great auk?

"Well, if I thought it were, I wouldn’t be staking my future on Multiverse," he says. "Neither would I be as excited as I am over the prospect of being management-free, to produce the
kind of comics magazine that I envisage. And as for my sanity in taking this on… the jury’s out on that one!

"Digital – whether Internet news sites or downloadable comics – isn’t a replacement for hard
copy magazines, it’s simply a new competitor, which can coexist," he argues. "It won’t kill off publishing any more than television finished off radio or DVDs brought an end to cinema."

We certainly hope Mike's right. From forum posts over on the downthetubes forum, we know a lot of people miss a title like Comics International. Let's hope Multiverse fills the gap.

•  Read the Mulitiverse sampler available online here 

• Download the sampler as a PDF

• What do you think of Multiverse? Discuss it in the downtheubes forum (registration required)

Mystery of the Multiverse...

Could a Comics International-style comics magazine be in the offing? It certainly seems that way, judging by this image that just popped into the downthetubes mailbox...