TRIPWIRE kicks off its 21st birthday celebrations

May is a busy month for the British independent media magazine TRIPWIRE. Despite not hitting the kickstarter target for TRIPWIRE 21, its planned 21st anniversary special, publisher and editor-in-chief Joel Meadows tells us he's putting the book out anyway.

The kickstarter crowdfunding campaign achieved over 70 per cent of its hoped for backing but did not make target, which is clearly disappointing for Joel – but he remains upbeat.

“It was always going to be a gamble and the fact is that we have distribution in place which means that we are able to fund the book in a more traditional fashion anyway,” says Joel.

Along with the book launch, London's top bookshop Foyles will be hosting a double celebration of TRIPWIRE’s birthday. Kicking off on 16th May in its prestigious Charing Cross Road gallery in the world-famous bookshop is an exhibition showcasing a selection of photographs, images and covers from TRIPWIRE over the years.

“It will give visitors the opportunity to see these images up close and at a much larger size than they’ve ever seen them before," Joel enthuses. "It will feature photos of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Michael Moorcock and classic covers by the likes of Frank Quitely and our iconic Fury cover by Jeff Carlisle."

Also on 16th May at Foyles, in the evening, is the TRIPWIRE 21 event. Meadows will be joined by legendary SF and fantasy author Michael Moorcock, Mike Carey (Felix Castor, The Unwritten), Roger Langridge (Muppets, Snarked!), Peter Milligan (Hellblazer) and Christopher Fowler (Bryant & May, Roofworld) to talk about 21 years of TRIPWIRE and 21 years of comics.

There will also be copies of the limited edition TRIPWIRE 21 hardcover and the paperback to buy at the event.

“We are very excited that we have managed to gather such an impressive line-up of guests to help us celebrate TRIPWIRE’s birthday and the fact that it’s at such a prestigious place like Foyles makes it even more of an occasion,” Meadows admits.

• TRIPWIRE 21 will be offered in June’s edition of the Previews catalogue for Diamond US. It will be available to buy, retailing at £14.99 UK and $24.99 US in paperback and £29.99 UK for the limited hardcover from 9th May 2013. It will be distributed to the UK booktrade through Turnaround, to the US direct market through Diamond Comic Distributors and to the US booktrade through SCB Distributors. 

• TRIPWIRE Web: www.tripwire-magazine.com


• Foyles Event Details: 

Exhibition: www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Detail.aspx?eventId=1920 
Launch Event: www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Detail.aspx?eventId=1893

Aces Weekly announces line up for next digital volume

Aces Weekly, which showcases some of the brightest new and established talent from across the globe in an exclusively digital weekly comic art magazine, begins its seven-issue, seven-week runon Monday 4th February.

Volume Three of the revolutionary digital comic art weekly created and published by David Lloyd, features a further seven-week installment of Mark Wheatley and JC Vaughan’s, fantastic Return of The Human; Roger Langridge’s Fez; Antonio Bifulco and Giuseppe Rungetti’s Warrior Exorcist; Steve Marchant's Six Minutes Past Midnight; and a hymn of hope and a very special tribute to New Yorkers from the great creator of the Third World War series Seth Tobocman – One City.

Also in the mix are Marc Hempel, Martin Griffiths, Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque and much more: even weekly issues and up to 210 pages of great serials, shortstories and extras for just over a dollar a week from www.acesweekly.co.uk

• If you'd like to know any more about any of this great stuff coming up from the title, and why they all love doing it, David Lloyd will be at Paris Manga (www.parismanga.fr) on February 9-10th with some of the Aces Weekly crew - Yishan Li, Kev Hopgood and Rory Walker - at booth 100.

They'll also be at the London Super Comic Convention, at the Excel Centre on 23rd - 24th February. (www.londonsupercomicconvention.com)

Artwork featured copyright 2013 respective creators

Titan Books, Langridge, Quitely and Starkings get Harvey nominations

The 2009 Harvey Awards Nominees have been announced with the release of the final ballot, presented by the Executive Committees of the Harvey Awards and the Baltimore Comic-Con.

The nominees include New Zealand but UK-based artist Roger Langridge, Scotland's Frank Quitely and former Marvel UK editor Richard Starkings, creator of Elephantmen.

Titan Books The Best of Simon and Kirby book, edited by Steve Saeffel, has also been nominated in two collection categories.

Named in honour of the late Harvey Kurtzman, one of the industry's most innovative talents, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art. They will be presented 28th August 2010 in Baltimore in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators - those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals.

Final ballots, available for download at www.harveyawards.org, are due to the Harvey Awards by Friday, 7th August 2010 and full details for submission of completed ballots can be found on the final ballot. Voting is open to anyone professionally involved in a creative capacity within the comics field. Those without Internet access may request that paper ballots be sent to them via mail or fax by calling the Baltimore Comic-Con - (001) 410 526 7410 - or e-mailing baltimorecomicccon@yahoo.com.

This will be the fifth year for the Harvey Awards in Baltimore and the Master of Ceremonies this year for the second year in a row will be Scott Kurtz (www.pvponline.com).

This year's Baltimore Comic-Con will be held 28 - 29th August 2010. The ceremony and banquet for the 2009 Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, 28th August.

The 2009 Harvey Award Nominees

BEST WRITER

• Jason Aaron, SCALPED, Vertigo/DC Comics
  
• Geoff Johns, BLACKEST NIGHT, DC Comics
  
• Robert Kirkman, THE WALKING DEAD, Image Comics
  
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID #3: THE LAST STRAW, Amulet Books
  
• Mark Waid, IRREDEEMABLE, BOOM! Studios
  

BEST ARTIST

• Robert Crumb, BOOK OF GENESIS, W.W. Norton
  
• Guy Davis, BPRD: BLACK GODDESS, Dark Horse Comics
  
• Brian Fies, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW?, Abrams ComicArts
  
• David Petersen, MOUSE GUARD : WINTER 1152, Archaia Studios Press
  
• Frank Quitely, BATMAN AND ROBIN, DC Comics
  
• JH Williams III, DETECTIVE COMICS, DC Comics
  

BEST CARTOONIST

• Darwyn Cooke, RICHARD STARK'S PARKER: THE HUNTER, IDW
  
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID #3: THE LAST STRAW, Amulet Books
  
• Roger Langridge, THE MUPPET SHOW COMIC BOOK, BOOM! Studios
  
• David Mazzucchelli, ASTERIOS POLYP, Pantheon
  
• Seth, GEORGE SPROTT (1894-1975), Drawn and Quarterly
  

BEST LETTERER

• Chris Eliopoulos, FRANKLIN RICHARDS: SON OF A GENIUS stories, Marvel Comics
  
• Brian Fies, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW?, Abrams ComicArts
  
• Thomas Mauer, RAPTURE, Dark Horse Comics
  
• David Mazzucchelli, ASTERIOS POLYP, Pantheon
  
• Richard Starkings, ELEPHANTMEN, Image Comics
  

BEST INKER

• Oclair Albert, BLACKEST NIGHT, DC Comics
  
• Steve Ellis, HIGH MOON, Zuda/DC Comics
  
• Klaus Janson, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, Marvel Comics
  
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID #3: THE LAST STRAW, Amulet Books
  
• Mark Morales, THOR, Marvel Comics
  

BEST COLOURIST

• Brian Fies, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW?, Abrams ComicArts
  
• Steve Hamaker, BONE: CROWN OF HORNS, Graphix
  
• Laura Martin, THE ROCKETEER: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES, IDW
  
• David Mazzucchelli, ASTERIOS POLYP, Pantheon
  
• Dave Stewart, BPRD: BLACK GODDESS, Dark Horse Comics
  

BEST COVER ARTIST

• Jenny Frison, THE DREAMER, IDW
  
• Mike Mignola, HELLBOY: THE BRIDE OF HELL, Dark Horse Comics
  
• Michael Avon Oeming, MICE TEMPLAR: DESTINY, PART I, Image Comics
  
• Frank Quitely, BATMAN AND ROBIN, DC Comics
  
• JH Williams III, DETECTIVE COMICS, DC Comics
  

BEST NEW TALENT

• Kevin Cannon, FAR ARDEN, Top Shelf
  
• Rob Guillory, CHEW, Image Comics
  
• Reinhard Kleist,JOHNNY CASH: I SEE A DARKNESS, Abrams ComicArts
  
• Nathan Schreiber, ACT-I-VATE: POWER OUT, (http://act-i-vate.com)
  
• Matthew Weldon, NEW BRIGHTON ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Image Comics
  

BEST NEW SERIES

• BATMAN AND ROBIN, DC Comics
  
• CHEW, Image Comics
  
• IRREDEEMABLE, BOOM! Studios
  
• SWEET TOOTH, Vertigo/DC Comics
  
• UNWRITTEN, Vertigo/DC Comics
  

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES

• BEASTS OF BURDEN, Dark Horse Comics
  
• DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Amulet Books
  
• GANGES,Fantagraphics Books
  
• INVINCIBLE, Image Comics
  
• SCALPED, Vertigo/DC Comics
  
• THE WALKING DEAD, Image Comics
  

BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC PUBLICATION FOR YOUNGER READERS

• AMULET: STOREKEEPER'S CURSE, Graphix
  
• DIARY OF A WIMPY KID #3: THE LAST STRAW, Amulet Books
  
• GROWN-UPS ARE DUMB, Hyperion Books
  
• THE MUPPET SHOW COMIC BOOK, BOOM! Studios
  
• NEW BRIGHTON ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Image Comics
  
• 3-2-3 DETECTIVE AGENCY, Amulet Books
  

BEST ANTHOLOGY

• ACT-I-VATE, http://act-i-vate.com
  
• FLIGHT # 6, Villard
  
• POPGUN # 3, Image Comics
  
• STRANGE TALES, Marvel Comics
  
• WEDNESDAY COMICS, DC Comics
  

BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC ALBUM

• ASTERIOS POLYP, by David Mazucchelli, Pantheon
  
• BOOK OF GENESIS, by Robert Crumb, W.W. Norton
  
• GEORGE SPROTT (1894-1975), by Seth, Drawn and Quarterly
  
• FOOTNOTES IN GAZA, by Joe Sacco, Metropolitan Books
  
• STITCHES, by David Small, W.W. Norton
  
• WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW?, by Brian Fies, Abrams ComicArts
  

BEST PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED GRAPHIC ALBUM

• A.D.: NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE DELUGE, by Josh Neufeld, Pantheon
  
• COLLECTED ESSEX COUNTY, by Jeff Lemire, Top Shelf
  
• GRAVESLINGER, by Shannon Denton, Jeff Mariotte, John Cboins & Nina Sorat, IDW
  
• MASTERPIECE COMICS, by R. Sikoryak, Drawn and Quarterly
  
• MICE TEMPLAR VOLUME 1, by Bryan J.L. Glass and Michael Avon Oeming, Image Comics
  

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL

• CUL-DE-SAC, by Richard Thompson, Universal Press Syndicate
  
• FOXTROT, by Bill Amend, Universal Press Syndicate
  
• GET FUZZY, by Darby Conley, United Feature Syndicate
  
• MUTTS, by Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate
  
• PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, by Stephan Pastis, United Feature Syndicate
  

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT

• THE BEST OF SIMON AND KIRBY, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; edited by Steve Saffel, Titan Books
  
• HUMBUG, conceived and edited by Harvey Kurtzman and created by Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth; edited by Gary Groth, Fantagraphics Books
  
• RIP KIRBY, by Alex Raymond; edited by Dean Mullaney, IDW
  
• THE ROCKETEER: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES, by Dave Stevens; edited by Scott Dunbier, IDW
  
• THE TOON TREASURY OF CLASSIC CHILDREN'S COMICS, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, Abrams ComicsArt
  

BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL

• THE ART OF OSAMU TEZUKA: GOD OF MANGA, by Helen McCarthy, Abrams ComicArts
  
• MANGA KAMISHIBAI, by Eric P. Nash, Abrams ComicArts
  
• THE PHOTOGRAPHER, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier LeFevre and Frederic Lemercier, First Second
  
• PLUTO: URASAWA X TEZUKA, by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki, Viz Media
  
• 20TH CENTURY BOYS, by Naoki Urasawa, Viz Media

BEST ON-LINE COMICS WORK

• HARK! A VAGRANT by Kate Beaton,
  
• HIGH MOON by Steve Ellis, David Gallaher and Scott O. Brown
  
• POWER OUT by Nathan Schreiber
  
• PVP by Scott Kurtz
  
• SIN TITULO by Cameron Stewart
  

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS

• Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, BEASTS OF BURDEN, Dark Horse Books
  
• Jeff Kinney, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID #3: THE LAST STRAW, Amulet Books
  
• Roger Landridge, THE MUPPET SHOW COMIC BOOK, BOOM! Studios
  
• Bryan Lee O'Malley, SCOTT PILGRIM #5, Oni Press
  
• Andrew Pepoy, THE ADVENTURES OF SIMONE & AJAX: A CHRISTMAS CAPER, ComicMix
  

SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION

• ART OF HARVEY KURTZMAN: THE MAD GENIUS OF COMICS by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle, Abrams ComicArts
  
• THE BRINKLEY GIRLS: THE BEST OF NELL BRINKLEY'S CARTOONS FROM 1913-1940 edited by Trina Robbins, Fantagraphics Books
  
• GEORGE SPROTT (1894-1975) by Seth, Drawn and Quarterly
  
• THE ROCKETEER: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES by Dave Stevens, edited by Scott Dunbier, IDW
  
• SECRET IDENTITY: THE FETISH ART OF SUPERMAN'S CO-CREATOR JOE SHUSTER edited by Craig Yoe, Abrams ComicArts
  
• WEDNESDAY COMICS edited by Mark Chiarello, DC Comics
  

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION

• ALTER-EGO edited by Roy Thomas, TwoMorrows
  
• ART OF HARVEY KURTZMAN: THE MAD GENIUS OF COMICS by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle, Abrams ComicArts
  
• THE BEST OF SIMON AND KIRBY by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; edited by Steve Saffel, Titan Books
  
• THE COMICS JOURNAL edited by Gary Groth, Michael Dean and Kristy Valenti, Fantagraphics Books
  
• UNDERGROUND CLASSICS by James Danky and Denis Kitchen, Abrams ComicArts
  

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY

• ALEC: THE YEARS HAVE PANTS by Eddie Campbell, Top Shelf
• ASTERIOS POLYP by David Mazucchelli, Pantheon
  
• GANGES #3, by Kevin Huizenga, Fantagraphics Books
  
• GEORGE SPROTT (1894-1975) by Seth, Drawn and Quarterly
  
• JONAH HEX #50 written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, artwork by Darwyn Cooke, DC Comics
  
• RICHARD STARK'S PARKER: THE HUNTER by Darwyn Cooke, IDW
• WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW? by Brian Fies, Abrams ComicArts
  

Congratulations to all of the nominees.
 
• For additional information about Harvey Kurtzman and the Harvey Awards, visit www.harveyawards.org. 
• For additional information about the Baltimore Comic-Con, visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com.

Tripwire returns with Futurama, Straczynski, Cornell and Michael Moorcock goodness

Ace media magazine Tripwire is back with another info-packed issue! The Eagle Award-nominated British-American magazine about comics and genre culture returns this July bringing even more of the quality features you’d expect from their previous issues.

Beneath an exclusive Futurama cover featuring everyone’s favorite robot Bender, they chat to Matt Groening and David X Cohen about plans for their new run of the animated sci fi series on Comedy Central, and go behind the scenes at the Henson Company.

Movie fans are sure to enjoy an interview with veteran movie poster artist Drew Struzan, revealing all about his work on the most iconic movie images in the history of cinema and why he's decided to move on to do more personal work. The magazine also probes the special effects of megahit Iron Man 2 with SFX house Double Negative.

Author Glen David Gold talks about his novels in an exclusive interview and fantasy grand master Michael Moorcock offers a glimpse into his early career and growing up in post-War London.

Finally, there's comics: Dave McKean discusses three decades creating his own niche as an artist, illustrator and director; J. Michael Straczynski and Paul Cornell talk about their takes on Superman, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor respectively; Mark Schultz discusses bringing his Xenozoic Tales back into print; and the magazine also covers the various anniversaries of Captain America and DC Comics and talk to Titmouse about their new magazine and book. Last, but by means least, there's a giant helping of original strips from some of the usual suspects like Roger Langridge and Kev Mullins.

• Tripwire #54 ships the last week of July and comes in at 124 pages with a new lower price of £6.95 UK, $9.99 US and $10.95 Canadian. It's available from Barnes & Noble and Borders in the US, Chapters and Indigo in Canada and via Diamond UK and Forbidden Planet and Forbidden Planet International in Britain as well as selected West End and West London newsagents and the Gosh and Orbital comic stores in London. You can order it directly from: www.tripwire-magazine.com

In Review: Tripwire 2009 Annual... Simply Awesome!

Regular readers of downthetubes will recall that as a result of distributor Diamond's recently-introduced minimum order levels, this latest edition of ace comics and genre magazine Tripwire is not being distributed in the US. (See news story).

While not the only victim of distribution changes brought on by the recession and, we assume, an attempt by Diamond to focus on promoting releases from bigger companies on the assumption they are to be of higher quality than material published by small independents, in the case of Tripwire this decision was a mistake, because the editorial team led by Joel Meadows have really pulled out the stops with this Annual and delivered a jaw-dropping publication well deserving of purchase and wider (that is, US, availabilty).

The magazine's stunning "Samuel l. Jackson as Nick Fury" cover by Jeff Carlisle (prompted by an in-depth look at Marvel Comics and its 70th anniversary) is the first indication of the title's quality. Design throughout is also superb, with strong text carefully counter-balanced with no shortage of great visuals - both art and photographic. (I'd argue for a consistent three-column layout and same point size throughout in future issues, but this niggly editorial view shouldn't diminish the worth of this product).

Editorially, the annual offers an incredible range of features including an exclusive interview with award-winning genre master Guillermo Del Toro discussing his new novel The Strain as well as a few tidbits on Hellboy 3 and upcoming movie projects; a guide to the critically-acclaimed low budget British sci-fi movie Moon starring Sam Rockwell and directed by Duncan Jones; a Bongo Comics interview with Bill Morrison; an exclusive and beautifully illustrated interview with comics veteran Joe Kubert, a guide to the rise of Tintin and a look at European comics, a handy retrospective to 30 years of Alien films - handy, given news that director Ridley Scott is to return to the franchise; and much, much more, including an eclectic 'Stripwire' section that features comic strips from the likes of Roger Langridge, Declan Shalvey, David Hitchcock and others..

When the project was announced earlier in the year it was described as the best Tripwire yet, and I can only concur - and how. Anyone who argues print is dead should be shown this top-notch, high-quality magazine, to show not only how print still has its place in terms of promoting the comics industry, but also as a template for future magazine publishing in a more digital age.

This is a truly awesome edition of Tripwire - buy it now!

• The Tripwire Annual 2009 is available now from all right-minded and quality comic stores in the UK and online from: www.tripwire-magazine.com

• UK retailers can order Tripwire from Diamond UK, item number APR097907. US retailers should contact Tripwire direct about ordering copies for their stores. Do it now!

• Latest Tripwire news on the Tripwire Twitter feed

• Tripwire on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/31004024@N04

Tripwire Goes to San Diego

Fab Brit genre magazine Tripwire continues its yearly San Diego Comic-Con tradition by premiering its third Tripwire Annual at the world's best-known genre media convention.

A stunning Jeff Carlisle full colour original Nick Fury cover sets the tone for the annual, which includes exclusive interviews with Stan Lee, Joe Kubert, Bill Morrison of Bongo Comics, painter Phil Hale, storyboard artist Trevor Goring and many more.

There are also features on Tintin, the 70th anniversaries of both Marvel Comics and Batman, the 30th anniversary of Alien, the new Wednesday Comics from DC which debuted earlier this month, Solomon Kane from Dark Horse and a dozen others.

Company profiles include Euro-comics publisher Cinebook, art book impresario Flesk Publications and Book Palace. And of course there are over 20 pages of original strips from Roger Langridge, Kev Mullins, Declan Shalvey, Josh Fialkov and Kody Chamberlain and others.

In all, it is by far the biggest and best issue Tripwire has published to date.

If you;'re going to the event, inside Comic-Con's Exhibitor Hall Tripwire will be in the Small Press area at table S07 and the 2009 Annual will be available at a special show price.

"We'll also have the 2008 Annual with the Doctor Who cover ready for David Tennant to sign (wherever he's set up)," says publisher and Editor-in-Chief Joel Meadows, "and copies of the 2009 Superhero Special with its Kick-Ass cover in case you want to scare up a John Romita Jr signature.

"Plus of course we'll have some Stripwire artists on hand: Roman Muradov and Kody Chamberlain will be at the table sketching and signing their work in the mag. There's even going to be free swag!"

Additionally, Tripwire has a panel at the Con, on Thursday 23rd July at 10.30 am in Room 3. It will feature Joel, US Editor Andy Grossberg and some special guests including UK columnist Rich Johnston from BleedingCool.com. Panel topics will range from comics industry gossip to features from the magazine including comics, movies, TV, culture and more - and there will be pastries for the first lucky dozen attendees.

This may be the last US appearance for Tripwire in 2009. As we previously reported, the magazine is not carried by Diamond this time around, so retailers are invited to drop by the table and acquire issues for their Colonial stores.

• Up to the minute details about guests and swag can be found on the Tripwire Twitter feed

Tube Surfing: Thursday 21 May

• ComicBitsOnline is wondering why Britain's biggest comic publisher has not been nominated for an Eagle Award -- and it's not DC Thomson, Panini or Titan but Cinebooks Ltd., which now publishes some 40 top quality comic albums a year and exports them globally.

Why is it not getting attention? Because its titles are English editions of European titles such as Lucky Luke, Blake and Mortimer, Orbital and The Scorpion - superb comics that have had little exposure because they were originally created in a language other than English.

"Cinebook - The 9th Art is like a fresh breath of air in a stale market," argues CBO author Terry Hooper, "and it’s about time that a “Comic Industry” award realised that they must - must - begin to recognise the company for its publications as well as its commercial value.

"If it doesn’t then it just proves what people have been saying for years; awards are given to mates, mates of mates or given through influence because no one wants to upset Marvel or DC."

• The Forbidden Planet International blog reports Ilya and Emma Vieceli will be at the London Cartoon Museum (35 Little Russell Street) on 30th May to celebrate their work in Self Made Heroes’ well received Manga Shakespeare graphic novels, with exhibits, talks and a slideshow presentation. The event starts at 1.30 and runs until 4.00pm.

• If you are in London and looking for something to divert the kids over the half term or the summer holidays there are a number of activities on the London Cartoon Museum’s events list, from Never Mind the Beano on Wednesday 27th May (learn to draw your own Beano characters) to summer classes in comics drawing and even in clay animation.

• Artist Nelson Evergreen reports he recently created a comic to promote Doublesix Games' comedic PS3 slaughterfest Burn Zombie Burn has been included in an exhibition of videogame inspired art running this weekend at the Brighton Fishing Museum, as part of the Brighton Festival. Opening on Saturday (23rd May), the annex of the Museum will be taken over by a multimedia exhibition of art from, and inspired by, videogames. Award-winning videogames artists will exhibit alongside artists who’s creations are inspired in someway by the world’s largest entertainment industry: videogames.

• Writer Lee Robson has posted a fascinating article titled Writer's Block, admitting that is a little misleading but is a great piece on how easy it is to get, well, distracted by day to day happenings when you're a creator. As for writer's block he opines " I don't believe in the concept... I think it was Warren Ellis who said (and I'm probably misquoting here) that if you want to write for a living, you have to get up every day and actually f****** write, and that's a philosophy that I wholeheartedly subscribe to. Or at least, I'd like to."

• At the last minute DFC top talent James Turner (creator of the wonderful Beaver and Steve) have got a table at the MCM Expo in London this weekend, so if you are going along keep an eye out for him! He'll be printing some more mini comics (with four pages of all-new B&S material!) and have some new badges to sell too.

• Ace cartoonist Roger Langridge has published a teaser image from an upcoming Mugwhump story for something called the Act-i-Vate Primer, which is pretty much what the title says it is - a print introduction to the work of various Act-i-Vate cartoonists. "One for the Mugwhump fans who might be getting itchy during the hiatus," he says. "My story consists of six densely-packed (12-panel) pages showing events before the current strip began. Roger is busy drawing The Muppet Show comic for Boom! Studios and also reports issues - not licensed for sale in the UK - are selling for ridiculous amounts on the InterWeb. "Wait for the book collection, folks!" he notes. "The whole collectors' market is a cesspool of poisonous idiocy..."
Let's hope Titan Books or another UK publisher picks up the rights to that so we can finally read the book in the UK, eh?

• The first issue of Stuart Kolakovic 's Nobrow is out! Printed in two spot colours on heavy paper in an oversized format, Issue 1 from this highly talented creator is available in a numbered edition of only 3000 and available from all sorts of arty outlets, as well as from Nobrow.net.

• And finally... congratulations to ace blog Thrillpowered Thursday, best described as an issue-by-issue review site for 2000AD, which recently celebrated its hundredth post.

Muppets, Giant Cuboid Chickens and Other Weird Creatures

Starting an "adaptation and inspiration" month on the Strip! radio show on ResonanceFM, Alex Fitch and Robin Warren talk to two humour cartoonists - Roger Langridge and Hugh Raine (a.k.a. Shug) - about their work.

As we've previously reported, Roger has just started drawing the new The Muppet Show comic for Boom Studios! (Just a quick reminder, this title is not on sale in the UK for licensing reasons).

Born in New Zealand in 1967, Roger, who lives in London, says he decided to become a cartoonist when he was six years old; for some reason it stuck (perhaps because it was more attainable than his previous career goal of "mad scientist"). Roger drew a lot of comics with his brother Andrew when he was growing up. Eventually one of these evolved into Art Dekko (later "Art d'Ecco"), which was his first minicomic, in 1988. And things sort of rolled on from there...

He moved to the UK in 1990 to try and go professional, and has worked for most major comic publishers since then, including drawing strips for Doctor Who Magazine, DC Comics, Marvel Comics and Dark Horse.

Hugh, who hails from Dewsbury, has just completed the 37th and final issue of his comic REET!. By day, he's an illustrator and designer at UK Greetings and makes comics in his spare time.

As well as meaning 'arse' in Dutch, REET! was a free monthly comic distributed around Leeds and Hull until August 2008. Hugh drew most of the strips but the title gained a growing number of contributors, who offered a mix of styles, from 'slice of life' to the absurd. The REET! name continues through various comic projects. All 37 issues of REET! are available to read here for free.

Alex and Robin talk to Roger about his career so far and bringing Jim Henson's beloved creations to the page, while Alex talks to Hugh about Northern humour, self-publishing and his influences...

• Strip!: Muppets, Giant Cuboid Chickens and Other Weird Creatures is broadcast at 5.00pm on Thursday 7th May and 11.30pm Sunday 10th May on Resonance 104.4 FM (London), streamed at www.resonancefm.com, podcast soon after transmission at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

• REET! is a good ol'-fashioned Yorkshire word, the meaning of which can be found here!

Tube Surfing: 5 April 2009

• The Independent on Sunday carried a two-page 'interview' with Roy "Roy of the Rovers" Race today, a splendid piece of well-researched work about the character and his history by writer Cole Morton. The piece not only promoted the new Classic Comic released last week (see news story) but revealed Egmont's new online Roy of the Rovers project, which gives Racey fans the chance to play alongside Roy, and score the winning goal in a cup final. Choose a look, type in your name online and Egmont will print a comic that looks and feels like the one you remember, but has you as the star. This internet-age wish-fulfilment will become possible in the coming weeks. Read the full 'interview'

• Some bad news for fans of comics in newspapers: in the aftermath of the closure of subscription comic The DFC it seems The Guardian has cut its entire Comic Supplement from its Saturday edition. So no Vern and Lettuce or Super Animal Adventure Squad -- or any Comic for that matter! Let's hope readers complain...

• A quick reminder that the online strip Huzzah!, which features contributions from Dan McDaid, Dylan Teague, Rob Davis, Faz Choudhury, Dave Taylor, Paul Harrison-Davies and D'Israeli, among others, is cracking along nicely here. We gather there is talk of a print collection...

• Voting in the TOXIC Comic Special Poll has gathered apace, with Dave Hailwood and Paul Harrison-Davies' Hoaxers now neck and neck with Jamie Smart's Count Von Poo...

• Paul Birch reports, in his latest Speech Ballons column for the Birmingham Mail, that Borders' Bookstores UK now has a graphic novel section specifically for children's titles. "Publishers likely to benefit over the coming months include Walker Books, Penguin, Classical Comics, and Cinebook," he notes. "The latter specialise in bringing best-selling European comic books to an English-speaking readership and reviews of some of their titles will be appearing at Speech Balloons soon." Read the full column...

• Adam Cadwell has posted a report on the indie comics event Thing 2009 over on the Manchester Comics Collective forum, revealing it would seem that offering biscuits and cakes is a good way to help sell comics and thoriughly recommending Roger Langridge's Mugwhump the Great over on Act-i-vate. "It's wonderful stuff," says Adam, "So while I was disappointed that Langridge's new The Muppet Show comic wasn't available due to UK licensing reasons, I was consoled by picking up a handmade minicomic of the first chapter of the Mugwhump story. Excellent." He has plenty of other good-looking recommendations from the like of Paul Rainey and others, too.

• We're sorry to hear of the death of comic creator Ron "Nobby" Clark, who has died aged 85. "Nobby was one of the important figures in moving the action story away from historicals to more modern adventures," notes Steve Holland in a detailed tribute to the creator on Bear Alley. "Although his first action strip was a Western, he took over the writing of "Captain Phantom", a wartime spystrip featuring a "man of a thousand disguises". These were fast-moving and entertaining yarns which helped establish a more modern style of adventure strip in the UK with writers like Nobby Clark and Mike Butterworth ushering in the kind of strips that would dominate during the 1960s..." Read the full tribute on Bear Alley

• And finally for today... Brickman, Lew Stringer's classic cartoon character, is currently appearing in US title Elephantmen, and, mirroring the fate of the well known comics character he's inspired by, he's killing him off! "It's been 30 years since Brickman first appeared and I'm marking the anniversary year by killing him off!" Lew confirms. "Yep, don't miss Elephantmen 17 for the first part of Brickman R.I.P.! Coming up in future months, the Battle for the Trowel and the NEW Brickman!" For more details on Elephantmen visit the official website here:
http://www.hipflask.com/issues/elephantmen17/ or the official Brickman website at: brickmancomics.tripod.com