Tube Surfing: Weekend Comic events, another Royal Wedding Comic and Phoenix Comic

• The final cover art for another Royal Wedding comic has been revealed. The Geek Files, which also has some interior art, reports Bluewater Productions biography comic, Fame: The Royals, will be released next month in time for the wedding on 29th April, pitting it against Markosia's wedding comic whose contributors include Gary Erskine and Mike Collins (see news story).
Bluewater's cover is by Michal Szyksznian and there will be no alternative covers.

• This Saturday, the 26th March 2011, Dan Abnett will be at Forbidden Planet's London Megastore signing an exclusive Forbidden Planet Limited Edition of his new Angry Robot novel Embedded. Details here on the Forbidden Planet web site between 1 and 2.00pm. This is in advance of general publication, so don't miss out.

• Talking of events, Speech Balloon reminds us the cream of Midlands comic talent is taking part in the Memorabilia Show at Birmingham NEC this weekend. The London MCM Expo's famous Comic Village is taking comics around the country and the first stage of the tour is Memorabilia on 26-27 March.
Comic creators attending this weekend's Memorabilia include Lee Bradley; John McCrea; Kat Nicholson; Jason Cardy; Laura Howell; Liam Shalloo; Al Davison; Keith Burns; MC2; Matthew Craig; Lizz Lunney; Philippa Rice; Dylan Cook; Tony McGee; Markosia; Alice De Ste Croix; Ian Sharman; Josh Clarke; Linh Ha; Scot Stanford; Lyndon White; Ty Wilson; Sean Azzopardi; Lily Mitchell; Howard Hardiman; Toonikun and Minyi.

• The 2011 Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival is almost upon us and visitors can expect a packed weekend of activities in the heart of the medieval town. The main event weekend is April 16th-17th but many shows and exhibitions open in advance and ace British cartoonists blog Bloghorn has published details along with a handy map.

• A little more on the new 'DFC' (or 'Not DFC'). The new comic is expected to launch in early 2012 and you get more information by signing up for their mailing list at http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/, or by following editor Ben Sharpe on Twitter.

• And finally, because the journalist probably had nothing better to do, the Daily Telegraph let William Langley wheel out the trite "comics aren't as good as they used to be" line, this time marking Dennis the Menace's 60th birthday. "In these over-sensitive times, the Beano's greatest creation, the rascally schoolboy Dennis the Menace - who has just turned 60 - is not as much fun as he used to be," he moaned. Did he actually read last week's ace celebratory issue? I thought it was great fun seeing the modern Menace alongside his yesteryear counterpart - and still menacing, for all his modern updating.

Shrewsbury gears up for magical cartoon mayhem!

The Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival 2010 takes place this coming weekend (22nd - 25th April) and this year's theme is Magic, Myth and Mystery.

This wonderful Festival offers unique opportunities to see artists at work: 20 of them on huge boards in The Square during the weekend, others drawing caricatures and some running cartoon workshops for all ages. 

Highlights of the event include the Festival themed exhibition at Bear Steps Gallery featuring new cartoon originals, and prints, on the theme of Magic, Myth and Mystery. This is a selling exhibition and a great opportunity to buy work by some of the UK's top cartoonists. 

2010 also sees exhibitions of Greek and Australian cartoons at Theatre Severn.

• Click here for the full programme of events for 2010.
• Click here to download the S-MILE Trail (PDF)
• Click here to download the Cartoon Festival brochure (PDF)

Tube Surfing: 22 April 2009

It's been a busy couple of weeks so our quick round ups of British comics news here have been a bit lacking. My apologies.

• The reason things have been scant here is down to the soft launch of weirdandbeard.com, the technology, scifi and other weirdness site I work for as a day job, part of Steam Industries (the name inspired by steampunk). We're still shaping the site and there comics may begin to be included... Expect some cross posting of reviews at the very least.

• Oli Smith got in touch ages ago to tell us his Grumpy Days has finished for the moment, but he's started an all new four pages per Wednesday comic called I, Toddler - "a fairytale about growing up and a bit of a departure in terms of style and content from me usual autobiography work." The first part can be viewed here http://theolismith.com/?p=536

• Steve Holland has his hands full with various projects, but he's not leaving loyal fans of his Bear Alley blog in the lurch. To make up for the lack of daily posts he's publishing, with full permission, Eagles on the Western Front from Look and Learn. The was a long-running First World War strip that appeared in the magazine between July 1971 and October 1973. "The artwork throughout was by the great Bill Lacey and I think you'll enjoy the way it unfolds as a story," says Steve.

• The Girly Comic Book Volume 1 is now available from Factor Fiction here for the very reasonable price of £15. The Girly Comic website has a lot of sampler strips for the book as well as some original Girly Comic webcomics. "I’d encourage any of you interested in picking up the book to visit and see what you think - I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, enthuses Richard Bruton in a review over on the Forbidden Planet International web site. "The sheer breadth of styles and topics means there’s just got to be something here for you. But The Girly Comic Book is far more than your usual comic anthology, so I’d imagine you, like me, will be flicking through the pages finding new, exciting and interesting strips from the start to the end of this very impressive collection."

• (via Boing Boing) The free quarterly speculative fiction ‘zine Heliotrope’s fifth issue is a tribute to the mighty Michael Moorcock and boasts articles and short fiction from comics artist Bryan Talbot, Pyr Books editor Lou Anders, Hal Duncan, Catherynne M Valente, Chris Roberson, Paul S Kemp, Rhys Hughes and author Neil Gaiman, available online now as as PDF or to read in HTML format, all totally free from www.heliotropemag.com/04/heliotrope-issue-5

• It looks like Jamie Smart's Count von Poo will will TOXIC's Crazy Comic poll, still ahead of strips featured in its recent strip giveaway, which has just gone off-sale. Jamie's strip is just ahead of Dave Hailwood and Paul Harrison-Davies Hoaxers, Werewilf and Lew Stringer's The Clump. Still, pleased to see that Bovver Baby by myself and Paul J. Palmer has claimed five per cent of the votes so far. Vote online at www.toxicmag.co.uk/vote

• To commemorate Charles Darwin’s bicentenary, cartoons for the sixth Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival (where Darwin was born) are on a science and nature theme. Bloghorn is running some of them on its site. We particularly liked Royston Robertson's entry (oi). Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival 2009 is on 24th - 26th April. More info at: www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com

• Talking of cartoons, Daniel Merlin Godbrey posits this intriguing insight into the life of cows, who apparently possess a secret fourth stomach to digest time...

• And finally for now... with animals in mind, we're pleased to report that comics creator 'Israeli has spotted Lucky the Half-Face Cat, which means it's officially the first day of spring in his neck of the woods. Half Face is something of a legend with the 2000AD contributor, a true cat survivor of many escapades.