UniVerse Titles Available From UK On Display

UniVerse is the imprint set up by the University Of Dundee to publish the work of the students on both the university's MLitt in Comics Studies and the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) Animation, Graphic Design and Illustration course's Comic Art and Graphic Novels module. It has also been used to feature the work of the winners and runners up in the annual Dundee Comics Day art competition.

The imprint's main title is Anthology, each issue of which is a full colour, US sized, soft cover, perfect bound book.

Anthology One features the work of the DJCAD students and is a 72 page book with a cover by DJCAD graduate Colin MacNeil.

Anthology Two features the work of the MLitt students and is a 100 page book with a cover by DJCAD lecturer Phillip Vaughan.

Anthology Three again features the work of the DJCAD students and is a 120 page book with a cover by DJCAD guest lecturer Dave Gibbons.

Also featured in Anthology One are the winner and runners-up in the Tartan Bucket comics prize competition from the 2011 Dundee Comics Day and includes the winning strip, Belle's Magic Mobile by Steve English, which was published in The Beano.

The winner and runners up in the 2012 Dundee Comics Day art competition are featured in a separate publication, The Amazing Mr X. In 1944 The Dandy introduced the first home-grown British superhero and the competition brought the character of Mr X back to life, re-interpreted for the 21st century prior to his appearance in the Digital Dandy strip Retro Active. The 76 page book reprints three of the original 1940s Dandy adventures of Mr X along with the winning strip by Steve Marchant and thirteen other modern takes on the character plus a history and appreciation of the character by University Of Dundee lecturer Dr Chris Murray.

UniVerse titles are now available via mail order from UK On Display:

Anthology One (downthetubes review here)
Anthology Two
The Amazing Mr X (downthetubes review here)

All four UniVerse titles will be available at the Dundee Comics Expo on Saturday 30 March 2013. Anthology Three will be launched there and will be available via mail order after the Expo.

In Review: The Amazing Mr X - Special Edition

In 2011 the University of Dundee ran a comic art competition as part of the annual Dundee Comics Day to create a new Beano-style comic strip of one or two pages. The competition was won by Steve English's Belle's Magic Mobile which was printed in The Beano in February 2012 as well as in the University's Anthology One publication.

In 2012 the competition was for a three page strip and a cover image based on The Dandy's 1940s superhero The Amazing Mr X. Entrants were allowed to update the character in any form they wanted and the competition was won by Steve Marchant with a tongue-in-cheek take on an elderly Mr X still attempting his heroics. Rather than running the winner and runners up as part of Anthology Two, the University imprint UniVerse have put out a separate title entitled The Amazing Mr X and labelled it as a Special Edition.

Yet despite that description, this is more than just a publication of the competition winners as it reprints original pages from The Dandy as well as including a feature on the background and history of the character.

Dundee Comics Day organiser, and director of the Scottish Centre For Comics Studies, Dr Chris Murray writes about the background to Mr X in The Dandy where he first appeared in issue 272 in 1944 as what Chris describes as "Britain's first home-grown superhero". While the superhero grew to dominate the American comics scene, Britain never really  succumbed to the idea with most superhero characters that appeared in British comics over the years being reprints of American stories or British stories using US characters. Indeed The Amazing Mr X only lasted 14 issues (plus a single appearance in the 1962 Dandy annual courtesy of Dudley D Watkins) and Chris postulates why the character failed to gain a following with The Dandy's readership. The book reprints 3 of those 14 stories which were in the 'picture and paragraph' format that we now tend to associate with Rupert Bear. These are certainly interesting as an historical document but seventy years after they were originally published they are now more of a curiosity piece than actually being entertaining.
 

The book then goes on to publish the strip by the Dundee Comics Prize winner, Steve Marchant, which Chris says "undercuts the tome of the usual superhero story with a playful satire on the mythology of the superhero". Personally I prefer the Darren O'Toole written and A Kaviraj illustrated runner-up strip (above) which sets the scene for a potential ongoing series that the actual winner did not, while the other runner-up, Gavin Boyle, presents an amusing Scottish themed tongue-in-cheek version of the character. A further 11 stories from the competition cover a multitude of styles and ideas, some rather more interesting than others, giving a total of 14 new strips with the character, echoing the original number of 1940s episodes. 

The Amazing Mr X: Special Edition is not at all what I was expecting to see from UniVerse given their previous two Anthology titles. A very well produced, 76 page US comic sized book, it will be of interest to devoted Dandy fans as well as no doubt proving to be something of a curiosity to students of old British comics. 

The Amazing Mr X: Special Edition has a cover price of £8 and is available, as the other UniVerse titles are, by sending an e-mail requesting details to - universecomic@gmail.com

Dandy 75: A Roundup Of What Is Happening

The 75th anniversary, and last print, edition of The Dandy comic will be published on Tuesday 4 December, the same day that the new on-line version will be launched. In the run-up to Tuesday here are a selection of Dandy events and stories -

The ABC Show returns to the (almost monthly) London Comic Mart tomorrow, Sunday 2 December, when creators Henry Davis, Hunt Emerson, Laura Howell, Gary Northfield, Nigel Parkinson and Lew Stringer will be on hand to sign Dandys while original artwork will be on display. The event runs from Noon to 4pm at the Royal National Hotel near London's Russel Square and entrance is free.
There are more details of the ABC Show on the London Comic mart website.

Also close to Russell Square is The Cartoon Museum which continues its Dandy 75th Birthday Exhibition with displays of original Dandy artwork. The exhibition continues until 24 December 2012.
There are more details at the Cartoon Museum website.

The National Library Of Scotland in Edinburgh also has a Dandy exhibition running as part of their ongoing Treasures series of displays and, like the Cartoon Museum, it also features original artwork from the DC Thomson archive. The NLS exhibition continues until 3 February 2013  and entrance is free.
There are more details including seasonal opening times on the National Library Of Scotland website.

Dundee University's UniVerse imprint have teamed up with DC Thomson to publish their 'Special Edition' of the Dandy's 1940s superhero character The Amazing Mr X. On the final inside page of the 76 page book is a cryptic image/advert with the words "The End?". It also has some curiously copyrighted text at the bottom along with a Twitter hashtag - something to keep an eye on perhaps.
Price and ordering details for The Amazing Mr X are available by e-mailing universecomic@gmail.com

The Birmingham Post has a feature on Dandy artist Charlie Grigson who drew Korky The Cat for two decades as well as contributing to The Beano, The Topper and Judy. Now 96 years young, Charlie Grigson has lost his short term memory to dementia but has written down his life story for his family, and his son Steve talks warmly of his father's love of his work.
The full feature is available on the Birmingham Post website.

Finally, for now, George Shiers over on the Wacky Comics blog has the details of what he has termed 'Digital Dandy' and we have previously called 'e-Dandy' that were sent with the subscriber copies of the current issue of The Dandy. This suggests that 'e-Dandy' will have a weekly format. We will all know the details on Tuesday.
There are more details of this on the Wacky Comics blog.


The last print issue of The Dandy, a 100 page special including a reprint of the first issue from 1937, goes on sale on Tuesday 4 December with a cover price of £3.99. 

Anyone concerned that they will not be able to find a copy of the issue, which has a print run of 50,000, can order it directly from the DC Thomson on-line shop. The on-line shop also has a special offer of a Dandy Collectors Pack of a copy of the last issue as well as a copy of the hardback book The Art And History Of The Dandy signed by the last two editors of the comic, Morris Heggie and Craig Graham.

Dundee Comics Prize competition returns with superhero theme

In 1944 The Dandy introduced a home-grown British superhero – The Amazing Mr X, who appeared in 14 instalments between 1944 and 1945.

Drawn by DC Thomson staff artist Jack Glass, the The Amazing Mr X made a brief reappearance in The Dandy annual in 1962, drawn by Dudley D. Watkins -- but since then, he has been all but forgotten.

Now the University of Dundee, in partnership with DC Thomson, is giving comic creators the opportunity to bring the character back to life, re-interpreting the character for the 21^st century!

The challenge to recreate one of Britain's first superheroes (DC Thomson actually created other characters that could be regarded as superheroes earlier than Mr X) is the focus of the Second Annual Dundee Comics Prize.

Entries should consist of a two - three page origin story and a cover image featuring your interpretation of this classic British superhero.

The first prize is £500, plus publication of the story in The Sunday Post and in the Dundee University publication Anthology, which showcases new work by up-and-coming comics creators. There will also be two runner-up prizes of £250 each.

The deadline for completed submissions is 1st October 2012. The work will be judged by a panel consisting of comic professionals and scholars, with the announcement being made at the Dundee Comic Day on 28th October 2012.

Winners and runner-ups will be invited to attend. There will also be an exhibition of artwork from the competition at Comic Day.

Mr X was the alter ego for private enquiry agent Len Manners who dons "a queer costume, black skin-tight trousers and white jersey" and uses amazing strength that he can "summon at will" to fight crime.

Former Dandy editor Morris Heggie has described Mr. X as "The closest we've ever had to a super hero". However, he also admits that "His arch nemeses weren't glamorous.... He would chase people who stole lead from roofs and other small time crooks."

The character is actually one of several ill-fated superhero characters we're told DC Thomson has considered reviving in the past. These also include the mysterious Captain Hornet, The Comet, Captain Q, Danger Man, the Flaming Avenger (who appeared in Rover back in 1933), King Kobra (drawn by Ron Smith, he appeared in Hotspur back in 1976), Tarzan imitator Morgyn the Mighty, Red Star Robinson, the Scarlet Hawk (who fought crime from a secret base in Dorset) the Supercats (first appearing in girls comic Spellbound), Spring-Heeled Jack and Zogg the Wizard.

The company even had its own version of Supergirl, although we suspect a certain very large US comics company might have a few things to say if they tried to re-publish her...

Image © DC Thomson

The aim of the Dundee Comics Prize is to nurture talent in comics, and to help new creators gain recognition. Anyone can enter the competition, and the submission can be in any style, in black or white or colour, but the work must be finished to a high standard (lettered, inked, etc), and it must be a complete story. The work must be original, the creators must own the copyright, and it must not have been published already, or currently offered for publication elsewhere. When submitting work good quality scans are requested in the first instance, although original artwork may be requested at a later stage (although will remain the property of the creators).

The prize is awarded to the creator or team who produce the work. If the work is collaborative the members of the team will share the prize money equally. All winners (including runners-up) will be asked to provide a short account of how the comic was created, along with any relevant photos and sketches. These will be used on the website and in the exhibition and publications to demonstrate how the winning entries came about.

Artwork will also be required on a short loan for the purposes of an exhibition. The decision of the judging panel is final, and DC Thomson reserves control over what is published, how it is presented, and in what format, in their publications.

• There's a feature on The Amazing Mr X in the the Art and History of The Dandy book

• Further information about The Amazing Mr X is available at http://www.v14.co.uk/misterx/ and via two pages from The Amazing Mr X:

• The Amazing Mr X, Page 1
• The Amazing Mr X, Page 2

• Please also read the Rules and Guidelines for the prize.  A flyer about the prize is available for printing and display.

• All queries and submissions should be sent to Dr Chris Murray, University of Dundee, at dundeecomicsprize@gmail.com

Related Information

• Winners of the Dundee Comics Prize 2011

(With thanks to Jeremy Briggs for the heads up on this item)