There’s no escape: The Prisoner is returning to comics

Not for the first time, the short-lived, highly regarded 1960s TV series The Prisoner is being adapted for comics. Titan Comics has announced they are to publish all-new comic books written by Peter Milligan, drawn by Colin Lorimer,  to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of classic cult phenomenon, in partnership with ITV Studios Global Entertainment.

The Prisoner to first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 29 September 1967 – and in 1968 in the United States - and despite running for just 17 episodes, was has become a cult classic with global audiences, thanks to its surreal mix of spy fiction with sci-fi, allegory and psychological drama elements.

The series starred actor and, later, director Patrick MacGoohan (Danger Man, Columbo, Escape from Alcatraz) as Number 6 – the fiery British former secret agent who is abducted and held prisoner in a shadowy coastal village, where his captors try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job.

The TV show has captured imaginations ever since, spawning a following still pondering the show’s twists and turns to this day.

The Prisoner inspired Jack Kirby to fashion a homage in Marvel’s Fantastic Four #84-8 1969, involving Doctor Doom's kingdom of Latveria.

(There have been plenty of homages to the show in comics and other popular media since, too).

Kirby was clearly enamoured of the show and it’s perhaps no surprise he was chosen to provide art and story for a comic version of The Prisoner in 1976. But not before writer Steve Englehart had taken a crack at the concept.

“Marv Wolfman, as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, wanted to adapt the classic TV show, but after securing the rights, his duties didn't leave him enough time, so he handed it off to me,” Steve Engelhart recalls of the project’s origins.

Steve Engelhart, Steve Leialoha and letterer Tom Orzechowski recreated the splash page of Engelhart's comics take on The Prisoner for a convention program

“I plotted an adaptation of the first episode, and Gil Kane handled the art (with Joe Staton providing his layouts). I was all ready to script - but by then, Marv had resigned, a new E-I-C had taken over, and Marvel was in turmoil. I ended up leaving, and was told I would not be allowed to script my Prisoner. I told them I darn well would, and they told me I'd have to turn in the script the next morning!”

He delivered a script on time - but it was still shelved.

Kirby’s planned series never went into production either, the hugely influential comics creator instead tackling 2001: A Space Odyssey. Most pages of the first issue, based on the show’s opening episode Arrival, were drawn. You can read It on line over at Forces of Geek and there’s a great article by Charles Hatfield about the history of the project, first published in Jack Kirby Collector #11, first published in 1996, over at TwoMorrows.com.

A four-part The Prisoner sequel, Shattered Visage, by Dean Motter and Mark Askwith, was published by DC Comics in 1988-89, which attempted to answer some of the show’s many questions - but fans didn’t like the revisionist approach to the source material.

There’s been more favourable fan reception to EVERYMAN: A Celebration of Patrick McGoohan & The Prisoner, British comic creator Brian Gorman’s new graphic novel, launched, appropriately enough, at this year’s Portmeiricon, the annual Prisoner event hosted by Six Of One.

Titan Comics new comic will be written by Peter Milligan (The Mummy, Dan Dare, Hellblazer) with art by Colin Lorimer (The X-Files, Hellraiser, Harvest - and will launch next year.

“For a story where all is ambiguous, it’s hardly surprising that everyone takes from The Prisoner something different,” says Peter. “Like most people I had my own theories, my own twisted notions – mostly Kafkaesque and existential - of what was really going on in those mock Italianate dwellings.

“Personally the stranger and more baffling it was the better it suited me, so what an honour it is now, thanks to Titan Comics, to be writing Number 6’s successor into that enigmatic and beguiling world.

“And how cool it is to imagine that while I’m writing this new iteration of the Prisoner, I am at least for a while... number one.”

• Titan’s The Prisoner hits stores in 2018, and will be available to pre-order from an upcoming edition of Diamond PREVIEWS. Register your interest with your local comics retailer now

• The Prisoner - Shattered Visage and other The Prisoner books are available on amazon.co.uk

• Buy The Prisoner TV series from amazon.co.uk

• The Unmutual - The Prisoner news site

New Superman comic on sale now in newsagents

Timed to coincide with the release of new Warner Bros film, Man of Steel, the first issue of Titan Comics new Superman is on sale now.

Featuring Henry Cavill in the lead role and directed by Zack Snyder, the Man of Steel film will be released in cinemas on 14th June and will be darker in tone than previous incarnations - and so will the Superman comic.

Aimed at 9-17 year old boys, Superman will feature two full full-length, action packed comic strips in every issue.

Issue 2 goes on sale at the end of this month.

In Issue 1:

Action Comics – 'The Boy Who Stole Superman's Cape'
Here's an untold adventure from Superman's very earliest days in Metropolis - learn how he got his name, his crest, and discover the importance of his cape, as you share a day in the City of Tomorrow!
First printed in Action Comics #0

Action Comics – 'Rocket Song'
Delve into Superman's past as we turn back time to that fateful moment when baby Kal-El was jettisoned from is dying home planet of Krypton! What bigger role does the life-saving rocket that carried him to Earth still have to play in Superman's future?
First printed in Action Comics#5

• More info and subscription info on the Titan Magazines web site here

Beware of Dinosaurs: Forbidden Planet Chronos Commandos Signing announced

Comic creator and illustrator Stuart Jennett will be launching his new comic Chronos Commandos #1 at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore on Wednesday 10th July (6 – 7.00pm)

When the Allies and Nazis develop time-diving technology that could see the course of World War II derailed by creatures from the Cretaceous period, only the Sarge and his band of misfit soldiers can save the future by saving history!

Dinosaurs! Giant crocodiles! Time travel! Nazis! Albert Einstein with a machine gun!

Stuart started out as a comic book artist for Marvel UK back in the early 1990’s (drawing Warheads - yes, I was his editor after Paul Neary talent spotted him in Glasgow) before moving into the video games industry as a concept, 3d artist and studio art director. Now, after a long hiatus from his first love, Stuart returns with an unapologetic love letter to his youth with Chronos Commandos - a bullet strewn, time travelling, Nazi stomping adventure serial new from Titan Comics.

Stuart, alongside his wife, is also one of the founders and creative directors of Alien Apple Studios, providing design work across the entertainment industry.

Here's some pages from the first issue!

• For more about Forbidden Planet signings click here

Titan Comics releases Devil May Cry: The Vergil Chronicles

Titan Comics has just released the first issue of Devil May Cry: The Vergil Chronicles comic, based on the all-new re-imagination of Capcom’s world-famous  eponymous videogame saga.

Both issues of the two-part 'prequel' comic series are already available digitally, to tie in with the recent release of Capcom’s newest and highly rated videogame installment of DmC Devil May Cry.

The DmC comics prequel takes place a few months before DmC Devil May Cry, revealing the crucial backstory of Dante and his twin brother Vergil; with never-before-told revelations about these iconic game characters.

Just-translated for a simultaneous release with the French comic edition, the story, in the vein of Titan’s Assassin’s Creed graphic novels, is written by Guillaume Dorison aka Izu (Omega Complex) and illustrated by artists Robin Recht (The Third Testament) and Patrick Pion (Tomb Raider: Dark Aeons).

The Devil May Cry video game series has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, spinning off into an animated series, graphic novels, manga, action figures, statues, clothing and more. The franchise has also just been picked up for adaptation by Screen Gems, the studio that produced the blockbuster Resident Evil movies.

The next installment sees Capcom collaborating with UK based developer Ninja Theory to explore new frontiers for the series. Set against a contemporary backdrop, DmC Devil May Cry depicts a duplicitous world where nothing is ever as it seems and the line between good and evil is constantly blurred. The franchise’s hero Dante bursts into this world wielding the series’ signature mix of sword and gunplay but adds additional weapons, all new powers and a revitalized gameplay system as players navigate the rich, interactive environment.

• Devil May Cry: The Vergil Chronicles #1 is on sale now and #2 is on sale 19th June

• The digital editions are available for the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comixology.com.

Dravn to Succeed: Dave Elliott on A1, DRAVN and the lure of the anthology comic

Dave Elliott has more than 25 years of experience working in every aspect of the comic book industry from writer and artist to editor and publisher, and his latest project, the return of A1, is about to be launched, in partnership with Titan Comics. 

Dave created Sharky and Maximum Force and has worked on diverse titles such as A1, Deadline, Viz Comic, Heavy Metal magazine, Penthouse Comix, 2000AD, Justice League of America, Transformers, GI Joe and Doctor Who. He recently worked with the band Fall Out Boy, and with NASCAR/MMI to create and brand new intellectual properties which he cites as examples of new media integration for a more immersive entertainment experience.

In 2006, Dave co-founded Radical Studios, and, as both the co-publisher and Editor-In-Chief, was integral to the development and launch of Radical’s premiere comic book titles several of which have now begun development as film properties including Hercules (Starring Dwayne Johnson, directed by Brett Ratner and to be released by MGM), Freedom Formula (New Regency), Schrapnel, Caliber, Hotwire, Last Days of American Crime and Oblivion (starring Tom Cruise, directed by Joe Kosinski and released by Universal).

He's currently relaunching his company Atomeka, started with his partner Garry Leach, as an imprint of Titan Books. Atomeka’s titles include A1, Weirding Willows, and Monster Massacre, followed by Odyssey. 

downthetubes: The return of A1. Why now, after what, how many years?

Dave: I've been asked a few times over the years to bring it back but with the rise of creator owned material I really didn't see the point at the time. When Garry and myself started A1, doing creator owned material was pretty rare.  Most British creators never had the chance or the opportunity to do anything.

Then I did several projects with [US publisher] Image Comics. The approach seemed noble, giving creators all the rights and they'd just take a cut off the top. Seemed reasonable. But I saw many creators who were doing four to six issue mini-series that came out of it in debt. Their trade money already spent in paying back Image their piece of the pie. Creators quite naturally want to get their ideas out there. To seed them and hopefully get the chance to tell their story someday.

So what if you didn't need to do a six issue series? What if you could do a series of shorter stories where you wouldn't have to quit your day job? I'm offering some people the chance to do that.  To lay the ground work by seeding their ideas so when they do take the time out to do that four to six issue mini-series, the audience has had a taste for it. The creator has had a chance to get feedback and refine his (or her) ideas.

The upcoming A1 annual

downthetubes: What's the appeal of the anthology format for you - you seem to get drawn back with it, what with guest editing Heavy Metal and more?

Dave: Anthologies offer the chance for experimentation and exploration.  It's a tougher discipline as you have to tell a story in three to 12 pages, build a little character and hopefully see if the idea floats for you and the audience to want to see more. Text stories, art galleries, even articles shouldn't be off the table as well.

downthetubes:The anthology is a tough market, particularly in the United States - despite A1's amazing success in the past. Are you a glutton for punishment or one of life's optimists?
Dave: I think that needs clarification. The big A1 anthology, which will be out in October, will be more Mass Market. (The comic will just be the Direct Sales Market).

Anthologies in the comic book Direct Sales Market don't do that well. I think it is primarily down to motive for doing one.  is it just to get a bunch of characters that no one really cares much about into print to keep the copyright going? 

Now the mass market tends to react the other way. Every magazine available in the mass market is an anthology. TIME, People, Entertainment Weekly, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, MAD, Heavy Metal and every bloody newspaper on the planet. The Direct Sales market has been programmed to function differently to the mass market. 

Can you imagine asking the mass market reader to have all their articles and reviews serialized over weeks or months? Recipes where you only get one or two of the ingredients per magazine? Publishing would die overnight. So why do comics do it?
The big A1 anthology, which will be out in October, will be more Mass Market. (The comic will just be the Direct Sales Market).

downthetubes: Do you have a long term "game plan" for the title beyond the initial stories?

Dave: By now, people will see I am launching A1 in two different formats with different content. First to be released will be the A1 six issue mini-series for Direct Sale. This format is to seed three projects that will be expanded upon next year with a series of graphic novels based off the properties.


This series is so people can take a test drive. I'm considering doing 6 issues a year of this so we can potentially launch two or three series a year.

The second A1, for the m,ass market, is kind of more like the old - self contained volumes, but bigger, more pages and even more experimental. Also I want to bring back some of the fun into comics (even if its only for those putting these books together).

Then there is Monster Massacre, the naughty little brother to A1. I think of it as the bastard step child of Heavy Metal and 2000AD. Very Sci-Fi and Fantasy led, but I don't want people thinking of it as a boys only comic. I've always been a big proponent of tough female characters who don't need to get raped to be kick-ass.

I'm working on a fantasy love story at the moment with Dave Wilkins. He may not quite think of it in those terms but that's where its core is going to be. Think about Lady Hawke with a twist.

So the game plan is to keep A1 and Monster Massacre going as ongoing series, each building up to hopefully a critical mass where the creators involved can see a respectable trickle of royalties coming in if they stick with it.

I am planning a third anthology that will be aimed at a more general audience that I hope to launch either late 2014 or early 2015.

downthetubes: You're writing some of these new stories, has it been good to get back to that side of the comics business after being "editor in chief" on several projects?

Dave: Hell, yes! Garry and myself started A1 so we could both do our own creator owned work and after the first issue we both had to take a back seat as the publishing stuff got in the way.  This time I am very much in the mix creatively and I hope to get Garry back in the mix when he gets a break. Wearing both hats certainly makes me a lot happier.

downthetubes: You're also working on DRAVN for Heavy Metal Magazine. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Dave: Heavy Metal Issue 262 is on sale now and serves as a great intro into the world of DRAVN. It's a big, rich, and complex story that will take at least three big graphic novels to tell.  It's sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure, thriller, drama, all wrapped up in one big concept.  The creator is Jesse Negron, who is no stranger to working on big concepts (Google him on IMDB). What I bring to the table is partly my editor's hat and partly my writer hat. I love developing characters and their motivations. Jesse has this amazing story and I'm like the junction master on a train line, making sure the train stays on track and that the track is solid.

As it will be such a big undertaking I've agreed to co-write the graphic novels with Jesse.  We'll be working on these for the next few years.

downthetubes: From reading online interviews you seem to be pitching that as a concept that could reach a much wider audience than those who read, say HM or 2000AD?

Dave: I'd say both those audiences are perfect for DRAVN but it would also be perfect for readers of Harry Potter and the Hunger Games. I liken it to Star Wars in many respects: it 's a huge universe and timeline that we're going to be entering. The best way to do that is chose one character and come in through their point of view and expand out naturally, discovering the world with them.

downthetubes: Do you think that publishers are doing enough to try and secure the next generation of comic readers?

Dave: I think they're trying as best they know how. While some people may not like licensed books, doing TV and Film tie-ins bring a new audience in.  As long as the quality can be kept high I think this is good for the market.

I forget how spoilt I was growing up. I had artists like Frank Bellamy, Ron Embleton, Jesus Belasco, Mike Noble, Brian Lewis, John M. Burns, drawing comics for me to read. Syd Jordan on Jeff Hawke, Horak on James Bond, Jim Holdaway on Modesty Blaise. But I always have to remind myself, this is a different time with different tastes.

I think we are all guilty of pissing in our own bathwater and not doing enough to bring in a younger audience.  I'd love to do another VIZ kids comic again. The special I did while I was at John Brown Publishing did really well.  We need some more books like that.

downthetubes: Are you working with Titan on comics with a wider audience, too?
Dave: That's the main reason I'm doing this. Titan have great reach beyond just comic book stores and the books I am doing are focused on as wide a market as possible. I want to get comics back in the hands of lapsed readers, new readers, in an accessible form.  People who like multiple genres. That's a lot of people and we plan on tracking them down.

downthetubes: What one piece of advice do you most offer aspiring comic creators?
Dave: Don't do it.

I'm serious! This can be a shitty industry to work in. Hollywood's mentality is spreading into comics. Chewing creators up and spitting them out once they've lost their flavor.

But if you're stupid enough to ignore that advice, then I'd suggest focusing on your own stuff. Work on your own stuff and get it right.  If you're an artist learn to draw everything!  Google will get you an image of it quick enough but you have to make it convincing.

Start a DeviantART account!!! The community is wonderful for giving you feedback.  Post your own stories everywhere. DeviantART, Facebook, set your own website with your own comic on it and post your own stories. Tweet and Facebook links as often as you can.  Find some friendly creators that will retweet to their fans.

Be persistent.

• Dave is easily accessible on both Facebook and DeviantART or follow him on Twiter via: DeevElliott or ATOMEKA_Press

• Titan Comics is at: http://titan-comics.com

Mad May for Wallace and Gromit

VisitEngland, the UK’s national tourist board has recruited Wallace & Gromit as 'Tourism Trailblazers' to inspire Britons to take a holiday at home this year.

(It's a busy time for the duo - earlier this month, they notched up the 1000th daily Wallace and Gromit strip in The Sun, created by the Titan Comics team).

The campaign kicked off with Wallace & Gromit exploring the country’s most exciting holiday spots on their motorbike and sidecar, plus the duo are now starring in a new animated TV ad, which is going out across TV and cinema screens in the UK.

Nick Park, Creator and Director of Wallace & Gromit, said “Leisure time has always been very important to Wallace & Gromit, so it’s great to see them making this holiday choice.  A nice cup of tea and some tasty local cheese is always a favourite so they won’t be disappointed with their holiday in the UK.

The ad was produced at Aardman studios in Bristol and you can take a sneaky peek behind the scenes in the video here.

Titan Comics announces IT CAME! from Dan Boultwood

Titan Comics releases the brand-new creator-owned series, IT CAME! – a four-issue, 1950s B-movie style mini-series by Dan Boultwood – in August.

Judging from the sneek peek trailer (created by Angie Thomas) which  has just been released, fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 will love this hilarious romp, a knowing throwback to the heyday of low-budget Sci-Fi cinema, described as a 1950s B-Movie comedy fromtThe vaults of Movie History! 

Trundling through the 1950s British countryside, unthinkingly misogynistic space scientist, Dr. Boy Brett and the suitably chaperoned Doris Night pop into a quaint village pub for a cheese ploughman's... But waiting for them outside is a most unwelcome visitor: Grurk, an indestructible, rampaging robot from outer space, on a mission to harvest the British Blitz spirit for energy!

Pursuing Grurk in their Morris Minor, will Boy and Doris be able to save the British from a life without stiff upper lippedness, or will Her Majesty's Kingdom be forever resigned to an eternity down in the mouth?

Dan Boultwood's credits include titles such as Danger Academy, Hope Falls and Baker Street Irregulars. Dan origianlly considered IT CAME! as a potential crowdfunded title, so it's great news that Titan has picked the project up. Here's another nifty promo for the project: Rich Johnston also posted some unlettered pages on Bleeding Cool last year here.

IT CAME! #1 will hit comic stores on 7th August 2013. The series will also be available to read day and date on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com

Retailers can order IT CAME #1 from the April 2013 edition of Diamond PREVIEWS.

• Dan's website is here and his DeviantArt is here, and you can also find him on Twitter

• To keep up-to-date with news from Titan Comics, visit: http://titan-comics.com

• Connect with Titan Comics on Twitter (http://twitter.com/comicstitan) and Facebook (
http://www.facebook.com/comicstitan

Titan Comics to publish Spurrier and Holden's 'Numbercruncher' in colour

Titan Comics has announced it will publish Numbercrucher in July a creator-owned series by writer Si Spurrier and artist PJ Holden, first seen in Judge Dredd Megazine – but now being re-published in full colour.

To be launched on 10th July, Numbercruncher is an off-the-wall romance mixing time-travel, life-after-death and coal-black comedy.

Si Spurrier is a novelist, comic book writer and former BBC art director whose career has often intertwined with flagship British sci-fi comic 2000AD and its spin-off, Judge Dredd Megazine, whether penning the tales of its flagship character, or co-creating such unique and disturbed characters as Lobster Random and The Simping Detective.

Currently writing the electric super-psychological adventure X-Men: Legacy for Marvel NOW!, Spurrier has also penned adventures of Wolverine, Ghost Rider and Punisher.

Spurrier is the writer of two critically-acclaimed post-pulp occult crime novels, Contract and A Serpent Uncoiled, both from Hodder Headline.

Co-creator and artist PJ Holden, also an acclaimed regular on 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine, crafting stories of Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Johnny Woo and The 86ers. He also co-created Black Ops Extreme for STRIP Magazine.

Holden broke into US comics with Fearless, from Image Comics, and is working on another creator-owned project with Gordon Rennie, Department of Monsterology, which is being published by Renegade Entertainment.

A digital comics pioneer, he designed the 'Comics Reader App' in 2009, which was licensed by NBC for its similarly pioneering Heroes webcomics.

Utterly unusual, vaguely insane, and unexpectedly heart-warming, Numbercruncher follows a brilliant Mathematician who dies young, enters the afterlife and discovers a way to cheat the terrifying Divine Calculator. He schemes to be endlessly reincarnated within the lifespan of the woman he loves, no matter how often the violent bailiffs of the Karmic Accountancy cut short each life.

It falls to one such bailiff – the surly Bastard Zane – to put a stop to the time-twisting romance once and for all, before the Mathematician can pull-off his greatest trick and escape Existential Justice forever!

“When Si first proposed Numbercruncher to me, it was clear we'd need to play with some different techniques for this multi-layered, multi-reality story,” says P.J. Holden, co-creator. "Flipping between the afterlife and the real world was a key element, and we needed something to make those realities distinct. And, being a huge fan of the Pressburger and Powell film A Matter of Life and Death (a romance about a dying World War II pilot, which similarly flits between a monochromatic afterlife and a technicolour real world), it seemed fairly obvious that the best way to do that was to have the afterlife be a sort of dreamy, textured black and white world, and the real world a much more comic book style, pure lineart with colour.

"And, when Zane moves from the afterlife to the real world, crashing that black and white world into the colour, visually it would be show-stopping, and look like nothing else out there."

”PJ and I worked our socks off on Numbercruncher – a time-travelling romantic comedy thriller with more twists than Agatha Christie’s corkscrew," says Si Spurrier, co-creator, "So it’s enormously satisfying to see it published by such a prestigious institution as Titan, and hugely exciting that it’s part of their new all-original-content initiative".

”Numbercruncher is one of those intensely personal yet universally brilliant projects you just can’t wait to get into print”, says Steve White, Senior Comics Editor. “Si is a master of the wonderfully off beat idea, and PJ has illustrated it to perfection. The new, subtle, and emotive colors by colorist, Jordie Bellaire help round off the Titan package. This is a title that’s flown under the radars of a lot of readers in the US, so it’ll be great to finally get it into their hands.”

Numbercruncher was originally serialized in black and white in Judge Dredd Megazine in the UK. The series is now being newly coloured and expanded for the first time by Titan Comics.

• Numbercruncher #1 will hit comic stores on 10th July 2013. The series will also be available to read day and date on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com. Retailers can order Numbercruncher #1 from the March 2013 edition of Diamond PREVIEWS.

Preview: A1 anthology returns in June, via Titan Comics

Titan Comics has announced the return of A1, the award-winning anthology series by Dave Elliott - and the company has released some early preview pages from its first three strips.

Due to hit comic shops on 5th June, A1 is a new monthly series featuring three fantastic ongoing strips: Weirding Willows, Odyssey and Carpe DIEm.

A1 has a long pedigree in comics. Launched in the late 1980s as an outlet for the creator-owned stories of Dave Elliott and Gary Leach, the award-winning anthology quickly became a place where big-name industry friends could follow their creator-owned desires and publish their own material. Some of those industry friends included Alan Moore, Barry Windsor-Smith, Eddie Campbell, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Bill Sienkiewicz, Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, Glenn Fabry, Peter Milligan, David Lloyd, Phil Bond, Jamie Hewlett, Dougie Braithwaite, Grant Morrison, Moebius, Alan Martin, D’Israeli, Kelly Jones, Nick Abadzis, Steve Dillon and many, many more.

Now, Elliott is taking A1 back to its roots, with three top-grade tales created by himself and his closest artistic friends, released as part of a co-publishing venture between Titan Comics and Atomeka.

When asked about his love for the anthology format Dave said, “For me there is a joy in putting anthologies together. They are so easy to get wrong and wonderful when they turn out right. A1 has always been about variety, but consistent in quality.”  

A1 now returns monthly, showcasing three brand-new ongoing stories reflecting the variety it has always been known for.

Weirding Willows by writer Dave Elliott and artists Barnaby Bagenda, Sami Basri, Sakti Yuwono & Jessica Kholinne, sees the worlds of Wonderland, OZ, Neverland, Mars, Pellucidar and Elysium leak through portals into the little English town of Willow Weir, as Alice and her allies defend her world from the things that would come through those portals to destroy them. Here's some preview art...

Odyssey by writer Dave Elliott and artists Garrie Gastonny and Sakti Yuwono, follows an immortal military superhero, out of place and time, who finds himself in the middle of an eternal war for mankind between Angels and Demons. Here's some preview art...

Carpe DIEm by writer W. H. Rauf and artist/creator Rhoald Marcelius, follows an offbeat group of the world’s seven greatest assassins: one for each day of the week. Their leader is always a Sir Monday… but the rest of the team always hate Mondays! A riot of colour and concepts in a Tank Girl vein. Here's some preview art...

“Dave’s address book is legendary within the industry,” says Steve White, Senior Editor at Titan Comics, “But so is his dedication to new ideas, and finding new creators to bring them to life. He’s always been a creator’s creator, and the new A1 shows the kind of beautiful adventures he can inspire. It’s a fantastic package.”  

A1 #1 comes with three main covers to collect: Weirding Willows cover by artist, Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau; Odyssey cover by series artists Gastonny and Yuwono; Carpe DIEm cover by series artists, Marcelius.

#1 will hit comic stores on 5th June, 2013. The series will also be available to read day and date on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com 

• To keep up-to-date with news from Titan Comics, visit www.titan-comics.com or join them on Facebook or Twitter

• Retailers can order A1 #1 from the February 2013 edition of Diamond PREVIEWS. For updates retailers can sign-up to the Titan Comics retail newsletter, here or follow @TitanRetail on Twitter

It's Tank Girl versus Tank Girl for new Titan mini series

Titan Comics has announced announce the launch of Solid State Tank Girl, a brand-new four-part series by creator Alan Martin and stellar new artist, Warwick Johnson Cadwell.

Originally created by Martin and one half of the critically-acclaimed virtual band Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett, Tank Girl remains one of the greatest counter-culture comics anti-heroines, driving her attitude-laden tank straight into the face of bland, spandex-wearing simpletons!

Hitting stores on 15th May 2013, Solid State Tank Girl sees the post-modern princess of punk return to face her nastiest nemesis: ANTI-TANK GIRL!

Tank Girl, Jet Girl, Booga and Barney are back and on a mission to save their favourite little radio store. Things are going according to plan, too, but somewhere along the line Booga manages to electronically summon the gang’s evil counterparts, fronted by the darkest bitch on the planet – ANTI-TANK GIRL! The fight is to the death, as each gang member draws on their deepest, most screwed-up powers to eliminate their own personal nemesis. Things are about to get very dark, very bloody… and very stupid!

The new series has Martin teaming up with Warwick Johnson Cadwell, whose previous credits include Birdsong, New British Comics, Solipsistic Pop and West comic anthologies.

We're told Cadwell was forced to hand-wash 86 pairs of Tank Girl's soiled underpants, scour Jet-Girl's air-intake and lick Booga's salty bollocks while dressed as a Glaswegian nun before he was even allowed to submit his art samples. Imagine what he had to do in order to gain Alan Martin's approval and become the new official Tank Girl artist! (We'll give you a hint: it involved a plunger, an oxygen tank, seven mini-tubs of quick-drying hair-gel, the cogs of an antique watch, the spleen of a goat, and four kilos of body-chocolate).

“The new Titan Comics imprint is all about taking a chance on new creators and new talent," says Steve White, Senior Comics Editor, "and pairing Warwick’s street-art energy to Alan’s potty-mouthed imagination has refreshed Tank Girl once again. The results are blindingly good!”

• Solid State Tank Girl #1 hits comic stores on 15th May 2013. The series will also be available to read day and date on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com. Retailers can order Solid State Tank Girl #1 from the February 2013 edition of Diamond PREVIEWS.

• Titan Comics web site: www.titan-comics.com

Titan Comics, A1 Publisher Dave Elliott unite for new Co-Publishing Venture

Hot on the heels of the recent announcement that Titan Comics is offering new original creator-owned series in 2013, Titan has released information about a new co-publishing venture with A1 publisher, Dave Elliott.

Dave Elliott has more than 25 years of experience working in the comic book industry. He created Sharky and Maximum Force and has worked on diverse titles such as Deadline, 2000AD, Justice League of America, Transformers and GI Joe.  In 2006, he co-founded Radical Studios and played an integral role in the development and launch of Radical’s premiere comic book titles, several of which have now begun development as film properties – including Hercules, Shrapnel, Caliber, Hotwire, and The Last Days of American Crime and Oblivion, which is due to hit cinemas in May and stars Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman.

The new publishing venture between Titan Comics and Dave launches in June 2013 and will see the release of brand-new comics and stunning new and classic graphic novels.

The first wave hits from June 2013 with two new series: A1, a monthly revival of the famously experimental anthology and the new music-festival adventure, Tomorrowland.

The first collections will drop in September 2013, with releases including the League of Extraordinary Gentleman-style Weirding Willows, supernatural anthology Monster Massacre and the adventures of the teenage god Sharky. The first volume of the new A1 annual and the collection of Tomorrowland will release later in the year.

"Anyone who has been in the comics industry knows Dave Elliott, and his industrious and creative talent," says Nick Landau, Publisher of Titan Comics. “He has an address book like no-one in the business, a never-ending fount of ideas, and the savvy to win the best global creators over to his team. We’re delighted to be co-publishing his latest creations."

"Having worked in the entertainment industry for over 25 years I wanted a partner that complemented what I do”, said A1 Publisher, Dave Elliott. “I wanted a partner who has the same aspirations for seeing this industry do what it has the potential to do. And most importantly I wanted a partner who realizes that if I do well, so do they. I know with Titan’s 30-year experience in the industry, I'm getting just that."

Each new release will also be available to read day and date on the iPhone, iPad, Web, Android and Kindle Fire.

The new co-publishing venture begins in June 2013, with two brand-new comic series, with further new collections being released through the year. Here's the information so far:

June 2013
 
A1 #1The new monthly from creators Dave Elliott, Barnaby Bagenda, Garrie Gastonny, W. H. Rauf, Rhoald Marcellius, Sakti Yuwono and Stellar Labs.

The exciting return of the award-winning graphic anthology series, this time monthly in a new format. It features three great ongoing strips: Weirding Willows, in which the worlds of Wonderland, OZ, Neverland, Mars, Pelucidar and Elysium clash in the little English town of Willow Weir; Odyssey, An immortal superhero out of place and time finds himself in the middle of a war for mankind between the Angels and the Demons; and Carpe Diem, about the World's seven greatest assassins, one for each day of the week.  Their leader is always a Sir Monday, but the rest of the team always hate Mondays...

• Retailers can order A1 #1 from the February 2013 edition of Diamond PREVIEWS.

July 2013

Tomorrowland
Writer: Paul Jenkins Artist: Stellar Labs (DC Comics, Marvel Comics, IDW Comics, Image Comics, Top Cow comics)

Yesterday is History. Today is a Gift. Tomorrow is a Mystery.

There are two worlds – the world we see, and the one we sense. The world we see is a harsh place: divided by war and political extremism, religious fundamentalism and the pursuit of money. The world we sense is the one that hides in plain sight: you see it in your peripheral vision; moving, vibrant. It’s a world where art, music and science intertwine, where the written word is a powerful tool of creation.

In these two worlds, we are all two people: one connected to destruction and one connected to creation. That is the way of the universe. But what we don’t know is that creation and destruction wage an eternal war for the energy we carry inside us.

And it is a war that we are rapidly losing…

 • Retailers can order Tomorrowland #1 from the April 2013 edition of Diamond PREVIEWS.

September 2013

Weirding Willows
Writer: Dave Elliott Artist: Barnaby Bagenda, Sami Basri, Sakti Yuwono & Jessica Kholinne

The worlds of Earth, Wonderland, OZ, Neverland, Mars, Pelucidar and Elysium collide like never before. Weirding Willows is a thrilling, emotional rollercoaster of the imagination, across space, time and not so parallel dimensions!

Monster Massacre Volume 1

 From amazing creators, like Alan Moore, Dave Dorman, Mark A. Nelson , Dave Wilkins, Tom Raney, Ron Marz, Doug Braithwaite, Michael Gilbert and many more…

From all around the world, the greatest comic talents are given full and free rein to explore the universe, to seek out new life and new civilizations… to boldly go where no one would dare let them go before!

No matter your tastes in science fiction and fantasy, you will find something here to love.

Sharky
Writer: Dave Elliott Artist: Alex Horley (DC Comics, Dark Horse, Image Comics)

SHARKY is the Earthbound son of ODIN and the grandson of ZEUS – and he just hit puberty!

October 2013

A1 (Annual)

From amazing creators, like Matt Wagner, Dave Johnson, Rufus Dayglo, Dave Dorman, Mark A. Nelson, Jim Steranko, D’israeli, Garry Leach and many more…

Monster Massacre Volume 2

From amazing creators, like Stanley Artgerm Lau, Tom Raney, Dave Wilkins, Alex Horley, Dave Dorman, Mark A. Nelson, Sami Basri, Toby Cypress and many more…

December 2013

Tomorrowland (Collection)
Writer: Paul Jenkins Artist: Stellar Labs (DC Comics, Marvel Comics, IDW Comics, Image Comics, Top Cow comics)

• To keep up-to-date with news on all these new series and future releases from Titan Comics, visit www.titan-comics.com or join us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/comicstitan) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/comicstitan).

• Retailers can keep up to date with ordering details and incentives by signing up to Titan’s retail newsletter, here or follow @TitanRetail on Twitter.

Titan launches creator-owned comics line

Titan Comics goes big in 2013 - with original, creator-owned series by new and world-renowned talent.

Titan Comics is the bold new imprint from the London-based world-leading publisher – offering the best original creator-owned comics alongside new and classic graphic novels, a project company boss Nick Landau has had for many years.

The imprint launches in July 2013 with two creator-owned miniseries and four brand-new collections, with a new series beginning each month afterwards: debut Chronos Commandos: Dawn Patrol by writer/artist Stuart Jennett, who cut his teeth at Marvel UK with Warheads but now runs an expanding design studio; newly coloured Numbercruncher by X-Men: Legacy writer Si Spurrier and 2000AD artist P.J. Holden; Ring of Roses – collected in colour for the first time, by writer Das Petrou and artist John Watkiss; the wonderfully funny Thrud The Barbarian by writer/artist Carl Critchlow (2000AD, Magic: The Gathering); plus never-before-published volumes in a complete library of The First Kingdom by comic legend Jack Katz.

The next wave will see three new series launching later in the year: Gravestown by writer Roger Gibson and artist Vince Danks (Harker), and Surface Tension by writer/artist Jay Gunn hit stores in September, while the stunning Death Sentence by writer Monty Nero and artist Mike Dowling (2000AD, Rex Royd) continues the new line into October.

Titan Comics is the latest initiative from Titan Publishing, which has been a purveyor of comics, graphic novels, fiction and licensed publishing for over 30 years.

Since 1981, they have been instrumental in the field of licensed film and television properties, including The Walking Dead, Star Wars, Transformers and Star Trek, as well as creator-owned successes such as Tank Girl and Lenore – but now they feel it's the time to nurture a new generation of creators, characters and properties.

Titan Comics is seeking to help creators shape their ideas into the best comics possible. "Combining unique voices and visions with strong marketing and a trusted brand, Titan Comics is the ultimate expression of our editorial, design and sales experience," said a company spokesperson.

From editorial to design, Titan Comics will help creators shape their ideas into the best comics possible – while they retain full rights over their creations and intellectual property.

As well as all-new creator-owned titles, Titan Comics continues to restore and reprint the best classic material, bringing back seminal titles in lovingly-produced volumes.

"This is the start of something very special," says Nick Landau, Publisher of Titan Comics. “We’re searching out fantastic new voices and astonishing new artists, and helping them bring their dream projects to fruition – as well as remaining a world-leader in the field of classic comics restoration and republication.”

Steve White, Senior Comics Editor, says readers can expect, “the same level of quality we've delivered across Titan's huge portfolio of licensed publications – coupled to the blazing imaginations of the next generation of independent creators.”

Each new release will also be available to read day and date on the iPhone, iPad, Web, Android and Kindle Fire.

• To keep up-to-date with news on all these new series and future releases from Titan Comics, visit www.titan-comics.com or join us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/comicstitan) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/comicstitan).

• Retailers can keep up to date with ordering details and incentives by signing up to Titan’s retail newsletter, here or follow @TitanRetail on Twitter.