Dead Universe Comics shop opens in Aylesbury

(via Scoop)Despite the doom and gloom of the current recession, comics folk continue to invest in the future of our industry. Britain's newest comic shop, Dead Universe Comics, opens today, Saturday, 10th December at 9.00am. The store, which is located at Unit 9, the Cloisters, Friars Square Shopping Centre, HP20 2PU, Aylesbury, already has an inventory of 50,000 back issues, …”mainly US, but with a sprinkle of UK comics from the 1970s and '80s including annuals,” and they carry new import issues every week.

For more information you can email deaduniversecomicsAThotmail.co.uk or phone 07847 542 714 or 07518 694 966. Their website is being developed, but their eBay store has been up and running for quite a while at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Dead-Universe-Comics.

Store hours will be Monday – Saturday, 9.00 am to 5.30 pm, and Sunday from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm.

First Issue of Commando Reprinted

As Commando's Golden Anniversary year draws to an end, the reprint that everyone has been waiting for, Issue 1 Walk - Or Die!, is published just in time for Christmas.

Also included in this batch of four Commandos is Chuck Ballard Goes To War, the penultimate story written by Norman Adams who passed away in August of this year. Norman was known to Commando readers for his creation of the Headline Heroes and the Phantom (with artist Keith Page) amongst others. Editor Calum Laird said, "Norman is sadly missed by everyone on the Commando Team, past and present, an I’m sure that goes for Commando’s readers too." There are more details of Norman's stories on the Commando website and there is an obituary about him on The Scotsman website.

4451: Chuck Ballard Goes To War
Script: Norman Adams
Art: Olivera
Cover: Ian Kennedy
December, 7th, 1941 — America is left reeling from Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. For the Japanese crew of a Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber, however, the success is short-lived. After crash-landing on a supposedly deserted island, they are dismayed to find that it is in fact home to a village full of civilians. Though the three Japanese airmen do not wish to take innocent lives, their fellow countrymen, responding to their mayday signal, are not so honourable. This may turn out to be their undoing, thanks to the presence of an ex-Marine who is an expert with a hunting rifle…

4452: Operation “Loco”
Script: Mac MacDonald
Art: Keith Page
Cover: Keith Page
James Bailey was a railwayman like his father before him. In charge of the most powerful steam locomotives he could drive anything, anywhere, any time. He was the obvious choice when a special job came in to his depot. Would it be a VIP run to London? Or maybe a vital troop train to the coast? How about a Commando raid behind enemy lines?

4453: Walk — Or Die!
(Originally published as Issue 1 in June 1961 and re-issued as Issue 2523 in December 1991)
Script: Eric Castle
Art: Garcia
Cover: Ken Barr
THE CORPORAL AND THE COLONEL
CORPORAL TOM GERRARD of the Royal Tank Corps was just an ordinary bloke, easy-going and cheerful.
COLONEL KARL OBERTH of the SS Panzer Corps was a typical Nazi officer, brutal and merciless.
SOMEWHERE on the limitless, scorching inferno of the Western Desert, Fate decided their tank tracks should cross.
HERE THEN is the story of the epic fight put up by Corporal Gerrard and his tank, Matilda, against the might and power of the Panzers and their swaggering Colonel, who thought he could sweep the British off the face of the desert.

4454: Riley’s Rifle
(Originally published as issue 994 in December 1975 and re-issued as Issue 2347 in February 1990)
Script: Cyril Walker
Art: Galindo
Cover: Ian Kennedy
It was a rifle like countless others, standard issue to thousands upon thousands of men in the British Army in two World Wars — a Lee-Enfield No.1 Mark III. Millions of them were made. Some are still in use today. But there was something special about this particular rifle — it was as if it had a life of its own, a will of its own. It seemed to want to do things by itself… and what it wanted most was vengeance!

Official Commando web site: http://www.commandocomics.com/

The Draw Your Weapons exhibition featuring art from Commando continues at the National Army Museum in London this month and runs until 30th April 2012. For the latest information visit: www.nam.ac.uk/exhibitions/special-displays/draw-your-weapons-art-commando-comics

Click here for subscription information or write to: D.C. Thomson & Co Ltd, The Subscribers Department, Commando Library, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL or Freephone (UK only) 0800 318846

Commando is also available for iPad and iPhone. The apps are free to download through the Apple iTunes App Store and a digital subscription is priced at £4.99 per month, compared to a £99 annual print subscription. For those not sure there are four free issues to download prior to making a purchase.

Commando Comics iPhone App on iTunes

Commando Comics iPad App on iTunes

Adventures in Comics Challenge

After the huge success of Adventures in Comics 2011 organised by Marine Studios in Margate, the gallery will launch Adventures in Comics 2 on 3rd February 2012.

The gallery hopes to bring comic lovers an amazing exhibition and a host of events, discussions and comics related goings on.

To kick things off they are again inviting comic creators to respond to their two-page-comic-challenge.


The task is simple: create a two-page-comic under this year’s theme: ‘LIFE BOAT’. All ideas are welcome to inspire, amuse, terrify and entertain. There are no limits other than sticking to the 2 page rule (200 x 280 mm each page, in either portrait or landscape), and of course, don’t forget the ‘Life Boat‘.

This year’s entries will be judged by comic expert Paul Gravett and the gallery say their will be a prize or two for the top entries.

"We’ll be keeping you updated with news of talks, workshops and events that will take place over February 2012," say Kam and Rick, "and previewing Life Boat entries so keep glued to the AIC2 blog."

• Send your entries as electronic files (jpeg, pdf, tif or eps format) with the subject ‘LIFE BOAT’ to: KamAThkd.uk.com  or RickAThkd.uk.com. Deadline for entries: 20th January 2012


• You can check out the superb quality of work we received for our 2011 ‘Mechanical Elephant‘ challenge on our blog: http://marinestudiosadventuresincomics.wordpress.com/

British Comics Rock! Conference announced for June 2012

After a successful two years at Manchester Metropolitan University, the next International Comics Conference is heading to the seaside next year and the call for papers has just been announced

The Third International Comics Conference: 'Comics Rock!' will take place at Bournemouth University on 28-29th June 2012. Organised by Studies in Comics and the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, the team are now inviting proposals for papers, posters and workshops on:

• Comics and Education (Thursday 28th June 2012) 
Including the first UK screening of Todd Kent's film Comic Book Literacy (which was Best Documentary Winner at Phoenix Comicon 2010) and additional speakers tbc.

There is an increased interest in using and teaching the comics medium in schools, colleges and universities.  There is also an increasing use of comics in support of other areas of the school curriculum.  However, there are also many challenges for teachers regarding how to use and teach comics in the context of schools and they often have to contend with continuing perceptions of the medium as problematic.  Reading for pleasure is a key aspect of the increased use of the medium in school settings and libraries are often instrumental in initiating reading groups.

Papers are invited that discuss any aspect of comics in education, including but not limited to the following:

• teaching comics at various levels and within different disciplines, e.g. issues, theories, effects, current debates
• using comics to support specific elements of the curriculum (e.g. Raymond Briggs' Ethel and Ernest in relation to English history)
• comics, graphic novels and manga used laterally e.g. manga as a way of learning about elements of Japanese culture, or superheroes in PSHE; or using titles in a range of languages to encourage reading for pleasure; or Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland as local history
•  using comics to support literacy development (history, practice and controversies)
• comics in school libraries and classroom collections e.g. wider reading, reading for pleasure
• school and library manga and graphic novel reading groups
• children and young peoples' awards for graphic novels and manga run through schools and libraries e.g. the Stan Lee Excelsior award
• creating comics, e.g. as assessment (formative or summative), or elsewhere in the curriculum (from short strips to publications like Fool's Gold, a school project from Dearne High Specialist Humanities College in Rotherham that produced a book available for purchase - see review here)
• the use of comics-related software in the classroom e.g. Comic Life
• Studying comics as comics, e.g. approaches to graphic novels and manga, illustration, writing, the practice/theory crossover, history, notions of canon and so forth
• educational and online resources, e.g. availability, usefulness, other associated issues (The Maryland Comic Book Initiative, S.A.N.E., Comics in the Classroom)
• associations and forums, e.g. their structure, purpose, strategies (America's National Association of Comic Art Educators, The Comix Scholars List, The UK Comics Scholars List)

Comics and Multi-Modal Adaptation (Friday 29th June 2012) 
Keynote industry speakers tbc.

Adaptations seem to saturate the mass media and this conference will examine recent debates focusing on comics.  The most prevalent comics adaptations are those of the superhero; whose emphasis on spectacle and special effects seem especially attractive to film and television companies.
However, in her Theory of Adaptation, Linda Hutcheon proposes we think beyond the originality of an adaptation and instead regard adaptation as a central issue within storytelling.  The adaptation can then be located within the contexts of its production, reception, and the constraints and possibilities of media forms.
This conference aims to take the debate beyond superhero movies by focusing on other genres and media and examining some of the more unusual aspects of adaptation.

Suggested topics include:

• comics and film, e.g. autobiography (American Splendor, Persepolis), drama (A History of Violence), history, documentary, biography
• adaptations of comics from and to other media, e.g. comic to video game
• historic adaptations, e.g. the output of Gold Key and Dell
• fairytale adaptations, e.g. Fables, The Unwritten
• new ways of promoting or pitching a story, e.g. the use of comics as a way into film and television (30 Days of Night)
• audience experiences of the adapted text, e.g. the effects of primacy and familiarity, experiencing the adaptation before or after the source text
• adaptation as a creative act
• responses to an adaptation, e.g. fans, creators (Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman's criticisms of Hollywood adaptations), writers, artists
• tropes and devices incorporated into comics, e.g. Choose your own Adventure, pop-ups
• use of a comics aesthetic in other media
•  comparative studies, e.g. in contrasting representations of icons (Walk the Line versus Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness)

Please contact comicsconference@gmail.com with expressions of interest (initial deadline for paper proposals is 31 December 2011). Visit the conference website at www.comics.bujournalism.info for details of deadlines, updates, early bird ticket prices, keynote speakers, journal subscription offers, and much much more...