Marvel Heroes never die...

-- They just get reinvented. Way back in March I commented on the 'death' of Marvel Comics iconic hero Captain America and cynically suggested the character would not stay dead for long.

Well, the original Steve Rogers remains dead but now Captain America is reborn, with character designs by Alex Ross...

Here's some promotional hype for you to savour:

Six months after the death of Steve Rogers captured national attention, Marvel is proud to unveil the new Captain America as designed by renowned, award winning artist Alex Ross!

This bold new look... also serves as the variant cover to January’s Captain America #34, featuring the first appearance of this new Captain America!

After the death of Steve Rogers, and the climactic events of Captain America #33, there must be a new Sentinel of Liberty and now Ross, one of the industry’s most renowned artists, has created a dynamic new look for the seminal hero..."

The new Captain America stories are written by Ed Brubaker and Ross talks about the new design over on the official Marvel Comics web site, revealing that the costume redesign, which he and the rest of the creative team know will cause controversy (the original Captain America, like Batman, did not use a gun) and says he was inspired in part by the 1940s Captain America film serial in which the hero did carry a weapon.

So not only will someone other than Steve Rogers step into the Cap costume come January, they'll be armed with both a gun and a knife to go along with Cap's classic shield.

Reaction is sure to the new look will be loud and varied, and Ross knows it, even though America's National Rifle Association might be delighted. "I think in many ways we want people to react with whatever emotions that come to mind," says Ross. "The idea that Captain America would have an offensive weapon like a gun… if it's an upset feeling, we want it to be so. We want it to feel like, 'Oh, he's got a gun now. Captain America with a gun?!' You know, it should stick in your mind that that's something. This is not your father's Captain America, so to speak. It's a more brutish interpretation, at this point, for the modern age."

Yes, you read that right. The new Captain America is apparently a brute.

"I'm not worried about it that much because the costume design looks so cool I figure everybody [will] love it, but I'm sure that there'll be people who are furious about it," Brubaker says. "You know, nobody's really complained about it, but after nine months I think people will be glad to have at least somebody running around in a Captain America costume in the book."

"There are going to be some who'll love [the new look] and some who'll loathe it," says Captain America editor Tom Brevort. "But it does have the advantage that this isn't Steve Rogers, so what might seem right or wrong for his Captain America won't necessarily hold true in the same way for our new guy."

Marvel's PR department must surely be rubbing their hands with gleee at this news. A controversial new look for such a seminal character is another golden opportunity to stir up fan outrage is bound to ensure plenty of (free) coverage on comics blogs (look, even I've been suckered in, and this is usually a blog about British comics).

I can't help but think there's an element of reader manipulation going on, and my feeling is that it's a pretty sorry state of affairs that the sentinel of liberty has apparently been recast as some kind of brash thug (for some reason, I used to quite like Captain America - that 'out of place, out of time' aspect of the character resonated).

But given the way many beyond America regard American foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere, perhaps Brubaker, Ross and company are right on the money, and we'll be treated to a savage critique of the modern USA in January.

Hey, maybe the NRA won't be so happy after all.

I went to the Birmingham International Comic Show and all I got was…

-- a fab day out seeing some great comics people, the chance to talk about ROK Comics, announce the winner of the $10,000 ROK Comics humour competition as judged by Beano editor Alan Digby and pick up some terrific indie comics, a copy of the new British comics magazine, Crikey, and get lost in Birmingham's three-tier shopping complex, the Pallisades, on the way to the thinktank where the Birmingham International Comic Show was held.

Apart from the single lift that was the only way to get out of the event, and the heat, BICS was great!

We hope to have a more detailed report on the event later from Leon Hewitt which will appear on the main site, but for me this was a great day out and it was just a shame my schedule didn't enable me to be there for the whole weekend. (Still, if I had been there the whole weekend I wouldn't have met the two ladies who were desperately trying to set to Southampton to board their transatlantic cruise to Barbados – I hope they made it – or the incredibly self-assured lady working away on notes for her appearances at Professional Beauty North in Manchester who proved a great travelling companion from Birmingham and diplomatically put up with my clumsy attempts to eat a pasty with decorum and dropping a picture frame on her foot).

But for me, the one day (Saturday) was good fun even if I was up at 4.45am to get there for the day's events. Dan Dare artist Gary Erskine was on hand to show fans some of the pages from the first issue of the new Virgin comic, which look great, a fine blend of Frank Hampson homage and modern storytelling techniques. I had a brief chat with Markosia's Harry Markos to talk over some ROK stuff and plans to add Lexian Chronicles and Eon to the ROK Comics service, and talk to Tony Bennett from Knockabout, who tells me sales of Yesterday's Tomorrows are going very well, driven of course by Rian Hughes great art and Grant Morrison's Dare story – I'm under no illusions that my Science Service strip is a strong reason to buy this beautiful collection of Hughes art.

I also bumped into John Reppion and Leah Moore, who are busy with several projects for Dynamite, Mike Collins, who I'm doing some commercial comic strip work with for a company called Cardium, Dave Windett, who's just done me some brilliant, fun designs for a new ROK project (and whose jaw dropped when I told him the potential extent of it!), Lew Stringer (trading views on the new BBC Robin Hood Adventures comic), the team from Classical Comics who have just launched their fantastic looking Henry V book, Daley Osiyemi and David Bircham, energetic creators of the soon-to-be-a-film Brodie's Law, and shared a break with cartoonist Steve English who I later announced as the winner of the ROK Comics Humour competition (press release later!).

I also shared a few minutes with the talented Andy Winter of Moonface Press, Andy Dodd and Steve Tanner of new indie Time Bomb Comics, Hunt Emerson, looking no worse for wear from what everyone told me was a great gig by his band at the opening party, Andrew Wildman, Phil Clarke and ooh, several others, not least of which was a modest Paul Eldridge who seemed bemused his "Secret of Stonehenge" strip had come third in the ROK competition.

As usual, the indie press were out in force. Pressed into my hands, in no particular order at the event were Ragamuffins #1 from Time Bomb – a finely printed first issue of a tortological time-tweisting tale I'm going to have to re-read to see if I can make sense of – but full marks to artist Andy Dodd for coming up with some amazingly psychedelic time travel scenes and Steve Tanner for creating a set of intriguingly weird characters battling to hold the universe together as time itself unravels.

Another gem from the weekend is the Judge Dredd 30th Anniversary Special, a special book from the creators of the 2000AD fan title Zarjaz. This is a gorgeous, fun collection of Judge Dredd tales spanning the future cop's entire career, wrapped in a cover by Boo Cook. Fave strips for me from this compendium of strips are The Zoove by Al Ewing and Oliver Redding – classic one shot Dredd comedy – and Time Trial by Colin J. Dinnie and David Gray, with te original Judge Dredd from early issues chasing a perp across time and encountering today's Dredd as portrayed in 2000AD. Ace.

The Judge Dredd 30th Anniversary Special, costs £3 plus postage of 50p: Send a cheque to: Zarjaz, 57a Langney Road, Eastbourne, BN21 3QD (Cheques payable to Underfire Comics), Or pay by Paypal to: zarjazcomic@yahoo.co.uk

Another fun item you should try and find is Shiznit, published by Clamnut Comics, a full, free colour mini comic packed with some of the funniest strips I've read for a while, like Hate Extravaganza and Classic Joke Theatre. It's all wickedly funny and well worth seeking out.

The Shiznit is a free, full colour pocket sized comic magazine which aims to kickstart an indigenous comics industry in Eire. It's mainly available throughout Dublin City Centre and with a few outlets in Cork, Galway and Belfast or you can download copies from the Clamnut web site as PDFs.

The second issue of Crikey!, (www.crikeyuk.co.uk) the British comics magazine (£3.99 from all good comic shops) comes with a free thunderclapper gift and is crammed with articles on classic British comics. This issue includes features on DC Thomson's The Broons, the TV21 Daleks strip, artist Ron Embleton and much more, lavishly illustrated and a must for any British comics fan.

If you were a fan of Ian Wheeler's Eagle Flies Again fanzine, and have fond memories ofr British comics of the past, this is a must buy.

Another nice item reflecting the enthusiasm and drive of British creators is Power Less, the product of Better Feelings Films -- #0 was on offer together with a live action version of the comic on DVD. The art looks great. More info at www.betterfeelingfilms.com/comics.

I've barely scraped the surface of the indie titles at the event and not touched on the many panels and guest talks – I'll leave that to Leon – but it was great to catch up with so many creators and publishers and comics fans, however briefly (and yes, I know I've missed some folk out this time round).

Suffice to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my all too brief visit to the Birmingham International Comic Show and look forward to the 2008 event!

Silver Bullets to get makeover, new name

One of my favourite comics news sites is about to undergo a reavmap and name change, so be ready to update your book marks.

Since its creation in 2000, Silverbulletcomicbooks.com (SBC) has been one of the most frequented sites for comic book-focused reviews, commentary and features. In 2005, the site won an Eagle Award for “Favourite Comics-Related Website,” and hosts a plethora of entertaining columns such as “All The Rage” and Beau Smith’s “Busted Knuckles,” among many others.

In the coming months though, SBC will be re-launched as ComicsBulletin.com with a completely re-designed website.

“Nearly eight years ago we launched a site into the burgeoning field of comics journalism,” said SBC/Comics Bulletin publisher Jason Brice. "In that time, Silver Bullet Comics has become recognized as the pre-eminent site for comics criticism and has featured the writing of a huge number of fans and professionals. It’s axiomatic in many industries that any organisation must ‘change or die,’ and so to that end, we’re moving to the next step in evolution, with a new name, a new design, and a new approach to what we do best.

“I’m incredibly proud of the outstanding team of writers, editors, designers, and programmers that we have put together for this venture. I’m certain that the thousands of comics fans and professionals that witness our transformation into Comics Bulletin will be amazed at what we have planned and will witness a paradigm shift in the way our industry understands comics journalism. Comics Bulletin is the way ahead.”

It will be interesting to see how the new site develops and what new features will be added to an already-terrific web site. Good luck, folks!

Chap with wings...

Good news for fans of early Doctor Who: BBC 4 is to screen a classic Third Doctor story later this month.

Fan favourite The Daemons screens from Sunday 21 October at 7.00pm, with the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and trusty assistant Jo Grant up against evils unearthed by an archaeological dig at Devil's End -- and the Master. (Of course it's strange that this isn't being shown on BBC3, since the first episode predicted predicted the existence of that channel 30 years early!)

Quite apart from quotes like the Doctor's "Everything that happens in life has a scientific explanation -- if you look for it..." and UNIT Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart's "Chap with the wings there -- five rounds rapid!", this episode is perhaps one of the best featuring the UNIT 'family' up against the deliciously nasty Master played to perfection by Roger Delgado.

The story was shot in Aldbourne, Wiltshire in 1971. Its Blue Boar pub became the Cloven Hoof for the story and the destruction of its church proved such an effective visuyal effect for the time that some believed the village chuch had genuinely been destroyed during filming.

The Daemons has been the subject of a Reeltime documentary and the Daemons have appeared in many other Doctor Who spin-offs such as the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip.