Cal-Hab Droids Infiltrate Megazine 301

The latest issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine, Meg 301, has a distinctly Scottish flavour to its art and script droids.

Behind a lovely Judge Inspector Inaba cover by Frank Quitely, from Cal-Hab's west coast, comes the Dredd story The Natural (shown below) about a Mega City One athlete who, controversially, refuses cybernetic assistance for his races. Written by Gordon Rennie, pencilled by Graeme Neil Reid, both from the east coast and inked by west coast Gary Erskine, the strip is the debut for Graeme in a 2000AD title. Graeme has been talking about his route to drawing Dredd professionally on his blog where he bravely shows off some of his earliest Dredd artwork from 20 years ago, as well as the spec scripts and responses he received from the Nerve Centre at the time.

The Judge Inspector Inaba story Hondo-City Justice, with art by Neil Googe, is written by Cal-Hab-er Robbie Morrison while Robbie's Nikolai Dante co-creator Simon Fraser, another Cal-Hab-er, writes and draws Lilly MacKenzie And The Mines Of Charybdis now on its fourth episode in which Lilly and Cosmo finally make it onto the surface of the planet.

Both stories are coloured by Gary Caldwell, yet another Cal-Hab-er.

Last but certainly not least of the Cal-Hab droids in Meg 301 is Alan Grant who is writing the Anderson Psi-Division story The House Of Vyle, drawn by Boo Cook, in which Cassandra is called to the hamlet of Salem just outside the Mega-City's walls where strange things are afoot.

Megazine 301 also includes Armitage by Dave Stone and John Cooper while the reprint is a selection of Mick McMahon's Judge Dredd stories.

• Judge Dredd Megazine 301 is available from newsagents and has a cover price of £5.99.

• Graeme Neil Reid, Gary Erskine and Simon Fraser are all members of the daily artblog Scotch Corner.

Dan Dare Ray Guns, Card Games and Radios, Oh My...

Following up on our past stories on new Dan Dare merchandise, a mention for UK toy company Russimco's Dan Dare retro toy line is long overdue here, so let's redress that right now.

All the toys - due for release later this year - are reproductions of Dan Dare products originally released in the 1950s, but have been adapted to comply with modern safety regulations governing toy making.

The toys come complete in boxes that faithfully emulate the originals, some of which fetch sell for a high price on auction sites and collector fairs.

• The Dan Dare Planet Gun Set was originally issued by Merit, made in England by J & L Randall Ltd. This 'space pistol' comes with three propeller disks. Merit released several Dan Dare guns, as did Palitoy and Lone Star. Originals can sell for around £60.

• This Dan Dare Circular Jigsaw puzzle is based on a 1950s jigsaw published by Waddingtons, featuring classic Dan Dare images.

• Possibly one of the most entertaining retro products in the range, this Dan Dare Card Game was originally released in 1953 by Pepys. We suspect most original editions will be pretty dog-eared through plenty of play by now, so I'm sure there will be fans out there keen to get a new set!

• Finally, there's this modern version of Merit's Walkie Talkie Set, first released in 1953. You'll be pleased to hear that Russimco's version is wind-up, rather than battery operated.

• Russimco: http://www.russimco.com/


• Dan Dare Original Merchandise list compiled by Wakefield Carter

• Bear Alley, 4 March 2008: Collector Bob Rothwell's Dan Dare Collection Sale

In Review: XIII - The Day Of The Black Sun

Who is XIII? Cop, gangster, secret agent or mercenary? The stories concerning the amnesiac man with "XIII" tattooed on his shoulder written by Jean Van Hamme and illustrated by William Vance ran to a total of 19 French albums with the first story The Day Of The Black Sun beginning in Spirou issue 2408 in 1984 as Le Jour Du Soleil Noir and the final album, Le Dernier Round, being published in 2007. With the series complete in the French speaking world and never having been translated into English beyond the third album, Cinebook are now releasing the complete series of books at a rate of one every two months which means that they will reach the first of the books that hasn't appeared in English before towards the end of 2010 and they therefore aim to complete the set by 2013.

A badly injured man is washed up on a remote American beach and is taken in by an elderly couple who, with the help of a washed out doctor, nurse him back to life over the course of two months. The bullet wound to his head, as well as leaving him with a patch of white hair where it hit, has left him without any memory whatsoever of his previous life. The only clues are a tatoo of XIII on his shoulder, a safe deposit box key and his ability to defend those around him with whatever weapon comes to hand.

When assassins kill the elderly couple and almost kill him, he leaves for the port of Eastown where the safe deposit bank is located. There he has a run in with a police lieutenant, who seems to know who he is, as well as apparent mobsters and a secretive government agency. Colonel Amos of this agency tells him of the assassination of the US President some two months beforehand, an event referred to in the papers as the Day of the Black Sun, and shows him a picture of the alleged assassin who appears to be XIII himself.

The Day Of The Black Sun is a contemporary thriller that was originally published in 1984 and it shows in the art with vehicles and clothing styles typical of the time period. But this is no criticism of Vance's art which stands up well to the intervening years and portrays the numerous characters and locations well. Published only three years after the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, Van Hamme's plot would have been as contemporary as Vance's art and lays down the beginning of multiple story strands that will no doubt play out over the next four books that take in the first major story arc of the ongoing series.

XIII has proved to be very popular in the French speaking world with 19 different albums as well as having been turned into both a computer game and a TV mini-series as well as a spin-off bande dessinee series XIII Mystery, the third title of which will be published in French in October 2010.

XIII - The Day Of The Black Sun is the beginning of a saga that will take Cinebook over two years to complete. It is a book that tantalises for what is to come, leaving the reader with the beginnings of what could well be multiple storylines. With Jean Van Hamme's record on other contemporary thrillers such as Lady S and Largo Winch, this looks like it will be a journey well worth taking.

There are more details of the English language XIII books on the Cinebook website.

There are more details of the original French XIII albums on the Dargaud website.

Bristol and London Small Press Expos for 2011

Next year's Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo will be on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th May 2011. With 3 extra exhibitor and trading spaces and 8 extra event areas this is now the largest independent and small press show in the UK.

Visitor numbers at the Small Press Expo in 2010 were double that of 2009 and the Team SPExpo organisers aim to double them again for 2011. The full website with guest and event details will go live on 21 August 2010 but in the meantime venue and dealer table booking details are already available.

In addition to Bristol, Team SPExpo have filled the hole in the events calendar left by the demise of the UK Web And Mini Comix Thing in London and have organised the new London Comic And Small Press Expo which will be held on 12 March 2011. More details on this new event covering indie, small press and web comix, including its venue, have yet to be announced but will be available on the website on 21 August 2010.

The website for the 2011 Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo as well as the London Comic And Small Press Expo is here.