Aces High! Commando celebrates the Battle of Britain

The latest batch of titles from DC Thomson features the first three books in Commando’s six-book 'Aces High' salute to the RAF on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Editor Calum Laird commissioned two brand new stories and also scoured the Commando archives for four cracking air stories which haven’t seen the light of day for decades.

Included in the reprints is Mustang Ace, John Ridgway’s first ever Commando book, first published in 1971. At the time he had a day job and it took about four months of evening and weekend work to complete. He used very think board back then and the stack of art stands about six inches high! John has gone on to establish himself as a fixture in the British comics world and the Commando team like to think that DC Thomson gave him a helping hand in the beginning.

The remaining three books in the 'Aces High' series will be released on the 16th September.

Commando 4323: Island Ambush
Story: Sean Blair Art and cover: Mike White

The SOS came through weak and distorted by static. An American survivor of one of the many battles of the Pacific war, calling for help from a lonely island.

Radio operator Eric Aburto aboard PT Boat 1101 heard the message and knew he had to go to the man’s aid -- not only was he a fellow US serviceman…Eric was sure he recognised a voice from his past!

Commando 4324: One-Eyed Ace ('Aces High' story)
Story: Alan Hebden Art and Cover: Keith Page

Newly-commissioned Pilot Officer Johnny Dangerfield dreamed of racking up the five kills needed to call himself an ace -- and was determined to face anything the Nazis threw at him to do it.
However, it was to be the actions of one of his own squadron’s pilots that would cause him to lose an eye and Johnny’s dreams of being an ace would be over... Or were they?

Commando 4325: Mustang Ace ('Aces High' story)
Story: Mac Macdonald Art: John Ridgway Cover: Ken Barr
Originally No 546 from 1971

An ace... that’s what Joe Jennings was, one of the few gifted pilots who could make his kite do anything but talk. Nobody believed there was a Jerry alive who could match Joe in combat.

Yet the day did dawn when Joe was shot down in flames. And how it came about makes a fantastic story.

Commando 4326: Clash of Aces ('Aces High' story)
Story: Peter Newark Art: Amador Cover: Ian Kennedy
Originally No 465 from 1970

When Squadron-Leader Alec Scott in his old, lumbering Gloster Gladiator was set about by a flashing Messerchmitt 109, it was David and Goliath all over again.

This time David needed more than a sling to down Goliath -- but the big ’un was cut down to size just the same!

• Official Commando web site: www.commandomag.com

• 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

• You can read interviews with former Commando editor George Low, current editor Calum Laird and writer Ferg Handley on the downthetubes main site.

Morecambe-based Comic published for iPad

We're pleased to report that Lancaster cartoonist David Hughes comic story Thomas Wogan is Dead, first reviewed on downthetubes last year, is now available to read on Apple's iPad.

This is British publishers Tabella Publishing's first ebook on Apple's iPad platform, the result of what they say comes after reading many books on iphone development, doing tutorials, submitting forum posts and more.

Tabella picked up reprint rights to the quirky tale set in Morecambe (and the hereafter - although is there a difference?) partly after reading the downthetubes review.

• Buy Thomas Wogan is Dead for the iPad

• Thomas Wogan is Dead is still available in print from Tabella Publishing for £5.99: more details here.

Space Robots and Zombie Robots take over Peter Scott Gallery

As a comic artist, games designer and animator, it’s logical that when Lancaster-based Adam York Gregory was given some gallery space at Lancaster University's Peter Scott Gallery, he'd dissect and reanimate a dead computer as part of an interactive installation. 'iBleed/Peter 2.1' seeks to examine the emotional relationships between people and computers.

Adam's work is part of a wider exhibition, Eventual, combining the work of four artists, which seeks to examine transient connections, the tensions between function and dysfunction and the role of technology in arts practice, through sculpture, installation, animation and performance.

Why do we get angry at them when they don’t work? Why do we sometimes feel grief when they stop functioning? Adam invites you to play the role of psychiatrist with an updated and digitised Rorschach test where your patient, the computer, will respond visually to your psychological enquiries.

Also in the exhibition are Aliki Chapple (exhibiting 'I’m Listening, Sales Pitch, Explorers') who has been exploring the relationship between live performance and technology. For Eventual, she's made three performances integrating elements of both. Two of the performances are based on the science fiction stories of Philip K Dick, which are popular sources for perfectly polished mass-market films; in contrast, Aliki’s stagings invite you to fill in the gap yourselves, with the best special effects department in the world, the human imagination. The third, a one-on-one performance staged in the Peter Scott Gallery, is also an invitation to fill in what’s missing; this time with stories of your own.

Through the use of installation titled 'People Matter', Anne Hewitt explores an emerging dysfunction in social connections and communication which are shown to straddle worlds of both intimacy and isolation. By showing her perceived effects on our physical connection with our surroundings, Anne hopes to highlight the hidden intimacies interlaced with our connection to strangers in our day to day existence.

Finally 'A Spectral Layer' is full of connections, from Michael Turner. Can we hear connections? Can we see them? Are we engulfed by them? And at what level, the conscious or the subconscious? Using piano, computer, projector screen, and eight channels of surround sound, this piece combines audio, video and space to form a new conceptual layer that makes use of the composer's latest research into spectral processing and mapping.

• Eventual runs at the Peter Scott Gallery, Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster University from Thursday 16th - 23rd September. Web: http://eventual.org.uk

2011 British Comic Events Update

As the British International Comic Show and London MCM Expo draw ever nearer, a quick reminder that Britain's longest-running comics event - the Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo - has also started to promote its next gathering.

Again organised by Fallen Angel Media, next year's show will be on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th May 2011. Guests are already being signed, events are being finalised and the show is now larger than ever, this time covering the entire floor of the venue with three extra exhibitor and trading spaces and eight extra event areas. making it the largest independent and small press show in the country.

Fallen Angel were delighted with this year's event, which attracted visitor numbers double that of 2009 and they tell us they're working hard to double them again for 2011.

In addition, following the unfortunate demise of the London Thing, Team SPExpo announced last month that they will be running a London Comic and Small Press Expo, to be held on the 12th March 2011, offering all the best in the Indie, Small Press and Web Comix world as well as events, special guests and a whole lot more.For more info, visit: www.spexpo.co.uk

• Visit the Bristol International Comic and Small Press Expo web site