Superheroes At Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has been running in Scotland's capital annually since 1950 and was upgraded to Royal status in 2010. As part of the greater Edinburgh Festival, the Tattoo takes place in the open air high above Edinburgh on the Castle Esplanade seven times a week between 3 and 25 August 2012 with upwards of 1000 performers displaying to an audience of around 10,000 people for each performance.

Since 2005 the Tattoo has included a 'son et lumiere' backdrop using the walls and ramparts of Edinburgh Castle itself to project massive images on. These have often covered military subjects and this year included a tribute to the fallen with images of poppies and the inscription from the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in London's Westminster Abbey.

So the displaying of a "KAPPOW" comic sound effect was something of a change of pace for the Tattoo as images of generic American-style superheroes were projected onto the Castle.

Amongst the massed military bands and selected civilian bands and dancers at this year's Tattoo, the band of the United States Naval Forces Europe performed a selection of musical themes from superhero television series and films described by the Tattoo as "highlighting the external battle between good and evil".

These were not all spandex clad superheroes as the audience appreciated a US Navy band appropriately playing the theme to the Popeye The Sailor cartoons while local British characters of Dennis The Menace, Minnie The Minx, Bananaman, the Broons and Oor Wullie were projected on the Castle with the full permission of DC Thomson as two performers dressed as Dennis and Minnie menaced the band on BMX bicycles.

The band, as with many of the other bands on display, marched and moved into different formations during their performance.

As the music changed to both the Main Theme and Can You Read My Mind? from 1978's Superman The Movie, the band moved into Superman's 'S' emblem as the image on the Castle walls changed to a Superman-style character sporting the Royal Standard Of Scotland's Lion Rampant on his chest.


The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo takes place between 3 and 25 August 2012 and there are more details of the event and the opportunity to purchase the remaining tickets at the Tattoo website.

The BBC will be broadcasting a recorded version of the event later in August 2012.

2000AD available through the App Store

This won't be announced until later in the week but 2000AD has popped up on Apple's Newsstand app which is designed for newspapers and magazines. While you can buy digital progs, Megs and graphic novels through Clickwheel or the 2000AD shop, you do have to seek them out and this development makes the Galaxy's Greatest Comic available on one of the most popular apps for handling this type of content, putting it right under the noses of potential purchasers. This seems a smarter move than developing their own app or even getting on comiXology as it gives them a large audience, as it is built into the Apple operating system (it was part of iOS5, released in October 2011).

Newspapers and magazines that switch to Newsstand have seen large increases in their subscriptions and it has been described as a "an absolutely crucial development for this industry," as it boosts discoverability and appears not to cannibalise print numbers.They also have a number of deals and offers:

Buy individual issues or select one of our great value subscription options and have the latest issue delivered direct to your iPad every week. Plus, every subscriber gets a range of back issues FREE!

New to 2000AD? To whet your appetite, you can download a FREE 69-page sampler issue. Read the first episodes of top 2000AD stories including Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos, Zombo, and Ichabod Azrael!

2000AD Subscriptions available:

Each single issue can be purchased for $2.99 each (non-subscription)
1-month subscription for $10.99, automatically renewed until cancelled
3-month subscription for $29.99, automatically renewed until cancelled
1-year subscription for $109.99, automatically renewed until cancelled

 It'll be interesting to see how popular this is.

2000AD goes on tour in run up to 'Dredd' film release

It’s been the cutting edge powerhouse of British comics since 1977 – and now 2000AD is celebrating 35 years of Thrill-power with its first ever National Signing Event.

Just days before DREDD 3D hits movie screens, on Saturday 1st September, six comic book stores in six cities from north to south will play host to a band, nay, a legion of top British comic book talent from the past three and a half decades.

From old hands such as Dave Gibbons Simon Bisley to the newest finds such as Al Ewing and Alec Worley, 2000AD will be celebrating Britain’s greatest export across the nation.

Forbidden Planet stores in London, Bristol, and Birmingham, along with Travelling Man stores in Leeds and Manchester, and the Forbidden Planet store in Edinburgh will be stuffed with artists and writers who have made 2000AD what it is today.

Legendary writer, and Dredd and Strontium Dog co-creator, John Wagner will be headlining the day with a visit to Manchester and other big names now confirmed include Dave Gibbons (Rogue Trooper, Watchmen), Simon Bisley (Sláine: The Horned God, Lobo), Steve Yeowell (Zenith), Clint Langley (Sláine, ABC Warriors) Dan Abnett (Sinister Dexter, Kingdom), John Higgins (Judge Dredd), D’Israeli (Leviathan), Ian Edginton (Leviathan, Red Seas), and Mark Buckingham (Fables).

- More big British names will be announced in the coming weeks – keep an eye on 2000adonline.com for all the latest updates

 

In Review: The Art and History of The Dandy

By Morris Heggie

Publisher: Waverley Books

Out: 6th August 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1849342414

The Book: A chronicle of 75 years of the world's longest-running comic, The Art and History of The Dandy is a beautiful gift book and treasury of everything that has made The Dandy so anarchic and special.

The Review: With such a rich history, documenting the story of the world's longest-running comic, even with access to DC Thomson's archives, must have been no easy task - but for me, a casual Dandy reader, former editor Morris Heggie pulls off this herculean task with aplomb.

The Dandy is a record breaker: in 1999 it became the world's longest running comic and this reasonably-priced hardback book comes packed with stories of how its characters -- Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Beryl the Peril, Keyhole Kate, Brassneck, Winker Watson and many more -- came to be, along with profiles of its numerous creators from its origins to its troubled present.

For those who don't know, The Dandy, DC Thomson's first weekly comic, hit the streets on 3rd December, 1937, six months before its sister comic The Beano. The intent - stymied by the Second World War, whose paper rationing could so easily have put paid to the comics and indeed, meant a fellow title, Magic Comic, was short-lived - was to create a 'Big Five' of humour titles. This would, original editor Alfred Barnes believed, echo the success of DC Thomson's 'Big Five' of adventure comics - Adventure, The Rover, The Wizard, The Skipper and The Hotspur.

Ledgers of the comic's sales (which I've been lucky enough to have seen during one visit to the DC Thomson offices) document the title's early success, quickly out-selling adventure titles as Britain battled its way out of economic depression and prepared for War.

Telling the story of the comic chronlogically, breaking down its history into eight sections from its origins and huge success to its difficult present, beset by competition from many quarters, The Art and History of the Dandy is a glorious read, albeit tinged with the sad truth that its glory days are, perhaps long behind it.

And yet, while the title's past success - in the 1950s, it was the world's largest-selling comic with a circulation of around two million copies a week - is without question, there are some who do challenge more recent attempts to breathe new life into the title, the comic's older fans perhaps forgetting it is aimed at children, not 40-something fans with rose-tinted memories of childhood. Indeed. The Art and History of The Dandy tells the story not just of the comic, but how changing society, frowning on some aspects of its very nature, have affected and changed the style of its storytelling, with characters such as Bully Beef considered politically incorrect today, despite the fact that the vile character regularly got his comeuppance.

Sales of The Dandy may be a pale shadow of past years, and the most recent total revamp - documented in this book - has not been entirely welcomed by some. But the creators involved have held true to The Dandy's original ethos, summed up by its first editor, the late Albert Barnes: 'There is never any real violence, only the cartoon kind to be found in Tom and Jerry where the victim always springs back unharmed. It gives children a chance to cock a harmless snook at authority, and sublimate their desires to kick against the traces.'

(Barnes was also behind Desperate Dan, who became The Dandy's biggest star).

Whatever the future of The Dandy - and indeed other non-licensed, original and long-running titles such as The Beano, Commando and 2000AD - The Art and History of The Dandy is a hugely enjoyable read, albeit strong on the earlier history of the title but perhaps less revealing on its current state. If you grew up reading the comic, or are a fan of British comics, Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Bananaman (and many other great creations by the likes of Dudley Watkins, Ken Reid, Steve Bright et al) this title definitely deserves a place on your bookshelf.

Sub-titled 75 Years of Biffs, Bangs and Bana Skins, The Art of The Dandy offers an amazing trip down memory lane for fans of The Dandy. Sumptuously illustrated (with some great behind-the-scenes imagery and cheeky notes), I really enjoyed reading this and I think many of our readers will, too.

- Morris Heggie will be appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival on 13th August at the Scottish Power Studio Theatre. Join Mr Gum writer and comic book fan Andy Stanton as he introduces Morris and artist Gordon Tait. More info here