Compal Launches Lot Search, Garth Art Up For Auction

The Autumn 2009 auction at British comics auction site Compalcomics, which has just announced an online search facility for all its past lots, closes soon.

This catalogue's star lot is The Beano Comic No 1 with original advertising flyer, an eight-page mini comic in its own right - expected to sell for some £5,000-5,500 - which is closely followed by a Fine copy of Beano Comic Issue 3.

There are also some extraordinary high grade 1930s comics including Boys' Broadcast Issues 1-36, Buzzer 1-36, Crystal / Girls' Crystal 1-62, Detective Weekly 1-97, Hotspur complete years 19-70 and 71-122, Knock-Out 11-20, Radio Fun 11 & 12, Scoops (The UK's first Sci-Fi Weekly, pictured above) Issues 1-20 complete with never seen before No 1 free gift and Wild West Weekly 1-50. All in all a bronco-bustin' 1930s line-up bristling with free gifts.

Beryl The Peril, Black Bob, Dennis The Menace, Beano and Dandy feature 'rare-in-condition' high grade annuals and there are several 1960s Beano bound volumes in complete years.

This auction's artwork section stars Desperate Dan, The Broons and Oor Wullie - and introduces the superb artwork of Martin Asbury who took over Garth from Frank Bellamy in 1976.

The US section highlights some 1950s lurid covers of Crime SuspenStories, Captain Marvel Adventures and a spasmodic run of Detective Comics from 1949 to the 1960s. Amazing Spider-Man #1 and early issues of Fantastic Four, Hulk, Silver Surfer and X-Men mutate for your attention.

In a major revamp to the site ComPal have also created their own online search facility. Comic Book Auction's 11 year, 45 catalogue run of comics, annuals and artwork can be accessed in one searchable database, featuring over 15,000 lots of comic titles, issue numbers, years, prices, grades and descriptions.

• Bids will be accepted until Tuesday 1st September at 8 PM UK time.To go directly to the main page for the catalogue, click here

• Visit Compal at www.compalcomics.com

Cinebook Announces Cult Classic XIII Publication Plans

Over the last 25 years, the dark, engrossing graphic novel series XIII has attracted a cult following in French-speaking countries and beyond, with readers eagerly awaiting every one of the 19th instalments published so far. Now, Canterbury-based publishers Cinebook have announced they have secured English language rights to the highly-acclaimed title, and will begin publishing in 2010.

Launched in 1984 by two Belgian authors, Jean Van Hamme and William Vance, XIII has been turned into a video game by Ubisoft as well as a TV miniseries starring Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer, which premiered on France’s Canal+ in October 2008 and on NBC in the US in February 2009.

Such is the popularity of the graphic novel that a gallery of its characters drawn by Vance was used to illustrate special-edition XIII scratch card tickets in France since 2000.

The central character in XIII is an amnesiac on the run, caught in the crossfire as he tries to understand his true identity while attempting to make sense of various conspiracies swirling around him. With many twists and turns, it's a compulsive read for teenagers and adults alike and has already been translated into several languages.

Initially serialized in Spirou magazine in 1984, XIII was created by Jean Van Hamme, the author behind other classic sagas such as the warrior fantasy, Thorgal, and Largo Winch –the latter in comic and book form as well as on the big screen, and William Vance, illustrator of the bestsellers Howard Flynn, Bruce Hawker, Bruno Brazil, Bob Morane and Marshall Blueberry.

Cinebook, which has acquired the English-language publishing rights in an exclusive agreement with Mediatoon, will publish XIII in English form May 2010 at the rate of one new volume every two months. Incredibly, for all its success in the non-English speaking world, only three episodes of the cult Franco-Belgian bande dessinée originally saw the light of day in English in the late 1980s - published by New York's Comcat Comics as Code XIII, one cover pictured above - so this will enable fans new and old to discover and rediscover the mystery series.

“I’m delighted that Cinebook has committed to publishing XIII alongside Thorgal, Largo Winch and Lady S, as well as Blake & Mortimer,"says Mediatoon director of Foreign Rights Sophie Castille. “XIII is another one of the many prestigious series Jean Van Hamme has been associated with over the years,”

“I’m proud to add this legendary series to our catalogue, especially as readers have been clamouring for it for several years,” notes Cinebook founder Olivier Cadic.

"XIII joins internationally-famous series such as IR$, The Scorpion, Insiders and Aldebaran, already published by Cinebook in addition to other Van Hamme series, further strengthening its portfolio of English-language titles particularly popular with teenagers and adults."

(Report posted with thanks to Jeremy Briggs)

Tube Surfing: EveryDay Praise, Muppets and Mirabilis

• Forbidden Planet International's Richard Bruton has been heaping praise on the work of Manchester-based Adam Cadwell, whose EveryDay webcomic . "Cadwell’s work is much more slice of life, observational style than others," says Richard. "This means that the majority of strips tend to be stand-alone things, relying on an interesting idea, event or gag than any narrative, concentrating on the immediacy of the moment being conveyed in 3 or 4 panels of the strip... But where some autobiography that concentrates only on the minutiae of everyday life does come unstuck with the repetition, Cadwell’s work is fresh and interesting to read." Three collections of Adam's Everyday strip are now available from his web site. Read Richard's full review here

• Dan Abnett has just published the dates for his "Bloody Pact Tour" of the North, which starts at the Games Workshop Metro in Gateshead on 16th October.

• Good news for British fans of the Muppets and ace cartoonist Roger Langridge. .The first Muppet Show Comic Book collection, Meet the Muppets, is out this week and the good news for readers in the UK is that although the original comics weren't officially available in the UK, the collection is and is available from Amazon UK here. "So now British readers can stop wondering what I've been up to for the last year or so," says Roger. As an added incentive, the ten-page story he did for Disney Adventures a couple of years ago, which has never before been published in its entirety, will finally see the light of day in the collection. (There's a hardcover edition available, too).

• Martin Eden, creator of the critically acclaimed indie O-Men superhero comic, is putting the finishing touches to the first issue of his new project, Spandex. "The art is done, and now I just need to wait and see if I'm going to get lottery funding to print it up," he reveals on his blog.

• Bleeding Cool reports comics writer Mark Millar will be speaking at Charlotte Square Gardens as part of the Edinburgh Festival tomorrow night at 8pm, about comics, graphic novels and movies. However, as Jeremy Briggs reported here weeks ago the event is sold out: you'll need to see if there are returns on the door if you want to see him.

• Sky Box Office in the UK is to screen Watchmen from Monday 14th September.

• • Bleeding Cool also reports the hype for the Batman: Arkham Asylum game has given sales of Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's graphic novel that inspired it a huge boost.

• Broadcast reports Michael Chaplin, creator of the BBC drama Monarch Of The Glen, is adapting Goodnight Mister Tom author Michelle Magorian's new young adult novel Just Henry as a family drama special, potentially for ITV. While the project has not yet been given the go-ahead, it is in development at ITV Studios. Published by Egmont UK, Just Henry is a post WWII thriller that follows Henry, a film-loving and judgmental teen who lost his father in the war, as he reluctantly becomes friends with two classmates when they are put together to work on a school project. When Henry is given a camera to help with the project he takes a photo that turns everything upside down and in the process he teaches him about friendship and not to be so judgmental.

• And finally... they aren't actually new if you subscribed to much-missed subscription weekly The DFC, but if you missed the run of ace fantasy strip Mirabilis there you can now read the first 25 pages (ie the first chapter of the Winter book) over on the Mirabilis website. Highly recommended!

Angry Robot UK Launch in October

It’s a brand-fusion to reinvent science fiction in the UK, a union that may yet shake London to the core. Forbidden Planet London will be hosting the official UK Launch of Angry Robot Books on Saturday 10th October at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JR, with 2000AD, Marvel and DC Comics writer Dan Abnett, Andy Remic and Colin Harvey on hand to sign for their many fans.

Angry Robot is a new imprint from HarperCollins which started back in June, offering a wickedly fresh take on the SF, F and WTF industry. Publishing the best in dark and edgy fiction from renowned authors and the hottest in up-and-coming new talent, the Robot is set to bring you teenage serial killers, zombie detectives, howling axes, sex-crazed vampires, murderous gods and steampunk swordfights. And that’s for starters.

Featured guests Dan Abnett (Triumff), Andy Remic (Kell’s Legend) and Colin Harvey (Winter Song) will be on hand to allay (or possibly enhance) fears, chat to fans, answer questions and sign copies of their Angry Robot titles. There will be free prints available of the Larry Rostant cover of Triumff as well as a chance to see the Kell’s Legend promotional video... up close and personal.

There will also be a wide range of Angry Robot’s other titles available.

• Angry Robot Books: http://angryrobotbooks.com

• The following film was written, directed, and stars our Andy Remic, and gives a good taste of the flavour of his book Kell’s Legend, which is launched in the UK and Australia next week. Music by th3 m1ss1ng.