First Look - Torchwood 20 by Minchin, Yeowell, Workman

Titan Magazines Torchwood title has hit Issue 20 and the comic strip is sure to appeal to 2000AD fans – it's drawn by Steve "Zenith" Yeowell.

Written by Brian Minchin, a Script Editor and Assistant Producer on the Torchwood TV series, with art by Steve Yeowell (with lettering and additional art by John Workman), the story, 'Fated to Pretend', opens with a prison van driving at breakneck speed along an isolated road - as if pursued by the devil itself. The doors break open and prisoners spill out onto the road - but something yanks them back inside. By the time Torchwood arrive, the prisoners and warders are dead. But worse than that. They've been eaten...

Torchwood follow the prison van back to Mynydd Coch, an aging prison built high above Cardiff in the Black Mountains. The prison has been locked shut, the transporter was the first vehicle to leave the building for months, and there have been strange stories from within of horror and brutality, of Zombie warders, and prisoners eaten alive. Jack has another theory... But what will happen when he, Ianto and Gwen get inside...?

Steve Yeowell is one of the UK’s most successful comic artists, who began his career back in the 1980s working with writer Grant Morrison on Marvel UK’s Zoids, He then went on to work with Morrison on 2000AD’s ground-breaking Zenith series and has never looked back, working on 2000AD series such as Sinister Dexter and The Red Seas, and also on several comics for Marvel (Skrull Kill Krew), DC (Batman, Starman) and Vertigo (The Invisibles, Sebastian O).

John Workman is one of comics’ most famous letterers, and has worked on comics by Walt Simonson, Grant Morrison and many more on such titles as Doom Patrol and Thor. Also a comic artist, and the Torchwood comic editor Martin Eden invited him to contribute to this special strip.

• Torchwood Magazine Issue 20 is on sale now in the UK (more info here) and on 16th March in the US (more info here) and is available from all good retailers and specialist comic stores.


• For the latest on Torchwood Magazine, sign aboard its Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/TorchwoodMagazine

Asterix in Britain heads for the cinemas

Goodness gracious! A round of hot water for the entire Gaulish village! The long best-selling Asterix story, Asterix in Britain, is to become a movie.

Earlier this month, Les Editions Albert René and the Fidelite production company announced an agreement for a new feature-length film.

The fourth adaptation of the Asterix Adventures, Astérix chez les Bretons, to give it its French title, is to be directed by Laurent Tirard, who will also be co-writing the script with Grégoire Vigneron, based on the album.

The story sees the Romans invading Britain, but, like Gaul, one village still holds out against them. Asterix and Obelix cross the Channel to help the Britons, with plenty of digs at British culture along the way.

"Already produced as an animated film in 1986, Asterix in Britain is jam-packed with unforgettable scenes that we're dying to see in real-life action," say the Asterix team. "The excitement of Asterix and Obelix’s reunion at the Tower of London, an unexpected rugby match, an entire legion of wine-weary Romans, the delights of lukewarm beer and boiled boar with mint sauce, the exquisite care of the most impeccably kept lawn in the Ancient World, and the story of how tea became the Britons’ national beverage, thanks to Getafix’s well-meaning pranks....

Asterix co-creator Albert Uderzo holds this early Asterix album in high regard. “In my opinion, René Goscinny’s best album will always be Asterix in Britain, thanks to an extraordinary trick that only he could have come up with since he spoke English: transforming the Britons’ speech with an English sentence structure.”

Asterix in Britain was also superbly translated on its original release by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge and like many of the early books, is an indicator of how important a good translation is to the success of foreign albums in the UK market. For me, reading the original Asterix the Gaul as a kid, nothing beats the scene in which Getafix and Asterix enjoy a round of wordplay at the Romans' expense...

• Notes about some of the "in" and visual jokes in Asterix in Britain on The Asterix Annotations

• More about the first three live-action films adapted from the Asterix universe on the official Asterix web site

Valentine Chronicles Comic Art Gallery Opens

The web-based story site The Valentine Chronicles is celebrating its third birthday with a brand new gallery featuring artwork by top UK artists like Alan Davis (ClanDestine, Excalibur, Marvelman), Dylan Teague (Judge Dredd) Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy, Judge Dredd), his image below, left, Sean Phillips (Marvel Zombies, Hellblazer), Jon Hodgson (Dragon Warriors, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering - check out his official web site for more art) and many more.

Launched in 2007, The Valentine Chronicles was created to generate donations for the Myasthenia Gravis association, a charity dedicated to the research of the auto-immune condition Myasthenia Gravis. The site itself is a 100% free web-site featuring the serialised struggle of retired mercenary Ivan Valentine as he fights to keep his neices alive in a hostile galaxy.

There are currently 13 complete serials and six galleries of artwork to enjoy, all brought to you with no pop-ups and no ads.

Visit the site at: www.thevalentinechronicles.com

All art © respective artists

London International Creative Competition Launched

The London International Creative Competition for 2010 has just been announced and is calling for entries.

Described as "a vehicle for facilitating contact between uniquely talented artists and an international audience", work is juried by a board of internationally esteemed artists, writers, curators, gallery owners and other luminaries of the visual arts (full list here). The jury-selected finalists and shortlist will be published in the LICC Annual Awards Book, on the LICC website and announced to the creative arts and media outlets worldwide.

The 15 finalists works will be presented at the LICC awards ceremony in London and one prize-winner chosen by the jury will receive the £2,000 cash prize.

This year's categories are:

• Architectural
• Audio/Music
• Design (Environmental/Fashion/Graphic/Interior)
• Drawing/Illustration
• Installation
• Mixed Media
• NetArt/Web Design
• Painting
• Performance
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Sculpture
• Textile
• Video and Film
• Writing
• Other

The Entry Fee is £20 single or series, Students £15 single or series. For an online entry form, click here. For PDF submission forms click here

LICC was founded by the Farmani Group in 2006 which, among other things, has founded many charities, businesses, and organizations including the award-winning VUE magazine, The Lucie Awards (the Oscars of photography), , Focus on AIDS, International Photography Awards, Px3-Prix del la Photographie de la Paris, Art For New York, the Farmani Gallery, aNet Communications, Design Awards and FYIdesign.

• For more info visit: www.licc.us