Moore and Reppion pen Damsels for Dynamite

Fantasy comics are definitely seeing something of an upswing in popularity right now, a reflection, perhaps of a general desire to escape the doom and gloom of everyday life in a recession. Well, another title is about to join the fray -- Damsels, from US publisher Dynamite Entertainment.

On sale in comic shops in September, the comic is being written by Leah Moore and John Reppion , with stunning looking art by Aneke, and dynamic covers by J. Scott Campbell and Sean Chen.

In Damsels #1, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Snow White come together with other damsels in a new adventure filled with danger and intrigue, as the alluring princesses of classic fairy tales take up arms to save their kingdoms from war.Rediscover the darkness at the heart of fairy tales and why there will be no happily ever after.

Damsels opens with Rapa wishing she had not got out of bed that morning, if she had a bed to get out of that is. The day began badly and has gone rapidly and literally downhill ever since. A series of peculiar and baffling encounters throw obstacle after obstacle into her path, intent it seems on preventing her progress. The thing is, until today she had no idea she was trying to make any progress, toward anything!

A collection of hazy memories and bewildering tattoos are all she has to help her figure it all out, and to be honest, she'd just as soon not bother. Around her, we see the mountain city of Caumont thrown into overdrive by the arrival of Queen Talia and King Aurore of Perrault. The streets are thronged with cheering people, does it matter they aren't exactly sure why they are cheering, or for whom?

Damsels joins a growing number of fairy story inspired comic titles on sale now, which include Vertigo's Fables and Dynamite's own fantasy comics such as their adaptation of Game of Thrones.

"We are thoroughly enchanted to be working on such a spellbinding series," says writers Leah Moore and John Reppion. "It's fantastic fun for us as writers to be able to play with characters and concepts that are familiar, but then put our own Moore & Reppion style spin on things.

"Yes, there are Damsels and yes, there will be plenty of distress, but nothing is how it seems, and there is brutal action and weird surprises at every turn. We have had so much fun writing this, and we are so pleased with the art team Dynamite have set us up with. We can't wait to see it in print."

"We've been talking about Damsels for a long time internally, and trying to figure out who the best writers would be," states Dynamite Publisher Nick Barrucci. "Leah and John were at the top of the list, but they had taken a break from comics. Debating who to approach, we followed up with Leah and John to see if they would script once time freed up. They said yes. It was the best decision for the comic.

"Get ready for one hell of a ride. Not every fairy tale has a happy ending."

- Damsels #1 is on sale in comic shops in September. To find a comic shop near you visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com/

- For art and more information visit: www.dynamite.net or follow the company on Facebook at facebook.com/DynamiteComics, or follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/DynamiteComics

Commando Steadfastly Soldiers On

For the third time in less than twelve months the Commando archive has been opened to allow artwork to be used in a public exhibition. After the Draw Your Weapons exhibition in London's National Army Museum (with downthetubes being the only British comics website invited to the opening night last September) and the Battlelines exhibition in the University Of Dundee barely a month later, the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen are about to present Steadfast! Commando at The Gordon Highlanders Museum.

This is a new display of Commando artwork especially selected by the museum from the DC Thomson archive and includes a special section commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein and the role of the Gordon Highlanders in the Desert War in 1942 and 1943. The exhibition opens at the museum on Monday 9 July 2012 and runs until Friday 30 November 2012 and entrance to the Steadfast! exhibition is included in the general admission price for the museum.

In the meantime the next four issues of Commando are available this week -

Commando No 4507: The Spy Catchers
Story: Alan Hebden
Art: Olivera
Cover: Ian Kennedy

Espionage is as much a part of warfare as infantry or artillery. Knowing what your enemy is planning is a great help when it comes to stopping him. But all the time you’re watching him, he’s watching you, isn’t he? Which is why you need spy catchers, men who will sniff out the spies and neutralise them. British Army lorry-driver Arnie Kershaw loved to read about the adventures of such men…but even he never dreamt for a moment that he’d be caught up in their activities for real.


Commando No 4508: The Voyage Of HMS Onion Wagon
Story: Peter Grehan
Art: Vila
Cover: Ian Kennedy

How did a motley crew of British and New Zealand sailors end up on a British Army Bedford lorry in the desert?
How did a routine operation so very quickly go wrong and become an unexpected voyage into danger?
Hop aboard HMS Onion Wagon and find out!


Commando No 4509: Cold Steel
(Originally No 22 - April 1962)
Story: Kenner
Art: Gordon Livingstone
Cover: Ken Barr

Ten Desperate Men… Armed to the teeth, they slipped and slithered from the hull of a submarine into a wave-battered rubber dinghy. A grim cargo of trouble on a life-or-death mission. Ten desperate men who were destined to become… Ten dauntless heroes.

In his introduction to this Gold Collection reprint, Commando editor Calum Laird says, "Secret, dangerous, well-nigh impossible missions have been firm favourites with Commando readers (and editors) since the earliest days. The title was less than a year old when Gordon Livingstone’s trademark art gave life to ten men on the deadliest of missions. (The ten-man mission is another theme that’s been visited and re-visited over the years without getting stale.) Author Kenner’s tale sets the men at their officer’s throat from the off…as soon as they settle with the Nazis he’s likely to be next. All that AND Ken Barr’s menacing cover? What a bargain for a shilling!"


Commando No 4510: Freedom — Or Death!
(Originally No 2062 - February 1987)
Story: Bill Fear
Art: Keith Shone
Cover: Jeff Bevan

To a Gurkha soldier honour is all important, and young Lal had a very important debt of honour to settle with his officer, Lieutenant Archie Cameron. So when the two men were captured by the Japs and sent to different POW camps, Lal was determined to free Archie. There was only one snag, though. First he had to get free himself!

In his introduction to this Silver Collection reprint, Commando Deputy Editor Scott Montgomery remembers, "As young readers, whenever my brothers or I started to read a jungle-based Commando book we always hoped it would feature Gurkha soldiers. There was always something just so…for want of a better word, cool about those stoic, loyal and deadly efficient fighting men from Nepal, armed with their iconic, curved Kukri blades. And I was always glad that they fought on our side. Even twenty-five years after this great jungle tale was first published, I still feel the same way about the amazing Gurkhas."

• Official Commando web site: http://www.commandocomics.com/

• Commando Official Facebook page

• 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

• Commando is also available for iPad and iPhone. The apps are free to download through the Apple iTunes App Store and a digital subscription is priced at £4.99 per month, compared to a £99 annual print subscription. For those not sure there are four free issues to download prior to making a purchase.

• Commando Comics iPhone App on iTunes

• Commando Comics iPad App on iTunes

• Steadfast! the Commando artwork exhibition at The Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen runs from 9 July to 30 November 2012. There are more details about the exhibition on the museum website.

Call for Papers: The Adventures of Tintin essay collection

Abstracts are now being accepted for inclusion in an anthology to be produced by UK comic scholars on “The Adventures of Tintin.” Proposed essay topics should creatively engage with the critical, philosophical, and social issues explored in the Tintin universe.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Tintin and Hergé
• Tintin and comic book history
• Tintin and detective fiction
• Tintin and the adventure story
• Tintin in translation
• Censorship of Tintin
• Tintin’s spinoffs
• Tintin in adaptations
• Tintin in films
• Tintin clubs
• Tintin and geography
• Tintin and travel
• Travel and colonialism
• Treatment of race in Tintin
• Snowy as sidekick
• Animal welfare
• EcoTintin
• Tintin and gender
• Tintin and masculinity; homosocial relations
• Tintin in criticism

Submission Guidelines:
1. Submission deadline for abstracts (100-500 words) and (one-page) CVs: 30 August, 2012
2. Submission deadline for first drafts of accepted papers: 15 December 2012.
3. Submission deadline for final papers: 1 February 2013

Kindly submit abstracts (as Word Document attachment) to BOTH Tyler Shores (tyler.shores@gmail.com) and Tom Ue (ue_tom@hotmail.com).

WebFinds: Writing Comics Resource

Lee Robson and Matthew Badham alerted me to this last month but it got buried in my in-tray. Writer-To-Watch-Out-For Dan Hill has managed to recompile a huge collection of articles and links from professional comic writers about the various aspects of the creative process that originally appeared on the now defunct Warren Ellis forum, The Engine.

The articles cover pretty much everything you could ever want to know about the process of writing comics, from moulding the initial idea all the way through to pitching it, and all of them are written by pros from across the industry, including Chuck Dixon, Matt Fraction, Gail Simone, Warren Ellis, Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek and a shed load more.

You can find the page at this link: http://dan-hill.org/services, but here's a small selection of what he's unearthed...

• Breaking In Without Rules by Kurt Busiek



• Survival Tips For The Newbie Writer by Gail Simone



• Comic Storytelling Tips by Lee Sullivan



• What A Comics Script Is For by Warren Ellis



• Advice on Writing Comics and Breaking in by Brian K. Vaughan



• Writing Comics by Mike Baron



• On Writing For Comics by Kurt Busiek



• Script Writing by Jeph Loeb and Alan Moore



• Comics Storytelling Tips That Work by John Freeman (who?)



• How To Survive Writing A Graphic Novel by Grady Klein



• Top 10 Writing Tips For Comic Book Writers by Kris Simon (Image Shadowline)