Brits invade BackIssue magazine

The April 2013 editin of TwoMorrow Publishing's BACK ISSUE (#63) watches the USA’s and UK’s comics worlds cross over in our “British Invasion” issue.

Featuring a history of Marvel UK by Rob Kirby, the Beatles in comics, DC’s British talent pool of the 1980s, V for Vendetta, Excalibur, Marshal Law, Doctor Who and a “Pro2Pro” interview with Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy, it showcases the talents of many great talents. These nclude Brian Bolland, Alan Davis, Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, Alan Moore, Dez Skinn and others.

With loads of art originally produced for the UK market the issue comes with a Mighty Marvel in London cover by Ron Wilson and Dave Hunt, showcasing art from Marvel UK’s rare 1970s “Quadra-Poster” as a deluxe 25-inch long fold-out triptych cover.

Rob Kiby's feature is part of a book about Marvel UK he's been compiling for some two decades now. "I'm thrilled to have been given an opportunity to share a tiny portion of my work with a larger audience for the first time,'" he says. "They've done an outstanding job on the feature, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing all the other British-related goodies they've come up with."

• There's more info here on the TwoMorrows website. Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: DEC121348

 

Thundercats UK TV Premiere date announced

Promotional art for the new ThunderCats animated series. © Warner Bros.

ThunderCats, one of the most beloved cartoons of the 1980s, returns to UK TV next month on Cartoon Network UK - and, as we previously reported, a new comic from Panini UK will follow, although no release date for this has yet been announced.

Launching on Saturday 10th September at 11.00am on Cartoon Network, with a new episode every Saturday, the new Thundercats is a "reimagining" of the iconic animated series on Cartoon Network.

Set as an epic tale, the much anticipated return of ThunderCats tells the story of a hero's journey to fulfill his ultimate destiny, starting with the story's origin of Prince Lion-O's ascension to the throne.

On Third Earth, the kingdom of Thundera is being threatened by the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra, and Lion-O, the young heir to the throne, embarks on a great quest to take his rightful place as king. The unlikely champion must work with his faithful comrades Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro, WilyKit, WilyKat, and his loyal pet, Snarf to save their world from darkness. As the forces of good and evil battle each other in the quest for the fabled Stones of Power, Lion-O and his champions learn valuable lessons of loyalty, honour and mortality.

Cartoon Network says ThunderCats will appeal to viewers who have loved the characters all their lives as well as young newcomers to the franchise.

Panini UK announced they had secured the rights to publish a licensed Thundercats in May, shortly after news broke that they would no longer originate Marvel superhero comic strip.

Thundercats has a proud history as a comic in the UK - Marvel UK published 129 issues of a regular title based on the original 1980s animated show. To date, it is the longest-running comic associated with the franchise and included work by artists such as Tim Perkins and Martin Griffiths.

Other tie-in merchandise includes an action figure range from Bandai, kids' apparel, watches and bags (see news story).

Opinion: British Marvel is Not American Enough for Disney

Mighty World of Marvel Issue 1
published in 1972

by Tony Ingram

For about forty years now, Marvel have had a close relationship with Britain and its comics industry, dating back originally to Odhams Press and their groundbreaking weekly comic Smash!, in which was published the first ever UK originated strip to star a Marvel character, the ever incredible Hulk. Later, rather better known to most, came the sterling efforts of Marvel UK themselves, who in the 1970’s, 80’s and early 90’s produced a huge amount of material - including Alan Moore and Alan Davis’s Captain Britain, arguably one of the most incredible pieces of sequential storytelling anyone has ever published, not to mention Stoke’s and Parkhouse’s epic Black Knight series, Death’s Head, Doctor Who, the sadly near forgotten but utterly brilliant Timesmasher and several dozen more I could mention but won’t.

Captain Britain Weekly Issue 3
published in 1976

In short, British originated Marvel comics are a long standing tradition which has in the past given us some of the best comics ever produced and brought some hugely talented creators into the Marvel fold.

Well, not anymore. Since Marvel UK was sold off in 1996, Panini UK (who currently hold the license to publish Marvel material in Britain) have continued to publish some UK originated material featuring the Marvel characters, including old Marvel UK stalwarts such as Captain Britain and Death’s Head. Mostly, these stories have seen print in titles aimed at younger readers, including the currently ongoing series’ Marvel Heroes and Spectacular Spider-Man.

But now, Marvel’s owners Disney have issued an edict to the effect that from now on, all material featuring Marvel characters must originate in the US.

Why they’re saying this is unclear, but the effect as far as Panini are concerned is obvious; no more UK originated material might mean no more Marvel Heroes (and, indeed, we gather the title has been cancelled) or Spectacular Spider-Man - a sad loss as those magazines currently act as a gateway into Marvel for younger readers who then move on to Panini’s reprint titles and possibly to the US originals.

Worse yet, it also means there's no superhero no work for the talented British based freelancers who currently produce those strips - considerations which, of course, probably matter to Disney not at all, since Marvel Comics account for a minuscule percentage of their worldwide profits, and licensing revenue from Panini an even more minuscule percentage of that.

Still, on the face of it, Disney’s decision makes little sense. It will deprive creators of work and Panini of revenue, which admittedly isn’t their problem (and may even be seen as a plus by them, since Panini are in competition with them in other areas), but more to the point it will deprive a section of their fan base of that way in to Marvel I mentioned, which can’t be good for business in the long run. And the only justification for it seems to be creating a uniform brand under Disney’s total control.

I guess compared to that typically Disney desire for homogenisation, the UK market, and indeed those other foreign markets probably also affected, are small potatoes and largely irrelevant to them. But it’s a sad day all the same, particularly for those kids who are going to lose their favourite comics, and I can’t help thinking it will ultimately just serve to further diminish an already dwindling comics industry worldwide.

Not that Disney will care about that either. After all, in the end it will be much cheaper just to close down the presses and manufacture a few more Incredible Hulk lunchboxes. And the end may not be that much longer in coming, if Disney’s current approach is anything to go by…

Who Remembers The Mighty Thor?

(With thanks to various British comic fans): The launch of  the new Thor movie today in the UK prompted memories form British comic fans of Marvel UK's short-lived Thor-inspired reprint, The Mighty Thor.

Published in 1983 (Issue 1 cover dated 20th April), the title's launch followed the demise of a second Fantastic Four weekly. Thor had been a back up strip in many a UK Marvel title over the years - and, indeed, was one of the first Marvel superheroes to be published in Odhams Fantastic comic in 1967 -  but had not had his own UK title.

A page from the original Thor #171

Proclaiming that "Every Page" was in "Great Marvel Colour!", the reprint of Thor #171, drawn by Jack Kirby,was actually only published in full colour for part of the title - and the printing itself left a lot to be desired, with some printed issues suffering a lot of "off registration".

Even those pages that did print well were different to the colour of the original Marvel US editon, as the sample below indicates.

How Thor 171 was reprinted
in The Mighty Thor

As with all UK comics, the first issue included a free gift - in this instance, a 'free spinner', a gun-shaped plastic item with an elastic band in it which 'fired' a cut out circle of blue plastic.

Although starting solely with Thor, it wasn't long before the 28-page comic included a back up strip - usually Captain America, although Tales of Asgard also featured. Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett also contributed a half page 'Fantastic 400' cartoon alongside the usual mix of centre page mini posters, competitions and other features such as 'Bullpen Bulletins' promoting MUK's comics range.

The Mighty Thor itself proved short-lived, lasting just 19 issues before merging with the Original X-Men weekly to become Thor & X-Men. Marvel UK fans recall the problems with the printing lasted several weeks, which can't have helped sales, but perhaps this was a title that was always destined for merger, as part of a wider effort to boost the sales of titles.

• Thor Movie UK Site: http://thor.marvel.com/intl/uk

Tube Surfing: Dan Dare, Death's Head and World Book Night outrage

Some quick news items...

• (via the Dan Dare Yahoo Group) A bust of Dan Dare is now sitting comfortably on a beautifully made plinth in a prominent position in the library of Southport College (where his creator, Frank Hampson and other original Dare team members, studied) as an inspiration to future budding Hampsons, Harold Johns or Eric Edens.

Once the library has been refurbished next year there is an intention to bring together a collection of Eagle-related material and have a special section set aside to display it.

• Paul Birch has posted an entertaining review of the Death's Head Volume 2 collection on Speech Balloons, noting the history of Marvel UK as both a publisher of licensed comics and publisher of many US format comics during Paul Neary's tenure as Editorial Director. "How many of the countless Marvel UK superheroes pumped out during that time can anyone remember fondly?" he challenges. "Aside from Death's Head II by Dan Abnett and Liam Sharp that is? Not many, I'm sure..."

Off the top of my head? Warheads, Digitek, Motormouth and Killpower, Hell's Angel (re-named Dark Angel after legal threats from the Hells Angels), Gene Dogs, Shadow Riders. Admittedly, I did edit some of those titles so my memory might be better than others. More important, perhaps, than the characters, was the sheer number of talented folk Paul and the MUK team nurtured between them, now widely known to the general comic audience: artists like Bryan Hitch who had worked for MUK for some time but was rightly given the limelight along with Liam Sharp, Gary Frank and many more.

• Let me join in with the widespread disappointment at the BBC's decision to totally ignore readers of science fiction and fantasy on World Book Night in its BBC2 show, The Books We Really Read: a Culture Show Special (currently available here on iPlayer). Over on the Forbidden Planet International blog, Joe Gordon notes there was "outraged chatter on Twitter about this over the weekend" over the slight.

"The simple fact is that SF&F novels absolutely dominate the bestseller charts and have done for a couple of decades now," notes Joe. "Terry Pratchett, Peter F Hamilton, Iain M Banks and many more almost always go right into the top ten national bestselling hardback list when their new books come out. You can’t do that if you are just a small, easily ignorable niche market." Too right.

Joe reports that long time SF&F commentator (and bestselling author in his own right now) Stephen Hunt (founder of ace SF web site www.sfcrowsnest.com) has decided that instead of our usual moaning of the mainstream media’s dismissive and ignorant approach to our beloved genre that something should actually be done and the BBC made aware of how poor their decision was and how it meant they failed to serve the interest of a large percentage of viewers (who are the ones who fund the Corporation, after all). He has a fairly flaming response to the lack of coverage on his blog already.

"As the hour went by, strangely absent from this detailed parade of what people actually like to read was “a certain” genre, you know… the unclean one, speculative fiction, as in fantasy/horror/science fiction… which together accounts for between 20/30 per cent of the fiction market, depending on what measure you choose to believe.

"I can forgive the committee of World Book Night itself, whose selection of 25 titles to give one millions free copies away was made by a board which clearly apes the views of the Booker panel – which is that fantasy, horror and sci-fi, much like hardcore porn, has no place in any respectable fiction list, but the BBC?" (Philip Pulman's Northern Lights was on the World Book Night list, but only, the BBC made clear, as an example of Young Adult-crossover – heaven forbid it should be an actual example of fantasy).

Outraged, Stephen has set up a Facebook page as well as planning a petition of Brit SF&F authors to complain at the complete lack of coverage by the BBC. So if, as individual viewers based in the UK, you want to complain to the BBC about failing to cover a single fantasy, horror or science fiction novel, the online form to do this is located at... https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/ ... the more complaints, the better! Don't forget to mention the snobby show that started all this.


Perhaps, if enough people write in, we'll get a decent SF show on TV - and no, I'm not talking about Outcasts, which made it clear it was more about the "human condition" than SF, and has rightly bombed in the ratings as a result of boring its audience to death...

The original Death's Head returns in Marvel Heroes

A page from the new Death's Head
versus Hulk story by Simons Furmsn
and Williams. Via Simon's blog

(with thanks to Simon Williams): One of Marvel UK's most popular characters, Death's Head, is set to return in an all-new story for Panini Comics Marvel Heroes.

Issue 33 of the newstand title, on sale in March, will see the original Freelance Peacekeeping Agent Death's  Head back in action – and fighting none other than the Incredible Hulk.

"For the past month or so, I've been making hints on both my Facebook and Twitter accounts in regards to a certain project that I've been working on," says Simon on his official web site on deviantart, "a project which I truly believe is the most exciting thing I've worked on since breaking into the comics business in 2003.

"Well, after numerous weeks of teasing the masses, I can now finally spill the beans... Death's Head is back! The original Freelance Peacekeeping Agent is returning to the pages of of a UK comic, in the pages of Panini Comics' Marvel Heroes, in a tale written by original Death's Head creator Simon Furman, with art by yours truly.

"It's the second part of a two-part story (both parts in the same issue), the first written by Ferg Handley with art by John Ross. Death's Head grand entrance however isn't until our part of the tale."

"Amazingly, this marks my first work on the original Death’s Head since the early 1990s," says Simon Furman, "when he guest-starred in the likes of She-Hulk, Marvel Comics Presents and Death’s Head."

A page of Simon Williams'
fan fiction tale featuring
Death's Head and Hulk

For Simon Williams, this is a dream come true - the accomplished artist even created his own Hulk versus Death's Head strip just for fun some time back, which features in his online gallery.

"It's no secret that I've been campaigning for the return of Death's Head since I broke into comics," Simon enthuses, "so I can't begin to tell you how excited and proud I am to be part of this."

For him, the fact that Death's Head will be fighting none other than the Hulk is "icing on the cake".

"Honestly, my job could never get any better than this," says Simon. "I know for sure that a lot of Marvel UK and Transformers fans out there are going to be very pleased with this news!!

• Marvel Heroes Issue 33 is on sale in all good UK newsagents from 24th March 2011. Death's Head is back... and it's about time, yes?

• Simon Williams blog is here: http://soulmaninc.blogspot.com

Panel Borders: Making Marvels in the UK (Part 2)

Continuing radio show and podcast Panel Borders month long look at British creators who have written and drawn superhero comics, (in a panel recorded in front of a live audience at the London Science-Fiction Film Festival) Alex Fitch concludes his talk with a quartet of Marvel UK luminaries who were responsible for some of the best British action / adventure titles in the 1980s and 90s.

Alex discusses with artist Gary Erskine and writers Dan Abnett, Simon Furman and John Freeman, the decline in fortunes of Marvel UK as a publisher in the 1990s – despite their creation of memorable titles such as Knights of Pendragon, Dragon’s Claws and popular Transformers spin-off title Death’s Head - due to changing market pressures.

Alex did a fab job of making sense of what must have been a fairly chaotic panel with Part 1 last week, so I'm looking forward to listening to this second part.

• Panel Borders: Making Marvels in the UK (Part 2) airs at 5.00pm, Thursday 16th September, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com and now on itunes (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/id390974029)

Panel Borders: Making Marvels in the UK

Continuing podcast and radio show Panel Borders month-long look at British creators who have written and drawn superhero comics for both the American and domestic markets, in a panel recorded in front of a live audience at the London Science-Fiction Film Festival, Alex Fitch talks to a quartet of Marvel UK luminaries who were responsible for some of the best action-adventure titles in the 1980s and 90s.

Dan Abnett and Gary Erskine co-created The Knights of Pendragon (along with John Tomlinson), a series which gave UK superhero Captain Britain a new, darker spin in the 1990s by adding him to an Arthurian team of heroes. Simon Furman was (and still is) the primary writer of Transformers, as well as the scribe behind a dozen installments of the Doctor Who comic strip, plus many of Marvel UK’s most memorable SF titles including Dragon Claws and Death’s Head. John Freeman helped create many of Marvel UK’s early 90s titles such as Death’s Head II, Warheads, Killpower and Motormouth and edited Marvel UK's intended rival to 2000AD, Overkill, for much of its run.

Alex and the four creators discuss the rise in popularity of Marvel UK as a producer of original material in the 1980s and some of the memorable comics they founded along the way.

• Panel Borders: Making Marvels in the UK (Part 1 of 2) airs at 5.00pm on Resonance 104.4FM (London) / www.resonancefm.com, on Thursday 9th September 2010. For further information visit http://podcasts.resonancefm.com/archives/4477

• The podcast is available here on archive.org - or just play it via this embed...

downthetubes John Freeman at Sci-Fi-London

A quick reminder of two panels I'll be appearing on tomorrow (Saturday 1st May) at Sci-Fi-London...

60 Years of Dan Dare

A panel on 60 years of the lantern jawed space pilot. Alex Fitch will be talking to: Garry Leach, who drew Dan’s return to print in 2000AD, ten years after the end of the original Eagle, in the late 1970s and more recently covers for Virgin comics’ revival of the ‘Pilot of the future’ in 2008.
Rian Hughes, who drew the Eagle-inspired comic The Science Service in 1989 and then the Mekon’s final revenge in the Thatcherite satire Dare in the adult comics Revolver and Crisis a year later; Gary Erskine, who drew Dan Dare’s most recent official comic book adventures in the Virgin Comics periodical of the same name; Titan Books Dan Dare collections editor John Freeman, who previously wrote The Science Service and now writes the strip Ex Astris in the Dan Dare magazine Spaceship Away; and Rod Barzilay, the editor and one of the writers of Spaceship Away.

• 60 Years of Dan Dare runs from 10.30am on Saturday 1st May

30 years of Marvel UK


Alex Fitch hosts a panel on the British arm of the American Superhero publisher, featuring: Dez Skinn, a pioneering Marvel UK editor who launched titles such as Hulk Comic and Doctor Who Magazine , which featured early licensed work by Alan Moore, David Lloyd, Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons; Dan Abnett, who gave Captain Britain a new, darker spin in the 1990s by adding him to an Arthurian team of heroes with Gary Erskine, co-creator of the Knights of Pendragon; John Freeman, who edited many of Marvel UK’s early 1990s titles such as Death’s Head II, Warheads, Killpower and Motormouth, contributing strips to several issues as well, and also edited Doctor Who Magazine; and Simon Furman, primary writer for Marvel’s Transformers, and a dozen issues of Doctor Who Magazine. He created some of Marvel UK’s most memorable SF titles including Dragon Claws and Death’s Head.

• 30 years of Marvel UK runs from 11.45 am, Saturday 1st May

All the events - there are plenty more comic-related events - take place at the Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, 19 Lower Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4LR. More info at www.sci-fi-london.com

Sci-Fi London Lines Up Comic Creator events

Garry Leach, Rian Hughes, Dez Skinn, Gary Erskine, Emma Vieceli and Simon Furman are just some of the comic creators who will be appearing at this year's SCI-FI-LONDON event on Saturday 1st May.

At last year’s SCI-FI-LONDON (www.sci-fi-london.com) the organisers added the notion of Sci-Fi Labs to the festival line-up: panel discussions which mixed artists, writers, scientists and cultural commentators to explore various SF themed topics. This format and a screening of Hardware introduced comic book creators such as Kevin O’Neill, Bryan Talbot, Paul Cornell, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Paul Duffiel to SCI-FI-LONDON in 2009 and this year's event sees an increase in the number of events featuring top British graphic novelists which are sure to interest downthetubes readers.

Now in its ninth year, SCI-FI-LONDON is the UK's only dedicated Sci-Fi and Fantasy film festival, screening world and UK film premieres, documentaries and a selection of classic SF titles. SCI-FI-LONDON also has a strong international shorts programme and screens a short film with every feature screening. It also holds a film school and filmmaking competitions to encourage more science fiction films to be made in the UK.

This year's comic-related events are as follows:

Screening: The Hospital Of Transfiguration - Thursday 29 April 6.30pm

Country: Poland, Year: 1979, Dir: Edward Zebrowski, Runtime: 90mins, Language: Polish/English subtitles
Format: 35mm, Source: Polish Cultural Institute

Set in 1943, this film is based on Stanislaw Lem’s first novel, and chronicles the experiences of a young doctor starting out in a mental hospital. But who is more crazy here the patients or the doctors? Semi-autobiographical, the controversial nature of the story led to the book being suppressed by the authorities in the 1950s.


Introduction and Q&A with Andrzej Klimowski, a world-renowned film poster designer and graphic novelist. In the UK, his visual style proved too controversial when his poster for Luis Buñuel’s The Phantom of Liberty was banned by the London Underground. As a writer and artist, he has authored three graphic novels, The Secret, The Depository and Horace Dorlan. With his wife, Danusia Schebal he has adapted Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and The Master and Margarita to comic book format. Andrzej and Danusia were active participants in the Warsaw film scene in the late 1970s and Professor Klimowski chose The Hospital Of Transfiguration from our ‘Focus on Poland’ to introduce, as an example of how genre films from that period stand up today.

Girl Geek Dinners: British Women Of Manga Panel – Thursday 29th April 7.00pm


Although there have been notable and successful female comic book creators on both sides of the Atlantic over the last half century, it is the translation of Japanese Manga in the West that has seen considerably more female comics creators join the medium in recent years. This is possibly a combination of Manga having a greater female appeal than traditional Western comics and original Japanese Manga being already created by women in Japan.

To discuss these issues SCI-FI-LONDON have a trio of up and coming UK Manga creators:

• Kate Brown illustrated the Manga Shakespeare adaptation A Midsummer Night’s Dream


• Emma Vieceli is contributing to the comic strip adaptations of the songs of Tori Amos, Comic Book Tattoo and continues to draw an online Manga story, Dragon Heir.

• Karen Rubins found early acclaim for her selfpublished graphic novel The Dark,

Chair: Judith Lewis, one of the founders of Geek Girl Dinners is a veteran of anime conventions and has hosted Shinnenkai events

This is a free event for women only. Men are allowed as guests of a LGGD member. To get your tickets register at http://scifi-london.eventbrite.com

60 Years of Dan Dare - Saturday 1st May 10:30am


Celebrating the continuing popularity of the iconic British Space Hero whose first appearance in the Eagle was published in April 1950, Sci-Fi London presents a quartet of artists who have created new adventures for the lantern jawed pilot in more recent years. Panellists include:

• Garry Leach drew Dan’s return to print in 2000AD for two stories: "The Doomsday Machine" and "Visco", ten years after the end of the original Eagle in the late 1970s and more recently covers for Virgin comics’ revival of the ‘Pilot of the future’ in 2008.

• Rian Hughes drew the Eagle-inspired comic The Science Service in 1989 and then the Mekon’s final revenge in the Thatcherite satire Dare, written by Grant Morrison, in the adult comics Revolver and Crisis a year later.

• Gary Erskine drew Dan Dare’s most recent official comic book adventures in the Virgin Comics periodical of the same name.

• John Freeman is a comics historian and writer, webmaster of downthetubes and the current editor of Titan Books Dan Dare collections. He previous wrote The Science Service and now writes the strip Ex Astris in the Dan Dare-inspired magazine Spaceship Away.

Chair: Duncan Nott historian and presenter on Resonance 104.4 FM, the Arts Council radio station.

Manga Mashup: Make A Comic In A Couple Of Hours - Sat 1st May 11:00am


Inspired by Manga? Want to make a comic of your own? You can do it in just a couple of hours - and you don’t have to draw a line unless you want to! Come and try out comic-making hints, tips and techniques that work for any kind of artist and any style of art. Letraset has provided all the materials, Helen McCarthy provides the method and oils the wheels of your genius if you get stuck, and you bring whatever’s in your head for inspiration. Solo artists/writers, duos and small circles welcome.

FREE EVENT at Project Space, BFI Southbank Limited to 15 places.

What A Marvel - Saturday 1st May 11:45am


With Marvel comic book heroes such as Iron Man and Spider-Man more popular than ever, we look at home-grown additions to the Marvel Universe. Marvel UK was founded in the early 1970s as a British affiliate to the US company, but in 1976 they added original material to their newsagent reprints, starting with Captain Britain and a new pantheon of popular characters over the next three decades. Panellists include:

• Dez Skinn is a pioneering Marvel UK editor who launched titles such as Hulk Comic and Doctor Who Weekly, which featured early work by Alan Moore, David Lloyd, Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons.

• Dan Abnett gave Captain Britain a darker spin in the 1990s by adding him to a new team of heroes with:

• Gary Erskine co-creator of the popular SF / Arthurian themed Knights of Pendragon.

• John Freeman was editor on many of Marvel UK’s early 1990s titles such as weekly comic Overkill, Death’s Head II, Warheads, Killpower and Motormouth, contributing strips to several issues, and was one of the longest-serving editors on the award-winning Doctor Who Magazine.

• Simon Furman was the primary writer for Marvel’s Transformers, a dozen issues of Doctor Who Magazine and creator of Marvel UK’s most memorable SF titles including Dragon Claws and the original Death’s Head.

Chair: Alex Fitch, presenter of the UK’s only weekly radio show on comics, ‘Panel Borders’, broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM, the Arts Council radio station in London.

Future Publishing? - Sat 1st May 1:00pm


The publishing industry is coming under assault from all sides. Are Kindles, iPads and smartphones signalling the end of traditional paper publishing? Customers no longer believe publishers can justify the prices they charge, not just for books, newspapers, magazines and periodicals are also suffering. How will the publishing industry re-shape itself for 2050? Will Apple and Google become the new big publishing houses? And if ubiquitous digital delivery means anyone can be a publisher, will we even need the big guns anymore?

• Paul Graham-Raven is a freelance writer, editor and webgeek, genre fiction reviewer and editor-in-chief of the near-future science fiction webzine Futurismic.

• Paul Rainey is a cartoonist, illustrator and creator of diary-comic-strip-in-list-form Book of Lists. He is currently serialising his graphic novel, or ‘thick comic book’, There’s No Time Like The Present.

• Mark Charan-Newton is a Blogger, Tweeter and author of debut novel Nights of Villjamur, one of the most critically acclaimed fantasy works of 2009.

• Dave Bradley is Editor-in-Chief of SFX magazine, Europe’s best-selling sci-fi and fantasy title and a fan of all forms of science fiction and fantasy.

Chair: Tom Hunter, Award Administrator for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction Literature.

Comics And Film - Mon 3rd May 4:00pm


While the cinema seems to be obsessed with comic book adaptations in recent years, this panel looks at the more general phenomenon of the dialogue between comics and film as comic book creators help design movies and draw storyboards for moving pictures and in turn, film has started to dictate the format of modern comics. Panellists include:

• Woodrow Phoenix started off as a small press comic book creator in the vibrant British scene of the 1980s before becoming a popular kids illustrator that lead to such unlikely collaborations as with Mark (Kick-Ass) Millar on Sonic the Comic and lettering Alan Moore's A Small Killing. More recently he has seen his comic Pants Ant turned into an animated pilot by The Cartoon Network and produced the acclaimed graphic novel Rumble Strip which was influenced by film noir and road movies.

• Howard Webster is an award-winning photographer who has combined film and sequential art in the web comic. The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore, which combines comic book art with both images and action movie sequences starring Colin Salmon.

• Cyriak Harris is one of the hottest viral animation creators in the UK and an ident designer for E4. He comes from a background drawing underground comics and sees a direct link with the creation of his CGI cartoons.

Chair: Alex Fitch

• With the exception of the MANGA MASHUP event, all events and screenings take place at the Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, 19 Lower Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4LR.

• Web Link:
www.apollocinemas.com/apollo-piccadilly-circus.aspx

In Review: Crikey! No.14

The latest issue of British comics magazine Crikey! is out now and comes packed with a huge range of articles, including an interview with top comics creator Bryan Talbot and a timely tribute to the origins of Eagle comic, which celebrates its 60th anniversary next month.

Behind these 'headline grabbing' items (and a great cover from Bryan) are features on the wonderful The Perishers (which the Daily Mirror has begun reprinting, ousting Pooch Cafe), an enjoyable celebration of Alfred Bestall's Rupert and an interview with ace creator and comics expert Lew Stringer, although Lew himself notes the choice of images chosen to illustrate the pice are odd, despite being sent a variety of scans of his work.

As usual, it's a mixed bag but while the loss of a colour section is the regrettable result of losing Borders as a distributor, the magazine's editorial team try hard to please. For me, the biggest failing is its final chapter of a potted history of Marvel UK which glosses over the company's huge success on UK news stands with titles such The Real Ghostbusters (which helped to launch the careers of Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and many others) in favour of concentrating on some of its least successful titles.

While many of these, like the original Knights of Pendragon fully deserve their limelight, the article is disappointing. As with many features in this title, it could have benefitted from more interview material.

Despite my gripes, the Talbot and Stringer interviews and the Eagle tribute - and a feature on the much-maligned 1980s Eagle - more than make it a magazine to track down if you're a British comics fan.

• Crikey! No.14 will be available from many comic specialist shops or you can order it directly from the publishers via www.crikeyuk.co.uk/sub.html

Crikey! It's The Cloak!

British comic fans heading to their local comic store should ask if they're stocking Crikey!, the monthly magazine devoted to British comics, if only because the latest issue marks the return of Mike Higgs' The Cloak.

The Cloak first appeared in 1967 in Odhams' Pow! weekly, one of many comics that combined both adventure and humour strips within its pages - a format that, sadly, seems to have been consigned to history. Mike retained ownership of The Cloak and has brought the character back before (Lew Stringer has more info on his blog and Mike Higgs himself offers more background on The Cloak for both old and new readers in the magazine itself), but now, he's hopefully back for a longer run, starring in a four-page full colour comic strip in Crikey! Issue 13 that pits him against the Time Tea Leaf - a fun story that brings him to the present day.

Along with this wonderful strip Crikey! 13 also includes an exclusive interview with Kevin O'Neill, the Tony Ingram's concluding part of his Doctor Who comics series, a feature on Action! comic, and more on the Rise and Fall of Marvel UK.

• A subscription to Crikey! costs £30 for six issues. Subscribe by visiting the Crikey! website here:
www.crikeyuk.co.uk/sub.html


Lew Stringer's Blimey! blog articles on The Cloak:

• The Cloak is Back
• Enter The Cloak
• Christmas Comics: Smash, 1968
• 40 Year Flashback: Smash Regenerates

Vworp! Vworp! It's a New Doctor Who comics fanzine!

A new Doctor Who fanzine, Vworp Vworp! goes on sale later this month. It takes a loving, affectionate look at Marvel/Panini’s Doctor Who comic strips and the magazine that spawned them – Doctor Who Magazine and is o-edited by Gareth Kavanagh and Colin Brockhurst, and designed by the latter

A non-profit-making, full-colour glossy 80-page perfect-bound fanzine that, in the words of Paul Scoones (author of the forthcoming Doctor Who Comics Companion), "sets a high benchmark for fanzine production standards", the magazine is simply packed with plenty of interesting Doctor Who comics background and other material.

It includes an interview with founding editor Dez Skinn, discussing the birth of Doctor Who Weekly; and a guide to the creation of the first Marvel Doctor Who strip, "The Iron Legion", with input from Dave Gibbons and Pat Mills and contributions from Dez Skinn, David Lloyd and Leon Hewitt, including the never-before-seen original pitch document, fully annotated and dissected.

Also included are Doctor Who Weekly feature writer Jeremy Bentham's perspective on the Weekly’s early days from conception, to publication and beyond; a wide range of writers celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of Doctor Who Weekly, in the form of imaginary love letters to DWM (complete with pics of many of us as little ‘uns as a homage to the wonderful letters page of the Weekly);

The zine also features several new comic strips: "Time Leech", written by Kasterborous‘ own Christian Cawley, art by Justin Abbot; and "The Master’s Life on Mars" by Gareth Kavanagh and John Daiker, with art by John Daiker; "Clash of Empires" (Silurians vs Ice Warriors), written and drawn by Daryl Joyce.

In addition, David J. Howe revives Collectors’ Corner, a DWM regular feature for one final outing, while Dave Gibbons, Pat Mills, Steve Lyons and Gareth Kavanagh are "Nailing The Star Beast", going on the trail of our own favourite furry supervillain, Beep the Meep; and there's also a feature on "The Cybermen", exploring possibly the most esoteric of the Who strips, the Cybermen strips from the mid-1990s.

This features interviews with writer Alan Barnes, artist Adrian Salmon and editor Gary Russell, plus an appreciation from Matt Badham and a lost instalment completed for the first time.

For a full list of features and the many, many contributors - including Mike Collins, Andrew Pixley, John Freeman, Scott Gray, Martin Geraghty, Clayton Hickman, Tim Quinn & Dicky Howett, Roger Langridge, Dan McDaid, Nick Miller, Leighton Noyes, Alister Pearson, John Ridgway, Rob Shearman, Baxter Sullivan, Kev F Sutherland & Steve Noble, Ben Templesmith and Ben Willsher (trust us, almost everyone who has ever been involved in DWM comics has had some input into this one),- head over to the official web site at: www.vworpvworp.co.uk

Only 1000 copies are being printed. 900 copies will have a wonderful wrap-round artist mash-up cover, pulled together by Colin Brockhurst and Ben Wilsher from an original concept by Ben and Roger Langridge. Essentially, it’s a jam session between fourteen of the finest artists in Who comic history: Baxter Sullivan (1st Doctor), Roger Langridge (2nd Doctor), Ben Willsher (3rd Doctor), Adrian Salmon (4th Doctor), Dan McDaid (5th Doctor), Sean Longcroft (6th Doctor), Lee Sulivan (7th Doctor), Martin Geraghty (8th Doctor), Mike Collins (9th Doctor), Rob Davis (10th Doctor) and Leighton Noyes (11th Doctor), with cameos from Dave Gibbons, Dicky Howett and John Ridgway.

However, being nostalgic the production team have also prepared a single variant cover to be featured on 100 copies (not 100 different ones – that would be a logistical nightmare!) and is intended as a loving homage to the original Doctor Who Weekly covers (se above). Featuring a marvellous CG Malevilus by Gavin Rymill, it depicts a 1978 ‘publicity photo’ from an imaginary TV version of "The Iron Legion". The first cut was pulled together by Dez Skinn (Doctor Who Weekly’s inaugural editor who, of course designed the original DWW covers in 1979) and then polished by Colin Brockhurst to create something that is guaranteed to send a shiver up the spine of any Who fan of a certain age. The back cover’s is by 30 Days of Night, Fell and Wormwood artist Ben Templesmith!

As if all that wasn't enough, both covers also feature a set of transfers (yes, real rub-down transfers just like the ones on Issue 1 of Doctor Who Weekly 30 years ago) specially drawn by Paul Grist (with colours by the sublime James Offredi), complete with a matching scene of the Daleks on Skaro to apply them to!

This is surely going to be one of the most sought after Doctor Who fanzines ever - so pre-order a copy as soon as you can!

• Vworp! Vworp! costs £5.99 (P&P not included) and the zine will be available from late January: pre-order it now from the Colin Brockhurst's web site. It will also be on sale from specialist retailers.

Tube Surfing: Death's Head, Poot, Chattyman and a Christmas Competition

• Death's Head is back! And not some Johnny-Come-Lately Death's Head II or III, or even the bit-on-the-small-side Version I, the result of an encounter with the good Doctor and his TARDIS. No, Marvel's new S.W.O.R.D. title features everyone's favourite robot bounty hunter from his giant robot days, back when he could go a few rounds with a Transformer or two -- and indeed, did, before he was dropped into the Marvel Universe via Doctor Who Magazine. Written by Keiron Gillen, with art from Steven Sanders, the book's second issue, featuring a no-holds barred fisticuffs between Marvel UK's most memorable mechanoid and S.W.O.R.D's finest. Catch it via your local comic shop now.

• Poot! Comic is back! This British humour comic was first published in the 1980s and 90s but has now been relaunched as a bi-monthly title. Issue number 2 is in the shops now: we'll have more about this soon, but in the mean time, check the comic's web site at www.pootcomic.com.

• Anyone watching the Comedy Awards on ITV Sunday night may have noticed a superhero style to some of the set dressing around the room, including Alan Carr as "Chattyman". One of the contributors to this look was none other than Jon Haward, these days best known for his work for Classical Comics but who can clearly turn his hand to just about anything! "I was asked by the Production Designer Simon Kimmel to draw Mr Ross looking like a superhero," explains Jon. "The producers of the show liked my samples so I was given a contract to work on the show!"

• The second batch of four David Lloyd illustrations to raise money for the Cartoon Classroom project went for over £300 on eBay. There are another three up now and darn fine they look too...


• RAF News recently published a story on the ongoing success of Commando, which still have total sales of some 70,000 copies per month. (We assume that figure is for all eight titles issued in one month, not per issue). Talking to editor Calum Laird about the DC Thomson war comic he attributes the title's enduring success to the stories, "their quality and complexity and the authenticity we try to give them, backed up with first-class artwork. The stories are quite complex and multi-layered.”

• If you want to dip back into Commando, why not give their Christmas competition to win collections of the comic?. Yes, some lucky person will win a (postman crippling) eight of Carlton's Commando reprint books in this competition being run on the official Commando website. Considering how big each book is that is a lot of reading for someone in the New Year!

• downthetubes stalwart Matthew Badham has not only been busy in print, with a massive John Ridgway interview in the latest Judge Dredd: The Megazine: he's also just posted a 2008 archive interview with Si Spurrier on his own ace blog, talking about the much-missed Warhammer Monthly. Only a few select quotes from the interview were used in the Judge Dredd:The Megazine two years ago, and the longer interview offers much more information.

• And finally for this Tube Surf - the creators of Mirabilis - one of the best unfinished strips in the much-missed subscription only comic The DFC - are offering a fantastic ghost story for Christmas: check it out on their web site. If you like it, please help us to spread the word!

Compiled with thanks to Calum Laird, Jeremy Briggs and Sven the Sax!

Marvel Motormouth Cover Art For Sale

(Updated) A cover of Marvel UK's would-be 2000AD rival Overkill has just been sold on eBay featuring popular superheroine Motormouth, painted by Steve Sampson.

Bidding, which ended earlier today on the item, saw the art sell for just under £85. Bidding was at £25 when we first posted this story earlier today.

Steve painted a number of brilliant pop art covers for Overkill in the 1990s and went on to grace the pages of several UK titles. Pictured left is how the art above was finally used, in the days when digital design was in its infancy, and it shows! There's some limited information on the actual issue here on Comic Vine: strips in the anthology title, which occasionally ran originated content for the UK market as well as stories also commissioned for US books, included Death's Head II, Digitek and others.

Steve's official web site (www.sampsonart.com) is packed with some stunning graphics, including his work for Judge Dredd: The Megazine which have to be seen to be believed.

Steve lives and work in Brighton, UK, and, along with partner Ghy Kurabayashi is well known for combining his illustration and graphic design skills with his love of colours, manga, games, vinyl toys, comics, music, pop+ urban art and all things Japanese. These days, their clients include ILEX Press, German publishers Brandlounge and Brazil's Editora Abril.

Knights of Pendragon Collection Cover Revealed

Gary Erskine, the original artist of Marvel UK's Knights of Pendragon back in the 1990s, has just published this superb cover to Panini UK's upcoming collection of the strip over on the Scotch Corner Blog.

Gary also goes into the background behind his design, and has posted some early drafts and designs.

"It has been truly magical to work on the series again," he told downthetubes.

downthetubes first learnt of the planned collections back in February (see news story): the first nine issues will feature in one single volume later this year, with the remaining volume to follow next year.

Knights of Pendragon, which also featured covers by artists such as Alan Davis and Simon Bisley, was initially a highly political and environmental comic, its themes drawn from the British folklore of King Arthur, environmental issues and New Age and neo-pagan subcultures.

"Knights was the first book I worked on (some twenty years ago) and still remains a favourite with fans," says Gary. "I found it difficult to return to the characters after so long away and the final design was limited by how much of the first half of the story we could reveal... I took the decison to draw our heroes (and villian) individually to allow for re-sizing and positioning. This proved very helpful in choosing each character's prominence relative to Captain Britain who was always front and centre.

"[Editor] Brady Webb at Panini and myself went through many ideas before settling on the final design shown here... our heroes charging defiantly towards the reader. A fairly simple idea (you may think) but a cover is the singular most important selling point of any medium (be it a cd, magazine or comic book cover) The cover has to be attention grabbing and instantly promote interest in the product and a desire to see more."

• Read more about the work Gary put into the cover and see his design work for it over on Scotch Corner

• Knights of Pendragon at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Knights of Pendragon at the Marvel Directory
• Knights of Pendragon at the Comic Book DB - this includes an issue by issue guide to the title
• Knights of Pendragon Wikipedia Entry
  

Combat Colin: The New Brickman

Brickman is dead and there's a new Brickman patrolling Guffon City - ex-Marvel UK hero of the 1980s, Combat Colin!

The bobble-hatted bucaneer ditches the bobble hat for a black cowl and cape in US publisher Active Images Elephantmen #20 on sale now in all good comic shops.

Brickman, a wonderful Batman parody, is the creation of top British cartoonist Lew Stringer. Originally created as a character for Marvel UK and featuring in titles such as Action Force, ownership of Combat Colin was assigned to Lew by Paul Neary, back when he was Editorial Director in the 1990s. This was part of a wider move by Neary to make good on promises that certain strips and characters - particularly those that featured in Marvel UK's Strip! comic - would be creator owned.

Let's hope this is just the start of a long overdue Combat Colin revival.

Talking of Lew Stringer, however, folk here may know he has been publishing a superb blog about British comics for many years, but, unfortunately, he's had to scale back on that.

"My apologies for a lack of blogs of late," he commented earlier this week. "I'm currently undergoing hospital eye tests for a potentially serious problem so it's quite a worrying time and probably best to keep away from the computer except for work.

"Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly."

We wish Lew all the very best at this time.

• More info from the the official Elephantmen website!

Tim Quinn on Tour

Comics writer Tim Quinn is back on the cartoon workshop and lecture circuit, appearing at The Brindley in Runcorn tonight and elsewhere in the UK (see current dates below).

Tim, whose credits include The Beano, Doctor Who Magazine and The Guardian and was editor of Marvel UK's Spider-Man and X-Men titles, offers would-be creators the chance to learn about comics creation in the workshop and become part of this unique method of visual storytelling.

Celebrating "42,0000 Years of Comic Books" in the evening , Tim Quinn takes you on a highly nostalgic trip down memory lane and takes you behind-the-scenes from his days working for The Beano, Sparky, Bunty, Playhour, Jack & Jill, Buster, The Topper, the Daily Mirror's Jane and Garth, and America's finest, Marvel Comics, to running his own comic book company.

• Tim Quinn - Cartoon Workshop takes place tonight on Tuesday 9 June at 3.30pm - 5pm in the Education Room, The Brindley. Places £5 to book

• The Mighty Quinn presents ARGH! The Ups and Downs of Life as a Comic Book Creator, Tuesday 9 June at 7.00pm in the Studio. Tickets £8, £6 concessions

• Web Link: www2.halton.gov.uk/thebrindley/content/whatson/607947/

Future Dates:
If you are travelling, please check with the venue prior to the concert in case of changes. Check Tim's site (www.mightyquinnmanagement.com/Tim%20cartoon/tim.htm) frequently as new dates are being added all the time.

Friday 12th June 2009
The New Cut Arts Centre, The Cut, New Cut, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8BY Tel: 0845 673 2123
Web: www.newcut.org

Saturday 13th June 2009
Morning Workshop, 10.00am New Cut Arts Centre. The Cut, New Cut, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8BY

Sunday 14th June 2009
Cartoon Workshops (2.00pm and 4.00pm) The Chelsea Arts Festival, London - venue details TBC Tel: 0845 890 2435 Ticket Price: TBC.
Web: www.chelseafestival.org

Friday 19th June 2009
Afternoon Cartoon Workshop (4.30pm) and Evening Lecture (8.00pm) Ludlow Assembly Rooms, 1 Mill Street, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1AZ Tel: 01584 878 141. Tickets: Workshop, £3.50 Show £10/9 concessions
Web: www.ludlowassemblyrooms.co.uk

Saturday 27th June 2009
Afternoon Cartoon Workshop (2.00pm) and Evening Lecture (7.30pm) Hull Literature Festival, Artlink Gallery, 87 Princes Ave, Hull HU5 3QP Tel: 01482 22 66 55. Ticket Price: Workshop £5, Show £5
Web: www.humbermouth.org.uk

Saturday 4th July 2009
The July Project: Afternoon Cartoon Workshop (12 noon) and Evening Lecture (7.30pm) Square Chapel Centre for the Arts 10 Square Road, Halifax,Yorkshire HX1 1QG
Tel: 01422 349 422 Ticket Price: TBC
Web: www.squarechapel.co.uk

Saturday 11 July 2009
Tamworth Assembly Rooms, Corporation Street, Tamworth, Staffs B79 7RD Tel: 01827 709618
Web: www.whatsontamworth.co.uk

Saturday 23rd July 2009
Evening Lecture 7.30pm Tavistock Wharf Theatre, Canal Road, Tavistock, Devon PL19 8AT Tel: 01822 611 166
Web: www.tavistockwharf.com

Friday 21st August 2009
Cartoon Workshops (10.30am and 1.30pm) and Afternoon Lecture (4.00pm) Seven Stories, The Centre for Children's Books, 30 Lime Street, Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 2PQ Tel: 0845 271 0777 ext 715 Ticket Price: Workshop, £2, Lecture £3. Plus Admission Fee: £ 5.50 Adults/£4.50 Concessions
Web: www.sevenstories.org.uk

Saturday 19 September 2009
Morning Cartoon Workshops (11.00am - 1.00pm) and Afternoon Lecture (3.00pm) Crawley Library, Crawley Library, Southgate Avenue, West Sussex RH10 6HG Tel: 01293 651 751. Ticket Price: £3.00
Web: www.westsussex.gov.uk/libraries

Tuesday 6 October 2009
Afternoon Cartoon Workshop (2.00pm) and Evening Lecture (7.30pm) Arlington Arts Centre, Mary Hare, Snelsmore Common, Newbury, Berks RG14 3BQ Tel: 01635 244231. Ticket Price: Workshop, TBC, Lecture £6.50 (£5 as part of lecture series package)
Web: www.arlingtonarts.co.uk

Thursday 15 October 2009
Evening Lecture 7.30pm Derby Assembly Rooms, Darwin Suite, Market Place, Derby DE1 3AH
Tel: 01332 255800. Ticket Price: £9.00 adults/ £6.00 for under 16s
Web: http://www.derbylive.co.uk

Saturday 12 December 2009
Morning Cartoon Workshops (10.00am) and Evening Lecture (7.30pm) Limelight Theatre, Queens Park Arts Centre, Queens Park, Aylesbury, Bucks HP21 7RT Tel: 01296 431 272. Ticket Price: 8 adults / 6 concessions / 4 children (under 14). Show + children's workshop ticket offer: 6 (children)
Web: www.qpc.org

(Thanks to Chris Williams for finding this info)

Dan Abnett Video Q&As on YouTube

Comics writer Dan Abnett has been having great fun with a series of video question and answer sessions compiled by Adelie High.

This one, titles "From Ghostbusters to Triumff" - there are several which include questions about his work on Warhammer and more - includes Dan's recollections of his first comics work at Marvel UK. He also has great fun describing the layout of his secret headquarters as he answers questions from just some of his many fans, and outlines his latest projects including Triumff and Embedded. Recommended viewing!



• View all the Mini Interviews Here

Captain Britain Podcast News

It's the start of 'classic heroes' month on Strip!, the fab radio show and podcast presented by Alex Fitch. This week, Alex is talking to two of the creators of stories featuring Britain's very own superhero - Captain Britain.

First in front of the microphone is Alan Davis, the artist and writer of the strip who first drew the square-jawed hero in the 1980s for Marvel UK, and. together with help from writers Dave Thorpe, Alan Moore and Jamie Delano, rescued the character from oblivion with esoteric storylines, a great supporting cast and a terrific new costume.

Alex also talks to author Paul Cornell about his recent revamp of the character in the new Marvel Comic Captain Britain and MI13 which sees the Captain get a 21st Century make-over while encountering such nefarious characters as Count Dracula and Gordon Brown!

Later, Alex talks to Paul about dramatising Iain M Banks' novella The State of the Art for the afternoon play which is broadcast later today on Radio 4 (Thursday 5th March), which featuresa cast including such luminaries as Anthony Sher and Patterson Joseph. (More info here on the Radio 4 web site: the play is part of Radio 4's excellent SF season which includes an adpatation of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and John Christopher's Death of Grass).

• Strip!: Captain Britain by Alan Davis and Paul Cornell airs at 5.00pm on Thursday 5th March, repeated 11.30pm on 8th March on Resonance 104.4 FM (London) and streamed at www.resonancefm.com. An extended podcast after transmission can be found at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

• Micro Clear Spot: State of the Art Adaptation airs at 7.30pm on Saturday 6th March on Resonance 104.4 FM (London) and streamed at www.resonancefm.com. An extended podcast is online now at www.sci-fi-london.com/audio