TRIPWIRE kicks off its 21st birthday celebrations

May is a busy month for the British independent media magazine TRIPWIRE. Despite not hitting the kickstarter target for TRIPWIRE 21, its planned 21st anniversary special, publisher and editor-in-chief Joel Meadows tells us he's putting the book out anyway.

The kickstarter crowdfunding campaign achieved over 70 per cent of its hoped for backing but did not make target, which is clearly disappointing for Joel – but he remains upbeat.

“It was always going to be a gamble and the fact is that we have distribution in place which means that we are able to fund the book in a more traditional fashion anyway,” says Joel.

Along with the book launch, London's top bookshop Foyles will be hosting a double celebration of TRIPWIRE’s birthday. Kicking off on 16th May in its prestigious Charing Cross Road gallery in the world-famous bookshop is an exhibition showcasing a selection of photographs, images and covers from TRIPWIRE over the years.

“It will give visitors the opportunity to see these images up close and at a much larger size than they’ve ever seen them before," Joel enthuses. "It will feature photos of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Michael Moorcock and classic covers by the likes of Frank Quitely and our iconic Fury cover by Jeff Carlisle."

Also on 16th May at Foyles, in the evening, is the TRIPWIRE 21 event. Meadows will be joined by legendary SF and fantasy author Michael Moorcock, Mike Carey (Felix Castor, The Unwritten), Roger Langridge (Muppets, Snarked!), Peter Milligan (Hellblazer) and Christopher Fowler (Bryant & May, Roofworld) to talk about 21 years of TRIPWIRE and 21 years of comics.

There will also be copies of the limited edition TRIPWIRE 21 hardcover and the paperback to buy at the event.

“We are very excited that we have managed to gather such an impressive line-up of guests to help us celebrate TRIPWIRE’s birthday and the fact that it’s at such a prestigious place like Foyles makes it even more of an occasion,” Meadows admits.

• TRIPWIRE 21 will be offered in June’s edition of the Previews catalogue for Diamond US. It will be available to buy, retailing at £14.99 UK and $24.99 US in paperback and £29.99 UK for the limited hardcover from 9th May 2013. It will be distributed to the UK booktrade through Turnaround, to the US direct market through Diamond Comic Distributors and to the US booktrade through SCB Distributors. 

• TRIPWIRE Web: www.tripwire-magazine.com


• Foyles Event Details: 

Exhibition: www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Detail.aspx?eventId=1920 
Launch Event: www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Detail.aspx?eventId=1893

Steve Moore's Somnium novel out in November

Cover art by John Coulthart

Comic creator Steve Moore -- creator of such wonderful characters as Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer and Axel Pressbutton -- has an intriguing new novel on the way from Somnium Press, with Strange Attractor Press.

A prominent inclusion in Iain Sinclair’s 2006 anthology London: City of Disappearances, Alan Moore’s biographical piece ‘Unearthing’ detailed the life of his friend and mentor Steve Moore, including the circumstances surrounding the writing of Steve’s debut novel, Somnium. A jewelled whirlpool of a tale, Somnium - a 288 page book which includes an afterword by Alan Moore, wrapped in a glorious cover by John Coulthart - is described as a richly poetic pagan fantasy, a narrative of shifting levels presented in a dazzling array of styles, ranging from that of the mediæval romance through Elizabethan tragedy to the Gothic novel and the sublime madness of the Decadents.

With its delirious and heartbroken text spiralling out from the classical myth of Endymion and the Greek lunar goddess Selene,  we're told Somnium "is an extraordinary odyssey through love and loss and lunacy, illuminated by the silvery moonlight of its exquisite language."

The book will be available in two editions: the standard book for £20, and an edition of 250 numbered books, signed by both Steve and Alan, which will cost £30, the latter only from Strange Attractor Press, shipping in the first week of November.

Steve Moore has written comic strips for 2000AD, Marvel Comics, Radical and other publishers in the UK and US, authoring innumerable characters including Doctor Who (most famously creating Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer), Dan Dare and Hercules in a career lasting 40 years. He also wrote the novelisation based on the movie V for Vendetta and had a long-standing editorial connection with Fortean Studies and Fortean Times, to which he has been a frequent contributor since its inception.

Alan Moore biographer and friend Pádraig Ó Méalóid is enthusiastic about Somnium's release, urging purchase in part because "Steve Moore is Alan Moore’s closest friend. They’ve known one another since they met in the early days of British comics’ fandom, back in the 1970s, when Alan was about fourteen, and Steve about seventeen. He’s also said to be the person who taught Alan how to write comics.

"On top of that, they have also been magical partners for a long time. In both cases, Steve was the Teacher, and Alan the Neophyte... If there is one person on this Earth that Alan Moore looks up to, it’s Steve Moore. Which is very nearly a good enough reason for buying this book in itself. If Alan likes it, that’s good enough for me."

He's in good company. "This book speaks for itself. It is a unique work by a unique genius," says Michael Moorcock. "Moore has an understanding of the occult peculiar to a very few and it always gives me the shivers; the shivers which say ‘authenticity’. The way their glorious predecessors said it. Maturin, James, Hodgson, Dunsany, Lovecraft, Lindsay, Williams, Peake appeal to a certain reader and have a sensibility in common. It fascinates you and puts you in thrall to a Romantic sensibility which refuses to be checked, hard as you try. Moore’s a proper dream merchant."

Alan’s Moore's biography of Steve Moore, 'Unearthing', is available as an audio recording and a forthcoming book from Lex Records, and will shortly be released in app form, illustrated by photographer Mitch Jenkins.

• Somnium is available exclusively from www.strangeattractor.co.uk in limited signed and unsigned editions. With an Afterword by Alan Moore Somnium is published by Somnium Press, with Strange Attractor Press 288pp, A5 HB, £20/£30 ISBN: 978-1-907222-06-1

• Order Somnium form the http://strangeattractor.co.uk/shoppe/somnium


 • Pádraig Ó Méalóid on why you should buy Somnium: http://glycon.livejournal.com/14556.html


• Steve Moore on Wikipedia

Tripwire #55 features Moorcock, Hester and McCrea's "Warpaint" and more

A quick reminder that the next print edition of media magazine Tripwire, which includes a preview of the STRIP Magazine story "Warpaint" by Phil Hester and John McCrea, is available to pre-order from your local comic shop using the Diamond code MAY 111336.

Tripwire #55 starts with an exclusive Elric cover painted by David Michael Beck, as the magazine celebrate 50 years of the White Wolf with his creator Michael Moorcock and a review BOOM!’s comic - plus, there's an interview with its writer Chris Roberson.

Elsewhere, the magazine, edited by Joel Meadows, commemorates the Fantastic Four’s 50th birthday, and takes a long look at Green Lantern from the Golden Age all the way up to the movie and everything in between.

Also included is an interview with comics creator Jason Aaron of Scalped and Punisher fame, and a chat with London-based author Christopher Fowler and a profileof  movie location scouting company Sarah Eastel.

Walt Simonson's eagerly awaited The Judas Coin hardcover, to be published this Christmas, gets a preview, including a unique sketchbook and pencils and inks section; and Shaenon Garrity writes about the history of webcomics seen from the inside.

Rounding the issue out there are reviews of several of the Eisner-nominated graphic novels and 22 pages of comic strip content in the STRIPWIRE section. This includes the entire first episode of the creator-owned story "Warpaint" by Phil Hester and John McCrea, destined for STRIP Magazine, which centres on a teenage girl granted supernatural powers in defence of the planet.

At £6.95 / $9.99 US for 124 pages in full colour, Tripwire #55 is, we think, great value for the money.

• Tripwire #55 Diamond item code is MAY111336. For more information and to check out the digital editions of  Tripwire visit www.tripwire-magazine.com