Multiverse Mgazine blasts back into action

Mike Conroy's comics news and features magazine Multiverse is finally back in print - with a spanking new look for Issue 7 from Barry Renshaw and packed with industry news from both the US and UK, complete with an intriguing supplement from Blase Books, "Scraps", offering some rare UK and US comic oddments and a brand new one page comic strip from Mike Higgs.

The magazine has a range of news features, leading with an overview of upcoming US comics projects including the latest Marvel revamp and Marvel Now!, which will deliver refurbished Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova titles.

There's also a look at Paul Levitz' new DC Comics Golden Age book and an affectionate tribute to Karen Berger, who recently stepped down after 20 years at the helm of DC's mature readers imprint, Vertigo.

There's plenty for British comics fans too, with a look at IDW's Judge Dredd title and David Hine and Doug Braithwaite's Image Comics title, Storm Dogs.

Described as "blatant advertising", the Blase Books "Scraps" supplement will have comic art fans salivating, perhaps, at the double page spread of some of the art it offers for sale from the IPC/Fleetway archive, including pages from strips such as Spider and The Phantom Viking alongside girls comics work and pages of the British Star Trek strip that were published in Valiant and TV21 in the early 1970s.

It might be advertising, but it's done with a sense of fun, wrapped in a great strip from Mike Higgs which we're only showing you part of below. Go and buy a copy to read the rest!

Mike diplomatically explains the troubles for the title in his editorial, which resulted in its 12 month absence in print - although digital editions of #5 and #6 were released. Let's hope his new partnership with UK Comics Creative and his unfailing enthusiasm for this magazine bring better fortune for him moving forward.

• Multiverse #7 costs £3.99 and is available in all good UK comic shops. For purchase information visit http://multiverse-magazine.com 

Blasé Books releases Pictorial Guide to British 1950s Sci-Fi and Horror Comic Books

(via Lew Stringer): Redditch-based Blasé Books have just released The Pictorial Guide to British 1950s Sci-Fi & Horror Comic Books.

Designed by comics creator Mike Higgs, the 288-page full colour softback by comic historian Mike Morley (one of the contributors to the short-lived but wonderful Crikey! magazine) charts the fascinating and largely little-known period of Britian's comic history.

Spaceships, monsters and superhroes are all examind in what Blasé Books calls "their garish glory".

The book covers the sometimes short-lived but numerous UK comic books of 60 years ago including Captain Marvel, Race for the Moon, The Human Torch and Adventures into the Unknown - dozens of different titles which, as Lew Stringer points out on Blimey! It's Another Blog About Comics were not all American reprint. 

"Many were home grown British comics too, such as the Tit-Bits Science Fiction Comics with fantastic artwork by Ron Turner," he notes.

The book contains hundreds of sharply reproduced covers (and some interior pages) showing the sheer scale of the output of comics back then. Traditional British comics and story papers are also mentioned, when they fit the book's remit, such as Comet, Adventure, and Lion.

"Marcus Morris may have created Eagle as an antidote to comics such as this but, as people who were kids back then will tell you, readers often didn't choose between Eagle or horror comics, - they bought both!" says Lew.

"Sadly, many of these comics were short lived, when, as the author tells us, the witch-hunt against comics in the UK spearheaded by the National Union of Teachers put such comics out of business as publishers feared prosecution if they continued. Dark times indeed."

• You can order the book via the Blasé Books eBay store (which also sells British comics art)

• The limited edition book can also be obtained post free in the UK by sending a cheque in sterling for £14.95 payable to Blasé Books at: Blasé Books, Hazelwood, Birchfield Road, Redditch B97 6PU United Kingdom. 

(The post free price only applies to orders in the UK. If you live outside of the UK and want a copy please e-mail Blasé Books at the e-mail address above and they'll tell you how much postage will cost to ship the book to you).

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