Tim Booth conquers pages of latest Spaceship Away

Artist Tim Booth has pretty much taken over the latest issue of Dan Dare and Eagle-inspired comic magazine Spaceship Away, delivering not just art and story on most of its strips but colouring on a new Garth reprint, too.

We're sorry to report the issue doesn't include the second part of the new Dan Dare story "Pre-Emptive Strike". Unfortunately, artist Mike Nicoll was injured in a serious workplace accident and damaged his hand. As a result, he was unable to complete the artwork for the in time for this issue. However, it will continue in Part 25.

(Thankfully, although the accident was serious, Mike tells us he'll be back drawing pretty soon once it's healed and is already working on some new strip ideas).

Tim Booth has stepped in to fill the gap with an extra episode of a new Dan Dare tale,  "Parsecular Tales" that really gets his new story going.

Feature-wise, there are more photos from the Bayord Lodge Dan Dare Studio; a follow up on last issue's "Phantom Fleet" speculation; four new Don Harley artworks; and a newly coloured "Garth" story ("Finality Factor" which was drawn by Martin Asbury.

Three features also return: "Models from Dan Dare's World", "Chat Back" and "Readers' Corner".

• To get Spaceship Away delivered to your door, simply go to www.spaceshipaway.org.uk and follow the links. Spaceship Away is also available in some specialist magazine shops.

Sneek Peek: New Dan Dare for Spaceship Away

We're pleased to report that the next issue of the Dan Dare-inspired comics magazine Spaceship Away is on course to go to press very soon, featuring its regular thrice-yearly mix of comic strip and features.

Now edited by Des Shaw, taking over from the title's founder Rod Barzilay, I'm also delighted to report that the new issue includes the first part of a two-part Dan Dare story written by me, John Freeman, and drawn by Ex Astris artist Mike Nicoll, with lettering from Jim Campbell.

I feel very privileged to have been given the chance to write a Dan Dare tale for an officially licensed magazine, given the importance of both the character and Eagle in the history of British comics. I hope fans will enjoy the story - set on the Moon and featuring some very bizarre aliens designed by Mike.

Here's a sneek peek of the first page of the story, "Pre-Emptive Strike", starting in Issue 23, on sale in April 2011.

The Spaceship Away team have reluctantly had to raise the price of the basic issue of an issue including UK postage to £7.50, but the EU and overseas prices are remaining the same, as they were increased last year. The multi-issue offer when it comes to subscriptions continues:  UK residents can order three issues for £20.00, EU and Overseas surface mail customers £24.00, EU airmail customers for £27.00 and overseas airmail customers for £30.00, including future issues, up to Issue 25.

• To order the magazine visit the official web site: www.spaceshipaway.org.uk

 

Dan Dare © 2011 Dan Dare Corporation

Inker Appeal from Ex Astris comic creator

Mike Nicoll - my colleague and co-creator of the Ex Astris science fiction strip we're producing - has too much work on his plate at the moment and he's looking for a reliable UK-based inker to work with him.

"There just aren't enough hours in the day!" says Mike. "I'm currently working on three CGI strips (Ex Astris and two others for a US company) as well as pencils and inks on a new project written by a rather famous UK creator for the European market - but John (Freeman) and I have two more projects which we're keen to get off the ground.

"Whilst I'm quite fast at pencilling, I'm criminally slow when it comes to inking -- so we need to recruit another member for our team who can take care of the inking."

Mike has sent us pencil samples of his art from one of the new projects (click the image above for full size). Anyone interested in applying should send samples to mikenicoll@hotmail.co.uk.

"Unfortunately there are no contracts up for grabs at the moment and therefore no guarantees of untold riches etc - yet!," Mike points out. "The new projects have not been approved for publication yet and so we can offer no money up front. But John and I have a pretty good record for getting our projects published so you'll just have to look at the art and decide if you feel we're worth taking a chance on."

Spaceship Away Soars Again

The latest issue of Spaceship Away, the science fiction comics magazine inspired by and featuring the original Dan Dare has just gone to the printers and will be on sale in all its usual outlets, and online, soon.

This issue, with a superb cover from veteran Dan Dare artist Don Harley, continues two ongoing Dan Dare stories, "Green Nemesis" by Rod Barzilay and Tim Booth, and "The Gates of Eden" by Tim alone, a brand new Dare adventure strip, set a year and a half before “The Red Moon Mystery”.

"Garth: The Bubble Man" by Frank Bellamy, beautifully coloured by John Ridgway continues this issue, as does "Journey in Space: Planet of Fear" written by by Charles Chilton, and drawn by Ferdinando Tacconi. Also featured is the first part of "Homecoming", an Ex Astris story by John Freeman and Mike Nicoll.

Feature wise, there's a report on the recent Spaceship Away day event and full information on Alistair Crompton's new book on Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson, Tomorrow Revisited, out later this year. Graham Bleathman providea a cutaway of Dan Dare's spaceship, the Anastasia, and there are some images of the original models used in the creation of the Dan Dare strip back in his original Eagle days, and an update on Day2Day Trading's new Dan Dare action figure which we've reported on here.

• To order the issue online visit: spaceshipaway.org.uk


• While we're on the subject of Dan Dare, comic fans may like to know he's invaded France... sort of. A page of "Dan Dare: The Man From Nowhere", first published in Eagle Volume 6, Issue 21, cover dated 27 May 1955 is currently n display at the Comics Museum in Angoulême. downthetubes readers Chris Weston and Sean Phillips helped out with the identification of the piece for the Museum after an appeal for info from Paul Gravett.

MistyComic Fan Special Finally Published

A not-for-profit second Mistycomic.co.uk Special, inspired by the 1970s British girls comic, Misty, is now available from the official Misty Comic web site.

Not to be confused with the recent Egmont Misty Classic Comic on sale now in WH Smiths (see news story), this new anthology full of new and original artwork and stories comes in at a bumper 80 pages wrapped in a stunning cover by Interzone illustrator and and former 2000AD artists SMS, plus a free "Bella" poster from original Misty comic artist John Armstrong (who is also interviewed in the magazine), the Special includes an illustration by the brilliant David Roach (from an unpublished painting by Shirley Bellwood) plus comic strips inspired by Misty, including "Mint Condition", written and drawn by SMS; "Dreamcatching", written by Amaliia, illustrated by Ex Astris artist Mike Nicoll; "The Eyes", written by Colin Noble with art by Terry Wiley; "Time School - Teacher’s Pet!", written by John Freeman, again with art by Mike Nicoll.

Along with more strips there are also poems and stories from a host of other creators including artists J P Sewell, Terry Wiley, Douglas Noble, Carl Lavin, Johnny McMonagle and James Battersby and writers Briony Coote and Charles Ellis.

"I want to thank all the contributors for making this possible (again)," comments editor Chris Lillyman, who has been assembling this Special for the past three years.

• Full details of the Special, which costs £9.99 in the UK via PayPal and £14.99 overseas, can be found at: http://mistycomic.co.uk/Mistycomic_Special_2009.html

Apollo 11: Behind the Scenes?

Contributions to our 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing Comics Celebration album on the downthetubes forum are coming in daily, with this latest gem from comics, storyboard artist and illustrator Martin Baines, a tongue-in-cheek tip of the hat to the film Capricorn One, which capitalised on deeply ingrained claims that the moon landings never happened by positing a faked landing on Mars, all shot in a remote film studio.

Martin's credits include work for Match of the Day Magazine, Spaceship Away and many other magazines: he's represented by Smudged Pencil.

Here at downthetubes we're unconvinced by sceptics - given voice recently by character Tyrone Dobbs in Coronation Street, of all places - that the moon landings never happened, but Martin's art gave us a laugh.

Other contributors so far include Bugpowder contributor Dan Fish with a strip called "The Moon's A Balloon", the Etherington Brothers, Mike Nicoll, Malcolm Kirk, Doctor Who illustrator Colin Howard, games artist Gary Hall and Bob Bello.

More contributions from comics artists and illustrators to help mark this major anniversary for space exploration are very welcome: we see it as an opportunity to present a portfolio of themed work based on space and space exploration (real or imagined) that should generate press interest given the upcoming anniversary.

The album can be “embedded” on any web site. If there’s a strong response to this, we may also do a MyEbook version.

Text pieces are also welcomed: we're not quite sure how to present those yet, perhaps in another part of the downthetubes forum. We don’t want writers to be left out.

If you don't want to join our forum and upload art but would like to join in with the celebrations, simply send your work to johnfreeman6-moonlandinganniversaryart@yahoo.co.uk. Please ensure images are no larger than 2MB in size.

• Visit the downthetubes forum at: http://downthetubes.ning.com

Ex Astris Artist Celebrates Moon Landings

Mike Nicoll, the creator of CGI comic Ex Astris featured in Spaceship Away, has sent us this fab piece of art to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first human moon landing, which forms part of a gallery of art marking the event over on thedownthetubes forum.

Several artists have contributed images so far for our celebration, including Doctor Who illustrator Colin Howard, Space Age Magazine editor Bob Bello and the Etherington Brothers.

More contributions are welcome. More details on how to contribute here

Ex Astris: Homecoming on myebook

In addition to publication of Ex Astris on ROK Comics and Clickwheel.net, a web version Ex: Astris Homecoming, a 10-page strip which first appeared in the British comic in Bulletproof Comics #2, is now available via myebook. Click on the image on the right to view the comic or follow this link.

This standalone story, written by John Freeman and drawn by Mike Nicoll, links with the strips published on ROK Comics and Clickwheel.net.

Included in this myebook is a one page article with some background on the origins of the strip, recently commissioned for an ongoing run in Spaceship Away for 2010.

myebook aims to revolutionise the way you can create, publish and share ebook content online. Built on a feature-rich social platform, complete with free-to-use powerful, browser-based, builder software, and a slick reader environment, it's an easy way for anyone and everyone to 'get it out there', and several independent publishers are using the platform to promote their projects. You'll find books such as new Garth by Huw-J, The Fat Man by Thomas Cochrane, previews of Marksoia titles, and comics from Orang Utan Comics, Insomnia Publications, Unico Comics and many others.

If you want to read Ex Astris: Homecoming in print, then head over to the Bulletproof web site and order a copy of #2, an 80-page anthology which also features strips such as Slumbertown by Rik Hoskin & Thomas Crielly, Simba Khan by Paul Birch & Jon Haward, Love Hurts by David Hailwood & Stuart Giddings, Sideburns by Jim Alexander & Jon Haward and Redstitch by Lee Langford & Klaus Belarski.

• Bulletproof Comics: www.bulletproofcomics.co.uk

• Read Ex Astris: Homecoming on myebook.com

Spaceship Away Back with More Dan Dare

The latest issue of British SF comics magazine Spaceship Away, on sale soon, continues to deliver a terrific mix of classic SF comics, including new Dan Dare adventures and more.

The magazine features three Dan Dare strips featuring the original version of the space hero from the 1950s Eagle comic, published under license from the Dan Dare Corporation - Green Nemesis by Rod Barzilay and Tim Booth, Rocket Pilot by Keith Page and The Gates of Eden by Tim Booth. Also included are re-presentations of other strips such as Journey into Space and Nick Hazard, the latter beautifully re-coloured by John Ridgway.

New, original strips for the magazine include Ex Astris, a CGI strip from Mike Nicoll, creator of the popular adult comic Saffyre Blue, which completes a three-part story this issue but will return later next year; plus a feature on 1960s Dan Dare comics, art by Ian Kennedy featuring Dan Dare's spaceship Anastasia, and more.

It looks like it's going to be an interesting year ahead for the title: in addition to continuing Dan Dare stories and more, Issue 19 will see the arrival of the Daily Mirror's classic strip Garth, coloured by John Ridgway - a story that has never been reprinted in the UK.

Talks are also going on with Sydney Jordan about completing the Dan Dare story he started
in the Planet on Sunday, and Keith Page tells downthetubes he'll be contributing what he hopes will be a fully painted steampunk story, Iron Moon, to the magazine.

While the magazine isn't cheap, the cost is down to the high quality printing and editor Rod Barzilay's determination that the creators receive payment for their work for the title, whose sales are steadily growing worldwide. We hope you'll give it your support!

• Spaceship Away Part 18 is being distributed to existing subscribers. For more about the issue, click here

• To order Spaceship Away, click here

Ex Astris Continues in Spaceship Away

Mike Nicoll and I have just completed work on the second episode of Secrets of Ceres, the Ex Astris prequel strip running in science fiction comic magazine Spaceship Away, which goes to the printers soon.

There were some last minute hiccups thanks to a glaring proofing error over one of the character's names -- Sarah Blake, our hardwired space investigator suddenly started to be called by a different name, a subconscious link between her and the Ex Astris main strip that was almost revealed by accident! Special thanks to Des Shaw and Rod Barzilay for not only spotting it at the last minute but also giving us chance to put things right.

Hope you enjoy the low resolution preview of the episode's first page, above.

The next issue of Spaceship Away includes an article by acclaimed SF author Stephen Baxter and features a new centre-spread painted by Mike Noble, perhaps best known for his work on TV Century 21 and is his first SF artwork for a while. There's also another painting by top illustrator Graham Bleathman and the magazine will also be looking at the connection between Dan Dare artists and Gerry Anderson's world. More info on the issue, on sale soon, from the Spaceship Away web site!

In other EA news, Episode 7 of the mobile/ipod-tailored version of the main strip is now also on Clickwheel, as we port the strips that have previously appeared on ROK Comics to Rebellion's digital platform.

• For more info on Ex Astris visit www.exastris.co.uk or read our dedicated Ex Astris blog

Ex Astris on Clickwheel

The Ex Astris strips first featured on ROK Comics are now appearing on Rebellion's iPod and iPhone service Clickwheel.

Ex Astris is a multi-strand CGI-created strip written by John Freeman and drawn by Mike Nicoll. The strip also appears in print in Spaceship Away and featured in Bulletproof Comics #2.

The stories in print are currently set in different time periods to that of the online story.

Clickwheel is a young, UK-based company with big ambitions featuring the online version of 2000AD and Active Images superb Elephantmen comic, written by former Marvel UK editor in chief Richard Starkings (the print edition of Elephantmen #15 is out in specialist stores next week).

All the strips on the service are offered in downlaodable iComics, which can be viewed on iPod and iPhones, and .cbz, adapted zip files whcih can be viewed in a .cbz reader such as Comic Book Lover.

Other strips include Sword of Dracula by Jason Henderson, featuring the art of Greg Scott, William Belk, Terry Palloy and Tony Harris and many others, encompassing a wide range of styles and genres.

• To view Ex Astris on Clickwheel click here: www.clickwheel.net/features/256
• A more traditional newspaper-styled web version features on Bulletproof Comics
• Ex Astris Official web site

Secrets of Ceres joins Spaceship Away

A bit of shameless self-promotion: I'm delighted to report that Secrets of Ceres, the first part of a new SF strip drawn by Mike Nicoll and written by me, John Freeman, will feature in the next issue of the Dan Dare-inspired comics magazine Spaceship Away, now at the printers and which editor Rod Barzilay tells us will soon be shipped to subscribers.

Secrets of Ceres is a three part-story set in the Ex Astris universe created by Mike, set some years before the strip available as a free to view comic on ROK Comics and the one-off strip Homecoming, appearing in another independent UK comics title, Bulletproof Comics, which will be available from that publisher's Online Store soon.

Secrets of Ceres is set in the mid 21st Century, at a time when the race to space has been rekindled, borne from both the need for raw materials and a desire to explore. With bases on the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, humankind has truly expanded beyond the confines of home planet Earth... but is this fast expansion driven by other needs, unknown to the general public at large?

By 2040, the major asteroid Ceres has been selected as staging post for the mineral exploitation of the Asteroid Belt, with big corporations paying for the base in return for property rights. By 2050, Ceres base is fully up and running -- moved using giant ram jets into Mars orbit to better exploit its resources.

But beneath the surface of Ceres secrets are about to be uncovered - secrets investigator Sarah Blake may not live to reveal...

Spaceship Away (a three times a year, full colour, glossy magazine) started out as a way to get a newly created 1950’s ‘old Eagle’ style Dan Dare strip story (Drawn by Keith Watson and Don Harley) in print, along with how it was done. However, it didn’t stop there! Soon, other new Dan Dare stories - some serious, some not, and features joined the title, including plans, cutaway drawings, development notes, real science connections, custom-built models, foreign DD, readers' chat-back and background write-ups.

The magazine has grown from 24 to 48 pages over its five year publishing history and is now moving sideways into other SF comics as well. Of the latest issue's 11 regular strips, five are non-Dan Dare, including Charles Chilton's Journey into Space, Space Girls and Ron Turner's Nick Hazard Interstellar Agent - Mission to Vorga.

• More about Spaceship Away at spaceshipaway.org.uk
• More about Ex Astris at www.exastris.co.uk
• Discuss Spaceship Away on the downthetubes forum