Phoenix launches digital edition on first birthday

If you haven't sampled The Phoenix - the lively weekly childrens comic aimed at 8-12 year olds that sprang from the ashes of The DFC - then those of you who have or were given shiny iPads for Christmas are being offered the chance to do so as the title launches its digital edition - backed by an unbeatable launch subscription offer of just £9.99 for six months, for this coming week only.

Despite huge acclaim, a great creator line up and an attractive print subscription package (albeit, we're told, some initial glitches for some), The Phoenix, like The DFC, has suffered from a lack of presence on the shelves of your local newsagents or supermarket. It's currently to be found in Waitrose, but for a lot of the country that supermarket chain is still nowhere to be seen, so sampling The Phoenix before committing to a subscription has not been possible.

The launch of the digital edition changes all that, offering not only a great-looking comic app available worldwide, courtesy of downthetubes sponsors Panel Nine but a sampler issue as an appetiser - and a staggeringly cheap, one week only six month subscription offer.

It's an offer that has proven an instant success, with the app currently the top-grossing Children's Magazine in Apple's Newsstand, beating out CBeebies, Doctor Who, Pokemon and Barbie.

The comic reader not only enables a page per view option but also features an impressive 'Panel Mode' feature that presents each strip panel one at a time with a simple 'double tap' command. For those relucant comic readers, unsure even how to read a comic (sadly, a common affliction thanks to a decline in comics literacy), this helps them learn just how to digest a great strip before going on to enjoy The Phoenix at its full page best.

A fabulous mix of humour strips and adventure serials and carefully designed feature pages that put the boot firmly into many rivals offerings in terms of puzzles and interactivity, the launch issue of the digital Phoenix includes an impressive roster of talent.

Pride of place surely goes to the return of Pirates of Pangaea by Daniel Hartwell and Neill Cameron, plus Cora's Breakfast by Nick (Hugo Tate) Abadzis and plenty more, including Long Don Gone by Don Skelton and Star Cat by James Turner.

The app is the work of digital comics company Panel Nine, who have have created the digital Phoenix for Apple’s Newsstand for iPad service. It's a slick comic reader, with a good choice of font size and the aforementioned Panel Mode view (although I think I'd still like a pinch and zoom option, too, but you can't have everything).

Given that a single printed issue costs £2.99, the subscription launch offer is really good - but it ends very soon, so head over to the iTunes store now to take advantage!

Now all we need are digital back issues or print/digital collections of the best strips in the first 52 issues of this great comic!

• The six month, 24-issue subscription is going to be available for the first week only at the quite amazing price of £9.99 ($13.99) (that's something over 80% off). Go to https://itunes.apple.com/app/phoenix-weekly-story-comic/id583824799 to download!

• The Phoenix official web site: www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk

 

Gosh London's 'Phoenix Activity Day' kicks off at 1.00pm today

Back on Free Comic Book Day, Gosh Comics in London got a bunch of artists to come in with their pencil cases, draw all over their windows then sit down at the big Gosh! table and drew cartoons with kids all day. Sarah McIntyre (Vern & Lettuce) was one of those amazing pen-wielders and has some pictures over at her blog.

If you missed it, then never fear, because today (Saturday 3rd November) Gosh are doing it again, this time to promote stellar weekly kids’ mag The Phoenix.

If you’re yet to pick up a copy of The Phoenix, Gosh urge you do so so forthwith for the benefit of your wee one, especially if you’re still mourning the loss of the much-loved DFC. "As they say on their website, it’s aimed at 8 to 11 year olds but they’ve got fans as young as three and I’ve seen dudes in suits buying it for themselves," a Gosh spokesperson declares on the fab shop's blog. It’s full of weekly strips, long-running stories, one-off strips, competitions and all sorts, by the likes of Jamie Smart, Dave Shelton, Nick Abadzis, Kate Brown, Simone Lia, Chris Riddell and more, for £2.99 a pop."

this afternoon frm 1.00pm, Gosh Londn play host to three Phoenix artists – Neill Cameron, Lorenzo Etherington and Gary Northfield who will be there to agan plaster the shop's windows in cartoons and ink.

If you’re aged between 6 and 13, come on down and draw some stuff with people who get to draw stuff as their actual job. It’s free! And you can ask them how to be a cartoonist. They’re captive and have to be nice to you.

• Gosh London is at www.goshlndon.com online

 

Off Life, free indie comic zine out now

While I was away last week in the wilds of Scotland, OFF LIFE - the new, free indie comic magazine, available in print and online - got under way with a sparkling first issue crammed with some great comics. My apologies to the editorial team for not being about to give it a plug, because it's fantastic.

OFF LIFE is the UK's only street press comic magazine. Each issue featurs comic stories from today’s best indie talent, compiling them in a bi-monthly magazine and then leaving them around bars, coffee houses, shops and galleries for good people like you to pick up – free of charge.

The first issue has some fab strips - one pagers and longer strips - from talents such as Sean Azzopardi, Neill Cameron, Rob Davis and Lizz Lunney, just to name a few, along with a profile of ace creator Tom Gauld.

It's a strong start for the title that aims to put great talent in front of more people - not just comic fans - and I hope it's the success it deserves to be.

• If you're in a major city in the UK you may find a print copy lurking near you, but if not then you can view it online or download a PDF at: www.offlife.co.uk

 

 

Panel Borders radio show on The Phoenix / new British Horror Films

Panel Borders: The Phoenix

In the first of a new series of Panel Borders, we start a month of shows looking at comic book anthologies with a recording of a panel discussion of the children's comic The Phoenix. Creators Daniel Hartwell (writer: ‘Pirates of the Pangaea’), Neill Cameron (artist: ‘Pirates of the Pangaea’, Adam Murphy (‘Corpse Talk’), Robin Etherington (writer: ‘Long Gone Don’) and Patrice Aggs ('Blimpville') discuss creating serialised comics for children and how the title rose from the ashes of The DFC - hosted by David O'Connell and recorded live at Caption Festival, Oxford.

8pm, Sunday 16th September 2012, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

I'm ready for my close-up: Home Invasions

With unfortunately apposite timing, following the case of burglars being shot in a Leicestershire break-in at the start of this month, Alex Fitch interviews the directors of two new British horror films that deal with supernatural home invasions and their consequences. Oliver S. Milburn discusses his debut film The Harsh Light of Day which looks at a home owner's Faustian deal with a vampire to get revenge on the thieves who broke into his home and murdered his wife, and Pat Holden talks about his new movie When the lights went out, starring Kate Ashfield (Shaun of the Dead) and produced by Bil Bungar (Moon), and dramatises the story of the 1966 haunting and subsequent exorcism of a semi-detached house in Pontefract.

When the lights went out was released in cinemas on 14th September and The Harsh Light of Day is released on DVD on 1st October - whenthelightswentout.com / www.harshlightofday.com

11.30pm, Tuesday 18th September, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Is it all over for The Dandy?

Desperate Dan by Jamie Smart, who comments on the title's possible demise on his blog here

National newspaper The Guardian has reported that DC Thomson may be considering an end to The Dandy, with its sales slipping away despite numerous attempts to save the title in the face of changing tastes, distribution issues and competition from other media.

Fans have already rallied online with a #SavetheDandy campaign on Twitter, urging comic readers to get out and buy the comic. Commenting on its 75-plus year history, comic creator Neill Cameron, a contributor to The Phoenix, urged support and others quickly took up the cause.

A full official statement on the title's future has yet to be made - the editors of both The Beano and The Dandy are on holiday this week - but The Guardian notes the 75-year old comic's circulation has declined as children have grown out of the habit of reading weekly comics, with their free time given over instead to watching TV and more recently playing video games and surfing the internet.

Various artists on the title have begun to comment on the possible demise of the title, including Jamie Smart, who was a key part of the title's most recent revamp in 2010. That saw the arrival of a Harry Hill comic strip (drawn by Nigel Parkinson) and many changes to the look of the title in an impressive effort to both appeal to potential new readers and continue to appeal to existing ones.

The relaunch was backed by a decision to print around a quarter of a million copies of the revamp issue, in-store dump bins to highlight it on shelves among the many other more magazine-oriented childrens' titles and other promotion. Sadly, for whatever reason, actual sales of the title were not reflected by these herculean efforts to breathe new life into the title, and slowly dropped back to the declining figures The Dandy was selling at pre-revamp.

The Dandy has outlasted DC Thomson's other titles such as the Beezer and the Topper by 20 years or more, but circulation decline has continued and by the second half of 2011, circulation had dipped below 8,000, according to the most recent official figures.

Despite the potentially bad news, creators who have worked on the title are adamant the brave decision to transform its look in 2010 was something worth trying in the face of declining sales.

"When The Dandy relaunched a couple of years ago, what it did was phenomenal," notes Jamie Smart. "It had previously tried to go a bit more ‘magaziney’, but now it was turning full circle and defiantly stating no, we are a comic, and we are proud of it.

"The last two years of The Dandy have been an absolute triumph for British comics," he argues, "a confident love of sillyness, slapstick and mess. A great wave of ridiculous characters and stories, an unashamed love of all things absurd.

"It also ushered in a host of new artists, fresh talent, being given their first break in the industry. It wanted to try new ideas, new things, giving us free reign to be as silly as we wanted. It was a playground.

"... To see this news emerging, it’s pretty crushing," he adds, urging comic fans to get out and buy the comic. "It’s no exaggeration to say The Dandy is a British institution, and a pillar for British comics. It has been essential to our culture. As the artists involved towards what may be its final days, we are incredibly proud and honoured to work on such a comic, to be given the opportunity to entertain children.

"We believe we have delivered real quality comics, and that The Dandy has been a shining light in what is a shrinking industry."

The Dandy first went on sale in 1937 costing 2p, with a free whistle and now costs £1.99. If it was priced on a par with a bar of chocolate - a common frame of price comparison used by publishers in the past - then a cover price of 65 or 70p might help, but quite aside from editorial, print and paper costs, distributors today tend to demand and favour higher-priced titles on their shelves in order to maximise their profits, rather than support a pricing change which might benefit potential consumers and publishers.


A spokeswoman for DC Thomson told The Guardian that the closure of the print title was being considered as part of a review of the company's magazine business, but indicated that characters such as Desperate Dan would continue to exist online. (This is something former editor Morris Heggie seemed to be hinting at in comments he made in an interview about the future of comics earlier this month).

The Guardian also notes characters such as Desperate Dan could also continue in print by switching to DC Thomson's sister title The Beano, although if cancellation is on the cards in the very near future, we'd argue that an old-style comics merger is unlikely given that title's recent revamp.

"We are carrying out a review of our magazines business to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing publishing industry," the spokeswoman told the Guardian.

"There are many challenges within the industry at present, but we're excited that the digital revolution has also given us an opportunity to innovate and develop. We're confident that future generations will continue to enjoy our much-loved products and characters."

• The Cartoon Museum in London is preparing an exhibition celebrating The Dandy's 75th anniversary, which will open in October.

Happy Birthday, 2000AD! from artist and fan Neill Cameron

Name: Neill Cameron

Web site: www.neillcameron.com

Blog: neillcameron.blogspot.com

Currently working on:

Currently drawing The Pirates of Pangaea and writing and drawing How To Make (Awesome) Comics for fantastic new weekly kids' comic The Phoenix! (www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk)

First memory of 2000AD?

My strongest memory of my first prog is of John Hickleton's artwork on Nemesis The Warlock - utterly strange, vivid, sexy brutal and feeling very 'grown up'. It was a bit of a swerve from Whizzer and Chips, let me tell you.

Favourite Character or Story?

I was lucky enough to fall in love with 2000AD during what must surely have been one of it's all-time hot streaks: you had 'The Dead Man', you had 'Slaine: The Horned God' kicking off, you had the never-read-anything-more-epic-before-or-since Phase 3 of Zenith. It was all rather extraordinary.

As to personal favourite strips: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Medivac 318 was the bomb.

I loved Zippy Couriers, too.

I know, I know. I'll get me coat.

What do you like most about the 2000AD?

Back when I was a regular Squakk Dok Thargle (sic) one of the things I loved most about the comic was it's sheer variety; there was a great vibrant, chaotic feel to it, so you got things like Hewligan's Haircut and Time Flies slotting right in there alongside Dredd and the rest. And when it was on one of those great hot streaks, you had that variety of style and subject matter but the quality level stayed uniformly high. Of course, from time to time you'd get a run where the quality went a bit variable, too, but that seems to me an acceptable price to pay for a willingness to experiment.

What would you most like to see in 2000AD as it heads to its Forties?

I wouldn't presume to offer any advice, as whatever they're doing now it seems to be working, evidenced by the simple and extraordinarily wonderful fact that it still exists.

Although, that said: a Zippy Couriers revival would be pretty sweet.

• This post is one in a series of tributes to 2000AD to mark its 35th birthday on 26th February 2012. More about 2000AD at www.2000adonline.com

2000AD © Rebellion

In Review: The Phoenix Issue 1

It feels like a long time since the last issue of The DFC appeared - although The DFC Library books have been reminding us what that title was like and, with the Etherington Brother's Baggage, what it might have continued to be given the chance.

So when The Phoenix was first mooted last year, there was some discussion about how this second title from David Fickling Comics Ltd was going to have to change to survive longer than its predecessor. The biggest change that was considered to be needed was it being available over the counter rather than just by subscription and, with their Waitrose deal, The Phoenix has managed that.

As for the comic itself, £2.99 gets the reader 32 pages of semi-gloss colour, which is a big improvement on the matt colour of The DFC. The dinosaur on the front cover leads into Daniel Hartwell and Neill Cameron's The Pirates Of Pangaea. When the first Phoenix image of this was released I e-mailed it around the rest of the downthetubes team saying that if it was available as a book on Amazon I would have bought it there and then based on that one image. Eight pages in, four in issue Zero and another four here, and I stand by that initial assessment - I like both the idea and the execution and I can completely understand why editor Ben Sharpe ran it as the cover and first story in this issue.

Next up are two pages of Jamie Smart's Bunny Vs Monkey which sets up the humorous strip's basic concept and, like Pangaea, continues directly on from the pages in Issue Zero. As the two protagonists didn't meet in Issue Zero this is one strip that seemed a little strange there, but the fateful meeting has now occurred and I can now see how it is going to play out. With Jamie's delightful chibi-style animal characters, this is one strip that I expect will grow on me.

Via two pages of text from the Ash Mistry book due to be published by Harper Collins in March, the next comic strip is the Etherington Brothers' Long Gone Don. The brothers' love of the manic is in full flow here with the main character dying on the first page before being transported to what could only be described as an Etherington version of Alice's Wonderland. Issue Zero didn't give much away about Long Gone Don and it has to be said that you aren't going to be much the wiser after these three pages but, with a hat wearing talking crow and Lorenzo's trademark detailed art, I fully expect this one to become a firm favourite.

Neill Cameron gets another page and a bit to get the readers to interact with the comic in How To Make Awesome Comics before the first two pages of Kate Brown's The Lost Boy. There isn't much to the story in these two pages, an apparently ship-wrecked boy wakes up on a sun bleached beach, finds a piece of a map and follows footprints up the shore. Yet Kate's style is so distinctive in the way she plays with the elements that make up her pages, as it was in The Spider Moon, that it makes these two pages interesting to look at despite the initial lack of action.

Garen Ewing's ligne claire style is much more traditional in the four page complete story by Ben Haggarty of The Golden Feather in which a middle-eastern boy and his grandfather, appropriately, watch the death and rebirth of a real Phoenix.

This is followed by Adam Murphy's Corpse Talk in which Adam talks to the reanimated corpses of famous people, in this instance scientist Nikola Tesla. Corpse Talk really sounds like a bad idea, zombies for kids mixed with history, however when I asked my 10 year old nephew which was his favourite strip in Issue Zero, it was Corpse Talk - and I have to agree with him. It may sound like a strange idea but, remarkably, it works really well.

The final strip in Issue 1 is James Turner's 2 page Star Cat, the beginning of a longer adventure, which does its job of raising a smile. If James' DFC strip Super Animal Adventure Squad was The Avengers for the Fineas and Ferb generation, then Star Cat is their Star Trek.

The whole comic is packaged up with editorial characters, a couple of humorous shorts, Patrice Aggs' centrespread of a school open day that is just about to go wrong, Lorenzo Etherington's tortuous Von Doogan prize puzzle and a superb Chris Riddel image of a cat restaurant.

So is there a drawback? As with The DFC, getting children and their parents to realise The Phoenix is available is going to be the issue. While the Waitrose deal is heartening to hear, there are only eight Waitrose stores between Yorkshire and John O'Groats, which at least is eight more than Northern Ireland has. For a vast swathe of the United Kingdom, "available at Waitrose" equates to "subscription only". If you have a local Waitrose then consider yourself lucky that you can simply walk in and buy a copy.

The Phoenix Issue 1 is an impressive start for the new title and, based on the contents of this week's issue, it deserves to do well. Time, and hopefully a wider distribution deal, will tell.

• There are more details about The Phoenix comic at their official website where a digital version of Issue Zero is available to read. The various Phoenix subscription options are also available here.


• The Phoenix is available at Waitrose supermarkets. Your nearest Waitrose can be found using the Waitrose Branch Finder.

• The Oxford Mail ran a short article on the release of Issue 1 which includes a picture of The Phoenix team.

The Phoenix Issue Zero Via Waitrose

The first issue of the new Phoenix comic is due to come out on at the start of January 2012 however Waitrose supermarket customers are being given the change to get a sneak preview with a printed copy of the Phoenix Issue Zero.

The current issue of Waitrose's free weekly Waitrose Weekend publication has The Phoenix featured on its front cover and a four page centrespread pull-out all about the new comic. In addition there is a printed code in the pull-out that, when put into the appropriate page of The Phoenix website, allows readers to get a free copy of the preview issue zero.

Emphasising the University of Illinois' findings that comics are as good as books at helping children to read, the Waitrose Weekend describes Phoenix as "published weekly at £2.99, the 32-page comic has at least seven story strips in every issue, plus a puzzle competition and a non-fiction strip on a new topic each week." Phoenix editor Ben Sharpe is quoted as saying, "We're making The Phoenix for all 8- to 11-year-olds; boys and girls. But really it's for everyone. Children will have their favourite strips, but so will kids in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond!"

The pull-out also introduces readers to the Phoenix characters of Monkey from Jamie Smart's Bunny and Monkey, Sophie Delcourt from Daniel Hartwell & Neill Cameron's Pirates Of Pangea, Castanet from the Etherington brothers Long Gone Don and Kate Brown's amnesiac child in The Lost Boy.

It also gives details of various subscription options for The Phoenix ranging from a full year down to a five issue taster. These are also available on the subscriptions page of the The Phoenix website.

There are more details about The Phoenix on the comic's website.

The Phoenix Issue Zero is available by entering the Waitrose code and your details into the Waitrose page.

Pirates of Pangea teaser poster revealed by Phoenix Comic

The team behind The Phoenix Comic, which launches "early next year" in the UK, continue to tease potential readers with some tasty artwork and other announcements.

The latest news includes the release of promotional art for Pirates of Pangea, "an epic adventure of Cutlass and Claw", drawn by Neill Cameron.


Confirmed creators involved in the title, which will be aimed at the 8-11 age group, include Jamie Smart with Bunny versus Monkey, Dan Hartwell and Neill Cameron on Pirates of Pangea and Patrice Aggs – animator on The Snowman, co-creator of The Boss and the artist behind many fantastic children’s books, who has created Blimpville for the title.

Set in Blimpville – the world’s most accident-prone town – the strip is called WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?! and is part story, part brain-baffler, part mystery and all eye-popping visual wonder. Expect some sneak peaks on the comic's blog very soon.

"I'm having so much fun drawing this thing already," says Neill of Pirates of Pangea, "and I absolutely can't wait to set it loose upon the world. (I know that January seems like a long time to wait, but believe me from the point of view of me having to draw it all, it is no time at all)."

Web Links

• The Phoenix Comic Official Site


• The Phoenix Comic Official Blog

• The Phoenix Comic on Facebook


• Follow The Phoenix Comic on Twitter

Comic creators rally to help Japanese disaster victims

(with thanks to The Emperor over on the downthetubes Forum): Regular readers will recall our announcement about a Charity Comic organised by the Comic Book Alliance to raise funds for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami (see news story).

In addition to that, here's a rundown of just some of the many charity projects or offerings being made by comic creators to raise funds...

From Tharg's droids:

• Leigh Gallagher's contribution is offering to draw your favourite 2000AD character and is contributing to the Genre for Japan, a science fiction, fantasy and horror auction in aid of the Red Cross Japanese Tsunami Appeal which ends today (at midnight BST, Sunday 3rd April)

• Frazer Irving is offering a unique print of the cover he did for the Solaris Books novel Kultus

• Al Ewing is giving his fans the chance to appear in his next Pax Britannica novel Pax Omega

The folks on the 2000AD forum have come up with a few offerings:

• A 4-page Jikan story (the character from Paragon comics) with a number of small pressers chipping in

• Wayne Simmons is offering a number of copies of his zombie novel Flu

• Duncan Fegredo has  a Hellboy drawing up as part of Dark Horse's fund-raising for the Red Cross' efforts in Japan

• Neill Cameron has begun his Awesome Japan A-Z (see news story)

• For the Comic Book Alliance, contributors signed up include Jon Haward and many others

• For more information about the CBA project read our news story; if you would like to take part please contact Tim Pilcher by email via  foundersATcomicbookalliance.co.uk for further details about formats, deliveries, or any other questions you might have. 

• The Comic Book Alliance:  www.comicbookalliance.co.uk

Neill Cameron's 'Awesome Japan' project begins to raise funds for tsunami victims

Top comics artist Neill Cameron has begun a comics project on his blog to help raise money for Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.

Describing the 'Awesome Japan' as "my small bit to help", Neill will be drawing and posting a picture a day, one for every letter of the alphabet, of Things That Are Awesome.

His fans have been invited to join in, by suggesting things for him to draw in comments on his blog,  twitter feed or on the A-Z of Awesomeness Facebook Group. "Feel free to suggest anything you like from the worlds of Manga, Anime, Gaming, Movies, Music," he says, "and I will attempt to draw the best suggestions."

There are bonus points for alliteration, he adds, "and it might be nice to get a bit of cross-cultural exchange going on in there.

"If, for example, for 'D' you were to suggest Doctor Who and Doraemon Dunking Donuts Daintily, well then I would probably have to draw that. You get the idea.

"I did something like this once before and people seemed to like it," he continues, "so I thought I'd try it again but with a couple of differences: 1) this time we'll be focussing on the insanely rich field of Japanese Things That Are Awesome, and 2) I will be asking people to sponsor me in this endeavour.

"Please do chip in if you can! This is going to be rather a lot of work and if no-one sponsors me I'm, uh, going to feel totally stupid.

"I've set up a JustGiving page where you can go and support the project, at http://www.justgiving.com/neillcameron. All money raised will go to GlobalGiving's Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund, where it will be used to support organizations providing relief and aid to victims."

• Check out Awesome Japan on Neill's blog

In Review: Mo-Bot High

Collected from the pages of the weekly DFC comic, Mo-Bot High is Neill Cameron's take on secondary school girls, their mobile phones and giant battle robots, all collected together into one multi-coloured hardback by the DFC Library.

Asha has moved to from London to Middleford with her father and on her first day at Midford High School as she walks into the playground, even before she has spoken to anyone, her mobile phone is downloading an app that she has not requested. Discovering that everyone is behind the bike sheds watching two giant robots battle it out as if it was an everyday event, she quickly learns that the DMC app gives her phone the ability to create a Digital Mobile Combat-Suit that she can control. Picked on by the school bullies, Asha has to quickly learn the controls of her Mo-Bot to both defend herself and to fit in with the rest of the school girls. While the teachers and parents seem oblivious to the robot battles in the school, one cleaning lady seems to be taking rather a lot of interest in the new student and her newly learned abilities.

This is very much a girls school story for the 21st century with the girls not just running the battles, whether for strength or speed, but also customising their Mo-Bots like accessories - flower patterns are an option. Yet there is no 'jolly hockey sticks' about it despite one Mo-Bot, amusingly, using a hockey stick as a weapon. Boys are around but they are sidelined in the story by the simple expediency of them preferring to use their Mo-Bots to play football. The teachers are blissfully unaware of the battles going on in the school as they are kept at arms length either by the girls hiding the Mo-Bots from them or by the sinister cleaning lady and her dinner lady associates misdirecting them. Since the DMC app does not work outside of the school grounds there isn't a problem with parents discovering them and, apparently, any battles go on out of public view.

Story-wise Mo-Bot High comes across as The Matrix as done by The Sarah Jane Adventures team with the visuals being a mix of Transformers and Tron. With the real world represented in traditional comic line art, the impressive Mo-Bots and their dynamic battles are all CGI style graphics, motion lines and bright colours - even the book's end papers are in a dazzling dayglo pink. Yet despite the apparent incongruities, Neill Cameron is able to get it to all hang together with the sinister cleaning lady always watching the children adding an air of menace in the early part of the story and her importance being revealed towards the end. Indeed the story works very well as a book and does not have the obvious weekly segments that some of the other DFC Library titles display.

Mo-Bot High is a colourful action adventure for girls with enough of an interesting back story and intriguing ending to leave me hoping for a second book.


• There are more details of Mo-Bot High including sample pages at the DFC Library website.

• There are more details about Digital Mobile Combat-Suits at Neill Cameron's Mo-Bot website and more about him on his blog.

Tube Surfing: Behind the Scenes, Adults Only and Travelling in Japan

A fairly short tube surf today as I'm in deadline hell...

Fans of The Rainbow Orchid by Garen Ewing can get a peek behind the scenes of that comic over at the Forbidden Planet International blog as the cartoonist takes us through his page creation process:

"Writing it out in order like this might make it all seem very organised," he notes, "and it is to a certain extent, but the reality means that it often develops out of order and in bits and pieces here and there."

There's also a chance to go behind the scenes with another comic artist, Oliver Frey, in this interview conducted by Paul Gravett (warning: the piece contains content that means it is stritly for adults only):

"No matter what fantasy figures he is illustrating, whether it’s the dazzling science fiction heroes in Dan Dare, The Trigan Empire or The Terminal Man or the homoerotic hunks Rogue, Bike Boy and others from HIM and Meatmen," writes Gravett in his introduction to the interview.

"Oliver Frey brings a distinctive masculinity and sensuous physicality to his comic art. It was never much of a secret to those who recognised his style and were ‘into the Frey’, although it may come as a surprise to some that this renowned mainstream comics illustrator and newsstand magazine innovator is also Britain’s (and Switzerland’s) greatest contemporary gay porn artist and writer, as accomplished and significant as Tom of Finland before him."

Neill Cameron has recently posted his Japan Manga Diary strip over at his blog. It was first published in Neo magazine in 2006 and is definitely worth a read.

Neill also informs us that he has updated the online shop at his website, which is now selling his various small press comics, including the fantastic Bulldog Empire (written by Jason Cobley).

And finally (told you it was a short one), Joel Meadows, better known as the man behind comics magazine Tripwire now has a website devoted to his photography.

Mad Scientists storm Caption 2010

(cross posted from Bugpowder with the kind permission of Daniel Fish): The Mad Scientists have retired back to their mountain core fortresses following another successful Caption in Oxford this past weekend.

I had a fun time, meeting up with the usual crew, plus a few I hadn't yet met, and attempted to create my own Frankenstein's monster with a mixture of Beer, Burgers and Comics, using my by then ink-stained fingers.

On arriving Saturday morning, after a quick browse, and depositing my new Trevor the Ant minicomic on the freebie table, I drew a page of stickers with the Dino-Saw-Us crew (Tim Winchester, Philippa Rice, Lizz 'Lizz' Lunney et al), then took part in Jeremy Day's (formerly Jeremy Dennis) apocalyptic jam comic workshop.

Then PJ Holden, who's currently working on 2000AD and the new STRIP Magazine, gave an informative interview with Matt Badham, which was followed by Lost Girls co-creator Melinda Gebbie's revealing conversation with Jenni Scott.

Paul Gravett hosted the Webcomics panel next, with PJ, Tozo creator David O'Connell, Philippa, Lizz, and Sydney Padua, making her comics convention debut (creator of the excellent Lovelace and Babbage webcomic, which I'll be catching up on as soon as I've written this).

John Miers gave a talk next, which I missed, but heard was excellent, and would have been right up my street. You can buy his book online, its beautiful stuff.

The art auction followed, then Atomik Burgers for dinner, closing with Tony Hitchman's Mad Science quiz, then back to the B and B for cocktails and dancing girls.

The next DFC Library books, out in September 2010

Sunday followed (as is traditional), starting with the DFC Library panel - Sarah McIntyre and Neill Cameron showed off the first six DFC Library books (I still can't decide which is my favourite), and shared reminiscences of the much-missed DFC Comic.

(I had the pleasure of looking over Sarah's shoulder while she sketched Melinda Gebbie - See her page for the results, )

Paul Cornell chatted about his work (Knight & Squire from DC Comics sounds great), then Sydney Padua clued us in some more on her webcomic, and her work on animation for films including Clash of the Titans and Iron Giant ("Suuupperrrrrrrmaaaaannnnnnn!!!!").

Wrapping the event off was Darryl Cunningham, who discussed his experiences which inspired his Psychiatric Tales book and other work, then the 'Comics as Mind Control' panel followed, and we all shuffled off to find our ways home.

I haven't seen those dancing girls since...

Web Links

• Official Caption web site

• Sean Azzopardi
"I was only attending the Saturday this year, but had a good time. There was a good range of talks, and a better variety of guests this year...."

• Caption 2010 By Matthew Badham


• Darryl Cunningham at Caption 2010

• Caption 2010 Report - Part 1 - by co-organiser Selina Lock

• Sarah McIntyre's CAPTION write-up

• Jenni Scott
"Mostly mellow, definitely fun, great guests and panels..."

• There's also a growing set of photos from the event on Flickr.

Cameron's A-Z of Awesomeness

(via FPI Blog); Neill Cameron is hard at work on his latest project: The A-Z of Awesomeness. Well into its stride (he's just delivered "Nina and the Neurons Neutralising the Ninky-Nonk with Nitrogen", it was originally inspired by Garen Ewing’s A-Z of Comic Book Characters.

"That was fantastic and looked like a lot of fun to do," Neill says of Garen's project, but he widened the remit for his attempt, from comic strips to the wider world of pop cultural entertainment.

Neill’s taking a letter a day and welcomes suggestions via his weblog, the project's facebook group or his twitter.

You may suggest characters from film, animation, TV, literature... "anything, really, so long as it is awesome," says Neill.

Best of Bulldog Finally Released

Jason Cobley has finally released his mammoth trade paperback colection, The Greatest Adventures of Captain Winston Bulldog, featuring the 'greatest hits' of his much-acclaimed indie title BAM, ranging from issue 1 all the way through to issue 28, covering something like 12 years of material.

Featuring art by Neill Cameron (The DFC), Kieran Macdonald, PJ Holden (2000AD) and many more the collection is avalable now via lulu.com.

"My main criteria for choosing the strips was to (a) not include anything where the writing made me cringe unduly, (b) try to allow the selection of strips to tell a cohesive narrative as far as possible for any new readers, (c) not include strips that demanded a thorough knowledge of complex continuity to follow, (d) leave out anything where the 'political satire' had dated unduly," says Jason, whose currently writing Frontier for The DFC.

"That leaves a range of beautiful artwork and some really good stories, so those who may have missed out on the early material, here's your chance to encounter some classics as well as later material. Like any 'greatest hits' package, somebody's favourite will be missing, and there may be something you don't think should be in a 'best of', but there it is and I'm quite pleased with it."

Jason, whose work has appeared in the Mammoth Book of New Manga, Accent UK's Zombies and adpated Frankenstein and Dracula for Classical Comics, says it was fun to revisit his small press days, even though it meant sitting at the scanner for hours on end and grappling with the pages. "I think the result is worth it," he enthuses.

• Check out the Bulldog Facebook group, Jason's blog and www.lulu.com for previews and pics. You can order it from Lulu (£7.99 plus postage).

Tube Surfing: 26 January 2009

• (with thanks to Chris Wasshuber): Who created Lucky Luke? The cowboy, published by Dargaud and the creation of Morris, has been a beloved fictitious cowboy in Europe for the past 60 years bringing joy and entertainment to many readers and audiences. A recent discovery reported on Lybarary.com has unveiled a Lucky Luke cowboy created by an American, Arthur A. Dailey, at least as early as 1934. Mr. Dailey, in 1934, created and wrote a series of radio programs for boys and girls called "Lucky Luke" – a cowboy who had many adventures in the Old West. Were the radio shows syndicated to Europe and heard by Morris? The Lybrary article points out some interesting similarities...

• Neill Cameron has posted some stunning Doctor Who samples on his blog, hoping someone, somewhere on the Internet will see them and, I'd argue, have the good sense to commission him. Neill sent me the pages a while back and I offered a few suggestions based on my past experience as a former Doctor Who Magazine editor which I'm sure he didn't really need. Check them out here

• Sean Phillips has just posted a cover sketch for the Incognito project he's working on, written by Ed Brubaker. Sean's been publishing several art pages at various stages of development on his blog which will be of interest not only to his fans but artists, too.

• For just 99p you can hear Simon Guerrier's first episode of his new Doctor Who play, The Judgement of Isskar. The accompanying Prisoner's Dilemma is also out now, too.

• Over the last 18 months, 2000AD artist Colin Wilson has been working closely with Melbourne playwright Tom Taylor on a variety of comic projects, and the first of these to surface looks like being in Flinch, a new anthology title of Australian comic talent published by Gestalt Comics. "This lovely little book, with contributions from, amongst other, Chris Bones, Christian Read, Bobby.N, Justin Randall," he notes on his blog. The anthology features a cover by Shaun Tan, has recently surfaced on amazon.com, with a planned publication date of May."

• (via FPI Blog): At the end of the week rumours started circulating that Captain Britain & MI-13, written by Paul Cornell, has been cancelled. The good news is that those rumours were just rumours; Captain Britain & MI-13 is not cancelled, and according to the piece on Newsarama, Marvel assures everyone that it’s a healthy book.
Paul himself notes the collected edition of the first four issues of Captain Britain and MI-13: Secret Invasion, has already sold out and will shortly be going to a second printing. "It seems we're currently at number five in the UK graphic novel sales charts! " he comments. "I'm thoroughly chuffed."

TinTin is 80

Happy birthday TinTin! 80 years ago this weekend (on 10 January 1929), Hergé's TinTin made his first appearance in Le Petit Vingtième, the weekly children's supplement of Le XXe Siècle.

With Steven Spielberg working on a Hollywood film of the comic book hero, and an article in The Timessuggesting the young Belgian journalist is gay causing outrage in France "They have walked on TinTin!" opined Figaro), and the continuing debate over alleged racism in his early adventures (the PC brigade never seem to acknowledging that stories written in past times reflected the mores of those times without intentional malice), it seems there's no likelihood interest in Herge's character and his adventures will die away anytime soon.

For all the media-hyped controversy, TinTin continues to sell in the region of two to three million comic books a year more than 30 years after creator Herge drew his final adventure. Original editions are now sold for up to 40,000 euros. The stories have been translated into over 50 languages -- his adventures began to be re-released in Welsh last year for the first time in 25 years, starting with Cigars of the Pharaoh (Mwg Drwg Y Pharo) and Flight 714 (Awyren 714 I Sydney) -- with fans worldwide enjoying the adventures of TinTin, Snowy (who has been with him since his still controversial first outing, TinTin in the Land of the Soviets), the cynical and grumpy Captain Haddock (first introduced in the Crab with the Golden Claws), Professor Calculus and other supporting characters such as incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson.

As much as his adventures are treasured and adored, especially in France, TinTin owes much to his real world British connnections for his success. Herge's widow is now married to British businessman Nick Rodwell who took charge of Moulinsart, the business which holds the rights to all TinTin character merchandising and which turns over some 16 million euros a year and is fiercely protective of their rights.

As for the new films, Dreamworks bought the rights to all 23 albums last year and it's hoped the first will be released on 22 May 2011, that date also being Herge's date of birth.

A Tintin Festival is to take place in the Belgian city of Namur this May and an appearance at the Europalia China exhibition, which starts in October, will mark the wholesome hero's 80th anniversary. A new TinTin museum is to open on 2 June.

"Tintin is not 80. He will always be fifteen and a half -- he doesn't age," said Stefan Steeman, a collector of Tintin memorabilia and president of the Les Amis d'Hergé (the Friends of Hergé).

Comics creators have been quick to pay tribute with their own interpretations offering birthday wishes, including Claude Dubois (creator of the BD Sylvain et Sylvette, left), Neill Cameron, Steve Holland, the cartoonist at the Est Républicain newspaper, Janique Robitalle, Tozo and many, many more.

We're more than happy to join in and wish TinTin and company all the very best!

Links
• The Official TinTin Website
• Les Amis d'Hergé (Frinds of Hergé) • Buy TinTin books from amazon.co.uk
• Links to more 80th Birthday articles on Objectif TinTin (in French)
• Captain Haddock Curses
The complete list of Haddock's swears words and curses in English on TinTinologist.org
• Details of TinTin Translations
While it's true many of TinTin’s early adventures offered a distinctly white European view on the world (as these scans indicate), Hergé slowly moderated his views down the years. His friendship with a Chinese student, for example, saw him abandon many of his pre-conceived notions about China before he created The Blue Lotus, and he even adapted some books as history changed to offer a more accurate portrayal of places. For example, in one adventure set in the Middel East, Scottish soldiers are replaced by Arabic military in later editions.
• How TinTin has been modified down the years (scans from the original versions of the stories)
• Images of some alternate visions of TinTin (post in French)
• TinTin Web Sites List on Free TinTin.net

What's TinTin called in different languages?
(sourced via deredactie.be)

• Tintin (Danish, English, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovakian, Swedish and more)
• Kuifje (Dutch)
• Tenten (Greek, Persian, Turkish)
• Tim (German)
• Tinni (Icelandic)
• Titinus (Latin)

Image at top of post: of TinTin's first appearance via Garen Ewing's blog. Tintin is © Hergé / Moulinsart 2009

Tube Surfing: 18 December 2008

• Latest details on the subscription-only weekly comic The DFC are among the updates to our British Comics On Sale Now list on the main downthetubes site. The page has gotten quite lengthy thanks to all the information some publishers are now kindly supplying, so we've split our information on new comics over two pages!

• Talking of The DFC, Mo-Bot High artist Neill Cameron is spreading festive cheer via his blog at, posting a Santa a Day from now 'till Christmas! Our favourite so far? Probably Kung Fu Santa...

• E-Cards aren't everyone's cup of tea but they are a good way to reach a huge number of contacts especially as postal prices rise. Wizards Keep creator Tim Perkins has uploaded his to his blog: entitled “The Last Drop” it's also available as a limited edition A5 card set, which you can purchase from Wizards Keep.

• Continuing our Christmas theme, over on Bear Alley, Steve Holland has published a special treat. Franco Giacomini has very kindly sent over scans of a sequence from an early strip drawn by Tony Weare, shortly before he began the strip on which his fame rests, Matt Marriott. City Under the Sea was published in 1954 in the Daily Herald. Enjoy!

• Talking of Christmas treats, cartoonist Lew Stringer has almost completed his round up of Christmas comic covers, with a post devoted to current covers yet to be published. Read part 9 over on Blimey! It's Another Blog About Comics!

• Rod McKie has written an interesting article for the Forbidden Planet International blog, talking about cartooning today, the fewer spots open to cartoonists in newspapers and journals. Rod says it is a bit of a downer but he has a second related part coming which will be more positive.

• It's not British comics-related, but since I work on the site, a quick plug for Nicholas Yanes interview with Brahm Revel on scifipulse, who's written and drawn Guerillas is a nine part series published by Image Comics. "Guerillas takes place during the Vietnam Conflict and follows a new recruit who accidentally falls in with a platoon of experimentally trained chimpanzee soldiers," explains Revel. "The story centres on the relationships and bonds that form within a platoon during the hardships of war despite race, creed, or in this case, species."

• An appeal for help now. Over on ComicBitsOnline Terry Hooper is asking if anyone can help with scans of some British small press comics from the 1960s and 70s, including some with some fantastic titles such as Owl Jumpers and The Toad Papers.

• The Twelve artist Chris Weston is back from abraod and back in the saddle on his blog, with some samples of his The Little Guy strip for Time Out, which he says he's hoping to get polished off over christmas. No rest for The Weston.

• Someone never lost for words when it comes to Internet posting is Warren Ellis... until that is, he read this strip by Dharbin entitled Warren Ellis: King of the Internet. "I am not entirely sure what to say," Ellis responded.

• Mark Wallinger's transparent TARDIS will be part of an exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery in February before touring to Leeds and Swansea. Wallinger's work is a full-size re-creation of a traditional police box in mirrored steel. Placed in the corner of a room, the mirrored surface gives the impression that the sculpture is transparent. "In the early days of Doctor Who the Tardis always faded away and disappeared," he tells The Guardian. "I wanted to make an object that was trying not to be there," said Wallinger who is perhaps best known for his work State Britain, a recreation at Tate Britain of Brian Haw's protest display outside parliament. He won the Turner Prize in 2007.

• Talking of Doctor Who, Tony Lee has published a sneek peak of a double page spread from #6 his Doctor Who: The Forgotten story for IDW featuring all ten Doctors. Just a shame the thing isn't officially on sale in the Uk when it comes out in the New Year, eh?

• And finally for this round up, with all the doom and gloom about despite the Christmas season, is there anything to look forward to in 2009? Well, look out for some baragins in the sales and early months from retailers. UpMyStreet.com reckons that in January and beyond prices are set to get even lower as they still clamour for our money. "This could mean the less successful follow in the footsteps of Woolworths, but we might as well enjoy the bargains while we can." Not all prices are low of course, Diamond having implemented an immediate price hike on many US comics on sale in the specialist stores recently...

• (For some genuine Christmas Cheer, try here! Courtesy of the ever wonderful Etherington Brothers).

DFC on YouTube!

Top artist Neill Cameron kindly dropped us a line to point us towards his rather exciting animated trailer for Season 2 of Mo-Bot High, his strip for The DFC comic, which is now up on Youtube and embedded above.

There's also a new DFC channel on YouTube, at uk.youtube.com/user/dfccomic where all the trailers and promos etc. produced so far for the subscription only comic are available to view. Neill says fans should keep an eye on it "as I believe a bunch more stuff including creator interviews will be appearing there shortly."

Neill, by the way, now has a new blog, at www.neillcameron.blogspot.com, which he is keeping up to date with all the current exciting developments in the world of, um, Neill. Well worth a visit.