Nick Abadzis Torchwood comic strip reaches finale

The latest Torchwood magazine, on sale tomorrow in the UK, features the final part of award-winning British comic book creator Nick Abadzis's story for the title.

Abadzis, creator of the acclaimed graphic novel Laika and a contributor to The Times and Guardian’s comic sections, writes part three of Broken for the hit BBC show's official tie-in publication. In the story, the team are trapped in a mysterious hotel – Gwen Cooper is plagued by the ghosts of Torchwood past, while Captain Jack and Ianto must face Bilis Manger.

Acclaimed artist Paul Grist, creator of Jack Staff and Kane and a regular contributor to the Torchwood title, provides the art.

Abadzis joins a long list of stellar talent to have contributed to the Torchwood comic, including Tommy Lee Edwards, Simon Furman, Ian Edginton, D'Israeli and, recently, Carole and John Barrowman.

• Torchwood Magazine Issue #17 is on sale in the UK and Ireland tomorrow, 20th August and in the US on 15th September.

Torchwood Gets the Golden Touch

Here's a 'sneak peek' at the new Torchwood Magazine #16 Diamond Exclusive comic-artwork cover drawn by fan-favourite artist Michael Golden!

On sale from 25th June in the UK, this is a specially commissioned illustration by comic artist Michael Golden and ties in with Torchwood Magazine's "Rift War" comic strip storyline.

Golden has been wowing comic fans since the 1970s on such titles as Marvel’s Micronauts and The 'Nam, and he’s been contributing to Marvel and DC comics ever since. His most recent comics projects include covers for DC Comics' Nightwing, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Vigilante.

This Torchwood Magazine Diamond Exclusive comic-artwork cover is only available to buy through comic stores.

• Find your nearest comic store in the US: www.comicshoplocator.com (US)
• Find your nearset comic store outside the US: www.comicshoplocator.com/default.asp?LocType=g

For information on Torchwood Magazine visit:
• UK - http://titanmagazines.co.uk/torchwood
• US - http://titanmagazines.com/torchwood

• Torchwood Magazine Facebook Page

John Barrowman's Comic Strip Adventure

As we reported yesterday, Issue #14 of the official Torchwood Magazine goes on sale on Thursday and plays host to an all-new and exclusive Torchwood Comic strip adventure penned by Captain Jack himself - John Barrowman.

Written in collaboration with his sister, Carole E. Barrowman, this new story promises the same intrigue, adventure and chills that have become synonymous with the hit TV show.

The story, titled, 'Captain Jack and the Selkie', sees Captain Jack facing a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one...

To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible...

Here, John Barrowman discusses the strip in a special interview conducted by his sister, Carole...

CB: Ready to chat about our Torchwood Magazine comic?

JB: Wait. Shouldn’t we have some sound effects if we’re making this read like a scene from 24?

CB: Do you even know how to write sound effects? You’re the worst speller.

JB: I blame the Doctor for that, because when I was a kid I’d stay up late on Sunday nights when the classic Doctor Who was on WTTW in Chicago so I’d never study for my Monday morning spelling tests. Add the sound effects later.

CB: Do you remember when we first got the idea to collaborate on a Captain Jack story?

JB: The summer when we were working together on Anything Goes. We were on location for Torchwood in a warehouse in Cardiff. I was filming the “Meat” episode.

CB: Wasn’t that the same shoot where the pigeon pooped on Jack’s shoulder? Now that was hilarious.

JB: That was good luck... the shoot was taking forever. Lots of green screen shots. I think I started making up ways that Jack could end the scene and we could all get home. Now that I think about it, we came up with some funny stuff... I still think we should do something someday with the idea of Jack and the–

CB: Shush!!... Can we tease shamelessly like that?

JB [laughing] I think we just did. Anyway, I remember the endings we made up got more ridiculous the longer we all sat in that cold damp warehouse.. you and I kept playing on the way home in the car.

CB: I’d forgotten about that... do you remember what we called the game?

JB: “What Would Jack Do?”... but the actual comic didn’t really take shape until Comic Con last summer in San Diego when we met Tommy Lee Edwards and Trevor Goring.

CB: It was the ‘Face of Boe’ poster that did it.

JB: Yes, that poster they created, of Jack superimposed on the ‘Face of Boe’ still amazes me when I look at it. I framed it as soon as I got back to London. It’s on the wall in my office and I think it’s the best illustrated characterization of Jack that I’ve come across... until our comic is released that is.

CB: And you see a lot of images of Jack.

JB: Oh, yeah . . . so after Tommy, Trevor and I signed a batch of the posters, I asked them if they’d ever be interested in working with us on a graphic novel about Captain Jack.

CB: We had a graphic novel in our head because we had both recently read Neil Gaiman’s Marvel 1602. You’d bought it to send home with me for Turner [my son], but we each ended up reading it first.

JB: Was that the one where the X-Men face the Spanish Inquisition?

CB: Uh, huh... they’re in Elizabethan England. Very clever stuff.

JB: Trevor and Tommy thought a collaboration sounded like a great idea and on the way home from Comic Con I knew that if we didn’t pursue the idea of the four of us working together right away, we’d all get busy with our individual work and it would never happen.

CB: Torchwood Magazine didn’t necessarily have a comic in mind did they?

JB: I don’t think so... but given that we’d just hooked up with two of the best artists in the comic world, as far as I was concerned, it made sense to pitch a comic... and then later when you and I were brainstorming on a story, I remembered you’d written something before about the myth of the selkie, and I thought it’d be a perfect plot to adapt for what, in my head, I was already calling a “Captain Jack Tale.”

CB: Except that my story had nothing to do with Torchwood or Captain Jack.

JB: Not then it didn’t but we worked that out between us... I’d always wanted to do something that put Jack in Scotland and your original story was set on an island off the Orkneys. Plus, we’d already agreed to tell a story that showed a side of Jack and a part of his history that hadn’t been explored too much in other media... I wanted to give fans something original about Jack.

CB: What side of Jack do you think our comic foregrounds?

JB: I think we see Jack’s compassion... maybe his guilt. Plus his wicked skills with a harpoon!

CB: You’ve always been a comic fan, haven’t you?

JB: Oh, yeah. Love Spider-Man, Batman, and definitely Captain America... I think it has something to do with when we immigrated to the States in the late 1970s and I was trying hard to be an American kid. Couldn’t get enough of comics and Captain America... but I also love Superman – all the Justice League heroes for that matter.

CB: Do you remember the first mint condition comic you ever bought me when you could afford one?

SOUNDS OF SILENCE

CB: You haven’t got a clue, have you?

JB: A Tin Tin comic... plus a bunch of first edition ‘Noddy’ books.

CB: Nice save... so what do you think of ‘Captain Jack and The Selkie’ now that you’ve seen the finished product?

JB: I’m astonished. It’s brilliant work. The panels with the selkie are completely breathtaking . . . and Jack looks so damn good.

CB: When Tommy and Trevor sent the first coloured panels, I just stared at them in stunned admiration.

JB: Tommy Lee, Trevor, John Workman on the lettering, Martin Eden at Torchwood Magazine, everyone worked really hard, but Tommy Lee especially, given the tight deadlines and budget constraints.

CB: Are you game for another one?

JB: !bOng! !bOng! !bOng!

• Torchwood Magazine Issue #14 UK
On sale in the UK and Ireland 19th February
UK Official page: titanmagazines.co.uk/torchwood

• Torchwood Magazine Issue #14 US
On sale in the US 17th March
US Official Page: http://titanmagazines.com/torchwood

• Torchwood Magazine Facebook Page

Torchwood Strip on Watch Web Site!

Titan Magazines, publishers of Torchwood Magazine, have partnered up with UK digital channel Watch to offer an exclusive Torchwood strip on their web site, as part of their promotion for the screening of Torchwood Season Two.

The strip has been written by Brian Minchin, a Script Editor and Assistant Producer on Torchwood and drawn by Adrian Salmon, whose credits also include Doctor Who, Judge Dredd: The Megazine and many more. He also co-created Image Comics’ The Faceless graphic novel, starring Terry Sharp.

The strip is lettered by John Workman, one of comics’ most famous letterers, who has worked on comics by Walt Simonson, Grant Morrison and others.

In other Torchwood-related news, a quick reminder that Issue 14, on sale this week in the UK, will feature an original comic strip written by none other than Captain Jack himself, John Barrowman, and his sister, and regular collaborator, Carole E. Barrowman (see earlier news story).

The story, entitled Captain Jack and the Selkie, drawn by Tommy Lee Edwards and Trevor Goring, sees Captain Jack facing a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible...

"It looks beautiful," comic editor Martin Eden told downthetubes, also revealing special promotional posters for the issue will soon be displayed in Forbidden Planet stores.

• Torchwod Magazine Web Site (UK Site)
• Torchwood Magazine Facebook Site
• More about Torchwood Series 2 on Watch

John Barrowman collaborates on new Torchwood strip

Titan Magazines has confirmed that Doctor Who and Torchwood actor John "Captain Jack" Barrowman will be co-writing an episode of an upcoming Torchwood Magazine comic strip.

Issue 14 of the Magazine, on sale 19 February in the UK, will feature an original Torchwood comic strip, written by John and his sister and regular collaborator, Carole E. Barrowman.

The story, called Captain Jack and the Selkie, sees Captain Jack facing a deadly threat on a remote Scottish island, where people are disappearing one by one... To his horror, Jack starts to suspect he may know who – or perhaps more specifically what – is responsible...

Selkie is the Orkney dialect word for "seal" and with so many seals in the waters around this and other Scottish islands, it's not hard to see how the legends surrounding the selkie-folk - the seal people - sprang into life. (More about Selkie Folk myth here)

Artwork for the comic strip is provided by Tommy Lee Edwards, the acclaimed artist behind several stunning comic projects including Marvel’s current smash hit 1985, the acclaimed Bullet Points, DC’s The Question and several more, and Birmingham-born artist Trevor Goring, whose work includes Dead Like Me and Star Trek and who has worked as a storyboard artist on films such as Independence Day, Fantastic Four and Twilight.

“I’m so excited to be working on this story," says strip editor Martin Eden, speaking on the Torchwood Facebook page. "John and Carole are an absolute pleasure to work with. And Tommy Lee Edwards is one of my favourite artists.

"I’ve seen the thumbnails that Tommy and Trevor have worked on – and, believe me, the readers are in for a treat!”

• Torchwood Magazine Issue #14 will be on sale in the UK and Ireland on 19th February, and in the US and Canada on 17th March. • Facebook members can read on more on the Torchwood Magazine Facebook Page
• TorchWood Magazine UK Official Site • TorchWood Magazine US Official Site

Torchwood - drawn by Paul Grist

Torchwood Magazine Issue 5 is on sale in the UK and Ireland today. If you're in the US, you'll have to wait just that little bit longer - the mag will be available from June 10.

Check out the magazine's Facebook group page for exclusive teaser imagery from the new issue's comic strip "Rift War." I have to agree with comic artist Mike Collins, who I was talking to yesterday -- comics editor Steve White has pulled off a masterstroke getting the brilliant Paul (Jack Staff, Kane) Grist to draw on the Torchwood strip, which this issue is written by Simon Furman.

"Rift War”, which began in Issue 3, is This issue Torchwood’s first big comic story arc, a ten-part epic (broken up into smaller, self-contained stories amidst the main thrust) that sees the team face an alien race led by the dread Sanctified, who have declared all-out war on humankind. Why?

"Because Torchwood, apparently, are to blame for a catastrophic future event, centered around the time and space spanning Rift, " explains Simon via his blog, "one that wipes out an entire civilization. Can it be? Check out “Rift War” for the answers over the coming months. Superlative colour on the strip is by Kris Carter.

• More about Torchwood Magazine on titanmagazines.co.uk