Death Watch from Broken Voice

Leading UK comics indie Broken Voice Comics recently released an online edition of Chapter 8 of its flagship title – the online graphic novel Shades. (Some early episodes of Shades are also trailed on ROK Comics).

Written by David A J Berner and illustrated in full colour by artist Harsho Mohan Chattoraj, Shades tells the story of a group of heroes in the UK, struggling to come to terms with their role in late 20th Century Britain; a Britain still haunted by the loss of Empire.

“This is an important milestone for us,” explains Berner. “We intend to release the print version of Shades in two volumes. Chapter 8 is the final chapter of Volume 1 and so we will be preparing formal submissions to publishers very shortly.”

“Personally, I think it’s a fantastic chapter to end the volume,” he added. “Harsho has produced some of his best artwork to-date and, whilst it will be a little while before readers can see it all online, story-wise, there’s still plenty in store for them!”

“The chapter opens with the central characters trying to deal with the loss of one of their number and proceeds to flesh out the back-story of the Shaman, one of the more enigmatic characters in the book. And then, of course there’s a spectacular ending which – for obvious reasons – I’m not at liberty to disclose!”

Andersonic #5 On Sale via ebay

A quick plug for Andersonic Issue 5, now available via ebay as well as by post, a fanzine dedicated to all things Gerry Anderson that is garnering much praise from fans of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet et al.

This issue comprises 40 A5 pages with colour covers and includes articles on the UFO comic strips, The Females of Century 21, The Investigator, Trapped in the Sky, The Man Who Came Back, Space:1999's connection with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dorzak, a Captain Scarlet retrospective and even something on Star Maidens.

• Andersonic Issue 5 costs £2.10 incl UK postage from R.Farrell, 11 Stevenson Drive, Spital, Wirral, CH63 9AH or via paypal to straker@merseymail.com; or buy it via ebay

Shooting the Witness

Shooting the Witness is an exhibition at London's Political Cartoon Gallery (6 March – 12 April 2008) of the work of the Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his assassination in London.

Naji Al-Ali was one of the most prominent cartoonists in the Arab world. Sarcastic, poignant and perhaps too bold, El Ali's cartoons were drawn from his experience as a Palestinian refugee since childhood and clearly reflected his political stance.

Naji Al-Ali had no political affiliations and the absence of slogans and dogma in his work brought both success and criticism. His bold and illustrative cartoons, widely published over the past 20-30 years, reveal the tragic state of the Middle East. The artist combined art and political satire like none other; his work sadly still rings true today, drawing a critique of all sides in the conflict, and the world's complicity in the prolonged occupation of the Palestinians.

"Naji al-Ali developed a stark and symbolic style during his thirty-year campaign on behalf of the Palestinians, a web site dedicated to him declares. "Unaligned with any political party, he strove to speak to and for ordinary Arab people. His life was seamlessly interwoven with the trials of exiled Palestinians. Due to invasion, censorship and threats he lived in exile most of his life, much of the time between Beirut and Kuwait."

His cartoons portrayed the bitter struggle and plight of the Palestinian people against Israeli oppression. He also campaigned against the absence of democracy, widespread corruption, and gross inequality in the Arab world. He was said to have antagonized virtually everyone in the Middle East. During his lifetime, he was said to have drawn around 40,000 drawings, on average two cartoons a day, working for various publications in the Arab world.

On 22 July 1987, Naji al-Ali was shot in the face and mortally wounded in London, outside the offices of al-Qabas, a Kuwaiti newspaper for which he drew political caricatures. He died five weeks later.

His killers were never identified.

For the first time in London, sixty of Naji Al-Ali’s original artwork will be exhibited in the Political Cartoon Gallery, the world’s only centre dedicated to Political Cartoons and Caricature. The gallery is organising the exhibition in cooperation with the SOAS Palestine Society, the Nakba60 group, Cartoon County and the family of Naji Al-Ali.

• The Political Cartoon Gallery, 32 Store Street, London WC1E 7BS, is open Monday to Friday 9.30am – 5.30pm and on Saturdays between 11.30am – 5.30pm.
• Wikipedia article on Nji Al-Ali

Hi-Ex in the Highlands: First Report

Over on the Forbidden International blog, Joe Gordon has posted one of the first reports on Hi-Ex, the first major comics convention staged in Inverness held this weekend. Guests included Gary Erskine, John Higgins, Colin MacNeil and many others, and downthetubes contributor Jeremy Briggs was at the event so we hope he'll give us his insights soon (unless he's been eaten by reindeer or escaped wolves or something on his way back from the Highlands).

"I asked [the creators and stall holders] how their experience [of the con] had been and had it been worth the trip?" Joe reports. "They all responded in the affirmative - they had all been enjoying the con and, yes, it had been worth it both in terms of exposure and financially (FutureQuake’s Dave happily reported that decent sales meant he would indeed be eating this evening and not trying to pull raw fish from the nearby river like some comics geek Gollum), while Graeme had actually sold out of some of his titles he had brought up.

"Note to some of the other folks in the Brit comics community who were wondering if Inverness was worth adding to their list of cons to try attending - that looks like a big yes from where I am standing and from some of the small press folks who came along, so if you are reading this and wondering if you should think about attending any future one, drop the boys a line and ask them how it went for them."

• Check the FPI Flickr stream for photos of the Hi-Ex convention weekend starting here
• Read another review of Hi-Ex on Hi-Arts by comics neophyte Georgina Coburn