The Rainbow Orchid Supplement Now Available

The Rainbow Orchid Supplement, the latest publication in Garen Ewing's world of The Rainbow Orchid, is now available from his webstore. This is a 'DVD extras' style publication acting as a bonus for Rainbow Orchid fans that Garen has published through his own Inkytales imprint.

The 46 page, A4 softcover, perfect bound book, with a colour cover and black and white interiors, is designed to sit on the bookshelf alongside the current Egmont published three volume set of The Rainbow Orchid and is made up of bonus material none of which is included in Egmont's recently published The Complete Rainbow Orchid. It is a limited edition and only 250 have been printed.

The Supplement includes the covers to every Rainbow Orchid publication from the small press Imagineers to the foreign publications of the books, a long section of annotations to the full published story, a selected bibliography that Garen used as reference material, a selection of initial cover sketches for the Egmont editions, three different interviews with Garen from different sources and, perhaps the most intriguing for hardened Orchid fans, a selection of abandoned ideas for the story.

The Rainbow Orchid Supplement was launched at the Thought Bubble comics convention in November 2012 and is only available directly from Garen Ewing at events or via his webshop. The cost for a signed copy of the Supplement from the website is £7 including UK postage.

There are more details about The Rainbow Orchid on The Rainbow Orchid website.

The Rainbow Orchid Supplement is available via The Rainbow Orchid webshop which also gives buyers the chance to purchase signed and sketched versions of the Egmont editions of the book.

Dandy Exhibition and Talks at Dundee University

This Saturday coming, 8th December 2012, the University of Dundee University will be holding an opening event for their latest comics exhibition which will celebrate the 75th birthday of DC Thomson's Dandy. 

The exhibition will look back over the Dandy’s past, but also towards its future as it moves on-line with the launch of the Digital Dandy. It will feature original artwork from DC Thomson’s collections dating back to the earliest years of the comic, much of which has never been shown in public before. The University previously had a similar launch event for their display of artwork  from The Beano for its 70th anniversary in 2008, a review of which is on downthetubes here.

The launch event for the Dandy exhibition will also give an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creation of the new Digital Dandy, with a discussion led by Dr Chris Murray, plus contributions from former Dandy editor Morris Heggie, new Digital Dandy editor Craig Ferguson, Digital Production manager Mark Hunter, writer Dan McGachey, long-time DC Thomson artist David Sutherland, and one of the artists who is very closely involved in the direction of the Digital Dandy, Stephen White (Brassneck and Keyhole Kate).

The exhibition and launch have been created as part of an on-going partnership between DC Thomson & Co Ltd, the University of Dundee Museum Services and the newly established Scottish Centre for Comics Studies based at the University. Dr Chris Murray, director of the Centre, said: “We are proud to be able to help The Dandy celebrate its 75th anniversary, which is a remarkable achievement. Of course, the comic is also in a process of transition, as the final print version goes to press and is replaced by a new digital Dandy. This promises to be an exciting and innovative step forward for the comic and its beloved characters.”

The Dandy exhibition launch will begin at 2pm in the Tower Building of the University of Dundee on Saturday 8 December 2012 and admission is free.

The Dandy exhibition will open Monday-Saturday from 10 December 2012 until 7th January 2013 (except when the University is closed for Christmas from 23 December to 2 January) and admission is also free.

• More info: www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/comics/dandy

Dandy 75 : It's Dandy Day

More information on the Dandy website.

Out of the Blue: "Thunderbirds" Shane Rimmer features on new solo album

If you have a Transformers, music and Gerry Anderson fan in your circle who you're seeking a Christmas present for, then you might be tempted by Rob Cottingham's solo album Captain Blue, which is not only a great sounding album but features the voice of Thunderbirds Scott Tracy himself Shane Rimmer – and a stunning cover by Andrew Wildman.

The 18-track album – which Rob describes as "a cross-genre-ational album covering the themes of time, self-realisation, death - and not taking yourself too seriously" is due for release in January. You can, however, pre-order it from his web site, www.robcottingham.co.uk for pre-Christmas delivery!

Rob Cottingham is a prolific, talented and accomplished composer, song writer, lyricist, keyboard player, and vocalist with a number of solo albums and other music projects under his belt over the past decade. His music ranges from intensely intimate and acoustic to a powerful broad atmospheric sound with swirling synthesizers, 'cathedralesque' organs and deep bass sounds. He also enjoys 'playing with' sounds and textures to add to the feel of the music – and there's plenty of that on Captain Blue, a title of course inspired by one of the Spectrum agents from Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet.

One added extra to the album is a voice over from TV andd film actor, Canadian Shane Rimmer. Renowned as the iconic voice of Scott Tracy from the original 1960's Thunderbirds, he has appeared in three James Bond films, culminating with a lead role in The Spy Who Loved Me. Other major films include Dr Strangelove, Star Wars, Out Of Africa, Gandhi, Superman 2 & 3 and Batman Begins.

After many years as an actor, voice artist and script writer for Gerry Anderson, he published his autobiography From Thunderbirds to Pterodactyls in 2010, a frank autobiography shedding new light on some of the best-loved films and television series ever made, as well as revealing what life is really like for a jobbing actor in the sometimes less than glamorous world of showbusiness.

"I'm greatly honoured to have had Shane contributing his awesome talents to my album, says Rob. "Whilst the connection with Gerry Anderson is entirely appropriate to this album, more than that, the treatment Shane gave to my written piece - a track called 'Condemnation' - was pure genius."

Shane stated "I was delighted to put my voice to such inspirational lyric writing. The music is just 'something else'. Wait 'till you hear it!"

Captain Blue will be released on the Heavy Right Foot Records label in January 2013. "It will all be worth the wait!" Rob enthuses.

• For more information about the Captain Blue album or to pre-order, visit see www.robcottingham.co.uk. You can also hear a demo mp3 on www.robcottingham.co.uk/album-overview--demo.html.

Follow Rob on Facebook www.facebook.com/rob.cottingham.9 and on Rob's artist page www.facebook.com/RobCottinghamCaptainBlue

You can also follow Rob on Twitter www.twitter.com/RobCottingham1

• For more about Shane Rimmer, visit: www.shanerimmer.com