McCarthy, Parkhouse Signing Date Set

Jim McCarthy and Steve Parkhouse will be signing their new graphic novel Sex Pistols: The Graphic Biography at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Saturday 28th June 1-2pm.

Jim McCarthy is an illustrator and comic strip artist who has created for 2000AD. He worked on Bad Company, Bix Barton, The GrudgeFather and Kid Cyborg.

Steve Parkhouse has worked as an illustrator and writer for many big names including Alan Moore, Stan Lee, Mark Millar and Terry Gilliam. He created the vivid illustrations for the Sex Pistols Graphic, which tells the explosive story of the rise and fall of the most famous punk band in the world.

Tube Surfing: 13 June 2008

• We're pleased to report that our report by David Baillie on the recent No Barcodes event in Camden Market, organised by London Underground Comics is online. You can read it here.
Don't forget LUC are at Camden Market every Saturday.

• The Forbidden Planet International blog features the first part of a major interview with writer and mage, Alan Moore: a second part will follow sometime next week. Moore talks about reaction to The Lost Girls, his views on the changing face of comics (and the treatment of comics creators by publishers) and the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century.

• Debate continues to rage about the new DFC comic in several quarters: on the downthetubes Ning forum (membership required to comment), discussion has just turned to the issue of bad language in the John Blake strip by Phillip Pullman...

• New British publisher Blank Slate, whose titles include Oliver East's Trains are Mint and Mawil's We can Still Be Friends has a new blog. They've kindly sent us copies of both books and we should have reviews up next week, along with more details about their publishing plans.

• Lew Stringer reports that while, traditionally, the publication time for Christmas annuals is late August / early September, in a canny move to cash in on this year's blockbuster movies, Panini UK have released two of their 2009 dated annuals early. Read his review on Blimey! It's Another Blog About Comics where he also writes about some rare advertising for the very first issue of Valiant comic back in the 1960s.

• Over on Bear Alley, Steve Holland has posted his review of The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s, now on sale (don't forget to enter our competition!). "The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s is a bit of a misnomer for a book that reprints a straight two-year run of stories," he writes. "Ironically, it is one of the strengths of the Roy of the Rovers strip that is proving to be a pain from a marketing point of view—the Roy strip was a soap-opera with a series of storylines that would dramatically (often very dramatically) reboot the strip.
"You cannot easily choose a random group of episodes as representative because overarching plots would sometimes take a whole season to unfold, come to fruition and reach some sort of resolution; the resolution could very well involve the demise of major characters in the best soap-opera tradition of, say, EastEnders. Unlike EastEnders, however (and, it must be said, American comics), dead characters were never brought back to life in desperate grabs for ratings or sales. Read the full review

Win Roy of the Rovers Books!

The UK’s teams may be missing out Euro 2008 this summer, but Titan Books is bringing football home with the publication of a new series of books collecting the comic strips of Britain’s most famous fantasy footballer: Roy Race.

The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s [Titan Books, 13 June 2008, £9.99] is the first in a brand new series of bumper volumes collecting Roy’s thrilling comic strip escapades. Featuring some of Roy’s greatest matches and adventures from the early 1980s, this incredible collection is a must-have for footie fans of all ages. Thrill once more to the roar of the crowd, as Roy and Melchester Rovers face trials and tribulations on and off the pitch, including the threat of relegation, Roy’s marriage troubles, and an assassin’s bullet!

Collected together with an introduction from Gary Lineker, these are the tales that endeared Roy of the Rovers to a generation.

WIN ROY OF THE ROVERS BOOKS!

Thanks to the great team at Titan Books, downthetubes has THREE copies of the Best of the Roy of the Rovers to be won!

Simply answer the question below and send us your entry by email via to arrive no later than 12 noon GMT Thursday 19 June 2008. (Alternatively, send your answer on a postcard to Roy of the Rovers competition, First Floor, King's Yard, High Street, Lancaster LA1 1LA). Good luck!

Who is credited with creating Roy of the Rovers?

• More about Roy of the Rovers on the main downthetubes website

Venal Muse Goes Online

(Via: Richard Bruton of Fictions): Small press artist Marc Ellerby has just made Venal Muse, his mini comic from 2006, available in its entirety online.

'I drew this in late 2006, but I think it eventually came out around February 2007," Marc explains. "It was to tie in with an exhibition of the same name that my friend John was putting on in Brick Lane - I thought the show was great, mainly because old friends were reunited and as a force we kicked some arty arse.'

'I really like this comic," he adds. "It's a bit flat in places and maybe doesn't hit the right notes, but I still think it holds it's own a year on. I made it into a mini comic and it's sold out now (there might be a few copies at Dave's Comics in Brighton...) so I present to you the first mini I ever made and sold in it's entirety. A couple of hundred are out there in the world and I hope everyone enjoyed them. Lemme know what you think and feel free to spread this link around.

Enjoy!"