World War One comics anthology plan mooted

British comics fan Jonathan Clode has launched an appeal for contributions to an anthology to mark the outbreak of World War One next year - and has already got creators on board willing to contribute.

In a posting to the downthetubes forum he explains: "2014 marks the centenary of the First World War. In years gone by, comics about World War One and World War Two were common place, and in France and Belgium they are still produced and very much revered.

"My goal is to revive and reinvigorate this part of the genre, and in doing so commemorate the lives and deeds of those men and women who were affected by ‘the war to end all wars’.

"I am putting together an anthology of stories each ranging from 6-10 pages in length. The subject matter can be anything that relates to World War One, as long as it is honest and does not seek to glorify war. It can be historical or fictional using any style you like - the only stipulation being that it has factually accurate context (i.e. you can create characters and put them in a fictional aspect of the ‘Battle of the Somme’, but ensure the detail around the battle is correct).

"Anyone who has read Charley’s War by Pat Mills & Jim Colquhoun will know what I’m going on about!

"I also aim to add poems and diary entries alongside single illustrations," he continues. "These would appear between each story.

"There will be numerous events to mark the [World War One] centenary across its four year duration, and I really feel that this could be a powerful piece of work, both as a sentiment of remembrance, and as an example of how diverse and evocative our medium can be.

"At the moment I’d just like to gain the interest of other writers, artists, inkers whoever...

"Publishing options will be looked at once a few stories have come together and folks are on board. If there’s anyone around who’d care to join me in taking charge of this thing, I’d be glad of that too.

"In the 48 hours since I posted this idea on a few other sites I've already had responses from Italian, Canadian, American and British creators with some wonderful ideas; enough for around five stories. What I'd like is a few more UK creators, being as this is inherent to our history and character.

"This has always been a subject of immense interest for me, and with a little luck there are a few of you out there who feel the same!"

• If you're interested, why not sign up for our forum (if you haven't already) and contact Jonathan for more information. His forum post is here: http://downthetubes.ning.com/forum/topics/wwi-centenary-anthology

Strontium Dog and Sweeney Todd nominated for Stan Lee-backed award

The shortlist for the 2013 Stan Lee Excelsior Awards has been announced and includes two British titles - Strontium Dog : The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha and Classical Comics' Sweeney Todd - alongside several overeseas projects.

Created by Paul Register from Eccelsfield School, the Awards started out as a Sheffield-based project, attracting the interest of 17 Schools in its first year. As word spread, last year the project, which aims to encourage reading in younger people, attracted 77 schools - and not just from Sheffield.


This year, so far, over 100 schools have signed up, including schools from outside the UK.

The award is named after (and with permission of) Stan Lee, creator and co-creator of many of Marvel Comics' most iconic and world recognisable comic characters and groups. The Stan Lee Foundation (set up to improve literacy amongst children in the US) gave its blessing to the awards in its first year.

This award is the only nationwide book award for graphic novels and manga where kids aged 11-16 choose the winner from a selection of books by reading and then rating each graphic novel they read.

"Eight graphic novels are selected for the shortlist and it now attracts dozens and dozens of schools and public libraries from all over the UK - from Scotland to Jersey, from Belfast to Gateshead," explains Paul. "The overall goal of this scheme is to encourage reading amongst teenagers.

"However, its secondary target is to raise the profile of graphic novels and manga amongst school librarians and teachers.

"This storytelling medium has been a largely underused resource within education for many years," he feels. "The Stan Lee Excelsior Award attempts to highlight some of the amazing books that are out there - books that fully deserve to be in our school libraries alongside regular fiction.

"We work closely with both the School Library Association and the Stan Lee Foundation. We are thrilled that 'Stan The Man' has given us his blessing and his permission to name this award after him."

This year's nominations are:

PETER PANZERFAUST: THE GREAT ESCAPE by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Tyler Jenkins

SOUL EATER NOT!: VOLUME 1 by Atsushi Ohkubo

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (Original Text) by Sean Michael Wilson and Declan Shalvey

STRONTIUM DOG: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHNNY ALPHA by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra

SUPERGIRL: LAST DAUGHTER OF KRYPTON by Michael Green, Mike Johnson and Mahmud Asrar

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: CHANGE IS CONSTANT by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz and Dan Duncan

WONDER WOMAN: BLOOD by Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang and Tony Akins

X-O MANOWAR: BY THE SWORD by Robert Venditti and Cary Nord

The Awards remain rooted in Sheffield in terms of organisation, with specialist comic book retailers Sheffield Space Centre, who have been involved since the first year of the awards, helping with book selections, library supply and attending the awards ceremony.

Sheffield creative company Digital Story Engine have also been involved, providing video coverage and interviews with many of the writers and artists involved.

An awards ceremony will be held at Ecclesfield School in July, when the top three graphic novels are announced, with school children at the awards ceremony given the chance to meet and talk to writers, artist and publishers involved in the comic book industry.

• If you are a pupil and want to get your school invlved in these awards, talk to your school librarian and point them to the website - www.excelsioraward.co.uk - or, if you are involved with school’s Libraries, or libraries, check out the website for more information, too.

For more information don’t hesitate to contact: Sheffield Space Centre, 33 The Wicker, Sheffield S3 8HS. Telephone: 01142758905. E-mail dave@space-centre.co.uk. Or Stan Lee Excelsior Award, c/o Paul Register, Ecclesfield School, Chapeltown Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S35 9WD. Telephone: 0114 2461156

 

Talbots scoop Costa Award for "Dotter of Her Father's Eyes"

Mary Talbot's Dotter of Her Father's Eyes has won the biography section in the 2012 Costa Book Awards.

Drawn by husband Bryan Talbot, the award has delighted the couple, who The Guardian reports have known about their win for some time but had to keep quiet about it.

While this is not the first graphic work to win a major literary prize – Art Spiegelman's Maus won a Pulitzer in 1992 and Chris Ware won the Guardian first book prize in 2001 for Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth –  the Costa Award is still a significant moment for the graphic medium and 2012 marks the first time comics have featured in the Costa nominations (see news story).

"It is a good thing for graphic novels as a whole,"  Bryan Talbot told the Guardian, whose works include The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, The Tale of One Bad Rat and Alice in Sunderland. "Graphic novels are becoming increasingly accepted as a legitimate art form."


Dotter of Her Father's Eyes tells the story of James Joyce's tragic daughter Lucia, who spent the last 30 years of her life in a mental institution. Into that tale, Mary Talbot has woven the story of her own troubled relationship with her father, the eminent Joycean scholar James S Atherton.

In other categories, Hilary Mantel won the novel award for Bring Up the Bodies; Francesca Segal won first novel for The Innocents; Kathleen Jamie's The Overhaul came first in poetry, and Sally Gardner's Maggot Moon was named children's book of the year.

Among the nominations this year were Days of the Bagnold Summer by Joff Winterhart while artist and writer Dave Shelton, who writes and draws Good Dog, Bad Dog, for both The DFC and Phoenix was shortlisted in the Children's Book category with his novel A Boy And A Bear In A Boat (see news story).

• Costa Book Awards: www.costabookawards.com 

IDW celebrates 50 years of Who with 'Prisoners of Time' maxi series

British comic creators look set to be heavily involved in US publisher IDW's Doctor Who at 50 celebrations with Simon Fraser and Lee Sullivan among the artists involved in their 'Prisoners of Time' maxi series, which launches this month.

'Prisoners of Time' will feature every incarnation of the Doctor, as well as a long list of villains, including the Zarbi from the TV story best known as The Web Planet.

The opening issue is being offered with two covers, one by Simon Fraser and the other a photo cover from publicity stills from the original Doctor Who episode, 'An Unearthly Child'.

"It's a 12-issue miniseries featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor," co-writer David Tipton told Comic Book Resources. "Each Doctor will be featured in one of the issues."

"And of course, there's a larger mystery spanning the course of the series," added co-writer David Tipton, "one which is set up in the opening pages of issue one, and which will increasingly come to light as the series progresses."

As yet, apart from the Zarbi, the villains who will play a part in the story have yet to be revealed.

Lee Sullivan has drawn the Patrick Troughton-Second Doctor story for #2 and Mike Collins has drawn the Pertwee-Third Doctor segment for Issue 3.

As well as the story, each issue will include an essay on the featured Doctor by prominent Who experts. Producer, director and script editor for Big Finish Productions, John Ainsworth provides these for #1 and #2, with Gary Russell contributing to #3.

• Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time #1 written by Scott and David Tipton with art by Simon Fraser goes on sale 23rd January from IDW Publishing. 

• Read an interview with David and Scott Tipton about the maxi series on Comic Book Resources