It's ghastly!

The new Comic Archive (following on from One-eyed Jack and the death of Valiant and Beyond 2000ad) volume from David McDonald's Hibernia comics imprint is out now!




This impressively researched and produced volume, building on the already high standards set by other volumes in the series, takes as its focus this time, the untimely demise of Fleetway's Scream comic.


As Scream only lasted 15 issues, you wouldn't think that there was 60+ pages to be written on the subject, especially as there aren't pages devoted to what was published in those 15 issues. Instead the volume focuses on what wasn't published in the weekly and what became of that material. The quick answer is that some of it ended up in the 5 holiday specials that were published after Scream had disappeared from newsagent's shelves and some of it was used up in the new Eagle.


Now not only has David gone through Scream's history with a fine toothcomb, he's actually re-invented some of that history with cover mock-ups for missing issues, he's tried to unearth the source of material that seems strangely out of place in Scream and he's publishing material that would have appeared in Scream and he's talked to key creators. I'm not sure we'll ever need another volume on the short life of Scream, what would anyone else add?

60+ A4 pages (some in full colour), hitherto unseen material, high production value, a definitive history of an opportunity missed. It's hardly ghastly, it's simply essential reading for anyone interested in (boys) comics.


Copies are available to buy here


http://www.comicsy.co.uk/hibernia/

No further scans, you'll have to buy it if you want to see more :)

Full disclosure: David sent me a free copy of this (I had tried to buy it off him first, mind)

Havok - prog 1036 - 8th supplement

and the final supplement, although this is where we actually came in,...

It's not the world cup qualifying comic

As it's World cup qualifying weekend I thought we'd have a look at a Barrie Mitchell illustrated, Alan Moore (yes, really) scripted tale of not the (1982) world cup humour comic from Marvel UK.


cover by John Higgins

In memoriam (1)

Sadly we seem to have had a sudden spate of comic-y deaths in recent days, I'll be covering those over the next few days, but as it's the 11th of November my mind turns towards the fallen of World War One (and all subsequent conflicts).


Here's the iconic Charley Bourne, illustrated by Garen 'Rainbow Orchid' Ewing

from the British sketchbook volume 1 (edited by Darryl Cunningham) c.1996


You can see more details of Garen's work here..
http://www.garenewing.co.uk/index.php


and more about Julius Chancer here
http://www.garenewing.co.uk/rainboworchid/blog/blog.php


Garen is also on Facebook and can be tweeted via @garenewing

Havok - prog 1032 - 7th supplement

And from prog 1032...

Havok - prog 1024 - 4th supplement

And from prog 1024

Havok - prog 1023 - 3rd supplement

And from prog 1023...

Read' em and weep cover revealed

Pat Mills website, the Millsverse, has had a bit of a makeover of late, (http://www.millsverse.com/) and one of the things that has been added is the first shots of the cover to his new book with Kevin O'Neill, Read 'em and weep.




And here it is...

Inspired by the work of Saul Bass  and the work of inspiredcoverdesigns.com


The blurb says...
A dangerous time for kids … An even more dangerous time for adults.
Meet comic book editor Dave Maudling:
The world’s laziest serial killer.
The world’s most cowardly serial killer.
Actually, he’s never killed anyone himself – yet.
His readers do his killings for him.
Meet Jean, Dave’s femme fatale mother.
She’s glamorous. She’s dangerous. She’s dead.

AND SHE WANTS HIM TO SOLVE HER MURDER.

Havok - prog 1022 - 2nd supplement

Well the Havok scan the other day caused a bit of interest, so c/o the 50p pile in a local charity shop we'll have some more Havok this week! This is from prog 1022, so is the 2nd supplement.

Advertising comic (8) - Levi's

So this is 'A bold new breed' AKA Levi's type 1 jeans <yawn>

You'll believe that rivets on jeans can be weaponised! That a drab world can be made colourful again thanks to denim (and the unlikely heroes than inhabit it)! You'll wonder how much they paid John Higgins to do this! and Tom Frame to letter it!

I can find no record of an issue 2. What a surprise.

Advertising comics (7) - Bovril Brigade

The Bovril Brigade strip first came to my attention as a series of adverts drawn by Frank 'Dan Dare' Hampson in early 1960s Eagle.
The 'brand' was revived in December 2015 for this one-off 16 page comic, further issues were hinted at but none have appeared to date.

Advertising comics (6) - Money Fun - issue 2

So here's the front cover to Money Fun, Denis Gifford's National Savings Bank comic

And here's the back cover

The highlight is probably the involvement of artist Basil Reynolds who could turn his had wonderfully to realistic art or more conventional cartooning - here he's reviving Skit, Skat and the captain who had originally been published in the 1930s

Contributors to this 8 page, July 1982 publication include Denis Gifford, Les Barton, Brian Walker and John Richardson, whose original centre-spread art (shown below) is currently on sale here for £75
http://bookpalace.com/acatalog/info_RichardsonJBob.html#SID=348

For more details please see Denis Gifford's ACE Newsletter #38 (volume 4, number 5) dated Aug/Sep 1981. 

Advertising Comics (5) - Scalextric

ok, so this is a bit of a cheat but when your sales brochure has over a dozen pages of Ian Kennedy artwork in it then who cares? Just some of the artwork...

new comics (6) - Sgt. Chip Charlton & Woofles

new from ace comics creator Gary (Derek the sheep, Julius Zebra, Gary's garden, Teenytinysaurs) Northfield is news that he has now become a comics publisher as well!
He has just published "Sgt Chip Charlton and Mister Woofles" strip (Jim Medway draws and scripts) which has been collected together from the pages of the Phoenix comic, and is now available to buy courtesy of Gary's new imprint Bog Eyed books. If you've never read the Phoenix, here's the concept...


Scared of horses but driven to fight crime and seek justice?
What is a young Canadian to do?

Chip Charlton joins the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, picking his daschund buddy over the conventional equine sidekick. Sgt Chip soon proves the naysayers wrong, and time after time, crime after crime, demonstrates how even a weak stomach* is no obstacle to following your dream.


*Mister Woofles has the weakest stomach in comics and is always being sick

More details here
http://bog-eyed-books.com/
https://twitter.com/bogeyedbooks
  

Jim has also posted some 'behind the scenes' type illustrations here looking at logo design..
https://www.skillshare.com/classes/design/Logo-Design-New-Ways-to-Create-Custom-Vintage-Type/1289592301/projects/27899?via=user-profile

Bog Eyed books have also reprinted the hilarious Derek the sheep...

and are promising a volume 2 in spring 2017, woo-hoo!


Good luck to Gary in his new publishing venture.

new comics (5) - Striker

Striker has been running (on and off, but mainly on, in the Sun newspaper since 1985) - it's graduated from a traditional pencil drawn strip to it's current CGI incarnation. It even had its own comic for a while. Lately though it's been ejected from the Sun (again), only for a fan campaign to succeed in getting it re-instated.


Now though Pete Nash it starting to reprint the stories from the very beginning. Over on his Strikerworld  forum (http://strikerworld.co.uk/index/) he's just announced the details of volume 1...

Pete says...



IT’S A MONSTER of a book that’s been 31 years in the making and at last it’s available to buy… Volume One of Striker: The Complete Collection – The Black and White Years, 1985-1990.

The book is A4 size, hardback with a gloss laminated cover, and has a whopping 320 pages. The Buy Now buttons (a choice of signed or unsigned) are at the end of this message. You can pay by credit card, debit card or your Paypal account if you have one.


The first ten pages of the book are a full and frank account (with photographs) of my meandering journey to the creation of Striker, including my expulsion from school, my time in prison during an unhappy and misspent youth, the lucky break that took me into journalism, and the many months of teaching myself to draw.


The rest of the book is crammed with all 21 Striker stories from November, 1985, to just before the start of the colour strips in 1990.


And there’s something else – the first Striker story is the original unabridged one that has never been seen since its first publication 31 years ago.


The version of the first Striker story that you may have seen in the comic and one of the only two Striker annuals that were published – back in 1989 and 1990 – was a shortened one that I created because I hated my early artwork. I thought there were maybe a dozen or so strips that I’d left out but when I compiled the strips for this book, I discovered there was almost two months’ worth of strips that I’d removed from history. I should never have done that, and I’ve made up for it now.
I’ve also added my thoughts and memories on the stories at the end of each one and before the start of the next. And I explain why I don’t think the first story could ever have been published today – at least not in The Sun.



I must make an apology at this point – I’ve had to make the price £19 (plus £5 first class postage) instead of the £18 I’d hoped for as I hadn’t accounted for Paypal’s transaction charge in addition to their commission. I’m sorry for that but I hope you will agree the book is still great value for money.
There are two purchase options: £24 (including first class mailing) for an unsigned copy or £29 for a signed copy. But please note – it may not be possible to deliver the signed books by Christmas as it will mean me travelling to the mailing house to do the signings, and I won’t be able to do this until after the unsigned books have been dispatched.


The books will be mailed by first class post in book boxes between December 16 and 18. The signed books may still arrive by Christmas, but don’t expect them to be.


I’m asking Striker fans to buy the books now rather than later for two reasons – one, The Sun’s fee doesn’t cover Striker’s production costs anymore and two, there’s a limited print run for this first edition. As a thank you to those who buy before November 11, I’ll be giving away 10 original strips from the first Striker story – each one signed – to ten purchasers whose names will be drawn from a hat. Each book purchase will count as a separate entry in the draw.


One of those ten strips will be the very first strip that I rejected at the last minute (I explain why I pulled it in the book).


This is an offer to Strikerworld and Planet Striker members only. The books will NOT be advertised in The Sun or sold in the shops unless there are any left over.


If we sell enough copies to make a profit, I shall publish a new volume every three months.


I think that’s about it. All that remains is to say thanks for buying the book and I hope you enjoy it. And let me know what you think afterwards!

The book is available to buy here...although you need to be a member of Strikerworld, that's a process that takes about 10 seconds to complete...
http://strikerworld.co.uk/pages/shop/

new comics (4) - Merrick: the gambler's cards

Having seen Lady Flintlock reach all its stretch targets on Kickstarter yesterday I thought I'd flag up another great Kickstarter campaign that I've backed...


Merrick - the gambler's cards continues the story begun in Merrick the sensational Elephantman by Tom Ward (story) and Luke Ward (art). The gambler's cards actually represents issues 5+6 of the ongoing story of Joseph Merrick. Yes, that Joseph Merrick.


I've recently picked up both Merrick the sensational Elephantman and Treves a restless night and I have to say they are great. The production values are really high, the story intriguing and richly layered plus the art is great (Luke Ward brings a fantastic Mike Mignola vibe to proceedings). Why this hasn't been picked up by a mainstream publisher is beyond me. So, if you have a thing for stories set in the pea-souper soaked atmosphere of old London town then why not give this a try?


You can back this from as little as £2 (or from £9 if you want to own a physical copy of the comics)


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ourtom/merrick-the-gamblers-cards?ref=user_menu

Tom Ward's a member of the facebook group so he might be able to give you more details of Merrick and of the kickstarter campaign in general.




Further Merrick reviews can be found here
http://downthetubes.net/?p=25212
http://downthetubes.net/?p=22249
• You can find all the issues and a free download to Issue One at www.merrickcomic.com
• You can also find more about the series on Twitter @merrickcomic and on facebook at www.facebook.com/theelephantmancomic
• You can find Luke the artist at www.artofparker.com and on Twitter @Artofparker
• Nic the letterer is on Twitter @Shawlettering