Comic Cuts — 5 October 2025

Saturday's Colchester Comic Mart began on a bright note—Storm Amy had blown through on Friday and it had rained most of the day, but, fortunately, she cleared off into the North Sea overnight and the morning sun broke through the clouds as I was waiting for the bus.

I arrived at the show's home, the Presbyterian Church in Eld Lane around 8:45 and wandered in to find most of the tables already stacked with comics (I think the venue opened at 7:30) and organisers Karl Kennedy and Andy Yates (Stephen Hume having been unavoidably detained in Glasgow) had sorted out a table for me, generously paid for by Bear Alley Books... oh. hang on...

Karl had picked up some boxes of books from me on Monday, along with some artwork for the art show. (I don't drive, never have, as I've always worked close to home—close to the train station when I worked on London—or at home.) These I unpacked and spread out and, learning that one of the guests had fallen ill, managed to spread my wares onto the spare table. Then a new guest was announced and I had to unspread everything. But then we found a smaller table that wasn't being used, so I lugged that over to where I was stationed and once again spread out, as can be seen in the photo at the head of this column. Thankfully, nobody thought to charge me or I'd have had to try and recoup the costs from the publisher.

Doors opened at 10:00 and we were busy for the next couple of hours. I had a chance to chat to other guests, to my right, author Jim Swallow, and to my left, author Roy Rivett, both on the select list of people who have written for Commando. Jim is shortly to begin writing a new Commando based on an old Warlord strip from the early 1980s. I'd better not say what, as I don't think it has been announced. Roy had some of his old issues on sale along with the original scripts, which are always fun to compare, and see how an artist has interpreted a description of a scene.

Keith Burns has been a regular at these shows for at least the past three years. He always has some gorgeous art and prints to show off. There might even be a book cover for Bear Alley in the future... I'm saying nothing!

Other guests included Christian Hauth (who has posted some photos of the event on Facebook), and actors Chris Bunn and Ross Sambridge, who were signing photos. 

Always fascinating, Stuart and Ed set up a fantastic gallery with a little help from Karl Seaman and me. I said this on the day, but it's a shame the gallery was in a back room, where we used to have it at the back of the hall. I understand there were space considerations, but that doesn't alter the basic fact that some might have missed the chance to see an amazing selection of original artwork.

There were 62 people through the door, which might not sound like many, but they were came with full wallets and were prepared to spend. I'm never sure what to take. I think I took some of everything on my first show and sold only the comic strip collections; last year was exceptional as it was launch day for THE PHANTOM PATROL so that book sold especially well. Thanks to Karl's van, I decided to take a wider selection this year compared to last year, and thank goodness I did, because the indexes sold well... a couple of them actually sold out. I mean, I only had three copies of each on the table, but they sold as well as some of the comic collections.

With no new book to flog, and many of the regulars having already bought MYTEK VOLUME 3, I think the day went very well. I was about £100 down on last year, but still took a respectable amount. Costs are minimal (the table was £15) and I even won something in the raffle.

All told, a very good day for sales and an even better day for just chatting to people. 

Dogfight Dixon, Psycho Warriors and Swordsmen

One of the latest batch of hardback Fleetway Picture Library Classics from Book Palace reprints some of my favourite episodes from the pages of Thriller Picture Library. I was always a bit of a fan of Air Ace Picture Library and found by chance some reprints of Dogfight Dixon tales dating from around 1966-67. Many years later, my small collection of Thriller Picture Library is mostly issues of Jet-Ace Logan, John Steel and... Dogfight Dixon.

Four stories are reprinted here, beginning with Donald Oliver Graham (DOG... geddit?) Dixon looking longingly out of the window of his classroom, and even 500 lines can't dull the desire to take to the air. His father has other ideas, and wants him to join his Regiment, the Royal Light Infantry, where a Dixon has served since its formation two hundred years before. Injured, his father looks forward to seeing his son in uniform after learning of his enlistment... and a schism forms when he learns that his son has joined the Royal Flying Corps.

Posted to France, the newly nicknamed Dogfight is given the job of checking out the situation of an infantry battalion, pinned down by German shelling. Dogfight destroys a siege gun only to discover two more on the way and it requires all his flying skills and courage to take them out of action. And the stubborn Colonel who had refused any help from the R.F.C.—Dogfight's own father!

I'm always surprised at how good these old stories are, and the depth of emotion some of them managed to convey amongst the action. There is enough excitement and aerial action to thrill the schoolboy readership the books were originally aimed at, but they can be appreciated by an older audience too, for their fine artwork and the storytelling talent on display.

Dogfight's original writer was Ralph Coveney, with artwork by Dino Battaglia. The rest of the tales are the work of Donne Avenell, Ian Kellie and Michael Moorcock, with artwork by Aldoma Puig, Amador Garcia and Allen Pollack. Of these, 'Hawks of the Desert' sees Dogfight joining a mysterious Professor of Islamic Studies in a secret desert mission to stop Turkish forces sweeping into Cairo; 'The Phantom Camel' pits Dogfight against a German ace over Western Front; and 'The Zeppelin Menace' sees 13 Squadron escorting bombers on a mission to destroy Zeppelin sheds that fails badly, without a bomb falling on the target...

Moving forward in time to the Second World War, Jorge Moliterni's Psycho War Stories may be a slightly overstated title, but it contains some excellent tales from the pages of War and Battle picture libraries. Reading the introduction (a welcome addition to the book), it is editor Peter Richardson who found Moliterni's work compelling when he stumbled upon it at the age of nine. He went on to discover that Moliterni's stories often had a dark, menacing theme and characters whose pathological hatred knew no bounds. 

I first came across Moliterni aged 12 in the pages of another picture library, Top Secret, and loved his work. His work was still as dramatic as ever, and it's great to see where Moliterni's journey in the UK began with the reprinting of these earlier stories.

Fighting of a different kind can be found in By the Sword!, a collection of six stories from Thriller Picture Library featuring a variety of classic heroes, from The Three Musketeers and Rob Roy to Claude Duval and Dick Turpin. It's a fine volume that will also introduce you to a range of artists who began making their names around this period, including Graham Coton, CL Doughty, Fred Holmes, Patrick Nicolle, Arthur Horowicz and Reg Bunn. 

The latter, especially, will surprise fans who only know his work from 'The Spider'. As he was pushed to deliver more pages each week, he concentrated on foreground figures and used cross-hatching to fill the backgrounds on many pages. Here you can see Bunn putting in far more detail in his artwork, packing in far more characters (their faces unmistakable even this early in Bunn's career), and bringing far more polish to the pages. Not to dismiss his later work, but , given time, I've always thought that the Spider strip could have been even better than it was. 

There's a nice introduction to the various characters by Norman Wright, who probably knows his way around Thriller better than anyone. Introductions are a nice addition to these volumes of older material, and I hope that Book Palace will continue with them in future.

Jorge Moliterni's Psycho War Stories. Book Palace Books ISBN 978-191354864-3, 24 March 2025, 276pp, £25.00. Available via Amazon.
By the Sword. Book Palace Books ISBN 978-191354866-7, 24 March 2025, 272pp, £25.00. Available via Amazon.
Dogfight Dixon. Book Palace Books ISBN 978-191354867-4, 17 March 2025, 268pp, £25.00. Available via Amazon.

• 4 Oct. Cartoonists Tom Gauld and Kevin Huizenga discuss inspiration and ideas at the SPX 2025 show. "How does each cartoonist organize their thoughts on paper? How does doodling enable them to talk through their process to a finished comic? In what ways do the images themselves convey the same meaning as words?" (video, 55m)
• 1 Oct. PJ Holden is sharing his latest work, 'Terran Omega', one page at a time on his Patreon page. He discusses it here. "I can’t just afford to blow 50 pages of unpaid work on my own projects. So I figured, what if I did it as a weekly comic? I’d stick the pages on Patreon (which I’d tried successfully before when I did the Folklore Stories with John Reppion) and hopefully build enough of an audience that by the time I’m finished a good chunk of them will hop over with me to Kickstarter to help fund getting a book of it published (fingers crossed!)."
• 30 Sep. A comic that Mark Millar pitched when he was just 13 is to become a reality. Conquered, described as 'Independence Day' meets 'Game of Thrones', is being Kickstarted. The pitch was gently rejected by DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, but 43 yeaers later Millar has been working with artist Valerio Giangiordano (Spawn) on the first of four planned volumes.
• 26 Sep. Daniel Best is compiling as complete a bibliography of the published works of Jerry Siegel as possible. Eventually he'll reach The Spider...
• 23 Sep. Filmmaker Chris Shepherd discusses his first graphic novel, Anfield Road. "I had initially tried to make the project as a film. I wrote a feature-length script and pitched it, but I could never secure the funding. Then lockdown came, and I found myself with much more time to draw. Feeling determined, I decided to tackle the entire project through drawing."
• 23 Sep.  Joel Meadows reflects on three decades of Tripwire and comics journalism. "Back in 1992, a former neighbour and I decided to launch a fanzine that covered the worlds of comics and music. The first issue of Tripwire, which came out in February 1992, was extremely primitive: it was stapled A4 with a pun on its cover, which didn’t work. This was before the days of the internet, so the comics industry was a very different beast then."
• 18 Sep. Down the Tubes' John Freeman looks back at 'Tiffany Jones', the classic British newspaper strip, and at 'Kathy and Wendy' newspaper strip drawn by Enric Badia Romero in 1985.
• 18 Sep. Paul Cornell and Rachael Smith are interviewed about Who Killed Nessie? at the Turn the Page podcast. (audio, 24m) 
• 15 Sep. Rich Johnson highlights a report from The Bookseller about sales of adult graphic novels, which reports sales increasing to over 2 million so far this year. The vast majority of titles in the Top 50 listing are from VIZ Media, but even DC Comics and Marvel sales are up.
• 15 Sep. Front Row interviews Alan Moore about his new book and why the glut of comic book superhero films is a sign of an infantalised society.

Comic Cuts — 3 October 2025

By the time you read this I will be shot full of vaccine to protect me from the flu and Covid over the coming winter months. Although I spend most of my life in front of a computer, Mel has a customer-facing job and I'm in and out of the local shops. While it's impossible to protect yourself 100% from catching something, you can reduce the risk of getting a bad dose. An ounce of prevention and all that.

Yes, the Seasonal Vaccine Programme began on Wednesday October 1st and I was booked in for Thursday morning. Just good luck, really; I knew it was coming and managed to book myself an early slot at a pharmacy in Colchester. If you're eligible, it's worth sorting out an appointment thought the NHS website as it's easy (must be if I can manage it), quick, and gives you some choice of when and where you get your jab(s).

Why all this talk of flu jabs? Frankly, it's for my selfish benefit, as I know that my audience here, and for the books I publish, skews towards the older gentleman. I have two books coming out in November and I'm hoping to have another one out not long after Christmas. Basically, I can't afford to lose anyone: a lot of you are repeat customers and I need every one of you to stay healthy.

And, yes, you didn't mis-read me. Two books coming out in November! I have a proof copy of THE AIR ACE PICTURE LIBRARY COMPANION in my hands, and I've had good feedback from the few people who have seen it. I've started proofing and should have a second proof before the end of the month, which will mean I can print the book alongside MYTEK Volume 4.

The other bit of good news is that I've borrowed a stack of copies of the second series of Action, post-ban, which means that I can hopefully finish writing, scanning and designing the ACTION INDEX over the next few months.

The folks who had to wait weeks for the delivery of the first MYTEK volumes might find it amusing to hear that I'm possibly in the same boat with a book I ordered recently. I have been looking out for an affordable copy of Mike Ashley's Rise of the Cyberzines, volume five of his history of science fiction magazines, which came out from the Liverpool University Press in hardback for £95 in 2022 and appeared in paperback in 2024 priced £40, which is too rich for my wallet.

So when I saw a copy on sale for £25 plus £2.95 postage, I jumped on it. The order confirmation stated clearly that the order was from a British company and would ship from the UK. Well, it would at that price. The next day I get a message from the seller saying that there was a delay on the order and it would not arrive until November 12th. No other explanation.

I contacted Biblio, the platform through which I bought the book. 24 hours later, they contact the seller asking for further information. Four hours later, I'm told that the book will be with me some time between the 3rd and the 8th of October. Whether it arrives or not... well, we will just have to wait and see. At least there's now a paper trail that should allow me to get my money refunded if the book doesn't turn up.

At the same time, I've now had two Evri packages go astray since Ebay introduced their "Simple Delivery" system, which is anything but. Back in the day, everything went out 48 hour tracked post and it worked. Now I have to use prepaid postage labels which cost the customer more and there's a fee added to the price of the books, plus VAT (yes, I know there's no VAT on books in the UK, but there are some VATable costs incurred through Ebay).

An order that arrived yesterday was for Myteks 1 and 2. Same buyer, same address, same price for the books. But when I downloaded the postage labels, they were for different services, one charging £2.75, the other £2.94, neither of which actually cover the cost of postage and packing: £2.70 for postage, 35p for the envelope and 4p for the label, bringing the total p&p to £3.09. Not a huge difference in the big scheme of things, but it will mount up over time. So the two books went off in different directions, one down to the Post Office in the village, the other around the corner to the Co-op, our local Evri pick-up point. I had to cue up twice! (First world problems, eh?)

The Colchester Comic Mart is on Saturday (4 October); the books have already been dispatched (thanks, Karl!) and copies of MYTEK and all the other titles from Bear Alley will be available. I'll even knock the cost of postage off.

The venue is the Colchester Baptist Church, which is right in the town centre—see map (click for a bigger version)—and easily accessible. There are car parks nearby, plenty of tea rooms, eateries and pubs within easy walking distance, and lots of see and do. We have a castle and it's just off the High Street. There are 12 charity shops and one good second-hand book shop.

Hopefully I'll see you there.

Robot Archie and the World of the Future

I was reading occasional issues of Lion around the period that this latest collection of Robot Archie  stories reprints. My seven-year-old self wasn't especially impressed by Archie's time travel shenanigans, which didn't compare well to the cross-time adventures of Tim Kelly and Doc Diamond, and the artwork by Solano Lopez on the latter was more dynamic than that of Ernest Kearon—I know now that Lopez had been drawing comics for longer than Kearon by a couple of years, but Kearon's artwork seems not to have evolved over time as much as some of his contemporaries. Some of his characters look as stiff as Archie.

But... and it's a big but... I found myself enjoying these stories as I was reading the book. Trying to follow a story based on isolated episodes may explain why 'Kelly's Eye' was so much better. I knew what was going on, and, looking back, my favourites in Lion included things like Zip Nolan, whose adventures were complete each week. Of the ongoing stories, Paddy Payne, another favourite, was being drawn by Joe Colquhoun, Frank Hampson was drawing Dan Dare (both were reprints, but I didn't know that at the time) and Solano Lopez was drawing 'Gargan', three impeccable artists whose work always impressed.

In the world of the future, humans have been at peace for thousands of years and have forgotten how to fight, so when an invasion force of Krulls arrives, Archie can defend only part of the city they have landed in. While he shows the inhabitants the basics of warfare and makes bows and arrows, more Krulls attack. Archie now thinks himself to be a Warlord and arms his followers with swords and other ancient weapons from museums to stave off the attacks.

Ted Cowan's storyline is filled with extraordinary images—a wave of 'tin cans' forms into a mechanical serpent that Archie is able to ride like a bucking bronco, an abandoned tropical island where cars seem to drive themselves, Archie piloting a World War I bomber... indeed, the third story in which Archie and his companions Ted Ritchie and Ken Dale land during the Great War is the best of the bunch, with Ernest Kearon's artwork coming alive ashe tackles tanks, planes, ships and submarines rather than the clunky science fictional hover-cars and ray-guns of previous tales.

There are two back-up stories, one from an annual and one from a later holiday special which pitched Archie against another of Ted Cowan's creations, The Spider. 

Read in full, you can't deny that the stories are entertaining. They're not the best Lion had to offer, but Archie is an icon and deserves his place in the pantheon of weird heroes that the Treasury of British Comics is unearthing.

Robot Archie and the World of the Future by E. George Cowan & Ernest Kearon.
Rebellion ISBN 978-183786554-3, 11 September 2025, 144pp, £16.99. Available via Amazon.

Rebellion Releases — 1 October 2025

He’s the superpowered superbrat – Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell’s ‘Zenith’ is the cutting superhero horror satire from the pages of 2000 AD. With Rob Williams, Patrick Goddard & Steve Yeowell revisiting the world of Zenith with the new ‘Red Dragon’ series beginning in 2000 AD, Molch-R & KLO-E revisit the original to explore what it says about superheroes, politics, pop music, and the 1980s versus now.

Hosted by 2000 AD Brand Manager Michael ‘Molch-R’ Molcher and comics critic and creator of The Gutter Review, Chloe ‘KLO-E’ Maveal, In Orbit Every Wednesday from the 2000 AD Thrill-Cast goes live every Wednesday with the latest news about 2000 AD and Rebellion’s new comics, exciting special guests, and chat about the sheer love of comics! At half an hour per episode, IOEW is perfect listening for your commute, burning through your chores, or when you’re just getting your day started. Subscribe now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast app!

Get the four Zenith collections from the 2000 AD webshop.

And now, this week's release...

2000AD Prog 2452
Cover: Mike Dowling.

JUDGE DREDD // AND TO THE SEA RETURN by Rob Williams (w) Henry Flint (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
RED DRAGON by Rob Williams (w) Steve Yeowell & Patrick Goddard (a) Dylan Teague (c) Simon Bowland (l)
BRASS SUN // PAVANE by Ian Edginton (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
VOID RUNNERS // BOOK TWO by David Hine (w) Boo Cook (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
ROGUE TROOPER // GHOST PATROL by Alex de Campi (w) Neil Edwards (a) Matt Soffe (c) Jim Campbell (l)

Illustrators #48 — Summer 2025

It has been a couple of years since I last saw Illustrators, so it's good to be able to say that it hasn't lost any of its design or quality aesthetic and there are still major names to be covered in depth, this issue highlighting three in the shapes of Mark Schults, Chris Moore and Graham Humphreys.

Schultz I recall from his early days as the creator of Xenozoic Tales (aka Cadillacs and Dinosaurs); he was definitely one of the artists I wanted to interview for Comic World back in the early 1990s, but I think he was writing more than illustrating at the time. I've always admired the more realistic school of artwork, figures that you feel could walk off the page and not collapse under the weight of their own breasts. ANd, yes, I mean men or women.

Schultz wrote tie-ins (Alien, Predator, Star Wars) and was on Superman: The Man of Steel for almost 50 issues (1999-2003), since when he has been the writer of the 'Prince Valiant' newspaper strip. The interview published here is heavily illustrated with Schultz's Conan artwork, but also has a few illustrations from an unfinished Xenozoic graphic novel, which I would buy in an instant! Come on, Mark!

Chris Moore painted science fiction and thriller covers, but that doesn't mean his artwork wasn't realistic. I grew up on Moore's air-brushed spaceships during my peak SF reading period in the late 1970s and early 1980s. And, thanks to his domination of the SF Masterworks, I've probably seen more of his artwork than that of any other artist since the turn of the Millennium. His work has appeared on the covers of everyone from Frederick Forsyth and Thomas Harris to Hammond Innes and Jackie Collins and just about every major SF author out there. Sadly, Chris died in February 2025.

Graham Humphreys has painted iconic horror images since the early 1980s when he produced a poster for the Amicus horror anthology The Monster Club. His poster artwork for The Evil Dead and A Nightmare on Elm Street set the benchmark for horror posters in the mid-1980s, Humphreys' use of colours inspired by the bold use of colour he had seen in Thailand. (If you can get hold of a copy of The Amazing Movie Posters of Thailand by Neil Pettigrew and Philip Jablon you'll see what I mean.)

He has since designed and painted Video and DVD covers, posters, prints, LP and CD covers, specialising in horror images. I can't say I was especially aware of his work (I'm more SF than horror), but the attraction is easy to see. Indeed, Humphreys is one of the artists highlighted in Anthony Taylor's Classic Monsters, Modern Art (Insight Editions, 2025), which is discussed in the final few pages of the latest issue.

As ever, For more information on Illustrators and back issues, visit the Book Palace website, where you can also find details of their online editions, and news of upcoming issues. Issue 49 will feature Gregory Manchess, Frank Cho and Hannah Gillingham, plus a complete Wes Slade story.  Looking further ahead, issue 50 will have features on David Palumbo, Mike Noble and Ron Embleton.

Comic Cuts — 26 September 2025

I'm pleased to write that it has been a busy and productive week. In fact, the weekend was somewhat manic as some information I was waiting on for the AIR ACE COMPANION arrived from my partner in comics list-making, David Roach. It meant a little bit of tinkering to the main checklist and dealing with the ripples that made in the artist and writer indexes, but by the weekend I had a book that could be sent off for proofing.

Well, almost. Some stupid fool decided to bold up a bunch of titles, which I worked on until past midnight on Sunday and was back on at 6:30 on Monday morning. And that same fool had also decided to make some alterations to the captions throughout the book, which meant going through all 120 pages again. OK, so both will improve the book in the end, but if I ever catch that fool, I'm going to have words.

All I needed now was a cover, which I have to confess came together rather smoothly and without much fuss on Monday, which meant that I was able to order up a proof alongside a bit of a restock of various other titles. 

The restock is necessary as the sale of the first three MYTEK THE MIGHTY books has sparked interest in some of the other books I've published. I had already ordered some restocks earlier this month, planning ahead for the Comic Mart that's now only eight days away, but I've had a nice little run of sales, which has meant I'm out of a couple of books and running low on a couple of others. Now all I've got to do is keep my fingers crossed that the first batch arrives in time and that I'm left with enough stock to keep people supplied while I wait for the second batch.

I've mentioned previously that keeping sensible levels of stock is becoming more and more problematic. I've now published 46 books over the past 14 years and 36 are still in print (some licensed books have dropped off the Bear Alley list, and a couple of early titles have been taken out of print—the three volume version of Eagles Over the Western Front, for instance, now replaced by The Complete Eagles Over the Western Front). Trying to keep 36 titles in print without bankrupting myself isn't always easy as there can be some big calls on my bank account on occasions—such as now, where I've paid for a fairly large (for me) first print run of MYTEK volume 3, the associated license fee for that book and additional copies of PHANTOM PATROL, two restock print runs, plus the usual sundries like envelopes, book wraps and sticky labels.

There's also the simple matter of space. I just don't have the space to hold too many boxes of unsold stock. I've said before, the house is starting to bulge around the middle and that makes our landlady nervous.

Thanks to family visits, we've had a couple of days where we've managed to get out of the house, which has been nice, given how busy I've been. We paid a visit to one of the local pubs with my Mum on Tuesday and to a restaurant with Mel's parents on Thursday. We also passed on a couple of pounds of unripened tomatoes for turning into chutney as it doesn't seem likely that they will ripen. We've had a good year for cucumbers — we've had a dozen from the one plant — but we've probably only had maybe two dozen ripened tomatoes; some are sitting on the window sill in the kitchen, still looking a little green around the gills. But the few that ripened turned a rich red and they've tasted fine.

I've picked up a couple of old paperbacks by someone I'd like to write up, although it'll be a relatively short piece as these are the only two books I have by this particular author. But I dipped into one and there are a couple of turns of phrase that seem familiar. I'm sure I've read something by this guy before under a different name. Some further investigation is needed.

That's all for now. I'm exhausted!

Commando 5891-5894

Ace pilot Bomber Braddock returns in his latest adventure alongside other fantastic tales in Commando issues 5891-5894 on sale from today, Thursday, 25th September 2025!

5891 Braddock: Big Bad Wulf

After his daring escape from an Italian POW camp, Braddock found himself craving his next adventure. Luckily, adventure had a way of finding him! German Focke Wulf Condors were causing problems for the Allies in the Atlantic, and the Brits didn’t have any planes with the same range. Braddock’s solution? Steal one of the German kites, of course! But this mission would require a crack team, and some of Brad’s flight crew were more up to the task than others. Could they pull it off?
    Braddock’s back again — showing you just can’t keep a man like him down. This time, though, writer Ferg Handley has him looking for trouble, and he soon finds a whole heap of it! Carlos Pino is back on artwork duties again for our intrepid pilot, so don’t miss out! 

Story: Ferg Handley
Art: Carlos Pino
Cover: Carlos Pino

5892 Hijack!

Lieutenant Pete Wade was very glad to see the last of Greece. He had seen too many brave men die facing hopeless odds as the Nazis swarmed in with overwhelming numbers. But he wouldn’t have been nearly so pleased if he’d known that he’d be sent back to Greece... by parachute, at dead of night. And there would be other enemies to deal with, more dangerous even than the Nazis!
    If you think you might know what this Commando is about, you don’t! RA Montague’s nutty yarn has more twists and turns in it than a snake on a waltzer! But we don’t want to give anything away — it has to be read to be believed! 

Story: RA Montague
Art: Collado
Cover: Penalva
First published 1971 as No. 605

5893 A Coq and Bouille Story

The sleepy resort of Hauteville-Les-Bains in the French Alps was known for its hot springs and fine, salted raclette, it was a haven for tourists to relax and indulge. But in 1940, after conquering France, the Germans marched into Hauteville, destroying the calm atmosphere… there would be no raclette or relaxing for the next five years. 
    Even worse, the Germans started using the town for the nefarious Project X… a secret weapon that would take the Nazis’ vengeance straight to the heart of Britain!
    Don’t be fooled by the delicious raclette mentioned in Suresh’s tale — this story is about resistance in the face of the Nazis’ evil plan to inflict vengeance on the British Isles! With artwork from veteran artist Jaume Forns alongside a cover by relative newcomer Simon Pritchard, who is fast establishing himself as a fan-favourite! 

Story: Suresh
Art: Jaume Forns
Cover: Simon Pritchard

5894 Go for Gold

In the cellar of a villa in Italy, two British soldiers, a lieutenant and a sergeant, found a huge hoard of gold. No-one else knew it was there. No-one would know if they took it for themselves!
    Here’s another cracking Commando on the way — and this one is about Nazi GOLD, which CG Walker’s two ‘heroes’ are unable to resist! With artwork from Escandell and Ron Brown, this issue is 24-carat AU-some! 

Story: CG Walker
Art: Escandell
Cover: Ron Brown
First published 1984 as No. 1815

Rebellion Releases — 24 September 2025

The End Is Here! Pre-Order Nemesis the Warlock Definitive Edition – Volume 5!

The final volume in the Definitive Nemesis the Warlock series sees the cosmic conflict between Nemesis and Torquemada conclude, as they are locked in a struggle with each other which has spanned time and space. Can Nemesis bring down the corrupt regime, and bring peace to the galaxy? And what happens to Purity Brown after the final battle? This volume collects all the stories through to Kevin O’Neill’s final work on the series in 2016.

Written by Pat Mills, this mind-bending volume of Definitive Nemesis features art by Henry Flint (Hawk the Slayer, Judge Dredd), Chris Weston (Paranoid Garden), and Kevin O’Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Metalzoic).

This edition compiles the entire series in order, with the colour centre-spread pages reproduced in their original form. Definitive Nemesis the Warlock is the ultimate way to read one of the most important sci-fi sagas published in the pages of 2000 AD!

Long regarded as one of the crown-jewel epics from the pages of 2000 AD, this new series of paperbacks of Nemesis the Warlock is being published alongside gorgeous hardcover editions with stunningly designed new covers – available only from the 2000 AD webshop – that present O’Neill’s groundbreaking and mind-bending art in all its glory. 

Stories collected in this volume include:

    Nemesis & Deadlock: The Enigmass Variations
    Bride Of Warlock
    Shape of Things To Come
    Tomb of Torq
    Hammer of Warlocks
    Book Ten: The Final Conflict
    Deadlock

Burning with iconoclastic fire and wild invention, Nemesis the Warlock is the satirical sci-fi space opera that helped place 2000 AD as the true cutting edge, and catapulted Mills and O’Neill into the comics stratosphere.

Out on the 25th March 2026, this is the final release of our Definitive Nemesis series, completing the whole story in stunning hardback editions! Pre-order now (paperback or hardback), and prepare yourself for chaos! You can also pre-order the book from Amazon.

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2451
Cover: Cliff Robinson / Dylan Teague.

JUDGE DREDD // AND TO THE SEA RETURN by Rob Williams (w) Henry Flint (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
RED DRAGON by Rob Williams (w) Steve Yeowell & Patrick Goddard (a) Dylan Teague (c) Simon Bowland (l)
BRASS SUN // PAVANE by Ian Edginton (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
VOID RUNNERS // BOOK TWO by David Hine (w) Boo Cook (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
ROGUE TROOPER // GHOST PATROL by Alex de Campi (w) Neil Edwards (a) Matt Soffe (c) Jim Campbell (l)

The Complete Rogue Trooper: Volume 3 by Gerry Finley-Day, Simon Geller, Peter Milligan, Pat Mills, Steve McManus, Grant Morrison (w) Cam Kennedy, Jose Ortiz, Mike Colins, Mark Farmer, Steve Dillon, Will Simpson(a)
Rebellion ISBN, 24 September 2025, 352pp, £24.99. Available via Amazon.

Rogue Trooper: The Complete Collection continues to collect every adventure of one of 2000 AD’s most popular characters, originally created by Gerry Finley-Day (Judge Dredd) and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), this third volume features the work of veteran writers Pat Mills (The Last American) and Grant Morrison (Batman: Arkham Asylum), and artists Cam Kennedy (Star Wars: Dark Empire) and Steve Dillon (Preacher).
    Rogue becomes an intergalactic hitman, targeting key figures in a bid to end the ongoing war.

Battle Action Volume 3 by Garth Ennis, Brian K. Vaughan, John Wagner, Steve White, Rob Williams, Dan Abnett, Torunn Gronbekk (w) Chris Burnham, Dan Cornwell, John McCrea, Henry Flint, Tom Foster, Mike Dorey, PJ Holden, Patrick Goddard, John Higgins (a) 
Rebellion ISBN, 24 September 2025, 144pp, £24.99. Available via Amazon.

BATTLE RETURNS - NOW WITH MORE ACTION!
The third Battle Action collection features the return of Action favourites Hook Jaw, the controversial Kids Rule O.K., and Death Game - one of the culprits behind the suspension of Action in 1976.
    Joining these stories are new adventures for El Mestizo, the Civil War-era bounty hunter, on the trail of a double-agent; German Panzer commander Hellman, who discovers the hard truth behind the cause he fights for; Major Eazy, fighting alongside American paratroopers in the invasion of Sicily; Nina Petrova and the Angels of Death, as the Soviet airwoman sets out to rescue a comrade from behind enemy lines; and Dredger, the ice cold secret agent, whose origin is revealed for the first time.

Kid Kong Goes Bananas! by Alec Worley (w) Karl Dixon (a)
Rebellion ISBN, 24 September 2025, 144pp, £9.99. Available via Amazon.

HE'S APE-SOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!
Kid Kong is an adorable young ape who lives with his wacky, human granny. With a gigantic appetite for bananas to match his huge size, Kid and Gran often find themselves in incredible situations. Whether they're hairdressing with aliens in outer space or time-travelling on Gran's special scooter, fun and laugher are 100% guaranteed!
    Written by Alec Worley (Star Wars Adventures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and featuring the playful art of Karl Dixon (The Beano's Beryl the Peril), Kid Kong is a firm favourite bounding from the pages of the monthly Monster Fun comic!
    Part of the Monster Fun Collection, spinning from the pages of the hit UK comic, this brilliant range of books aims to inspire children to love reading through incredible stories and cool characters.

Anderson Versus Death by Anna Smith Spark
Rebellion ISBN, 24 September 2025, 384pp, £9.99. Available via Amazon. 

In early 2102, Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson sacrifices herself to trap the spirit of the terrible Judge Death, holding him in her mind as her fellow Judge Joe Dredd encases her in an impenetrable polymer. Her comatose body is laid in a place of honour in the Justice Department’s famed Hall of Heroes, to be remembered forever.
    For eighteen months, Anderson lies trapped, sharing her tomb with the monster she defeated. An epic battle rages silently within the Psi-Judge’s skull, as she delves into Death’s secrets and watches her city being destroyed over and over.
    This is the story of Anderson versus Death...

Mytek the Mighty Volume 3 launch

I promised you a video... or threatened you with a video, depending on how you view these things. Please do view this thing!

Comic Cuts — 19 September 2025

Only a few weeks late—I'd originally planned for this to be released mid-August—MYTEK THE MIGHTY Volume 3 has arrived. Two hundred pages of magnificent robot ape action, penned by the insanely imaginative Tom Tully and drawn by Bill Lacey, whose glorious graphics illustrate the thrilling story of the return of Gogra!

Volume 3 is one massive story as Gogra builds his own huge robot in his own image—but he needs Mytek's learning brain to power the metal monster. If you thought Gogra's plans were the epitome of evil in previous volumes, here he is literally pulling the Earth off its axis to blackmail every country on the planet.

Phew!

By the time you read this, I should have everything in place so you can order MYTEK Volume 3. I should have had this ready by the tail end of last week, but there was a bit of a family crisis when my uncle went into hospital following a stroke and, frankly, I didn't want to face launching a book with that hanging over my head. A week on, and with visible improvements being made, it's time to fire up the Bear Alley Books web page and add the latest offering. It will also be available via Ebay, although I think it will work out a little cheaper if you pay via PayPal. If you're in Europe or North America, I'd suggest you pay by PayPal as Ebay's Global Shipping can prove expensive.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do about Amazon. I had an order this week from Singapore and it cost me money to fulfill the order, which came in from Amazon. A £16 book cost me £19 to post and Amazon charged the customer £7. I thought I'd be able to get a good deal posting internationally through Amazon themselves, but the only option they offered was DHL—who wanted £37. Call me cynical, but I think they're trying to drive people towards the Amazon fulfillment programme... but how much that would cost me on every book sold I don't know. Also, they've recently announced that their charges for the programme will go up when they're busy (Christmas, for instance). It's a cynical money-grab that I don't want to be part of, but, unfortunately, Amazon are a part of our lives now and such a big part of the book retail business that sometimes you have to find ways to deal with them. I'll figure out something eventually, but until I do, new books won't be available through Amazon.

I'll keep this short as I have the inevitable launch video to record. Actually there isn't much in the way of news. I'm gearing up for the Colchester Comic Mart on October 4th. Not long to go now! I wrote up the last of the biographical essays I needed, and that leaves one that requires some revision which I'll hopefully get to next week. I have family commitments that will slow me down over the next seven days and I might have to write the next Comic Cuts column on Wednesday, so it might also be very short on news. I'm never sure if "no news is good news" applies to a news column, but at least the news this week is good news not bad!

Rebellion Releases — 17 September 2025

It's here! The jump-on issue of 2000 AD is out this week, with every story starting with a fresh "Part One" - including a new Judge Dredd series by Rob Williams and Henry Flint! And To The Sea Return is an unnerving horror story featuring Dredd and Judge Anderson, who herself stars in a new two-part story which crosses over into the Meg this week as well! We also have the return of Brass Sun to the Prog after several years of lying dormant, while Rogue Trooper kicks off the massive Ghost Patrol storyline, Void Runners returns for more drug-addled revolution, and Thistlebone sneaks back into the comic for a one-off tale! 

Clearly this isn't enough Thrill-Power for you lot, so luckily Judge Dredd Megazine brings over a hundred pages of excitement to September as well! There are two new Judge Dredd stories in your Meg this week, whilst Anderson and Cadet Dredd both conclude inside the issue. We've a new Future Shock for you, the latest chapter of Rok the God - and next month, watch out as The Big Meg celebrates THIRTY-FIVE YEARS of publication!

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2450
Cover: Mark Sexton.

JUDGE DREDD // AND TO THE SEA RETURN by Rob Williams (w) Henry Flint (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRASS SUN // PAVANE by Ian Edginton (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
ANDERSON, PSI-DIVISION // FLOWERS OF EVIL by Alex de Campi (w) Rob Richardson (a) Simon Bowland (l)
THISTLEBONE // THE VOICE IN THE HOLLOW by T.C. Eglington (w) Simon Davis (a)
VOID RUNNERS // BOOK TWO by David Hine (w) Boo Cook (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
ROGUE TROOPER // GHOST PATROL by Alex de Campi (w) Neil Edwards (a) Matt Soffe (c) Jim Campbell (l)

Judge Dredd Megazine #484
Cover: Jake Lynch.

JUDGE DREDD // THE UNREALISTS by Karl Stock (w) Stewart K. Moore (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
CADET DREDD // THE HAUNTING OF ISO-BLOCK 8 by Paul Starkey (w) Nick Brokenshire (a) Jim Campbell (l)
FUTURE SHOCKS: // THE COLLECTION by Andi Ewington (w) Nicolo Assirelli (a) Simon Bowland (l)
JUDGE DREDD // PUBLIC RELATIONS by Joe Ratcliffe (w) Jake Lynch (a) Emily Roach (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
ROK THE GOD by John Wagner & Alan Grant (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Abby Bulmer & Jim Boswell (c) Jim Campbell (l)
ANDERSON, PSI-DIVISION // FLOWERS OF EVIL by Alex de Campi (w) Rob Richardson (a) Simon Bowland (l)

Comic Cuts — 12 September 2025

I had hoped to have the next MYTEK book ready for release this week, but I'm going to delay it until next week as a couple of things have come up which might mean I can't get books out of the house as promptly as I would want to, especially given the problems I had with timely deliveries with the first two volumes. There's a family matter causing some concern and a couple of ongoing projects that I want to focus on for another week before all hell breaks loose (a slight exaggeration) and I spend a couple of days packing books.

It hasn't been all bad news, as I was planning to take things a little easier ahead of the book launch and I've managed to finish one book and start another, and I've caught up on some movies. 

The book, which I shot through in about ten days (quick for me) was Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith, the eighth in his Arkady Renko series (the first was Gorky Park, which was filmed). The story has plenty of engaging elements, the murder of a translator, a journalist and a Russian gang boss, an unsolvable cipher in a notebook, a very expensive bike that has gone missing... Smith often deliberately obscured any clues to solving a mystery, but this one is fairly straightforward, but whodunnit isn't nearly as important as what were they doing and why.

There's also a progression in Arkady Renko's personal life that has been building up in the last book or three, his relationship with Anya and his adopted son, the chess prodigy Zehenya. Their presence is strongly felt and I look forward to seeing how things develop in the next book. (Sadly, I only have three more to read as Smith died earlier this year. I recently updated a cover gallery I put up some years ago.)

The films have been a mixed bag. At the end of most I've thought, "Well, I've watched it now and I never have to do that again." F1 had Brad Pitt and some high speed action, but a hackneyed plot about an old-timer teaching a youngster how to win—mostly by putting other drivers' lives in danger at every turn. The selling point of Nobody is that you believed Bob Odenkirk was just a regular guy and the pleasure in the film was discovering that he was extraordinary. Nobody 2 held no surprises and 90 minutes of Odenkirk punching his way through a family vacation wasn't as fun as I'd hoped. Exterritorial, or Die Hard in the US Consulate in Frankfurt, sees Jeanne Goursaud kicking the butts of every trained soldier she meets in search of her missing son. There weren't any surprises except that I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Pixar's Elio was disappointing. They've done the same kind of thing before and better and while it's a perfectly serviceable movie I spent quite a lot of it wishing I was watching The Incredibles. The Naked Gun also had me wanting to watch the originals, but while comparisons are inevitable, this wasn't as bad as some have painted. It had the same kind of silly jokes you'd expect of a Frank Drebin movie (and, best of all, the original Police Squad! TV series) and some laugh-out-loud moments. Liam Neeson plays it straight, unaware of the chaos around him.

And, finally, the film that kept me up until one o'clock this morning, Kansas City Confidential, a 1952 crime-noir about a bank heist that's blamed on an ex-con. The crooks are masked whenever they meet, so cannot identify each other or the Mr Big behind the job. The crooks are the usual bunch of cowards, tough guys and a sweaty sex-pest played by Lee Van Cleef; the hero isn't just in it for revenge—he wants some of the money, too. And Mr Big has his own plans to sell everybody out. I put this on planning to watch for ten minutes and then doze off, only to be sucked in for the full 95 minutes.

In between, I've been working hard on some biographies of artists. Having written up a British artist last week, I was back to Google Translate for the latest batch: two Italians and an Argentinian who went to live in Italy. I'm enjoying writing these little essays as it is exposing me to a huge amount of European and South American work that I wouldn't otherwise know about. It's a shame that I don't have three lives to live so that I could really indulge myself in reading these strips.

I began writing little biographical essays in the BEYOND THE VOID book and I've continued ever since; they're a feature in the AIR ACE COMPANION and will be a feature in this new index that I'm working on, which will similarly romp through the lives of a dozen or so key artists. 

Mind you, back in 2012 I did a book called NOT FORGOTTEN, which was a collection of 34 essays on comic creators who had died in 2009-10, and it bombed. In the ten years I kept it in print it sold two dozen copies. I kid you not. That's 2.4 copies a year! In the end I thought I'd pull it and one day I'll figure out where I went wrong. All I can say is, if I hadn't written it, I'd have bought a copy.

Maybe I should gather them all together with all the other essays and call it WHO'S WHO IN BRITISH COMICS (Volume 1). Or maybe set up a Patreon or a Substack so that I can earn a bit while I'm writing entries. Something else I need to think about.