Comic Cuts — 17 October 2025

It's always nice to begin with some good news. On Tuesday I received three boxes filled with about 60 books, restocking a few titles that I was running low on but also the second proof for THE AIR  ACE PICTURE LIBRARY COMPANION, which is now being re-read yet again. I've also called upon the services of a second pair of eyes to make sure I haven't made any particularly egregious gaffs.

Proofing is a necessary evil. I'm not a fan... I'd rather get on with something new, but I also know I make a lot of mistakes. Not factual—I put a lot of time into research and double-checking facts wherever possible, but that can lead to glitches in the text. A lot of writers will belt out a first draft as ideas bubble up and, once that's written, will go back and revise. For the most part I revise as I go along, as I find new information or correct things that turn out to be wrong. I've been writing a lot of biographical sketches lately and nailing down dates is always a nightmare, especially on foreign strips which may have been published across Europe and South America at various times under various titles. I found myself constantly moving chunks of text around. 

Similarly working on the introductions for the new book, I was constantly moving information around to make it flow better and tell the story more clearly. This can be as simple as altering a couple of sentences, shifting a couple of paragraphs to an earlier or later place in the narrative, or cutting out a whole section and reworking it for elsewhere in the book. 

What this means is that, once I'm finished, I only rarely need to make any changes. I'll tinker with the text, but once it's done it's done. But it's vital to proof carefully because moving text around can lead to unexpected problems. A particular bugbear with writing about comics is describing what people do: they work, they illustrate, they paint, they draw... remove text and you can find that now you have adjoining sentences using the same word or phrase, and you don't want to describe someone as "illustrating an illustration" or say "he drew" followed by "he then drew" and "later he drew"—it might be factually right, but it reads like an unfortunate stutter on paper.

Proofing for me usually consists of weeding out these little artifacts left by shifting things around or adding / changing details as I come upon them. And typos. For a writer, my spelling isn't always what it should be. And I know what I meant to write, so I don't always see what I actually wrote. That's why a second set of eyes is necessary when it comes to proofing.

Getting this book and the fourth volume of MYTEK THE MIGHTY sorted has meant that my work on the ACTION INDEX has been a bit stop-start, although I have now got a list of the contents of the Summer Specials and Annuals sorted and I've scanned a whole bunch of covers. The next step is to read some of the later stories that I didn't read at the time as I was one of the readers who deserted the comic when it returned to the newsstands after a two month gap in publication.  You could instantly tell that something had happened and the stories were somehow less Action and more tale-end Valiant (which I had also given up on a year or two earlier). Anyway, that's a whole other story... which I'm sure will be told when I get the ACTION INDEX into publishable form.

My trip to Specsavers to see if I needed new glasses was last week's cliffhanger. Well, the (more) good news is that my prescription has barely changed, so my old glasses will do me for another two years. Phew! That money is better spent on books. As there is no Paperback & Pulp Book Fair this month, I've treated myself to a bit of retail therapy and bought a few odds and ends that I've spotted on Ebay and some polypropylene bags to put them in. I'll have to wait until next year before I can get bags that will fit digest-sized paperbacks, but I can get started cleaning some of my older paperbacks, doing little bits of repair work to stop them disintegrating, and bag them up to keep them safe—something I've been meaning to do for years but never gotten around to.

Time to get back to the grindstone...

Rebellion Releases — 15 October 2025

‘Tis the season for chills and thrills — and you’ll be positively horrified to find there’s up to 80% off comics and graphic novels collections in Rebellion's Halloween sale!

From terrifying entities in sinister woodlands to tower blocks controlled by malevolent A.I., and from classic horror comics aimed at girls to Judge Dredd battling the undead Dark Judges, there’s something for all tastes in Rebellion's seasonal scare sale.

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2454
Cover: Neil Roberts.

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)

Judge Dredd Megazine 485 — 35th Anniversary Issue
Cover: Laurence Campbell, with Chris Blythe.

JUDGE DREDD // LETTER FROM AMERICA by Rob Williams (w) Colin MacNeil (a) Chris Blythe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
MEGATROPOLIS II by Ken Niemand (w) Dave Taylor (a) Jim Campbell (l)
ARMITAGE // DROKK THE RIPPER by Liam Johnson (w) Staz Johnson (a) Quinton Winter (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
ANDERSON, PSI-DIV by Alec Worley (w) Ben Willsher (a) Simon Bowland (l)
ROK THE GOD by John Wagner & Alan Grant (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Jim Boswell (c) Jim Campbell (l)
DREADNOUGHTS // QUALIFIED IMMUNITY by Mike Carroll (w) John Higgins (a) Sally Hurst (c) Simon Bowland (l)

Comic Cuts — 10 October 2025

Just in case you missed it, I posted an extra Comic Cuts column on Sunday about my exploits at the Colchester Comic Mart. Scroll down, or follow this link if you want to find out what happened.

You can probably guess how I spent the day after the Mart. Proofing and snoozing and watching the new Shane Black movie, Play Dirty. I've been looking forward to seeing this since it was announced because it's based on the Parker novels by Richard Stark (Donald E Westlake), which I like, and it was co-written and directed by Black, whose previous crime noir movies (The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys) have been excellent. 

This one, not so much. It was good enough for passing a Sunday afternoon, but no more than that. Too many car chases/train chases and not enough sparkling dialogue, some pretty ropy special effects and a John Wick level body count don't add to making this a Parker movie of note. I still rate Point Blank with Lee Marvin and the Director's Cut of Payback with Mel Gibson as the best Parker adaptations. The Jason Statham Parker wasn't bad, but I haven't felt the need to rewatch it. That probably puts it on a par with this new version.

Monday and Tuesday were madcap. I needed to get the proofing on the AIR ACE COMPANION finished and I still had quite a way to go. The rush was because I wanted to get a second proof ordered alongside my restocks—now you know what the takings from the weekend went on! More books!

I'd gone through the book by Monday evening and fired up my old PC on Tuesday morning to make all the required corrections. There was only one major gaff, where I'd managed to put some pictures over the text on one of the biographies. The only way to fix the problem was to drop a couple of pictures. That still leaves about 320 pictures, so the book is still a visual treat. 

I managed to get the new book order placed before midnight on Tuesday, so I should have some restocks, and the second proof with me before the month is out. Any further corrections needed can be done quickly and that puts me on course to get this out alongside MYTEK THE MIGHTY Volume 4 in November, in plenty of time for Christmas as promised.

The Post Office delivered their twice-annual present on 6 October, increasing the price of postage for all "large letter" parcels both domestic and international. I'm going to have to sit down and seriously look at my costs, because my print costs also increased in August and I ended up with an order that came through Amazon actually costing me money—once you totted up the cost of production, postage to get the book to me, then the international postage and packaging to get the book to the customer, it added up to more than what Amazon sent me after taking their large cut.

Talking of postage... Our local post box was found wrapped up in a mysterious move by the Post Office last Monday. Like most villages, we have a village shop that has a post office counter just down the road. The post box sits just outside. There are also a couple of other traditional tall round and smaller square boxes dotted around the place. I use the one nearest for convenience and the fact that it is the most likely to be emptied daily.

I know the people in the shop well (I'm posting stuff most days) and there was confusion and anger. Apparently this was done without warning and not even the Post Office employees sent out in their vans to pick up the post knew anything about it. All the staff were told was that the post box was going to be replaced with an automatic postbox of a kind that scans a parcel as it was posted and opens a drop-down drawer. They're solar powered (so no more knitted postbox toppers) and I might need a "Royal Mail app" to post things. And it might be three months before the new box arrives.

The staff in the shop were already having to face the ire of customers who wanted to post stuff out to North America (Royal Mail suspended shipments recently until a new duty system could be implemented) and  Canada (where postal staff are on strike). Now you can't post anything out of hours at that box, probably the most convenient one for the most people.

Visiting the shop yesterday, I learned that the box would soon be back to normal as it is in a conservation area and the Post Office aren't allowed to put in a new box; in other words, it now looks like the box has been dressed up in a Hallowe'en costume just for October.

I'm writing this Thursday morning as I have an appointment in town to have an eye check-up to see if I need new glasses. I'll leave that as this week's cliffhanger. Come back next week to find out... 

Commando 5895-5898

Spooky season is here as creepy Commando issues 5895-5898 go on sale from today, Thursday, 9th October 2025!

5895 Commando vs Zombies 4

Squatted out at sea, just off Nazi-occupied Europe, was a lonely and isolated island. On it, wrapped in fog, barely visible against the gloom, was a mansion with a dark secret. 
An elite group of highly-trained British Commandos paddled towards that island, unaware of what awaited them. They would be no match for the monsters hidden beneath that house of horrors!
    The living dead return in Georgia Standen Battle’s ongoing series — this time, the story is expanded with twists, turns and riddles alongside monstrous ghouls and zombie dogs drawn by Vicente Alcazar and Neil Roberts! 

Story: Georgia Standen Battle
Art: Vicente Alcazar 
Cover: Neil Roberts

5896 Sign of the Vampire Cat

In ancient Japan, a legend was handed down from generation to generation, a legend about a vampire cat whose presence meant certain death. 
    Now a specialist unit of Japanese airborne troops wore the sign of that vampire cat on their headbands. They were highly-trained killers, and wherever they landed, death stalked with them...
    The second of our creepy Commandos is a fan-favourite issue released from its coffin for the first time in over thirty years! But this is No-sferatu story about fanged Draculas after your haemoglobin — this story features bloodthirsty Japanese soldiers hellbent on destruction!

Story: RA Montague
Art: Franch
Cover: Ian Kennedy
First published 1975 as No. 918

5897 Raven’s Hollow

At the height of World War Two, a trio of strangers arrived in a tiny coastal village with a hidden purpose, only to be told a trilogy of dark tales from its mysterious past... Stories of a Roman Centurion’s plans for a new road through a sacred forest are disturbed, Viking raiders encountering something in the unnatural sea mist, and a conniving witchfinder getting more than he bargained for when he rides into town! Perhaps the newcomers should heed these stories, for Raven’s Hollow has ways of dealing with unwelcome guests!
    Daniel McGachey — the ghoulish master of the horror anthology — is back, with another three stories in a Commando — each spookier than the last. What’s more, this time McGahey’s twisted tales are brought to life by Mike Donaldson’s eerie artwork in his second-ever Commando!

Story: Daniel McGachey 
Art: Mike Donaldson
Cover: Mike Donaldson

5898 Strange Magic 

Against all odds, three men — an Indian, an Australian and an Englishman — had escaped death in the jungle. They had been brought together in a common cause by a man who knew exactly how they were going to fight from now on. And how did he know that? 
    Because he was a magician!
    It’s a kind of magic… in McDevitt’s story for Issue 5898! With a story that will have you HYPNOTISED and has mesmerising artwork from Ibanez and Philpott!

Story: McDevitt
Art: Ibanez
Cover: Philpott
First published 1984 as No. 1786

Rebellion Releases — 8 October 2025

In 1990 a seismic shock swept through the comics industry, as an upstart new comics anthology rumbled into production for the first time. Judge Dredd Megazine, a sister title to the legendary British comics anthology 2000 AD, was brought to life!

Thirty-five years later and the Megazine is still going strong, and this October we'll be celebrating 35 drokkin' years of awesome comics with a celebratory issue featuring the return of beloved characters and series, a celebration of everything that the Megazine has stood for across the last three and a half decades! 

"Thirty-five is an extraordinary birthday for any comic to have reached, let alone one that was tasked with expanding the universe of its older sibling's lead character and has been running neck and neck with it ever since," says Ben Smith, Head of Film, TV and Publishing for Rebellion.

"Such longevity would have been impossible without our editor Matt Smith guiding the Judge Dredd Megazine for more than half its lifetime, nor without the incredible artists and writers who have sustained it with classics, bold experiments, unexpected adventures, new characters, alongside the journalists giving us one-to-one interviews that cover the history and present of the comics medium in the UK. Most important of all, we are enormously grateful to the Megazine's readers; subscribers and newsstand regulars, both physical and digital customers who have ensured its ongoing success." 

From its debut at the start of the 90s, Judge Dredd Megazine has been home to some of the most acclaimed and beloved comics in 2000 AD history, including Judge Dredd: America; Young Death, and Judge Anderson: Satan, as well as debuting new series including Dreadnoughts, Lawless, Armitage, Missionary Man, and Devlin Waugh.

Current editor Matt Smith says "The Meg reaching its 35th anniversary is a fantastic achievement, and testament to the wonderful work being published in its pages that readers are still flocking to. It’s fair to say that before the turn of the millennium the Meg’s future was not guaranteed – but it’s flourished over the past quarter of a century, building on some of the stunning stories of the nineties to become the unmissable companion to 2000 AD. Lawless, Dreadnoughts, Megatropolis, Angelic, Spector and more have shown that the Meg may be approaching middle age but it’s stronger and more vital than ever.’

Judge Dredd Megazine 485 is out on the 15th October, and kicks off with a new one-off America story from Rob Williams and Colin MacNeil - who was the artist on the original ground-breaking America storyline which rocked the very first issue of the Meg back in 1990! America Beeny has aged in real time since she first appeared in that story, and was taken in by the Judges and trained to be one of them. Now an active Judge, Beeny and Dredd head off into the Cursed Earth to find a message from the past waiting for them...

Megatropolis, the alternate-universe retelling of Judge Dredd and Mega-City One from Ken Niemand and Dave Taylor, is another headline feature in October's Meg. Returning to the art-deco noir of this unpredictable universe, which debuted in Judge Dredd Megazine back in 2020, much-anticipated sequel will feature the final published artwork from co-creator Dave Taylor, who sadly passed away earlier in the year. Although he hadn't completed this story at that time, his pages are a reminder of the fierce and passionate flair that he brought to his storytelling - and 2000 AD have pledged to complete the run in tribute to him, with Chris Weston joining the series to draw the final pages.

Elsewhere Judge Anderson has a demonic new case to solve as well, returning to the Megazine which has been her home since 1992 courtesy of Alec Worley and Ben Willsher  After a film premiere is taken over by a demonic incursion, Anderson is on the scene, ready to take the psychic battle to the silver screen!

And if you're looking for hard-hitting political realism in your comics, the return of Dreadnoughts is just what you're looking for. This Meg-Original series has been critically acclaimed for exploring how we went from our current police system to the judge state that will take over in Judge Dredd's era. Mike Carroll, John Higgins and Sally Hurst head back into the darkness this issue...

Also returning is the gruff detective Armitage, who debuted in Judge Dredd Megazine #9 back in 1991. Working the tough streets of Brit-Cit, Armitage has a new case thanks to Liam Johnson and Staz Johnson which finds him exploring a serial killer whose patterns seem to replicate the murder spree of Jack the Ripper! And the anniversary line up is rounded off by the latest instalment of Rok The God, John Wagner, Alan Grant and Dan Cornwell's sci-fi sports series!

The ground-shaking anniversary issue of Judge Dredd Megazine delivers over 100 pages of hard-hitting action and features, and is a true celebration of an incredible run - which continues to thrill readers around the world decades after debuting. Don't miss this latest issue of one of the longest-running comics in history!

Celebrating 35 years of publication, Judge Dredd Megazine 485 will be published on 15th October 2025.

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2453
Cover: Boo Cook.

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)

Scream! The Specials 1985-2024
Rebellion ISBN, 400pp, £49.99. Available via Amazon.

Enter our nightmare world at your peril! Following the acclaimed 40 Years of Scream!, this companion volume features previously uncollected material from the holiday specials spinning out of the main title.
    From the original run in the 1980s to the latest, oversized 40th anniversary issue, this collection completes the Scream! archives with stories by veteran writers and artists Dave Gibbons, Eric Bradbury, Barrie Tomlinson and Tom Tully, as well as recent revival strips including the work of Alex Paknadel, Torunn Grønbekk, Henry Flint, and DaNi.

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.

• 13 Oct. Grant Morrison shows off a couple of pieces of artwork from his bijou collection. Grant was also recently interviewed in July for the Half the Picture vodcast, which was released in September (part 1, 1h 2m) (part 2, 1h 1m), and revealed his Desert Island Comics at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival by John McShane and livestreamed (video, 58m; interview kicks in about 2½ minutes into the video).
• 13 Oct. John Freeman heads down a rabbit hole to look at the career of R. Caton Woodville. 
• 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)
• 3 Oct. Daniele Tomasi interviews Alberto Foche, the Spanish artist who drew Titan's 2017 Dan Dare mini-series written by Peter Milligan. "It’s funny, because I knew the character from the comics, but especially from the Spectrum 128k game from the 1980s. When I spoke with my agent and then the editor to do the tests, I always had in mind the shooter game on that old cassette player."
• 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... (Part 2) (Part 3)
• 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