Comic Cuts — 3 July 2026

After last week's announcement that the next book from Bear Alley will be THE SHRINKER I have very little news. The proof arrived, looked good, I made a couple of minor changes and I'll be ordering a second proof. After that I'll be taking the usual "early bird" orders ahead of official publication with a bit of a discount, and then we'll have the book on sale as usual.

For your delectation and delight (I hope), below are the opening few pages. The story barrels along at a terrific pace, and Mike Western seems to have had a terrific amount of fun using the perspective of the inch-high RAF pilots to give the strip a unique viewpoint. I'll confess here that I'd pretty much forgotten about he strip until earlier this year when I was re-reading another strip in Valiant and spotted the opening pages of 'The Shrinker'.

'The Shrinker' had already started when I began buying Valiant, which was mid-1969, Carlos Cruz had already taken over the artwork, so it was only years later, as I built up a collection of Valiant's earlier years, that I saw the first two tales of Capek and the miniaturized Squadron Leader Flint and Sergeant Slake and mostly out of order thanks to the somewhat random nature of collecting weekly comics. I still had gaps up to about four years ago.

By the time our miniaturized heroes were attacked by the cat, I was gripped.

We've reached the mid-point of the year, so here's the Top 10 bestsellers from Bear Alley Books to the end of June:

1  Action: The Sevenpenny Nightmare
2  Mytek the Mighty volume 4
3  Mytek the Mighty volume 3
4=  Mytek the Mighty volume 1
4=  Air Ace Picture Library Companion
6=  Mytek the Mighty volume 2
6=  Countdown to TV Action
8  Lion King of Picture Story Papers
9  Ranger: The National Boys' Magazine
10  Rocket: The First Space-Age Weekly

Not surprising that the most recent books are selling the best, but also nice to see that the older books are still in that "long tail" of sales, and Lion and Countdown are still finding an audience. So that audience at even the lower end of the Top 10 you can almost count on the fingers of your hands, but the plan for Bear Alley was always to have books that would contribute a small amount every year that would add up to a reasonable wage when multiplied by the 100 books I had under my belt. 

(Yes, it has gone a little bit wrong... I've published 50 books (if you count the volumes of Mytek individually), which is only half my target. I'm going as fast as I can....)

I've mentioned that I've been on a bit of a book-buying spree recently, so to end this week we have some random scans... and the usual advice: keep hydrated and wear a hat, folks, because the hot weather hasn't gone away.

Commando 5971-5974

This week's Commando set includes a fun and fantastical Commando story set in the Norwegian mountains, and a mystery for former detective Rick Brennan in the foggy Ardennes in 1944. Issues 5971-5974 are on sale today, Thursday 2nd July.

5971: Commandos Vs Dragons

Sergeant Terry Banks and his colourful team of Commandos were known for getting the job done. But the Commandos might have bitten off more than they could chew when their next mission, to find and dispatch a Nazi Oberfuhrer obsessed with the occult, led them to the beautiful and mysterious fjords of Norway.
    Nobody could have guessed what lay slumbering in the mountains…

Story: Andrew Knighton
Internal Art: Juan Ferdandez
Cover Art: Graeme Neil Reid

5972: Buccaneer Bob, R.N.

Thrashing in to attack at forty knots, guns blazing, torpedoes hissing from the tubes...that was how they fought their war in the little ships of the Royal Navy. 
    To command one of those MTBs, you had to be brave as a lion, quick as lightning, tough as steel. And Lieutenant Bob Stacey was a guy just like that.

Story: RA Montague
Internal & Cover Art: Gordon C Livingstone
First published 1972 as No.618

5973: The Long, Bad Night

The Ardennes, 1944. A fog descended on the forest, and former detective Rick Brennan found himself in the thick of it. Separated from his unit, he took shelter in a farmhouse with a disparate crew of American soldiers, a captured German and a disgruntled civilian. 
    When one of the men was murdered, Rick was convinced the German was innocent, but he’d have a long, bad night ahead of him trying to catch the real killer.

Story: Sean Mason
Internal Art: Vicente Alcazar
Cover Art: Simon Pritchard

5974: Caught In The Trap
 
For some Burmese tribes, the only way a young lad could prove himself a man was by catching a tiger single handed. Even though the occupying Japanese forbade such hunts, Kam-Lee was determined to carry out the age-old ritual. But he wasn’t the only hunter, for the brutal Colonel Samato was stalking a British fighter-pilot through the jungle. Soon, someone was going to be... Caught In The Trap!

Story: McDevitt
Internal Art: Ibanez
Cover Art: Ron Brown
First published 1985 as No. 1881

Rebellion Releases — 1 July 2026

The latest in Rebellion’s Apex Edition oversized hardcover art books series will feature early work from one of Britain’s most distinctive comic artists, known the world over thanks to his partnership with Alan Moore on the groundbreaking superhero series Watchmen.

With his work appearing from the very first issue of 2000 AD, Gibbons quickly established himself as a pre-eminent talent — his clean lines, bold characters, eye for detail, and inventive imagination winning over a generation of readers and marking him out for greatness.

Due for publication on 11th November 2026, The 2000 AD Art of Dave Gibbons: Apex Edition will give readers a unique insight into this pivotal moment in Gibbons’ career, from establishing himself as the definitive artist on future sports strip Harlem Heroes and revamping the archetypal British comic character Dan Dare, to co-creating the genetically-modified sci-fi warrior Rogue Trooper — the subject of a forthcoming movie written and directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code).

Lovingly put together by Rebellion’s experienced reprographics and editorial teams, this new 128-page collection will presents Gibbons’ work at its true size — all pages will be newly-scanned at high resolution from the original artwork, giving readers an unprecedented up-close look at the work of a comics master.

Measuring 481mm × 371 mm, this Apex Edition will feature work from Gibbons’ runs on Harlem Heroes and Dan Dare alongside pages from robot rescue squad series Ro-Busters, its anarchic successor ABC Warriors, Judge Dredd, and Rogue Trooper.

It will also include many pages from his first collaborations at 2000 AD with writer Alan Moore, including the time-travel short story ‘Chrono-Cops’. Following their work on 2000 AD, the pair would go on to redefine the superhero genre with their stunning work — alongside fellow 2000 AD alumni colourist John Higgins — on the twelve-issue 1986 series Watchmen for DC Comics, which remains one of the best-known and best-selling graphic novels of all time.

The 2000 AD Art of Dave Gibbons: Apex Edition (ISBN: 978-1-83786-761-5) is out on 11th November 2026. The standard edition will be available from all good comic book stores and the 2000 AD webshop at 2000AD.com, while a special, limited edition slipcase edition will be available exclusively from the 2000 AD webshop.

And now, this week's release...

2000AD Prog 2489
Cover: Steven Austin.

JUDGE DREDD // THE OUBLIETTE by Ken Niemand (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Chris Blythe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK // THE CALL OF THE VOID by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
THE FALL OF DEADWORLD // JUSTICE by Kek-W (w) Dave Kendall (a) Simon Bowland (l)
NIGHTMARE NEW YORK // BOOK TWO by Kek-W (w) David Roach (a) Peter Doherty (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
JUDGE ANDERSON // THE VOID by Liam Johnson (w) Rob Richardson (a) Rob Steen (l)

Comic Cuts — 26 June 2026

After the excitement and socializing of last week, it has been a very quiet week. I promised myself that I'd take a couple of days off after such a hectic weekend at the Comic Swap Meet (scroll down for a report on that). 

I sold some books, so the first job was to do a stock take and order up some books. What I actually did was turn on the scanner and scan the covers of all the books I'd bought the previous week. After that, the stock take? No.... after that update some of my old cover galleries (Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Ken MacLeod). Eventually I got around to uploading the cover and contents for the new book, and then I ordered up the restocks alongside a proof copy of... THE SHRINKER.

Yes, that's the next book. THE SHRINKER is a classic weird menace tale from the pages of Buster (1962-65), later reprinted in Valiant (1968-70). I'm using the latter pages because they're a better fit for the size of book I print; Buster was still a tabloid until 1965, which, ironically, would have meant shrinking the pages down significantly.

The story begins with a near miss on a dark and stormy night. An R.A.F. transporter narrowly misses an unlit array on a craggy island and Squadron-Leader Flint and Sergeant Slake return later to ask the owner of a bleak and seemingly long-deserted castle to put a light atop the mysterious pylons.

As they walk towards the castle, the spidery figure of Capek watches over his storage cells, charged by the lightning that has been drawn to the aerial array. Positioning a gull before a strange device that emits a blue light that arcs through the window and hits the approaching R.A.F. men and throws them to the ground. Seconds later, they realise that a vast wall that has appeared before them is the step they were climbing and that they have been shrunk to no more than an inch in height!

The story was the creation of David Motton and Mike Western, and I'm pleased to say that the book will include a foreword from David and an introduction from Pete Western, Mike's son. Mike went on to draw the first two stories featuring the evil Capek 120 of the strip's 200 pages before handing over to Carlos Cruz. David Motton would write four of the five Shrinker stories, taking a short break when Western left, when the strip was continued by Roger Noel Cook.

THE SHRINKER contains all five stories that ran in Buster and Valiant, which would see the evil Capek jailed more than once, only to escape or to be persuaded into helping the population of an island threatened by a volcano, which gives a British space rocket expert an idea: a rocket powerful enough to launch men towards Mars would be impossible... but what if the men and their capsule were shrunk to midget size?

I'm waiting on the proof copy to arrive and once that has been checked I'll be able to figure out a release date. Early- to mid-July seems likely. More news next week.

Rebellion Releases — 24 June 2026

Inside the latest 2000 AD, Prog 2487, the second Bumper Prog of the year, you can see Warwick Fraser-Coombe’s latest multimedia exploration of the iconic characters from the history of the Galaxy’s Greatest. It’s a rather stunning rendering of everyone’s favourite Celtic barbarian, Sláine mac Roth…

This piece is merely the latest of a series of iconic pieces that have been cropping up over the last couple of years or so in both the Prog and the Judge Dredd Megazine by Warwick Fraser-Coombe.

To learn a little from the WFC droid about just how this series of pin-ups came about, together with a longer look at the making of one particular piece, featuring everyone’s favourite pampered and preening pop-star and reluctant superhero… Zenith… visit the 2000AD website. The interview—and more examples of Warwick work—can be found here.

And now, this week's release...

2000AD Prog 2488
Cover: Neil Roberts.

JUDGE DREDD // THE OUBLIETTE by Ken Niemand (w) Jake Lynch (a) Emily Roach (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK // THE CALL OF THE VOID by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
THE FALL OF DEADWORLD // JUSTICE by Kek-W (w) Dave Kendall (a) Simon Bowland (l)
NIGHTMARE NEW YORK // BOOK TWO by Kek-W (w) David Roach (a) Peter Doherty (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
JUDGE ANDERSON // THE VOID by Liam Johnson (w) Rob Richardson (a) Rob Steen (l)

Comic Cuts — 22 June 2026

The latest Commando and British Weekly Comic Swap Meet took place on Saturday. June 20, at Wolstanton Methodist Church in (the clue's in the name) Wolstanton, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, although it is known amongst the organisers as the Stoke swapmeet, as Stoke-on-Trent is nearby.

Last year, we took a trip into Hanley and it was a disappointment; this year we (please welcome to the stage Mr. Karl Kennedy) headed off earlier (7.15am) and drove beyond Stoke to Shrewsbury, right in the centre of Shropshire. I've always wanted to visit Shropshire because that was where Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine novels were set: the Long Mynd, the Stiperstones... they were semi-mythical sounding when I was nine.

Well, it took me a few decades, and I didn't see any of these mystical hills, but Shrewsbury is a beautiful town full of beautiful old buildings. One we visited was a remarkable market building, with stalls set out on two levels. There was even a guy selling comics and annuals... but he wasn't there! A notice on his pitch informed us that Dave was "drinking in Greece". A good secondhand books stall on the gallery level had a few SF novels, but nothing I wanted. But I asked the lady in charge and she recommended a nearby shop...

We met the artist as he was working on this...

... which we visited after lunch, and it was well worth the walk. Welsh Bridge Books had a wall of science fiction from the era I like (A-format paperbacks, painted covers), plus a couple of other shelves. Karl rooted aound the comic boxes and bins and came away with some nice finds. I knew I had to take it carefully as I'd already over-spent on books this week following our visit to Books-on-Sea and an emergency purchase on Ebay (I managed to pick up the third part of a trilogy, so I was forced—forced—to buy the other two books, and a couple more while I was at it). I found some Joe Haldeman titles I didn't have (used to, but like an idiot I got rid of them during one of my irregular culls), a Norman Spinrad I didn't have, and a copy of Randall Garrett's Too Many Magicians, which I've always wanted to read. (An alternate world where magic is a science; I believe it is written in the style of a detective novel and is a locked-room mystery.)

After a mad dash to get back to the car park on time, and a fruitless attempt to visit a nearby comic shop (which wasn't a shop, and was about to close for the day at 3.00pm), we headed to Wolstanton Methodist Church to help Stuart Steele and Ed Walker set up the display boards for the art show. Then off to Andy's to meet up with Andy Yates and his family, Stuart Hume, who was also staying overnight, and Bailey, the friendly family dog.

We returned to the hall to set up tables at 8.00pm and later sat around drinking craft beers and chatting until 11.00. 

Breakfast of champions!

We were back in the hall at 8.00 Saturday morning and I crammed as many books onto the table as I could, then helped carry boxes and crates of comics as others arrived to set up. I took a few pictures of the hall as people were unpacking because I knew I wouldn't have time to do it later. As the 10 o'clock approached, I had a wander around the tables and managed to find some books that I wanted. And, I'll confess now, I had another walk around later when things had quietened down around lunchtime and found yet more books on another table. 

By now I'd bought a dozen books, so I had a nominal target for sales. I need to get into double figures to make the trip worthwhile financially—I chip in for petrol and food with Karl, and there are one or two incidental costs, but the big cost of accommodation is taken care of by Andy; with the additional spending, I needed to sell a dozen books of my own.

The Bear Alley Books table... I've now published too many books to fit!

The first sale came a few minutes in. It was around that time that Mike Chinn, on the table next to mine, arrived and began unpacking, and we chatted throughout the show as we're both print on demand authors trying to flog our own wares. Shows can be nervous times, because you simply don't know who will come through the door and how much money they have to spend—it's holiday season, there's football on the TV, the weather was scorching... all excuses not to come out or to spend cautiously. 

One good thing is that I finally had my card reader up and running. I started on that hazardous journey after the previous show and it's far too long a tale to tell here. The long and short of it is that I think I made sales this year because I had the card reader. So all the crying and cursing was worth it.

I did eventually sell 16 books and took about £230; below last year's total, but perhaps to be expected as last year I was able to sell a few books to the dealers but this year I didn't have anything new. (But I will have an announcement on that front on Friday.)

We had a raffle around 2.00pm and I won a copy of Commando signed by Keith Burns—to add to the copy I won at one of the other shows—and a Millennium Falcon chopping board. I had hoped for one of the prints or bits of original artwork, but no such luck this time around. The raffle is always worth a punt.

We started clearing up around 3.00pm as we had a long drive ahead of us. I think we left about an hour later, having said our thank yous and goodbyes and see you next years. Apart from a stop off for some food and a drink—we were both starving as neither of us had eaten much (see photo above)—we made good time and I arrived back home at 7.30pm.

I had to do a stock take yesterday (Sunday) and put in an order for some more books which, coincidentally, came to almost £230. So I just about broke even over the weekend. And this morning I got up to a day ahead that involved packing a few orders that need to go down to the Post Office, sorting out photos, writing this, and defrosting the fridge. And there's nothing like defrosting and cleaning a fridge to bring you back to earth.

Comic Cuts — 19 June 2026

Good evening... yes, I'm posting this Thursday night, because I'm not going to be around on Friday morning to cross-post this to Facebook (my one social media outlet... I haven't embraced Instagram or TikTok and I no longer post on Twitter, buy Teslas or launch satellites through SpaceX—I don't see why I should support or enrich Elon until he buys some of my books).

So... where am I? I'm in Stoke at the British Comics Swap Meet (or Swop Meet as the advertising has it... oops), which is being held on Saturday, 20th June, at Wolstanton Methodist Church, ST5 OHS. This was the first swap meet outside of Colchester I did and had such a good time I even went to Glasgow earlier this year. 

I should have copies of most Bear Alley titles, although some are in short supply as I had a late rush of orders and haven't had a chance to restock. I should also have a card reader, which should make payments easier. While I try to keep prices down, short print runs and rising prices aren't helping matters, so show discounts are slim. But the books are Post-free, which might help customers stretch their pounds a little.

I need all the cash I can get to pay for this week's extravagances. It has been our busiest week in months as we headed out on Tuesday to see Mitch Benn at the Colchester Arts Centre to catch his latest tour, The Lehrer Effect, about one of his greatest influences, Tom Lehrer. By tragic (or useful PR) coincidence, Lehrer passed away three days before Mitch Benn's first show up in Edinburgh last year—which is always the risk you take when writing about a 97-year-old. 

Even if you're not a fan of Lehrer, you'll probably know 'The Elements' (a list of every element in the periodic table) or 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park', which are typical of Lehrer's lyrical cleverness and very dark humour. As Lehrer rescinded his copyright on all his songs, Mitch was able to give us his own renditions of these, adding 16 further elements that have since been discovered to the first. His own songs fitted in beautifully and he has even returned to writing an instant song during the 20-minute break, based on bits of local or national news suggested by the audience: this time around it was Ipswich getting their new bins before we have, the Russians firing on a yacht, and the cat that interrupted a performance of Romeo & Juliet. The last time he did one of these in Colchester it was "Fenton!" about the dog chasing deer in Richmond Park way back in 2011.

The gig was thoroughly enjoyable and we now have the show on a key fob, which contains a ton of songs from the show and many more inspired by Lehrer that Mitch has written over the years. The header pic is of Mel meeting Mitch. Amazing to think we've been attending his gigs since 2007!

Wednesday we went to Southend-on-Sea, although we didn't see much of the sea compared to the amount of time we spent in book shops. I do like a good book shop (who'd have guessed?) and there's a particularly good one in Southend: Books-on-Sea. Has an excellent stock of second-hand books, including a  good selection of science fiction. I bought seven books, but could easily have bought seventy if I wasn't so aware that I'm just about to spend a fortune licensing and printing a new book.

The haul included Alan Moore's The Great When, which I'm really looking forward to reading, and a Ken Macleod novel that I leapt on not realising it was the third part of a trilogy. Now I'm going to have to buy the other two (oh, no, what a disaster!). I picked up a copy of White Fang Goes Dingo and a couple of John Sladek novels, all of which I used to have until I did a big cull back in the late nineties. I'm sure I'm not the only person regretting the decision to pay the rent rather than keep the books.

Finds in charity shops included Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway, a sequel to the works of his dad, John le Carré, and Hearts, Hands and Voices by Ian McDonald, a rather beaten-up copy with a nasty sticker pull that disfigures the lovely Jim Burns cover... but it will fill a gap until I can find a better copy.

One thing I particularly like about Southend is the street art, which you find on any flat building surface. It's amazing. 

Which brings us to today, writing up the above, scanning some book covers, packing boxes with books for sale, writing up a price list, and all the other hundred and one things that need to be done ahead of a show. Just remembered to charge up the phone and the card reader. We're heading off around 7 or 7.30 tomorrow morning for the three-and-a-half-hour drive, but I'm told there's going to be a detour. No idea what or where to. I'll tell you all about it in the next Comic Cuts.

Commando 5967-5970

This week's action-packed Commando set features a brand-new Rayker story and a deadly battle between a Churchill and a Tiger I tank in the unforgiving North African Desert. Issues 5967-5970 are on sale today. Thursday 18th June.
     Also, new to Commando from the 14th June, readers can buy Commando issues direct from dcthomsonshop.co.uk with FREE delivery!

5967: Rayker: Back in The Ranks

Sergeant Moses Rayker, a black man in a white man’s army, fights two wars: one against the Germans and another against racism within the segregated American military. 
    After extreme losses during the German surprise attack in the Ardennes, General John Lee asks for something new from Santa — Infantry volunteers. Race isn’t important, he says, but anyone who joins needs to be a private or PFC. 
    It took Rayker five years to earn his stripes, but those guys need a leader, and to be one, he’ll need to be… Back in The Ranks!

Story: Simon Topping
Internal Art: Mike Dorey
Cover Art: Mike Dorey & Grant Wood

5968: Dive After Dark

There wasn’t a bomber squadron in North Africa that could outfly the Fleet Air Arm outfit who called themselves “Buckley’s Bats”. Every pilot was an ace and every navigator could find his way across the desert blindfolded. 
     And the planes these supermen flew? Well, they were Fairey Albacores — cumbersome biplanes with a top speed of only 160 mph. Nobody, no matter how good, could win a war flying kites like that… or could they?

Story: Brunt
Internal Art: Mira
Cover Art: Ian Kennedy
First published 1972 as No.616

5969: Desert Duel

North Africa, early 1943. Following a raid on a German outpost, the crew of a Churchill tank nicknamed Lancelot find themselves isolated in the desert. Damaged and relentlessly pursued by a Tiger I tank, their attempt to rejoin their formation turns into a life-or-death struggle against the German tank, and eventually between the commanders of the two crews. As vultures circle overhead, this can only end in a… Desert Duel.

Story: Andrew Knighton
Internal Art: Carlos Pino
Cover Art: Keith Burns

5970: The Sleeping Tiger
 
All his life, Jim Slater had been able to sleep anywhere at any time – at home, at school, even at work. If he had the chance to nod off, he took it, and was soon dozing. Well, tigers like to catnap too, don’t they? And that’s what Jim turned out to be – a sleeping tiger.

Story & Internal Art: Anglo
Cover Art: Philpott
First published 1985 as No. 1874