Comic Cuts

Just to prove there's no rest for the wicked, I'm busy working on the next volume of The Trigan Empire Collection, the tenth of the twelve volumes originally planned back in the summer of 2003. The first volume appeared in October 2004 and we're hoping that we can produce the twelfth before the year is out. The volumes have been published out of order because Rob van Bavel, the publisher behind the project, wanted to use as much original artwork as possible for these editions. That meant starting with the stories where the most artwork was available. And the idea has worked: as more volumes came out, more fans came forward to offer their original boards for scanning.

We're now in the end-run to the series: the volume I'm working on at the moment, The Red Death, is the fifth chronologically and contains some classic storylines of lost cities, invisibility rays and alien invasion. Over the next few months I'm planning to work my way steadily through the last two volumes, namely the first volume, The Invaders from Gallas, and the last volume, The Green Smog, which will include a few bonus odds and ends.

Don Lawrence Collection are also working on the long-awaited 4-volume box-set of Karl the Viking (see the top of the column for a sneak peak at one of the covers) and as soon as I can free up some time in my schedule, there will be two more volumes of Storm--The Collection to work on. And next week I'll... only kidding.

March will see the publication of Frank Bellamy's Robin Hood by Book Palace Books. We are hoping that the first copies will be available at the London ABC Show on March 16th. I'll be happy to sign any copies we have on hand and copies of The War Libraries if you still haven't got your copy yet. (You can find out more about the latter book here.)

News from hither and yon...

* Jog - The Blog accessed the online version of Alan Grant's new Wasted comic (due out on paper shortly). "The stories are heavy on would-be bad taste and basic sex jokes; the level of visual skill on display varies as widely as you'd expect, with some accomplished cartooning sitting next to work evocative of deeply average webcomics." Go read the full review.

* Alex Fitch's interview with Dirk Maggs, producer of many comics' related radio shows (Superman - Death and Beyond, Superman on Trial, Batman: Knightfall, Spider-Man, Judge Dredd, etc.) as well as the fourth and fifth series of Douglas Adams' Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is now available via his Panel Borders blogsite. Meanwhile, Alex Fitch's interview with Dirk Maggs, producer of various genre related shows (An American Werewolf in London, Independence Day UK) as well as the recent adaptation of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, is now available via the Sci-Fi Lodnon website.

* Come on everybody, sing along... "Alan Moore, Alan Moore..."