Comic Cuts — 25 February 2022

Being a small business sucks sometimes, especially when you're at war with the biggest behemoth in the business world. I've sold through Amazon for many years, but recent changes have made me feel like telling them to fuck off.

They wouldn't even notice my tiny business disappearing any more than a beach would notice one grain of sand being carried away. My hope is that that grain would be jammed in the arse crack of Amazon, irritating every step that it took. The tiniest piece of grit making life literally a pain in the arse.

A while ago I was told that my seller rating had fallen below 95%. Now, this is important because if you drop too far or stay low for too long, they can dump you as a seller. This caught me by surprise because I haven't had a single problem with an Amazon order in all the years I've sold through them. Of the thousands of books I've shipped over the past decade, I've had a handful go astray, which I've usually replaced at my own cost. But with Amazon I have a 100% satisfaction rating with all books sent out promptly and not one has gone missing. I've had no complaints. Not one.

Yet my seller rating was down... and when I queried this I was told that it was because I was sending out my books the wrong way. I had always sent them by Royal Mail 2nd class. Now they wanted books to be tracked, which you can't do cheaply. They said there was an option to label the postage as "stamps/franking", so I did. And that worked for a couple of weeks before I got another message to say that my seller rating had, again, dropped below 95%.

This time their helpful help desk said that the stamps/franking option was for goods that cost below £5. As my books cost more than that, I needed to send them by a method that could be tracked. Twice. Now that rules out sending it "signed for"—where the recipient signs on delivery—which is an option offered by my local post office. Rather it must be posted 24 or 48 hour tracking, options that are only available online rather than through the post office.

I sell enough through Amazon for me not to cut off my nose to spite my face, so I took the plunge of buying a label printer at a cost of just shy of £100. This means that I can have the pleasure of printing my own labels. It also means that the usual £1.99 postage just jumped to £3.60. Plus the cost of the label, which is about 4p. Plus the cost in time.

And at the end of all that faffing around, I then can't post the book at our local post office. No, I have to post it at a Royal Mail Sorting Office, the nearest of which is in Colchester, a £4 bus journey away.

As I said before, I don't sell that many books through Amazon, but I do sell some and I'm not going to be taking a £5.45 hit per book for them. So you might be seeing the prices of my various titles listed on Amazon going up in the near future. Which, of course, means that Amazon's cut of the price will also increase, because they roll the cost of the book and the postage into one number that they then take a percentage of in fees.

And on Monday I got another message saying that my seller rating was down once again. This time because I haven't issued any VAT invoices to customers. Well, I'm not VAT registered and there's no VAT on books here in the UK, so why would I need to issue a VAT invoice? It's just more unnecessary paperwork. Since Brexit, postage costs have soared and I have to fill in customs declaration forms for parcels going out to Europe, where different countries charge different rates of VAT, and some charge reduced rates on books of varying amounts. My sales to Europe have pretty much dried up, so that's not a big problem, although the loss of sales might be in the long run. I might need to look at making some books available as ebooks or maybe doing stripped down versions in a 6x9" format that I can post  abroad more cheaply. Something to think about.

Thank you for listening. Other than that, I'm keeping busy with a big scanning job that has just come in. I'm trying to fit work on Action around it, but there's a lot of artwork needing to be cleaned up, so I think there might be a few late nights ahead.

Rebellion Releases — 23 February 2022

Rebellion is delighted to announce The Galaxy’s Greatest: 2000 AD at 45 - a star-studded online convention celebrating four and a half decades of the groundbreaking British comic!

Featuring celebrity fans and legendary creators, The Galaxy’s Greatest will stream online and for free on 26 and 27 March on 2000 AD’s social media channels and YouTube, and Rebellion’s dedicated Twitch stream.

The two-day show will feature top flight guests on more than a dozen panels, all discussing the impact of 2000 AD on comics and culture over almost half a century, as well as announcements and new merchandise.

Guests from the world of entertainment will include award-winning comedians Robin Ince (The Infinite Monkey Cage), Desiree Burch (Taskmaster, Unf*ckable), Dane Baptiste (Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown) and Mitch Benn (The Now Show), scientist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford (BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science), bestselling authors Ian Rankin OBE (Rebus) and Louie Stowell (Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good), and political commentator Ian Dunt (i newspaper, How To Be A Liberal).

The event will throw a spotlight on the people who have helped make 2000 AD the galaxy’s greatest comic, with creators both new and legendary sharing their stories and insights on the comics-making process — including a feature interview with the co-creator of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, John Wagner, as well as panels with Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher), Rob Williams (Suicide Squad), Alex de Campi (Archie vs Predator), Sean Phillips (Criminal), Anna Morozova (Judge Anderson), John McCrea (Hitman), Dan Cornwell (Rok of the Reds), Aleš Kot (Zero), and more to be announced.

The next 45 years of 2000 AD will also be discussed with owners and publishers Chris Kingsley OBE and Jason Kingsley OBE, and current editor Matt Smith - now the longest serving editor in 2000 AD history.

And with many, many more creator and celebrity guests yet to be revealed, The Galaxy’s Greatest promises to be an unmissable experience befitting such a milestone for Britain’s most groundbreaking comic!

Jason Kingsley OBE said: “This is such a landmark anniversary for 2000 AD and I’m looking forward to hearing from this fantastic line-up of guests just how it has had an influence far beyond its pages.

“When Rebellion saved 2000 AD back in 2000, many people had long predicted its demise - but over the last two decades it has truly gone from strength-to-strength and is now back in its true place as one of the pillars of British culture. As the custodians of its legacy and guardians of its future, we’re proud and delighted to celebrate four and a half decades of Thrill-power with The Galaxy’s Greatest.

Ben Smith, head of Rebellion Publishing, said: “With the pandemic continuing to make in-person events difficult and prone to cancellation, we’ve decided to move our event marking 45 years of 2000 AD online - but it does mean that fans all over the world will be able to join in and celebrate the comic’s creators and legacy.”

The first issue of 2000 AD landed on shelves on 19 February 1977 - a brand new science-fiction title created by Pat Mills that would go on to redefine not just comic books, but become a genuine cultural force in Britain and abroad. Its blend of violent sci-fi action, grim anti-heroes, and anti-authority ethos made it a massive hit, delighting, inspiring, and influencing generations of children and young people.

The comic’s biggest character, future lawman Judge Dredd, created by Scottish-American writer John Wagner and Spanish artist Carlos Ezquerra, would become a worldwide phenomenon, entering the lexicon and inspiring two major movies.

2000 AD is available every week from all good newsagents and comic book stores, as well as digitally from the 2000AD.com webshop and app, alongside its monthly sister title, the Judge Dredd Megazine. Graphic novel collections are available from all good book and comic book stores, as well as online retailers, and digitally from the 2000AD.com webshop and app.

And now, this week's celebration issue...

2000AD Prog 2270
Cover: Brian Bolland

Judge Dredd: The Citadel by john Wagner (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Dylan Teague (c) Annie Parkhouse
Proteus Vex: Desire Paths by Michael Carroll (w)
Jake Lynch (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)
Indigo Prime: Whatever happened to Mickey Challis? by Kek-W (w) Lee Carter (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Kingmaker by Ian Edginton (w) Leigh Gallagher (a) Jim Campbell (l)
Tharg the Mighty: Stars on 45 by David Barnett (w) Robin Smith (a) Jim Campbell (l)
The Order: Fantastic Voyage by Kek-W (w) John Burns (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Brink: Mercury Retrograde by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland

Comic Cuts — 18 February 2022

I'm ploughing on with the history of Action comic now that my scanning commitments are done. At the last count I'd just hit 46,750 words, all of them the right ones, but not necessarily in the right order.

I've reached the point in the story where Action has just returned in its horribly censored form, turned from the comic I loved for its no-holds-barred storylines into the kind of comic that had made me stop give up buying them two years earlier. I didn't want a typical boys adventure comic... I wanted something with better stories with a bit of realism to them, not the fantasy of winning a Grand Prix or a world heavyweight title. There was a reason I didn't read Tiger, and unless your pursuit of glory risked permanent blindness, I wasn't interested.

With little to report, I thought I'd mention a book that has come my way from the prolific Chris Harte, about the Victorian-era magazine, Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches. Not my usual cup of tea, although I'm interested in the history of magazines (chiefly story papers) from that era, so the introduction makes interesting reading, as it covers some of the back story of the Fores family as printsellers, with Samuel William Fores dominating the trade alongside the likes of Hannah Humphrey and my near namesake William Holland (no relation as far as I know). Fores also held a huge exhibition of cartoons and prints in 1789.

It was Samuel's grandson, George Philip Byron Fores, who conceived the quarterly Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches, the first issue dated April 1884. The early reviews were positive, noting the high class writing and excellent illustrations of George Finch-Mason. The magazine's success led to spin-off books in the 1890s, but it trundled along and celebrated its 100th issue in 1908. By this time Finch-Mason had become the mainstay of the magazine, writing under pen-names as well as illustrating; Fores was still the nominal editor, but by the time the magazine folded in 1912 he was in his eighties, and Finch-Mason's health began to give while he was in his sixties.

The book is chiefly a listing of contents of each issue and a name index, both heavily illustrated with examples of illustrations and photos of contributors. Harte has published a number of these volumes, neatly formatted and produced in limited numbers. If you have an interest in old magazines, especially sporting magazines, they're fascinating and with the distinct bonus of not being outrageously expensive to buy.

The book will be available via Amazon shortly (it's officially due out in a couple of weeks) or you can order it direct. Details below.

Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches by Chris Harte
Sports History Publishing ISBN 978-189801016-6, 24 February 2022, 200pp, £9.95. Available via Amazon or directly from the author, price £10.00 including p&p. Make cheques payable to Chris Harte, Braemar House, St. David's Avenue, Carmarthen, SA31 3DN, Wales. The book is limited to 60 numbered copies.

Commando 5515-5518

Brand-new Commando issues 5515-5518 are out today, Thursday 17th February 2022! With exciting action in the Battle of the Atlantic, the North African Desert, the Norwegian fjords, and with mercenaries in Africa! Get ‘em before they’re gone!

5515: War of the Roses

Captain George Rose and Kapitan Zur See Helmut Rose had only two things in common —their rank and their shared last name. In 1941, these two men were destined to meet in the middle of the Atlantic in what was to be a new kind of War of the Roses! But who would be destined to come out on top?!

Brent Towns modernises the battle of the houses of ‘Rose’ in his epic tale of cat and mouse in the Atlantic Ocean, with a little help from Paolo Ongaro’s mighty interiors and a dramatic Neil Roberts cover!

Story | Brent Towns
Art | Paolo Ongaro
Cover | Neil Roberts

5516: Desert Squadron

The dusty battered Hurricanes ranged far and wide over the desert, guns seeking out Nazi target after target. Every pilot was a crack-shot, men with nerves of steel and the courage of lions. All that was, except Pilot Officer David Groves! Hounded by his unrelenting CO who also happened to be his brother, Groves felt like the only thing he was good at was being a failure. That was until he stepped out of his aircraft and began roving the desert on foot!
This classic issue from Lang is brought to life by the masterful AC Kennedy. Its cover by the incomparable Sanfeliz makes Issue 5516 one NOT to miss!

Story | Lang
Art | AC Kennedy
Cover | Sanfeliz
Originally Commando No. 417 (1969)

5517: Snowbound

In frozen Norway, Georg Fischer is on the run. Once part of the Nazi occupation, Georg fled from those who were once his brothers-in-arms! So, with enemies everywhere, Fischer will need more than his wits if he is to survive! His only option is to desert, fleeing into the merciless landscape of the fjords. But with enemies everywhere and death at every corner, Fischer will need more than his wits if he is to survive.
This cracker of an issue is written by Colin Maxwell with interiors by Khato. The late Ian Kennedy’s amazing artwork graces the cover for this Commando, making this issue a stand-out.

Story | Colin Maxwell
Art | Khato
Cover | Ian Kennedy

5518: Soldier of Fortune

Mike Malone was a mercenary, keen to fight wherever the action took him. He didn’t care whom he fought for, but he trusted and respected the men he fought beside and whom he trained. And just when he needed someone else’s help and trust, he got it! And with World War II on the horizon, he was going to need all the help he could get!

What a corker from the minds of Bill Fear, Fleming and Jeff Bevan, who come together to give you this classic from 1983!

Story | Bill Fear
Art | Fleming
Cover | Jeff Bevan
Originally Commando No. 1762 (1983)

Rebellion Releases — 16 February 2022

The ultimate 2000 AD mix-tape has finally arrived – make sure you ask your local comic book store to order big on Best of 2000 AD #0 for Free Comic Book Day!

Free Comic Book Day is the annual event day where participating comic book shops around the world give away special comic books – absolutely free! It’s a celebration of comics as an art form and as popular culture, introducing whole new audiences to comics and supporting local comic book stores.

And with longer page-counts and more thrill-power, Best of 2000 AD is the essential gateway to the ‘Galaxy’s Greatest Comic’

This BRAND-NEW Issue Zero primer for the highly anticipated quarterly graphic novels series features A-listers Al Ewing (The Immortal Hulk, We Only Find Them When They’re Dead) and V.V. Glass (The Last Witch, Assassin’s Creed) teaming up for a brand-new and exclusive Judge Dredd adventure!

Plus, Nemesis The Warlock by Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill (Marshall Law), Superbean by John Wagner (History of Violence) and Mick McMahon (Boba Fett), and a Future Shock at the ends of the earth from Batman Inc. and Die! Die! Die artist Chris Burnham!

And if that wasn’t enough, this issue features a stunning cover by Star Wars concept artist Ian McQue!

Orders to Diamond are now due so make sure there’s a plentiful supply of copies for your local comic book stores’ FCBD – contact them now and ask them to order!

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2269
Cover: Toby Willsmer.

Judge Dredd: 5 In The Cubes by Arthur Wyatt (w) Nicolo Assirelli (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Annie Parkhouse
Tharg's Terror Tales: Foreclosure by John Tomlinson (w) Anna Morozova (a) Jim Campbell (l)
Saphir: Liaisons Dangereuses by Kek-W (w) David Roach (a) Peter Doherty (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
The Order: Fantastic Voyage by Kek-W (w) John Burns (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Proteus Vex: Desire Paths by Michael Carroll (w)
Jake Lynch (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)

Judge Dredd Megazine #441
Cover: Cliff Robinson / Dylan Teague (col).

Judge Dredd: Praise Zort by Rory McConville (w) Staz Johnson (a) Chris Blythe (c) Annie Parkhouse
Death Cap by TC Eglington (w)
Boo Cook (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Diamond Dogs III by James Peaty (w) Warren Please (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Lawless: Ballots Over Badrock by Dan Abnett (w), Phil Windslade (a) Jim Campbell (l)
Surfer by John Wagner (w) Colin MacNeil (a) Chris Blythe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Interview: Brian Bolland and Scott Montgomery by Karl Stock
New comics: The Eagle and the Lion by Karl Stock
Bagged graphic novel: Hawk the Slayer #2 by Garth Ennis (w) Henry Flint (a) Rob Steen (l)

2000AD Encyclopedia by Scott Montgomery
Rebellion ISBN 978-178618561-7, 15 February 2022, 336pp, £39.99. Available via Amazon.

What are the essential Judge Dredd stories? In which progs did The Ballad of Halo Jones run? What year was the first appearance of Nemesis the Warlock? Just who are the Thrillsuckers? Look no further, Earthlets! Every strip and major character from 2000 AD’s trailblazing 45 year history is catalogued and detailed, accompanied by stunning artwork and illustrations. With this show-stopping hardcover collection, must-read characters and storylines from across the cosmos are at your fingertips!

Comic Cuts — 11 February 2022

I've spent half the week looking at Death Game 1999 and trying to learn more about the artists involved in drawing it. While most people will remember Ron Turner from the Spinball days of the strip in the later Action and the Spinball Wars in the merged Battle Action, the name that keeps coming up is Massimo Bellardinelli... but he only drew a handful of episodes. Most of them were handled by two brothers working for the same studio in Rome.

I tried to contact one of the brothers late last year, only to discover that he had died. The other brother... who knows? He seems to have disappeared from the comics' scene many years ago and chances are he has also passed on. He'd be almost 90 by now if still around.

Sadly, the news this week here in the world of UK comics has been dominated by the death of Ian Kennedy. I had the good fortune of meeting Ian many years ago when the team behind Starblazer came down to London to attend UKCAC. This would have been in the autumn of 1988, shortly after I'd submitted a script, a fantasy, although I would have rather have written a galaxy spanning SF yarn as I was hoping to have it drawn by Enrique Alcatena (at that time still a mystery figure as far as we Starblazer fans were concerned).

My fantasy story was accepted and, with a few suggested changes taken on board, was published in December 1989 with a fantastic cover by Ian, which you can see above. During the intervening year a ton of things were happening. I'd managed to write a second acceptable story, but real life was getting in the way: the factory where I was working closed down and I went on the dole for a couple of months before picking up a college course, which turned out to be the wrong course, but the right move as it resulted in me picking up a job in London. So I started commuting, which didn't leave a lot of time for anything else.

That lasted a year and came to an end around September 1990. I made a couple of attempts at getting another story together, but by the time I had something to show the editors, Starblazer had folded and when my attempt at writing a Commando was met with a rejection slip I gave up, wrote The Mushroom Jungle and then got a job editing Comic World.

My second Starblazer also had a brilliant cover by Ian Kennedy. I can't tell you how pleased I was with it. I bought half a dozen copies of that issue at our W H Smiths. It's still one of the favourite things I've ever written.

Meeting Ian himself was a pleasure. Myself and Tony O'Donnell sat with him and the two Bills (Graham and McLoughlin) in a corner of the student bar. Ian was everything you would want from one of your heroes: a polite, gracious, generous gentleman. He discussed his drawing technique and how he would sharpen his pencils to a long point. Why that particular detail should stick in my mind I don't know.

His career spanned seventy years and you can see the attention to detail he always put into his art even in his earliest strips — his Davy Crockett from the mid-1950s is unmistakably his work. He was considered a key artist by the likes of Barrie Tomlinson, who used him to create the look of Dan Dare in the new Eagle and a number of other titles like Wildcat and Ring Raiders.

But it is for his air war strips for Air Ace Picture Library and his Commando covers that he's likely to be remembered. The former need to be reprinted; the latter did get an outing in the Art of Ian Kennedy book, but with over 1,000 covers to choose from, there must be a couple more books that could be put together from this remarkable total. I'd do it in a shot!

I did, in fact, do a reprint of an Ian Kennedy strip entitled Frontline UK, back in 2014. It's out of print now, but you might be able to pick up copies from eBay or Amazon.

Vale Ian Kennedy.

Rebellion Releases — 9 February 2022

It’s the galaxy’s greatest podcast – and The 2000 AD Thrill-Cast is back for a new year!

‘Dredd @ 45’ is now open at the Cartoon Museum in London and Molch-R is joined by museum director Joe Sullivan and Learning Coordinator Steve Marchant to discuss the capsule exhibition marking forty-five years of the lawman of the future. On the way they discuss the process behind the choice of the eight pieces of artwork as well as what makes Dredd such an enduring character and the challenges the museum has faced during lockdown.

The 2000 AD Thrill-Cast is the award-winning podcast that takes you behind-the-scenes at the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic with creator interviews, panels, and more! You can subscribe to the Thrill-Cast on your favourite podcast app, iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also listen now at 2000AD.com/podcast or you can watch at youtube.com/2000ADonline

2000AD Prog 2268
Cover: Neil Roberts.

Judge Dredd: Extraordinary Deaths by TC Eglington (w) Silvia Califano (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Annie Parkhouse
The Order: Fantastic Voyage by Kek-W (w) John Burns (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Saphir: Liaisons Dangereuses by Kek-W (w) David Roach (a) Peter Doherty (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
Tharg's Terror Tales: Roots by PJ Holden (w+a) Simon Bowland (l)
Proteus Vex: Desire Paths by Michael Carroll (w)
Jake Lynch (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)

Comic Cuts — 4 February 2022

I should know by now, but every time I try to guesstimate how long something is going to take, I should immediately double the time and then add another day. I started the week with incredibly good intentions to get the scanning I mentioned last week out of the way. I could, I thought knock the whole thing out on Monday, and check over everything on Tuesday and do any final touches.

By the end of Monday I was about a quarter of the way through the job after spending a chunk of the day answering mail, shuffling some large files off onto external hard drives to give myself some work space, and generally larking about. Tuesday was slightly better, although one of the books I was scanning required a lot more work than I had hoped. On Wednesday I actually managed to finish one of the books, checked and double-checked... only two more to sign off, which I did on Thursday.

Four days slog, not two of laid back tinkering and relaxing reading. It's a good job I had something to hand that kept me entertained.

The Look and Learn Pictorial Museum is a huge, 450-page A4 hardcover with a delightful dust-jacket from a chromolithograph published with the Christmas number of Pick-Me-Up in 1892. It's a good example of the unexpected kind of image that the Look and Learn Picture Library has tucked away in its locker. The book contains 5,000 images, roughly 11 per page, randomly selected and presented, so you will never know what might appear next with each turn of the page.

Editor and owner of the Picture Library, Laurence Heyworth, uses his introduction to discuss the founding the the company, its aims, and the aims of the book, firstly to promote the Picture Library by giving a taste of the over 500,000 images it holds, but also to give the reader a visual grab bag that can be enjoyed just for the delight of looking at beautiful artwork. Winnowing down from half a million to a few thousand meant taking some serious decisions, and something as seemingly simple as getting the artwork to fit the format with the minimum of cropping, which required a newly written algorithm to lay out the 1,344 columns that make up the book.

In practice, it means that each page has some unlikely juxtapositions that are always random and unexpected. To pick just one spread (pages 218-219): two men look over at the Boy's Own magazine he is reading (an image by John Hassall I recognise from the paperback cover of E. S. Turner's Boys Will Be Boys), a teddy bear from Teddy Bear, The Borrowers illustrated by Philip Mendoza, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea from Look and Learn, portraits of Nostradamus, Elizabeth Siddal and Rossetti, paintings of the Battle of Blenheim, Evangeline, Greek dancers, kittens, Nineveh (by Ron Embleton), a Christening party, a tree surgeon, a fallow deer, chrysanthemums and a feast for a group of young chimney sweeps. There are also a couple of bizarre cartoons, one of two be-hatted artist manikins shaking hands and one of clothing making its way upstairs.

Every page has its own surprises and it's the kind of book, beautifully produced, that you can dip into at any time, drink in the delights and put down nearby, ready for another look later. I've had a copy sat next to me for a couple of days now and I'm entertained every time I glance into its treasures.

Look and Learn Pictorial Museum chosen by Laurence Heyworth
Look and Learn ISBN 978-095507722-7, 1 February 2022, 448pp, £60.00. Available via Book Palace.

Commando 5511-5514

In this must-have set, Commando celebrates the 80th anniversary of the formation of the RAF Regiment, the invasion of Sumatra and more! Issues 5511-5514 are out today, 3rd February, 2022.

5511: Escape from Java

Danny Blake and Greg Roberts are skilled Flight Sergeants with the right attitude and enough gumption to see the enemy put in their place — at least they would be if it wasn’t for their windy skipper, Pilot Officer John Foden! With a deathly fear of flak and a painful disregard for his crew, as the Japanese close in, can Danny and Greg escape from Java… alive?

This new story from Ferg Handley highlights the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Sumatra, with stunning interiors from Alberto Saichann and a magnificent cover from the well-loved artist, Keith Burns.

Story | Ferg Handley
Art | Alberto Saichann
Cover | Keith Burns

5512: Night Drop

If he told you there was a U-boat in the middle of the desert, you wouldn’t believe him — but that is precisely what Royal Navy Lieutenant Peter Warren is looking for in the vast reaches of sand in South-West Africa! But the heat and barren wasteland aren’t the only man-killers out here and Peter will have to keep his wits about him if he wants to survive to see another day.

This charming issue from Gentry is well complimented by interiors and cover art from fan-favourite Gordon C. Livingstone.

Story | Gentry
Art | Gordon C. Livingstone
Cover | Gordon C. Livingstone
Originally Commando No. 432 (1969)

5513: Till Tanks Fly

Danny Gillen had a comfortable life guarding RAF bases in Blighty, but as the war ramps up, he finds himself grossly misjudged on the wrong end of a fistfight. Suddenly, he is bound for Algiers with Operation Torch and the brand-new RAF Regiment — supposedly a useless force, until tanks could fly — at least that’s what everyone said until they find Gillen at the heart of the action and prove the Regiment is anything but!

This lively tale is the perfect celebration of the RAF Regiment’s bravery, commemorating its creation in 1942 and focusing on some of their first operations in the deserts of North Africa against Rommel's dreaded Afrika Korps. Commando legend Manuel Benet’s detailed black and white illustrations and full-colour cover bring the Regiment to life. Topping all this off is a special introduction from the Regiment themselves, who contacted Commando last year about the upcoming anniversary.

Story | Andrew Knighton
Art | Manuel Benet
Cover | Manuel Benet

5514: The Golden Eagle

All Joe Doran wants to do is get by in the world and keep his family safe and fed. But the war has thrown a spanner in the works, and the successful thief with a strong moral compass now finds himself on a mission in Nazi-occupied Norway. After years of doing what he must to survive, Joe must find it in himself to resist temptation — but with a solid gold and jewel-encrusted statue in his hands, can he manage it?

This classic story from Bernard Gregg is well represented by Gordon C. Livingstone’s animated interiors with cover art by Jeff Bevan.

Story | Bernard Gregg
Art | Gordon C. Livingstone
Cover | Jeff Bevan
Originally Commando No. 1761 (1983)

Rebellion Releases — 2 February 2022

Some of the greatest artists and illustrators in comics and beyond are coming together for a unique art book to celebrate forty-five years of 2000 AD!

Including famous names and fresh new talent, 45 Years of 2000 AD tasks artists with interpreting some of the galaxy of characters featured in the pages of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, 2000 AD, over the last four and a half decades.

Out on 25 May from all good book and comic book stores, the collection features all-new work by a legion of top talent Jamie Smart (Bunny vs Monkey), Hannah Templer (GLOW, TMNT), Michael Allred (Madman, Silver Surfer), Kevin O’Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Sean Phillips (Reckless, The Fade Out), Colleen Doran (Sandman, A Distant Soil) and many more, bringing new life and fresh perspectives to some of comics’ greatest creations.

It also features the work of Chris Weston, D’Israeli, Henry Flint, Mike Perkins, Richard Elson, Simon Coleby, Staz Johnson, Steve White, James Harren, Dave Kendall, Raid71, Rachael Stott, Kyle Hotz, Eduardo Ocana, Brett Parson, Mick McMahon, V.V. Glass, Kelley Jones, Andreas Butzbach, Vincenzo Riccardi, Sanford Greene, Chun Lo, Francesco Francavilla, The Gurch, Stathis Tsemberlidis, Phil Noto, Jenn St-Onge, Ian Mcque, Annie Wu, Josh Hicks, Lando, John Allison, Mateus Manhanini, Priscilla Bampoh, Langdon Foss and Kev Walker…

Available in a standard hardcover or a special slipcase hardcover, exclusive to the 2000 AD webshop, this is a unique collection honouring four and a half decades of groundbreaking comics!

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2267
Cover: David Millgate.

Judge Dredd: The Dead Chief Judges Society by Kenneth Niemand (w) Rob Richardson (a) Annie Parkhouse
Proteus Vex: Desite Paths by Michael Carroll (w)
Jake Lynch (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)
The Order: Fantastic Voyage by Kek-W (w) John Burns (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Kingmaker: Falls The Shadow by Ian Edginton (w) Leigh Gallagher (a) Jim Campbell (l)
Saphir: Liaisons Dangereuses by Kek-W (w) David Roach (a) Peter Doherty (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)

The Spider: Crime Unlimited by Jerry Siegel, Donne Avenell (w), Aldo Marculeta and Giorgio Trevisan (a)
Rebellion ISBN 978-178618465-8, 3 February 2022, 256pp, £19.99. Available via Amazon.

The Spider is the uncrowned king of the New York underworld, so elusive to the police that he even manages to taunt the Police Commissioner at his retirement party. But Professor Aldo Cummings, a famous but ill-tempered scientist, determined to stop the schemes of the Spider once and for all, invents a ray-machine which will eliminate the evil from a person's personality. But a tragic miscalculation will turn Professor Cummings into the Professor of Power, and he will seek a more direct confrontation with the Spider. The first collection of the Spider stories originally published as part of the Picture Library series. These long-lost and fast-paced pulp adventure stories have never been reprinted before, written by Jerry Siegel (Superman) and Donne Avenell (Adam Eterno).