Upcoming Releases

I'm sorry to say that I don't always have the time to dedicate to promoting comics the way I'd like to. Back in the days of Comic World we tried to cover the small press with reviews every month and occasional interviews. Well, today there's as vibrant a small press as there ever was, and whole new ways of publishing that mean the small press (and I count Bear Alley amongst their number) can produce some stunning books. Here are just a few that have caught my eye...

Ian Gibson's Lifeboat by Ian Gibson
The 77 Publications, Autumn 2023, £25 (hc) / £18 (pb) / £10 (digital).

Ian Gibson's Lifeboat is the long awaited 60 page book by the artist behind The Ballad of Halo Jones (with Alan Moore), Robo-Hunter and Judge Dredd (John Wagner) and Miracle Man (J.M. DeMatteis).
    Following a hugely successful crowd-fundeder earlier in the year, this special edition of Book 1 of Ian Gibson' Lifeboat contains the first three chapters of his 'Magnum Opus' and offers the reader an exclusive and extensive analysis of Ian's techniques and character development.
    The book features reflections and commentary from those who best know Ian's work and also foreword by long time collaborator, John Wagner with contributions from Steve MacManus, David Roach and Steve Parkhouse.

Candy, Andy & The Bearandas by Alan Dein, foreword by Jamie Anderson.
Four Corner Books ISBN 978-190982921-3, 26 October 2023, 92pp, £15. Available via Amazon.

‘Candy and Andy is such a strange and wonderful sixties time capsule combining off beat creativity, captivating photography, an incongruous narrative, and material that, through a contemporary lens, often borders on the harrowing!’ – Jamie Anderson
    Living in a picture-perfect English village, two panda bears, Mr and Mrs Bearanda, bring up their plastic children, Candy and Andy…

    Devised by Gerry Anderson’s Century 21 Productions (Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet) for the 1960s comic book market, the images created for the Candy and Andy photostrips are a surreal, unique look at domesticity, the family and childhood. Their unusual nature meant they never reached the popularity of other Anderson characters, and the photo story comics were abandoned after just a year.
    Candy, Andy & The Bearandas presents the best of the surviving original transparencies from Gerry Anderson’s brilliantly bizarre project: driving their striped Mini, preparing for Bonfire Night, or going for a boat ride, Candy, Andy and the Bearandas live in an unforgettable, dreamlike world. The carefully restored images are lovingly presented in a faux leather-bound hardback (with foil-blocking and tipped-in cover image).
    It also features a Foreword by Gerry Anderson’s son, Jamie Anderson, and an introduction detailing the history of the Candy and Andy project by historian and broadcaster Alan Dein.

Sherlock Holmes and the Empire Builders Volume 1: The Gene Genie by Joel Meadows & Andy Bennett
Tripwire Comics ISBN 978-139996075-5, 27 December 2023, £25.00 Available via Amazon.

Sherlock Holmes and The Empire Builders is an epic alternate world sci fi adventure featuring The World’s Greatest Detective as people have never seen him before.
     When Watson leaves Holmes to help Crick unravel the DNA helix and finds himself in the employ of England’s most evil man, Holmes is forced to team up with an unlikely group to defeat this monstrous figure and return England to its status quo. With your support here we can get the first part of this exciting graphic novel out to readers!
     Testing the waters with three shorts which ran in Tripwire magazine, we felt that now was the time to debut this in its own graphic novel series. This will be a hardcover with a dust jacket running at 88 pages with 68 pages of story (much of which will be new material) plus character sketches, script pages and an interview offering extra information on the series.
     Covers by Mark Chiarello & Walter Simonson

The Tomorrow People — The Complete Look-In Comics: Volume Two by Angus Allan, John M Burns, Mike Noble, Bill Titcombe, Leslie Branton
Oak Tree Books / Chinbeard Books, February 2024, £39.99.

Oak Tree Books and Chinbeard Books are pleased to announce that ‘The Tomorrow People — The Complete Look-In Comics: Volume Two’ is slated for publication in February 2024 and is available to pre-order today. The collection is released in association with Rebellion and the Treasury of British Comics.
    In collaboration with series creator and writer Roger Price, the team of Robert Hammond and Barnaby Eaton-Jones (the creative forces behind the award-winning ‘Robin of Sherwood — The Complete Look-In Comics’) alongside writer and expert Andy Davidson, have joined forces yet again for the second volume of beautifully restored Tomorrow People strips from the pages of Look-In magazine.
    This announcement follows the successful release of ‘The Tomorrow People — The Complete Look-In Comics: Volume One’ earlier this year.
    “I always think of the comic strip version of The Tomorrow People as demonstrating what it could have been if it had a decent budget,
and with today’s technology.” says series creator, Roger Price.
    This is Volume Two of a two-volume collection featuring every Look-In strip of The Tomorrow People, showcases the creative flair of John M. Burns, Mike Noble, Bill Titcombe, Leslie Branton, and Angus P. Allan.
    It includes pages lovingly restored from the original art boards, concluding articles, features, and posters, as well as a foreword by actor (and Tomorrow Person) Nicholas Young.
    ‘The Tomorrow People — The Complete Look-In Comics: Volume Two’ is available to pre-order now in limited edition hardback from AUK Direct.
    For those that missed out on ‘Volume One’, there are a limited number of copies left available here.