Comic Cuts — 27 September 2024

Hopefully the little video I put together yesterday will have explained what's happening here at Bear Alley Books: I had a third and final proof of THE PHANTOM PATROL through, which looked great; all the necessary contracts are signed and fees are paid; and I've pressed the button on getting some copies of the book printed.

They should be with me first week of October, but I'm taking orders now and if you order in the next week or so, I'll be happy to offer the usual 10% off the cover price for early customers. So £23.00 paid to my PayPal account — which many of you will already know as it hasn't changed since last time — will get you a copy of the book. If you haven't ordered early before, drop me a line at the e-mail address to the right and I'll explain all. Or DM me on my Facebook page. All I ask is that you make sure you include your address.

I will have copies available at the upcoming COMMANDO SWAP MEET at Colchester Baptist Church in Eld Lane, which I've marked on the map below (click on it for the larger size): if you go to the centre of the map and imagine a clock, follow the small hand when it's pointing to 5 o'clock and you should be able to find the Methodist Church. If you're coming in by car there are car parks nearby — there's one off St. Botolph's roundabout which I believe is reasonably priced (I don't know for sure, I don't drive and I'll be coming in by bus!).

I'm still having problems with my shoulder, so I'm not planning to bring in quite so many different books this time. I'll definitely have copies of  THE PHANTOM PATROL, HIGH SEAS AND HIGH ADVENTURES and a couple of other popular comic strip titles. If there's a title that you especially want, and you want to save the cost of postage, let me know and I'll earmark a copy for you. Otherwise I'll be bringing along some copies of our most recent books and maybe a couple of old favourites, if they'll fit in the trolley.

One last thing: the church is right in the middle of town, so there's plenty of other shops you can visit; there are over a dozen charity shop scattered around; and they do really nice bacon sandwiches at the church.

As it was Mel's birthday this week, I've been a bit lazy. I'm still writing about Tom Tully, with a couple of days spent reading 'The Team That Went to War' and 'Johnny Red'. I'd forgotten just how good 'The Team That Went to War' was — a simple premise but masterfully executed.

The rest of the week has been mostly medical, although that makes it sound like I'm falling apart. A week with a blood pressure device had revealed that my blood pressure is all over the place. You're meant to take two measurements in the morning and two in the evening. Well, I started the week with the early measurement at 6 o'clock, which is when we get up, as I was told that coffee can cause higher blood pressure. Measuring it before I have a coffee should, therefore, give a lower reading. Wrong! I found that taking a measurement later in the day, even after a couple of coffees, I was more relaxed and getting better (i.e. closer to where they should be) readings. And the evening tended to be afternoon readings just to get them done. Of the 28 readings, only two I would say were about whee they should be; most were on the higher side, so that'll be more tablets! Oh, well.

For October it's all jabs, pokes and prods as I have a flu jab, a Covid jab, a return trip to the physio and an eye test all lined up. Maybe I am falling apart, after all.

I'll end of a bit of excitement: we went shopping on Tuesday and stood around waiting for the bus, which pulled up after a couple of minutes wait. The doors opened and the driver jumped out, complaining about smoking at the back of the bus. We thought he meant a passenger vaping, but no...

Phantom Patrol is Go!

 Nine minutes of pure self promotion!

Commando 5787-5790

For issues 5787-5790 of Commando, we’re dedicating the whole set to special issues with art and covers by beloved long-time artist Manuel Benet. He’s been working with Commando for more than 40 years, so it only seemed right! They go on sale from today, Thursday 26th September 2024.

5787: Hunter and Bunter

Hunter was a crackshot, a tough, well-trained sergeant. Bunter was lazy and afraid — a useless soldier. From their first meeting, the two hated the sight of one another. Not the makings of a good team at all, but the day would come when each of them would have to depend on the other — or die!
    Our first issue in the set dedicated to Manuel Benet features a classic odd couple scenario with a range of twists and turns courtesy of writer Roger Sanderson. Manuel Benet’s  brilliant character work shines!

Story: Roger Sanderson
Art: Manuel Benet
Cover: Manuel Benet
Originally printed as No. 2538 in 1992

5788: Jungle Killer

In the dark, dank jungles  of Vietnam, danger was everywhere. But Sergeant Clint Bryden of the American Forces was at home there — just like a beast of prey, revelling in the shadows and cover. He became so good at this job that before long, even those on his side began to walk in fear of the…JUNGLE KILLER!
    This dark tale of the Vietnam war was written by Ian Clark who clearly was channelling the great classics of Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. The gritty issue showcases Manuel’s abilities through his careful rendering of the dense jungle undergrowth.

Story: Ian Clark
Art: Manuel Benet
Cover: Manuel Benet
Originally printed as No. 2669 in 1993

5789: The Devil’s Road

You won’t find the name on any maps for this barren, mountainous region, but somehow the Germans had learned about the narrow pass which the local Arabs called “The Devil’s Road”.
    Now the enemy were about to put their knowledge to lethal use and the two men who had stumbled on their secret and might be able to stop them, were in big trouble — spiralling out of control towards the ground in a badly‑damaged aircraft...
    We’re off to the desert in Heptonstall’s action-packed script with some amazing aerial scenes courtesy of master Manuel! They always say “the devil’s in the detail” and Manuel is no stranger to beautiful intricate work which is for all to see in Issue 5789!

Story: Heptonstall
Art: Manuel Benet
Cover: Manuel Benet
Originally printed as No. 2949 in 1996

5790: Twice the Danger

Captain Chris Blower and his company of British paratroopers were assigned a dangerous mission in enemy occupied Sicily in 1943.
    As if that wasn’t tough enough, an American colonel had got in on the act. A real life film star with an inflated sense of his own importance, he knew too much about future invasion plans for his own good.
So when he fell into enemy hands, Chris and his men were suddenly faced with a mission that was doubly dangerous!
    Our final Commando in the special one-off issues dedicated to Manuel is a fun romp about a movie star caught in the throes of battle written by Roger Sanderson. The issue seemed a fitting way to round off this set since Manuel is a bit of a star around Commando HQ after all!

Story: Roger Sanderson
Art: Manuel Benet
Cover: Manuel Benet
Originally printed as No. 3019 in 1997

Rebellion Releases — 25 September 2024

JUMP ON BOARD!

This week's 2000 AD, Prog 2401 is a chance to jump on (or back on) board  the galaxy's greatest comic.

Judge Dredd seeks revenge for Maitland - but will he be allowed to get to the truth? Then, The Out returns for a new series as Cyd finds a new attitude (and job!); mysterious sects rule old New York in Nightmare New York; Brink continues its critically-acclaimed run; and Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard return to Rogue Trooper for "When A G.I. Dies".

2000AD Prog 2401
Cover: Mark Harrison

JUDGE DREDD // SILENCE by Rob Williams (w) Jake Lynch (a) Jim Boswell (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
THE OUT // BOOK FOUR by Dan Abnett (w) Mark Harrison (a) Simon Bowland (l)
NIGHTMARE NEW YORK by Kek-W (w) John Burns (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK // CONSUMED by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
ROGUE TROOPER // WHEN A G.I. DIES by Garth Ennis (w) Patrick Goddard (a) Rob Steen (l)

The Sarge Volume 2 by Gerry Finley-Day & Mike Western
Rebellion ISBN 978-183786248-1, 25 September 2024, 128pp, £19.99. Available via Amazon.

SOME MEN ARE BORN LEADERS - MEN LIKE JIM MASTERS!
Italy, 1943. British sergeant Jim Masters and his section face brutal opposition from the German army. At the same time, Masters must motivate his men and ensure that each individual soldier is prepared for the increasing threat from the enemy - a difficult task as the section now has a lot of inexperienced soldiers amongst its ranks.
    From marauding Tiger tanks to suspicious American paratroopers, this volume includes the final work on the strip by its co-creators Gerry-Finley Day and Mike Western.

The Definitive Nemesis the Warlock Volume 2 by Pat Mills, Kevin O'Neill and Bryan Talbot
Rebellion ISBN 978-183786270-2, 25 September 2024, 192pp, £24.99. Available via Amazon.

The Definitive series of the Nemesis the Warlock saga continues as Torquemada’s crusade to destroy all alien life reaches the planet of the Goths, a species of alien which has modelled their culture on early twentieth-century Britain. Nemesis must team up with the Goth leader, the Ion Duke, to stop them being eradicated by Torquemada's army of Terminators.
    Written by Pat Mills (Marshal Law) and drawn by Kevin O'Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Bryan Talbot (Sandman, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright), this definitive series compiles the complete storyline in order.

Comic Cuts — 20 September 2024.

After the excitement of last week, with the news that Rebellion had signed off on THE PHANTOM PATROL and I was waiting on a final proof to turn up, this week has been the eye of the storm. I'm still waiting for the proof, at which point I will be able to start taking orders... but not until I've seen that final proof.

I'm also waiting on a copy of another book that I have been working on, not as a writer or designer, but simply guiding it through the publishing process. This is FEMALE DETECTIVES IN EARLY CRIME FICTION 1841-1920. Featured here are private detectives and, although some authors have taken liberties with historical authenticity, official police detectives. There are also the committed amateurs who would proudly describe themselves as detectives. The book is divided into entries, each of which deals with a work of fiction which generally falls into one of three categories: a novel, a series of stories or a standalone short story. Both periodical appearances and appearances in book form are covered. Each entry contains a variable blend of bibliographic information and critical commentary with the discussion focusing on the character, career and capabilities of the detective.

It's a substantial book, 460 A4 pages, and it's available at the knock-down price of £21.99 via Amazon where you can also read the introduction and a couple of entries thanks to the "Read Sample" function. If you have any interest in this kind of thing — and I do because of the coverage of Sexton Blake allies and enemies and a number of female detectives who appeared in story papers during the period covered — it's a must-have book. And cheap. And illustrated in black & white.

I've spent almost all week writing about football strips as part of an essay about a British comic strip writer Tom Tully. I started writing this last week and it has grown into an 8,000-word monster, with more to come as I've yet to cover his later strips (outside of Roy). Given how prolific he was, I'm going to have to skip through quite a lot of his shorter-run strips, but I'm trying to give space to everything more substantial... so I'm looking forward to re-reading his years on Dan Dare next week!

We went out to  lunch on Wednesday as a friend was visiting the UK from Canada and I blew my diet clean out of the water. I'm trying to lose a bit of weight as my last trip to the doctors was a bit disappointing. Too much sugar getting into my bloodstream, which isn't good for someone who is overweight and sits in front of a laptop all day.

It was a double-whammy of frustration as my blood pressure was up. I've no idea why — maybe the heat last month, which meant I wasn't sleeping properly. Maybe just stress. Anyway, it was up and that was annoying because my blood pressure is the one thing I've not had to worry about since being diagnosed as diabetic. It was at the top end of OK when I had a face-to-face with the doctor, but it had been recommended that I use a home monitor for a week to keep an eye on things. The little local surgery only has a couple that can be borrowed, so it took three weeks to get hold of one, and I've just started using it... first measurement this morning. Not great, but a second measurement was down into the OK area.

(If you've not done this yourself, the monitor is easy to use and you take two measurements in the morning and two in the evening. Then an AI does something algorithmic with the results and tells you if blood is going to explode out of your eyes. I think that's what they said.)

As for my weight, I had already lost a couple of pounds, but not enough over the summer, despite some walks and some gardening. I've been put off any heavy work because of the rotator cuff damage to my arm, which is still ongoing, despite regular exercise. Since then I've lost another three pounds, but the cold weather and dressing up a bit warmer meant I put two pounds back on! I'm now another pound down, but that might be because the weather has warmed up and I've taken my jumper off.

I think I'll have to give it a couple of weeks and see if I'm actually losing weight. I have another check up in about two months time, so the race is on!

Rebellion Releases — 18 September 2024

Today, all-out war will erupt across the 2000 AD multiverse as the Nort Army invade across the whole of 2000 AD history! Starting in 2000 AD Prog 2400 and concluding in Judge Dredd Megazine 473, Nordland Rising will bring the world of 2000 AD to its knees – all hail the Nort Empire!

But a resistance team will unite to take on the combined forces of the Nort Empire… including Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd, Venus Bluegenes, Bad Company, Major Eazy, Judge Anderson and more! It’s a colossal story, bursting at the seams with future action and incredible warfare, as everyone from the Krool Empire and The V.C.s to the Fiends of the Eastern Front will find themselves choosing sides in the galactic battle.

And so to this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2400 NORDLAND RISING PART 1
Cover: Cliff Robinson / Dylan Teague (cols).

JUDGE DREDD // NORDLAND RISING by Ken Niemand (w) John McCrea (a) Mike Spicer (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BAD COMPANY // THE TORTURE FARM by Peter Milligan (w) Cam Smith (a) Jim Campbell (l)
THE VCs // NORTS & DOUBLE-CROSSES by Dan Abnett (w) Nick Dyer (a) Jack Davies (c) Simon Bowland (l)
FIENDS OF THE EASTERN FRONT // WHAT'S BRED IN THE BONE by Ian Edginton (w) Nick Percival (a) Jim Campbell (l)
JAEGIR // 100 MILLION MARTYRS by Gordon Rennie (w) Simon Coleby (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Simon Bowland (l)
MAJOR EAZY // AFRIKA NORTS by Arthur Wyatt (w) Tom Foster (a) Chris Blythe (c) Simon Bowland (l)
NORDLAND RISING // REPRISE by Ken Niemand (w) John McCrea (a) Mike Spicer (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)

Judge Dredd Megazine 472 NORDLAND RISING PART 2
Cover: Jim Murray

NORDLAND RISING: HIT TWO by Ken Niemand (w) Anthony Williams (a) Simon Bowland (l)
NORDLAND RISING: HIT THREE by Ken Niemand (w) Clint Langley (a) Dylan Teague (c) Jim Campbell (l)
NORDLAND RISING: HIT FOUR by Ken Niemand (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Matt Soffe (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
JUDGE DREDD: FALSE WITNESS by Brandon Easton (w) Kei Zama (a) Eva De La Cruz (c) Shawn Lee (l)
PANDORA PERFECT: PERFECT SOUNDS by Roger Langridge (w) Gary Welsh (a) John Charles (c) Simon Bowland (l)
DEPARTMENT K: MURDER ON THE INTERDIMENSIONAL EXPRESS by Ned Hartley (w) Mike Walters (a) Jim Campbell (l)
TALES FROM THE BLACK MUSEUM: SHADOW OF DEATH by Liam Johnson (w) Conor Boyle (a) Simon Bowland (l)

Comic Cuts — 13 September 2024

Since I was born on a Friday the 13th, I've never been superstitious about them. It's called paraskevidekatriaphobia and it's an irrational fear that some believe in, as is triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number thirteen. I had a look at Wikipedia to check the spelling and it seems to have been something that developed in the early 20th century alongside various other obsessions with the paranormal.

That it's all nonsense is easily proven: how many bad events can you say were the fault of the 13th of the month falling on a Friday? And there have been 688 of them in the past 400 years, so surely there should be at least 688 terrible accidents, emergencies or eruptions... and what do you blame the bad things happening on other days on? Titanic hit an iceberg on a Sunday the 11th, Hindenburg went up in flames on Thursday the 6th, and Krakatoa almost ripped an island apart on Monday the 27th.

There's nothing to fear and a lot to celebrate: and that's what I'm doing today and have been since Wednesday, because Rebellion signed off on THE PHANTOM PATROL and once I have a final printed proof in hand, it should be out towards the end of the month.

I have been tinkering with the Utopian book, having now cleaned up all the scans I have (some good, some not so good); there's a second section about the guy who wrote a lot of the stories for the magazines Utopian put out (Norman Firth) and I need to sort out the scans I have of his books, but it's moving in the right direction.

I'm also working up some material for the next comic strip reprint, a big sprawling essay about the writer of the strip, which I'll probably chop up into a couple of parts as this version includes everything I can, including the kitchen sink. Or should that be kitchen sink drama, because there was certainly some of that in his work.

This is a short column, because I spent quite a chunk of time this week cleaning and cropping photos for the Invasion Colchester column (below if you're on the main page, here if you've come from Facebook), and I need to crack on with all the odds and ends that putting out a new book entails. Fingers crossed, I might have figured out a release date by our next Comic Cuts column.

Invasion Colchester 2024

This year's Invasion Colchester took place on Saturday, with the town centre swamped with cos-players dressed up as everything from Princesses to Predators. This is a charity event hosted each year for the benefit of St Helen Hospice, Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals Charity and MIND (Mid & North East Essex). 

It has been going annually sine 2011, and if you click on the 'Invasion Colchester' tag at the end of this post, you can travel back in time to previous invasions. I haven't been every year (Covid also put a pause on the event in 2020) and (annoyingly) I didn't have a camera with me the first year, but Mel and I have otherwise managed to snap a few pictures over the years.

Congratulations to everyone involved. The pic immediately below comes from the event's Facebook page, but the rest of the photos are by myself or Mel.