Friday, August 22, 2025
Comic Cuts — 22 August 2025
I'm in the eye of the storm as far as work is concerned, waiting for things to happen while various projects are swirling around me. There's MYTEK THE MIGHTY VOLUME 3 at the printers, the AIR ACE COMPANION being looked at by a couple of people and another project still being written.
I've spent the week looking into the careers of various Spanish and South American artists, which gave me a sense of deja vu as the AIR ACE book involved quite a bit of that. It's not the easiest thing to do as almost everything written needs to be translated, and although it's exponentially easier nowadays compared to even a few years ago thanks to the advances in translation software, it's still not easy double checking everything, like when and where strips appeared; thanks to the free flow of comic strips between South America and Europe (but not the UK, of course) and artists relocating (especially between Argentina and Italy), it isn't always obvious.
Also, there's a lot of information repeated and it isn't always right. I spent an hour trying to track down a strips entitled 'Marcie' which appears in Gustavo Trigo's Wikipedia page, his Tebeosfera biography, the biography at Bonelli Editore, and lots of sites that use these as sources. It was mentioned in so many places that I was convinced that it must exist—Wikipedia said that this was the strip that launched him in Europe—but was otherwise unrecorded on the internet. This is true for hundreds of British comic strips, so why not other European countries. It took a while to realise that the biographies that mentioned 'Marcie' did not mention another Trigo strip, '¡Marc!', about a former colonel in the French Army who now heads a special forces group dedicated to combating large gangs.
Now check everything else he's drawn. You begin to see why I'm something of a slow, methodical writer these days.
I'm not taking a poke at people writing on the internet—I use it to gather information as much as the next man—I'm just saying that mistakes can be made and we have to try and check what we can and try to make sure the right information ends up in print.
There are many examples of where I've got things wrong. One that has surfaced recently involves a couple of covers for recent/recently announced books from The Treasury of British Comics with a credit to artist Ted Kearon. This is an error that goes back to the 1980s and I think I know how it started: with Robot Archie. The writer was E. George Cowan, otherwise Edward George Cowan, otherwise Ted Cowan. The artist was known to be E. Kearon (Denis Gifford had him credited this way as early as 1974) and I suspect that, when asked his first name, someone mistakenly heard Cowan for Kearon and said Ted. Easily done, but the misinformation spread and ended up in my Fleetway Compaion book and various other indexes published in the early 1990s.
Fast forward some years and I had my mistake corrected by a family member... and I've spent the intervening years trying to get the error fixed wherever and whenever I can. In the recent cases of The Sludge and one of the Robot Archie books, the cover images up on Amazon and the like would have been submitted when the ISBN was registered. The books themselves have the corrected artist credit. (A shout-out to Keith Richardson at Rebellion who's usually at the end of my emails and has to deal with this kind of thing.)
The mistake still thrives. You'll still find websites crediting 'Wrath of the Gods' to Michael Moorcock, even tho' he categorically denied writing it and payment records proved that the writer was Willie Patterson. Thankfully that error is slowly disappearing and, fingers crossed, might be finally laid to rest thanks to the recent Book Palace reprinting of the story in a glorious hardcover volume.
One good bit of news: the problems I've had getting the MYTEK THE MIGHTY books printed are officially sorted. The last of the late books went out early this week and everyone who has waited patiently for up to six weeks will now have their books.
I have been sitting on a short print run of the first two volumes for a couple of weeks because I didn't want to start selling and having new orders arrive before the "early bird" orders were all fulfilled. Hopefully it means that I'll be able to list the books on Ebay now and can get back to the business of selling books.
And the second bit of good news relating to MYTEK is that I've just signed the contract for the third volume and it should be available next month. I'm not going to jinx things by trying to guess a more precise release date, not after the problems I've had with the first two volumes, but I'm confident that "next month" is a safe prediction.
Labels:
Comic Cuts
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Rebellion Releases — 20 August 2025
The 2000AD website often carries interesting features, which we often draw on here to spice up the rather dry release lists. One regular series is '2000AD Overs Uncovered', which offers some background on how the cover art to various issues has been developed. The latest is for Prog 2445 by Simon Davis, who says of his latest, "I often reference other paintings in my work and in this case, Manet’s ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère’ sprang to mind... I sent Tharg the rough [above left] and once I got the go ahead, went about the not inconsiderable task of trying to paint black flames.
"After much trial and error, I decided the best way would be to actually hold the artwork over a candle and let the smoke ‘paint’ the flames. Although fraught with difficulties and always conscious of the fact that if it went wrong, the whole piece would A) have to be scrapped and started again or B) I would set fire to my studio.
"Happily, it went fine, and I think that bit of unpredictability and chaos helped with the overall effect."
And now, this week's releases...
2000AD Prog 2446
Cover: Jake Lynch.
JUDGE DREDD // THE DOUBLE by Karl Stock (w) John McCrea (a) Mike Spicer (c) Simon Bowland (l)
THE RAVILLIOUS PACT by T.C.Eglington (w) Steven Austin (a) John Charles (c) Simon Bowland (l)
AZIMUTH // ABANDONED BY GOD by Dan Abnett (w) Tazio Bettin (a) Matt Soffe (c) Jim Campbell (l)
SCARLET TRACES // EMPIRE OF BLOOD by Ian Edginton (w) D'Israeli (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
FUTURE SHOCKS // EMMETT’S GIRL by Evie Roebuck (w) Lucas McCoy (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Judge Dredd Megazine 483
Cover: Stewart K. Moore.
JUDGE DREDD // ZOOMER by Joe Ratcliffe (w) Anthony Williams (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
TALES FROM THE BLACK MUSEUM // KILLING CODE by Andi Ewington (w) Luke Horsman (a) Simon Bowland (l)
CADET DREDD // THE HAUNTING OF ISO-BLOCK 8 by Paul Starkey (w) Nick Brokenshire (a) Jim Campbell (l)
ROK THE GOD by John Wagner & Alan Grant (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Abby Bulmer & Jim Boswell (c) Jim Campbell (l)
MEGA-CITY 2099 // CARDIAC ARREST by Liam Johnson (w) Conor Boyle (c) Simon Bowland (l)
Friday, August 15, 2025
Comic Cuts — 15 August 2025
When I wrote last week's Comic Cuts column I was still feeling the utter frustration of late shipping. This turned into the utter frustration of my video editing software not saving files properly, as I'd sat down in front of the camera on Friday, edited the video on Saturday and then spent Saturday afternoon trying to figure out why it wouldn't save properly. Either the picture disappeared, leaving just the audio, or when both appeared they were out of synch after a few minutes.
The solution... well, I had left a little gap in the audio that pushed everything off kilter; then I found that I'd accidentally deleted a little bit of the video (hence the sudden appearance of some MYTEK covers part way through the video... then I couldn't get the video to end where I wanted it to, hence the appearance of those covers again to mask a mystery 1½ minutes at the end of the video (and I still don't know how that happened).
And after all that, I must have tried to export the finished video twenty to twenty five times and it just wouldn't save. The daft thing was it was the easiest fix you could ever have with a computer: I shut down the programme, reopened it, re-loaded the project and it exported without any problems. Well, aside from a couple of other edits I had to make, and each time I simply saved the project, shut down the programme, launched the programme and exported the video file. Simples, as those pesky meerkats would say.
The finished video eventually went up on Sunday morning and I finished writing a little piece on an artist and started another one over Sunday/Monday.
Tuesday was a day off: Mel and I met up with my mum in Maldon and wandered up and down the High Street, visiting a couple of churches and a small art gallery with a remarkable embroidered history of the town, having some food and drinks and, mostly, nipping into every charity shop we could find. You'll recall that Tuesday was a particularly hot day (around 27°), not the best day to spend in the open, or on a bus for an hour and a half each way, but overall it was a fantastic day out.
By Tuesday, I was seeing a lot of the backlog of MYTEK books ship from the printers, with the bulk of the missing orders filled; as of today (Thursday) I believe there is only one outstanding order that has not shipped and that may have changed by this evening. Everyone else should have received their books (and I'm hearing from people who have) or they'll arrive in the next day or two.
Once that one missing order has arrived, I'll list the books on Ebay and on Amazon. I promise you, there won't be similar delays with those orders as I've waited until I have copies to hand. The same will happen with the third volume which I'm hoping will be on sale in September.
After that, who knows. Well, I have an idea that I'm floating with Rebellion but we shall just have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, I have a couple of indexes to work on that will keep me busy for a while.
Labels:
Comic Cuts
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Commando 5879-5882
Commando marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day and the end of World War Two in issues 5875-5878 on sale from today, Thursday, 14th August 2025!
5879 The Batmen of Iki Island
The Japanese thought Iki Island was impregnable, the perfect place to store ammunition in their war against America. Thanks to its deep caves and heavy anti-aircraft defences, bombing raids were useless against the island. As far as anyone could work out, there was nothing that could be done.
Enter two Italian American acrobats from Chicago, brothers Aldo and Matteo Costanzo – they would soon be known as the Batmen of Iki Island!
Move aside DC comics Batman – Commando has TWO Batmen and they’re taking down an entire Island! You’d be batty to miss it!
Story: Damien de Sousa
Art: Vicente Alcazar
Cover: Simon Pritchard
5880 Operation Break-out
August 1945 – Japan was being forced to surrender, and after six long years, the Second World War was over. For many thousands, it had been a bitter, hard fight on land, on sea and in the air. And for Canadian army doctor Harry Murray, his war had started when the Japanese had overrun Hong Kong in 1941.
That was grim enough, but then he found himself a prisoner on a small, nameless island where men could die at the whim of the enemy guards. The only hope in the end for Harry and his mates was to escape…
The second of our VJ Day 80th Anniversary specials and what a corker! With a stunning artwork from the legendary duo Gordon C Livingstone and Ian Kennedy!
Story: Ian Clark
Art: Gordon C Livingstone
Cover: Ian Kennedy
First published 1995 as No. 2879
5881 The Longest War
This is the story of a Korean man who fought in three different armies, on three different sides, over the course of one war.
In 1939, Dae Gwan Lee was press-ganged into service in the Kwantung army of Manchukuo by the Japanese occupiers to fight against the Soviet forces.
Before long, Lee was captured by the Soviets and forced to fight against the German invaders of Russia, who in turn captured him and shipped him to Europe.
Defending France against the D-Day landings, Lee was captured again, but this time by the Americans.
This is his incredible tale of a life during World War Two!
Two debuts incoming in Commando 5881 ‘The Longest War’! Paul Cornell’s first-ever Commando story is inspired by the semi-true story of a Korean soldier during World War Two and is brought to life by comic legend Steve Yeowell in his first-ever Commando issue!
Story: Paul Cornell
Art: Steve Yeowell
Cover: Steve Yeowell
5882 Three Angry Men
August 1945 - Japan was being forced to surrender, and after six long years, the Second World War was over. For many thousands, it had been a bitter, hard fight on land, on sea and in the air. For three battle-hardened NCOs – one British infantryman, a Gurkha and a Sikh – their worst moment had come when a fanatical Japanese regiment wiped out an ambulance train, murdering their wounded relatives and friends. Despite their differences, the three angry men united to hunt down the killers... and collect a debt of blood!
There’s another cracking Commando to round out the commemoration of the end of World War Two and VJ Day in the form of Issue 5882 ‘Three Angry Men’! With Ian Clark on story, and the maestros Manuel Benet and Ian Kennedy on artwork – you can’t go wrong!
Story: Ian Clark
Art: Manuel Benet
Cover: Ian Kennedy
First published 1995 as No. 2880
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Rebellion Releases — 13 August 2025
The Ravilious Pact began its debut run in the pages of 2000 AD with Prog 2440. Written by TC Eglington and drawn by Steven Austin, it’s magic meets the mob, demonic possession meets dodgy geezers in modern‑day London.
It all centres on one Jason Ravilious, mob enforcer for the notorious Boucher family, who’ve ascended to the top of the pile of the London crime families. But the Bouchers are no ordinary bunch of gangsters, and this London isn’t our London. No, this is a world where this crime family have enlisted demonic entities to build up the empire ruling London’s criminal endeavours.
Right now though, things are changing. The long-standing patriarch of the Boucher family has died and the reins of the family business have passed to his unstable son Todd, who’s determined to do things his own way. And that means a hell of a lot of trouble in store for Jason. And that’s without even getting to the whole pact thing.
The 2000AD Website has an interview with the creators of The Ravilious Pact, TC Eglington and Steven Austin, so to learn more about this deliciously dark mix of London gangsters and demons head over to the Galaxy's greatest website.
And now, this week's releases...
2000AD 2445
Cover: Simon Davis.
JUDGE DREDD // TUNNELS by Rob Williams (w) RM Guera (a) Giulia Brusco (c) Simon Bowland (l)
THE RAVILLIOUS PACT by T.C.Eglington (w) Steven Austin (a) John Charles (c) Simon Bowland (l)
AZIMUTH // ABANDONED BY GOD by Dan Abnett (w) Tazio Bettin (a) Matt Soffe (c) Jim Campbell (l)
SCARLET TRACES // EMPIRE OF BLOOD by Ian Edginton (w) D'Israeli (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
NU EARTH WAR TALES // THE LAST DAYS OF FORT NEUROPA by Gordon Rennie (w) Peter Doherty (a & l)
The Sludge — 60th Anniversary Edition by E. George Cowan (a), Bill Lacey, Ernest Kearon (a)
Rebellion ISBN 978-183786520-8, 13 August 2025, 112pp, £18.99. Available via Amazon.
SIXTY YEARS OF TOXIC TERROR!
A strange and terrible living jelly-like substance – the product of nuclear weapons testing – emerged from the depths of the sea near Canada in 1965. Known by the human world as ‘The Sludge’, this unique monster posed a threat to anything that stood in its way. Anything it covered became possessed of a frightening, malignant power aimed against Mankind!
Celebrating sixty years since the character first appeared in the pages of Lion, this collection includes all of the Sludge's appearances from the 60s and 70s, including his crossover into the pages of the Robot Archie strip.
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Mytek the Mighty — why have orders been delivered so late?
As promised, I've put together a little video explainer about the circumstances behind the late delivery of the first two volumes of MYTEK THE MIGHTY. The reason I'm smiling here is that the logjam of early orders seems to have broken and the wait is almost over for the people who ordered early. Why those orders are late... well, watch the video...
Friday, August 08, 2025
Comic Cuts — 8 August 2025
At the close of our last episode we were just about to head out to the pub. Not for a drink (well... not just for a drink) but for the latest show at the Wivenhoe Funny Farm, a monthly comedy show that moves around Wivenhoe to wherever the organizers can find a home. During the summer that's usually at the Horse & Groom pub, which boasts an outside marquee and gazebo, plus the pub garden, so you can pack in upwards of 80 people.
This month the show was packed as it featured Steve Day and Jessica Fostekew, both doing full-length Edinburgh previews, so we got two solid hours of comedy for our £17.00 (for two tickets). Steve Day we've seen before, at an infamous (amongst Funny Farm-goers) gig at the local cricket ground a few years ago, where there was a cricket match on the same day that ran into the evening; I never did learn what the precise problem was, but the fact that the audience for the comedy gig was packed into the bar, preventing the teams from having an after-match tipple, might have been the problem. Anyway, we could hear some raised voices and they took forever to clear off. At thatpoint we got to see Steve Day, who is profoundly deaf, so he missed all the arguments.
His set was based around misheard lyrics in songs, interspersed with stories from his life and a bit of "dad dancing" along to the tracks. Great fun.
Jessica Fostekew we've known for seven or eight years through her appearances on TV (Live at the Apollo, QI, Travel Man, etc.) and radio (Sturdy Girl Club). She's been on our "want to see live" list for a while, so imagine how happy we were to hear that she was going to be appearing locally within walking distance.
The show is called 'Iconic Breath', which – like Steve Day – is based on something misheard, in this case by Jessica's son when he found out about Godzilla's secret power. There are a number of hilarious stories that range from butt dialing the school parents' WhatsApp group to why her son is also the reason behind Jessica's three fingered salute.
It was a fantastic show and I'm looking forward to seeing what Hazel (the remarkably funny compère) has in store for the 20th anniversary of the Funny Farm later this year.
I have the AIR ACE COMPANION mostly done, although I still have a couple of hurdles to jump before I can get a proof. I've been thoroughly distracted by printing problems that have hit MYTEK's launch. I have been assured that progress is being made catching up with the backlog of orders, but I can't quite follow how the orders are being fulfilled. For instance, I ordered proof copies of the next two MYTEK books, separately, one after the other. So they were ordered maybe two minutes apart. Well, I've had volume 4 for some days, but there's still no sign of volume 3.
All I can assume is that the orders that were in the queue when the machinery broke down have been randomly inserted back into the order chain. So someone who ordered a book on the 6th of July may already have their copy, while some of the very first orders processed three days earlier are still waiting to be printed.
As I mentioned above, I'm in the same boat, waiting for orders of my own to arrive before I can get the ball rolling on the next couple of books. There will, however, be a change or two before that happens. I'm thinking that I need to put out another video to explain all this as some folks are still unaware of the problems. Let me just say here that I am on top of them, but I don't have the one answer that everyone wants, which is, when will the books actually ship. I have seen a couple of orders go through in the past week, one of which was my own for the MYTEK proof. The most frustrating thing is that the quality of the books is great. It's just the timeliness of the printing that's the problem.
I'll try to get something together over the weekend to keep everyone updated.
Labels:
Comic Cuts
Thursday, August 07, 2025
Irish Conflict in Comics by James Bacon
There are very few studies of historical events as they are portrayed through comics. An introduction may tackle the origins of individual characters, but generally speaking books about comics are usually about the comics themselves (histories of individual titles or broader histories by Denis Gifford, Paul Gravett or David Roach) and subjects (the war and football comics covered by Adam Riches).
James Bacon's book hones in on the story of Irish conflicts through the ages, dating back to historical depictions of Ireland: the era of Arthurian legend in Prince Valiant and the 15th century in Kevin the Bold; he finds dozens of Irish characters in war books and weeklies; through to stories set in The Troubles in the pages of Crisis; and the continuing depiction in the 21st century.
The intention of the book is to shine a light on a vast number of stories that have remained hidden by simply being buried under the thousands of others that have appeared over years, some of them obscure titles previously only found in lists such as Island of Hate in Battleground (#14, 1964) or A Bit of the Irish in Combat Picture Library (#524, 1972).
Being interested in British comics, these are the entries that I gravitated to, firstly to Charley's War where correspondence reveals how Pat Mills had intended to continue the epic of Charley's family by featuring Charley's son in World War Two and his grandson in Northern Ireland (don't forget, Pat's mother was Irish). But these are stories that were never written.
Introducing a section that covers many war libraries of the 1960s, James notes that "even when an Irish character is portrayed as a bruiser, or cheat, they often redeem themselves, because this is either seen as 'clever', using initiative or deploying a dynamic approach which wins out ... the Irish 'strength' of being a doughty fighter is of course played up and allows for antagonism and positive aggression against the enemy, the Germans." This treatment may stem from having stories written by real-life veterans of the war—scriptwriters for Fleetway and DC Thomson fought in all three services in some of the War's greatest battles—and was at odds with the "no dogs, no blacks, no Irish" attitude of some, and the boorish depiction of the Irish as thick by comedians.
Some surprises include the likes of Come Home, Kathleen in Bunty (1977-78), in which a mistreated Irish lass is worked hard by an English family with airs and graces above their means, and then evacuated (due to the war) to the clutches of Miss Jardine, who maltreats her even more. The Fifth Swan Child (Judy, 1981) sees a troupe of child performers trapped in France just as the Germans invade and James's summation ("the bleakness and tragic end, I was stunned") makes me wish it was available as a reprint.
This is a thoroughly researched book, not just of British comics but also American comics dating back to the war years. There are, of course, mentions of Irish writers such as Stephen Walsh (Commando) and Garth Ennis (everywhere!) who have tried to tackle Irish conflicts in their work. You'll also find entries for a fair few French, Dutch and Italian comics.
James Bacon packs an awful lot into 260 A4 pages. While the subject matter may seem focused and maybe not your cup of tea, there's a lot of contextual material about how war and conflict is portrayed in comics and its likely that one of your favourites, be it Hellblazer or Daredevil, will have a sneaky Irish connection you've forgotten about.
Irish Conflict in Comics by James Bacon
Limit Break Comics ISBN 978-106841973-7, August 2025, 260pp, £12.99 [$15.00]. Available via Amazon.
Labels:
Review
Wednesday, August 06, 2025
Rebellion Releases — 6 August 2025
If you’re hoping to send a chill down your spine this Hallowe’en season, look no further than The Judge Death Mega-Special this October!
2000 AD celebrates 45 years of the undead alien superfiend, Judge Death and his Dark Judges, with an all-new 48 page special which will get your heart racing… just in time for Death to gleefully crush it in his skeletal hands!
The Special will be available via newsstands and comic stores – and international retailers should make note that this is our first Special to be available to order via Lunar Distribution!
Featuring a brand new cover from Judge Death’s iconic co-creator Brian Bolland, each of the stories in this special highlights one of the Dark Judges as they wreak havoc across the universe.
Kek-W and Dave Taylor return to Deadworld as Death plays a game of chance with the last living human alive, while Antony Johnston teams with Lee Carter for a story about Judge Mortis – who can kill with just one touch! Eisner-nominated writer Alex de Campi joins Mark Sexton for new calamity caused by Judge Fire, who is coated in ethereal flame, while Alec Worley and Leigh Gallagher dare to take on Judge Fear!
And don’t forget Death himself, as award-winning novelist Lauren Beukes returns to 2000 AD for a new story with chilling artist Tazio Bettin!
The Judge Death Mega-Special celebrates 45 years of absolute bone-chilling terror – all served with a smile, of course. But don’t think for one moment that the Dark Judges have got it easy: as they cause chaos across the dimension, they’ll find stiff opposition from Judge Dredd, Judge Giant… and of course that curssssed Judge Anderson!!
If you’re looking for a fright – you’ve come to the right place, readers!
The Judge Death Mega-Special is now available to order via Lunar Distribution – or readers can pre-order their issue directly from the 2000 AD webstore!
And now, this week's release...
2000AD Prog 2444
Cover: Lee Carter.
In this issue:
JUDGE DREDD // TUNNELS by Rob Williams (w) RM Guera (a) Giulia Brusco (c) Simon Bowland (l)
THE RAVILIOUS PACT by T.C.Eglington (w) Steven Austin (a) John Charles (c) Simon Bowland (l)
AZIMUTH // ABANDONED BY GOD by Dan Abnett (w) Tazio Bettin (a) Matt Soffe (c) Jim Campbell (l)
SCARLET TRACES // EMPIRE OF BLOOD by Ian Edginton (w) D'Israeli (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
NU-EARTH WAR TALES // TRAITOR by Gordon Rennie (w) Silvia Califano (a) Barbara Nosenso (c) Simon Bowland (l)
Friday, August 01, 2025
Comic Cuts — 1 August 2025
OK, some good news to start with. The backlog of orders caused by the equipment failure at the printers is slowly getting sorted. I had an order dating back to June 30th arrive on July 30th, so hopefully that means that the books ordered between 3rd and 12 July, which I think has been the most badly affected period, should start arriving with readers shortly.
I think part of the hold-up has been that the earlier orders had to be fed back into the system so began their journey all over again. I'm having a think about how I can prevent this from happening again in the future. It hasn't been the best book launch I've managed!
Looking forward, the next comic mart in Colchester is going to be on the 4th of October at the usual venue. There are already plans for a broader art show and I imagine the same dealers will be turning up with some interesting stock. I believe Keith Burns is already confirmed as a guest, so it'll be worth coming down just for the chance to meet Keith.
Before that, I should have the next volume of MYTEK THE MIGHTY out and hopefully also the AIR ACE PICTURE LIBRARY COMPANION. I've just finished writing some pocket biographies of all the artists and writers who don't have a full-length biography in the volume—don't forget that I'm planning a couple more volumes covering the Fleetway war libraries, so potentially there will be another twenty or thirty biographies to write. I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to get them out as it has taken probably four months to write and design the AIR ACE and now I've got another month of proofing, correcting and getting printed copies.
I'm not sure what I'm doing next, but it's likely to be finishing off a project that I started a few years ago. It'll be good to get one of the many titles I've announced over the years finished. Which one though?
I haven't been up to much else. We're having problems with one of our two tomato plants which is suffering from Blossom End Rot—caused by a lack of calcium getting through to the fruits, either through the too tight packing of the roots in the pot we have it in, or a lack of water (which I don't think is the problem as I have been watering them regularly). I wonder if the fact that the plant pot was attacked by ants the week we got the tomatoes. I'm watering the plants more often, and we're looking to buy some bone meal (which will require a trip into Colchester as there's nothing locally), but I'm not hopeful that we'll get a good harvest this year.
I'm thinking that next year we might get the plants out of the pots and replant them, but it's difficult to know where they'll get the same level of sunlight. But I guess anything is better than having them rot on the vine.
We're off this evening to see Jessica Fostekew. Wish us luck—it's an outdoor venue and there's a threat of rain!
Labels:
Comic Cuts
- 19 Aug. Garth Ennis talks to Forbidden Planet TV to talk about Battle Action. (video, 17m)
- 19 Aug. Tripwire catches up with Glenn Fabry. "’ve been smoking since I was 16 so I thought this is it; Blood tests x rays and cat scans ... anyway got the test results back, after I’d told my children I was going to snuff it, results come through 31st of March: No cancer!"
- 2 Aug. A Brian Bolland Judge Dredd cover for 2000AD has sold for over $50,000 (nearly £40k) at auction.
- 2 Aug. JD Wetherspoons have taken the opportunity of refurbishment of The Navigation pub in Kings Norton to celebrate the work of Reg Bunn and The Spider.
- 30 Jul. Rich Johnston reports on Alan Moore's charitable work in Northampton, which has allowed two community hubs to reopen.
- 25 Jul. James Bacon is among the academics discussing the history of Irish comics at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin on Friday, 8 August. "Discover a selection of extremely rare comics dating from the 1930s -1960s, ranging from Greann — “The Only Irish Comic” – published in 1934, by Joe Stanley, 1916 Veteran and Printer, to 1968’s “Éamon de Valera, Hero Of Ireland” as drawn by legendary Fantastic Four artist, Joe Sinnott."
- 24 Jul. Showrunner Allan Heinberg discusses how the finale of The Sandman Netflix series lays the groundwork for a possible return to the Sandman universe. SPOILERS. "No comic book property I’ve ever encountered goes as deep or as wide as Sandman. It’s not an inexpensive show to make. And if we had a viewership that really demanded it and it made financial sense for Netflix, I could happily go on writing Sandman forever."
- 23 Jul. Si Spurrier discusses his departure from The Flash after 25 issues. (video 16m)
- 17 Jul. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) is to direct a new Judge Dredd movie, from a script by Drew Pearce (The Fall Guy, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation). Can I be the 10,000th person to call for Karl Urban to be reinstated as Dredd.
- 14 Jul. Rich Johnston has noted that a scene in the new Superman movie seems to have been lifted from an episode of The Authority by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely. (Spoilers)
- 13 Jul. Loving the Alien is a new podcast, the first episode featuring Sean Phillips talking about his past work, Criminal and the upcoming Criminal TV series from Amazon Prime. (1h 5m)
- 13 Jul. David Lloyd, Carlos Yacolca and Alberto Rayo discuss the webcomic Aces Weekly at AIPT. "Apart from basic maintenance costs, online comics have no need to pay for repro, printing, packaging, and distribution. The pages are just files to be slotted in, sometimes just before the day they’re due to be read, and it’s all just sent down the super highway. And it looks better on screen — no bad printing to worry about — and you can have it really big on your smart TV! Sadly, the mass of comics readers are still hopelessly in love with their customary form on paper and cling to it with annoying tenacity, so despite all the good things we offer for a good cause, we’re still battling for it.”
- 10 Jul. Chris Weston reveals that the MCU is still using comics as concept art, writing on Facebook: "Wow. They've literally reproduced my cover from "Fantastic Four: First Family"! Come on, Marvel Studios, that's got to be worth a couple of free tickets, surely!
- 7 Jul. Al Ewing and Dan Cornwell take Judge Dredd on holiday in the upcoming 2000AD Sci-Fi Special. Ewing: "In some ways, it was like slipping back into an old and comfortable pair of shoes – or tight boots, maybe. Part of that is that it was quite a light brief ... I don’t have to worry that much about what Dredd’s been up to in the years since I last handled the character, or how the politics of Mega-City One have developed – it’s just Dredd being Dredd..."
- 7 Jul. The Sandman showrunner Allan Heinberg explains how the edecision to end the Netflix series after two seasons came about. "I had always thought of 'The Sandman' as a three-season show with 11 episodes in each season," Heinberg admits, but that plan changed once they made Tom Sturridge's Dream their protagonist.
- 5 Jul. Glenn Fabry and Simon Furman have been honoured at the London Film and Comic Con at Olympia and have been inducted into the LFCC Hall of Fame. Rich Johnston has photos at the link.
- 4 Jul. Comics by Perch interviews Mark Millar about his new project with John Romita Jr., Psychic Sam, which is available on Kickstarter now. (video, 59m)
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