Comic Cuts — 20 March 2026

It's Friday and I'm on my way to Glasgow. The plan is to be on the road by 6.30 and in Scotland around noon hopefully, so—depending on when you're reading this—I might be on my way, already there or already back home (and to those readers I say "Where have you been? We were worried sick"). 

I'm heading up north with one of the organisers of the Commando Swap Meet. Karl Kennedy, who has used the full power of his charms and possibly some hypnotic drugs to make me leave the house a few times over the past few years. There are three of these Commando Swap Meets—in full the Commando and British Weekly Comics Swap Meet—which, for me, began in October 2023 when I had a table at the Colchester Swap Meet. This was the 12th such event, but the first in Colchester. Back of a fag packet maths tells me that there must have been 11 previous meets at Stoke and Glasgow.

A bit of digging through Facebook reveals they began in 2017, probably in September, probably in Glasgow. I'm basing this on the fact that the third bi-annual meet was on 29th and 30th September 2018.

The original organiser was the late Colin Noble, who passed away in March 2021. The organization has since been run by Stephen Hume, Andy Yates and the aforementioned Karl Kennedy. 

October 2024

That first Colchester Meet was very much an experiment for me. Mel and I lugged books to the venue in a trolley and a sports bag. I see from the Comic Cuts column written the following week that I took £287.

Karl has since taken the pain our of getting books to the venue by offering to chauffeur me and my goods, which has increased year on year until I'm now taking copies of 27 different books to this year's Mart—six full boxes—with the new ACTION: THE SEVENPENNY NIGHTMARE taking up a good chunk of space. But I'm also taking up copies of MYTEK (all four volumes), the AIR ACE COMPANION and copies of other indexes and comic strip reprints. 

I'm amazed to say that Bear Alley has published eleven books since that first show in October 2023, when the new title just out was the revised The Trials of Hank Janson. Since then we've had Beyond the Void (March 2024), Forgotten Authors Volume 5 (May 2024), High Seas and High Adventures (July 2024), The Phantom Patrol (September 2024), Dreaming of Utopia (November 2024), Mytek the Mighty vols 1-4 (July-November 2025), The Air Ace Picture Library Companion (November 2025) and Action: The Sevenpenny Nightmare (March 2026).

June 2025

All these new books to squeeze onto a table alongside the older ones! The problem is that I have no idea who will be coming through the door and what they will want to buy. Last show, for instance, I bought three copies of the LION index and sold all three. I hadn't sold more than one at any of the other shows and often none as they're quite expensive. So I end up taking up lots of stock, just in case. About 120 books this time as it's the first time I've been in Glasgow and I don't know what the people coming through the doors might want.

I suspect it's going to be a full-on day Saturday and we're booked into an Airbnb for Friday night. I think there might be four of us! I'll try to keep a little diary on my phone (which is recharging as I write).

I've had quite a relaxing week. Mel was away at the weekend so I watched a couple of films that I've had sitting around on DVD for ages: Blood Brothers was a Chinese movie set in Shanghai in the 1930s produced by John Woo, but it didn't have the gun-play he's famous for, which was a bit disappointing. And I watched one of the most depressing films ever: On the Beach, based on the novel by Nevil Shute. I haven't seen it for forty years and I'd forgotten how bleak the ending was. Next time I'm on my own for an evening, I'm going to say bugger it and re-watch one of the John Wick movies.

October 2025

I've started working on the next book, which should be another comic strip reprint. I haven't signed any paperwork yet, so you'll understand why I'm keeping stumm about the title. I've got my eyes on a couple of other reprints, too, but I'll need a break from cleaning up artwork as I find it's so desperately dull and tedious and stuffy and boring that I want to be a lion tamer... or at least take a break from the artwork and do some writing. I do have a project that I'm thinking about that I want out before the end of the year. And there's the War Picture Library Companion too, which I'm still keen to do.

I'm also still planning to put out another little video, but the one I'd filmed went rapidly out of date as I launched the ACTION book ten days earlier than what I'd planned. I did do an edit, but I was talking about waiting on the proofs to arrive and I'd rambled way off the intended topic. I'll do another one when I get back from Glasgow and post a few things from the semi-mythical BAM! "Semi" because it actually exists, albeit incomplete. I'll reveal more when I next write.

Rebellion Releases — 18 March 2026

"Every week, 2000 AD brings you the galaxy’s greatest artwork and 2000 AD Covers Uncovered takes you behind-the-scenes with the headline artists responsible for our top cover art – join bloggers Richard Bruton and Pete Wells as they uncover the greatest covers from 2000 AD!"

The series 2000AD Uncovered has been running for ten years now—I think their 10th birthday is in June—and inspired a book from Rebellion in 2021. Each issue of 2000 AD has its cover meticulously examined through interviews with the artist and showing them at various stages, from first thumbnail to finished artwork. It's a fine series and is always worth a look-in for the latest episodes.

From the link you can look back through the whole history of the series.

And now, this week''s releases...

2000AD Prog 2474
Cover: Steve Yeowell.

JUDGE DREDD // CLIMATE CRISIS by Rob Williams & Ned Hartley (w) PJ Holden (a) Jack Davies (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
THARG’S 3RILLERS // WHO IS ADRIAN APOLLO? by Liam Johnson (w) Steven Austin (a) John Charles (c) Rob Steen (l)
FUTURE SHOCKS // STRICTLY BUSINESS by James Peaty (w) Mike Walters (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK // THE CALL OF THE VOID by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
THE DISCARDED by Peter Milligan (w) Kieran McKeown (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)

Judge Dredd Megazine 490
Cover: Cliff Robinson, with Dylan Teague.

JUDGE DREDD // HUMAN GRADE by Geoffrey D. Wessel (w) Boo Cook (a) (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
TALES FROM THE CURSED EARTH // JUDGE GRRRR'S LAST STAND by Ned Hartley (w) Steve White (a) John Charles (c) Simon Bowland (l)
TERRAN OMEGA by PJ Holden
FARGO & MCBANE // FAVOURED SONS by Ken Niemand (w) PJ Holden (a) Quinton Winter (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
DEPARTMENT K // ...NO MORE by Ned Hartley (w) Mike Walters (a) Simon Bowland (l) 
ROK THE WORLD by John Wagner (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Jim Boswell (c) Rob Steen (l)
MEGATROPOLIS II by Ken Niemand (w) Dave Taylor (a) Rob Steen (l)

Comic Cuts — 13 March 2026

I've rather mucked up the scheduling of the release of the video that was meant to come out ahead of the release of ACTION: THE SEVENPENNY NIGHTMARE. I recorded two videos at the end of last week with the intention of editing them and releasing them before the boxes containing the first print-run of the book arrived.

Rather than editing, I spent Sunday morning digging through some of my old comics and tidying up a load of boxes that had built up over the past 15 years and were overwhelming the lights in the little vestibule where I store some of my comic collection. Mel was then off for a couple of days ahead of heading off to a convention, so we tried to relax a bit, which nowadays mostly involves the occasional walk and watching the tele. 

But, of course, that was the day the boxes of books turned up and I decided to take a couple of photos and film on my phone an attempted unboxing while Mel was doing the shopping. Struggling with a phone that has a protective cover isn't easy with two hands, let alone one, especially while the other is trying to slice open a large box with a Stanley knife. As you can imagine, my "unboxing" was a disaster—about 45 seconds of shaky footage, mostly of my arm. It ended up in the bin.

I really should have thought of the consequences of mentioning that I had copies of the book. I'd done a small print run so that I would have copies for Glasgow. I didn't want to risk a larger printing just in case that caused delays and the books didn't arrive on time. But the mention of the book led to a lot of inquiries about how to order the book, was it available abroad, what price was the postage and what was the cost of shipping to various different countries.

If I was spending time answering all these questions, I may as well be selling the book, I thought. So I brought forward the release date from March 21st to Tuesday morning, and we've had a nice steady flow of orders since.

Rather than ramble on, here's the video that was originally meant to precede the arrival of the books. It's only a short one—just me rambling to camera, as usual. Enjoy!

 

Commando 5939-5941

The next Commando set features brand-new Braddock who is headed to Java, a mighty tale about the Sopwith Camel, and some old favourites. Issues 5939-5942 on sale today, 12th March. 

5939: Braddock: Battle for Java 

After his prototype mosquito was destroyed, ace pilot Sergeant Matt Braddock found himself without an aircraft to fly. But being bounced around from airfield to airfield, then evacuated to India, Braddock soon spies opportunity in the form of a Blenheim without a crew. Now he can take the fight back to the Japanese!
    But how does Braddock go from flying his bomber with his navigator, George Bourne, to flying a hurricane fighter plane solo?!

Story: Ferg Handley
Internal & Cover Art: Manuel Benet

5940: You Die At Dawn
 
Alone and weary, Lieutenant Rob cautiously embarked down the boulder-strewn Italian mountainside, his eyes searching the night for any sign of the Nazis. He was cold and tired and felt he could sleep for a week... but still he forced himself on.
    He knew that if he failed in this mission, death and destruction would smash the Allied armies when the first light of dawn lit up the angry sky...

Story: Allan  
Internal Art: Aguilar
Cover Art: Penalva
First published 1971 as No. 600

5941: The Fox Vs The Lion

The Western Front, 1917. Charlie Wilberforce, a British fighter pilot, sees the Royal Flying Corps devastated by the German Flying Circus, with their superior planes and experienced pilots. But things turn around when Wilberforce is introduced to a new plane — the Sopwith Camel!

Story: Andrew Knighton  
Internal Art: Gary Walsh
Cover Art: Keith Burns

5942: Stop Them!
 
The German armoured column roared through the Italian countryside, heading for what was supposed to be a lightly-defended pass through the mountains.
    What they didn’t count on was the grim determination of the handful of British infantry ready to stop them — no matter what the cost!

Story: R. A. Montague  
Internal Art: Ibanez 
Cover Art: Jeff Bevan
First published 1984 as No. 1857

Rebellion Releases — 11 March 2026

A ground-breaking steampunk epic, in which the survival of a clockwork solar system lies in the hands of a courageous young girl!

The Orrery is a fully functioning, life-sized clockwork solar system. Several planets attached to huge metal spars, orbit a great brass sun. For many years, these worlds have fought amongst each other and many have degenerated into minor kingdoms. Worse yet, the sun has begun to wind down, and the outer worlds are starting to freeze while the rest will inevitably follow.

Wren, a young girl who lives on the outer world of Hind Leg, is tasked by her scientist grandfather to find the lost pieces of a key that can restart the sun. Setting off from her homeworld of Hind Leg, Wren is given part of the secret of the lost key that has the power to restart the sun again. Charged with travelling across the various worlds to pick up other parts of the key which was broken up after The Great War, she alone possesses the power to save the galaxy from extinction…

From the creative team behind New Deadwardians, Ian Edginton (Stickleback, Ampney Crucis Investigates) and I.N.J. Culbard (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Deadbeats) Brass Sun is a unique fantasy adventure, executed with panache. One of the most critically-acclaimed series in 2000 AD’s history, the series made a recent return to the pages of The Galaxy’s Greatest in 2025 as a welcome reminder of the creative team’s mastery of comics.

Now, 2000 AD celebrate the series with a new collection which makes Brass Sun available in paperback for the first time! This huge paperback collection includes the first three series:

    Brass Sun: Wheel of Worlds
    Brass Sun: The Diamond Age,
    Brass Sun: The Floating World

Featuring stories set across the fragile clockwork universe which Wren is determined to save, it’s time to live the adventure in this acclaimed, expansive series which has enthralled readers around the world!

Brass Sun Volume One: The Wheel of Worlds will be published on 24th September 2026, and is available for pre-order now!

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2473
Cover: Mark Sexton.

JUDGE DREDD // CLIMATE CRISIS by Rob Williams & Ned Hartley (w) PJ Holden (a) Jack Davies (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
HERNE & SHUCK // POWER TRIP by David Barnett (w) Lee Milmore (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK // THE CALL OF THE VOID by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
THARG’S 3RILLERS // WHO IS ADRIAN APOLLO? by Liam Johnson (w) Steven Austin (a) John Charles (c) Rob Steen (l)
THE DISCARDED by Peter Milligan (w) Kieran McKeown (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)

Rex Power—Invastion of the Fear Bugs! by RAMZEE (w) Claude TC (a)
Rebellion 978-183786522-2, 11 March 2026, 144pp, £9.99. Available via Amazon.

He's a Dino-Cop – from space!
    Rex is an alien descendant of the mighty Tyrannosaurus and a skilled bounty hunter. After one of his bounties - the mad alien scientist, Zardax - escapes, Rex is forced to crash his ship on Earth. Stranded in Catford, south east London, an accident causes Rex to merge with a young, teenage orphan called Korey. Once bonded, Korey and Rex will have to learn how to get along so they can stop an army of Zardax's alien parasites from taking over the district, the city, and then the planet
    Written by Ramzee (Marvel’s Edge of Spider-Verse, The Cheat Book) and featuring the kinetic art of Claude T.C., Rex Power is the freshest new British superhero on the block!

Sinister Dexter: Bulletopia by Dan Abnett (w) Steve Yeowell, Tazio Bettin, Nicolo Assirelli (a)
Rebellion  ‎ 978-1837866663, 11 March 2026, 192pp, £19.99. Available via Amazon.

NEW WORLD DISORDER!
In the rotting corpse of a city called Downlode, only the most ruthless people can survive. Finnigan Sinister and Ramone Dexter have made their mark working together as ‘gun-sharks’ (hitmen) for some of the underworld’s biggest mob bosses.
    Having killed Holy Moses Tanenbaum, a mobster from an alternate dimension whose presence threatened the fabric of reality, Finnigan Sinister and Ramone Dexter have reset the continuum, and now no one knows who they are, except for the hacker, Billi Octavo. Hired to protect a sentient A.I. called Lillith, the duo has discovered that another rogue A.I. is at large in the city.

• 9 Mar. This year marks the 90th anniversary of Oor Wullue and The Broons, who first appeared in The Sunday Post in 1936. Morris Heggie, ex-editor of The Dandy, who wrote the scrips for many years, is interviewed by the Post, discussing the original editor R.D. Low and artist Dudley D. Watkins. The Post also publishes an article on how the characters kept up the morale of war-torn Scotland during WW2. BBC News also covers the anniversary.
• 5 Mar. With interest surrounding the sale of Peter Hansen's collection of British comics peaking ahead of the auction on 11-12 March, here's an old interview from 2019. 
• 3 Mar. A number of Giles' annual covers are coming up for auction shortly at Chiswick Auctions on 12 March 2026. "The cartoons, which include one of his original, carefully crafted Giles Annual covers, were gifts from the artist to his old editor, Harold Keeble."
• 3 Mar.  Rhonda Reinhart explores "The Many Lives of David Wright". 
• 25 Feb. Brands Untapped talks to Victoria Justice, Director of Consumer Products & Ecommerce at Rebellion, about Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper and 2000AD's upcoming big milestone. "2000 AD will celebrate 50 years in 2027, so that’s a huge focus right now at Rebellion and full of relatively untapped potential. We’re already speaking to partners about ways to commemorate this exceptional anniversary… With big plans in the works for Judge Dredd!"
• 22 Feb. The illustrator who became a national catchphrase—W. Heath Robinson—is the subject of a brief radio clip from BBC Radio Surrey. (7m) "His cartoons of improbable military machines – pulleys, pipes and teetering platforms – offered a gentle, satirical counterpoint to the grim realities of war and helped to make him a household name."
• 22 Feb. Jacob Phillips introduces The Peril of the Brutal Dark—an Ezra Cain mystery—to Andrew Sumner at Forbidden Planet TV. "Cain's debut case is a hypnotic mean-street-walking pulp magazine mix of Hammett & Chandler, bled thru a dark Mignola filter with touch of Indiana Jones, all wrapped up within [writer Chris Condon]'s razor-sharp 40s dialogue and Jacob's carefully-researched and beautifully-rendered artwork." (video, 28m)
• 16 Feb. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett discuss their new Gorillaz album, The Mountain. "I think that the fact that we are an animated band has helped just a little bit. Young people go, “What’s that? I love that animation. Let me check it out.” Then they hear the music and they go, “Oh, my God, I love it.” And then it brings a new audience."

Comic Cuts — 6 March 2026

It's a good news week. The first proof for ACTION: THE SEVENPENNY NIGHTMARE has arrived and I've looked through it and found very little that needed changing. I've now put in a print order that and that means I have copies of the book for sale at the Glasgow Swap Meet on March 21st. 

The print order also included some additional stock so that I also have other books on sale. I'm not taking every book Bear Alley has published, but I should have a couple of copies of each of the strip reprints and the indexes. I will have copies of recent books, the four MYTEK THE MIGHTY reprints and the AIR ACE COMPANION and will be offering them post-free to anyone attending. Special show discount!

As there's no rest for the wicked, I've already started work on what I hope will be the next couple of books. These will be comic reprints and I've been running the scanner hot for the past few days making sure I have all the pages. Now comes the rather more tedious job... cleaning and doing the occasional repair (I noticed a couple of torn pages when the comics went on the scanner). That will take some weeks as there are a lot of pages to get through. One strip will be published in two volumes, so that will probably mean writing a couple of introductions—which is the bit that I enjoy most, so I leave it as a reward for when I finish the artwork.

I've recorded a couple of little bits of video while I was waiting for the proof to arrive which will give you a bit of background to the book, its tortuous history, and my own history as a reader. That's if they've come out. I haven't watched any of the bits back yet. It might be too awful to inflict on you, dear reader. 

I'll leave you with a few random covers. I mentioned last week that I'd gone into town to trawl through the charity shops. Some of the covers have already gone into their various author's cover galleries, but here are a few strays. The first was a surprise... the first Badger seen out in the wild for many years and it happens to be one I don't have. The Spinrad I didn't recognise, but it turns out I had an earlier Sphere edition. Not to worry as it was only a couple of quid. The Arkady Martine I saw a few years ago in a charity shop for £1, but it was in such a state I didn't want to buy it even as a stop-gap shelf-filler. So I left it. I was regretting not buying it all the way home. Fast forward about four years and I now have a £1.99 copy that is good as new. There's a moral to this story: pick the damned book up when you see it! You'll regret not buying it, and a better copy might turn up later.

One of my greatest regrets is getting rid of my Poul Anderson books when I had a cull many years ago. I've replaced some whenever I see them, but they don't often turn up and some I have are not in great condition. To think I bought quite a few new and kept them as mint as I could... *sniff* 

The Bees I bought thinking it was a science fiction set in a dystopian society on an alien planet... but it turns out to be about bees. Gwyneth Jones liked it, so I'll hang on to it, although it's not high on my list of books to read.

The gem of the day was a hardback first of M. John Harrison's The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again. I don't think I'm missing any of his sf novels—I know I don't have his non-sf Climbers—so I only need his memoir Wish I Was Here and that will complete my Harrison library! Wish I could say that of my Poul Anderson collection...

Rebellion Releases — 4 March 2026

Five weeks ago, director (Kill List, High Rise, A Field in England, Meg 2) Ben Wheatley made his debut in 2000AD with a story (art by Simon Coleby) set in Mega-City One's Ps-Div featuring Judge Dee. Now he's welcomed by Michael Molcher to the 2000AD Thrill-Cast (In Orbit Every Wednesday). Wheatley discusses his supernatural Dredd-world yarn, as well his love for 2000 AD and the challenges of going from writing for film screens to hyper-compressed comic pages. Available from your usual podcast provider and on YouTube (video, 49m).

And now, this week's release...

2000AD Prog 2472
Cover: INJ Culbard.

JUDGE DREDD // CLIMATE CRISIS by Rob Williams & Ned Hartley (w) PJ Holden (a) Jack Davies (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
HERNE & SHUCK // POWER TRIP by David Barnett (w) Lee Milmore (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK // THE CALL OF THE VOID by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
THE DISCARDED by Peter Milligan (w) Kieran McKeown (a) Jim Boswell (c) Simon Bowland (l)
 

Joseph Green cover gallery

A rather slim collection for the late Joseph Green, who died in February. Although he began publishing his SF in the UK, only three of his novels had paperback editions over here, although a couple of additional novels appeared in hardback.

The Loafers of Refuge (London, Gollancz, 1965; New York, Ballantine Books, Mar 1965)
Pan Books X651, 1967, 175pp, 3/6. 

Gold the Man (London, Gollancz, Mar 1971; as The Mind Behind the Eye, New York, DAW Books, Apr 1972)
Pan Books 0330-23461-7, 224pp, 30p. Cover by Roger Dean

Conscience Interplanetary (London, Gollancz, Mar 1972; New York, Doubleday, Jul 1973)
Pan 0330-24209-1, Mar 1975, 219pp, 40p.
---- [2nd imp.] 50p.

The Horde (Laser Books #27, Apr 1976; London, Dennis Dobson, Sep 1979)
(no UK paperback)

Star Probe (London, Millington, Mar 1976)
(no UK paperback)

Spies of Nyscandia (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Aug 2017)
(no UK paperback)

A Murder in the RealWorld (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Mar 2018)
(no UK paperback)

A Lasting Dream of Murder (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Jun 2018)
(no UK paperback)

Three Sons of Bitter Sands (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Mar 2019)
(no UK paperback)

Down Freedom River (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Mar 2020)
(no UK paperback)

The Resistance Revolution Murders (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Jul 2020)
(no UK paperback)

Crystal Coming Home (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, May 2021)
(no UK paperback)

The Assassins for God (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Jun 2023)
(no UK paperback)



COLLECTIONS

An Affair with Genius (London, Gollancz, May 1969)
(no UK paperback)

Running Wild: Unfettered Stories of Imagination (Wildside Press, Sep 2016)
(no UK paperback)

Fantastic Tales of Love and Loss: Unfettered Stories of Imagination (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Feb 2019)
(no UK paperback)

Otherwise Lost: Unfettered Stories of Imagination (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Oct 2020)
(no UK paperback)

Space to Move: Unfettered Stories of Imagination (Merritt Island, FL, Greenhouse Scribes, Mar 2021)
(no UK paperback)