Comic Cuts - 10 January 2020

Well, wasn't that fun? I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. I had a fine old time with family staying over Christmas. I hadn't seen my sister for some while as she doesn't live locally, so it was greeat to catch up with her. We had a bit of a house full because she had three dogs in tow. It was nice to be met with a waggy tail every morning. (I'll leave you to make your own jokes.)

New Year was spent at a friend's house chatting about life, the universe and everything, with a pause at midnight to welcome in twenty-twenty—the year of perfect vision. In China it's the Year of the Owl.

Only kidding. It's actually the year of the metal rat, which immediately brings to mind Harry Harrison and his Stainless Steel Rat saga. I really ought to dig those out to read.

One glitch in the festivities occurred soon after New Year when my tablet informed me there was a Windows update. After two days attempting to update, all it does now is turn on and immediately turn off. It was doing it for five hours before I figured out how to do a hard exit to turn it off. Tried rebooting it a couple of times with exactly the same result. And I have no idea how to do a factory reset as the manual doesn't offer that information and all online advice refers to a silver button... there is no silver button on the tablet!

With the usual zeal of a new year, I've started having another clear out. I spent too long last year trying to sort out boxes of stuff, especially old magazines, which meant that we were living in a bit of a tip towards the end of the year. I've just realised that the last photo I posted was just before Christmas and everything was still a mess. To the right you'll see a picture taken on Christmas Eve after the clear-up operation was complete.

Looking forward, we have to move two shelves in the near future, so that gives me a target... as each shelf is around a yard wide, I'm going to try to clear out ten yards of books. I'm concentrating on modern authors as I can reasonably easily replace them should I need to at any point, either with physical books or e-books, but I'm going to swing the axe hard and get rid of everything by them. First authors for the chop have been Ian Rankin and Frederick Forsyth, not for any reasons relating to the quality of their work but because they were the two authors I could see taking up shelf space as I looked down through the office to the far shelf. As that's where a lot of crime novels live, expect to hear of a few other very good authors being culled.

I'll be listing some of the books for sale through Bear Alley, and some I might put up on Ebay.

I spent a couple of days shelf clearing to get myself off to a good start, but it has had to take a bit of a back seat as I've started work on another little index, this one covering the 1950s tabloid SF comic, Rocket. It only lasted 32 issues, so I'm hoping to have it finished in reasonable time. I've found a few things that don't seem to be common knowledge, so I'm pleased to think that I'm bringing something new to the project.

I've also been asked to write a short introduction to an upcoming Rebellion collection. It's only a little 'un. It's a shame, really, as I've always tried to make the introductions a big part of the titles I've worked on in the past. My Frontline UK had 16 pages of material over four articles, as did my Arena reprint. One of the articles in the latter was about this history of – and future of – gladiatorial games and the televising of violent future sports which included the suggestion of texting #thumbsdown to have a contestant murdered. There you go, Black Mirror. That one's for you.

I hope you enjoyed the Tug Transom strip over the Chrismas and New Year holidays. It struck me that I haven't done enough of these for the past couple of years. I'll have to dig out some more and see if I can come up with any obscurities to tease you with.

Commando 5295-5298

Japanese soldiers versus crocodiles in the mangrove swamps of Ramree Island, Foreign Legion duels to the death, terror on an isolated sea fort, and a coward in the cockpit! All in brand new issues of Commando — out today!

5295: Ramree Massacre

Kate Dewar returns for her second-ever Commando tackling chaotic scenes on Ramree Island. The small number of Japanese soldiers defending the island were up against it. Bombarded by the Royal Navy on the beaches, then forced deep inland by British and Indian soldiers, they had no choice but to venture further into the inhospitable mangrove swamp. But the British and Indian soldiers waiting for them outside the grove were nothing compared to the horror that awaited them in the murky waters…

Plus full bleed pages and a double-page spread from Vicente Alcazar, and a striking cover from Neil Roberts!

Story: Kate Dewar
Art: Vicente Alcazar
Cover: Neil Roberts

5296: Bayonet Fighters

Dirk Lassiter was a French Foreign Legion veteran signed on for five years because the British Army was too peaceful. But, in 1939, with war looming, the Englishman was looking forward to joining up. Then, when his German rival Bauer challenged him to a traditional ‘Duel by Bayonet’ on his last day in the Legion, Dirk won the duel easily, but he would soon learn that what he did in the Legion would follow him into the war.

Story: E Hebden
Art: R Franch
Cover: Penalva
Originally Commando No. 678 (1972).

5297: Fog of War

Private Bill Tasker was army through and through, so he was a tad surprised to find his latest posting on the middle of the blinkin’ sea on what looked like a bully beef can on stilts! In fact, Bill was one of the handful of men on a top-secret sea fort named Blackland Sands which was tasked with protecting Blighty from V-1 rockets and E-boats. But Blackland Sands was about to receive some unwanted guests dressed in Nazi camo!

Story: James Swallow
Art: Khato
Cover: Keith Burns
 

5298: Coward’s Battle

Pilot Officer Harry Benson was a coward — no bones about it… or so he thought. The Fairey Battle pilot had the wind up him after becoming the only survivor of a bombing raid that went awry. But a stint with hard-as-nails Sergeant Parker and the French Resistance were about to challenge the cowardly flyer to show his true colours — whether he liked it or not!

Story: CG Walker
Art: Salmeron
Cover: Cox
Originally Commando No. 1477 (1981).

Tug Transom part 19

Rebellion Releases (2000AD)

“Unashamedly polemic in its approach, and touching on everything from environmental politics, to food monopolies, to state surveillance, 3WW pre-empted the obsessions of current online activists by some quarter of a century” – Ian McQuaid, Ransom Note

One of British comics’ most politically conscious series is to be collected in its entirety for the very first time!

Using brand new scans of the original artwork supplied by the family of the late Carlos Ezquerra, in 2020 the Treasury of British Comics is publishing the definitive collection of Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra’s highly-political comic book classic of global capitalism, rebellion and exploitation – Third World War.

Eve is unemployed after leaving university and is immediately conscripted as a soldier working for a corporation and discovers just how South American countries are being exploited to create food needed to feed the increasing population for their profit under the guise of western paternalism.

Running in Crisis from 1988-1990 and including work by Angie Kincaid and Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker, Third World War is suffused with economic, political, and social issues, and deals with ever-more-prescient issues around capitalism and global politics. Ezquerra’s painted colour artwork is a highlight of his long and distinguished career.

A truly anti-establishment graphic novel, unlike anything else published by the Treasury of British Comics so far.

NEW 12-ISSUE "BEST OF" MONTHLY

Best of 2000 AD #1 launches in April 2020, a 100-page anthology of full-colour stories in US-format for the direct market!

The first new major monthly title from the British publisher in almost 30 years, the first issue boasts a brand-new cover from Jamie McKelvie (The Wicked + the Divine) with the entire 12-issue volume featuring design by highly-acclaimed designer Tom Muller (House of X/Powers of X).

Behind the cover, the first issue will feature comics by John Wagner & Colin McNeil (Judge Dredd: Terror), Gordon Rennie & Simon Coleby (Jaegir: Stragoi), Alan Moore & Ian Gibson (Halso Jones), Dan Abnett & INJ Culbard (Brink) and Henry Flint (Tharg's Alien Invasions). With 100 pages to fill, the stories are given plenty of space – the Dredd runs to 50 pages – and is "precision-engineered to be accessible to a whole new generation of comic readers. Every issue is 100 pages, headlined by a self-contained Judge Dredd adventure and supported by a selection of 2000 AD's stand-out series." Mike Molcher, Rebellion's PR guru, describes it as "for new and curious readers; science-fiction fans who love their comics dangerous and thrilling but have never read 2000 AD ... The ultimate gate-way to the Galaxy's Greatest Comic."

And now, a roundup of this week's releases from Rebellion...

2000AD Prog 2163
Cover: Richard Elson

JUDGE DREDD: KILL BLOOPY by Kenneth Niemand (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Jim Boswell (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
BRINK: HATE BOX by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)
PROTEUS VEX: ANOTHER DAWN by Michael Carroll (w) Henry Flint (a) Simon Bowland (l)
THE ZAUCER OF ZILK: A ZAUCERFUL OF SECRETS by Peter Hogan (w) Brendan McCarthy (a+c) Len O'Grady (c) Jim Campbell (l)
FERAL & FOE by Dan Abnett (w) Richard Elson (a+c) Joe Elson (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)

Third World War by Pat Mills & Carlos Ezquerra
Rebellion 978-1781-08751-0, 9 January 2020, 208pp, £19.99 / $24.99. Available via Amazon.

Using brand new scans of the original artwork supplied by the family of the late Carlos Ezquerra, this definitive collection of Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra’s groundbrreaking, highly-political comic book classic of global capitalism, rebellion and exploitation is collected in its entirety for the very first time!
     ‘Third World War’ is suffused with economic, political, and social issues, and deals with ever-moreprescient issues around capitalism and global politics. Ezquerra’s painted colour artwork is a highlight of his long and distinguished career. A truly anti-establishment graphic novel from the late 1980s, this is unlike anything else published by the Treasury of British Comics so far!
    A limited edition hardback is available through the 2000AD and Treasury of British Comics webshop.

Tug Transom part 18

Tug Transom part 17

Tug Transom part 16

Tug Transom part 15

Tug Transom part 14

Tug Transom part 13

Tug Transom part 12

Bill Mevin (1922-2019)

Bill Mevin who worked in comics for over fifty years and, prior to that, was involved in animation, died on 30 December 2019, aged 97. He had been hospitalised for some weeks.

He was born Wilfred D. Mevin in West Derby, Lancashire, the fourth (of five) child of William J. Mevin (1888?-1951) and his wife Elsie Marion (nee Cox, 1891-1987), who had married in Birkenhead in 1915.

Mevin studied at Liverpool Scool of Art. In the late 1940s, he joined Gaumont British, the studio set up by David Hand, as a trainee film animator. G-B Animation closed its doors in 1949 and Mevin contributed artwork to a 1/- flicker booklet about a bear named Brumas (1949), part of the Comic Movies Flicker Book series. He went on to work for Batchelor and Halas, contributing to The Power to Fly (1954), an advertising film made for Anglo-Iranian Oil Company charting the history of aviation from Daedalus to jets, directed by Bob Privett, and to the UK's first full-length animated feature Animal Farm (1954).

When the studio closed, Mevin joined the Sunday Chronicle as a topical cartoonist, working for them for six months until the paper was merged into Empire News in 1955. He also began freelancing to comics, contributing 'Sammy and his Speed Sub' to Swift (1954-57) and 'Wee Sporty' to Express Weekly (1956-60), along with various strips to Girl and Swift annuals.

He worked for many years on TV Comic, drawing 'Lenny the Lion' from 1957 (on the cover in 1958-60). He produced colour centre-spread strips 'Supercar' (1961-64), 'Space Patrol' (1964-65) and  'Dr Who' (1965-66). While his semi-cartoony strips were a good match for the first two, Mevin was not a good fit for the more realistic artwork required for the Who strip. Roger Noel Cook, one of its writers, lateer said "Bill Mevin was a lunatic appointment to draw Doctor Who. Bill was a whiz-bang brilliant cartoonist who I went on to work with extremely well on 'Popeye' but straight artwork was just not him!"

From thereon, Mevin was kept busy with cartoon strips that was more suited his style, including 'World Cup Willie' (1966), 'Droopy', 'Bugs Bunny', 'Huckleberry Hound', 'Popeye', 'Barney Bear', and 'Buzby'.

He also contributed to Pippin ('The Pogles', 'Bill and Ben', 'The Herbs', 'Morph'), Whizzer & Chips ('Happy Families') and Whoopee ('Dads and Lads') in the period 1966-85.

When the comic market began to shrink, Mevin acquired an agent who suggested he produce a strip spoofing overblown American soap operas like Dallas and Dynasty, although it featured a wide range of television personalities, from Terry Wogan to Mr Spock. Entitled 'The Soapremes' (fl.1986-87), the strip was picked up by the Daily Mail.

In November 1992, Mevin took over the artwork on 'The Perishers' for the Daily Mirror, which he drew for many years; written by Maurice Dodd (who had also worked on Animal Farm) and originally drawn by Dennis Collins, 'The Perishers' had been a daily institution since 1958; Collins had retired in 1983 and Dodd had drawn the strip himself for some years before Mevin came on board. The strip finally came to an end in 2006 following Dodd's death on 31 December 2005.

Mevin returned to 'Doctor Who' to produce two covers for Doctor Who Classic Comics (#7, 27 May 1993; #15, 15 Jan 1994). He was interviewed for the feature ‘Stripped for Action’ which appeared on the DVD release of The Time Meddler (2008).

In retirement, Mevin continued to draw pictures for Perishers fans and charity auctions and wrote a novel, Peggy (2016) about a young girl and a flying horse.


He was predeceased by his wife, Lilian (nee Archbold), whom he married in 1953. They lived in Bromley, Kent, until her death in 2012, aged 87.

An interview with Mevin is due to appear in Vworp! Vworp! #4.

Further information: Down the Tubes In Memoriam.

Tug Transom part 11

Tug Transom part 10