Comic Cuts — 17 November 2023

And so ends a somewhat chaotic but productive week. I'm now close to having the latest two Bear Alley books finished and it's only two months since the publication of The Trials of Hank Janson.

We have signed off on A Laverda Journey, George Coates' memoir of his trip around the world by motorbike. There were a couple of minor problems that we picked up at the final proof stage that have now been fixed and as soon as I get a chance to set up an account for George, we will go to press.

While I was waiting for his OK on Monday, I took the opportunity to give the Badger Books' book – Beyond the Void – a good, hard Paddington stare and spotted a couple of pictures that I'd managed to use twice. These have now been replaced and the whole thing has been proofed, although I fear that the moment I send off for a printed proof, I'll spot a typo or a picture will have slipped over a footnote. These things happen, but I make every effort to try and correct everything beforehand and that the first printed proof off the presses is good enough to sell.

On Tuesday I had to start the research phase on another obituary for The Guardian, while keeping tabs on the gasman doing a safety check on our boiler and cooker and on the progress of a package from Amazon. I finally relented and bought another 8tb of external hard drive storage. So that's my weekend sorted... copying files around various hard drives to free up space on some of the others where I'm down to a couple of hundred gigabytes of free storage space. Everything is backed up onto two different drives, and I also have files stored on both my PC and a laptop... and for very good reason.

The PC isn't going to last forever and is sometimes desperately slow. On Wednesday morning it decided to do an update, which can take a while, so, as this was Mel's day off, we went for a walk. Arriving back 45 minutes later, I was greeted with the message "Restarting"... it still hadn't finished the update!

It seems to have worked OK and everything is working, touch wood. My email problems aren't solved but I have a workaround; and with the notion that problems can crop up unexpectedly high on my mind, I have just backed up onto a little thumb drive the latest version of the Badger Books' book and the obituary I'm working on.

I also have a front cover for Beyond the Void thanks to the man who has often saved me from catastrophe, Martin Baines. I won't show it off until next week because I still have to sort out a back cover, but I think you'll like it.

The icing on the cake is that I've now managed to sort out the last of the Christmas presents and cards I need to buy. I shall now return to writing an obituary, and reminding myself that happiness is only fleeting and death awaits us all. Happy dreams, y'all! (I'm only kidding.)

And that was going to be it, but I went to switch off the PC and it did another update, so I sat here for five minutes not knowing how long it was going to take. Then I made a sandwich and started reading a book that I had sitting on the pile next to my desk – a copy of A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin, which I picked up from one of the book banks in town. I've watched the TV series, which was terrific, and even the remake (Secret State, 2012) was pretty good thanks to Gabriel Byrne. The update eventually took 20 minutes and I was able to shut down the computer.  I am definitely going to have to read the rest of the book, which has many hints of the kind of thing happening in the current climate of "populist" presidents and prime ministers appealing to the lowest common denominator.

Rebellion Releases — 15 November 2023

The best-selling series collecting The Law in order continues. This action-packed volume of Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files contains the finale of the epic Origins saga, which sets Dredd on a new quest for justice as he begins to question Mega-City One’s treatment of the mutant population and the laws that keep them down. But what happens when the man upholding the law no longer believes in it?

Written by John Wagner (A History of Violence), Gordon Rennie (Warhammer), Rob Williams (Suicide Squad), Ian Edginton (Batman), and Robbie Morrison (The Authority), with art by Carlos Ezquerra (Strontium Dog), Ian Gibson (The Ballad of Halo Jones), Colin MacNeil (Devlin Waugh), Mike McMahon (Slaine), Jock (The Losers), Henry Flint (Rogue Trooper), Rufus Dayglo (Tank Girl), Vince Locke (A History of Violence), PJ Holden (Rogue Trooper), Patrick Goddard (Battle Action), Boo Cook (Doctor Who), Richard Elson (Sonic The Comic), Paul Marshall (Sinister Dexter), Cliff Robinson (Vector 13), Len O’Grady (X-Men Unlimited), D’Israeli (Nikolai Dante), Lee Garbett (Skyward), Anthony Williams (The Real Ghostbusters) and Peter Doherty (The Dreaming).

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files is the ultimate series for fans of the lawman of the future, collecting every case, in order, from more than four decades of adventures in the pages of 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine. From the groundbreaking classics to the modern masters, this on-going and best-selling series collects the stories that have made Judge Dredd one of the world’s biggest comic book characters!

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2358
Cover: Rufus Dayglo.

Judge Dredd: Poison by Rob Williams (w) PJ Holden (a) Peter Doherty (c) Simon Bowland (l)
Helium: Scorched Earth by Ian Edginton (w) D'Israeli (a) Simon Bowland (l)
The Devil's Railroad by Peter Milligan (w) Rufus Dayglo (a) Jose Villarrubia (c) Jim Campbell (l)
The Fall of Deadworld: Retribution by Kek-W (w) Dave Kendall (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg by Dan Abnett (w) Richard Elson (a) Jim Campbell (l)

Judge Dredd Megazine 462
Cover: Alex Ronald.

Judge Dredd: Old Soldiers by Ian Edginton (w) Mike Collins (a) Jim Boswell (c) Jim Campbell (l)
Spector: Incorruptible by John Wagner (w) Dan Cornwell (a) Dylan Teague (c) Jim Campbell (l)
Mega-City 2099: The Multitronic Man by Arthur Wyatt (w) Jake Lynch (a) Jim Campbell (l)
The Exterminator by Garry Leach (a)
Rogue Trooper: Last Man Standing by Brian Buckley (w) Alberto Ponticelli (a) Stephen Downer (c) Tom B. Long (l)
Johnny Red: The Ghost Lands by Garth Ennis (w) Keith Burns (a) Jason Wordie (c) Rob Steen (l)
DeMarco, PI: A Picture Paints by Laura Bailey (w) Rob Richardson (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Lawless: Most Wanted by Dan Abnett (w) Phil Winslade (a) Simon Bowland (l)

Comic Cuts — 10 November 2023

With something of a sigh of relief, I can announce that the bulk of Beyond the Void: The Remarkable Story of Badger Books is finished. I read through the whole thing and made a few minor adjustments and tweaks, but I'm happy with the way it looks and reads. I have one blank page at the back that I'm going to use for an advert; I have an idea to do one in keeping with the rest of the book, but we shall see.

That leaves the cover and I have a top man on the job. I mentioned last week that I didn't want to repeat what has been a standard cover for books about books, which involves a pile of books. I came up with what I think will be a fun idea at the weekend and spent Monday fretting over it because it's too good an idea to have me mess it up.

I know my limitations. I'm a not bad writer and I can put together a book that looks interesting while not being over-complicated (aided in almost every case by having brilliant comics and book covers to use as illustrations). But I'm not an artist or graphic designer. What I see in my head is deformed and distorted as it travels down my arm and out of the pen, pencil or brush and the result is a misshapen mess on the page. That's the last thing you want for a cover – the first thing a customer will see on my website or on Amazon. A duff cover can be the death of a book.

My obituary piece on Keith Giffen appeared on the Guardian website on Friday, but has yet to make the hard copy edition.

I had a "new music day" on Saturday, listening to some albums on streaming services that were new to me. I found a handful that I liked and will go back to listen to again.

Dave Foster Band features guitarist Dave Foster who has recently been playing with Steve Rothery (Marillion) and Big Big Train (replacing Dave Gregory), although was himself replaced on the latter's recent tour because of commitments to the former. The two albums I listed to both featured Dinet Poortman on vocals. Both Nocemo and Glimmer showcase Foster's playing and Poortman's vocals, nowhere better than the opening track of Nocemo ('Pata Dura'). Foster's guitar solos are slick and fast, slow and melodic where needed.

At the other end of the shredding scale is Liquid Tension Experiment, a side project for John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess, at various times of Dream Theatre, and Tony Levin of King Crimson. The 'experiment' of the title is that the band just jam, record everything and then pick out their favourite bits to expand on into tracks. It's riff-heavy with runaway guitar and keyboard solos, but still musically diverse enough (even reworking classical music) to keep tracks distinct and fresh. There was a 22 year gap between albums 2 and 3. Let's hope that the return of Portnoy to Dream Theatre means that there won't be another 20-year gap before album 4 for Liquid Tension Experiment.

Lastly, Head With Wings is a band I'd heard of. They had an EP out some while back (Comfort in Illusion) that I've often had on in the background; I spotted the new album Without Intervention and grabbed it, not really knowing what to expect. I'm glad I did. Tracks range all the way from prog to pop-rock. Great background music until I get a chance to really listen to the songs, as I'm sure there's plenty going on lyrically that I haven't picked up on yet.

I've also got the new (well... old, but remastered and with new tracks) David Longdon album Wild River to listen to. Longdon is sadly missed, but it's good to see his music won't be forgotten.

Commando 5695-5698

The latest Commando Issues are on sale today, Thursday, 9th November! Featuring two World War One Issues for Remembrance Day alongside two rip-roaring reprints!

5695: Monty’s Marauder’s: Machine-gun Mayhem

The fighting men of the First World War are back, as Monty’s Marauders return to wreak havoc on the Kaiser’s men!
     Autumn 1915, and Second Lieutenant Aubrey Monteith’s superiors have planned a local offensive aimed at reducing a salient and straightening out the British lines. This meant plenty of work for the Marauders, as they were sent behind enemy lines to take out the enemy’s machine guns ahead of the battalion’s attack. That is… if things went to plan!
      The Kaiser and his men had better watch out! Monty Marauder's return to wreak havoc in no-man's-land against the German lines in Ferg Handley’s returning series! With Carlos Pino’s outstanding artwork on the cover and interiors, you won’t want to miss this jaunt!

Story | Ferg Handley
Art | Carlos Pino
Cover | Carlos Pino

5696: Sea Snatch

It’s hard to leave a mate in the lurch, especially when he’s wounded and behind German lines. It’s hard to forget he ever existed, even when you’re waging war against the hated Nazis.
     That’s the spot Eric Carlsson and Chris Borge, two Norwegians who’d escaped to fly for the RAF, were in. They planned and plotted to rescue their friend who’d been left behind in Norway… even when they knew it meant disobeying orders and being called traitors and spies!
     After all, he was their mate…
     What a reprint this is! Clegg writes a tale as old as time about friends not leaving a man behind — no matter the cost! The bright and intense cover to ‘Sea Snatch’ is by the legendary Ian Kennedy and the clean, crisp interiors are by Amador! You put that all together and you get one heck of a classic Commando!

Story | Clegg
Art | Amador
Cover | Ian Kennedy
First Published 1970 as Issue 502

5697: Cadman: Up, Up and Away!

November 1914. As the fighting heats up on the Western Front, Lieutenant Gerald Cadman realises he is in real danger of having to fight in the war! But this cowardly cad has a cunning plan to escape battle yet again — take to the skies!
     Little does he know that flying an ‘unarmed’ reconnaissance plane makes him a target for falling bricks and fired bullets from the rival German kites!
      That cowardly cad returns! From the pages of The Victor to Commando, Cadman the Fighting Coward looks skyward to escape the trenches — but he soon finds that life in the Royal Flying Corps isn't any easier or safer than on the ground!

Story | Andrew Knighton
Art | Mike Dorey
Cover | Mike Dorey and Bryn Houghton

5698: The Reckoning

Alan and Dick had been friends for years. They were boys at the same school together. Alan was the quiet one. Not very interested in sport, he was usually to be found reading a book. Dick was the happy-go-lucky type, always playing football, tennis or cricket. Everybody reckoned Dick would make a better soldier than Alan.
     But the day of reckoning came. It was in the mountains of Italy, with the war raging fiercely all around. A lot of secrets were revealed that day — and no-one was more surprised than Alan.
      On its first outing since 1980, The Reckoning returns to Commando pages! But don’t be fooled into thinking that because it’s been on the shelves for over 40 years that this yarn has gone stale! With twists, turns and a lot of action — you’ll be annoyed we didn’t reprint it sooner!

Story | CG Walker
Art | Gordon C Livingston
Cover | K Walker
First Published 1981 as Issue 1521

Rebellion Releases — 8 November 2023

The greatest stories of one of science fiction's greatest heroines - rereleased in an easily accessible format perfect for new readers!

Judge Cassandra Anderson of Psi Division is one of the greatest minds on the Judges' roster. As a precognitive telepath and empath, her quirks, such as her sense of humour, are tolerated by the otherwise oppressively strict Justice Department.

In Mega-City One, citizens live in fear under the iron fist of the Judges’ unyielding rule, but PSI Judge Cassandra Anderson knows it’s a flawed system. In the second volume of her Essential line, Anderson grapples with matters of faith and damnation, as a chance at eternal life comes at the cost of losing her mind forever, while her pursuit of a just system leads her to investigate a religious cult, and ultimately to engage in a battle of the minds with the most formidable of foes: Satan himself!

With exceptional art from Arthur Ranson, whose creative partnership with Alan Grant produced some of 2000 AD's most challenging and consequential stories, Satan thoughtfully explores faith against the backdrop of the Judge Department's system of absolute power.

As Anderson faces up to the living embodiment of evil - a man of wealth and taste indeed - she'll be pushed to the very limit of her abilities!

Out on 7 June 2024, Essential Judge Anderson: Satan is available to pre-order from all good book and comic book stores, as well as 2000 AD's webshop!

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2357
Cover:

Judge Dredd: Poison by Rob Williams (w) PJ Holden (a) Peter Doherty (c) Simon Bowland (l)
Helium: Scorched Earth by Ian Edginton (w) D'Israeli (a) Simon Bowland (l)
The Devil's Railroad by Peter Milligan (w) Rufus Dayglo (a) Jose Villarrubia (c) Jim Campbell (l)
The Fall of Deadworld: Retribution by Kek-W (w) Dave Kendall (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg by Dan Abnett (w) Richard Elson (a) Jim Campbell (l)

Treasury of British Comics Annual 2024
Rebellion ISBN 978-183786025-8, 9 November 2023, 112pp, £25.

For over a century, the comic book annual has been an essential Christmas stocking filler for British children. The Treasury of British Comics have dived deep into the archives, selecting slick and exciting stories from past annuals, specials and regular issues, including strips from such titles as Lion, Starlord, Misty, Action, Wham!, Scream! Smash!, Battle and Valiant to name but a few. Including the best of British talent like Brian Bolland, Cam Kennedy, Leo Baxendale, Ken Reid, Mike Western, Brian Lewis, Joe Colquhoun and Pat Mills, there are also three brand new strips - The Leopard from Lime Street Vs The Spider by Simon Furman, David Roach and Mike Collins, Black Beth by Alec Worley and DaNi and Gustav of the Bearmacht by Kek-W and Staz Johnson.

Upcoming Releases

An occasional column of comic-related books and magazines that you might want to look out for...

CROK is the latest release from Justin Marriott, publisher of Paperback Fanatic and Battling Britons. This broadens out his coverage of comics beyond the war genre – CROK stands for Comics Rule, OK! – and its coverage mirrors Marriott's own experience of growing up reading Action!, 2000AD and Halls of Horror.

The first issue covers a broad range of subjects, from Lion's The Black Archer and Jet's Bala The Briton to the SF yarns in Judy and Bryan Talbot's art on Nemesis the Warlock. Written chiefly by Marriott and Jim O'Brien, the first issue dips into the work of Bill Ward (Judge Dredd), John Kent (Varoomshka), David Lloyd (his early fanzine career), Carlos Ezquerra (early horror stories) and Clifford Harper (Class War Comix).

A few of my favourite characters and subjects from this issue: Night Raven (I loved the text stories, and David Lloyd did a fantastic strip version; here both Dez Skinn and Steve Parkhouse contribute first hand knowledge), James Bacon's exploration of the Garth Ennis/John McCrea strip Troubled Souls, Marriott's look back at Kids Rule, OK and Jim O'Brien's take on Tammy's Slaves of War Orphan Farm.

It's an excellent debut, as you would expect from Justin,
Jim and James.

Comics Rule OK
Justin Marriott, 28 Oct 2023, 51pp, £5.99. Available via Amazon.

Comic Scene is back with its 2024 Yearbook, now published in A5 size with a spine rather than the A4 magazine of yesteryear.

Its a 100-page volume with an eclectic mix of contents, beginning with a tribute to the late Kevin O'Neill – could there be a better place to start? – and a round-up of highlights of 2023 (and so up-to-date that there's mention of the passing of Keith Giffen and Tony Husband). I won't list every article as there are over two dozen, but some highlights include Joan Ormrod's history of the early days of Wonder Woman, interviews with Aly Fell and Anna Morozova, a look back at Beau Peep, AXA, Bogie Man and Bunty, dips into Spirou, graphic novels for youngsters, classic British comics and Manga.

Comic Scene was always a supporter of the small press and there's plenty on offer in this volume. The book is rounded off by an extensive directory of creators working for both mainstream and small press. And Pat Mills returns with a 'Final Word' about his latest creation M17.

There's something here for everyone.

Comic Scene 2024 Yearbook
ComicScene ISBN 978-173968195-1, November 2023, 100pp, £9.99. Available via the ComicScene website.

The Chefs of Death is a recent Kickstarter project... indeed a Kickstarted project as it achieved its goal. Created by Alex Finch, the story will take you back to the photo-stories of early Eagle when it relaunched in 1982 with the likes of Doomlord, Sgt. Streetwise and Thunderbolt & Smokey.

Finch says of Doomlord, "it was the first time I'd ever read a comic which featured a violent anti-hero and a bleak view of humanity, and even at such a young age I fell in love with it, and apart from Tom Baker's Doctor Who nothing has influenced my passion for science fiction more. Ever since that age I've always wanted to create my own photo strip comic, and, well, it took longer than planned, but I got here in the end!"

And The Chefs of Death is the result. It stars Ian Lane, Chris Denton, Chloe Taylor, Ben Schenck, Louisa Gosse and Finch himself.

There's still time to support this project on Kickstarter and a number of stretch goals that could be reached if enough people back the project.

The Chefs of Death Issue 1 by Alex Finch & others.
Alex Finch, December 2023, 34pp, £4.

Comic Cuts — 3 November 2023

Moving the clocks back has meant lighter mornings but feeling hungry an hour before lunch because my stomach has yet to get the memo about moving from BST to GMT.

I was doing quite well about not snacking, but Mel was given a box of chocolates for her birthday and we have been munching our way through them. Lovely... but we've had so much rain and Mel's work schedule has meant I'm not getting out for walks like I used to. We tried this (Thursday) morning and we walked straight into Storm Ciarán and I was soaked in seconds. I was the lucky one as Mel was heading for work whereas I simply turned around and headed back home.

I'm close to completing the Badger book. I'm re-reading the whole thing and I'm 98 out of 172 pages in. I think it's looking good and I'm not finding too many typos; I've only found one cover that I'd managed to use twice, but I'm keeping an eye open for that. Contents page and index were the last pages completed and I have the introductory page to finish and the cover.

The cover... I haven't a clue what to do with the cover. There have been a couple of books that relate to Badger, and both Debbie Cross's Down the Badger Hole and Shane Agnew's John Spencer & Co Illustrated Bibliography No.1 have piled of books as their cover image. So I should probably avoid that. The earlier Badger Tracks just had one big cover (Radar Alert by Karl Zeigfreid) on the cover, plus the title. I think I need something a bit better than that.

I'll have to think about it, but I need to come up with something soon!

The Guardian published my obituary of Tony Husband on Monday. There's often a delay between publication online and in the print version of the newspaper and the piece on Tony appeared relatively quickly (online Thursday, in the paper Monday). I'm still waiting for the obit. for Keith Giffen to appear but there are often delays when famous people die, and Sir Bobby Charlton and Matthew Perry will have bumped everyone back by a day or two.

Sometimes a piece will appear online that doesn't make it into the paper at all. This happened late last year with my piece on Greg Bear, which went online on 29 December, but Christmas and New Year holidays meant the paper not appearing as often around that time and poor Greg missed out on a print appearance. That's the problem with covering authors and artists I think of as BIG NAMES but whose work might not be known to the wider public. It has happened to me once or twice over the years—and five times between 2003 and 2010 the piece was paid for but never run at all—but that hasn't happened for over a decade.

I haven't really done anything else. Did a bit of digging around into the life of Percy Griffiths, the founding editor of The Magnet and The Gem, famously the homes of Billy Bunter and Harry Wharton of Greyfriars and Tom Merry of St Jim's. He was always a mystery man, even to Bill Lofts and Derek Adley, who probably dedicated more time than any other researcher into finding out about "Pushful Percy", as he was known. I managed to track down his birth, but his death is still a huge mystery as he left Fleetway House suddenly and was rumoured to have boarded a boat for Rio, never to be seen again.

Also resolved some questions surrounding Alfred Barnard, who was one of the authors who filled-in for Charles Hamilton under the Martin Clifford house name (used for the St Jim's stories). Hopefully I'll be able to write up all this research one day, but unless someone wants to finance me to do it – and I will do it at the drop of a cheque – it will have to wait, like everything else, until my finances stabilise again or I retire. I'm still owed a lot of money by one publisher in particular and I'm trying to fit in as many books as I can for Bear Alley before I have to start looking for work again. Hopefully I've enough to get at least one more book after Beyond the Void. I have two or three projects in mind that I'd like to do, but which one will it be...?

Definitely a decision for another column!

Rebellion Releases — 1 November 2023

Pre-order the first of a new series in the Essential line featuring 2000 AD’s legendary war machine, Rogue Trooper!

Rogue Trooper is the last of the G.I.s – genetically-engineered infantrymen designed to withstand the noxious atmosphere of Nu-Earth, a planet ravaged by the conflict between Norts and Southers.

A lone survivor of the Quartz Massacre, equipped with the bio-chips of his fallen clone brothers, he crosses the war-torn landscape in search of the Traitor General, the man responsible for their deaths – and will not rest until he has his revenge!

Out on 26 March 2024 from all good book shops, comic book shops and the 2000 AD webshop, as well as digitally from the 2000 AD webshop and app, this first volume in this new Essential series features selected stories by co-creators Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), with art by Colin Wilson (Judge Dredd) and Cam Kennedy (Star Wars: Dark Empire).

Essential Rogue Trooper: Genetic Infantryman is the start of a new line of collections featuring the very best Rogue Trooper stories, in a new format perfect for both new readers and long-time fans alike! Pre-orders are available now!

And now, this week's release...

2000AD Prog 2356
Cover: 17th & Oak

Cadet Dredd: Deep Trouble by Paul Starkey (w) Ben Willsher (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Lowborn High: Fire & Frost by David Barnett (w) Mike Walters (a) Pippa Bowland (c) Jim Campbell (l)
Future Shocks: Content Provider by Karl Stock (w) Joe Currie (a) Rob Steen (l)
Bladers II by James Peaty (w) Mark Simmons (a) Gary Caldwell (c) Simon Bowland (l)

Starblazer Volume 2

Interstellar Space Fiction Adventure in Pictures! Beaming down from outer space and into your hands is Starblazer Volume 2! This astronomical anthology collects two classic Starblazer issues from DC Thomson’s extra-terrestrial archives!
    Collecting two vintage issues from 1979 and 1984 and blowing them up to full-graphic novel size, this volume also features an exclusive interview with legendary artist Carlos Pino (Commando, 2000 AD’s Judge Dredd), cover gallery, and foreword by Doctor Who screenwriter and comic author Paul Cornell.  
    Reprinted for the first time are:

The Web of Arcon

Reconnaissance ships patrolled the dark recesses of the Galaxy. As these ships were largely automatic, the crew spent long periods doing nothing. But on his first deep space trip, the newly commissioned Lieutenant Janus was about to encounter The Star Queen, a spaceship long thought lost and destroyed. Well, the truth about its fate was stranger – and more dangerous – than fiction!
    First published Starblazer #12, 1979.

The Death Reaper

Mikal R. Kayn was a policeman. He was forcibly retired by the Republic of the United Worlds’ Department of Justice, Star Cops, for methods to be found in no book… and a slight medical problem – he was all but blind.
    However, being medically blind didn’t stop Kayn from becoming a Private Investigator, in fact, the Justice Department were delighted, because it got him off their backs. Well, almost… on March 23, 2284, Kayn’s old partner, Affa, still a Galactic Policeman, was in the middle of an investigation and he needed Kayn’s help!
    First published Starblazer #127, 1984.

‘The Death Reaper’ is the next issue in Grant Morrison’s Mikal R. Kayn series and introduces another famous Starblazer character of their creation, Cinnabar. Enrique Alcatena is on art duty, with Keith Robson on the cover, both doing an out-of-this-world job.
    Grant Morrison MBE is an international comics legend known for their work on Animal Man, Batman, Doom Patrol and The Green Lantern. One of Morrison’s first writing jobs in comics was for DC Thomson’s Starblazer.
    The volume is once again capped off with an astronomical cover by Neil Roberts (2000 AD, Warhammer, Commando).
    The long-awaited Starblazer Volume 2 is out on Amazon, Magsdirect.co.uk and in WHSmith stores November 1st, 2023.

Comic Cuts — 27 October 2023

This week was nowhere near as exciting as the week I described in my last column—so exciting, in fact, that there were two columns!

I've had some problems with e-mail and I was unable to download any for a couple of days; the guy on the phone from my ISP was unable to help me because I couldn't get into my account and nor could he. This meant trying to recover my account with the ISP's recovery team, which ran into a number of immediate hurdles. I don't drive, so I don't have a driving license; nor do I have a current passport, because I haven't travelled abroad for many years and never bothered to renew it.

So proving who I was proved to be a problem because they wouldn't accept my election id, which is acceptable for voting a government in, but apparently not good enough for re-establishing my e-mail.

They also wanted proof of my address, so I sent over my most recent bank statement and a phone bill. That wasn't good enough because the bank statement was over three months old. I explained that my bank had turned my account "paperless" without my OK, so I sent a TV license. But that wasn't good enough... so I couldn't prove who I was or where I lived.

I couldn't get a new password, because they would be sending it to an e-mail address I couldn't access through my PC or my laptop.

After a fraught couple of days, I had a breakthrough. I was regretting that my tablet had stopped working about 18 months ago, as it had saved my life back in 2019 when our phone line was out of action for a month. Every day, I went down to a local Syrian cafe called The Olive Branch and used the tablet and their free wi-fi to access orders for my books and keep in touch with people. I'd jot down postal addresses in a little notebook... which is when I remembered that I had also jotted down the webmail address and password in that same notebook.

Miraculously, I was able to access my account and although I'm still having to sign in every couple of hours, I can at least see my mail now. They seem to be moving their system over to a "Generation 2" web system, which might be where my problems started and why they're still not 100% sorted.

I've temporarily moved some of my mail to a gmail address, which I'll also use for groups and one or two other things in the future. Until I can get someone to look at the set up I have, I'll have to keep stumbling along for a while, which is my usual mode of perambulation when it comes to technology.

I took Wednesday off to visit the Knife Angel sculpture with my mum. I had heard of it but didn't realise it was so tall – 27 feet – and made of around 100,000 knives that were seized by the police or handed in during amnesties. It has been on tour since 2018, and has been located next to the Jumbo Water Tower in Colchester during October before heading off to Bolton, Greater Manchester, next month. You can find out if it's coming to your town here.

I'm still trying to spread the word that The Trials of Hank Janson is available. Trying to get any publicity is proving to be a bit of a nightmare. I did an interview with Jules Burt, which was a lot of fun to do (and which has had nearly 500 views) but I've contacted three other people who do podcast/videos about paperbacks and I've not even had a reply. Maybe they're just not interested in a guy who sold 20 million paperbacks and was responsible for changing the law that allowed Penguin Books to publish Lady Chatterley's Lover.

In the meantime, I've waiting on publication of two pieces in The Guardian – on Keith Giffen and Tony Husband [UPDATE: published online Thursday evening] – and I also wrote a random short feature on Shenstone Press, the Mansfield-based publisher of the 'Glamour Girl Novels' series and did some research into the family behind Alliance Press, who put out a considerable number of paperbacks in the 1940s. I'll get back to work on Beyond the Void tomorrow and I'm waiting on approval of a proof before the button is pressed on A Laverda Journey. You can't hurry these things however hard you try!

Commando 5691-5694

BEWARE, ghouls and monsters! The second of Commando Halloween special sets is upon us! Eerie Issues 5691 – 5694 are on sale today, Thursday 26th October! Catch them before they catch YOU!

5691: Commandos vs Zombies 0

Deep in Nazi-occupied Norway lies a dark forest and a shadowy factory hidden within. Inside its fetid walls, two Nazi doctors work feverishly, tampering with nature itself to create a German soldier like no other — stronger, faster… with an unyielding loyalty to the Third Reich. But what they unwittingly created was something far worse.

The British Commandos sent in to stop them didn’t stand a chance. They were doomed!

The dead are back, back, back again! The prequel to the Commandos vs Zombies trilogy written by the grisly Georgia Standen Battle is out soon! Find out how the story of Commandos vs Zombies the graphic novel (out now on MagsDirect.co.uk) began! Featuring the master of vile Vicente Alcazar on artwork with nefarious Neil Roberts on cover duty!

Story | Georgia Standen Battle
Art | Vicente Alcazar
Cover | Neil Roberts

5692: Phantom Pilot

When Ken Welsh’s Typhoon was shot down he made the sort of forced landing that nobody should have survived. But survive he did — or did he?

Something very strange had happened, for when Ken woke up, his sleek Typhoon had been replaced with an old-time biplane fighter — and it wasn’t 1944 anymore, it was 1918!

A classic Commando reprint has escaped from the crypts and crawled back onto the shelves once more! Issue 5692 Phantom Pilot featuring a time-travelling ghost! What will they think of next?!

Story | Brunt
Art | Peter Ford
Cover | Ian Kennedy
First Published 1970 as Issue 513

5693: Nightmare Express

At a mist-shrouded railway station, a quartet of mismatched troops are assembled, their recent actions marking them out as the ideal escort detail for a mysterious cargo.

But as they hurtle through the night, curiosity, greed, and terror lead them in turn to enter the cargo compartment, each to discover the eerie train of events that led them to this fateful assignment.

And as the journey detours through a series of nightmarish tales, can any of them hope to disembark before the night train reaches its final destination?

The DEMONIC Daniel McGachey makes his debut to Commando alongside artwork from the malevolent Mike Dorey! Dare you take a ticket to ride this horror train bound for doom?! Will anybody survive the eerie TRAIN of events about to unfold?!

Story | Daniel McGachey
Art | Mike Dorey
Cover | Mike Dorey

5694: Haunted Skies

The FW 190s dived confidently on the single Spitfire — it looked an easy target. In seconds the British fighter was lined up in their gun sights. But as the German pilots pressed their firing buttons, a blinding flash dazzled their eyes and suddenly there was another Spitfire in the sky — a phantom one!

We’re resurrecting another classic Commando for a reprinting! What's that in the sky…is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a GHOST plane! With ghostly but not ghastly artwork from Ken Barr and Mira topping off Bernard Gregg’s supernatural Spitfire story!

Story | Bernard Gregg
Art | Mira
Cover | Ken Barr
First Published 1974 as Issue 808

Rebellion Releases — 25 October 2023

One of the most admired artists in comics history, Steve Dillon is rightfully considered to be one of the definitive 2000 AD artists, with his extensive work for The Galaxy's Greatest Comic including pencils on A.B.C. Warriors, Bad Company, Judge Dredd, Harlem Heroes, Ro-Busters, Rogue Trooper and Tyranny Rex.

As an artist who set the standard for what comics could be, we are delighted to announce that 2000 AD will be publishing a collection of his stunning original artwork for the next volume of our Apex Editions.

The 2000 AD Art of Steve Dillon: Apex Edition contains pages from throughout his 30+ year career working at 2000 AD, including his art on Rogue Trooper and Harlem Heroes. His prolific and defining work on Judge Dredd is showcased with a range of stories including his incredible artwork for the classic Block Mania alongside the Emerald Isle storyline, one of his first collaborations with Garth Ennis.

Also included in this book is the complete art for Alan Moore's sole A.B.C. Warriors story, Red Planet Blues, with painted colour by Watchmen artist John Higgins.

The 2000 AD Art of Steve Dillon: Apex Edition will be released in 2024 both as a Standard Edition available from comic book stores via Diamond Distribution and the 2000 AD webshop; and as a webshop-exclusive edition with special slipcase. 

The Apex Edition series is a deluxe, over-sized facsimile edition reproducing his original art pages at their actual size. Each page of this book has been scanned directly from Steve Dillon's art and presents each page as if you were looking at it in person.

Steve Dillon is one of the best-loved artists to have ever put pencil to paper. Reaching international superstardom as a result of his work on DC/Vertigo's Preacher, which he co-created with frequent collaborator Garth Ennis, he remained one of the most in-demand artists in comics throughout his career, redefining characters including The Punisher. Having previously made his name as a hugely popular writer and artist for 2000 AD, he was the creator of both Hap Hazzard and the Irish Judge Joyce: he also wrote several stories for the Prog over the years, including Future Shocks and Rogue Trooper.

Measuring a huge 19 x 14 inches, this is a landmark collection of some of Dillon's most admired artwork from a storied career in comics, running across 128 incredible pages. With this posthumous release of his artwork, he rightfully takes his place amongst other masters of the form, including Kevin O'Neill, Brian Bolland and Mick McMahon. 

The Steve Dillon Apex edition is released on 19th June 2024, with pre-orders available now on the 2000 AD webshop.

And now, this week's releases...

2000AD Prog 2355
Cover: Cliff Robinson / Dylan Teague (cols).

Judge Dredd: Poison by Rob Williams (w) PJ Holden (a) Peter Doherty (c) Simon Bowland (l)
Helium: Scorched Earth by Ian Edginton (w) D'Israeli (a) Simon Bowland (l)
The Devil's Railroad by Peter Milligan (w) Rufus Dayglo (a) Jose Villarrubia (c) Jim Campbell (l)
The Fall of Deadworld: Retribution by Kek-W (w) Dave Kendall (a) Simon Bowland (l)
Feral & Foe: Bad Godesberg by Dan Abnett (w) Richard Elson (a) Jim Campbell (l)

Upcoming Releases

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comic Cuts — 21 October 2023

A bonus 'Comic Cuts' column!

Because I spent my usual Friday column talking about last weekend's comic swap meet, I didn't have room for my usual boring-ass ramblings about my boring-ass life, and for once there were a couple of things worth mentioning. Hence this bonus blog post.

I spent most of Sunday dealing with the fallout of the swap meet — not as bad as it sounds. For instance, I keep a spreadsheet of sales for every one of Bear Alley's books, which needed to be updated, and as I had forgotten to note the books as they sold, I spent ages trying to figure out a way of using the photos Mel and I had taken of the table to work out how many books I'd taken, and then take stock of what I bought back to figure out what had sold. It worked out at twenty-one copies of ten different titles. I then had to order more copies to replace those that had sold.

Between that and catching up on my mail took most of the day.

I spent Monday and Tuesday writing a piece about the late Keith Giffen for The Guardian, which didn't overrun nearly as long as I usually manage. Because the paper is a different size now (it shrank from broadsheet to 'Berliner' to tabloid over a period of 13 years), there's less room for the obituaries desk staff to indulge my rambling essays. It isn't just The Guardian... I remember being told off by the editors of Starblazer back in 1989 that my panel descriptions were way too long—another example of my "everything plus the kitchen sink, oh, and some kitchen utensils, too" writing style. I just don't like leaving anything out.

Anyway, in this instance I managed to keep it down to 40 words over the requested length, and after they queried a couple of points, they added another ten words that I'll get paid for! There's only one response anyone could make to that: "Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

I have some tidying up to do on A Laverda Journey, which is the next Bear Alley release, and then I should be able to get back to Beyond the Void, the book I'm writing about the history of Badger Books. I also need to keep up the promotion of The Trials of Hank Janson, which is selling OK—by which I mean double figures each month so far, not Rowling levels!—but which will inevitably tail off. I want everyone to be aware what a nice Christmas present a signed hardback copy would make...

I also had a nice big parcel in the post on Wednesday containing the first two volumes of the Fleetway Comics Archives from Book Palace. I first heard of the new series back in the spring from publisher Geoff West when he asked if I would be interested in writing a couple of introductions. I was and did, the first for Don Lawrence's Billy the Kid back in May and the second, for Jet-Ace Logan: The Complete Comet Stories, in September.

Both books have now been released and they're gorgeous! The Don Lawrence shouldn't need any introduction as there are plenty of examples of Lawrence's exemplary work on western strips already published (I put together Wells Fargo & Pony Express for Book Palace back in 2011 and Don also drew episodes of Longbow, still available from Bear Alley). The book runs to 136 pages and includes strips from Sun, Lion, an episode from Cowboy Picture Library and a couple of colour strips from Valiant Annual 1966.

The Jet-Ace Logan book is just amazing, reprinting the complete run of stories from Comet in one 376-page volume. It's easily my second favourite hardback released in the last two months (The hardcover of Trials of Hank Janson is a thing of beauty and I'm 100% biased in its favour!). It's typical of the fists-first action yarn that was so popular in the 1950s, but well-written by Mike Butterworth and David Motton, who could both tell a good story. The artwork was taken over by newcomer John Gillatt with the second storyline, and you can see how his talent and style developed over the next fifteen stories.

It's rare nowadays to find a complete run of the original Comet comics, so this will be the fist time many (including me) will have a chance to read Jet-Ace's adventures in full. They're seventy years old and they show their age, but you can forgive that in the same way that Flash Gordon serials are still watchable. I'm already thinking that a marathon reading session might be an excellent way to spend the weekend.

Also increasingly rare: finding pre-decimal paperbacks in the wild. I've only found a couple in the past month, and thought would make nice illustrations.