World of Wonder: part 22

David Nockles

David Nockles

Martin Aitchison

Angus McBride

 

M.C.?

(* World of Wonder © Look and Learn Ltd.)

World of Wonder: part 21

We've had a bit of a break since the last set of illustrations from World of Wonder. For newcomers, WoW was a British educational magazine published in the early 1970s. Often considered the lesser companion to Look and Learn, I had to look through all the issues I had recently, when I was researching the Pages from History book, and was reminded just how good some of the illustrations were. As it's not a magazine that many have collected, I'm trawling through the copies I have (not a complete set by any means) and gathering together a few galleries featuring images that take my fancy. You can find more of these mini-galleries by following this link.

?

M. Unger

M. Unger

Gerry Embleton

Angus McBride

(* World of Wonder © Look and Learn Ltd.)

Norman Pett's Jane

Today's cover gallery is actually a bit of a miscellany inspired by a Bear Alley reader Maurice Poole who mentioned that he had some original photos of Jane... or, rather of Crystabel Leighton-Porter who was artist Norman Pett's model for Jane from 1940 on.

That got me thinking about the Jane books published in the 1940s; I don't think I was ever happy with the list I'd compiled back in the days when I was doing the Comic Book Price Guide as there were a couple of very confusing titles: there were two books called Jane's Journal and two books called Another Journal, plus one called Another Jane's Journal. And then there were a few other miscellaneous titles just to muddy the water further.

So here's the best version of a chronological listing I can manage.

Jane's Journal
Thomas Publications, Mar 1942, 64pp, 2/6.

Another Jane's Journal
Thomas Publications, (Jan?) 1943, 3/6.

Pett's Annual
Thomas Publications, 1944, 80pp, 3/6.

Jane's Summer Idle
Mirror, Jun 1946, 36pp, 1/-.

Jane's Journal
A. Rylee, Nov 1946, 84pp, 3/6.

Jane on the Sawdust Trail
Mirror, 1947, 36pp, 2/-.

Another Journal
A. Rylee, Jun 1950, 68pp, 2/6.

Another Journal
A. Rylee, Nov 1951, 68pp, 3/6.

Jane Souvenir
(publisher, date unknown)

(* With thanks to Maurice Poole for some of these scans.)

Herbert Victor Lowe

Readers with long memories may remember a few years ago I ran some columns on "mysteries that have me mystified", covering a handful of authors that I could discover almost nothing about. Well, here's another little mystery that has me scratching my head. Maybe someone out there will be able to clear this up.

Back in around 1952-53, the UK company Scion Ltd. copyrighted a bunch of titles to the USA. They were possibly prompted by a couple of things: one of their chief rivals had set up in the US and was reprinting books for the American market, so perhaps the owners/editors at Scion thought there was an untapped market for their books and wanted to make sure they were copyright protected. Scion had also recently lost a number of popular bylines because they were considered to be owned by their main authors, so Scion bought in new bylines which they used as house names, which they owned. My guess is that it's a combination of these reasons, although there is an alternative: at least one author found that he could re-sell his books to an American publisher under a different name without the knowledge of his British publisher.

Whatever the truth, Scion, for some months, registered their books in the US but in a slightly odd way. The books were registered under two names as if they were collaborations. The real author was usually mentioned but in all cases the collaborator was one Herbert Victor Lowe.

I've always assumed that Lowe was probably an American agent whom Scion used to try and sell their titles, although there's no evidence for that supposition. Al Hubin (of Crime Fiction fame) suggested to me recently that Lowe might be British and the more I think about it, the more plausible it seems.

You see, some of the novels which Lowe "collaborated" on — within the copyright records — were "co-written" with one Scud Keddell. Now, Keddell doesn't exist... he was the first-person narrator of a number of books that appeared under Scion's house names. I doubt if I've tracked all of them down — these books are now as rare as hen's teeth — but Keddell appeared in at least the following:

What Comes Next? by Hans Vogel. London, Scion, May 1953.
Savage Siren by Hyman Zore. London, Scion, Aug 1953.
This Was a Woman by Hyman Zore. London, Scion, Sep 1953.
Carnival of Death by Hyman Zore. London, Scion, Oct 1953.
Date with Despair by Hans Vogel. London, Scion, Nov 1953.

None of these books have been otherwise credited to a real name... so could they have been written by Herbert Victor Lowe? There's a second name that I've always had my suspicions about who was also a Scion contributor: George Max. He's credited with writing "Midnight Sister" by Hans Lugar (Scion, Sep 1953), and the same author also wrote an earlier novel for Scion and two novels for Milestone as Johnny Farrell:  "Sugar You're Swell" (Scion, Aug 1952), "Curves and Angles" (Milestone, May 1953) and "Night Ride" (Milestone, Jul 1953). These all slot together as quite a neat little group; one author would have been quite capable of knocking a book a month (some could write a book a week!), although I should say that linking these two writers is pure speculation.

So, back to Herbert Victor Lowe.

In November 2014, I was contacted by Brian Lowe, Herbert Victor Lowe's son, who confirmed that his father was indeed the author of  novels for Scion in the 1950s. "I remember the paperbacks and the titles Cover That Corpse, etc. Unfortunately, much of our family belongings were disposed of ... without our knowledge when dad passed away.


He was born in Holborn, London, on 12 June 1916, into an artistic family. He had two brothers, one a bass baritone who also played the piano, the other with similar talents but who painted in oils. Herbert's talents included drawing cartoons and illustrations, playing the piano and writing.

He worked as a printer's compositor and was living at 207 Charlton Road, Greenwich, in 1939, in which year he married Vera Bessie Mackavoy, who worked at the same printing firm.

He died in Sussex in 1991, having spent time in hospital suffering from kidney disease and several heart attacks. He had been working on an autobiography, but it was never completed.

Comic Cuts - 2 March 2012

March already and I don't have the next Bear Alley Books book finished! Blame it on a couple of false starts with some other notions I've had for projects that I would like to run alongside the next book. I think I've got things sorted out now, but it cost me a couple of weekends, which has pushed everything back a fortnight. Not that I had a set deadline, but I'm keen to keep things moving along.

I'm also trying to negotiate a couple of other publications and make some more plans for a couple of other books along the lines of the recent Pages from History. But it all takes time and I have to earn enough to pay the rent as well, so until a millionaire benefactor (mysterious or otherwise) comes along and offers me a regular wage to turn my little publishing hobby into a full-time job, the schedule will remain irregular at best.

Above is another illustration from the upcoming book on Gwyn Evans. I'm tempted to add another story to the line-up but I'll have to see how that goes as I don't want to make this an expensive book and I'm still in the process of gathering together illustrations.

Random scans this week are a mixed bag from the 1930s and 1940s, a couple of them from the collection of Morgan Wallace. The first is a Newnes Adventure Library from 1933, an anonymously-written tale featuring Norman Steele, detective; next up, two contrasting paperbacks from the 1940s, the first a slim, pulp format yarn from Irish publisher C. Morris & Co., of Dublin reprinting Isabel Waitt's Death a la King, the second a scarce crime novel by the indefatigable John Russell Fearn from Paget. Lastly, we have Mellifont All-Western Library from, er, Mellifont, another Irish publisher... I'm not 100% sure when this dates from, although there were at least six monthly issues. My best guess is 1953, although it could just be late 1952. I've never heard of cover artist Michael Gallivan.

Next week: As promised, and after last week's concentration on book covers, there should be another batch of illustrations from the pages of World of Wonder to keep things varied. I can't recall precisely what's in the latest batch, but I do remember there being illustrations from the Embletons (both Ron and Gerry) and Angus McBride amongst the goodies that will appear during the week. After that, I'm tempted to run another Bill Baker comic strip adaptation as we haven't had one since last November... how the time flies when you're having fun!

World Book Day: 1 March 2012

Don't forget: today is World Book Day. More information here.

Harold McCready

Back in mid-2007 I wrote up a number of artists about whom little was known, in part because much of their work was for nursery comics which have been very poorly researched in the past. Some of them deserve to be better known because their talent was clearly outstanding.

One such is Harold McCready. Back in 2007 I was not able to offer much in the way of information and, as is my wont, I try to revisit these artists every now and again to see if I can turn up anything. I'm now reasonably certain that I've tracked down at least a little on McCready.

He was born in Salford, Manchester, the son of Samuel and Eliza McCready, on 22 February 1897. His father was born in Ireland but came to Lancashire with his family where he worked as an elementary school teacher in Broughton, marrying Eliza McCance in Salford in 1894. Harold was raised in Broughton and began working as a colliery labourer in Chesterfield at the age of 14. He served in the Notts & Derby Regiment and became a 2nd Lieutenant in the Warwick Regiment during the Great War.

McCready married Lily Moss in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1918 and had two children: Irene Joan McCready, born in Leeds in 1919, and Desmond Roy McCready, born in London in 1924. Released from war service in around 1919, he subsequently became an animator, working on the 'Bonzo' series of cartoons for New Era Films in 1924-26, and illustrated My Book of Fairy Tales and Wonder Stories (F. Warne & Co., 1925). McCready also produced posters for Imperial Airways and London Transport.

He lived at 133 Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith, moving after his marriage to 126 Goldhawk Road, where the two lived until 1928. The marriage did not last; Lily McCready had a fiery temper and Harold appears to be living on his own in later years at various addresses. During the 1930s he lived at 7 Westwell Road, Wandsworth SW11 [fl.1929-34], 153 Merlin Road, Welling, Bexley Heath [fl.1934-36] and 151 The Drive, Blendon Hall, Bexley Heath [fl.1937-39].

It was whilst at the latter address that McCready was fined £2 with costs of £6 3s. for dangerous driving on the Wolseley Road, Rugeley, on 30 July. The case, which came before the court in September, was that McCready had attempted to overtake a car driven by William Parkes and, having overtaken, turned in so sharply that his near-side bumper became locked with the front off-side bumper of Parkes' car. The latter car was dragged 24 feet and overturned after striking the curb, injuring its occupants. McCready claimed that Parkes had accelerated and had run into the back his car; the collision was so slight that he had not noticed anything amiss until his son, sitting in the back, said that the other car had overturned.

McCready was active as a comic strip artist in the 1930s, drawing 'In the Days of Robin Hood' for The Boys' and Girls' Daily Mail (1934) and 'Invaded by Vikings' for Jolly Jack's Weekly, a comic supplement given away with The Sunday Dispatch (1934). He also produced the cover and illustrations for The Joy Cupboard – The British Legion Annual for 1934 (Alexander Ouseley Ltd., 1933).

Unfortunately, he then disappears from sight. In 1956 he began painting the cover strip, 'Jolly Days with Dicky and Dolly', for Playhour and it is possible that he worked on other A.P. nursery papers like Tiny Tots.

These were quite delightful strips, obviously aimed at the very young — simple storylines that could be related in three or four frames, colourfully drawn and full of cheery animal characters. Basically, the tried and tested formula that dated back to Mrs Hippo's Kindergarten fifty years earlier. McCready was probably at his best when he was showing winter landscapes, with snow piled thick on fences and branches, and colourful scenes of summer holidays, fireworks nights and Christmas day frolics. You'll find lots of examples of McCready's Dicky and Dolly at the Look and Learn Picture Gallery.

McCready's work on the strip was intermittent on occasions as he also worked on 'Jack and Jill of Buttercup Farm', the cover strip for Jack and Jill in 1957; when Dicky and Dolly were displaced from the front cover in 1959 by 'Tiger Tim and the Bruin Boys', who joined Playhour when it merged with Tiny Tots, McCready was one of the main artists during its nine month run.

Dicky and Dolly returned for another three months as cover stars (1959-60) before they were replaced by TV star 'Sooty', drawn by Gordon Hutchings. McCready launched a new strip, 'Leo the Friendly Lion', based on a character who had appeared in Playhour Annual a couple of years earlier. He remained on the strip only a couple of months before sharing duties drawing 'Sooty' on the cover with Gordon Hutchings, taking over for a run between September and November 1960, plus one episode published in February 1961.

After that, McCready disappears from the pages of Playhour and I've yet to find any other work by him. McCready was living at 21 Jedburgh Street, Battersea S.W.11 in 1957-61 and Brian Woodford, a sub on Playhour in the 1950s, recalls visiting him at Battersea, describing his as "a short, very unassuming man, nothing at all what you would expect of an artist."

Colin Wyatt recalls: "I also went to his house on a couple of occasions to pick up artwork. I remember that on each occasion he just opened his front door, passed over the package, and closed it again."

This latter point is echoed by Brian Woodford: "The first time I went there I remember I couldn't find the street or his house and thought how nice it would be to get there and be offered a glass of something refreshing. Instead, no conversation, simply 'Here it is. Goodbye.' Very unlike Ron Embleton. I remember going to his home and being invited into his studio where we sat and talked about art for more than thirty minutes."

(I'm reminded of a story I heard about Ted Kearon, the artist of Robot Archie, who lived down on the south coast. Anyone visiting Ted to collect artwork was kept waiting on the doorstep by Mrs. Kearon who was keen never to have her husband distracted from his work. If they needed to talk to him, they weren't invited in; instead, Kearon — wearing a smock to keep his clothes clean — was allowed onto the doorstep to quickly deal with any business.)

McCready was, it would seem, fanatical about bullfighting. "I was told that [he] had taken thousands of feet of film using a 35mm film camera which he often carried around in a large holdall," says Colin.

According to his granddaughter, Heather, Harold McCready left the UK for Australia: "I only met Harold once and that was in about 1969/70 when he contacted my mother out of the blue to pick him up from Southampton, having arrived by boat from Australia. She wasn't best impressed as she hadn't seen or heard from him since he left and it  was my father who persuaded her to do so. My memories of him are very much as your contacts described him: a man of very few words! However, as I trained as a dancer his artistic side leant towards me and hence I became his beneficiary a couple of years later to help continue my studies, which was a bolt out of the blue for me."

I believe Harold McCready subsequently moved to 7 Luxborough House, Luxborough Street, W.1 [1966-67], and later moved to Richmond upon Thames, where he died in early 1972, aged 75.

(* Dicky and Dolly © Look and Learn Magazine Ltd.; Tiger Tim and the Bruin Boys © IPC Media; originally posted 13 July 2007; updated 15 July 2007. With thanks to Heather Seymour for adding her memories.)

Recent Releases: January - April 2012

JANUARY 2012 

Ampney Crucis Investigates: Vile Bodies by Ian Edginton & Simon Davis. 

Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992940, 19 January 2012, 96pp, £11.99. [£9.59 from Amazon]
England, 1928. Lord Ampney Crucis was a dashing, smart and charming young man, tipped to rise to the top of high society. But then the Great War happened, and a close encounter with an otherworldly entity in no man's land drove Crucis temporarily insane. Upon recovery, he discovered that he had the ability to sense the presence of entities that exist beyond our reality. Now Ampney, aided by his loyal butler Eddie Cromwell, investigates the rum goings-on that have begun to plague our green and pleasant land...

Order from Amazon.

Auntie's Charlie by Charles Chilton.
Fantom Books ISBN 978-1906263768, 6 February 2012 [available from January 2012], £13.99. Softcover edition.
Described by the Sunday Telegraph as ‘the one genius the BBC ever had on its staff’, Charles Chilton MBE joined the Corporation at fifteen as a messenger boy and went on to carve out a 46-year career as a presenter, writer and producer.
__Auntie’s Charlie discusses his life from growing up on the streets of 1920s St Pancras, via early years at the BBC working for the Gramophone Library, to writing the infamous production Oh What a Lovely War for Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop.
__While with the BBC Charles was sent to the United States to research, write and produce a number of series based on American western history. One of these, Riders of the Range, lasted for five years until 1953. However, major international recognition came with his science fiction trilogy Journey into Space which he wrote and produced between 1953 and 1958.
__Here, for the first time, is Charles Chilton’s story in his own words – an autobiography that is frank, vivid, wry and engaging.
Buy from Amazon.

Frontier: Dealing with Demons by Jason Cobley & Andrew Wildman

Print Media Productions ISBN 978-0956712134, 28 January 2012, 64pp, £14.99.

The Wild West... and Daisy Adams is suddenly all alone, living on the plains, left with her father's old coat and a catapult. Then Mitch Seeker, the son of a sheriff, runs into her life. And they've been running ever since, chasing werewolves, ghosts and demons, on a quest to track down the man who turned them both into orphans and unleashed weirdness into the Wild West.

__In 1866, out on the Frontier, things got Weird. History failed to record everything that happened, but Daisy wrote it all down in her diaries. In Frontier, we follow Mitch and Daisy as they seek justice but end up finding more adventure and danger than they counted on. It's weird. It's wild. It happened out west!

__First published in the acclaimed Random House weekly comic The DFC, Print Media Productions is delighted to bring you this collection of Britain's weirdest western comic – Frontier: Dealing with Demons. Weaving an engaging, adventure-filled tale of derring-do in the American West, this collected edition of Frontier from Jason Cobley and Andrew Wildman includes additional feature material, including pages from Daisy's secret diary and reveals just how the story was created.

Order from Amazon.

Johnny Red: Red Devil Rising by Tom Tully & Joe Colquhoun. 

Titan Books ISBN 978-1848560345, 27 January 2012, 96pp, £14.99. [£8.79 on Amazon]

Britain’s best-loved aerial combat comic returns in a gorgeous library edition! Continuing the adventures of Johnny Redburn, discharged from the RAF for striking an officer. Taking to the skies in a stolen Hurricane, he meets the Falcon Squadron of the 5th Soviet Air Brigade, and begins his fight against Germany from the other side of the Iron Curtain!
__The classic series by Tom Tully (Roy of the Rovers) and Joe Colquhoun (Charley’s War) includes a feature by comics legend Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher, War Stories).

Order from Amazon.

Judge Anderson: The Psychic Crime Files by Alan Grant, Carlos Ezquerra, Trevor Hairsine & Boo Cook.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992544, 17 January 2012, 192pp, $20.99. [£11.88 on Amazon]
Mega-City One, a futuristic metropolis sprawling across the east coast of North America. This hostile urban nightmare is policed by the Judges; tough lawmen with the ability to act as judge, jury and executioner. Within the Justice department is a section known as Psi-Division which specialises in Judges gifted with extraordinary psychic abilities. Cassandra Anderson is one such Judge; a powerful telepath with a rebellious streak and a talent for getting into trouble...
Order from Amazon.

The Pictorial Guide to British 1950s Sci-Fi & Horror Comic Books by Mike Morley
Ugly Duckling Press (no ISBN), January 2012, 288pp, £14.95.
Spaceships! Monsters! Superheroes! You could find them in abundance within the action packed pages of comic books filling the bottom shelves of British newsagents' shops back in the 1950s. Some were homegrown productions and some were reprints of American material but all of them helped to brighten up a rather drab decade suffering from various forms of post-war austerity.
Order from Blasé Books, Hazelwood, Birchfield Road, Redditch B97 6PU.

Tank Girl: Bad Wind Rising by Alan Martin & Rufus Dayglo. 

Titan Books ISBN 978-0857681188, 27 January 2012, 104pp, £14.99. [£9.89 on Amazon]

A brand new graphic novel collecting all four issues of the latest Tank Girl comics series, featuring the return of a much-loved secondary character, the break up of TG and Booga and a crazed gang of killer kangaroos. It’s wild, it’s off the wall, and it’s the greatest story yet. Don't miss Tank Girl’s latest twisted action adventure! Note: Listed due 27 January 2012 on Titan website but 25 January 2013 on Amazon.

Order from Amazon.

February 2012

Dotter of Her Father's Eyes by Mary M. Talbot & Bryan Talbot.
Jonathan Cape ISBN 978-0224096089, 2 February 2012, 96pp, £14.99 [£9.99 from Amazon]
Part personal history, part biography, Dotter of Her Father's Eyes contrasts two coming-of-age narratives: that of Lucia, the daughter of James Joyce, and that of author Mary Talbot, daughter of the eminent Joycean scholar James S. Atherton. Social expectations and gender politics, thwarted ambitions and personal tragedy are played out against two contrasting historical backgrounds, poignantly evoked by the atmospheric visual storytelling of award winning comic artist and graphic novel pioneer Bryan Talbot. Produced through an intense collaboration seldom seen between writers and artists, Dotter of Her Father's Eyes is intelligent, funny and sad - a fine addition to the evolving genre of graphic memoir.
Order from Amazon.

Judge Anderson: Psi Files Vol. 2 by Alan Grant, Arthur Ranson & Kevin Walker.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992957, 16 February 2012, 304pp, £19.99. [£13.19 on Amazon]
An impending psychic apocalypse, mutant vampires, an alien threat on Mars...it's enough to make a seasoned PSI Judge disillusioned with the job. From the streets of Mega-City One to the outer fringes of the galaxy wherever she goes, Cassandra Anderson is sure to find trouble! Features stories never reprinted before including rare annual one-off strip. Full colour throughout.
Order from Amazon.

Judge Dredd: Crusade & Frankenstein Division by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Carlos Ezquerra & Mick Austin.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992674 ,14 February 2012, 96pp, £10.85 [£8.24 on Amazon]
In Crusade, when a scientist returns from a 15-year deep space mission claiming to have a message from God, judges from all of the world's Mega-Cities race to Antarctica to try and claim the Almighty's secrets for themselves.
__Among them is the toughest future lawman of them all - Judge Dredd - but in the scramble to secure the scientist and his information, the judges all brutally turn on the other as the prize proves too much to resist!
__Meanwhile, a deadly agent from one of the world's superpowers stalks through the warzone, hoping that the confusion will ease his path to securing the secrets of the cosmos!
__In The Frankenstein Division, the sinister judges of East Meg create the ultimate judge by stitching together pieces of their best - but when it goes on the rampage it heads for Mega-City One and the one man responsible for the death of its many 'donors' - Judge Dredd!
Order from Amazon.

Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga by John Wagner, Pat Mills, Mike McMahon & Brian Bolland.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1781080085, 2 February 2012, 160pp, £6.99. [£5.31 at Amazon]
A ROAD TRIP THROUGH HELL! Mega-City One, 2100. A deadly plague developed during the brutal 'Great Germ War' has reached the futuristic metropolis of Mega-City Two, located on the West Coast of the USA. Charged with delivering a life-saving vaccine to the citizens of the disease-ridden city, Judge Dredd and a small crew of Judges, war droids and the lawbreaking biker, Spikes Harvey Rotten, must travel a thousand miles across the radioactive wasteland known as 'the Cursed Earth.' It is a near-impossible journey hate-filled mutants, rampaging monsters and crazed war robots populate the hellish stretch of terrain. Many men have attempted to cross it and most have failed. But Judge Dredd is the best there is! 
Order from Amazon.

Modesty Blaise: Live Bait by Peter O'Donnell & Enric Badia Romero.
Titan Books ISBN 978-0857686688, 24 February 2012, 104pp, £11.99. [£7.19 from Amazon]
This title features classic stories by popular British crime writer Peter O'Donnell. The tag-team of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin battle with the darkest elements of the underworld once again, beautifully illustrated by Enric Badia Romero! With story introductions taking the reader behind the scenes of Modesty's world, plus a tribute to Peter O'Donnell, this outstanding collection is not to be missed.
Order from Amazon.

Pages from History, Illustrated by C. L. Doughty, ed. Steve Holland.
Bear Alley Books ISBN 978-1907081590, 6 February 2012, 176pp, £17.99.
The latest publication from Bear Alley Books is our most ambitious yet, a bumper 172 page collection of art and comics by one of Britain's finest historical illustrators. Pages from History contains four classic comic strips, over 100 illustrations and, as a bonus, two episodes of an unpublished strip, all from the masterful pen (and brush) of C. L. Doughty.
__Over half the comic strip art and all the illustrations have been scanned from original art boards and, thanks to modern digital printing, these pages have never looked so good. Lettering has been restored and, in the case of one strip, edited pages have also been restored.
__The four strips, taken from the pages of Look and Learn, include the often grim tale of "Potts' Progress", the story of Prestor John retold in "The Crusader", the action-packed "A Sword for the Stadtholder" and a story of revenge as Richard Fairfax becomes "The Black Pirate". The book also includes a detailed introduction charting Doughty's career as a comic strip artist and illustrator in the pages of Thriller Picture Library, Sun, Express Weekly, Top Spot, Swift, Lion, Girl, Eagle, Knockout, School Friend, June and other papers. A gallery of over 100 illustrations reveals Doughty's skill as a chronicler of history from portraits of Britain's monarchy to the adventures of explorers, highwaymen and pirates.
Order from Bear Alley Books.

MARCH 2012

An Inspector Calls (Original Text) by Jason Cobley & Will Volley.
Classical Comics ISBN 978-1906332327, March 2012, 144pp, £9.99.
An Inspector Calls (Quick Text) by Jason Cobley & Will Volley.
Classical Comics ISBN 978-1906332334, March 2012, 144pp, £9.99.
A respectable household is shocked when a strange police inspector visits them shortly after dinner... and proceeds to unravel their prejudices and lies. Through this almost surreal murder-mystery, Priestley interweaves social comment with a gripping story that twists and turns every few pages.
Order from Amazon [Original Text, Quick Text].

The Broons and Oor Wullie Holiday Sticker Annual.
D. C. Thomson ISBN 978-1845354794, 17 March 2012, 112pp, £5.99. [£5.39 from Amazon]
Order from Amazon.

The James Bond Omnibus Vol.3 by Jim Lawrence & Yaraslav Horak.
Titan Books ISBN 978-0857685889, 23 March 2012, 272pp, £14.99. [£8.79 from Amazon]
The daring James Bond is back in a definitive bumper edition collecting the first period of Jim Lawrence's celebrated run in comic strip form!
__Includes seven of Bond's most thrilling and dangerous missions: The Harpies, River of Death, The Golden Ghost, Fear Face, Double Jeopardy, Starfire and Kingley Amis' controversial post-Fleming story, Colonel Sun.
Order from Amazon.

Kingdom: Call of the Wild by Dan Abnett & Richard Elson.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907992988, 15 Mar 2012, 144pp, £14.99. [£7.99 from Amazon]
Earth, the far-future. With the planet now overrun by gigantic alien insects, Mankind is all but extinct. Genetically engineered dog-soldier, Gene the Hackman, now protects one of the last remaining human beings a young girl named Leezee Sower and the two of them have travelled to the land of Auxtralia, straight into the territory of a new pack...
Order from Amazon.

Sweeney Todd (Original Text) by Sean M. Wilson & Declan Shalvey.
Classical Comics ISBN 978-1906332792, March 2012, 168pp, £9.99. [£7.09 on Amazon]
Sweeney Todd (Quick Text) by Sean M. Wilson & Declan Shalvey.
Classical Comics ISBN 978-1906332808, March 2012, 168pp, £9.99. [£8.99 on Amazon]
No one knows for sure if Sweeney Todd actually existed - but this story, taken from a serialisation in a Penny Dreadful that ran from 1846-7, put the Demon Barber of Fleet Street on the map.
__Gory? No! What's particularly good about this adaptation is that none of the horror is to be seen — making this a truly wonderful version of a brilliant book.
Order from Amazon (Original Text, Quick Text).

APRIL 2012

Mega-City Undercover Vol.2 by Rob Williams, Simon Coleby, D'Israeli, Rufus Dayglo.
Rebellion ISBN 978-1907519284, 12 April 2012, 144pp, £14.99. [£9.74 from Amazon]
It takes a special kind of judge to go undercover on the mean streets of Mega-City One – especially in the crime infested Low Life; the nastiest part of the ‘Big Meg.’ This division of the Justice Department known as the ‘Wally Squad’ contains some of the bravest individuals working the streets – and also some of the most unhinged!
__Join Judges Aimee Nixon, Thora, ‘baby Judge’ Mortal and Dirty Frank as they encounter some of the biggest threats ever to appear in the Low Life, including a new reality-altering drug called ‘Creation’ and a war on the streets between the Justice department and the Yakuza!
Order from Amazon.

The Oor Wullie Notebook.
Waverley Books ISBN 978-1849342582, 2 April 2012, 144pp, £6.99. [£5.17 from Amazon]
Oor Wullie is Scotland's favourite boy, with his trademark spiky hair, dungarees and an upturned bucket, which he often uses as a seat. As his fans know, Wullie has been with us for the past 75 years, and Wullie normally finishes each strip with him sitting on his upturned bucket, imparting a thought or wisdom to his readers on his day or story. The frequent tagline on the strip is "Oor Wullie! Your Wullie! A'body's Wullie!" (Our Willie! Your Willie! Everybody's Willie!). Created by D C Thomson editor R D Low and drawn by cartoonist Dudley D Watkins, today he is drawn by Peter Davidson. This notebook contains some of Oor Wullie's favourite sayings and thoughts and is illustrated with single cells taken from the strip. Notebook pages are printed pale cream with light blue lines. The perfect notebook for any fan of Oor Wullie. "Oor Wullie" was launched in 1936 in The Sunday Post in Scotland, and is still going strong. The Sunday Post's readership covers all generations.
Order from Amazon.

The Rainbow Orchid Vol. 3 by Garen Ewing.
Egmont ISBN 978-1405255998, 2 April 2012, 48pp, £6.99. [£5.17 from Amazon]
At the beginning of Volume Three, Julius and Lily are recovering from the electrifying end of Volume Two. What does the future hold for Evelyn Crow and her gang of desperate villains? Do Julius and Lily have the strength to prevent Urkaz Grope from enacting his evil plans? Don't miss the stunning conclusion to the biggest adventure in comics! The Rainbow Orchid is an ambitious blend of classic storytelling, and cinematic artwork, in which adventure, historical drama and legend are seamlessly intertwined. 
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