Leeds Library and Information Service and Thought Bubble (returning 1st – 6th November 2016) is inviting submissions for the Young People’s Comic Award, the only category of the British Comic Awards that will be presented this year as the others are on… Read More ›
Month: July 2016
Awesome Comics Podcast Episode 54: Shane Chebsey and Shrewsbury Comic Arts Festival
Comic conventions are an integral part of being a small press creator, and this week marks the first time the Awesome Comics Podcast team talk to one of the hard working folk behind the events. Shane Chebsey, the man behind the… Read More ›
SelfMadeHero’s Autumn 2016 Revealed: Motherless Oven follow up by Rob Davis out in November
A graphic history of Tetris, Rob Davis‘ eagerly-awaited follow up to his utterly brilliant The Motherless Oven and a superb-looking biography of Salvador Dalí by Edmond Baudoin are just some of the treats in store from SelfMadeHero this autumn. September… Read More ›
In Review: I Drank Holy Water: A Visual Diary by Zen Bucko
By Zen Bucko Experimental comics can be a gamble, one that in my opinion more often than not does not pay off. Combine that with the often also overplayed hand of the autobiographical comic and you are betting something of… Read More ›
Lakes International Comic Art Festival Tickets On Sale Now
Tickets for the main events at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival are on sale now – and a special “Clash of the Toon Titans“, pitting Tintin against Asterix, will launch this year’s weekend-long celebrations in October. Guests at this year’s Festival (14th – 16th October… Read More ›
In Review: Kenya – Interventions
Kenya, Leo (Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira) and Rodolphe’s (Rodolphe Daniel Jacquette) ongoing series of spies, extinct beasts and strange flying lights that is set in the post war British colony reaches its fourth book, Interventions, translated from the French and published by… Read More ›
Eagle Times Summer 2016 Issue Out Now
The latest issue of the Eagle Society’s Eagle Times is available now, featuring: The Adventures of Tintin: King Ottokar’s Sceptre – a comparison of three editions of Herge’s picture strip story: the 1947 book by Casterman of Paris, its first publication… Read More ›
In Memoriam: Comic Creator Alan Joseph Mitchell
The sudden passing of the inspiring comics creator Alan Mitchell, perhaps best known for co-writing “Third World War” with Pat Mills for Crisis, aged just 55, came as a tremendous shock to both family and friends. Although we met only a couple of… Read More ›
Safari Festival Returns in August
Safari Festival returns to London next month (27th August). The brainchild of Breakdown Press, the event is a celebration of the new wave of alternative and art comics from the UK and beyond. The festival is an opportunity for a curated… Read More ›
Celebrating the British Small Press: 60 Great Small Comic Press (Part One)
When Marvel UK shrunk its original strip output in the mid-1990s, not being a 2000AD reader, comics creator Andy Luke had nowhere to go. He came to find that the small press, often photocopied works, were a core part of… Read More ›
Comic Creators Metaphrog win Scottish Culture Award
Congratulations this morning to Metaphrog – the Franco-Scottish duo of John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs – who tell us they are “Completely stunned” after winning The Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards 2016 for Best Visual Artist. Metaphrog – who had… Read More ›
Authors Rally for Tommy Donbavand with Obverse Books project
As we’ve previously reported on downthetubes, Scream Street creator, Beano writer, Doctor Who author and all round lovely guy, Tommy Donbavand, has been diagnosed with cancer and is currently recovering from a series of painful and unpleasant treatments as he… Read More ›
Something For The Weekend: New Comics On Sale (w/c 4th July 2016): Cybermen and Small Press Day!
Alongside the latest issue of 2000AD – and if you’re a fan of Gerry Anderson’s UFO, you’ll love the opening episode of the new “Scarlet Traces” story – be sure to be ready to pick up the superb collection of… Read More ›
Shrewsbury International Comic Art Festival Goes Free! (Free to enter, that is…)
The first ever Shrewsbury International Comic Art Festival, taking place 15th – 17th July, is now a free event – giving full access to an amazing guest list and exhibitors for the general public all three days. Guests lined up include creators Dan Berry,… Read More ›
Eagle Daze: The Life and Times of Leonard James Matthews – Part Twelve
Leonard Matthews, General Managing Editor of Fleetway and the Eagle Group of Comics, was a Creative Visionary… but that, Roger Perry argues in his extensive biography of the man which continues here on downthetubes, is only due to him having… Read More ›
Egmont to launch Bing magazine
Egmont will launch a new children’s magazine, Bing, as a regular monthly frequency publication later this month. Regular downthetubes readers may recall the company previously published its first Bing magazine as part of their pre-school Play & Learn titles, back in 2014. Bing is a pre-school… Read More ›
In Review: Underpants by Alex Potts
by Alex Potts Underpants is a selfppublished collection of mostly autobiographical short stories from the creator of last year’s excellent A Quiet Disaster, telling tales of the life and interests of its laconically sarcastic and observant creator. Some of my favourites were… Read More ›
Lancaster Library Gets its Lighting Rig, thanks to Lancaster Comics Day
Lancastrians enjoyed a great night boogieing to reunited local band Mostly Hums, Sea of Rain and Frenetic at Lancaster Library on 3rd July 2016. The event raised £500 raised for Cancer Care UK and the local St John’s Hospice, and included… Read More ›
A Box of Delights: London’s Cartoon Museum
Alan Russell visits London’s Cartoon Museum, revealing some of its treasures for British comic fans… I’ve been a comics fan since I was a young child back in the early 1970s. In those days of course, there were far fewer things… Read More ›
Graphic Novel Spotlight: I Am Legion by Fabien Nury and John Cassaday, re-released today
World War Two is a popular setting for comics, whether grounded in fantasy or reality, but is often quite a challenge to find the correct tone and balance when attempting the former. Originally published from 2004 to 2007 in French… Read More ›