Violent Reaches 18 – and is still kicking

By John Freeman on September 2, 2010

Issue 18 of Longtime indie comics publisher Jay Eales anthology Violent! is now available to download here for absolutely nothing.

“There are no celebrities on the cover, I’m afraid,” warns Jay, “Unless you count artist Kev Levell’s homage to Carlos Ezquerra’s notorious cover that helped to get Action banned back in the Seventies…”

Violent! was born as something of an Action homage zine back in 1999, launching at the first Bristol Festival. “It seems only fitting that we should pay tribute to Grandaddy Action now Violent! is entering its second decade of life,” says Jay, “albeit in a new PDF format incarnation.”

For a free comic with no ads to cover costs, this issue features an impressive array of talent, not least of which is some truly stunning work for the humour-adventure strip Space Dude by Darren Douglas. (Collections of Space Dude strips are available from lulu.com). It’s a strip that may offend some but very tongue in cheek and Darren’s art continues to astonish.

Other creators in the issue, whose work also shouldn’t be sniffed at include Jay, Chris Askham, Paul McCaffrey, Curt Sibling and many other fine talents. So what have you got to lose (except, perhaps, your very sanity…) by downloading this free comic now and checking it out for yourself?

• More about Violent! Issue 18 (or download the PDF direct from here)

• If you missed Violent! #17, go here.

About the Author
Latest Posts

John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.