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Blasé Books celebrates British comics with new issue of “Scraps”

By John Freeman on August 8, 2015 • ( 1 )

(Via Lew Stringer): Blasé Books, the company that sells British comic art from the IPC archives purchased by Peter Hansen some years back, have announced the imminent publication of Scraps, an irregular fanzine devoted to British comics.

Available from the Blasé Books table at London Comic Marts and the Golden Orbit comic fairs in Birmingham, this second 16-page full colour issue includes articles by comic creator Mike Higgs, including one on the ‘winged avenger’ superhero phase of Radio Fun‘s “The Falcon” strip, a look at some Gerald Swan original art and a homage to artist Ron Embleton by Peter Hansen.

Lew Stringer has the full details here on his Blimey! it’s Another Blog About Comics blog.

Steel Claw art by Jesus Blasco, published in 1973

Scraps is given away free to customers who buy original artwork from Blasé and right now they have some great items on their eBay shop, including “Steel Claw” art by Jesus Blasco, “Janus Stark” by Solano Lopez (and Adam Eterno by the same artist); and a number of girls comics pages, too, such as this bizarre spead from “Alice in Spaceland” by Mark Peppe and Dewar Ferguson (an updating of Lewis Carroll’s classic character), which was published in Princess.

“Alice in Spaceland”, published in Princess (published in 1966)

On another page of this strip posted on Comic Art Fans, Shaqui le Vesconte notes “Alice in Spaceland” was published in 1966. Mark Peppe – who has illustrated numerous books down the years, including titles such as How Would You Survive in the Middle Ages? and The Best Book of Mummies for Puffin Books, drew the various one-off text stories in Lady Penelope and Penelope.

• If you just want a copy of the new Scraps, include a £2 coin in your written request to cover the cost of post and packing and send it to Blasé Books, Hazelwood, Birchfield Road, Redditch B97 6PU.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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.