Solar Wind Collected

By John Freeman on April 6, 2008

The Bumper Book of Solar Wind, a two-volume collection of all of the issues of the award-winning and very funny Solar Wind and its equally madcap companion titles, are now available from Lulu.com thanks to publisher and editor Paul Scott.

“The books collect the best part of five years work from a host of contributors to all 11 issues of Solar Wind, Sunny for Girls and Big War Comic across two 250+ page volumes,” Paul tells downthetubes. “Solar Wind was a spoof kid’s comic, in the mould of those great comics from the late 1970s and early 1980s, helmed by a criminally irresponsible editor called Cosmic Ray.

“The comic was created by myself and Gareth Whitty after we’d written a story (Deathsphere, a future sports strip) and didn’t want to give it to a publisher,” he continues. “Solar Wind was my first experience of creating a comic book, and I learnt a lot from it. Especially that I don’t envy the work of an Editor! But we got great reviews, won a National Comic Award, nominated for an Eagle and best of all, lots of praise from readers.

“Highlights for me included Issue 4, the Action!-inspired Aggro issue,” he reveals, “Griefbringer (by Ben Clark, which is soon to become a web comic) the tale of a past-haunted tyrant in a distant fantasy kingdom and Jack Knacker, a man who deals with all of socities problems with a piece of 2×4 wood.

“There are so many other good strips that people did, that I felt it was a shame that it was doomed to oblivion once the print runs ran out, so I put together a reprint via Lulu.com (an on-demand internet publisher) to keep it available for contributors and readers alike.

“While the publisher takes its cut, I take no profits myself, so it’s possible to order both volumes and all 500+ pages for £15,” says Paul, who is impressed by the lulu service, also used by other UK comic creators such as Chris (Moon Queen) Reynolds. “I think it’s a publishing revolution more small press people should take advantage of, and I couldn’t have dreamt of doing this without it.”

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.