Dark & Golden Books have opened orders for two great titles, the first presenting the early underground comics work of Dave Gibbons for the very first time, the second a look back at an unrecognised, and probably for the most part ignored aspect of comic retailing.
Dark & Golden Books, run by Douglas Noble and Tom Oldham, are dedicated to charting a less travelled course through the history of British comics, finding and celebrating mislaid and forgotten classics for the audience of today in new high-quality editions.
Out of print since their first publication, Early Gigs – Underground Comics 1970-1973 by Dave Gibbons, available to preorder here, presents the comics the 2000AD and DC Comics artist he cut his teeth on, honing his abilities on wild stories of rock and rock, spectral appearances, and biased judges.
Stories inside include work originally published in Fantasy Advertiser, Trials of Nasty Tales, Rock ‘N’ Roll Madness Funnies, Zip Comics and more, plus the first publication of the story “Need a Fog Set” in its entirety.
Newly scanned from the original art, and with brand new introductions for each story by Gibbons himself, this is an invaluable record of some of the earliest work by one of the UK’s greatest comic artists.
Dave Gibbons is a true comics legend. Titles that he has worked on include, for 2000AD, “Harlem Heroes”, “Rogue Trooper”, “Dan Dare” and more; “Doctor Who” for Marvel UK, Watchmen, co-created with Alan Moore for DC Comics; and Give Me Liberty and The Originals. His autobiography, Confabulation, was published in 2022 by Dark Horse Comics.
Dark & Golden Books have also A Little Book of Comic Shop Stickers, the first zine of UK comic ephemera, collecting together some of the most historic and most attractive of the price stickers that UK comic shops have used over the last 50 years.
Debuting at Thought Bubble, this pocket-sized 36-page zine opens with a new introductory essay by the independent publisher’s very own Tom Oldham. You can preorder A Little Book of Comic Shop Stickers here.
Two very different gems of note, offered alongside other smashing titles that include Signs of the Times, collecting Kevin Woodcock cartoons that ran in Brain Damage and The Damage comic in 1989 and 1990, 2 x Brett Ewins and Peter Milligan, a collection of a pair of stories by Peter Milligan and Brett Ewins, unfairly out of print since their original publication, and more.
Well worth checking out. Sign up for the publisher’s newsletter here, so you don’t miss further releases!
• Check out the Dark & Golden Books catalogue at darkandgolden.bigcartel.com
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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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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