Mike Eriksson of the war digest site Where Eagles Dare has put up a new interview with Commando editor Calum Laird in which Calum updates readers on his first two years as Commanding Officer of Britain’s last traditional war comic…. Read More ›
British Comics – Current British Publishers
Cinebook Hits 100
British publishers of some top class European graphic albums Cinebook have just been celebrating the publication of their 100th book – and not just any book, since it’s the newest instalment of adventure series Blake and Mortimer, published in English… Read More ›
Latest Commandos – Check!
Here’s the latest issues of war comic Commando from DC Thomson, on sale from today, 24 September, to 7th October 2009. Commando can be ordered from your local newsagent or you can subscribe. • Commando 4231: The King’s Cossack (First… Read More ›
Tube Surfing: Beano, Broons, Bunty and Bombers
It is that time of year when next year’s calendars are hitting the stores and the one to look out for at the moment is the Beano Retro Comic Art Calendar. With the weekly Beano falling into line with the… Read More ›
Yet More Starblazing In Dundee
After the Starblazer calendar, the Starblazer Adventures role playing game and the Starblazer artwork exhibition at the Lamb Gallery in Dundee, the Starblazer bandwagon continues to roll on. As we mentioned back in July, sculptor Trevor Gordon was working an… Read More ›
Cinebook Announces Cult Classic XIII Publication Plans
Over the last 25 years, the dark, engrossing graphic novel series XIII has attracted a cult following in French-speaking countries and beyond, with readers eagerly awaiting every one of the 19th instalments published so far. Now, Canterbury-based publishers Cinebook have… Read More ›
Beano Revamp announced, New Look for Dennis
DC Thomson has announced plans to revamp its remaining weekly comic, The Beano. Contrary to our earlier report they’ve also given Dennis the Menace a makeover in the comic as well as the re-design planned for his new CBBC animated… Read More ›
Dennis De-Menacing Denounced
(Updated 24/8/09): CCBC’s revamp of The Beano‘s Dennis the Menace, which launches next month on the TV channel, has been given the big thumbs down by his creator’s family. The Daily Telegraph reports that Rosemary Moffat and Alison Gardiner, the… Read More ›
Tube Surfing: Dave Gibbons, Digital Awards and Zombies!
downthetubes has been having some behind-the-scenes computer woes: we apologize for the lack of posts in recent days. We’re grateful to Jeremy Briggs for his review of Cinebooks’ Rameses’ Revenge. Digital Artist 2009 Masterclass #1 – Dave Gibbons from Intel… Read More ›
DC Thomson buys Friends Reunited
Via Forbidden Planet International and others: : Scottish publishing empire DC Thomson, home to long-loved titles like the Beano, Sunday Post and the Dandy among many other publications, has bought the Friends Reunited website through its subsidiary Brightsolid Limited. DCT… Read More ›
Tube Surfing: Billy the Cat, Cradlegrave and Cla$$ War for iPhone
• Over on his brilliant site Bronze Age of Blogs, Pete Doree has posted a short article on DC Thomson’s much-loved teen hero Billy the Cat, prompting artist Sean Phillips to respond with this fab drawing of William Grange in… Read More ›
Starblazer from the Command Deck
DC Thomson editor Bill McLoughlin has kindly given downthetubes his account of the rise and fall of DC Thomson’s 1980s SF digest title Starblazer, which has recently spawned its own Role Playing Game (see our review). Revealing the origins of… Read More ›
Tube Surfing, 11 July 2009: Starblazer Sculptures, Moon Landings and an Oxfam ComicFest
• Dundee-based artist Trevor Gordon has been in touch, to let you us of a collaborative art project going ahead in Dundee at the Mills Observatory. “I am working with archival material from DC Thomsons and creating sculptural pieces influenced… Read More ›
DC Thomson Bids Farewell to former Beano Editor
Comics artist Lew Stringer picks up on news that broke over at web site Comics UK that Euan Kerr, DC Thomson’s Deputy Manager of Children’s Publishing and former long-standing editor of The Beano and other titles, is to retire. Dismissing… Read More ›
Tube Surfing, 30 June 2008: Baxendale, Bernice Summerfield and Graveyards!
• (via FPI): Leo Baxendale features in The Times today, recalling the early 1950s and his first approaches to DC Thomson, them taking on Little Plum, Minnie the Minx then the immortal Bash Street Kids. More details and links over… Read More ›
Mindjammer is first Starblazer Adventures game add-on
Rebellion-owned role-playing adventure games and card and board game publisher Cubicle 7 Entertainment has just announced Mindjammer, a self-contained campaign setting designed to bring the transhuman space theme to its new Starblazer Adventures role playing game, just released in the… Read More ›
Timeframes – The 3rd Dundee Comics Conference
With the successful Scottish comics convention Hi-Ex over for this year and already confirmed as going ahead next year, the countdown to the next major Scottish comics event of the year is now in full swing. The third Dundee University… Read More ›
Commando Webbing: 20 May 2009
• After all the talk over the last four months about the new set of Ramsey’s Raiders stories in Commando, the current batch of issues on sale includes the latest in another long-running Commando series: the H-Boat stories, written by… Read More ›
Commando Hits The Beach!
Thinking of hitting the beach this summer? Why not go Commando? Nearly 50 years after it first invaded British news-stands, DC Thomson’s pocket digest title Commando celebrates the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in June 2009 with the publication… Read More ›
Is The Dandy the World’s Oldest Comic?
Mooching through some piles of old comics over the weekend, one of our readers noticed a 2007 issue of The Dandy (Issue 3007) proudly proclaimed the title was now a “record breaking longest running comic ever!” Thanks to The Dandy‘s… Read More ›