David Slinn recalls a little-known and short-lived British newspaper project, SCOOPS, which featured strips by the likes of Sandy Clarke, Ron Smith and Brian Walker…
Creating Comics
Articles on creating comics, how tos, reference information and more
Unearthed: Early Dan Dare designs by Frank Hampson inspired inspired by innovative 1950s inventions
A discovery of an auction item of Dan Dare-related art by Frank Hampson sheds welcome light on the artist and writer’s visionary design work, and how he not only drew on contemporary design but came up with all-new inventions for… Read More ›
Comic Creator Spotlight: Comic Artist Emmanuel Lepage
Born in 1966, French comic artist and writer Emmanuel Lepage, whose work Springtime in Chernobyl is being re-published this June by IDW Publishing, began developing his talent as an artist at just 13, He worked hard, aided by careful guidance… Read More ›
New Beano offers free copy of 2019 annual in limited distribution promotion
This week’s Beano (Issue 3977) is getting a limited distribution promotion, offering a bagged, free copy of the 2019 Beano Annual with purchase at participating WHSmith stores, which appear to be those at railway stations and airports. It got a… Read More ›
Creating Comics: Artist Paul McCaffrey, artist on the new Joe 90 comic from Network
Following up on our news item about Volume 4 of Network‘s Joe 90 Blu-Ray collections, which features a brand-new comic featuring art from acclaimed comics artist Paul McCaffrey, we’ve pinned him up against BIG RAT to ask him about the project…. Read More ›
Tim Pilcher reveals more about Breakthrough project for new comic creators
On the latest episode of the Lakes International Comic Art Festival Podcast, editor and publisher Tim Pilcher talks about the new, recently launched Breakthrough project, aimed at encouraging new and upcoming comics talent. Tim is running Breakthrough for the Lakes… Read More ›
Portsmouth Comic Con team hint at 2020 show in the works as second event nears
It’s only six weeks until the second Portsmouth Comic Con and its two content producers, Joel Meadows and Andrew Colman, have been talking about the upcoming event, and plans for the future… downthetubes: Were you surprised by the reaction to… Read More ›
Etherington Brothers launch Kickstarter for new “How to THINK when you draw” collection
The Etherington Brothers Kickstarter for How to THINK when you draw tutorials Book Two (and a reprint of Book One, Lorenzo Etherington’s sketchbook trilogy and a reprint of The Art of Stranski) is now live. Many of these books are exclusively only available as part of this Kickstarter, and won’t be available anywhere else (online, in shops, Amazon etc) this year.
Lost Marvel UK Projects: Mutator, created by Paul Neary and Tom DeFalco
During the tail end of the busy period in the 1990s when Marvel UK was developing numerous projects for the US Direct Sales market, one of the last unpublished proposed series was Mutator, which we’ve brought to a little bit… Read More ›
First Look: The Art Of Ian Kennedy
DC Thomson Media’s Heritage Comics much-anticipated and eagerly awaited book, The Art Of Ian Kennedy, celebrating 70 years of Kennedy’s illustrious career at DC Thomson, is available to pre-order now
Creating Comics: An Interview with Junko Mizuno
We’re delighted to bring you this interview with Junko Mizuno, a comics creator and illustrator who has created the terrific promotional poster for this year’s upcoming Lakes International Comic Art Festival, and is one of many international guests who will be… Read More ›
Panel Borders: Inking and Painting Women
Celebrating International Women’s Day, Panel Borders: Inking and Painting Women features guest presenter Myriad Editions publisher Corinne Pearlman introduce three talks about female comic creators, recorded at Laydeez Do Comics
Lakes International Comic Art Festival announces first guests, Junko Mizuno poster revealed
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has announced its first guests for its weekend-long event in October 2019, with Early Bird Passes on sale now. Announced are Japanese manga artist Junko Mizuno, who has also provided the stunning poster art for this… Read More ›
Hannah Berry starts term as Comics Laureate
Award-winning author Hannah Berry, creator of the critically-acclaimed graphic novels Adamtine and Livestock, whose credits include work for New Statesman, begins her term as Comics Laureate today. The Comics Laureate is an ambassadorial and educational role for the comic genre and aims to raise awareness of… Read More ›
Crowdfunding Spotlight: Venus Rises, a hard SF adventure comic
Jason G. Birdsall, the creator/writer of Venus Rises, an indie sci-fi comic book series, recently launched a crowdfunder for the second issue on Indiegogo – and the project, with art by James Newell, looks pretty amazing. In the near future,… Read More ›
2000AD’s “Lost” Dan Dare Finale by Gavin Aslett Revisited – in colour!
Back in 2014, after Rebellion, the publishers of 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine first announced collections of the “Dan Dare” stories published in early editions of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, we featured an item on artist and photographer Gavin Aslett‘s continuation of the story –… Read More ›
BBC Four’s “Comics Britannia” re-visited
Back in 2007, the BBC broadcast Comics Britannia, a three-part documentary series devoted to history of British comics – a welcome and major retrospective of our medium (if a tad simplistic for some commentators tastes), that prompted a lot of creators to suggest the Corporation should do more to cover it
NCSFest, a major new US comics Festival, announces full guest line-up
NCSFest, a major new comics happening in the United States this May has announced its full incredible line-up of world-renowned creators who will be heading to take over Huntington Beach, California. From the world of comic strips come the creators… Read More ›
Gosh! Comics and Broken Frontier Drink and Draw back for February Fun!
The second Gosh! Comics and Broken Frontier Drink and Draw of 2019 takes place this Wednesday (27th February), offering a cracking line-up of small press artists at this latest regular monthly meet-up, sponsored by Cass Art. Co-hosts for the night are Broken Frontier‘s… Read More ›
Who was Ian Kennedy’s Space Captain Dave Garratt?
(Originally posted 29 March 2016 – updated 24 February 2019) There is a little known science fiction comics character called Dave Garratt who appeared in at least three of the Collins Boys’ Annuals published by William Collins Sons And Co… Read More ›