Small Press Day, a celebration of self-publishing, DIY culture, and grassroots comics across the UK and Ireland is back for a third outing this Saturday, 7th July 2018 – and there are a whole host of happenings taking place around… Read More ›
Creating Comics
Articles on creating comics, how tos, reference information and more
Lakes International Comic Art Festival Podcast interviews Macc-Pow comic creators about their work
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival Podcast team visited Macc-Pow in Macclesfield last month, now in its third year. Podcast co-host Nikki Bates stood behind the table selling comics for the first time, while Ian Loxam had a great chat with… Read More ›
Tim Quinn’s Marvel UK Memories: Interviewing Stan Lee
Stan Lee has been a hero of Tim Quinn’s since he read one of his comics when he was just seven…
Limited Edition Will Eisner’s “A Contract with God” Curator’s Collection released
Will Eisner is one of the comic industry’s all-time greats. He has been held in high regard by fans and pros alike for many years to the point where the most prestigious awards in the comic industry were named after… Read More ›
Delivering the goods: Don Heck, a much under appreciated artist
Donald L. “Don” Heck was an American comics artist best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics character Iron Man (not the character’s design, but plenty more that shaped him), and for his long run penciling the Marvel superhero-team series The… Read More ›
Creating Comics: An Interview with artist and writer Olivia Hicks
The latest 2000AD Sci Fi Special was released last week and I mentioned how much I enjoyed the Terror Tale, “The Hockey Sticks of Hell”, from writer Olivia Hicks with art by Abigail Bulmer. Phillip Vaughan, Senior Lecturer at the University… Read More ›
Judging a Comic by its Cover: Some Early Favourites
More than anything else, comics sell on their covers, but which ones stick most in your mind in your years of collecting? For me, there are plenty, but here are just a few that caught my attention at an early… Read More ›
Original Frank Hampson studio reference material used to create “Dan Dare” for sale
Rare original reference material from Frank Hampson’s Dan Dare studio, including Astronomical Photographs, are currently for sale on eBay. These boards of “Astronomical Photographs”, which come from Frank Hampson’s estate, were reference files from his Dan Dare studio. As with… Read More ›
VIZ’s Davey Jones in the publicity spotlight (even if he doesn’t want to be)
I’ve known ace VIZ cartoonist Davey Jones since the 1980s, back when he contributed some of his amazing early strips to a fanzine I published (a chaotic assemblage with inconsistent numbering and format sizes, including one edition that literally, physically… Read More ›
George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat”: First Appearances
George Herriman was an American cartoonist, best known for the influential comic strip “Krazy Kat” – but did you know its much appreciated characters sprang from an entirely different strip? Harriman established a name for himself as a much in… Read More ›
When Alan Moore wrote football comics…a look back at Marvel UK’s “Not the World Cup: The Official Souvenir Brochure”
downthetubes contributor and comics archivist Richard Sheaf has shared plenty of strange British comic one shots and short-lived titles over on his brilliant Boys Adventure Blog, and while his recent coverage of Gilbert’s Fridge intrigued, I think it’s more than… Read More ›
Panel Borders: Studying Comics
In a trio of interviews recorded at academic events for the comics radio show Panel Borders, Alex Fitch talks to three writers of academic books about comics. At the IGNCC conference at the University of Dundee, Alex talks to David… Read More ›
Zoom Rockman mind probed for latest Lakes International Comic Art Festival Podcast!
Beano cartoonist and Lakes International Comic Art Festival patron Zoom Rockman is the guest of the organisation’s podcast this week. Zoom is a young creator who started producing comics from a young age, He appeared in the Beano at age… Read More ›
Comics @ Borders Book Festival 2018
The Borders Book Festival in the Scottish town of Melrose, perhaps best known for its Abbey and the Melrose Sevens rugby tournament, is not a literature festival that normally covers comics in any great depth but that has changed this… Read More ›
Comics Summit heads to Cheltenham in July
The Comics Summit, a brand-new event set up by creators, for creators has announced it will now take place across the weekend of 14 – 15th July in Cheltenham. The creating comics event, organised by Cheltenham-based Jon Lock of Big… Read More ›
Glenrothes Comic Con returns to the Rothes Halls next Saturday – 9 June 2018
Last year Fife Council put on the inaugural Glenrothes Comic Con in the town’s Rothes Halls with artist Gary Erskine as the event’s Creative Director. Gary’s participation ensured that the event was a truly comics flavoured comic con and the organiser’s… Read More ›
Creating Comics: Atomeka publisher Dave Elliott’s plan to save the US comics industry
Over the last few years, Atomeka Press publisher Dave Elliott has stood by and frustratingly watched as the US comic book industry continues to devour itself like the mythical Ouroboros, the snake that ate its own tail. Last week, he… Read More ›
How so many British Adventure Comics became just one – Eagle – in the 1990s
Over on his brilliant Rusty Staples site, 2000AD writer Michael Carroll has begun a series of articles tracing the history of British comics, creating a series of “family trees” showing various mergers and more down the years. It’s something Alan… Read More ›
Lawgiver 2018! What a Day!
I’ve always been a 2000AD fan but never quite got into the message board scene that they have of recent become known for. It’s an ace comic and full of some of the best and most imaginative comics you’ll see… Read More ›
Marvel UK Comics That Never Were: Rourke versus Wolverine, versus… Monark Starstalker?
Here’s an item from my archives that should interest some Marvel UK fans – Liam Sharp’s fax of our creator-owned heroine, Rourke, created for STRIP, alongside Marvel US heroes Monark Starstalker and Wolverine. I’ve written about this a little before,… Read More ›