Laurel and Hardy may be enjoying renewed success at the box office thanks to the new film Stan & Ollie starring Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, but they were box office stars in comics here in the UK too, thanks to… Read More ›
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Upcoming Astons auction offers rare Pinocchio poster, Moonraker gun
Dudley-based auctioneers Astons have two sales of interest to downthetubes readers this month – a Toy and Railway Auction on Tuesday 15th January and an Entertainment & Memorabilia Auction including British and US comics, film posters, some James Bond film… Read More ›
Awesome Comics Podcast Episode 183 – Looking forward to the Year Ahead
It’s the first show of 2019, and the Awesome Comics Podcast team – Dan Butcher, Tony Esmond and Vince Hunt – talk about what they and the listeners are looking forward to in indie comics in the coming months. There… Read More ›
“Dan Dare” art and more in Chris Beetles Gallery 2019 Sale
A number of original Eagle comic “Dan Dare” artworks by Frank Hampson and the art team who worked on the earliest incarnation of the strip are currently being offered by the London-base Chris Beetles Gallery, as part of its “2019 Sale” of cartoons and illustrations.
Time for an Aces (Weekly) New Year!
Publisher David Lloyd would like you to subscribe to Aces Weekly. The creators drawing strips for this digital publication would like you to subscribe, too. Check out some great teasers to tease you once more…
Comic Creator Q&A: Indie Publisher David Robertson
downthetubes caught up with busy, enthusiastic experimental creator David Roberson of Fred Egg Comics just before Christmas to talk to him about his work…
In Review: Combat Colin Issue 3 by Lew Stringer
A review of Combat Colin #3, the latest collection of madcap strips by Lew Stringer from the pages of Marvel UK’s Transformers comic first published in 1989 and early 1990
Lakes Festival Podcast Looks back on 2018
We may already be enjoying a big Happy New Year already resplendent with inexplicable outrage over new pastry-based products from Greggs, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t time to look back at 2018, a great year in the world of… Read More ›
Panel to Panel: Dan Slott talks Doctor Who, Freefall Warriors in the spotlight
Episode #107 of the excellent Doctor Who: Panel to Panel is live – and leads with Marvel Comics writer Dan Slott (Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four) chatting with podcast host Jeremy Bement about Doctor Who comics, history, the current season and… Read More ›
Red Range returns in “Pirates of Fireworld”
Ace independent US publisher It’s Alive! has announced that Keith Lansdale, the writer who recently brought you The X-Files and Creepy stories, will unleash his imagination on the historical and somewhat Steampunk world his father, Joe R. Lansdale, created in… Read More ›
New book lifts the lid on cream of Soviet satire
A new book delving into one of the best-known examples of Soviet satire has just been published by the University Press of Mississippi. Graphic Satire in the Soviet Union: Krokodil’s Political Cartoons by John Etty lifts the lid on Krokodil, which offered some extraordinary cartoon art within a hugely propagandistic publication
Clean Living! How Britain’s “Arrow” comic helped promote healthy teeth in the 1960s
Captain Pugwash creator John Ryan and John Michael Burns contributed to Ivory Castle Arrow
When Roy of the Rovers sponsored a football club – and a look at football club programmes
Report by Richard Sheaf, with additional reporting by John Freeman A recent social media post by ex-Fleetway editor Barrie Tomlinson alerted me to a 1990s football programme for St. Alban’s City Football Club, featuring cover art by “Billy’s Boots” artist… Read More ›
Sneak Peek: Rad Erwank & Conspiracy Dog by Łukasz Kowalczuk, Kek-W and Jack Teagle
Rad Erwank & Conspiracy Dog is an utterly bonkers 48-page black and white comic available to pre-order now from Diamond or direct from US publisher Alternative Comics. It’s scripted by Łukasz Kowalczuk and 2000AD‘s Kek-W, with art by Jack Teagle… Read More ›
Black Max soars again in New Year 2000AD
Legendary British comics villain Black Max returned to the news stand in 2000AD last year – with some of his early adventures in Thunder and Lion from the 1970s also collected – but this week, he’s the weekly title’s cover… Read More ›
“Mansion of Madness” studio revived?
Last year, comic creators Lee Robson and Dan Hill, working with ace designer and writer Andi Ewington and others, released the horror anthology Mansion of Madness, featuring stories from some of the best and brightest creators in the comics world… Read More ›
Latest Astonishing Spider-Man is … Carnage!
Astonishing Spider-Man Volume 7 #17 is still on sale in the UK from Panini, available from all good newsagents – or on subscription. Price £4.50 for 76 arachnid action-packed pages, this Issue, released last month includes: Venomverse continues! Carnage is… Read More ›
Brian Bolland “MACH 1” 2000AD cover art on offer for £6000, but concerns raised over sale
Please note this story has been updated to reflect information on the artwork from its artist, Brian Bolland. Thinking about blowing your entire comic collecting budget (and then some) for the whole of 2019 today? Well, the opportunity is here… Read More ›
Comic Art Auction Spotlight: Sam Glanzman’s “Haunted Tank”
Leave it to Sam Glanzman, championship realist among DC’s war-comics crew, to capture an essence of heroism-under-fire in the simplest of short-story vignettes for G.I. Combat #280. In this complete three-page Story, “Prize Shot”, published by DC Comics in 1985,… Read More ›
Journey Planet helps revive ground-breaking 1960s comic zine Heroes Unlimited for one last outing
Forty-nine years in the waiting and the making, Journey Planet recently published Heroes Unlimited #8, an incredible zine of fantastic proportions and wonderful content that bookends the publication that helped kickstart British comics fandom in the 1960s. In December 1966,… Read More ›