Nick Abadzis, whose book Laika has drawn deserved critical acclaim from many quarter of late, has just announced that he has a a three-page strip in The Guardian from this Saturday (19th April)that runs for six weeks (every Saturday in… Read More ›
Comics
Comics News, features and more
In Review: Local Heroes Exhibition
Don’t miss this impressive exhibition
Webby Awards Nomination for Ring Tales
The 12th Annual Webby Awards has nominated US company RingTales for the Best Animation Video of 2008, based on a selection of RingTales’ animated versions of the print cartoons from The New Yorker magazine. Winners will be announced on 6th… Read More ›
Septic Isle debuts
UK independent comic publisher Moonface Press will launch its new graphic novella Septic Isle with a limited edition of just 100 copies at next month’s Bristol International Comic Expo. In the 1970s and ’80s, Jacob Marley was MI5’s most revered… Read More ›
Times features Classical Comics
Today’s Times newspaper carried a full feature on bringing Shakespeare to teenagers “as they like it” and included a plug for both the recently-published Manga and Classical Comics Shakespeare comics. The piece has made Classical Comics artist Jon Haward’s day,… Read More ›
More Local Heroes Events In Edinburgh
The National Library of Scotland have released details of more free events to tie-in with their Local Heroes exhibition on the art of graphic novels. In addition to the events already mentioned here on downthetubes, two more talks plus two… Read More ›
By Sea, By Land, By Air: An Interview with Calum Laird
This interview was first published on 9th April 2008 on downthetubes and was merged with this blog in 2013. First published in 1961 Commando is Britain’s last war comic. Indeed, of those British comics that many of us grew up with,… Read More ›
By Sea, By Land, By Air
First published in 1961 Commando is Britain’s last war comic. Indeed, of those British comics that many of us grew up with, only the ubiquitous Dandy and Beano are older – however, since there are eight Commandos a month, its… Read More ›
Eagle Awards voting begins
Voting for the 2007 Eagle Awards is open now at the Eagle Awards site. The Awards will be presented in May at the Bristol International Comic Expo on the 10th May 2008. While downthetubes is not one of the comic… Read More ›
Every Letter Printed Wins A T-Shirt!
…is how the editor of The Victor, James Halley, enticed his readers to write into the comic’s letters page, Tupper’s Talk-In. The Tough Of The Track was runner Alf Tupper who of course mixed competitive running with eating fish and… Read More ›
Leicester Has A Hero
The winner of the Hero for Leicester competition – part of the Blam! comics season organised by Leicester library earlier this year which included appearances by Bryan Talbot and others – was Fox Spirit by Giles Meakin. Eight entries were… Read More ›
Live Star Wars Art and Competition
It’s the biggest team-up in UK SF: Forbidden Planet and the Sci-Fi-London Film Festival are joining forces with the 501st UK Garrison to bring you live Star Wars Urban Art, from the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London between… Read More ›
Blogging Till You Drop…
The New York Times reports some professional bloggers complain of physical and emotional strain created by an Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment. It’s worst, apparently, for tech bloggers but let’s be honest, sedentary jobs… Read More ›
Alan Davis’ new CI Cover
Courtesy of Comics International editor Mike Conroy, downthetubes is one of the first sites to be able to post a sneak peek of Alan Davis’ stunning cover for Issue 206 of the comics news magazine. The issue includes a competition… Read More ›
Solar Wind Collected
The Bumper Book of Solar Wind, a two-volume collection of all of the issues of the award-winning and very funny Solar Wind and its equally madcap companion titles, are now available from Lulu.com thanks to publisher and editor Paul Scott…. Read More ›
Sound of Drowning #11 On Sale Now
The Sound of Drowning #11 from creator Paul O’Connell is out now and available from eponymous web site priced just £3. The issue includes strips such as ‘The Optician’, ‘Mexican Surgery’ and Daze: The Post Apocalyptic Avon Lady in Happy… Read More ›
The Kitten Problem
Garfield animated cartoon writer Mark Evanier (also writer of the brilliant Groo comic and more) is having a hard time trapping a stray cat he’s (sort of) adopted — as much as you can adopt any cat. His aim is… Read More ›
Diamond Dan
He may remain sartorially challenged but at least the Grand Orange Lodge’s superhero character now has a name. Back in November 2007 downthetubes reported on the nameless character who was being introduced via a competition to name him. Seven year… Read More ›
Comics International back in favour
After many behind the scenes problems too tiresome to detail here, there’s some good news for Cosmic Publications, the publishers of comics news magazine Comics International, with the Famous StarStore blog the latest to offer a positive review of the… Read More ›
In Review: Britten & Brülightly
(Updated 5/6/08): Just published by Jonathan Cape is Britten & Brülightly, a film noir-styled debut graphic novel by Brigton-based Hannah Berry, a graduate of the illustration course at Brighton University. This dark, unsettling but often funny tale centres on ‘Private… Read More ›