Just out in bookshops is Sir Lenny Henry’s memoir, Who Am I, Again?, which is not only a terrific read, but also includes comic vignettes of his life story, written by the comedian, drawn by Mark Buckingham and lettered by Todd Klein
Books
Bag of Holding Fundraiser under way to support games publisher Battlefield Press after arson attack
Bundle of Holding, a company that presents time-limited collections of tabletop roleplaying games, or books by RPG designers, as DRM-free ebooks, is running an offer to help support award-winning games publisher Jonathan Thompson, the owner of Battlefield Press after an… Read More ›
Tricks of the Trade: Writing a Comics-inspired Novel, by Steve MacManus
Former Tharg, comics editor and writer Steve MacManus shares his experience of writing his first novel, The Sheerglam Conspiracy, a story set inside the world of 1970s British comics. 40,000 words long, it took 14 long months to write –… Read More ›
Steve MacManus parodies 1970s British comics in “The Sheerglam Conspiracy”
Former Tharg Steve MacManus is back on our reading list here in the downthetubes dungeon, this time with his first novel, The Sheerglam Conspiracy, a thoroughly scurrilous jab at the British comics industry in the 1970s. London, 1973. For 40… Read More ›
Dark Metropolis novel trilogy launched by comics retail veteran and publisher Howard Lee
Howard Lee, a Chicago-based champion of pop culture both British and American, founder of Tomatovision TV and Nexus Entertainment Group Publishing, has just self published the first in a trilogy of SF novels under the umbrella title “Dark Metropolis”. The first, Planetsong, is available now
Former Tharg David Bishop gets two book historical crime fiction deal at Pan Macmillan
For years, comics editor, writer, author and writing tutor David Bishop – perhaps best known to many downthetubes readers as a former editor of both 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine and author of Thrill-Power Overload – has been threatening to write a series of historical mystery novels set in Renaissance Florence. Well, now he’s done it – and the results will be published by Pan Macmillan starting in February 2021
Full speed ahead for revamp of Harry Potter trains and toys
Hornby Hobbies and the Corgi brand have re-released a line of Harry Potter die-cast products, tapping into the current resurgence for the Wizarding World brand. Last year, the British toy model and hobby specialist teamed up with Warner Bros. Consumer… Read More ›
Celebrating Scatterbrook: “Scatterbrook Days”, a Moving Tribute to “Worzel Gummidge”
2019 marks the 40th Anniversary of the TV series Worzel Gummidge starring Jon Pertwee as the scarecrow scallywag, and the centenary of the much-loved Jon Pertwee himself. To celebrate, Ten Acre Films took a trip to the countryside with some… Read More ›
New Doctor Who Magazine Special celebrates Target Books
Those of you interested in Doctor Who art may want to pick up the latest Doctor Who Magazine Special (Issue 53), dedicated to Target Books, on sale now in all good newsagents, featuring a cover by Chris Achilleos. Considered a… Read More ›
Sanctioned “Scarfolk Annual” on its way
As some know, but perhaps wish they didn’t, Scarfolk is a lost town in North West England that did not progress beyond 1979. Instead, the entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. It is a national mystery whose artefacts, occasionally uncovered and reported online, are often both horrifying but at the same time, dangerously fascinating – and now a facsimile of one of them, a Scarfolk Annual, is about to be released…
Creating Comics: Wally Wood’s “Panels That Always Work”
Tips from a master of the Ninth Art on how to make the VP best of comic storytelling
French Hugo Pratt Part Work continues, 70 ”Tout Pratt” books planned
Following up on the downthetubes news item on Rebellion’s upcoming series of oversize Picture Library reprints centring on the British War comics work of award-winning Italian artist Hugo Pratt, you may be interested to know that French publisher Altalya is running a planned 70-book part work featuring that aims to reprint all his published stories
New “Professor Howe” book in aid of Children in Need available now
The sixth Professor Howe book from Long Scarf Publications debuted at the Doctor Who Appreciation Society’s event The Capitol in April, and is now available to order online
‘Patronus on a Postcard’ BookTrust charity art auction closes at 6.00pm today!
Bloomsbury has joined forces with BookTrust to mark a very significant date for all Harry Potter fans – 20 years of JK Rowling‘s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – and a special celebratory charity art auction has just… Read More ›
The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists exhibition opens in Leicester
The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Artists exhibition has just opened at New Walk Museum in Leicester, offering not just an insight into the art and the many books published, but a visual history of 20th Century Britain in microcosm…. Read More ›
WebFind: Love Death and Robots: Beyond The Aquila Rift Concepts
Wojtek Fus, a Freelance Concept Artist at MPC, has shared some of his concepts of an ancient “Surge Point” station featured an episode of the Netflix show, Love Death and Robots, based on a short SF story by British author… Read More ›
“Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers” features new SF by Jack Campbell, Becky Chambers and many more
Titan Books are releasing Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers this autumn, a new SF anthology edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt featuring 27 stories – 15 of them original to the book, including one by “Lost Fleet” author Jack Campbell, who I… Read More ›
WebFind: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, illustrated by Salvador Dali
In 1865, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an Oxford mathematician and Anglican deacon, published Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a story about a little girl who tumbles down a rabbit hole, first introducing the world to Alice and her pseudonymous creator, Lewis Carroll…. Read More ›
Crowdfunding Spotlight: Get your teeth in Songbird, a vampire novel by A.S. Chambers
This July sees a fan favourite from Lancaster-based fantasy author A.S. Chambers’ ever expanding urban fantasy universe receive her first outing in her own novel. “Since her first appearances in The Casebook of Sam Spallucci, readers have loved the vampire… Read More ›
Visions from the Upside Down: Stranger Things Art Book out in October
Publisher Printed in Blood has teamed up with Penguin Random House Del Rey for a new hardcover art book book full of original artwork inspired by the hit Netflix series Stranger Things – and along with an image by Marvel artist Bill Sienkiewicz, it includes art by a terrific illustrator whose stunning early work for Marvel UK captured the imaginations of many…