The September edition of Diamond Comic Distributors’ monthly PREVIEWS catalogue arrives in comic shops on 31st August and features comic books, graphic novels, toys, and other pop culture merchandise scheduled to go on sale beginning November 2016. TV-inspired comics are… Read More ›
Other Worlds
Non Comics items – TV, Film, Books, and other things that internet wandering alerted us to
Hunt Emerson has Henry VIII and Noddy Holder all Stitched Up in Walsall!
Ace comic artist Hunt Emerson has been doing designs for a series of eleven “tapestries” (not actually tapestries, but stitch-based pieces) for Walsall Silver Threads, which will all be brought together today, Saturday 20th August 2016, at the New Art Gallery… Read More ›
In Review: The Mighty One My Life Inside The Nerve Centre
The Book: Steve MacManus, the editor of 2000AD during the 1980s, lifts the lid on how the UK’s most important comic came into existence and his extraordinary role in shaping it into a industry revolutionising icon. In 1973, a twenty-year-old MacManus… Read More ›
Something for the Weekend (w/c 15th August 2016): Doctor Who, Dream Gangs, Dredd and Mind Mines, Too!
I’ve heaped plenty of praise on the fast-developing PJ Maybe -focused “Judge Dredd: Ladykiller” story (by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra and Annie Parkhouse) and “Scarlet Traces: Cold War” (by Ian Edginton, D’Israeli and Annie Parkhouse) in 2000AD in recent weeks in our weekly… Read More ›
Something For the Weekend (w/c 8th August 2016): New Spider-Man, Johnny Red bows out, Nick Dyer on “Judge Anderson”
There’s changes on the UK new stand for Panini‘s Marvel Collector Editions this week with the launch of Volume 6 of Astonishing Spider-Man, on sale now in all good newsagents. A one hundred page special, priced £3.99 (higher than the previously advertised… Read More ›
Awesome Comics Podcast Episode 58: Jamie Smart
The guest for the Awesome Comics Podcast Episode 58 is the man behind the mighty Moose Kid Comics, Jamie Smart. As we reported just recently, a new issue of the brilliant digital comic for kids (of all ages) is out now,… Read More ›
Asterix: The Mansion of the Gods Finally Reaches British Cinemas
Asterix: The Mansion of the Gods, is finally released in English in UK cinemas on 19th August, in 3D and 2D. The first Asterix 3D motion picture, initially released in France in 2014, finds Asterix and friends still resisting Roman rule… Read More ›
The Bizarre World (but eye-catching advertising art) of British “Bile Beans”
Bile Beans? Really? Who on earth would buy such a product? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot of people, swayed it seems by canny advertising, despite the dubious and much challenged health claims… And you can still buy… Read More ›
DC Super Hero Girls licensing programme starts to rolls out in the UK
Warner Bros. Consumer Products is gearing up for the launch of its DC Super Hero Girls franchise, with a series of new retail promotions throughout the UK. The DC Super Hero Girls show, which airs on Boomerang, focuses on the… Read More ›
Uncovered: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon Comic Book Programme
In 1975, rock band Pink Floyd starred in a comic book, published to coincide with the band’s Dark Side of The Moon tour. Created by Storm Thorgerson’s Hipgnosis, the comic was a “Super, All-Action Official Music Programme for Boys and Girls”. The comic… Read More ›
Concept Artist Peter Dobbin puts Mythical Monsters on the Map!
Top British Concept Artist Peter Dobbin has come up with a nifty way to keep track of those things that might be lurking under your bed – by putting them on a gorgeous Mythical Monster Map. The Mythical Monster Map… Read More ›
In Review: Torchwood #1
The first issue of Titan Comics new Torchwood is on sale from today in all good comic shops and co-writer John Barrowman, aka Captain Jack, is urging fans of the show to “Get your copy and come on our incredible… Read More ›
Artist John Byrne to make rare convention appearance in Las Vegas this weekend
Creation Entertainment’s 15th Annual Las Vegas Star Trek Convention 2016 kicks off this week and one of the special guests in attendance will be John Byrne, a titan in his field whose contributions to comic books cannot be overstated. Not… Read More ›
Bloomsbury to publish classic Dorothy M. Wheeler-illustrated Nursery Rhymes collection
British publisher Bloomsbury currently has a number of beautifully-illustrated works in the works, including a stunning re-release of English Nursery Rhymes, as Classic Nursery Rhymes, a book first published when World War One was at its height. The new edition… Read More ›
A Double Dose of the Awesome Comics Podcast – in Full Colour from K. Michael Russell & Learn Comic Color.com!
Yes, yes, we got behind again on our Awesome Comics Podcast plugs, so Tony Esmond kicked me in the nadgers until I promised to get up to date. Ready? Here we go… Comic book stores are some of the best… Read More ›
Our Most Read Stories in July 2016: Top Marks for Action and 2000AD!
Apart from the downthetubes home page, here are our Top Ten stories on the site for July 2016… • Rare “Banned” Action Comic reaches £1320 bid on eBay We have The Guardian to thank for this spike in interest in this… Read More ›
Frank Bellamy Thunderbirds Art Prints Released, and do check out “True Brit”!
Last month, we plugged the fantastic Comics Unstripped exhibition at Kettering Museum and Art Gallery (and Colin Noble reviewed it here). The exhibition, which runs until 20th August 2016, features work by Frank Bellamy – who lived in the town – Doug Braithwaite, John… Read More ›
Panel to Panel Goes Underground with Doctor Who comics writer Mark Wright
Episode 59 of Doctor Who: Panel to Panel is available for download, and interviewed this time out is Mark Wright, the new ongoing writer of the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip. A writer who frequently collaborates with Cavan Scott, he… Read More ›
Artist David Roach joins ICE 2016 Line-Up
Comic artist David Roach has joined the line up for this year’s ICE convention in Birmingham in September, joining the likes of Guy Adams, Charlie Adlard, Carl Potts, Declan Shalvey and many, many others on an impressive guest list. ICE,… Read More ›
Sparkle World’s “Goblin Princess” strip Brought To Book
A few years ago Jenny O’Connor, Editorial Director at Redan Publishing (whose titles include the best-selling Peppa Pig) started writing a strip story for the company’s popular Sparkle World called The Goblin Princess – and now the strip has become… Read More ›