Celebrity Comics Challenge!

By John Freeman on 7 August 2010

Comic artists are being asked to design a ‘Celebrity Comic’ cover for the latest downthetubes forum art challenge.

What would the news stand be like if Alan Titchmarsh produced “Titchmarsh Comics”? How would Eamon Holmes present his comics persona? (Best be careful with that one, he seems a bit prickly…) Would Jennifer Love Hewitt’s approach be more like Heat than Superman? What kind of comics would Phillip Schofield write?

And goodness only knows what Rolf Harris or Leonardo diCaprio might come up with! (Of course, Leonardo might get some help from his father, George, a comics writer, editor and major west coast underground comic book distributor.)

This is intended as a totally fun challenge, inspired by – well, if you’ve been following this blog recently you can probably guess, but if you can’t, then if anyone involved in that project is reading this… we just couldn’t resist and we love you really!

If you want to join in, if you aren’t already partt of it, simply join the downthetubes forum (membership is moderated) and add your Celebrity Comic Cover to your downthetubes photo album (please include “Celebrity Comic Cover” in any title, so we can find it! For example, “Celebrity Comic Cover: Christopher Lee Comics presents…”).

The entries will be assembled in the Celebrity Comics Challenge album here – currently illustrated by a very old ‘celebrity comic’ – an issue of Marvel’s Strange Tales that saw the Fantastic Four meet The Beatles.

We may also feature some of the entries here on the blog.

This isn’t our first art challenge – we had a terrific response to our Moon Landing Anniversary challenge last year. So we’re hoping for a great response!

Web Links

• Celebrity Comics Challenge album on the downthetubes forum

• Moon Landing Anniversary

• British Comic ‘Ensemble’ Covers
downthetubes members choose their favourite ‘group’ covers from their British comic collections

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.