Comic Scene UK, the new magazine for people who love comics, launches 1st May 2018 in print and digital format.
Celebrating all that is great about comics over twenty top quality writers and contributors, including the creator of 2000AD Pat Mills and co creator of Judge Dredd John Wagner, are featured in the launch issue.
Here’s the line up for the first issue of Comic Scene. It covers a huge gamut of British Comics old and new, there’s Doctor Who, too – and plenty for 2000AD fans to enjoy,
COMIC NEWS
John Freemen, publisher of the downthetubes website, looks at the state of the UK comic book industry and celebrates the recent success of the Beano, currently in it’s 80th year! He also brings you all the latest news from the comic book industry, as he does weekly at downthetubes.net
CHILDHOOD COMICS AND DAN DARE
Benoit Peters tells us ‘How Comics Help Us Relive our Childhood’, which is a theme that runs through the editorial by publisher Tony Foster as he reveals the madness of launching a new magazine about comics! Many of you, for example, have your childhood version of ‘Dan Dare’ (from the original Eagle, 2000AD, 1980’s Eagle, Revolver and the Virgin and Titan Comics) and Richard Sheaf, one of the youngest members of the ‘Eagle Society ‘and author of ‘Boys Adventure Blog’, takes a look at the changing face of the ‘Pilot of the Future’. Dare fans will enjoy coverage on him and classic Eagle comics every month!
CULT TV COMICS FROM PRISONER TO THUNDERBIRDS
As part of a series of features on cult TV and comics Stephen Jewell, SFX/Comic Heroes and Judge Dredd Megazine writer, interviews Peter Milligan and Colin Lorimer about Titan Comics new ‘Prisoner’ series. Fred MacNamara, writer for Starburst/Andersonic and ‘A Place To Hang Your Cape’, also takes a regular look back at ‘Thunderbirds’ and the characters created by Gerry Anderson.
Art by Christopher Jones for the new Seventh Doctor story Operation Volcano, written by Andrew Cartmel
TALES FROM THE TARDIS
We are promised some regular Doctor Who too, in ‘The Tardis Console’. Ian Wheeler, former co-ordinator of the ‘Dr Who Appreciation Society’, reviews the work of Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel and Sylvestor McCoy as the Doctor. With a new Doctor due in the Autumn and a relaunch of the Titan comic line we are really looking forward to this.
CORKER FEATURING SHIVER & SHAKE, LION & VALIANT & THE STEEL EAGLE
Comic Scene has a sense of fun in ‘Corker’ with Martin Dallard taking a look at the fabulous first issue of ‘Shiver and Shake’ and an exclusive new picture strip from Marc Jackson called ‘The Steel Eagle’. ComicScene are always keen to feature original artwork, with some included in this launch issue.
David Moloney, editor of ‘Great News For All Our Readers’, looks at the merger issue of Lion and Valiant from 1974 in a regular feature which explores the hatch / match and dispatch merger issues which left kids both horrified and ecstatic during their formative years! He speaks to some of the creators and editors of the titles, exploring the choices that were made at the time.
CO CREATOR OF JUDGE DREDD JOHN WAGNER & RUFUS DAYGLO RARE UNPUBLISHED, UNUSED & CENSORED ART
Comic Scene issue 0 also has some top name creators for articles such as ‘Creators Writes’. Co-creator of ‘Judge Dredd’ John Wagner reveals how he created his new comic character ‘Rok of the Reds’, due out in April as a graphic novel from BHP. Rufus Dayglo also takes us through his art collection, reflecting on many rarities and unpublished pieces that were unused or censored.
FREE COMIC DAY
Richard Bruton, writer on the Forbidden Planet International blog, reviews the Free Comic Book day titles from previous years before the new ones from the likes of 2000AD, featuring Dredd, Strontium Dog and DR and Quinch.
30 YEARS OF TANK GIRL AND DEADLINE
Chris McAuley revisits classic ‘Tank Girl’ as a reader for the first time as this iconic character celebrates 30 years of comics. Tank Girl is featured on the cover as Tim Pilcher, former assistant editor on Vertigo, Journalist and co-author of ‘How Comics Work’ with Dave Gibbons, looks over 30 years of ‘Deadline’ and interviews many of the major creators who were involved with the launch. That’s followed by Joel Meadows, editor of Tripwire, journalist and photographer remembering Deadline creator Steve Dillon.
THE SECRET HISTORY OF TOXIC
John McShane, former owner of ‘AKA Books and Comics’ and publisher of ‘The AKA Tapes’, ‘The Bogie Man’ and ‘Toxic’, revisits Toxic comics secret history and early ‘Marshall Law’, ‘Accident Man’, ‘The Bogie Man’ and work by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar. This is a regular feature looking at Scotland’s influence on the comic book industry, which has a huge number of artists, writers and publishers (we think largely due to the weather!).
COVER STARS: JUDGE DREDD v BATMAN
Our cover stars are ‘Batman v Judge Dredd’, celebrating the release of the Dredd / Batman team ups from Rebellion. Karl Stock, co author of ‘Thrill Power Overload’, looks at the meetings between the Caped Crusader and the Mega City Lawman.
TODAY’S SMALL PRESS AND FIFTY YEARS OF FANDOM
David Hathway Price, author of ‘FanScene’, reviews fifty years of Fandom with a look at the early 1970’s Unicorn, published by Mike Higgs and Phil Clarke. Issue 5 featured the very first full colour cover on a UK Comic Fanzine. Tony Esmond of Awesome Comic Podcast explores todays small press scene and speaks to Creator of ‘Wolf’ Rachael Ball. There’s also chat on two exciting new release including ‘Killtopia’ and ‘Flintlock’. Luke Williams also debates digital v print comics, one of a number of comment pieces that will get the comic debate going in future issues.
COSPLAY, COMIC MOVIES AND ALL THE RIGHT MOVES WITH ROY OF THE ROVERS
Louise Saul explores ‘The Growth in Cosplay’ and Tim Hayes, Sight and Sound and BFI film journalist, looks at Batman animated movies, including the 25th anniversary of ‘Mask of the Phantasm’ and the May release of ‘Batman Ninja’, in our comic movies section.
The Back Pages also feature sport comics, mainly ‘Roy of the Rovers’ (due to be relaunched by Rebellion), with a summary of books to get you up to speed on Melchester Rovers number one player.
More on sports and adventure comics are promised, along with a reflection on how huge the girl’s comic market was and the launch of titles such as ‘Bella at the Bar’ from Tammy and titles featuring Misty, Jinty and Bunty. ComicScene UK will also feature collectors comics, worldwide, European, US underground and superhero comics too.
PAT MILLS HAS THE LAST WORD
Finally, ‘The Last Word’ is given to creator of 2000AD and co-creator of several major UK comic heroes including ‘Slaine’ and ‘Accident Man’, Pat Mills. There is no doubt Pat Mills is known for being quite outspoken and every comic fan, comic creator and comic publisher will be wondering just what he’s going to touch on in our launch issue. We’ve seen the launch issue feature and it’s worth the entry fee alone. We guess you are just going to have to order your first issue of ‘ComicScene UK’ to find out what the chat is.
Future issues include;
Judge Dredd v Judge Death, 2000AD, Halo Jones, Girls Comics including Tammy / Jinty / Bunty, 80 years of the Beano, The Prisoner, Return of Roy of the Rovers, Six Million Dollar Man v Mach One, Charley’s War, 20 years of comic blog DownTheTubes, 40 years of Starlord and Misty, 50 years of fandom and comic con, 30 years of Tank Girl, Deadline & Hellblazer, Vertigo at 25, the new Doctor Who Jodi Whittaker, Superman at 80, Captain Britain / Mega City One / V For Vendetta and comics on the big and small screen, Miracleman, DC and Marvel in the U.K., European comics plus all the latest news and gossip from the comic, small press, cosplay and related media industry from some of the best writers in the business!
• You can see all subscription offers from £4.25 for the 48+ page ‘ComicScene UK’ at the website www.comicscene.org
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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.
Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Magazines
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