Crucible finally available to read in print!

By John Freeman on April 11, 2013

Here are two pages of the the first episode of CRUCIBLE, which features in the relaunched STRIP Magazine #1, out this week. Written by me, art by Smuzz, colour by Kris Carter, lettered by the wonderful Jim Campbell.

As readers of this blog know, the story is based on a concept I’ve had in my head for years but I never wanted it to be sold to a company and Smuzz was the artist most connected with it down the years. We almost got it picked up by Marvel’s Epic brand (thanks to Dan Chichester), just to give you an idea of how long this one has been in the works!

This is one of the mag’s creator owned strips, which also included Phil Hester and John McCrea’s Warpaint on that front.

The Magazine should be on sale from today in selected WH Smiths although getting a straight answer out of them has been a struggle causing a bit of disappointment: certainly will be be on sale, I’m told, in the London area today with full roll out tomorrow.

There’s a full list of WH Smiths that will be stocking it on the STRIP blog (http://stripcomicmagazineuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/strip-magazine-1-wh-smiths-store-list.html).

It’s also available to order from any WH Smiths or newsagent in the UK, heading for UK comic ships via Diamond and you can buy it for iPad (https://itunes.apple.com/app/strip-magazine-2.1/id619259147.

John Freeman

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.