One of the latest additions to the excellent Classic UK Comics Archive curated by artist and publisher David Hathaway-Price is the February 1984 issue of Speakeasy, crammed with comics news, comment and more.
Edited by Bambos Georgiou, Richard Hansom and Richard Ashford, Speakeasy #38, priced 50p, features a cover by Jim Fortey from his “adult comic anthology”, Miraculous Circumstances. (Creators on that title also included Eddie Campbell, Geoff Chambers, Martin McCrory, and others). Only Eddie appears visibly still active in comics today.
Offering news (mainly US news and letters (regular letter writer Ross Cowin is on hand to praise Speakeasy for its recent British news, another seasoned fan who seems to have entirely disappeared), the zine also offers “Music highlights of 1983” by Frank Plowright, a review of the Strip Illustrators’ Seminar held at Kingston Polytechnic, and a strip, “Dead Right”, by Owen Fitzpatrick.
The original scan of this issue was kindly supplied by Rob Kirby (From Cents to Pence).
Oh, and before you ask – no, FUSION #2 with its Alan Moore interview, advertised in the issue, isn’t in the archive. One day, perhaps – all the zines being uploaded are dine so with the kind permission of the original publishers, and David I’d rightfully respectful of their wishes.
• Check out the editions Speakeasy on the archive
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. Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Explorer (previously known as Star Trek 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: British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Magazines
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