Never Iron Anything Podcast heads to Rupert Bear’s Nutwood

By John Freeman on June 11, 2024

The latest Never Iron Anything podcast sees Tony Esmond and Alan Henderson discuss the forgotten stylings of Rupert Bear and his land of Nutwood.

They also examine the art of Alfred E. Bestall and the character’s creators, writer Herbert Tourtel and illustrator Mary Tourtel.

Rupert Bear first appeared in the Daily Express newspaper on 8th November 1920 and is much loved worldwide, with a dedicated Official Rupert Bear Society, The Followers of Rupert Bear.

Also, listen out for the scandal that rocked the British Court system and a certain ear-worm of a song by a Beatle! Not to be missed.

Tony, a past contributor to downthetubes, is also a founding contributor to the Awesome Comic Podcast, who have just interviewed Storm King Comics writer, Producer and CEO Sandi King (John Carpenter’s Asylum).

Sandi, who’s working with UK artist Dave Kennedy, joins the gang to talk about how the SK publishing journey started, working with collaborators from all over the world, comic book editing and their exciting new books coming out this year!

Plus there’s tons of indie comics to check out, info to learn, events and crowfunders to check out and of course plenty of laughs too!

• Subscribe to the Never Iron Anything Podcast here

• Subscribe to the Awesome Comics Podcast here

Awesome Comics Podcast - General Promotion

• You can catch up with Alan Henderson’s art and comics here

• The Followers of Rupert Bear

• Storm King Comics

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.