Cover by Brett Burbridge featuring Rourke of the Radlands

The latest issue of the ace British digital anthology 100% Biodegradable (Issue 16) is on sale now and of course I’m delighted to report it includes a very special re-presentation of “Rourke of the Radlands – The Wand” – a tale of hard drinking, hot tempered sword and sorcery I co-created with Wonder Woman artist Liam Sharp back in the 1990s.

Further Rourke of the Radlands stories are in the works, with Bill Storie delivering art on a new tale called “Fool’s Gold” co-written by David Hailwood for a future issue. And of course, who couldn’t be impressed by the wonderful Rourke cover for this issue by Brett Burbridge?

I do hope you’ll give this project a try – it’s been a real pleasure working with David on the scripts for the stories I have in this issue and despite his nerve-wracking, ever-busy schedule these days, Liam Sharp very kindly offered some pointers on the re-colouring of the Rourke strip in this issue, so my thanks to him for that.

Also in this issue:

• A Mars base gets infected by a deadly alien parasite in Paul Bradford (Octal, Hallowscream) and Luciano Fleitas‘ (H-alt, The Chronicles Of Terror) haunting sci-fi tale “The Ides Of Mars“
• The crew of Skow 709 runs a gauntlet of ancient alien deathtraps in the second part of “Skowdogs” by myself, David Hailwood (Toxic, Sliced Quarterly) and Dave Thomson (The Psychedelic Journal of Time Travel, Dr WTF?).
• Switchblade gains a new client as giant mutated germs infest the city in the second part of a three part series by Alan Burrows (Eagle, 2000AD), and Paul H.Birch (Toxic, Creepy Kofy Movie Time)
• “The Odd Squad” is a gem from David Hailwood and the brilliant Tony Suleri, stars a ragtag bunch of mutants and superfreaks dispatching justice

100% Biodegradable is a 36-page digital anthology featuring colour and black and white and Issue 16 is available from DriveThru and Comicsy for a measly 99 cents (at most, 82p in British money). A ComiXology release will follow at a later date – previous issues are available here.

For those who prefer print format, 100% Biodegradable Collections Two and Three – which collect strips from Issues 7-10, and issues 11-14 respectively – have recently been released on Drivethru comics. Each 110-page anthology is packed with more than 20 strips from the likes of Kek-W, Jon Haward and Dan Cornwell, and priced at £10/$12. Book Two can be ordered here and Book Three here

Here’s some teaser pages from the issue…

The Ides of Mars

Skowdogs Part 2

Switchblade

The Odd Squad

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, Digital Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: 100% Biodegradable, Adventure Comics, Alan Burrows, Bill Storie, Brett Burbridge, Dave Thomson, David Hailwood, downthetubes News, John Freeman, Liam Sharp, Luciano Fleitas, My Comics Projects, Paul Bradford, Paul H. Birch, Rourke of the Radlands, SF Comics, Skowdogs, Switchblade, Tony Suleri, WarWorldz