It’s always good to hear about new treats on their way in David Lloyd‘s marvellous digital anthology, Aces Weekly, none more so when it sees the return of some terrific comic creators who have previously brought some terrific work to the title.

Next Monday,10th April 2023, sees the launch of Aces Weekly Volume 62, which not only sees the return of super-agent Velicity Jones in “The Point Nemo Affair“, by Lee Robson and Bryan Coyle, but the debut of Mal Earl‘s “Radclyffe: Scream of the Steamonculus“, too.

In “The Point Nemo Affair“, following the latest in a series of disappearances from the Point Nemo facility, world leaders come together to demand answers as to how anyone could escape “the inescapable prison.”

When Velicity Jones is assigned to investigate, the world’s greatest secret agent finds herself in a deadly race against time to prevent a mass breakout that will unleash some of the most dangerous people on the planet onto an unsuspecting world…

“I’m reluctant to say too much more on this,” Lee Robson teases, “because… Well, you’ll understand if you read the story!”

“What I will say, though, is that, even though ‘The Point Nemo Affair‘ is a stand alone story, it might be an idea to go back and re-read the very first Velicity Jones story, The Devil’s Breath, from Aces Weekly #29, just to jog memories.”

Needless to say, it’s another smashing super spy story, and if you’re a fan of the genre you are going to love this!

Another intriguing adventure lines up in this Volume is “Radclyffe: Scream of the Steamonculus” by Mal Earl, who has kindly given us early access to some of his art.

For those unfamiliar, Mal describes himself as a writer/artist born, bred and residing in the far North West of England between the Lake District fells and the historic industrial coastline of the Trachd Romhra. He’s perhaps best known in comics for his work such as “The Bridge” for Aces Weekly, and Lies and Other Fools, a powerful graphic poem working with chart-topping musician Kermit Leveridge, exploring a ‘near death’ moment brought about by septicaemia, contracted from a dirty needle, first published in 2017.

Radclyffe is a character long in development, born from a concept for a half man, half rat vigilante detective in a ‘Judge Dredd’ style environment, co-created with Scott Claringbold back in 2010.

“Half of the proposed book was to be Scott’s take on the character, with a flip side tale from myself,” says Mal. “The project fell by the wayside for some time, but in the back of my mind ‘Ratcliffe’ as he was known at the time, mutated into something other than what Scott had initially conceived.

“Over the past 12 years the character has changed his name, setting and story drive. As the years have rolled on so has his timeline developed and grown, along with the world he occupies. My interest in Steampunk, Victoriana, British Pulp novels and the Fin de Siecle art movement have come to the fore.”

The result, “Radclyffe: Dawn of the Steamonculus“, is set to feature in the steampunk-styled print anthology 1900, edited and published by Peter Duncan, set to launch later this year.

“When Peter Duncan put out his request for story ideas for 1900… ‘Radclyffe’, as he was now known, seemed a perfect fit,” says Mal.

“And so we are here, with my ‘boy’ ready to debut in the first issue of what promises to be one of the outstanding publications of this year… then I had an idea.

“I passed a suggestion past the legendary David Lloyd as to whether he would be interested in another tale from the internals of my head… and Radclyffe will also be gracing the digital pages of Aces Weekly.

“…I hope you all enjoy it as much as I’m enjoying producing it!”

“Velicity Jones – The Point Nemo Affair” and “Radclyffe: Scream of the Steamonculus“, are just part of a thrilling lineup of stories in Aces Weekly Volume 62, combining to deliver another massive, seven-part volume of up to 150 pages, including Extras, that is yours from 10th April 2023.

• Head over to Aces Weekly online and sign aboard at www.acesweekly.co.uk

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.

Categories: British Comics, Comic Previews, Comics, Digital Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: Aces Weekly, Brian Coyle, David Lloyd, Digital Comics, Lee Robson, Mal Earl, Radclyffe, Velicity Jones