Over on his always brilliant Blimey! It’s Another Blog about Comics blog, focusing onBritish comics past and present, top cartoonist Lew Stringer is counting down to Christmas with a series of celebratory posts of past Christmas covers, including the first 2000AD… Read More ›
Today sees the debut of an all-new character in The Beano – wannabe star Holly Wood, the creation of Tommy Donbavand, with art by Steve Beckett. Lancashire-based author and actor Tommy Donbavand is the man who wrote popular 13-book Scream Street series… Read More ›
The Beano, Britain’s weekly humour comic published by DC Thomson, is on a recruitment drive for new staff for what looks like being a hugely ambitious new digital push for the title. Announcing the recruitment drive on their official web site… Read More ›
Following up on John Freeman’s post expressing joy at seeing a child ignore all the “mag in a bag” comic/ young persons magazines in favour of the cheaper, non-bagged Beano, comic creator Alexander Matthews very kindly gave us permission to re-post… Read More ›
Here’s a couple of snapshots of a typical British supermarket display of teen and young children’s magazines taken yesterday, which I occasionally post for discussion and dissection on my Facebook Comic Con page as we ponder the state of our native… Read More ›
DC Thomson, publishers of The Beano, have taken control of the thebeano.co.uk domain name from a Norfolk businessman. The Dundee-based company, which has been publishing The Beano for decades, took action against Stephen Fisher from Ellingham, who had registered the domain name. Internet… Read More ›
Last year, in partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, downthetubes brought you a number of interviews with creators attending the event – and we’re delighted to be able to run a series in the run up to their… Read More ›
‘ Thanks to Guinness World Records, this week’s Beano (Issue 3800), on sale now in all good newsagents and sporting a new logo, confirms the comic’s status as the longest-running comic published weekly. The Beano is officially a record breaker! We’re the longest-running… Read More ›
The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) sales figures for titles registered with the organisation were published this week and overall, despite an overall decline in magazine circulation figures – down an average 5.5 per cent – comics and children’s magazines continue… Read More ›
Christmas annuals may be being deep discounted across the UK in WH Smiths and supermarkets – some as little as £2 a copy. But sales in the run up to the festive period were strong again, with the Beano Annual… Read More ›
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival starts tomorrow and I’m delighted that, despite a punishing work schedule, Beano and Doctor Who cartoonist and writer Lew Stringer found time to answer my questions about his work and creating comics. Lew (who I’ve… Read More ›
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival is almost upon us – in fact, it’s next weekend (17th – 19th October 2014). In the run up to the event, which has already taken over the Cumbrian town of Kendal with comics exhibitions, warm… Read More ›
In the run up to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (17th – 19th October), we’re aiming to run a number of interviews spotlighting at least a few of the huge number of guests and comic creators who will be at the… Read More ›
Feature by Jonathan Clode Back in August 2013, it was reported that American artist Paul Pope had pitched an idea to DC Comics to bring back Jack Kirby’s Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth, only to be told by DC… Read More ›
Today marks the release of the 75th anniversary issue of The Beano – the longest running comic in Britain (if not the world) – and celebrations large and small are happening around the country. The 75th anniversary issue is crammed… Read More ›
(via Lew Stringer): British comics have often featured activity pages amongst the strips, from the humble reader’s jokes page, ‘How to’ features on magic tricks, and puzzle pages such as Teaser Time. The latest thing appears to be the pranks… Read More ›
The University Of Dundee has presented some unique comics events and exhibitions over the last five or six years under the auspices of Dr Chris Murray of the School of Humanities and Mathew Jarron of the University’s Museum Services. At… Read More ›
DC Thomson artist David Sutherland, who often signs his work simply as “DS”, has been drawing “The Bash Street Kids” in The Beano since 1962, a remarkable 50 years. In addition to “Bash Street”, he was also the regular artist… Read More ›
Here’s the second of our ten posts to mark the release of the Royal Mail’s Comic Collection, celebrating 75 years of British comics. The Royal Mail have kindly sent us large versions of each stamp, so we thought we’d show… Read More ›
Following up on our previous report about the Post Office release of stamps featuring British comics such as The Beano, the Comic Book Alliance has announced it is working with Sheridan Covers, releasing an extremely limited edition First Day Cover… Read More ›