Episode four of the new UK small press Awesome Comics Podcast will be coming at you this Monday. The hosts Vince Hunt (The Red Mask from Mars), Dan Butcher (Vanguard) and downthetubes contributor Tony Esmond will be chatting to artist… Read More ›
downthetubes News
“Wish You Were Here” – comic artists re-imagine the Lake District – ahead of Comic Art Festival
The Lake District National Park is England’s largest covering 229,200 hectares of land with 16 large lakes and more than 200 fells. Beatrix Potter, Alfred Heaton Cooper, Arthur Ransome, JMW Turner, and William Wordsworth were just a few of the famous names inspired… Read More ›
Halfpenny Dreadful Comic Publishing – punk pulp fiction from Mike Knowles
Halfpenny Dreadful Comic Publishing – the brainchild of veteran comics writer Mike Knowles – is seeking aspiring writers and artists who might enjoy producing punk pulp fiction. Mike has been a published writer/artist for over 30-years working mainly in comics, (DC Thomson… Read More ›
Something for the Weekend (22nd July 2015) – A little 2000AD for the weekend, folks?
Here’s this week’s list of comics on sale now in comic shops across the UK. As usual, our list highlights the work of British creators and publishers. Prize-winning British cartoonist Julian Hanshaw makes his US debut this week with the… Read More ›
Every Doctor (Who) Has His Thursday…
The latest Doctor Who Magazine (Issue 489) is on sale tomorrow and we’ve detailed the issues’ full run down below. It includes the first part of a new 12-page comics strip, “Spirits of the Jungle” by Jonathan Morris, illustrated… Read More ›
Rachael Smith’s “The Rabbit” graphic novel launches in September
Comic creator Rachael Smith and the Avery Hill Publishing crew will be launching The Rabbit, Rachel’s second graphic novel, at Manchester’s Travelling Man comic shop on Friday 28th August and London’s Orbital Comics on Friday 11th September 2015. Following her debut, critically acclaimed graphic… Read More ›
Judgement Comes to Cardiff! (Judge Dredd judgement, that is)
Judgement in Cardiff, a unique exhibition of Judge Dredd art comes to Cardiff next month – the work of a duo known as Caped in Case who commissioned David Roach to draw the event’s promotional poster. The exhibition brings together some of… Read More ›
Panel Borders: Bruce Mutard – from The Bunker to The Sacrifice
Continuing a month of shows about Australasian comics, Alex Fitch talks to Melbourne cartoonist Bruce Mutard about his career so far, from his first graphic novel The Bunker to experimental comics such as Alice in Nomansland, and working on a sequel to his… Read More ›
Sapphire & Steel Competition: Nigel “Spleenal” Auchterlounie joins the fun
Recent news of a possible return to our screens of the spooky Sapphire & Steel prompted various comic artists to pipe up that they’d love to draw a new comic based on the show, so we’re challenging our readers to do… Read More ›
Wart horror comic continues, last round of crowdfunding permitting…
Comic creators Chris Welsh and Ammar Al-Chalabi are closing fast on their modest Kickstarter to fund WART Book Three at the moment, so we thought we’d give him a deserved plug to hopefully help him gain full backing. In January, he successfully funded books One… Read More ›
In Review: London Film and Comic Con 2015
London Film and Comic Con took over the Olympia this year, spreading across four floors. Tickets for both Saturday and Sunday sold out well before the event, leading to some disappointed people who couldn’t get in – but they will know… Read More ›
In Review: Panel Borders: Crowd-Funded Comics
A train journey to the Lakes afforded me the chance to listen to this terrific episode of the Resonance FM ’Panel Borders‘ podcast about the positives and negatives of crowd funding your comic projects. This show concluded a month… Read More ›
Signing at Deadhead Comics
For those that shop for their comics in Edinburgh, you could do worse than pop along to the recently relocated Deadhead Comics at their new address of 30 West Nicolson Street Edinburgh EH8 9DD. On Saturday 25 July 2015 from 2:30pm… Read More ›
Warren Ellis: “Read Comics. All comics. And then cut them open…”
Comic creator Warren Ellis – author of Trees, Injection, Ministry of Space and whose fanzines I bought back in the 1980s when we met at the Westminster Comic Mart days, publishes an entertaining weekly newsletter, Orbital Operations (subscribe here), covering all… Read More ›
Remembered Reading: Dr Mel Gibson’s new study of Girls Comics released
Remembered Reading, a reader’s history exploring the forgotten genre of British girls’ comics by Dr Mel Gibson, has just been published by Leuven Univeristy Press. Girls’ comics were a major genre from the 1950s onwards in Britain. The most popular titles sold between… Read More ›
Proposed New US Copyright Act threatens creator rights worldwide
(Updated 21st July, added comment by artist Tim Perkins): Proposed changes to US copyright law, effectively re-inventing the failed “Orphan Works” act put forward seven years ago, have come under attack from a huge number of artists and writers,… Read More ›
The Awesome Comics Podcast – Episode 3 with Marc Laming
Flying into your eardrums this upcoming week it’s time for the third episode of The Awesome Comics Podcast. This Monday, joining Vince Hunt (The Red Mask From Mars), Dan Butcher (Vanguard Comic) and Tony Esmond (the grumpy one and contributor… Read More ›
New International Journal of Comic Art out now
The latest edition of the International Journal of Comic Art is out now, the premier academic journal devoted to all aspects of cartooning and comics. Edited by John Lent, the whopping 675 page tome features Visual Language: Neil Cohn… Read More ›
British Comic Shop Releases (15th July 2015) – Damocles, Ring of Roses and Captain Britain, too
Here’s this week’s (belated) list of comics on sale now in comic shops across the UK. As usual, our list highlights the work of British creators and publishers. Three Cinebook titles hit comic shops this week, including the latest Lucky Luke… Read More ›
Last chance to vote in the David Gemmell Awards
Voting for the David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy closes tomorrow at midnight on Friday 17th July 2015. Now in their seventh year, the awards, open to readers’ votes, recognise and promote writers and artists in the fantasy field. The organisers… Read More ›