Someone has been really nice to me and loaned me their copies of the short-lived fanzine Achtung! Commando, a title published nearly 20 years ago now, dedicated to DC Thomson’s long-running war comic, edited by comics artist and historian Peter Richardson,… Read More ›
Opinions
Scream Misty For Me – Cover Controversy over new “Hallowe’en Special” Continues
2000AD publisher Rebellion is publishing a Scream! & Misty Hallowe’en Special in October featuring all-new stories based on characters from the hugely-successful girls comic Misty, the short-lived by fondly-remembered Scream! and the equally short-lived boys comic Thunder – but this great news… Read More ›
The British Comics Industry – Still in Decline or On the Up?
The state of British comics – and exactly what people mean by the “British comics industry” came into focus in a couple of threads on social media over the weekend, with many older comic fans noting with dismay the dominance… Read More ›
Tony Esmond’s Comic Shop Survival Guide – Part Four: How To Buy A Comic (It isn’t always that easy!) – The Actual Buying Bit
There isn’t a week that goes by that one of the downthetubes team reads a post or receives a news item about declining comic sales, some articles blaming comics piracy, others the cost of comics, the end of physical print…. Read More ›
Tony Esmond’s Comic Shop Survival Guide – Part Three: Choosing Your Comic
There isn’t a week that goes by that one of the downthetubes team reads a post or receives a news item about declining comic sales, some articles blaming comics piracy, others the cost of comics, the end of physical print…. Read More ›
Tony Esmond’s Comic Shop Survival Guide – Part Two: How To Buy A Comic
There isn’t a week that goes by that one of the downthetubes team reads a post or receives a news item about declining comic sales, some articles blaming comics piracy, others the cost of comics, the end of physical print…. Read More ›
Tony Esmond’s Comic Shop Survival Guide – Part One: Dealing with Comic Shop Staff … and other customers
There isn’t a week that goes by that one of the downthetubes team reads a post or receives a news item about declining comic sales, some articles blaming comics piracy, others the cost of comics, the end of physical print…. Read More ›
A Friday Rant: The Perplexing Non Publicity for many British Comic Publications
The latest issue of InPublishing, a magazine covering all aspects of newspaper, magazine and digital publishing – available free to those working in publishing – and which publishes all its features, free to view, online – has just interviewed Egmont… Read More ›
Celebrating the British Small Press: 60 Great Small Comic Press (Part Three)
When Marvel UK shrunk its original strip output in the mid-1990s, not being a 2000AD reader, comic creator and reader Andy Luke had nowhere to go. He came to find that the small press, often photocopied works, were a core… Read More ›
Celebrating the British Small Press: 60 Great Small Comic Press (Part Two)
When Marvel UK shrunk its original strip output in the mid-1990s, not being a 2000AD reader, comic creator and reader Andy Luke had nowhere to go. He came to find that the small press, often photocopied works, were a core… Read More ›
Celebrating the British Small Press: 60 Great Small Comic Press (Part One)
When Marvel UK shrunk its original strip output in the mid-1990s, not being a 2000AD reader, comics creator Andy Luke had nowhere to go. He came to find that the small press, often photocopied works, were a core part of… Read More ›
“Black Dog – The Dreams of Paul Nash”, A Reader’s Experience
Created by Dave McKean Publisher: Lakes International Comic Art Festival and Hourglass (the Artist’s Book, limited edition of 300 – a graphic novel edition will be published by Dark Horse in October Let me start this item by saying that this is neither a ‘Preview’ nor a… Read More ›
British Comics: Charting The Reprint Rights Nightmare
The arrival of the first volume of Star Trek: The Classic UK Comics from US publisher IDW this morning (courtesy of editor Rich Handley, out 28th April), comprising the first 18 bizarre stories published in Joe 90: Top Secret and TV21… Read More ›
Cosplay Is NOT Consent – By Colin Noble
With the conventions of 2016 fast approaching, I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of artists, writers, editors, inkers and publishers. But another part of the convention experience has become meeting some of the cosplayers out there, who deserves kudos… Read More ›
The British Comics Industry: Looking Back on 2015, Looking Forward to 2016
With the festive season upon us and 2015 racing to a close, over on Comic Book Resources, staff writer and comics retailer Brian Hibbs, in an article titled “Tilting at Windmills: Trouble on the Horizon?“notes we’re in an extremely odd… Read More ›
The British Comics Industry: Still Alive and Kicking, Despite Troll Claims to the Contrary
Phil Boyce runs the Oink! blog, dedicated to the original, cheeky, innovative comic that once featured the best of British talent, as well as extra posts on every aspect of the world’s greatest comic, creator info, behind-the-scenes shenanigans and more. He recently posted… Read More ›
It’s A Hard Life: Colin Noble Counts his (Comics) Blessings…
When things are getting you down, it is always nice to count your blessings. And when it comes to comics, I have so many to count that I sometimes forget that not everyone is as fortunate as I. On a… Read More ›
Mags In Bags: comic creator Alexander Matthews call for “VAT on Tat”
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 ›
Despite the Odds, Child buys Beano in Supermarket Shock; the perils and pitfalls of UK news stand distribution
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 ›
In My View: Why The British Comics Industry is Far From Dead
It’s hard to credit but, strangely, there are some out there who claim the British comics industry is dead, ignoring the huge number of successful independent comics out there and a still-thriving news stand. Now, before anyone comments, I know… Read More ›