• Over on Bear Alley, Steve Holland reports that Tim Pilcher’s Erotic Comics: A Graphic History, Volume 1: From Birth to the 1970s book, published by Ilex in the UK, has been banned by Australian customs from entering the country. Customs have demanded that a special large sticker with an “M” on it must be placed on the cover — indicating that the book is for “Mature Readers” — otherwise the books will be prevented from being sold in Australia. Tim Pilcher said, “I find it ludicrous and risible that the Australian authorities need a big sticker to point out the book is for ‘adults only’. Surely the word ‘Erotic’ in the title gives it away? Perhaps they got confused with the word ‘Comics’ and couldn’t believe that adults read sequential literature!”
• As if you really needed reminding, the Thought Bubble Leeds Comic Festival takes place this weekend. Er, in Leeds… Comica 2008 in London runs from the 14th – 30th November 2008. More details on both the ICA and Paul Gravett’s web site.
• Rebellion’s digital comics arm Clickwheel has announced that it is publishing the vampires-versus-commandos comic series Sword of Dracula for iPhone. The military horror series, called “creepy cool” by Entertainment Weekly and “the coolest interpretation of Dracula in years” by Cinescape, is available in seven individual chapters or as a collected graphic novel.
Sword of Dracula tells the story of Veronica “Ronnie” Van Helsing, a commando who leads a vast spy organization against Dracula, here seen as a powerful, globe-trotting terrorist who controls blood in order to create weapons and materials.
A followup mini-series, Sword of Dracula: The Dracula War, from publisher Digital Webbing, will be released beginning in December on both the iPhone and retail racks.
Clickwheel is home to hundreds of comics including the UK’s premiere comic publication, 2000AD.
• Meanwhile, new digital comics publisher iVerse Media has announced its first wave of titles are now available in the iTunes App Store. The company has titles from Ardden Entertainment, Antarctic Press, Bluewater Productions, and Image Comics Creators with more books from other publishers on their way. Sign up for our iVerse Updates to keep up with the latest digital comics offerings from the company.
Launch titles include: Proof, ShadowHawk, Flash Gordon, Oz: The Manga, Wrath of the Titans, and Gold Digger: Peebo Tales. For a full list of our titles plus covers and solicitation info take a look at www.iversecomics.com/titles
- About the Author
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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.
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