Three quick news items that should send you scurrying elsewhere on the worldwide web!
Newspaper Cuts News: Private Eye cartoonist Guy Venables is the latest victim to continuing cuts to newspaper editorial budgets: his cartoons for The Metro newspaper will, sadly, come to an end in November, to the disappointment of readers, including the Cartoon Museum’s Learning Officer & Comic Art Curator, Steve Marchant.
“We often hear from visitors how much they enjoy Guy’s work, and he was kind enough to donate an original earlier this year,” he notes. “With two cartoons a day, and a ‘Best of Guy’ feature last December I thought he was regarded as an asset. When I’m conducting guided tours I’ve always ‘bigged up’ the Metro as the only tabloid that still has daily editorial cartoons. Not any more. Quite the reverse.
Very short-sighted and very disappointing.”
If you enjoy Guy’s work, too, why not buy a print? You can also follow him on BlueSky
No Brainer: The brilliant Aly Fell launched a new graphic novel project on Kickstarter and it smashed its initial target almost immediately, three hundred plus backers, many fellow comic creators, taking funds raised to close to £12,000 so far.
An original graphic novel of magical realism set against the insular world of a 1920’s Devon boarding school, if you’ve previously supported Ally’s stunning work, evocative of the very best of British girls comics of yesteryear, then don’t delay, back this new project today; and if you’ve not seen his work before, get over to Kickstarter now, too. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And yes, I’ve put my money where my mouth is, too.
New Football Comics Podcast: The latest episode of the British Football Comic Podcast has dropped, throwing the spotlight on a 1984 “We Are United” story from DC Thomson’s Champ comic, its August 1984 as the new season; and the team catch-up on the “Blackie Gray” story from Roy of the Rovers. It’s time the 1980s, and Blackie is helping his best mate Roy and also Melchester Rovers in their times of trouble…never complaining… doing everything from a spot of domestic decorating to firing a machine gun during a military coup. It was a busy decade! Check it out here on YouTube! And remember to like and subscribe on YouTube.
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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: Audio, British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, Crowd Funding Projects, Digital Media, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Podcasts
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