Here’s the latest downthetubes round up of quick fire comic news items that caught our eye this Friday 14th May 2021, including the debut of the new Dandy Summer Special, a new Marvel Select Spider-Man bookazine from Panini UK, and a court win for Xavier Marabout, an artist inspired by Tintin and Edward Hopper, and some advice for new writers.

• The Dandy is back! The 68-page Dandy Summer Special, previously highlighted here alongside the BEANO Summmrr Special, is on sale now, with a cover by Steve Bright, features a selection of classic strips from the comic, which ceased physical weekly production in 2012, plus a new six-page strip by Nigel Auchterlounie and Steve Bright, and some new Dandy character illustrations by Nic Brennan, Laura Howell, Nigel Parkinson, Lew Stringer and Wayne Thompson.
Both the Beano and Dandy Summer Specials are available from newsagents and select supermarkets or direct from DC Thomson here – and Lew Stringer has an item on his work for the Special here on his blog.

• Miles Morales: Spider-Man- Straight out of Brooklyn is latest Marvel Select bookazine is out today from Panini UK. Collecting Marvel’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1-6, the story sees Brooklyn about to be hit by a tidal wave of crime, but luckily the young Spider-Man is on the case! As the web-slinging teen’s investigations take a dark turn, Miles finds himself in the team-up no one saw coming, fighting alongside Captain America… and the Rhino?
Miles Morales: Spider-Man- Straight out of Brooklyn is available from WH Smith or directly from Panini’s webshop

• In other superhero news, CBR reports DC Comics editor Jessica Chen has teased Connor Hawke‘s future in the DC Universe, noting that while the future remains to be seen, it’s “a really good time” to be a fan of the second Emerald Archer now that he’s back in the picture.

• Canada’s TCAF 2021, home of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Canzine, and Comics X Games, is taking place this week online, closing tomorrow 15th May. Check it out here, where you can enter all three Festivals to buy merchandise, play games, and discover amazing artists.

• You can visit more than more than 100 virtual booths to meet authors, publishers and get some virtual goodies and more at the U.S. Book Show running 25th – 27th May 2021. Publisher’s Weekly has a booth guide, including comics publishers, here.

• Closer to home, Edinburgh Art Festival is to return from 29th July – 29th August 2021, after COVID -19 forced the cancellation of last year’s event. The 17th edition, a hybrid of the physical and virtual, will include over 35 exhibitions and new commissions in visual art spaces across the city, alongside an online programme of events and digital presentations. You can follow the Festival on social media @EdArtFest

• SciFi Bulletin reports Amazon Studios is adding more weight to their roster of directors for its take The Lord of the Rings, a prequel series set during Middle Earth’s Second Age. Swedish-French Director Charlotte Brändström has joined the creative team , continuing on the work of Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona and British Chinese Director Wayne Che Yip. Brändström will direct two episodes.

• The Guardian reported this week that Xavier Marabout, the French artist who was sued by the Tintin creator Hergé’s heirs over his paintings that place the boy adventurer in romantic encounters has won his case after a court deemed them parodies.’s Marabot’s stunning artworks, which went viral, imagined Tintin into the landscapes of American artist Edward Hopper, including a take on Queensborough Bridge, 1913, or talking with a less-clothed version of Hopper’s Chop Suey.
• Researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah have developed the means to use lasers to create science fiction-style holograms. The holograms closely resemble and are inspired by laser displays seen in science fiction, such as the holodeck and phasers in Star Trek and don’t require a screen or computer graphics.
“What you’re seeing in the scenes we create is real; there is nothing computer generated about them,” said lead researcher Dan Smalley, a professor of electrical engineering at BYU. “This is not like the movies, where the lightsabers or the photon torpedoes never really existed in physical space. These are real, and if you look at them from any angle, you will see them existing in that space.”
It’s the latest work from Smalley and his team of researchers who garnered national and international attention three years ago when they figured out how to draw screenless, free-floating objects in space. Called optical trap displays, they’re created by trapping a single particle in the air with a laser beam and then moving that particle around, leaving behind a laser-illuminated path that floats in midair; like a “a 3D printer for light.”
• Comic creator notes, now, first with some advice for aspiring writers from Liz Kay, the author of the novel Monsters: A Love Story: “Try very hard to think of something else to do instead. If you can’t think of anything else and you’re convinced you really want to be a writer, then read everything you can get your hands on.” Read the full interview on Advice to Writers
• Guardian readers were asked to cite their pet peeves about TV drama. Boy, did they have some…
• Finally… want some drawing tips? I’ve said it before, but follow the marvellous Etherington Brothers on Instagram. They cover everything about drawing, big, small, and totally for free!

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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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