• Death’s Head is back! And not some Johnny-Come-Lately Death’s Head II or III, or even the bit-on-the-small-side Version I, the result of an encounter with the good Doctor and his TARDIS. No, Marvel’s new S.W.O.R.D. title features everyone’s favourite robot bounty hunter from his giant robot days, back when he could go a few rounds with a Transformer or two — and indeed, did, before he was dropped into the Marvel Universe via Doctor Who Magazine. Written by Keiron Gillen, with art from Steven Sanders, the book’s second issue, featuring a no-holds barred fisticuffs between Marvel UK’s most memorable mechanoid and S.W.O.R.D’s finest. Catch it via your local comic shop now.
• Poot! Comic is back! This British humour comic was first published in the 1980s and 90s but has now been relaunched as a bi-monthly title. Issue number 2 is in the shops now: we’ll have more about this soon, but in the mean time, check the comic’s web site at www.pootcomic.com.
• Anyone watching the Comedy Awards on ITV Sunday night may have noticed a superhero style to some of the set dressing around the room, including Alan Carr as “Chattyman”. One of the contributors to this look was none other than Jon Haward, these days best known for his work for Classical Comics but who can clearly turn his hand to just about anything! “I was asked by the Production Designer Simon Kimmel to draw Mr Ross looking like a superhero,” explains Jon. “The producers of the show liked my samples so I was given a contract to work on the show!”
• The second batch of four David Lloyd illustrations to raise money for the Cartoon Classroom project went for over £300 on eBay. There are another three up now and darn fine they look too…
• RAF News recently published a story on the ongoing success of Commando, which still have total sales of some 70,000 copies per month. (We assume that figure is for all eight titles issued in one month, not per issue). Talking to editor Calum Laird about the DC Thomson war comic he attributes the title’s enduring success to the stories, “their quality and complexity and the authenticity we try to give them, backed up with first-class artwork. The stories are quite complex and multi-layered.”
• If you want to dip back into Commando, why not give their Christmas competition to win collections of the comic?. Yes, some lucky person will win a (postman crippling) eight of Carlton’s Commando reprint books in this competition being run on the official Commando website. Considering how big each book is that is a lot of reading for someone in the New Year!
• downthetubes stalwart Matthew Badham has not only been busy in print, with a massive John Ridgway interview in the latest Judge Dredd: The Megazine: he’s also just posted a 2008 archive interview with Si Spurrier on his own ace blog, talking about the much-missed Warhammer Monthly. Only a few select quotes from the interview were used in the Judge Dredd:The Megazine two years ago, and the longer interview offers much more information.
• And finally for this Tube Surf – the creators of Mirabilis – one of the best unfinished strips in the much-missed subscription only comic The DFC – are offering a fantastic ghost story for Christmas: check it out on their web site. If you like it, please help us to spread the word!
Compiled with thanks to Calum Laird, Jeremy Briggs and Sven the Sax!
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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.
Categories: Comics Competitions, Tube Surfing