Tube Surfing: Digital comics funding, real robots, 2000AD Regened, and an upcoming “Fables” Box Set

Here’s another of our quick round ups of comic-related news items and more that caught our eye across other sites, times and places, spanning 2000AD Regened, Marvel films, Grandville L’Integrale, to real robots…

• Are you a book publisher based in Scotland? The Publishing Scotland Go Digital Fund is open for applications to help bring books to a new digital audience – but you’ll have to be quick to apply, the deadline is 5.00pm, 30th August 2021. The purpose of the fund is to assist Scottish-based book publishers to develop their digital offering and skills through access to marketing opportunities, events, training and consultancies.

• Fancy some amazing real robot action? Of course you do. Check out the latest video from Boston Dynamics, whose automatons have been stunning some of us for months. In this video, we’re treated to an incredible display of robot gymnastics that will have you either amazed, or clamouring for the Three Laws of Robotics…

Luckily, and blink and you’ll miss it, but it seems at least some of these robots prefer a bit of meditation to jaw-dropping aerial displays…

Boston Dynamics Robots

• While we were on YouTube, we couldn’t help but notice, like millions of others, two new Marvel film trailers – the final promotion for The Eternals, and the first promotion for Spider-Man: No Way Home. In case you’ve been asleep, here they are for the record…

Hands up who wants to know how much IKEA paid for that promotion?

Great to see Doctor Strange paired with Spider-Man, one of Marvel’s earliest crossovers in the comics, even if it doesn’t exactly go according to plan.

Once & Future #19 (Cover A by Dan Mora)
Once & Future #19 (Cover A by Dan Mora)

• On sale this week in comic shops from US publisher Boom! Studios is Once And Future #19 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire, beginning a thrilling new era in one of the best series around. Look out for a variant black and white cover of Dan Mora’s “A” cover, and another variant by Christian Ward. There’s more on Once and Future here on the Boom! Studios web site.

2000AD Regened Prog 2246 - cover by Steve Roberts
2000AD Regened Prog 2246 – cover by Steve Roberts

• Talking of items on sale in comic shops, don’t forget that alongside your superheroes and manga, the latest 2000AD – an all-ages Regened special, the third of four the year, is out now, a doozy of an issue sporting a terrific Cadet Dredd cover by Steve Roberts. I particularly enjoyed “’Splorers” this issue, from Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby (writers) Neil Googe (art) Gary Caldwell (colour) and Simon Bowland (letters).

For those naysayers dismissing the Regened project, I have some views on it myself, which you can read over on Substack.

• Also out this week in book and comic shops is Bryan Talbot’s recommended compendium collection, Grandville L’Integrale, published by Penguin, which I recently reviewed here, and The Stainless Steel Rat: Deluxe Edition from Rebellion, reviewed here by Joe Gordon, by Harry Harrison and Kelvin Gosnell, with art by much-missed Carlos Ezquerra. In short – don’t miss either!

Fables: The 20th Anniversary Box Set

• US publisher DC is to release a box set of Bill Willingham’s Fables on 19th April 2022, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the comic, as well as the return of the series, resuming with Fables #151, picking up where the creator left off six years ago. Fables: The 20th Anniversary Box Set will come with a slipcase cover by series artist Mark Buckingham and include four softcover compendiums – previously released separately – comprising all 150 issues of the original series, plus Fables: The Last Castle, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland, Jack of Fables #33-35, and The Literals #1-3. If you can’t wait, and missed them, Compendiums One and Two are available now, with Book Three out on 24th August and Four following in December.

• Some sad news. Star Trek author Dayton Ward has penned a lovely tribute to actor Edward J. Paskey, who died three days short of his 82nd birthday last week. If his name isn’t familiar even to longtime fans of the original Star Trek series, chances are good those same fans would recognise his face. Mr. Paskey was a frequent presence in numerous episodes throughout the show’s three-year run, most often referred to as “Mr. Leslie” or “Lieutenant Leslie.”

• Finally, if you’re not po-faced about Doctor Who, then do check out IanDWCartoons on Twitter, where fun at the expense of episodes and characters from the space and time travel adventure series never stops. Here, for example, are a couple of Monoids.

“I can think of at least three or four politicians who seem to have modelled their appearance on these creatures,” Ian calmly suggests, before, possibly, ducking into a bunker…

With thanks for some items to Creative Dundee and Frank Garcia



Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, British Comics - Books, Comics, Creating Comics, Digital Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Film, Tube Surfing

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