ARCHIVED NEWS - JANUARY 2006

STRIP SEARCH BACK FOR MIDLANDS-BASED CREATORS
27/1/06: After the International success of StripSearch 1 and 2, Hi8us Midlands have launched StripSearchers, a West Midlands wide talent-search for gifted, amateur comic illustrators.
The 15 finalists will work alongside such notable artists as John McCrea (Batman, Spiderman, The Hulk), the legendary comics genius Hunt Emerson (Firkin the Cat, The Beano) and inker James Hodgkins, who will support and encourage the development and skills of the final 15.
As part of the scheme they will get their work published, VIP passes to UK's largest Comic's Convention and will also have their work reviewed by great comic artists and top executives from DC, Marvel, The Beano and 2000AD.
The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 22 February 2006 and the scheme is open to anyone from the West Midlands aged 16+. Hi8us are especially keen to receive submissions from women.
Wannabe illustrators are asked to submit examples of their best and most recent work. Hi8us are looking for good photocopies of 2-4 pages of original continuous comic strip (no posters), preferably without lettering.
For further details about submissions contact Jemima Cattel on 0121 693 0242 or jemima@hi8us.co.uk

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

FURY RETURNS!
26/1/06: The Fury, the terrifying superhero-killing creature created by Alan Moore in the 1980s, is to return. Ed Hammond, Editor of Spectacular Spider-Man UK has been in touch and given downthetubes a sneak preview of Captain Britain's second appearance in the Panini title.
Issue 133 (on sale 20th April) will see Spidey teaming up with Captain Britain to take on the Fury. The story is by Jim Alexander, artwork by Jon Haward, inks by John Stokes and colours by John Mould.

MORE TRIGAN EMPIRE FOR 2006
26/1/06: The Don Lawrence Collection has announced it has plans for three more volumes of its Trigan Empire - The Collection series for 2006.
Volume 5 The Three Princes is scheduled for March, followed by the The Rallu Invasion in June. Part 7 The Reign of Thara will be published in October. The fifth volume contains two stories originally produced in 1968 and 1969: The Three Princes (itself a group of interlinked stories) and The Alien Dust. This book will also contain a dossier about the family, friends and foes of Trigo, an extended dossier with a fully illustrated genealogical chart of the family of the first emperor of the Trigan Empire.
As always, the Collection would love to hear from anyone who has original artwork of Don Lawrence in his or her collection to support our series. If you think you have anything which the Collection deosn't have in their digital archive, please contact them at collection@donlawrence.nl or call +31(0)162-461651.

LOOK AND LEARN REPRINTED
26/1/06: Just as The Don Lawrence Collection strives to bring back happy memories from the past by publishing the Trigan Empire Collection, so another publishing house is to reprint some of the beautiful work from those magical sixties and seventies British educational magazines. The name of the company says it all: Look and Learn Magazine Ltd. This recently formed publisher intends to specialise in reprinting material from Look and Learn, Ranger, The Bible Story and Treasure. To make this possible, Look and Learn Magazine Ltd. recently purchased the complete archive of IPC, a real treasure trove with complete bound runs of the various magazines and original artwork by some of the dozens of artists who worked for Fleetway/IPC.
Plans for a variety of reprints are already advancing quickly and a website (www.lookandlearn.com) will debut in early 2006. (Thanks to Rob van Bavel of the Don Lawrence Collection for this story)

MEGAZINE OPENS PAGES TO NEW CREATORS
25/1/06: Matt Smith, editor of Judge Dredd: The Megazine and 2000AD, has announced that Rebellion are considering opening up six pages in the Megazine for new writers and artists.
"It can be anything they like, within reason," says Matt, "and doesn't have to be 2000AD-based.
"It will unfortunately be unpaid, but [creators] will get a springboard by being published in a mainstream professional title."
All submissions need to be self-contained stories, and should be supplied fully lettered. The published art size for the Megazine is:
• Panel Area: 189x256mm
• Trim Size: 210x276mm
• Bleed Size: 216x282mm
• Submissions (or further questions on the plan) should be sent by e-mail (any files sent by email should be below 5 meg) to Matt.Smith@Rebellion.co.uk

ROGUE TROOPER GAME SITE LAUNCHED
20/1/06: The countdown to the release of Rogue Trooper videogame has begun in earnest. Developed by Rebellion and to be published by Eidos in April 2006, the game will take the player deep into the war-torn planet of Nu Earth - and now you can grab all the info you need about one of this year's most exciting games from the official website!
Web Link: www.eidos.co.uk/gss/roguetrooper

CAPTAIN SCARLET IS DESTRUCTIBLE...
The recently-launched Captain Scarlet comic is no more, cancelled because of low sales. #6, on sale in a couple of months time will be the last issue, complete with free periscope.

COMICS EXHIBITION IN HAVANT
15/1/06: The huge number of British comics over the years all have one feature in common -- an impressive array of front covers whose aim was to win over their young readers. A new exhibition organised by A S Lewis Heritage Services has opened at Havant Museum, Hampshire, and contains more than 60 comic covers, dating from the late 19th century up until the late 1970s, including Eagle covers. More info from museum on (023) 92451155.
Web Link: www.hants.gov.uk/museum/exhibitions/prog/havantex.html

RAINBOW ORCHID TRANSLATED
12/1/06: Rainbow Orchid, the wonderful Tin Tin inspired adventure comic, is being translated into French and coloured. Creator Garen Ewing reports that the first episode of The Rainbow Orchid has been translated into French, thanks to the wonderful efforts of the members of the forum ligneclaire, who approached him about translating the comic last month.
To read the translation, click the little flag that appears in the control bar during available strips (currently 1-32).
Back-colouring of the strip is going well, says Garen, with episodes one and two completed and three well on its way. "Episode 7, the first to go straight into colour, is just about to be completed with something of a double... cliffhanger!" says Garen.
Web Links: www.rainboworchid.co.uk or straight to the strip at www.rainboworchid.co.uk/webcomic/stripIndex.php
• Read my interview with Garen Ewing on Comic World News

MOORE MEETS MOORCOCK
11/1/06: Comics writer, author and magician Alan Moore is set to interview author Michael Moorcock at the RADA theatre in Malet Street in London next Wednesday (18th January) at 7pm. Tickets cost £6 from 0845 456 9876.

DOCTOR WHO COMIC CONFIRMED
10/1/06: The latest Doctor Who Magazine has published details of BBC Worldwide's new Doctor Who Adventures comic, which will launch this spring.
Featuring self-contained strips from artists such as John Ross as well as interviews, competitions and puzzless, It will retail at £1.99 and be published fortnightly, with a free gift with each issue. The title will be edited by Vincent Vincent and his deputy Moray Laing.
The title is aimed "primarily at 6-12-year-old boys", Doctor Who producer Russell T Davies comments, that the format is "exactly what Doctor Who Magazine was, when it was originally launched as Doctor Who Weekly in 1979".
The new title sprang from discussions between various publishers and the head of BBC Worldwide, Richard Hollis who pitched for the license for Doctor Who Magazine some time ago, which Panini again secured. Comic strip will con tinue to be published in Doctor Who Magazine.

DIRTY DOZEN COMPETITION WINNERS
10/1/06: The winners of the Dirty Dozen book competition which ran in Eagle Flies Again #13 andhere on the downthetubes.net web site were as follows: Darren Allenf rom Southampton; Dave Candlish from Whitehills, Tyne & Wear; Tim Shelton from Marlow, Bucks; Paul Watson from Sheffield; and Derek Wilson from St.Lawrence, Essex.
We had a really good response to the competition -- congratulations to the winners, better luck next time to the other entrants! Special thanks to Catherine at Carlton Books for organising the competition.
Web Links
• Buy the Dirty Dozen from Amazon.co.uk
• Buy the Dirty Dozen from Amazon.com

SNOWSCAPE!
10/1/06:Now uploaded to the Starscape website (www.StarscapeComic.co.uk) is a rather festive tale from jolly Jason Quinn (writer of Spider-Man, Power Rangers, Commando, Action Man etc) and the fast rising star of sequential art, perky Pedro Cruz, featuring those daring guardians of the murky streets of Cockchester, the Guard Dogs!
Mac as well as PC readers will benefit from the updated website, as will dial-up readers who can see how many megabytes each story is.
Plenty more to come in the New Year, including some lost tales from the small press and the British golden age of super-heroics, as well as all-new stories. New tales and artists always welcome!

BRITS ABROAD
10/1/06: Brit creator, Brian Boyd, has come up with a new comic character, Grammarman, to help teach English. Comic lover Brian, who teaches English in Thailand, noticed that loads of his students (particularly teens) were reading a lot manga (translated into Thai), so he decided to put together a tongue-in-cheek strip with an English grammar theme to it. And so, Grammarman was born! Check out the results for yourself at: www.grammarmancomic.com

Boot, just one of many unforgettable characters from The Perishers. Artwork © Daily Mirror

PERISHERS COMIC STRIP WRITER DIES
5/1//06, updated 10/1/06:Maurice Dodd, writer of the long-running and much-admired Perishers strip in the Daily Mirror, died on New Year's Eve. He was 83.
Dodd collapsed at home with a brain haemorrhage and died later in hospital in Ashford, Surrey.
The Perishers, which centres on a group of children and a hairy Old English Sheep Dog called Boot, first appeared in the Daily Mirror in February 1958, the creation of Mirror cartoon editor, Bill Herbert. Scripted by Ben Witham and drawn by Dennis Collins it was not an immediate success until Maurice took on the writing chores, working out script ideas as rough pencilled layouts with action and dialogue in situ, which Dennis then turned into finished drawings. The strip went from strength to strength, and in October 1959 the Perishers moved down to London, and into the Daily Mirror's national edition.
The Dodd-Dollins partnership lasted until Dennis retired in 1983, when Maurice then took on the complete execution of the strip until 1992. He then once again went into partnership, this time with Bill Mevin, who drew strips such as Space Patroland Doctor Who for TV Comic in the 1960s.
Dodd's son Mike, 53, told BBC News his father took inspiration for the strip from listening to the chatter of his own four children. He was still writing storylines for the strip beyond his retirement and up to his death.
"There is a lot of us in those characters and there is a lot of my father in Wellington," says Mike. "He took various aspects of us although none of us is actually Marlon the complete idiot.
"My Dad got an awful lot of ideas about kids from listening to his own children talk and watching the world go by."
Dodd was born in Hackney, east London, in 1922 and served in the RAF during World War Two alongside Bill Herbert, later to become the Cartoon Editor of the Daily Mirror. After studying at Art School he worked as an artist on Britian's first full-length cartoon film, Animal Farm, before returning to the RAF, this time as a member of the SAS.
He produced the Perishers while working for an advertising agency. "[I] found it difficult to overcome the urge to write," he revealed on his official website, "which seemed to annoy some people who found it difficult to accept the possibility that an artist could write, or a writer could draw, or a one man band could play a number of instruments at one and the same time."
While working at the agency he wrote the nation-wide Clunk-Click safety belt campaign in the early 1970s fronted by Jimmy Saville, produced by FilmFair, who also made the Wombles and Paddington Bear. This enabled him to propose a Perishers animated series, which he began working on full-time in 1980, as well as writing children's books.
"On my long struggle to the peak of penury as a writer and artist I've passed through the roles of Apprenticeship Fitter and Car Salesman, Grinder Operator, Spray Painter, Baker's Roundsman, School Caretaker, Locomotive Fireman, Postman, Aircraftsman, Paratrooper and Painter," Dodd wrote, "but do not consider it all a required course for becoming a cartoonist."
Dodd's son Mike has asked that anyone wishing to remember Maurice whould make a donation to the charity, CAFOD. "My father was a long-term supporter of CAFOD, the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development," he says, "and we are asking that instead of flowers, donations should be made to that charity."
Donations can be made online or sent to the charity direct, at CAFOD, Romero Close, London SW9 9TY, UK, or can be sent to the Funeral Directors - the firm is P Boast & Son, of 36, Eastworth Rd, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 8DW. The undertakers can only accept cheques.
"We will be given a list of donations sent via the undertakers about six weeks after the funeral," Mike says. "the time lag is to ensure that we are told of all donations, including slightly late ones - and will thereafter be able to send a personal acknowledgement to people. I hope, however, that anyone who makes a donation will understand that this itself might well take some time."
Dodd leaves his wife of 60 years, Daphne, and four children.
• Official Perishers web site: www.theauthenticperishers.co.uk

DAN DARE ART COMMANDS EVER HIGHER PRICES
1/1/06: Following up on a BBC World Service business new item first transmitted in December, BBC News reports that one of the world's biggest sales of cartoon art -- Illustrators 2005 -- has opened at the Chris Beetles art galley in London -- and taking centre stage are Dan Dare strip pages from the original 1950s Eagle, drawn by Frank Hampson and a team of artists for the comic.
The report says single pages of Frank Hapson's original art are now selling for over £10,000, a fact that does not surprise Beetles. "This is a marketplace," he told the BBC. "There are so many people who want them and there are so few originals left. These are the only remaining panels from the great first story, and there aren't any more."
Rod Barzilay, the editor of Spaceship Away - the comic dedicated to publishing new Dan Dare stories, artist Don Harley and Titan Books editor Nick Jones also feature in the report. Harley says the art team on the original Dan Dare regularly worked long hours to meet the deadlines.
"In a normal week, I would come back in the evenings as well - but when we really got behind with the work, it meant working all night for possibly two days," he recalls.
Web Links
BBC News report : news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/4562090.stm
Chris Beetles Art Gallery: www.chrisbeetles.com