ARCHIVED NEWS - MAY 2006

BATTLING THE GREEN GOBLIN!
25/5/06: Manchester-based artist John Royle -- who now has his own web site at www.johnroyleart.com -- is busy on various projects and kindly sent us this Spider-Man versus The Green Goblin cover for an upcoming issue of Panini UK's Spider-Man title. Inks and colour are by Dylan Teague.
Royle, who is a superb illustrator as well as comics artist, says he has been busy of late, with projects that include some pin ups for Teshkeel Comics, the Kuwaiti company behind The 99 series which has partnered with Marvel to publish popular comic book titles in the Arabic language for the Middle East. Royle says he's thrilled to report will be inked by comic legend Joe Rubinstein.

Some of Nigel Dobbyn's stunning Billy the Cat art from the upcoming strip for the Beano, pitting the teenage hero against another classic character, General Jumbo.

BILLY THE CAT RETURNS TO THE BEANO
23/5/06: A new Billy the Cat strip -- this time pitting him against another famous adventure character, General Jumbo -- is due to start in The Beano soon.
The new story is written by Kev F Sutherland and drawn by Nigel Dobbyn, who drew last year's Billy the Cat appearance and Billy strips for the 2006 and upcoming 2007 Beano annuals.
"Nige Dobbyn's first pages are the best art anyone's ever done on one of my scripts, I think," says Kev. The pages downthetubes has seen are truly stunning.
"I'm doing the artwork for the second episode of The General right now," says Nigel, whose past credits include 2000AD, Power Rangers, Digimon and many other UK titles. "The series is four parts of four pages each and features an 'evil' General Jumbo versus Billy. I don't know yet when it will appear." Billy's occasional partner, Katie the Cat, does not appear in this story.
"I'm trying to finish it as fast as I can," Nigel reveals, "but these strips take me ages!"
"I'm also going to be writing and drawing a ten page, sort of 'Elseworlds' version of Billy for the 2008 Beano annual," he continues, "set in Victorian times. This one will feature Katie."
Created by David Sutherland (no relation to Kev), Billy the Cat -- an incredibly agile boy superhero, able to leap superhuman distances -- first appeared in the Beano in 1967 (#1289) and ran in the title until 1974: the current Billy is a teenager with the same agility powers as the original.
General Jumbo, a young boy who possessed large variety of miniature troops and vehicles which he controlled with a wrist device, has an even older pedigree: he first appeared in 1953 (#584) and continued as a character until 1974 in the Beano, later making appearances in Nutty and Buddy.

Web Links
• The Beano: Official Site - www.beano.co.uk
• Nigel Dobbyn's official website at: www.nigeldobbyn.com
• Kev F Sutherland's official web site: Click Here
• Visit International Hero for more information on both characters: www.internationalhero.co.uk

NIGHT WARRIOR COMES TO UMD!
23/5/06: Ground-breaking UK independent publisher Raging Psycho Comics has announced its online comic series Night Warrior is to be released on UMD (Universal Media Disk for the Playstation Portable) in 2007.
Night Warrior, the fortnightly updated web and print-based comic book, follows insomniac and accidental cult hero Jeff Winters' as he slides into conflict with scheming crime lords and twisted psychopaths in a city teaming with disaffected and desperate villains!
The UMD release, a partnership between RPC, Silver Platter and UMD Lab scheduled for first quarter of 2007, will collect the full first season arc of the blistering martial arts action vigilante tale, and see Night Warrior once again breaking new ground becoming the first independent comic book title to be released on this new format.
"In transferring Night Warrior to a new medium, Silver Platter will bring the experience to new heights, with several exciting interactive enhancements to be announced over the coming months," an RPC spokesperson told downthetubes.
"The UMD release will also be packed full of extra issues from the expanded Night Warrior: Chronicles universe, including exclusive issues and features."
RPC is also launching a specially enhanced website to take advantage of the web capabilities and cross compatibility of the Playstation Portable and UMD format.
Brighton-based Raging Psycho Comics was founded in 2004 Phil Hobden and Ross Boyask, the producer-director team behind UK action feature film Left For Dead and genre feature film production company Modern Life?.
• Night Warrior official site: www.nw-comic.co.uk
• For more on Silver Platter check out their official site at www.umdlab.com

COMICS EXPO ARTWORK CHARITY AUCTION LAUNCHED
23/5/06: An E-bay auction for original art used on the cover of this year's Bristol Comics Expo has just begun, with proceeds going to charity.
The superb original pencil on 17" x 11.5" Bristol Board features artwork by the amazing Supergirl artist, Ian Churchill. It was used as the cover for the 2006 Comics Expo Con Book and recreates the cover to DC Comics' Action Comics #335.
The proceeds from the auction will be donated to the charity set up in memory of seventeen year-old Sam Loeb, son of comic book writer Jeph Loeb, who died last year after a three-year battle with cancer.
The Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund was set up in September 2005. It awards one student, a graduating Senior, each year who attended Sam's High School, North Hollywood High Gifted Magnet Program. The student best exemplifies Sam's qualities both as a student and as a person -- in other words, brilliant with a sense of humour.
• Note: the auction closes on 29 May 2006

MORE COMMANDO FROM CARLTON
23/5/06, updated 27/6/06: Carlton Books are following up their recent DC Thomson collections of Commando: The Dirty Dozen: The Best 12 "Commando" Books of All Time and The Best of Jackie Magazine with two new collections to be published in October 2006: Commando: True Brit -- described as a collection of Commando's toughest ever Second World War stories -- and Best of Girl.
For a teenage girl growing up in 1950s' Britain, Girl was essential reading, created by the publishers of Eagle. Each week there'd be another gripping instalment of Susan of St Brides: Nurse of the Year; advice column 'Mother Tells You How' would provide wise words on how to care for goldfish; 'Concerning You' would reveal how to choose spectacles that suit your face and the Girl picture gallery of lovely paintings to cut out and keep would feature pin-ups of the day such as Humphrey Littleton, Princess Margaret and various garden birds. The Best of Girl is a fascinating window on this hilariously wholesome bygone age of fine upstanding virtue for those too young to remember it, and a completely compulsive nostalgia trip for those who aren't.

COOPER RETURNS TO COMICS
22/5/06: Legendary artist John Cooper has drawn a new strip for 2000AD, which starts in June. "Cold Spots is a kind of horror story about a bunch of explorers in the Arctic wastes," Cooper, perhaps best known for his work on Battle's Johnny Red, told downthetubes. The artist refused to reveal more about the story. "I'll not spoil it for you," he said firmly. "I hope you enjoy it. I really enjoyed doing it."
There is one 2000AD character John, now better known for his paintings and three frame strips for outlets as diverse as Channel 4 News and The Independent on Sunday, would like to draw again, given chance. "I've asked for a "Dredd", but i'm still waiting in hope," he reveals. John drew Judge Dredd way back in Issue 515, for a one episode story, The Shooting Party.
Web Links: 2000AD official web site: www.2000adonline.com

RAINBOW RISING
28/3/06: I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Rainbow Orchid creator Garen Ewing for Comic World News, which has just been posted on that brilliant general comics news site as my latest "Comics and Crumpets" column. Click here for the interview.

KEITH WATSON ART UP FOR AUCTION
17/5/06 (thanks to Richard Sheaf): A 1966 Dan Dare spread from the original Eagle by the wonderful Keith Watson is just one lot in the latest Compal auction catalogue, now available to view at www.compalcomics.com/catalogue. This latest auction from the long-established auction house includes Eagle, TV21 and many other British comic lots, including many pieces of art by Dudley Watkins (artist on The Broons, The Dandy's Desperate Dan and other strips for DC Thomson).

ELEPHANTMEN!
18/5/06: Former Marvel UK editor Richard Starkings, now an international comics publisher (he's the owner Active Images and lettering company Comicraft), has just released a brilliant animated trailer for his new comic, Elephantmen, due to be published by Image in July, with art by Moritat and a cover by Ladronn. Check it out on the Elephantmen mini-site: www.hipflask.com/elephantmen.
The comics site Newarama features a 17-page preview of the book, plus an comments from Richard about the project.
“The Hip Flask mini series is very much one story -- a time travel murder mystery -- with a beginning, a middle and (eventually!) an end, just as Watchmen was a self contained story," Starkings told Newsarama." Elephantmen is a series in much the same way that The Fantastic Four or Astro City is a series.”
• Newsarama preview: Click Here

COMIC EXPO 2OO6 REPORT
17/5/06: Despite high attendance -- some 1800 visitors on Saturday alone -- this year's Bristol Comics Expo was a very much a mixed bag, Alan Woollcombe reports. The two-day event took place over two distinct locations - one largish dealer's hall (the British Empire and Commonwealth Hall, near Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station), filled to capacity with stalls. The other venue was a hotel (the Ramada Plaza) with a bar and two lecture halls. Read More...

COMICS EXPO 2006: FANZINE ROUND UP
16/5/06: One of the great things about the Bristol Comics Festival is the chance to grab as many new independent press titles it’s possible to carry home in an overnight bag (and note down the web site addresses of stuff that’s gone “trade paperback” – the wonderful Blink Twice creation Malcolm Magic, for example – to order when you get home). Read a reviews round up...

BLAZING NEWS
16/5/06: British cartoonist Ian Stacey has been in touch, to let me know his strips are now being syndicated by a US firm. Nice one, Ian! Check them out on: newsblaze.com/cartoon/newsblaze/cartoonstrip.html

EAGLE AWARDS: THE WINNERS
16/5/06: This year's Bristol Comics Expo saw announcement of the Eagle Awards at a presentation and dinner held at The Ramada Plaza Hotel, Bristol on Saturday, an event apparently scattershot with invective and recrimination too ridiculous to detail here (but check out other online comics sites for gossip and more invective).
The organisers report well over 2000 voting forms were received via post, email and website counting centres, with the 2006 Eagle Awards taking on an international flavour.
Apart from Britain and the USA, ballots were received from more than 20 countries. Among them were several in Europe as well as Brazil, Turkey, Guatemala, India and Israel.
As in previous years, voting in many categories was very tight with nominees running neck and neck. In some instances, the race for the top spot was only decided by the final few votes cast; in one case there were only 14 votes in it.
Marking the Eagles’ 30th anniversary, the steering committee selected John M Burns to be the recipient of the Eagle Awards 30th Anniversary Award for Outstanding Achievements in British Comics, which as sponsored by Silver Acre Comics.

A complete list of winners follows:

Favourite Colour Comicbook – American
The Ultimates [Marvel Comics]
 
Favourite Colour Comicbook – British
Judge Dredd Megazine [Rebellion]
 
Favourite Black & White Comicbook – American
The Walking Dead [Image Comics]
 
Favourite Black & White Comicbook – British
Springheeled Jack [Black Boar Press: www.blackboar.co.uk]
 
Favourite New Comicbook
All Star Superman [DC Comics]

Favourite Comics Writer
Grant Morrison
 
Favourite Comics Writer/Artist
Howard Chaykin
 
Favourite Comics Artist: Pencils
Bryan Hitch
 
Favourite Comics Artist: Inks
Jimmy Palmiotti
 
Favourite Comics Artist: Fully Painted Artwork
Alex Ross
 
Favourite Colourist
Laura Martin

Favourite Letterer
Todd Klein
 
Favourite Comics Editor
Axel Alonso
 
Favourite Publisher
DC Comics

Favourite Manga
Blade of the Immortal [Dark Horse Comics]

Favourite European Comic
Asterix and the Falling Sky [Albert Rene Editions]

Favourite Comics Character
Batman [DC Comics]

Favourite Comics Villain
The Joker [DC Comics]
 
Favourite Comics Story
The Ultimates volume 2 #1-9 [Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary]

Favourite Comics Cover
All Star Superman #1 [Frank Quitely]
 
Favourite Original Graphic Novel
Top Ten: The Forty Niners [Alan Moore & Gene Ha]

Favourite Reprint Compilation
Absolute Watchmen [Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons]
 
Favourite Magazine about Comics
The Comics Journal [Fantagraphics Books]
 
Favourite Comics-Related Book
Eisner/Miller [[Edited by Charles Brownstein & Diana Schutz]
 
Favourite Comics-Based Movie or TV
Batman Begins [Christopher Nolan, director]
 
Favourite Comics-Related Website
Silver Bullet Comic Books

Favourite Web-Based Comic
Supernatural Law [Batton Lash]
 
Roll of Honour
Grant Morrison
 
Eagle Awards 30th Anniversary Award for Oustanding Achievements in British Comics
John M Burns
 
Nominating forms for next year's Eagle Awards will be ready for publication early January. Magazines wishing to run the forms and websites wanting to host links are invited to contact Mike Conroy at: eagleawards@btconnect.com
Introduced in 1976, the Eagles are the comics industry’s longest established awards. Acknowledged as the pre-eminent international prizes, they have been featured on the covers of leading US and UK titles across the last 28 years ranging from Uncanny X-Men and Swamp Thing to MAD and 2000AD.
Unique in the comics industry in that they reflect both the professional and the reader’s choice, the Eagle Awards comprise of two distinct stages: a Nominations Form allows the entire comics community to choose their favourites. The top three nominations then appear on the voting form for the readers and fans to choose from, thus focusing the fans with no wasted votes.

BEAVER AND STEVE GET PUBLISHED
15/5/06: Hmf! I can't believe it! one of my favourite online comic strips, Beaver & Steve, has just been collected (well, 112 strips have, anyway) and no-one told me. But after finding it on sale at this year's Bristol Comics festival (report to follow later), courtesy of Soaring Penguin Ltd., the secret's out!.
I thoriughly recommend this book! Read my full review here...

COMIC SHOWCASE NO MORE
12/5/06: Driven from its premises by changes to the properties around it, London's Comic Showcase is soon to close its doors after 26 years. Owner Paul Hudson has been a big presence in the UK comics scene and will be much missed. If you're in London, pop in and say goodbye and pick up a last bargain before the shop closes for goodin mid-June.
Comic Showcase joins a continuing number of comic shop closures in the UK, many forced to close as rates and rents have risen astronomically in some UK towns.
"Thanks to all our customers, over the years, because it has been you guys that make it all worth while!" says Manager Anthony in an online post. "The reason I spend most of the day with a smile on my face, that and seeing Monkey-Boss, (Paul Hudson), dance!
"Thanks as well to all the recent well wishers, and to Dez Skinn, Rich Johnson, Adrian Brown And Warren Ellis for all the free Publicity. The last five years have been a blast!"

NIGHT WARRIOR STEPS FROM THE SHADOWS
10/5/06: The independent UK comic Night Warrior - www.mod-life.com/nw - a tale of martial arts, vigilantism and revenge – has gained an international team that will be storming the Bristol Comics Expo this coming weekend (13 - 14 May).
Created by Phil Hobden and Ross Boyask, Night Warrior, published by Raging Psycho Comics is as much a project experiment as it is a comic book.
"The aim of the project is two fold," says the company’s promotions producer, Keith Bradshaw.
"One is to establish Raging Psycho Comics as a significant newcomer in the UK comics industry (and lay the platform for direct to print titles) and, secondly to help new writers and artists gain experience and exposure."
With artwork from respected and upcoming artists such as Matt Skilton, Mute Ant, and Charles Reid, and stories written by Tom Waltz (Children Of The Grave), Paul Burke, Fred & Mary Pullin and Chris Regan, the company says Night Warrior is a truly international project with talent from all corners of the globe.
The first ‘season’ for the title boasts almost 20 individual 22-page comic books, based on 8 stories and is set to run for a minimum of 5 seasons. The six part pilot story, 'Deadly Jade' pits Jeff 'Night Warrior' Winters against the criminal underworld of the fictional Metro City, seeing him first encounter the Big Bosses that rule the streets.
Jeff Winters, the reluctant hero of Night Warrior, is an insomniac. He's been that way ever since he saw his sister burn to death in a fire when he was nine. A martial arts instructor by day, he stalks the streets at night, hunting out criminals and dealing quick street justice to any one who breaks the law in the seething, crime ridden city known as Metro.
When a new designer drug is unleashed on the streets, vigilante Jeff Winters, dubbed 'Night Warrior' by the press, has to take on the ruthless Jack Savage with his gang the 'Tiger Claws', and the devious Li Chen as well as fending off interest from intrepid local reporter Kirstin Cooke, Metro PD's finest Jamison & Jenkins, aggressive Hong Kong cop Kano LaRoux and the mysterious strongman nicknamed Lion.
The Night Warrior crew will be taking to the road this year for their first convention, appearing at this year’s Bristol International Comic Expo on 13 – 14 May. There will be a Night Warrior booth, a Q&A panel, a full access website to browse, merchandise, signings and some very cool freebies!  
More exciting is news that Night Warrior's first print title, Flame & Fury, is almost ready. Details are to be officially announced shortly on the website but check out the company blog to see some teaser images (www.mod-life.com/nw/blog/ragingpsychos.html). The comic features stories by Paul Burke and Tom Waltz and some astonishing art from Steve Bentley and Casey Maloney.
"The print issue is a strong testament to Raging Psycho Comic's ambition to move into direct to print titles," says Keith Bradsaw.
With the team promising that Night Warrior is only the beginning, we can't wait to see what comes next!

THE O-MEN RETURN
10/5/06: The uber-cool O Men are back! Creator Martin Eden has launched issue one of season two of The O Men, and collections for all of season one are also now available.
• Check out his website for details: www.comix.org.uk/theomen

DOCTOR WHO IN COMICS INTERNATIONAL
10/5/06: The latest issue of Comics International (#196) is on sale now, bringing together the founder of Doctor Who Weekly (Dez Skinn) and former editor of Doctor Who Magazine (John Freeman) for a special overview of Doctor Who in the comics.
From 1964's TV Comic featuring William Hartnell, the feature charts through all the UK & US comics and graphic novels produced up to the latest two additions, Doctor Who Adventures and Battles in Time. With a handy sidebar checklists for completists and quotes from artists, writers and editors, it's the definitive overview of the Doctor's many lives in comics.
• Can't find a copy? Order via Paypal direct from the publisher: www.qual-com.co.uk

COMICS SPUR READING
10/5/06 (with thanks to Jeremy Briggs): The Yorkshire Post has just published an interesting piece by George Edwards noting that children once grew up with comics where the words were stronger than pictures and, noting the success of DC Thomson's titles for many years, argues their main characters could still hook a new generation in primary schools into reading.
The feature includes a mention for top Commando fan Vic Whittle whose fan site, britishcomics.20m.com, which has the blessing of DC Thomson, details many of the titles created by the company, and features a limited number of samples of stories from titles such as Rover, Victor and others. Its best feature is its detailed guide ot Commando itself. The article reports that Vic, 62, a retired electrician, is housebound by ill-health andstarted teaching himself web technology five years ago. His website now gets several hundred visitors a day, plus suggestions and contributions, from all over the old Commonwealth.
• Read the Yorkshire Post article online

SPRING CLEANING ON DOWNTHETUBES
10/5/06: I've re-jigged some parts of the downthetubes site, partly due to the requirement to remove specdifically-branded Eagle Flies Again pages. If you've got links to some pages in your bookmarks you may find the links have changed. Sorry about that, but the search engine or site map should help you find them again fairly quickly.
The last issue of Eagle Flies Again is still in production due to a hectic workload.

JUST ONE PAGE RELEASED
8/5/06: The final Just One Page magazine will be launched at the Comics Expo in Bristol this coming weekend.
Inspired by the upcoming football World Cup in Germany, contributions have come from all over the globe: some have embraced the football theme completely, (Wayne Rooney confronted by a Predator for example!) and two dozen contributions from Brazil.
"Others took it off on a tangent with Batman arguing with Judge Dredd over the meaning of football or the X-Men as a bar football team," says editor Ade Brown via the charity title's official web site. "Of course, Brazilian star, Ronaldinho has recently joined the ranks of comics characters in his home country and there's a Shaolin Soccer manga."
"While I'm about as big a fan of football as I am of underwater haggis hurling, I found Ade's theme for the fourth issue was inspired," says Comics International's Dez Skinn, who has helped get the magazine to press, "as it resulted in an incredible quality of contributions."
• Just One Page #4 costs £3.50 for the 56-page colour-packed extratravaganza, with all the art available for sale. All profits go to UK charity Childline. through the title's website: members.aol.com/just1page/J1P4.htm

NEW MERCHANDISE FROM DOWNTHETUBES
4/5/06: We're delighted to announce the addition of new t-shirts, postcards and other products featuring the work of 2000AD and Interzone artist SMS to our downthetubes store on cafepress.
The first designs feature some stunning space women by the artist, with his full permission and input, joining a number of Really Heavy Greatcoat designs on the site.
Although cafepress is US-based I've found their service esxc ellent -- I'm currently ordering the Babylon 5 script books via the site and they arrive very quickly.
Web LinK: www.cafepress.com/downthetubes

BULLDOG BITES AGAIN
3/5/06: The second issue of Bulldog: Empire, written by Jason Cobley and fully illustrated by Neill Cameron, is now available to buy from www.planetdumbass.co.uk/bulldog.
The second issue contains the complete 48-page conclusion to the Bulldog: Empire saga, wrapped up in a full colour cover. "This is a strictly limited edition for true Bulldog afficionados," says Neill. "Only 150 copies are being printed, individually signed and numbered, before the entire story is released in collected format by a major publisher at the end of the year."
Bulldog: Empire issue 2 costs £3.95 + 50p p&p. Order from the website, or by paypal to neillcameron@hotmail.com, or by cheque / PO to: Neill Cameron, 44 Coverley Road, Headington, Oxford OX3 7EX
Web Link: www.planetdumbass.co.uk

HERO KILLERS ARRIVE
3/5/06: Moonface Press (who you may remember as the publisher of the Devilchild graphic novels) have a brand spanking new website at moonfacepress.com. There are previews to download of many of our comics, plus a shop and news of the publisher's new One-Shot Club imprint which is launching officially at the Bristol Comics Festival.
The first title is a US format book called Hero Killers, which satirises and celebrates grim and gritty superhero tale as a team of meta-human assassins are offered a king's ransom to take down the USA's number one superhero, Bronze Eagle!
We're told the story, written by Andy Winter and drawn by Declan Shalvey, boasts an ending that will either chill you to the bone... or make you laugh like an idiot.
The Moonface Press One-Shot Club will also be publishing a series of standalone titles. "The idea is to have a line of books -- similar to what Warren Ellis is doing with his Apparat titles -- that offer the reader a complete story with no cliffhangers or continuing characters," Andy Winter told downthetubes.
"Hero Killers is the first of these with others set to follow later in the year and into 2007."
Web Link: www.moonfacepress.com

HOOKJAW STRIKES IN OCTOBER
3/5/06: Spitfire Comics have announced their first volume of Hookjaw stories, colecting adventures featuring the infamous shark from the often controversial 1970s comic, Action!, is scheduled for an October 2006 release.
Web Link: www.spitfirecomics.co.uk

GO TECHNODELIC!
3/5/06: The latest Upload to the brilliant Gerry Anderson: Complete Comic History web site is now live, with another superb cover by Daryl Joyce, plus continuations of regular guides to strip adaptations of Anderson's shows, plus an interview with TV21 writer/editor Howard Elson. There's also a feature on the launch of Lady Penelope (which was, apparently, handled much better than the launch of TV21) and Part 1 of a Corgi Model Club checklist, compiled by Kim Stevens.
Web Link: www.technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

LATEST EAGLE TIMES RELEASED
3/5/06: The new issue of Eagle Times is now available which features, among other things, an eight-page illustrated article on (new and original) Eagle artist José Ortiz -- a very illuminating piece on this incredibly versatile and prolific artist.
The magazine is as usual A4 sized, full colour cover and 18 pages in colour inside. An annual subscription costs £18 (overseas members £22 for surface mail or £26 by airmail) for four journals of 50+ pages. Further info: Contact Keith Howard, 25a Station Road, Harrow Middlesex, HA1 2UA. Please include a s.a.e. with any query.