ARCHIVED NEWS - OCTOBER 2007
THE EAGLE ANNUAL RETURNS
26/10/07: Just released by Orion Books is The
Eagle Annual: The Best of the 1950s Comic, edited by Daniel Tartarsky.
Priced
at £12.99 the hardback book draws on the vast Eagle archive
and features strips as well as individual drawings/artwork, original advertisements
and a present-day narrative.
The book includes an afterword by Eagle's current
owner Colin Frewin.
Daniel Tatarsky was also the author of Flick
to Kick: The Illustrated History of Subbuteo.
A HERO FOR LEICESTER!
25/10/07: Metropolis has Superman. Gotham has Batman. New York has Spiderman. Leicester needs a superhero and Leicester Libraries want you to create them!
As part of Blam!, its season celebrating manga and graphic novels, Leicester Libraries is inviting budding comic book artists and writers to create a short comic strip introducing a new superhero for Leicester. What powers would a Leicester superhero have? Do they need the protection of a secret identity? Do they fight crime, or maybe they are a supervillain! Let your imagination run wild!
You can use any style and techniques you want to create your comic, but your final entry must be no more than four A4 pages in size. The best entries will be judged by a panel of comics industry professionals.
Rules
• All entries must be a maximum of four pages, size A4, printed on one side
of the paper only.
• Enclose an stamped SAE so we can contact you easily.
• DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL MATERIAL. Send us a good quality photocopy or print.
• Closing date: 11th January 2008
If you're looking for inspiration, we can tell you Leicester has a population
of over 285,000, is the largest city in the East Midlands
and the tenth largest in the country and one of the oldest cities
in England. It was the capital of the local Celtic tribe, the Coriletavi and
its importance was recognised by the Romans and later by the Danes, who used
it as a strategic stronghold to control the Midlands. Since then it has developed
into a major commercial and manufacturing centre, known better for the diversity
of its trade than for its dependence on a single industry.
Judges for the competition are to be confirmed
but the the winning entry will be published on the Leicester Libraries
website and the author will win a selection of graphic novels.
Send your entries to Damien Walter, Literature Development Officer, New
Walk Centre, Welford Place LE1 6ZG.
• Leicester's upcoming graphic novel events include appearances by top
artist Bryan Talbot, 2000AD editor Matt Smtih and downthetubes John Freeman. Latest
details on our events page.
CORPORATIONS CHALLENGED ON IRAQ IN NEW COMIC
20/10/07: Boychild Books, publishers of titles such as Beautiful Things and The
Japanese Drawing Room, have teamed up with activist
UK charity War
on Want to make the
documentary comic book Iraq: Operation Corporate
Takeover.
War on Want have been involved in fighting poverty and injustice since 1951.
Operation Corporate Takeover is set in present day
Iraq and is a classic example of how corporations are reaping profit from conflict.
Amid the daily violence suffered by Iraqis, oil companies and the US and UK governments
are taking advantage of the country’s weakness to secure long-term control over Iraq’s enormous oil
reserves. In addition Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) are
making a killing in Iraq, while remaining unaccountable for countless human
rights abuses and deaths by mercenary soldiers. The comic paints the picture
of one young Iraqi man’s efforts to understand and cope with this new reality – and
do something about it!
The book will be launched on 6 November 6 2007 at 7.00pm in the London ICA event
COMICA. 'Iraq:
The Graphic War, Today & In 2011' will feature the Iraq:
Operation Corporate Takeover by Sean Michael Wilson
and Lee O'Connor alongside New Yorkers Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman project Shooting
War,
which is about the war's technology, media coverage and paranoia set in the year
2011, a collection due for release from Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 8 November.
The book will will available via Diamond Distributors December Previews catalogue,
and via the War on Want and Boychild Books web sites, Amazon etc.
Web Links:
• Boychild Books: www.boychildproductions.co.uk
• War on Want: www.waronwant.org
ELEVENTH
HOURS #2 RELEASED
17/10/07: UK indie Orang Utan Comics have just published the second issue of their anthology title Eleventh
Hour, with attendees at the Birmingham International
Comic Show getting the first look at the title.
Issue 2 features three stand alone tales and a preview of upcoming series
Project Raven.
It also features two new OUC artists Simon Wyatt, soon to be seen on Slam
Ridley, and
Scott Larson who is the new artist on Heretic.
Stories are "Eye of the Storm" (by Rogers/Akberali), "Danick
and the Dragon" (Sharman/Wyatt), "Abattoir" (Rogers/Nobre) and the preview
of "Project
Raven" (Donovan/Larson).
Orang Utan Comics is a group of likeminded up and coming
comic creators from around the world,
working together to complete our projects and get them published. They
have a number of creator owned projects in development in addition to Eleventh
Hour.
For more information or to order visit: orangutancomics.co.uk
RAGAMUFFINS: STITCHES IN TIME
12/10/07: The first title from Timebomb
Comics - Ragamuffins: Stitches in Time
- launched at the Birmingham International Comics Show. A self-contained
one-shot, the indie comic is written by Steve Tanner and drawn
by Andy Dodd.
Check out the official Timebomb
Comics comicspace page for further
details of this time-bending title.
Timebomb Comics is a British comics company based in Leicester, England, formed
in September 2007 and showcasing the work of talented creators currently working
outside the mainstream comics industry.
"Timebomb Comics is about one simple
thing," says publisher Steve Tanner. "Telling great stories.
"We want to tell
stories that can be fun, frightening, entertaining or thought-provoking without
using cheap tricks to entice you in. No false promises, no variants, no late
shipping, no outrageous hype, in fact none of the stuff we all hate about
modern comics.
"We'll offer just one thing - good solid comic book entertainment."
NEW
ROBIN HOOD ADVENTURES COMIC LAUNCHES
12/10/07: BBC Magazines have just launched issue one
of Robin
Hood Adventures, a 36-page glossy fortnightly
based on the current tv version of the character costing £1.99 an
issue . It's in the same format as the Doctor
Who Adventures, but has less comic strip content.
Writer-artist Lew Stringer's has reviewed the first issue on his blog,
but is critical of the limited amount of comics in the title and its content.
"As with most children's titles these days, Robin
Hood Adventures comes bagged with a bunch of free gifts,
he reports. "In this case; postcards, stickers, and a Robin Hood "Activity
CD-Rom". The gifts are clearly the selling point here, as the magazine could
hardly be seen inside the sealed plastic bag because of the freebies and promotional
blurbs.
"The magazine itself is nothing special," he feels. yearning for a
time when childrens comics were more intelligently written and not "dumbed
down'.
"The now standard mixture of 'educational' features with snappy captions,
puzzle pages, and simple stories all featuring a 'busy' layout (ie: logos slapped
all over the place). The only comic strip, a two pager by Craig Donaghy and Paul
Cemmick, is bizarrely a humour strip. Although the BBC's Robin
Hood isn't as dark as [ITV's 1970s series] Robin
of Sherwood was, it seems strange that its comic strip
version is so lighthearted."
• Read
the rest of Lew's review on "Blimey! it's another blog about comics!"
FOR VALOUR WEB COMIC SEEKS CREATORS
4/10/07: The team behind the Supewrhero Mediastore
have launched an appeal for creators to work on their new
project, the For
Valour webcomic, aimed at reviving and re-inventing
characters from classic British comics.
The plan is for old and new readers to be able to thrill to completely
new characters such as the Steel Hand, Union Jack Johnson, the Panther
from Pimlico, the Chipites from Oz or Spacehawk -- and laugh at the
likes of the Dumbskulls, 'elpful Hole, Sam's Snake,Moaning Lisa or
So Scared Sidney. (No parodies intended, they say!)
Anyone interested should visit http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/forvalour/ for
more information.
