ADDITIONAL NEWS LINKS

News Stories welcome!

downthetubes.net News Archive: 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.