Review: COMIC SCENE UK Issue:0

It's been several years since the UK had a magazine about British comics. The last one was Crikey! which ended in 2010. Now, Tony Foster has produced a brand new publication; Comic Scene UK, which launched at the Edinburgh Comic Con last weekend.

This is issue zero, with the actual first issue coming out in August. Tony's done a good job here, assembling a group of contributors that include fans and seasoned professionals such as Pat Mills, John Wagner, and John Freeman. This 64 page debut issue features articles that include news on upcoming comics, reflections on comics long gone, and commentary on the industry. 

I would have liked to have seen an in-depth interview or two with comic creators on their careers to date. We don't really get that, but there are quotes and comments from creators about specific subjects. One highlight for me being reflections by Chris Lowder and Steve MacManus on their time at IPC during the Valiant and Lion merger. 

There's a handful of strips too. Marc Jackson brings us Whackoman! while Tom J. Farmer, Jose Rodriguez Mota and Valentina Muzzo present us with Captain Scotland, and Jim Wilkins does Deja Who?

Most of the features only run to two pages, so there's a lot to read in the magazine's 64 full colour glossy pages on a variety of comics. I'd have liked to have seen some coverage of the first half of comics history from the 19th Century to the 1950s but there's always room for that in future issues. Obviously it needs to focus on what people want to see, and in my experience, most fans mainly prefer comics from their own nostalgia, rather than those of the early 20th Century. 

It's an impressive start, and I wish Comic Scene UK every success for the future. I hope readers will give it their support. 

You can subscribe to Comic Scene UK at their website here:
https://comicscene.org