Preview: THE BEATLES STORY

New from Rebellion's Treasury of British Comics imprint comes The Beatles Story, reprinting the serial written by Angus Allan and illustrated by Arthur Ranson that ran in Look-In during 1981 and 1982.

Although Look-In is not one of the comics that Rebellion now own, The Beatles Story is unique in that Angus Allan and Arthur Ranson own the rights to the strip.

Sure to be a hit with fans of the Fab Four, The Beatles Story is an affectionate photo-realistic take on the saga of what many of us consider to be the greatest band in music history. 

• CREATIVE TEAM: Angus Allan (w) Arthur Ranson (a)
• REGIONS: UK, worldwide digital
• RELEASE DATE: 22nd February 2018
• HARDCOVER, 57 pages
• PRICE: £12.99 (UK) $17.99 (US)
• ISBN: 9781781086179
• DIAMOND: DEC171748

The very first graphic novel to chart the creation, evolution and breakup of the fab four, first published in 1981. The Beatles Story is an exceptionally drawn account of the band from one of the UK's leading artists of his generation, Arthur Ranson (Judge Dredd, Button Man). It includes fascinating insights into Paul McCartney and John Lennon's first encounter, their early gigs in Hamburg's Kaiser Keller, through to the recording of the legendary Abbey Road album and the band's break-up. First published in the pages of legendary UK youth magazine Look In, this beautifully illustrated account is a treat for both the devoted Beatles admirer and new fans alike.

Available in print from: book stores, Amazon, and comic book stores via Diamond

Available in digital from: 2000 AD webshop, 2000 AD iPad app, 2000 AD Android app, 2000 AD Windows 10 app

Available to pre-order now from the Treasury of British Comics shop:

https://treasuryofbritishcomics.com

Christmas comics: LOOK-IN (1978)

I've shown some pages from TV Comic recently, so here's a few from its rival, Look-In. Launched in 1971, Look-In was an immediate success and its content of pop culture features and strips was a template that many children's mags still use today. 

This 1978 Christmas edition of "The junior TV Times" as it called itself kicks off with a cover by Arthur Ranson showing a mixture of the festive TV highlights scheduled for that year. 

Inside, the contents were not actually that festive, but it's still worth showing some examples here. First off, a Christmas Benny Hill strip by Bill Titcombe...

Next, a non-festive but very dynamic Six Million Dollar Man strip drawn by Martin Asbury...

I can't pass up the opportunity to show pages from my favourite artist of adventure strips. It's the Famous Five, illustrated by Mike Noble...

Look-In was notable for its four-page pop-star pull-out, and this edition featured a stunning Kate Bush poster...

Although cringeworthy today, Mind Your Language was a sitcom about a classroom of racial stereotypes learning English. The comic strip version was drawn by Bill Titcombe who captured the actors' likenesses perfectly...

As it was "The Junior TV Times", Look-In was solely focused on ITV shows (and was even published by ITV back then) as this was before the TV guides included all channels. So, Look-In's three page feature on Christmas TV highlights only covered ITV, but it still gives you a good idea of what we were watching back then...

There'll be another festive comic tomorrow! Stay tuned!