UK comics in newsagents this week...

Some of the comics that will arrive in newsagents this week include 2000AD Prog 1965, The Beano No.3819, The Phoenix No.213, Incredible Hulks No.24, Avengers Universe No.22, Astonishing Spider-Man No.28, Doctor Who Comic No.5, and four issues of Commando (Nos.4883 - 86). No doubt I'll be receiving more info on those Commando comics soon from DC Thomson but for the moment here's a few cover previews of some of the other comics for this week. 

Don't forget that there's also a world of indie comics out there, including the digital comic Aces Weekly every Monday. Some may yearn for the style of comics of the past but British comics have never been so diverse in their range and styles. Support UK comics!
http://www.acesweekly.co.uk/

New Adventures for the Doctor

As reported here a few weeks ago, Panini UK now have the licence to publish Doctor Who Adventures, a magazine previously published by Immediate Media Ltd. Panini's new version launched today with a new first issue.

Doctor Who Adventures is pitched at a younger target reader than Panini's long-running Doctor Who Magazine. The contents of DWA had previously been very lightweight, mostly featuring puzzle pages and pin-ups, and, frankly, quite a breezy read. Panini's revamp, edited by Jason Quinn, retains a few puzzle pages and pin-ups but offers the readers better value for money with more story pages and interesting features. 

Previously, DWA had just featured a 4 page Doctor Who strip. The revamp increases it to a 9 page strip plus a three page text story. For a kids magazine to include 12 pages of fiction these days is quite impressive. The articles also offer a bit more to read than before, and there's a good science feature on how to make a battery out of lemons and coins. Don't get me wrong; DWA is still not as sophisticated as Countdown was, but it's a welcome step in the right direction away from magazines that dumb down (or 'young up' as one editor called it). 

Good quality free gifts too, with plastic framed 3-D glasses, a note pad, and plenty of stickers. 

A few days ago, John Freeman's Down the Tubes website featured an interview with DWA editor/writer Jason Quinn and you can read that here:
http://downthetubes.net/?p=21447

Doctor Who Adventures No.1, 36 pages, out now, £3.99.

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Also from Panini UK today, The Incredible Hulks No.14 is a good 'jumping on point' with the start of a new Hulk saga and the return of the She-Hulk in a new series. 

And what may interest long-time readers is that the back up strip is a reprint of X-Men No.66 from 1970. The story will be serialized across three issues in seven page episodes, just like Fantastic used to do back in 1968. Good to see some classic material again. 

The Incredible Hulks No.14, 76 pages, £3.50.

(Yes, it's not a typo. The comic is indeed using the plural Hulks, - because it features more than one Hulk. Yeah, irritating I know, as it's the character's name. It's as daft as if they had a comic called Thors. Well, I'm afraid Marvel in America are doing just that with Thors No.1 out soon! With more than one Cap around now can Captain Americas be far behind?) 

Herb Trimpe R.I.P.

I'm very sorry to hear of the passing of artist Herb Trimpe at the age of 75. He was known in the comics industry for many strips including his long run on The Incredible Hulk from 1969 to 1975 and the original artist on Marvel UK's Captain Britain in 1976.

The first work of Herb Trimpe's I noticed was on Incredible Hulk No.115 in May 1969. A striking cover and interior art that grabbed my attention on the shelf of my corner shop and which I eagerly bought for a shilling (5p). 

I've admired his work ever since. It was the beginning of a great era for the Hulk and it became my favourite American comic at the time. 

Many of those strips were of course reprinted in the British weekly The Mighty World of Marvel. 

He drew other strips as well of course, putting his love of aircraft to use by drawing The Phantom Eagle one-off in Marvel Super-heroes, the early issues of Captain Britain, various Western comics, and a long stint on Marvel's Godzilla comic in the 1980s, to name but a few. In recent years he wrote and drew a new strip for digital comic Aces Weekly.

A book on the artist's work, The Incredible Herb Trimpe, was already scheduled to be published soon by Twomorrows: 
http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1196

From the Twomorrows website.

My sincere condolences to Mr.Trimpe's family and friends.

Interview with Herb Trimpe:
http://www.sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=1593 

More information:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/04/14/herb-trimpe-passes-away-aged-75/

All images on this post (except the Twomorrows book cover) are from my personal collection.

This week in 1966: HULK SMASH!

It was 48 years ago today when Odhams Press Ltd. began their association with Marvel Comics by publishing reprints of The Incredible Hulk in the pages of Smash!

Yes, I know some sources claim that reprints of The Fantastic Four began in Wham! first, but that's not true. (Trust me. I have the comics. The FF came to Wham! a little later.) It was the issue shown here, Smash! No.16, dated 21st May 1966, that was the first Odhams weekly to feature a Marvel reprint.

Curiously, they started by reprinting Incredible Hulk No.2 rather than the first issue, but what a great choice! The opening image of the Hulk emerging from the swamp (by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko) was a perfect and powerful way to introduce the character to British readers. (Parts of Hulk No.1 were reprinted in following weeks, and the origin chapter in Fantastic in 1968.)

The original Incredible Hulk comics (and his following appearances in Tales to Astonish) had been available in some UK newsagents but distribution was unreliable. The reprints in Smash! were the ideal way to showcase a consecutive run of Hulk stories and, for many of us, were our first discovery of the character.

Due to the page size of British comics being considerably bigger than American comics, panels from the Hulk stories were arranged to fit more onto each page. This first appearance of the Hulk ran to six pages in Smash!, - roughly 11 pages of the American comic. 

The editorial in the letters section gave The Hulk a shout out, and encouraged readers to hold on to this issue...

What else was in this landmark issue? Well, some excellent new British material, that's what! Let's have a look at a few highlights, starting with the brilliant Man from B.U.N.G.L.E. cover by Brian Lewis at the top of this post.

On pages 2 and 3 was the second chapter of a strip that had begun the previous week, - The Rubberman! Story by Ken Mennell with art by Alfredo Marculeta...

Ken Reid's Queen of the Seas is always worth showing here...

This next offering is The Legend Testers, although it had dropped its regular title that week to be called The Feast of the Trolls. And as I found out, you should never feed a troll. Excellent horror comic art by Jordi Bernet...

On the back page of this 28 page issue, Grimly Feendish. Artwork by Ron Spencer I think, or perhaps Mike Lacey. Someone ghosting Leo Baxendale's style anyway (but it's definitely not by Leo). 

These early issues of Smash! were some of the most entertaining comics of the sixties. Humour, horror, superheroes... it had the lot! I remember having a few issues of The Hornet and Victor around that time and thinking how mundane and ordinary it seemed in comparison. Admittedly, Smash! didn't sell as well as many of its rivals, but the more formalised comics have often been the most successful. Smash! had its own identity, as did its stablemates Wham! and Pow!, and they captured the mood of the times better than most other comics. Comics such as Valiant and Hotspur were better structured and slicker, but Smash! was cooler.

The Day Batman Was Too Late

Art by Jack Kirby

I see that IDW have just published a collection of Batman Sunday newspaper strips from the sixties. (Batman: The Silver Age Newspaper Comics Vol.1: 1966 - 67). These were the same strips that UK comic Smash! reprinted every week on its cover back in 1966. 

However, there was one week when the copies of the strips were too late in arriving from the USA, so Smash! featured the Hulk on the cover instead. (See above. Smash! No.34, dated 24th September 1966.) Page two explained the reason...

The Incredible Hulk was a regular reprint series in the pages of Smash! anyway, so promoting him on the cover, albeit as a last-minute fill in, was a good way for the editors to turn a problem to their advantage. That iconic image of the Hulk originally appeared as half of the cover to Tales to Astonish No.67 (1965) and a small version was later used regularly in the corner box of Astonish, and its successor The Incredible Hulk every month for a few years.

By the way, that same issue of Smash! was the one which featured the infamous goof by an Odhams art bodger. Extending panels for a reprint of Avengers No.2 to fit Smash's different page layout, he obviously didn't know the panel below was a close up of Iron Man's eye and he added an extra pupil!

While I'm at it, I can't let the moment pass without showing the back cover to that issue, featuring an episode of Ken Reid's Queen of the Seas. It's Ken at the top of his game, despite the muddy printing on the cheap newsprint.

The following week, the cover of Smash! was back to its regular look, with the delayed Batman strip in its usual place.  

If you're interested in buying the collection of Batman strips you can order it through Amazon by clicking here.

By the way, I'm sure you already know (but there's always someone who says the images are too small), - click on the images to see them much larger and to read them better. 

Here come the HULKS!

When Panini UK reluctantly had to close Fantastic Four Adventures last month due to falling sales another title was needed to take its place on the schedule. And who better than The Incredible Hulk, who will be one of the stars of the Avengers Assemble movie in a few weeks? 

The Incredible Hulks No.1 is out now from WH Smith and other newsagents, with a titanic 100 page premiere issue for the usual price of £2.95. Yes, that's "Hulks" plural, for this comic reprints the recent American editions where ol' greenskin had a whole team of Hulks.

Personally I think the Hulk works better as a loner and I feel the addition of multi-hulks only dilutes the concept of him as one against the world. On the other hand, it's good to see new twists on the old concept. The Hulk has been around for 50 years now and "team Hulk" is just the latest spin on keeping the character fresh. I hope the title changes to Incredible Hulk (singular) soon though. "Hulks" just sounds daft. 


This issue reprints stories from the American edition of The Incredible Hulks Nos.612 to 614. Next issue, the comic adds the Red Hulk with stories reprinted from Hulk. 


The Hulk was the first Marvel character I saw, back when Odhams began reprinting his saga in Smash! in 1966 (see here for details). I've read it on and off ever since, so it's good to see him back in his own British title. If you haven't kept up with the character for a while this is an interesting jumping on point. 

Forward to 2012!

Rather than my usual flashback to a bygone New Year comic I thought this year I'd look into the crystal ball to highlight a few of the comics we can expect to see in 2012.

Next Saturday, January 7th, sees the launch of The Phoenix, the brand new weekly comic for children. Judging by the free Issue Zero that was released recently (and is now out of stock) this is going to be an impressive collection of some of the finest UK talent available. https://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/

The third issue of Strip Magazine is due later in January, with a new series, The Devil's Heritage, starting in that issue. There'll also be the continuing adventure strips Age of Heroes, Hook Jaw, a look back to the fondly remembered Star Lord comic, and much more. http://stripcomicmagazineuk.blogspot.com/


Hardware is another brand new British comic anthology scheduled for 2012. More details on this exciting new venture over the coming months!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hardware/275349482490630

Tim Perkins' eagerly awaited Worlds End graphic novel has recently been printed and should be available soon. A review of the book will appear on my blog shortly. http://www.wizards-keep.com/


Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons have revealed the title of their collaboration, - The Secret Service. Coming in February from comic specialist shops!
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34999


CLiNT comic continues into 2012, defying the cynics and proving its worth. Here's the cover to issue 14, out in February. http://titanmagazines.com/t/clint/


Panini UK will soon be ending their Fantastic Four Adventures comic with issue No.28 but March sees the launch of The Incredible Hulks No.1 (yes, for better or worse there's a team of Hulks now). The 100 page debut issue will be on sale in newsagents for £2.95. Issue 1 reprints the American issues #612 to 614.


Bryan Talbot's new graphic novel Dotter of her Father's Eyes, written by Bryan's wife Mary Talbot, will be published soon from Jonathan Cape in the UK and Dark Horse in the USA. (Bryan showed me a preview of this and it's a stunning piece of work. Definitely one to look forward to.) Bryan is also working on his third Grandville graphic novel. Another must-buy. http://www.bryan-talbot.com/


Another graphic novel to look forward to next year is the new The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen title Century:2009. The latest book in the saga by comic gods Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.


Hairy Steve should be bounding your way soon, courtesy of Jamie Smart and Steve Bright. The titanic twosome have been uploading pages as they're completed but personally I'm waiting until the comic is published to appreciate it in one sitting.
http://hairysteve.com/


Classical Comics will be continuing to expand their range of excellent graphic novels in 2012 with adaptations of Sweeny Todd, An Inspector Calls, The Importance of Being Earnest and perhaps more. http://www.classicalcomics.com/index.html


2012 is also the year of three comic anniversaries. 2000AD celebrates 35 years of publication in February, Toxic reaches 10 years in September, and The Dandy notches up a record-breaking 75 years next December. Expect some celebratory treats throughout the year including the return of some classic favourites in The Dandy Annual on sale in the second half of the year.

...and if I ever find enough spare time, I intend to collect the Brickman pages I did for Elephantmen comic into a one-off Brickman Returns full colour comic I'll publish myself. Here's a taster, but as yet I've no idea when the comic will be published. Hopefully before next Christmas!

These are just a few of the comics coming your way in 2012 and there'll be many other surprises as the year unfolds. No doubt that it'll be another mixed year of stumbles and triumphs (as is everyone's year) but the important thing is that the British comics industry is far from dead. Let's hope it's a very Happy New Year for creators and readers alike as we forge ahead into 2012!