Panini UK launch BEN 10 Magazine

Panini UK have just launched the first issue of a new Ben 10 Magazine, based on the popular Cartoon Network show. The 36 page mag, aimed at 4 to 8 year olds, includes a brand new 8 page comic strip drawn by Russ Leach (who was previously the artist on Doctor Who Adventures). Good to see new strip created for the mag instead of reprint.

Here's more info...

Follow the heroic exploits of Ben Tennyson, Grandpa Max and Cousin Gwen in the NEW official magazine. 10-year-old Ben does what any kid his age would do if he possessed the most powerful device in the universe, the Omnitrix – he uses it at every available opportunity!
This extra-special first issue will include a super-awesome free gift, plus the first episode of a BRAND NEW alien-bashing comic strip story. There's also a selection of villainous puzzles and fantastic prizes to be won!
Unleash your inner hero across 36 action-packed pages!


Issue Number: 1

Price: £3.99

Covermounted Gift: FREE blaster!

On sale: Thurs 18th October 2017

To see more of Russ Leach's work, visit his website here:
http://www.russleach.com/index.php

Panini Comics UK website:
http://www.paninicomics.co.uk/web/guest/home

This week's UK comics (Updated)

Another bunch of comics have arrived in newsagents this week. First up is Thunderbirds Are Go No.5 from DC Thomson. Admittedly some people don't consider this a comic as it's mostly photo strips from screen grabs of the episodes. However in that case it's closer to the Italian fumetti, which they consider to be comics so that's good enough for me. I only wish they'd create new stories by using screen grabs from different episodes, as I did for Egmont's CiTV Tellytots magazine years ago.

This month's issue continues its line of free Thunderbirds models and this time it's the new Thunderbird 5 which comes as a little four section kit to clip together. Next month presents a free Thunderbird S model, which I'm sure will be very collectable. 

Also from DC Thomson of course is the latest Beano, No.3820, with 36 pages packed with all-new fun from top creators such as Nigel Parkinson, Laura Howell, Hunt Emerson, Paul Palmer, David Sutherland, and many more. 

2000AD Prog 1966 continues its line up of strips that began in the Christmas issue. A striking cover by Neil Roberts this week. There's some fantastic work on view in this comic these days proving that today's artists can easily hold their own against the veteran greats of the past. Richard Elson's artwork on Kingdom continues to impress me more every week.

Doctor Who Magazine No.496 should please fans of brilliant cartoonist Roger Langridge as it contains a new 12 page strip, Theatre of the Mind, written and drawn by him. (There's also my regular Daft Dimension strip in there too.) 

There's also a new issue of Doctor Who Adventures (No.11) out now, with more brilliant artwork by Russ Leach.

The Phoenix No.214 is also out now. You'll find issues in WH Smith and selected branches of Waitrose and Waterstones. There's some cracking talent in its pages including Jamie Smart, James Turner, and Long Gone Don by the Etherington Brothers.

On the reprint front, there's Marvel Legends No.18 from Panini, The Flash No.5,  Batman Gotham Central No.1, and Batman/Superman No.14 (now monthly) from Titan Comics. 

Also available is the latest volume of the DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection from Eaglemoss. This time it's a nice hardback of JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, originally published in the USA 16 years ago.

The back up in the book is a reprint of The Flash of Two Worlds; the first meeting of The Flash with his Golden Age Earth 2 counterpart from way back in 1961. There's also a few bonus features, making this a very nice collection indeed. I picked up my copy from WH Smith but you'll also find it in Asda and elsewhere. 

All the above are available in newsagents (limited to WH Smith in the case of The Phoenix). However, on sale in comic shops right now is the 4th issue of Johnny Red from Titan Comics. Another splendid issue by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns, with a guest cover by Kev Walker. 

As far as digital comics go, this week's Aces Weekly awaits you in cyberspace. Visit http://www.acesweekly.co.uk and subscribe at only £6.99 for 7 weekly issues!

There may even be more British comics out now but the above are the ones that I bought or that sprang to mind. Most comics are monthly or 4-weekly now of course, which means there'll be several different titles out next week, the week after and so on. And this doesn't even cover any new independent comics and graphic novels that may have been published this month. Are British comics dead? Not on your nellie! 

The Christmas DOCTOR WHO ADVENTURES

Out today is the 9th issue of Panini UK's Doctor Who Adventures, which has a festive touch to several features. Admittedly the bag (above) isn't Christmassy but open it up and the cover of the magazine reveals snow on the logo and more of a seasonal feel.

Inside the mag, there's the regular 9 page Doctor Who comic strip with script by Tommy Donbavand and superb art by the regular illustrator Russ Leach (with John Burns on colours). 

There's also the regular three page text story featuring The Paternoster Gang, written by James Peaty with illustrations by Russ Leach.

Festive features include a retrospective of past Doctor Who Christmas episodes, puzzles, activity pages, and a game...

There's also two free gifts; a Dalek Blaster and a fantastic giant Dalek poster, exclusive to this magazine and illustrated by Paul Collicut.

Doctor Who Adventures is a great comic magazine for younger fans of the show and well worth buying if you have kids or are interested in the current UK comics scene. Panini have really improved on the title since taking it over nine months ago, with editor Jason Quinn adding more strip pages, a text story, and better feature pages. Issue 9 is in the shops now, priced £3.99. 

Mega busy MCM show

I had a good day at the MCM London Comic Con yesterday. A massive show with a huge attendance (rumoured to be 100,000) with visitors of all ages. The great thing about modern conventions is there's a much better balance of male and female attendees these days. Comic and cult media shows are no longer mainly the domain of the male 'geek' and the occasional female fan or bored girlfriend as they were 30 years ago. There are many young women now who are as passionate about comics and sf as their male counterparts, and this applies to the creatives as well as the fans. Whatever changed things (and I suspect it was mainly Manga, Animie, and stronger female characters in comics and sf) it's done the comics community a power of good. 

I spent the day at Panini's Doctor Who tables, doing a few sketches. It was great to see Tom Spilsbury (my editor on Doctor Who Magazine), Scott Gray (Panini editor and writer), and Jason Quinn (writer/editor of Doctor Who Adventures), and to meet Russ Leach (artist, Doctor Who Adventures, see his Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/The-Art-of-Russ-Leach-295669653824411/) and John Ainsworth (editor, Doctor Who The Complete History). A few other Doctor Who folk dropped by too, including artist Rachael Stott, showrunner Steven Moffat, director Rachel Talalay, writer Sarah Dollard, and even 7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy. 

Editors Scott Gray and Tom Spilsbury.

Artist Russ Leach, with editor Jason Quinn looking on.

Next door, in Panini's Marvel booth were editors Brady Webb and Ed Hammond who had brisk trade on the Marvel graphic novels. One thing that occurred to me was where were all the other mainstream UK comics publishers? There were many families in attendance and this would have been the perfect opportunity for D.C. Thomson to promote their new Thunderbirds Are Go comic and the latest Beano and Dandy annuals, or for Egmont to promote Toxic and their other magazines. (Update: D.C. Thomson were at a different event on the same day, so fair enough.)

To infinity and beyond!

One drawback to being at a con is you don't get much exercise sitting behind a table so I took a few breaks to walk around the massive hall and take some shots of other guests...

Mighty Grant Perkins was there, showcasing some of his excellent artwork. Check out his website here: 
http://www.thegrantperkins.com/

Grant Perkins.

Very nice to see Paulina Vassileva again. A fantastic artist who often attends these shows. Visit her website here: http://pauscorpi.daportfolio.com/ 
and follow her on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/pauscorpi?lang=en-gb

Paulina Vassileva.

Time Bomb Comics had a stand, with publisher Steve Tanner launching the latest book, Bomb Scares 2015. (Which I'll review on this blog later this week.) See their website here, and support British indie comics:
http://www.timebombcomics.com/

Steve Tanner.

It was great to see Rachael Smith again, one of the top new comics talents of recent years with a very appealing style. I'll be reviewing her new book, The Rabbit, soon. Visit her blog here: 
http://rachaelsmithillustration.blogspot.co.uk/

Rachael Smith.

I also had a quick chat with writer Tony Lee, artist Gary Erskine, and a few other comic pals, and it was good to finally meet artist Lynne Triplett, whose Far From Faith comic I'll show here soon. 

This was my first visit to an MCM London show. It's quite a trek getting there by train as it's about half an hour or more on the tube from Euston, but shows like this and the London Film and Comic Con attract so many people they have to use huge 'out of town' venues to accommodate everyone. There were also other conventions around the country on the same weekend, as there are nearly every weekend these days, and they're also well attended, so it's clear to see that the interest in comics and sf/fantasy media is growing exponentially. Long may it continue!

Doctor Who Magazine website:
http://www.doctorwhomagazine.com/

Panini Comics website:
http://www.paninicomics.co.uk/web/guest/home