Recent times have seen the demise of comics news mag Wizard in the USA and the prestigious Comics Journal making its move to digital. Therefore it's heartening to see that here in the UK we can still support print editions of comics-dedicated magazines. (Update: The Comics Journal still exists as an annual in book format, but the regular magazine is no more.)
Comic Heroes reached its sixth issue recently and despite carrying a £7.99 price tag seems to have found a loyal readership. This issue comes packaged in a card envelope as usual, and this month the "free" gifts are the regular Sidekick comic (previewing upcoming comics), a DC Comics promo poster, and, great news chums, a set of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen fridge magnets with artwork by Kevin O'Neill.
As we've now come to expect, the contents of the 132 page issue show the variety of comics out there these days, with features ranging from the X-Men to Fables, with spotlights on Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti to writer Matt Fraction.
If your tastes are solely devoted to UK comics there's a few items that should be of interest, including Gary Millidge talking about his forthcoming biography on Alan Moore...
...to Rob Power talking about Battle Picture Weekly and Pat Mills saying how it rebooted the increasingly lifeless boys' adventure comic scene of the 1970s.
There are also extensive reviews and a section giving practical advice to aspiring inkers. All in all another great issue.
Another magazine that appeared recently was Multiverse No.2. Slimmer than Comic Heroes and, at £2.50, substantially cheaper, it still packs a lot into its 52 pages. Very nicely designed by Barry Renshaw and published/edited by Mike Conroy, Multiverse offers us a bit more depth to the news stories that websites might perhaps only cover superficially.
The majority of items in Multiverse focus on American comics. That's understandable. The mag is only sold in comic book stores, not newsagents, so it's targeting that demographic of teen to adult readers. Although it'd be nice to see an item on current British mainstream comics I'm not sure if Multiverse's readers would warm to it. Unlike Comic Heroes, there aren't any nostalgic features on old comics in Multiverse, because its aim is to focus on current developments which is fair enough. No one would wish the two magazines to be too similar, and I find that Multiverse and Comic Heroes compliment each other and are both essential reads for anyone interested in comics.
As good as online comic news sites are, it's useful to have the information in print. (Not to mention it being easier on the eyes.) When it comes to having a relaxing read, digital still can't compete with paper just yet.
There are two main attractions with digital. A) the news is free, and B) they can immediately post their opinions and interact with like-minded fans. (Or, given the number of arguments on the net, not so like-minded.) However, the really important stuff, such as a well-written article one can relax and enjoy, is still presented better in paper format in my opinion.
Thirty years or more ago I was a regular subscriber to fanzines such as Bem and Comic Media News. Eventually all those fanzines faded away, so it's good to see two professional comics mags still holding their own. Remember the fates of Wizard and The Comics Journal and give your support to Multiverse and Comic Heroes.
Comic Heroes is available from WH Smith and other newsagents. Multiverse is available from comics specialist shops such as Nostalgia & Comics.
http://www.comicheroesmagazine.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Multiverse/156064871100900?sk=info
Kids love stickers and, back in the Sixties, most kids loved comics too. Someone had the idea of combining the two and the result was a range of Sticker Fun Books published by both WDL (World Distributors Limited) and Century 21 Publishing.
I'm not sure exactly how many of these books were produced as I only had the four shown here. However the format appears to have been the same for all: large size, card covers, 8 interior pages. Stapled into the centre pages was a large sheet of full colour gummed stickers. The artwork on the stickers showed various segments from the stories within the books. For example some might show an arm and part of a torso, others showing part of an aircraft, another showing a face etc. The idea being that you'd stick the segments into their appropriate places in the story, adding colour to otherwise black and white strips.
There wasn't a sticker to cover every piece of black and white artwork, so for additional fun you were expected to colour the rest yourself. As you can see from the examples, I didn't really bother personally.
Basically then, these were colouring books that would do part of the job for you once you'd put the sticker segments in place. Although this passed the time pleasantly enough the results could be a bit rough if the stickers weren't quite placed properly, as shown in the scans here.
The Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 books each featured a story in comic strip format. Stylistically they looked just like the sort of strips that would turn up in the TV21 Annuals so were no doubt produced by the same team. Jim Watson provided the artwork, - a frequent contributor to the Century 21 comics and annuals.
In 1966, a couple of years prior to Century 21's Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 editions, WDL had produced Sticker Fun Books for Batman and Thunderbirds. Same format, but these only featured full page illustrations accompanied by short text to tell the story. In fact the Thunderbirds one didn't even have a story, just a series of eight illustrations introducing the basic premise.
Although simplistic by modern standards the Sticker Fun Books were an enjoyable enough piece of Sixties nostalgia. Priced at 2/6d each (12 and a half pence) they were over four times the price of the average comic, but they'd be given as Christmas stocking fillers or perhaps as an extra birthday present.
Here's a brief roundup of some of the British comics that are available right now...
Spaceship Away No.23 £7.50
The first issue under the new editor Des Shaw, the thrice-a-year Spaceship Away pretty much carries on as before but with a few tweaks. The illustration on the cover is just part of a wonderful new illustration by Don Harley that takes up the centre spread.
Brand new Dan Dare strips this issue are part three of Parsecular Tales by Tim Booth, and part one of Pre-Emptive Strike by John Freeman and Mike Nicoll. There's an amusing crossover with Ray Aspen's humour strips Mekki and Our Bertie, and the reprint strips are Shadow Over Britain from Express Weekly and Garth from the Daily Mirror. Features include an interview with David Motton, scriptwriter on Dan Dare in the 1960s.
Spaceship Away is available at some comic specialist shops or you can buy it online here: http://spaceshipaway.org.uk/
The cover of Judge Dredd Megazine this month looks like the sort of comic Eagle set out to challenge. Fortunately in a tolerant society both types of comic can live in harmony. Yes, it's Judge Dredd as a zombie, - or rather the modern idea of zombies; flesh-eating ghouls. Brendan McCarthy provides the striking cover artwork and also for the relevant 10 page Dredd story inside, written by Rob Williams.
Other contents include Anderson Psi Division by Alan Grant with stunning artwork by Boo Cook; Numbercruncher part 6 by Si Spurrier and PJ Holden; and the first part of the new Samizdat Squad story by Arthur Wyatt and Paul Marshall. Features include interviews with Steve Dillon and Matt Brooker.
The comic comes bagged with a full colour Flesh graphic novel and the whole package costs £5.49. Worth it though!
The horror theme continues in this week's Doctor Who Adventures with a startling photo cover showcasing the latest TV episode. The magazine has had a redesign recently and is all the better for it. Admittedly it's strictly aimed at kids but the feature pages are still less literate than children's comics of my day which is a shame. That said, the four page comic strip Reality Cheque by Christopher Couper and John Ross is a well structured articulate piece that's leagues ahead of the early Doctor Who strips of TV Comic. Bagged with a few gifts for its usual price of £2.50.
A surprise, unadvertised, publication this week was The Ultimate Beano Summer Special No.1. Legend has it Summer Specials ended because retailers hated one publication taking up shelf space for months, but DC Thomson have an exclusive arrangement with WH Smith for this issue, which is only available in their stores.
Don't expect to see the tabloid glossy special of old though. This is a 64 page A4 size softback book consisting solely of reprints from Beano Summer Specials of old. More of a publication about old specials rather than one itself, with each page carrying the date of its original source. Although the pages are scanned from the old issues, the reproduction on the quality glossy paper is excellent and it's a fine showcase of classics from Davy Law, Dave Sutherland, Jim Petrie and others. £4.99
This week's Dandy is one of those bumper 44 page special issues that DC Thomson now produce every time there's a school holiday. The cover is in the tall format to give it prominence on the shelves, and the back cover also carries the Dandy logo to thwart retailers who stack the comics back to front. Unfortunately it didn't thwart by local Smiths who had it displayed upside down.
Contents are 100% new, with brilliant work from Jamie Smart, Wayne Thomson, Andy Fanton, Nigel Parkinson and the usual regulars. £2.50
The latest Toxic is also a bumper issue for the school break. I was ill when this issue was being put together so Team Toxic is reprint this time, but I did provide artwork for two double page feature pages; Pirate Maze and Toxic Footy Awards. There's also new strips featuring Gorilla Kid by Jason Loborik and Anthony Williams and Robin Hoodie by Luke Paton and Laura Howell. Plus a bunch of features and a pile of bagged gifts. £2.75
The adult comic Clint has now reached issue 8 and seems to be giving priority to artwork on covers at last instead of pasty-faced celebrities like Frankie Boyle. The 100 page monthly hasn't really lived up to the expectations of it being a new British adventure comic as its strips are all reliant on American reprint or material that wouldn't be here if it wasn't also being published in the USA (eg: Kick Ass 2). That said, for those of us who haven't bought the US comics this is an economical way of obtaining them.
This issue sees the start of Image Comics' Who Is Jake Ellis, full of fast paced intrigue and like a sleazy version of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). We also get part 3 of Mark Millar's Superior, with great artwork from Leinil Yu; the final part of black comedy The Pro by Garth Ennis and Amanda Conner; another chapter of Turf by Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards; and the aforementioned Kick Ass 2 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. The violence and language won't be to everyone's tastes but, y'know, it's only a comic. £3.99
Finally, the latest issue of Viz just dropped through my adults-only letterbox. 52 pages of irreverent fun, sharp satire, and sweary comic characters beneath another great cover by Simon Thorp. Guaranteed to offend someone, somewhere, from humourless priests to mad beardy hermits. (At time of press Bin Laden was not available for comment.) £3.20
The other by Mike Allred:
