Prog Preview: 2000AD Prog 2028

Here's your weekly advance look at pages from the next upcoming issue of 2000AD with its brilliant eye-catching cover by D'Israeli. This edition will be in the shops on Wednesday 26th April. Thanks to Rebellion for permission to show this preview...

• UK & DIGITAL: 26 April 2017 £2.65
• NORTH AMERICA: 26 May 2017 $7.99
• DIAMOND CODE: FEB171836
• COVER: D'ISRAELI
In this issue:
Judge Dredd: Harvey by John Wagner (w) John McCrea (a) Mike Spicer (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)

Defoe: Diehards by Pat Mills (w) Colin MacNeil (a) Ellie De Ville (l)

Brink: Skeleton Life by Dan Abnett (w) INJ Culbard (a) Simon Bowland (l)

Scarlet Traces: Cold War - Book 2 by Ian Edginton (w) D'Israeli (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)

Cursed: The Fall of Deadworld by Kek-W (w) Dave Kendall (a) Annie Parkhouse (l)

Available in print from: UK newsagents and all good 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

The DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE SUMMER SPECIAL is here!

Okay, strictly speaking it's called Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #46 - Toys, but it has "Summer" as the cover date, it's a Special, and Summer Special trips off the tongue much better. 

This time, the 100 page special focuses on Doctor Who licensed products such as toys and games, covering their entire history over six decades. This isn't a mere listing of products, but a detailed insight into the background of the items, and the people and companies involved in making them happen. 

Comics aren't included because they were amply covered in a previous special two years ago (see here) but there is one strip from the Give-A-Show Projector Set shown. Superbly illustrated throughout with numerous photographs of various items, press clippings, advertisements and suchlike, this is a must-have for anyone interested in Doctor Who toys. Published by Panini UK and available now for £5.99.

Also out from Panini this week....

INCREDIBLE HULKS #10. On sale 20th April! FINAL ISSUE!

76 pages of gamma-charged action! Three awesome stories! £3.99!

So what happens when Marvel's two green heroines finally meet? Trouble! She-Hulk and Gamora team up! By John Layman and Otto Schmidt!

Also: an untold tale revealed at last! Joe Fixit battles the West Coast Avengers! By Jim McCann and Agustin Padilla!

Plus: The Maestro now has the power of a god! Don't miss Contest of Champions by Al Ewing and Rhoald Marcellius!

Featuring material first printed in Guardians Team-Up #4, Hulk Smash Avengers #4 and Contest of Champions #10.

WOLVERINE & DEADPOOL #10. On sale 20th April!

76 pages of claw-popping action! £3.99!

Wolverine is recruited by SHIELD to battle a monstrous enemy – and wait till you see who it is! By Tom Taylor and Marcio Takara!

Also: Deadpool wants to avenge his parents – by killing Sabretooth! A savage new story begins by Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli!

Featuring material first published in All-New Wolverine #8 and Deadpool #6, 8-9.

AVENGERS UNIVERSE #10. On sale 20th April!

76 pages of Earth’s Mightiest heroes! £3.99!

A new adventure! Deadpool, Rogue and Quicksilver encounter Hank Pym – and Ultron too! By Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz!

Also: The All-New Avengers encounter the all-new Wasp! Plus: the search for Nova's father begins as the team heads into deep space! By Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar!

Featuring material first published in Uncanny Avengers #9 and All-New Avengers #9-10.

Billy Bunter's KNOCKOUT (1961)

Knockout had been around since 1939, and Billy Bunter had always featured in a strip inside the comic but presumably the success of the Billy Bunter of Grayfriars School TV series (1952 to 1961) encouraged Fleetway to revamp the weekly into Billy Bunter's Knockout for a while. Therefore, Bunter became the lead strip in the 20 page comic, with his story taking up four and a half pages. 

The artwork was by the superb Albert Pease, who had previously been known for his splendid Casey Court illustrations on the back of Chips for many years. The drawings are fantastic examples of top class cartooning, although the racial caricatures are uncomfortable to see today. Nevertheless, here was Fleetway giving a character plenty of room for a decent story. A pity that these sort of longer stories didn't become the norm in British humour comics, instead of the single page / double page (or less) format that most strips still have to this day. 

This example from Knockout dated 9th September 1961. 

Ron Turner's SPINBALL WARS (Battle-Action 1978)

The artist Ron Turner delighted comics readers in the 1950s with his superb science fiction strips such as Space Ace and Rick Random, and in the 1960s with his colour work on The Daleks for TV21. By 1978 he was illustrating The Spinball Wars for Battle-Action, and I'd like to show you a sample of that today. This episode is from Battle-Action dated 7th January 1978.

The Spinball Wars had begun life as Death Game 1999 for Action in 1976, changed to the less violent Spinball when the comic was toned down, and later became Spinball Wars to suit the war-themed Battle Picture Weekly when it and Action merged in 1977. Though not as gory as the early issues of Action had been, Battle-Action was still more brutal than most comics, as you can see from this strip with someone being riddled with bullets, his corpse staring blankly at the reader. Ron Turner's style would have perhaps been too slick for a traditional war strip but it was ideal for the futuristic Spinball Wars. 

Hopefully, now that Rebellion have the rights to this old material, perhaps we'll be seeing collections of Death Game 1999 and Spinball Wars in the future?

New comic from Titan

The prolific London publisher Titan Comics launches another all-new comic this week with Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War No.1. Here's the info from Titan's website:

Writer:
Ryan O’Sullivan O’Sullivan
Artists:
Daniel Indro Kevin Enhart

NEW FOUR-PART MINI-SERIES FROM THE UNIVERSE OF THE REAL-TIME STRATEGY VIDEO GAME BASED ON WARHAMMER 40,000, DAWN OF WAR! VIDEO GAME DEVELOPED BY RELIC ENTERTAINMENT!
NEW WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR III VIDEO GAME RELEASING SOON!
THE FIRST TWO WARHAMMER 40,000: DAWN OF WAR VIDEO GAMES HAVE SOLD MORE THAN 7 MILLION COPIES WORLDWIDE!

COMIC SERIES WRITTEN BY RYAN O’SULLIVAN (TURNCOAT, EISENHORN: XENOS) & ILLUSTRATED BY DANIEL INDRO (VIKINGS: UPRISING, DOCTOR WHO)!

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War No.1 is available from comics speciality shops from today (or more likely tomorrow if Easter holidays have delayed deliveries).