Comic Scene covers SMASH!

I've written a short (2,000 word) article on the history of Odhams' Smash! comic for an upcoming edition of the Comic Scene History of Comics partwork. Each issue covers a different year and this is for the one dedicated to 1966, the year Smash! was launched.

Smash! was my favourite comic as a child and a big inspiration for me to create my own comics. I have a complete run of the comic so I'm pleased to have written a feature about this great weekly.

Looks like the partwork with my article in will be out in April, but you can pre-order it, and other editions, from the fab GetMyComics website at this link...

https://getmycomics.com/ComicScene 

COUNTDOWN for Comic Scene action!

Countdown / TV Action was my favourite comic of the early 1970s so it was a pleasure to be asked to write about it for the Comicscene History of Comics partwork. It's in the issue that spotlights the year 1971 and is available to buy along with other issues at this link:
https://getmycomics.com/ComicScene

...or in digital at this link:

https://comicscene.org/join-comic-club/

 

History of Comics!

I'm pleased to say that I'll be writing an article for an upcoming issue of the Comicscene History of Comics! 

As you may recall, Comic Scene was a newsstand magazine of comics news and views that was published a few years ago and I wrote some articles for it then. In recent times it's been relaunched as a partwork, with each bookazine focusing on a particular year. The ambitious project plans to run for 100 issues, covering 100 years of comics from 1930 to 2030. The first four bookazines covered the years 1950, 1977, 1984 and 1986. The next four cover the years 1971, 1976, 1991, and 2020.

Four issues are already available, with the next four currently being funded on Kickstarter. I'll be writing a feature for the 1971 edition if the project reaches its Kickstarter target. 

You can pledge to fund the next four issues at the following link that gives you all the details:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicscene/comicscene-history-of-comics-books-5-to-8

Busy week ahead

It's 31 degrees outside, I'm still fighting a virus, and I have a busy week ahead. Ideally I'd have taken the week off and headed to the coast but you can't predict when the lurgy will slow you down and typically it happens at the one time of the year when you suddenly have a lot to do. 

Still, first world problems and all that, and I'm certainly grateful for the work! This week I'm writing the next Daft Dimension script for Doctor Who Magazine, drawing strips for the Dandy and Beano Annuals that will be out in a year's time, plus drawing the final episode of Derek the Troll for the last issue of digital comic Goof! 

I'm also researching the complete run of a short-lived comic for an article I'm writing for Comic Scene No.7, which will be out in August. There's the stack of every issue in the photo above. I've blurred the cover to keep it a secret for now, but feel free to post your guesses in the comments below! 

Behind the scenes at COR!! BUSTER

Cover art by Robert Nixon.

There's a new issue of Comic Scene out this Thursday (27th April) and amongst its packed contents there's an article I wrote about my work on The Cor!! Buster Humour Special. Don't miss Comic Scene No.3, available from WH Smith and comic shops from Thursday! 

Or order it directly from here:
http://www.getmycomics.com/ComicScene

New feature series for Comic Scene

The latest issue of Comic Scene is in the shops now and I've joined the team as one of the new writers on the mag. Every month I'll be writing about some aspect of British humour comics in the new Corker! section. For the first one it's a speedy run through the Game Changers of the Funnies, - covering some of the most influential artists in the history of children's humour comics in Britain.

There are loads of other features too of course, and you can find out more at the Comic Scene website here:
https://comicscene.org 

Coming to Comic Scene...

I wrote my first article for Comic Scene this week and sent it off to the editor. As I mentioned previously, I've been commissioned to write a regular column on British humour comics, and the first one will appear in Comic Scene Vol.2 No.2 in March. (In case you somehow haven't heard of the mag, Comic Scene is a monthly full colour magazine dedicated to British comics, and it's available from comic shops and WH Smith.)

I've also had my suggestions approved for the following two articles, so I'm looking forward to writing those.

Basically it'll be a print version of the sort of articles I did for my Blimey! blog (which I'm winding down this year). Sometimes I'll be talking about comics creators, sometimes the comics or the characters. I'll mainly be focusing on the past, because Comic Scene already covers current UK comics pretty well. 

As I own thousands of old British comics they'll certainly come in handy for research! 

I'm very pleased that editor Tony Foster invited me to join the Comic Scene team. Writing articles makes a nice change from drawing or scripting comics (although I'll be continuing with that too of course). It's good to have variety in one's job! 

There's a new issue of Comic Scene in the shops next week (I'm not in that one) and you can find out more about it here:
https://comicscene.org

Derek the Troll in the massive Comic Scene Annual

Have you seen the Comic Scene Annual yet? Editor Tony Foster has compiled a massive 320 page softback volume featuring a wide range of strips from numerous contributors... and there's a new Derek the Troll half-pager in there from me too.

The Derek the Troll strip is actually the first episode of the series that's currently running in the digital monthly Goof! comic, but this is its first time in print, along with several other pages from Goof! presented as a sampler for the comic. (Unfortunately the Comic Scene Annual doesn't actually tell the readers anything about Goof! but you can subscribe at the following link):
https://www.goofcomic.co.uk

Admittedly the Comic Scene Annual isn't cheap at £25 and I wouldn't expect anyone to buy it just for my half pager, but the book does carry a huge amount of other material too, including strips by Marc Jackson, John Gordon Miller, Mike Higgs, Steve Tanner and many more... plus 40 pages of To the Death, the new comic by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior.
https://comicscene.tictail.com

Speaking of Goof!, I didn't have time to contribute a Derek the Troll chapter for this month's issue but he'll be back in March! I'm currently drawing a page for a comic I haven't contributed to for a while... More news soon!

Comic Scene columnist!

I've been invited to write a regular column for Comic Scene magazine, the monthly High Street publication dedicated to comics. My articles will focus on humour comics from the past and present (but mainly the past) and will begin in a near-future issue. (I'll let you know when.) 

I'm very pleased to become Comic Scene's latest contributor and proud to be part of a team that already includes Pat Mills, John Freeman, Colin Noble and many more. 

Comic Scene is available from WH Smith and various comic shops. You can find out more by visiting the website here:
https://comicsflix.org

...and subscribing here:
https://comicscene.tictail.com