The FLASH; Back in the UK

Another day, another new British comic, although admittedly this one is full of American reprint. Nevertheless, it's 'new' for those of us who haven't read those stories. Today, Titan Comics have launched The Flash in his own ongoing comic, to be published every 4 weeks. 

Presumably, The Flash Special that Titan published in the summer has proven to have legs, so let's hope this regular comic will run and run.

It's full title is actually DC Super Heroes: The Flash, presumably so that Titan can change the star feature if The Flash's popularity slows down. Not much chance of that at present however, with the first season of The Flash TV series released on DVD and Blu-Ray last week and the second season just starting on TV. (This last week I've watched all 23 episodes of season one and thought it was excellent. A superhero TV series that embraces its comics heritage whilst still appealing to the mainstream viewer.) 

The UK Flash comic has 76 pages, containing stories from the US Flash Nos.6 and 7 and Harley Quinn No.0, all from recent years. Yes, Harley Quinn is the back up strip. I'm afraid all I knew about the character is that she was the annoying one in Bruce Timm's excellent Batman The Animated Series and that she's an insanely popular choice of twenty-something cosplayers. The latter makes her an ideal character to feature as a co-star in this comic. There's also a Harley Quinn pull-out pin-up for every teenager's bedroom wall. 

It's interesting to see Titan expanding their DC Comics line to compete with Panini's Marvel comics, although the shelves are getting pretty crowded in WH Smith now. In two weeks there'll be another addition, as Titan make another attempt at an Arrow comic. (The previous one, a couple of years ago, only lasted a few issues, perhaps because its A4 size had Smiths place it with the junior and nursery comics!) Presumably the new Arrow No.1 will be the same size as Titan and Panini's other superhero titles so it can properly reach its target audience. Find out on October 29th.

The Flash No.1 is out now, priced £3.50.  

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO is here!

D.C. Thomson's newest comic Thunderbirds Are Go has arrived in the shops today. The 36 page monthly is the official magazine of the revamped TV series and comes bagged with a plastic model of Thunderbird 1. (The rest of the craft to follow in subsequent issues.) Certainly a better free gift than the usual "plastic tat" and one which I'm sure kids (and a few adults) will enjoy playing with. 

In truth, the main comic strip is actually a 12 page photo-strip in 4 page chunks, using screen grabs to adapt the first episode, Ring of Fire. They do a nice job of it, although the idea of tilting the speech balloons is somewhat distracting. (There's a good reason why it's never been done before. It just looks odd.) 

There's also three illustrated mini-strips on one page intended as funnies, plus a couple of 'Teenage Tricks' strips showing kids how to fake having measles and how to hide a magazine inside a study book. Not too original, but probably new for the age range the mag is aimed at. 

And that's the thing. It'd be easy to compare this magazine to previous publications that featured Thunderbirds strips, but times have changed. Yes, this is a far cry from the sophistication of TV21 fifty years ago, or Countdown weekly in 1971, but so is the series it's based on. The 1965 Thunderbirds TV series was a family show originally broadcast in an early evening slot. The new Thunderbirds Are Go series is squarely aimed at children and broadcast on Saturday mornings on CiTV. The magazine has to reflect that.

Judging the magazine on its own merits then, how does it fare? Well, it's good that over a third of its pages are given to strips, which is more than most kids' mags have these days. The activity pages should also entertain, and are on the same level as those seen in Doctor Who Adventures (its nearest rival). The target range is ages 6 to 12, and I think most of the contents are pitched in between that, which seems about right. There is of course a huge difference between the way a 6 year old and an 12 year old view the world, so it's not easy to make it work. As soon as the older end of that demographic feel something is 'babyish' they'll drop it like a stone, but Thunderbirds Are Go seems to get the balance right. 

Thunderbirds Are Go No.1 is out now, priced £3.99. 

News: http://www.dcthomson.co.uk/media/dc-thomson-releases-thunderbirds-are-go-magazine

Comics in Kendal

Last year I was privileged to be one of the guests at the Lakes International Comics Art Festival in Kendal and thoroughly enjoyed it. As so many people work in the comics industry, this year has a different guest list. I won't be there but I'd advise anyone who has this weekend free to check it out. The event takes up several locations throughout the town and has a varied choice for everyone interested in comics. You can find out the full details at their official website, which provides a handy PDF of the event programme you can download.
http://www.comicartfestival.com/

As you can see, there's an impressive array of guests from home and abroad, and that's only some of the comic industry greats attending. Although not on that list, Beano artists Laura Howell, Nigel Parkinson, and colourist Nika Nartova will also be in attendance. Brickman will be there too, as Nigel will be selling copies of Brickman Returns on my behalf, so if you haven't bought one yet, see Nigel! (You can read Nigel's glowing review of the comic here:
http://nigelparkinsoncartoons.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/dropped-brick-man.html )

John Freeman will also be there, and he recently interviewed some of the guests for his Down the Tubes blog. Go to the site here and scroll down for Comic Creator Interviews.
http://downthetubes.net/ 

My best wishes to everyone attending the festival and to the organizers. Have a great weekend!

50 Year Flashback: Daily Mirror strips October 13th 1965

Several years ago I bought a bunch of old newspapers from the first Birmingham Memorabilia Show, back before the show became dominated by more recent nostalgia items. Here are the strips and cartoons that appeared in the Daily Mirror exactly half a century ago today.

The Andy Capp strip that day (above) is of course typical of the character; boozy and in debt, but creator Reg Smythe always managed to make the gags feel fresh and, more importantly, funny. 

The main strip page, regularly shared with Live Letters, featured Garth by John Allard and Steve Dowling, The Larks by Jack Dunkley, and The Flutters by Len Gamblin. We had the Daily Mirror every day when I was a kid so I have a particular fondness for these strips. 

Like Andy Capp, The Perishers (by Maurice Dodd and Dennis Collins) was on a different page back then, and a larger size strip than the others.

As well as five daily strips, the Mirror had a good selection of cartoons 50 years ago too. The Laughter column always carried work by some of Britain's top gag cartoonists.

There were also two regular 'pocket' cartoons. Useless Eustace by Jack Greenall...

...and Playboy! by David Rowe...

Plus the political cartoon by Stanley Franklin...

Strips and cartoons were considered an important part of the paper back then, and served as light relief to the serious news of the day. Sadly, the news of 50 years ago was very grim indeed, with the cover story revealing the re-opening of the tragic case that would be referred to as the Moors Murders. At this point it seems the press had not been informed of the arrests a few days earlier of the vile serial child-killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

To end this blog post on a lighter note, here are the TV listings for this day 50 years ago. Only three channels, but at least there was a repeat of Hancock's Half Hour to watch, and a new Dennis Potter play... 

I hope you'll find these pages of historical interest. Click images to see them much larger and more readable. As for the weather forecast on 13th October 1965: "Mainly dry with some sunshine after early fog". Pretty much like today then!

Let Zygons be Zygons

Here's an advance look at the cover for Doctor Who Magazine No.492, which will be on sale this Thursday, 15th October. 

A new comic strip begins, with 12 pages of The Highgate Horror, an appropriately supernatural tale for this time of year. Script by Mark Wright with excellent art by David Roach, coloured by James Offredi. 

There's also a new Daft Dimension strip by me...

...and of course loads of features including previews of upcoming episodes, background info on previous stories, interviews, news, reviews, and more. 

This issue has an extra eight pages for no extra cost. That's 92 pages for only £4.99. 

More details will appear on the official Doctor Who Magazine website in a day or two:
http://www.doctorwhomagazine.com/

Personally I think the current series has been excellent so far, and I'm looking forward to the next 8 episodes (plus the now-traditional Christmas Day special of course). Saturday's episode was a cracker, with the cherry on the cake being Peter Capaldi's guitar addition to the opening theme. If you missed the rocked-up theme, the BBC have released it on You Tube for free. Here it is. Play it LOUD!


  

Beano Christmas Special 2015

Cover by Nigel Parkinson.

Christmas comes early this week with The Beano Christmas Special in the shops now! This extra edition is 68 pages full of strips and puzzles, plus a sheet of 30 free stickers inside. 

I haven't seen it myself yet but I'm reliably informed it's out. You can also buy it by post directly from the D.C. Thomson shop here:
https://shop.beano.com/annuals/beano-christmas-special-2015.html 

Comic Heroes reborn

In 2010 Future Publishing launched Comic Heroes, a bimonthly newsstand magazine dedicated to the world of comics. Cynics predicted it would bomb, citing its £7.99 cover price as too expensive. However the magazine proved to be successful enough to maintain a good run of four years, albeit changing frequency to quarterly towards the end. Its final issue, No.24, was in July 2014. 

And that was that. Until today.

Comic Heroes is now back on the shelves of newsagents, with a quarterly frequency and a redesign but continuing the numbering with issue 25. The relaunch issue is a large size 148 page glossy mag and its declaration is that it's "Serious about comics". Hopefully not too serious. 

The issue is packed with a variety of features. Here's a few examples:

• Interviews with UK comics creators such as Grant Morrison, Paul Cornell, Jessica Martin, Mike Carey and Mike Perkins.

• A preview of the new Johnny Red comic.

• A look at Marvel's all-new, all-different relaunches.

•Joel Meadows looking at the new range of Vertigo comics. 

• Stephen Jewell previewing Dynamite's new James Bond comic.

• Paul Gravett on the Frech artist François Boucq.

• Leah Moore reporting from a convention in Mexico.

• David Barnett looks at Aces Weekly.

Plus reviews and tons more stuff.

I think there's a certain joy for anyone interested in comics to be able to wander into a newsagents and buy a magazine dedicated to the medium. I hope Comic Heroes is here to stay this time. Although a British magazine, its content is mainly American-focused because that's the stuff that its target audience is following and America is generating more comics than the UK. That said, it's clear that the mag is definitely willing to cover the UK and international scene as well. 

All in all, it's great to see Comic Heroes back and it's a magazine that anyone with a genuine interest in modern comics should be reading.

Comic Heroes No.25, 148 pages, £7.99. Out now!