Innehållsförteckning för Issue 31 från Comic Heroes

Thanks for joining us. This is my final issue of Comic Heroes as I move on to pastures new. Fear not, the mag is continuing with a new editor in place for our 18 July issue. Please indulge me for a moment though as I use my last intro as an Oscars-style thank-you speech... I was a fan of the mag when it launched under Jes Bickham in 2010. I’d like to thank him, as well as Matt Bielby, Dave Golder and mighty Rob Power for getting the magazine to this point. I would like to thank Rosie Fletcher and Dave Bradley, who hired me for this gig, the two finest magazine folk I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I’d like to say a special sexy thank…

Deadline was a magazine that defined the independent British comics scenes in the late ’80s and ’90s. Hewlett and Martin’s Tank Girl debuted in its pages, and it launched the careers of many creators including Philip Bond and Nick Abadzis. Its editors, Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon, were major players in the industry. Deadline ended in 1995 but from 2017, Missed Deadline will take its place. “The long-term goal was always to bring Deadline back for the modern generation, with a 50/50 split of new and old creators,” its creative director Jessica Kemp tells Comic Heroes, “but for many years this just seemed to be impossible in terms of manpower and financial outlay, not to mention time. “We started Missed Deadline as a collective for several members of…

TRUMPED Think the current US President’s tweets are barking? Mad cartoonist Shannon Wheeler agrees. Sh*t My President Says, due in August from IDW, transforms Trump’s tweets into incisive political cartoons. OLIVER NOME 1978-2017 Just as we were going to press we heard the tragic news that Wolverine and Flashpoint artist Oliver Nome has passed away. Comic Heroes offers its condolences to all of this talented artist’s friends and family. RAISING HECK Clive Barker has announced Hellraiser: Anthology. The 90-page hardcover book will include 11 stories from a host of creators including Nick Percival, Daniele Serra, Ben Meares and Barker himself. Expect blood, misery and a soupçon of S&M. DEAD END? Archie Comics are promising death and drama with “Over The Edge” – a three-issue arc set in the new Archie…

Central Park Media • Samurai Legend, written by Kan Furuyama Viz Media • Hotel Harbour View, written by Natsuo Sekikawa • Benkei In New York, written by Jinpaichi Mori iBooks • Icaro, written by Moebius & Jean Annestay Fanfare / Ponent Mon • The Walking Man • The Times Of Botchan, written by Natsuo Sekikawa • The Ice Wanderer • The Quest For The Missing Girl • A Distant Neighborhood • The Summit Of The Gods, written by Baku Yumemakura • A Zoo In Winter • Guardians Of The Louvre (NBM in USA) • Furari…

"It isn’t about political intrigue but characters trying to make their way in an insane world" Comic Heroes: What was your starting point for CalExit ? Was there a specific incident or news story that sparked the idea? Matteo Pizzolo: The story in general is something I’ve been cooking up for a little while now – there’s nothing new about the fact that our government has a problem with the way it treats immigrants. Whoever won the election, it’d still be a problem. The election did shift the context pretty dramatically, but I wouldn’t say that’s what really pushed this project to the level of aggression we’re hitting. The thing that really amped us up to turn this thing up to 11 was the Women’s March and…

"In comics, you literally have almost no people telling you what you can’t do" Comic Heroes: Slayer is a metal band, so what is Slayer: Repentless all about? Jon Schnepp: It’s about hatred and injustice and revenge, a deadly bloody road trip of horror, where a family is literally torn apart by stupidity, jealousy and love. I wanted to show how two brothers can be torn apart completely by different ways of thought and how that kind of pure hatred brings nothing but death and destruction. CH: How closely did you work with the band on the story, if at all? JS: They were pretty hands-off – I spoke with both Dark Horse editors as well as Nuclear Blast [Slayer’s record label] and I talked to…

“ I DON’T WANT TO BE THE BLACK SPIDER-MAN. I WANT TO BE SPIDER-MAN ” For the best part of a decade Ultimate Spider-Man was the bedrock for Marvel 1610. For some, Ultimate Peter Parker was the Ultimate Universe. So after Peter’s tragic demise at the hands of the Sinister Six in Ultimate Spider-Man #160, the question on many a comic book reader’s lips was “Who could be important enough to take on the mantle?” Following the adventures of Ultimate Peter Parker would be no small task. Would Marvel take someone from Peter’s current cast and move them to take on the role? Would the Ultimate team introduce a new 1610-remixed version of a traditional Marvel mainstay to be the new Spider-Man? Or would the role of Spider-Man remain vacant,…

In the wake of the conclusion of his hit Vertigo series Preacher in the autumn of 2000, Garth Ennis was looking for a way to leave Ireland and set up home in America. At the same time, Wizard, the dominant comics magazine of the day, was setting up its own indie comics publishing arm in Black Bull Entertainment, and the editor approached by Wizard founder Gareb Shamus to take the line forward was Jimmy Palmiotti – at the time both editor and inker of Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Punisher run for the Marvel Knights line. The quid pro quo was obvious: Wizard would sponsor Ennis’ US work visa, and in return he would create new material for Black Bull. With the debut issue appearing in May 2001, the first (and,…

One of Image’s boldest, quirkiest books has also become one of its biggest. Sex Criminals – the cheerfully horny comedy about Suzie and Jon, a couple who discover that they can freeze time when they orgasm, and promptly use that ability to rob banks – is both as filthy as you’d expect with that premise, and also tender and nuanced. As the book has grown in scope, other characters with diverse powers have emerged, as have the repressive Sex Police, who have become the bane of our heroes’ lives. And while the premise sounds wild, the book has dug deep into the minds of its characters and tackled issues of mental health in a sincere, funny way. You come for the sex and stay for the…

As the home of Peter Bagge’s Hate and Joe Sacco’s Palestine, Fantagraphics Books is not a name you would normally associate with superheroes. But while the likes of Daniel Clowes and Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez have played around with the genre’s lurid spandex-clad trappings in Eightball and Love And Rockets respectively, the Seattle-based publisher is now plunging headlong into the fantastical world of caped crusaders and masked avengers with All Time Comics, a new line of titles headed up by brothers Josh and Sam Bayer. “It’s not so much a question of why would we come together as [the fact that] I’m very comfortable with how Fantagraphics does business and what they showcase,” says Josh Bayer. “As for them, I think they would recognise that the comics are good, no…

In South Korea comics are called manhwa, a term derived from the same two Chinese characters that gave us “manga” in Japanese. Manhwa have become among the most diverse and dynamic comics in Asia. What began as a paper phenomenon, serialised in magazines, newspapers or 100-page booklets available from a network of manhwabangs or rental libraries, has transformed in the 21st century into an explosion of addictive digital webtoons, downloaded in their millions every day. These changes parallel Hur Young-man’s career so far of nearly 50 years, during which he has authored more than 150,000 pages for over 100 series. Of these hits – spanning science fiction, comedy, boxing, baseball, gambling, political history, teen romance and Korean cuisine – 20 or so have been adapted into television shows, movies and…

David Bowie’s passing last year – along with his astonishing final album, Blackstar – has led to a flurry of renewed interest in the pop godhead. This comic biography looks back to the transitional period where the young David made the transformation from long-haired folkie to pioneering glam god. It is, effectively, Bowie Begins. Nejib tells his tale from the point of view of the titular building, now demolished, then a grandiose old pile falling into decreptitude – and cheap enough for Bowie and his first wife, Angie, to move into. The young dude had already penned ‘Space Oddity’ but the song had yet to reach ubiquity (that would come when it was attached to footage of the 1969 moon landing when broadcast in the UK)…

Angela Spica wants to make the world a better place. I.O. want to make the world safer. Jacob Marlowe wants to remake the world. I.O. want him dead. Fate has other plans. In the 1990s, Wildstorm was king. The Image Comics owned universe was a world of secretive intelligence agencies, alien conspiracies, superpowered spies and UN-sponsored superheroes. Like everything, it outstayed its welcome a little but was great fun for a long, long time. Now it’s back and it’s better than ever. The 24 issues Warren Ellis is signed on for will unfold in four stories of six parts. This first one opens with an undeniable, real, superhuman event above New York City. I.O. want answers, so does Marlowe, so does I.O.’s assassin and so does Angela Spica. All of…

This loving ode to one of Will Eisner’s most famous creations is clearly a passion project for Francesco Francavilla. It’s dedicated sweetly to the memory of both Eisner himself and Darwyn Cooke (who has previously drawn the character), and the influence of both is keenly felt throughout. “The Corpse-Makers” begins as a routine investigation for the Spirit, but soon moves into the realms of a conspiracy thriller. Precisely what the conspiracy is has yet to be revealed, but it links a series of missing persons cases and the valuable “crimson coal” – a vital energy source for Central City, but also one that appears to have potentially toxic side-effects. But enough about the plot because the chief draw here is undoubtedly Francavilla’s jaw-dropping pencils and the rich, midnight hues of…

Some comic fans associate Jack Kirby most with Marvel. It makes sense – he did his most high-profile work there. However, he also contributed a significant amount to DC, including the New Gods saga, which still plays a major part in DC’s mythology today. But it’s his non-mythic work that DC is celebrating with The Kamandi Challenge, which doubles as a loving tribute to both Kirby’s legacy and spirit. Ostensibly a reboot of one of Jack’s fan favourite ’70s titles (inspired by Planet Of The Apes, about the last boy on an earth now dominated by intelligent animals), the book has a special twist: over the course of its run, 14 different teams will create their own narrative, end it on a cliffhanger, then hand off to the next team…

Horror, history and Count Dracula have long been the specialism of genre expert Kim Newman. His long-running Anno Dracula series, which imagines an alt history with Drac as the Crown Prince of England, hits graphic novel format with a vibrant splash of ghouls and gore. In issue one we meet the female protagonists – journalist Kate, socialite Penny, gangland heiress Far Lo Suee and revolutionary princess Christina, every one of them cool and kick-ass – as well the underground anarchists who oppose Dracula’s deathly reign. The first issue tantalisingly sets the Soho scene and teases fantastic beasts including a giant squid, killer mermaids and a certain creature from a lagoon. Newman’s writing is witty and distinctive, while McCaffrey’s panels bring lurid London to life. It’s a killer start that’s left…

Some autobiographical comics deal with remarkable people and momentous events. Far too many are about boring lives or people you wouldn’t actually want to spend time with. Then there are the ones, like Pretending Is Lying, that transform everyday experience into something magical and touching and breathtaking. The episodic narrative explores Dominique’s choppy, sometimes quite dysfunctional relationships – with her parents, particularly her blustering father; with her daughter Nikita; and with her lover Guy Marc (who is portrayed as unflinchingly as any of them, making it slightly surprising that he co-wrote the chapters in which he appears). All of them are needy, damaged, haunted by ghosts from their past – often depicted literally, sitting there right next to them or wafting around their heads. Striking touches like that abound. Dominique…

This revival of a character from ’90s horror comic The Darkness plays out like a more religious take on Buffy . Patience is the Magdalena – the latest in a lineage of demon-battling nuns. But after fighting the forces of evil for centuries, her time is nearly up. Enter Maya, a teenage girl who may just be her replacement – if she can survive long enough. Seeing things through Maya’s eyes is a sensible approach – it’s very easy for newbies to jump on board with this okay opener. The book crams in a lot of setup, but manages to do so in an entertaining fashion – even if DiBari’s scrappy art and the murky colours don’t mark it out as the most…

COMIC HEROES: Tell us a little about the history of Meanwhile… John Anderson: Meanwhile… started in 1997 when I decided I wanted to put together an anthology title to promote and support all these terrific writers and artists I knew who were creating these lovely stories that weren’t long enough to be published independently but who were finding that decent anthology titles were few and far between. We did four issues, with support from an Arts Council Grant, the fourth issue being 96 pages long. Several years later, I decided to return to the anthology idea as a means of enabling Gary Spencer Millidge to complete Strangehaven, and to have a Soaring Penguin Press title coming out regularly, in order to keep the name visible. CH: You’ve…

SPY GAMES Garth Ennis and Russ Braun are set to launch 007 parody Jimmy’s Bastards in June, from Aftershock. The series follows a womanising super-spy whose romantic misadventures come back to haunt him. JAY LYNCH 1945-2017 Underground comix creator Jay Lynch has passed away at the age of 72. He was best known for his work on Bazooka Joe, Bijou Funnies, Nard ’n’ Pat and for drawing many of the cult Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. LOST GIRLS FOUND Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s epic erotic comic Lost Girls (where Dorothy Gale, Wendy Darling and Alice from Alice In Wonderland have a very nice time together) is to get an expanded edition with 32 more pages of horny fairytale fun. MYTH BUSTERS Skybound and Image are set to release Kill…

“We tiptoed around the rampant sexism and misogyny which was alienating women” I’m writing this on International Women’s Day 2017 and my feeds are filled with marches and demonstrations, with pussy hats and placards, with unsung women in science, industry, media, music, art, literature and activism. Dorothy Parker quotations, Maya Angelou poems, Yayoi Kusama installations and Patti Smith songs. It’s a heady mix all together like this, a whole world of women being vocal and visible and passionate, all on the same day. On 21 January, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the USA, millions of women across the globe marched to protest and over 30,000 copies of Resist! were distributed.1 That same day, Shelly Bond announced her return to comics with Femme Magnifique, a lavish anthology…

"At this point in my career, I don’t want to be spending the next five years of my life drawing it" Comic Heroes: You first collaborated with Neil Gaiman on Sandman #50 in 1992 and have adapted several of his novels into comics. What do you like most about his writing? P. Craig Russell: It’s damned good! For most of my career, I’ve been interested in doing adaptations, merely from the point of view of finding a project that had literary worth to begin with. I’m not a writer who generates my own original stories, so I really like working on that process of taking a novel or a play and turning it into a graphic narrative. That’s where I work best, I think, in that…

"HIS VIBRANT ART BROUGHT EVEN THE MOST BIZARRE CREATURES TO LIFE" Among 1960s and ’70s comics, Gold Keys were different – they had rectangular word balloons, no panel borders and, most strikingly of all, typically painted covers. Most of these watercolour and acrylic masterpieces were painted by the astonishingly prolific George Wilson. Not to be confused with ’30s pulp cover artist George H. Wilson, this George Wilson painted covers for paperbacks from the likes of Harlequin, Avon and Dell, then covers for comics by Dell, Classics Illustrated and, of course, Gold Key after it split from Dell in 1962. Unfailingly vibrant, eye-catching and exciting, Wilson’s art brought even the most bizarre creatures to life and made characters such as Turok, Korak and the Phantom leap off the…

THE DEBUT ULTIMATE FALLOUT #4 (2011) Writer Brian Michael Bendis Artist Sarah Pichelli Debuting in a Spider-Man outfit deemed “in real poor taste” by the NYU public and D-grade villain Kangaroo, Miles’ debut wasn’t the most gracious. But with a shocking venom blast and some self deprecating quips, Miles proved himself as worthy of the Spider-Man name. Greatness from small beginnings. AMAZING SPIDER-MEN SPIDER-MEN #5 (2012) Writer Brian Michael Bendis Artist Sarah Pichelli Marvel ex-editor-in-chief Joe Quesada infamously said the day Marvel 616 teamed up with Marvel 1610 was the day Marvel “had officially run out of ideas.” The Spider-Men crossover didn’t cause the end of the world, but instead provided a fun and wholesome story arc for longtime fans to enjoy. As a story hook at the end, Peter…

“Each time I finished a drawing, I remember feeling a bit let down,” Bernie Wrightson told writer Steve Niles in 2012, talking about his illustrations for Marvel’s 1983 edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . “If I’d only worked a little harder I could nail it exactly. Several times I’d start a new version of an already finished piece, or even an incomplete one, trying and trying again to get it just right.” Seven years in the making, the book stands as testimony to Wrightson’s painstaking detail work and his lifelong love of horror. The artist died in March at the age of 68. He had retired just two months earlier from creating art and touring the convention circuit following complications from surgery for a brain tumour. His…

Cast your mind back to the 1980s: to the pop and post-punk icons, the science fiction and trash fashion. It’s a decade that’s ebbed back into modern culture over the last few years and some of the punchiest, most vibrant recent comics have been inspired by ’80s pop culture. This list isn’t definitive but it does illuminate some of the best titles that channel the ’80s zeitgeist. From teen cops sent back in time to gangs on blood-streaked streets and misfits fighting aliens in suburban towns, it’s everything you need to dive into the ’80s resurgence. MISFIT CITY Writers: Kurt Lustgarten, Kiwi Smith Artist: Naomi Franquiz Publisher: BOOM! Studios The first issue of Misfit City is coming out in May, and we’re so excited we could squee (not really, though,…

This year Paul B. Rainey turns 50. “I’m part-time in my current job,” he tells Comic Heroes . “It’s Monday till Wednesday lunchtime – then that’s it, it’s over.” The rest of the week he’s dedicating to creating comics. After a fashion. “I find I get up on a Thursday and I go, ‘I’ll just potter a bit. I’ll see who’s on The Wright Stuff...’ I don’t really get going until the afternoon.” That work-work balance (“real” work vs comics) is indicative of many creators, it’s just that few of them will admit to the day-job, propagating the myth there’s money in the industry. “Well, there is,” reasons Rainey. “But Mark Millar’s got it all.” After school, Rainey failed to get into art college (“The night before…

“YOU’RE IN THE HANDS OF A MASTER STORYTELLER HERE” Batwoman Rebirth is fantastic but, weirdly, the opening issue is difficult to recommend, especially to die-hard Batwoman fans. That’s mainly because they’ll have seen (and read) it all before. The structure, formed almost entirely of flashbacks, is so dependent on retelling Kate Kane’s origin story, there’s little fresh information here. But for new readers it’s an absolute dream – an elegant “previously on” that’ll make you feel like an expert by the time you hit the last page. Those final moments are exciting, operating as a sort of teaser trailer for anyone who’s read the previous titles, those fans who’ve been patiently waiting for something new, but it’s too little, too late. That said, it’s comforting that Rebirth isn’t…

There are few certainties in this life, but one is that every time Image announces a raft of new comics, Rick Remender’s name will appear among them. His latest, Seven to Eternity, moves away from his sci-fi roots into a fantasy world that is still Remender right down to the ground. Thrust into a typically crapsack world where death and emotional dissolution crowd in on all sides, we meet the Osidis family, living in hiding from a sinister tyrant called the God of Whispers. When they are finally tracked down, a son must take up his father’s mantle against the big bad in a setup that presents as standard fantasy epic but offers more. Remender is never one to ease his reader into a story, and he doesn’t here. The…

The cost of gentrification is explored in this biting new satire where the rich literally eat the poor and desperate. Set in Vancouver (an interesting quirk coming as it does just months after Ed Brisson’s miniseries The Violent, which explored similar issues of poverty and drugs in the same location), it’s a grimy, street-set murder mystery. Albert is a homeless drug addict, but he’s noticed that his friends have started to go missing. The police are blaming it on the increasing number of drug overdoses on the street, but could there be a more sinister reason? Obsessed with pulp noir novels, Albert nicknames himself Marlowe and starts to investigate... The answer to the mystery is clear from the off – issue 1 opens with a man being pumped full of…

Trekker – not to be confused with the fandom of a certain very popular space franchise – was a late-’80s SF series originally published by Dark Horse and then Image, set in the 23rd century on a remote, run-down planet called New Gelaph. Its protagonist, Mercy St. Clair, is a bounty hunter whose hard-bitten exterior hides a heart that’s... well, also fairly hard-bitten but not entirely beyond redemption. One of the pleasures of reading the original series was creator Ron Randall’s vision of a grubby, lived-in future universe; even if his figurework might be a little stiff, thanks to his strong design sense and classic illustrative style Mercy’s world always seemed tangibly real, which in turn made her search for meaning and purpose all the more credible and…

The demons came just under a century ago. An uneasy peace has resulted in humanity and the Shaitan, the humans who choose to let their bodies host demons, living side by side. It’s not going to last. Detective Daniel Aston is one of a group of police officers who keep the peace. After interrupting a bank robbery by demon mob boss Ulescu’s men, he’s injured but escapes with his life. That too doesn’t last. Not quite dead, not quite alive and with the life of his daughter on the line, Daniel Aston is suddenly a very powerful piece in a very old game – one where the prize is control of the world. Mike Carey and Arvind Ethan David’s script is witty and information heavy and doesn’t hang around. Aston’s…

Short of tying you up with a pair of tie-dye flares and beating you over the head with a bong, Mayday does everything it can to transport you back to the early ’70s. Cold War tensions? Check. Hallucinogen-fuelled sex? Check. Riot police brutally suppressing hippie protest? Check and check. Mayday is the first of a proposed string of espionage miniseries that writer Alex de Campi describes as “Mad Men, but with considerably more murder”. It follows a pair of Russian agents sent to the US to kill a defecting general who has a microfilm containing the names of every Soviet operative in the Far East. Known only by their codenames, Felix and Rose, the two are rumbled by the CIA and go on the run. Like…

A limited-run prequel to the ongoing Dynamite series, KISS: The Demon is aimed squarely at the teenage market (though you wonder how many teens today will have even heard of KISS). The main title is set in a dystopian future and The Demon sets out to explain how the world and its protagonists ended up in such a bad way. It takes place in Iowa as three fans form a band and set dark events in motion. Corporate intrigue, love rivalries and the parent Kiss title loom large, and to begin with it’s all a bit of a romp. However, by issue 3 things have become muddled and the pace begins to stutter as Chu employs too many captioned time-jumps (“Two hours later”, “Almost exactly one…

MOONBEAMS, DEATH DREAMS Story by David J. Heyer Art by Lou Manna Lettering by Jaymes Reed battleaxproductions.com David Heyer’s dark fable of a very bad upbringing and its very bad repercussions makes for a modern gangster noir full of volatile flair, chronicling the psychotic savagery of Al Klinger’s murderous rampage through life. There’s a disconcerting beauty at the heart of all the carnage, thanks to Lou Manna’s stark artwork and occasional splashes of claret across the panels. Its monochromatic squalor suggests shades of Will Eisner’s groundbreaking graphic novel A Contract With God. But it’s not long before the plot’s fangs fully puncture the domestic disharmony, and everything goes a bit cardiac-arrest. This book has been released as the showpiece for Heyer’s new independent self-publishing house, and the stable are constantly…

FIRST COMIC I EVER READ It was a 1960s Iron Man. I can’t honestly tell you what it was, but I remember he was guesting with the Fantastic Four. It looked like Kirby. The second one was a British ’70s reprint of Nick Fury. It was so mental. One page of a Steranko Nick Fury story is a four-part miniseries now. This guy compressed everything. I think that was a big influence. FIRST INFLUENCE ON MY WORK Alan Moore, by far. Everybody says that, but that’s because we all grew up reading his Time Twisters. I still remember one vividly, a mickey-take of Dragnet. It was basically Joe Friday and his partner. They were the time detectives. Everybody I speak to always goes, “Oh yeah, that one.” That one really…

"WE’RE GOING BACK TO DEADPOOL’S CHILDHOOD" Guest-starring Cable, Domino, Shatterstar and Cain, Deadpool: Bad Blood is more like a team book featuring all of the popular characters that Rob Liefeld created for Marvel. Harking back to the Image Comics co-founder’s formative days on titles like New Mutants and X-Force, the 112-page graphic novel introduces a new adversary, Thumper, who boasts an intriguing connection to the Merc with the Mouth’s past. “He has bad blood with Deadpool,” says Liefeld. “The story starts with a flashback that takes you back to 1991, so you see an untold tale of how a situation unfolded with Deadpool, Cable and the X-Force team. Out of that, you’ll then see Deadpool with Domino and Cain in the present day. There are a…

Joe Haldeman’s 1974 novel The Forever War remains one of the best-known and best-loved science fiction novels of all time. Some 14 years after its original publication, Haldeman translated the story into a well-received comic series drawn by artist Marvano (real name Mark van Oppen). Out of print for decades, the series is being reissued by Titan in a monthly format. The book tells the story of humanity’s war against the alien Taurans – a conflict that lasts not years or decades, but millennia. A veteran of the Vietnam war, Haldeman brought his own experiences to his darkly funny novel, which also makes head-spinning use of time dilation: whenever the human soldiers are sent out to battle, huge passages of time have passed by the time…

Comic Heroes: What can you tell us about the origins of Ka-punch? Marc Jackson: He’s my cartoony version of Kick-Ass, but more all-ages. He’s also inspired by Adam West’s Batman. Initially, like Kick-Ass he was a kid in a costume, but then I hit upon the idea of Gene the Space Genie and the concept of what a kid might ask for if granted three wishes and it went from there. CH: When did you start making comics? MJ: I remember first drawing actual comics at around 10 or 11, but I’ve drawn since I was little. I came back to actually trying to get into comics seven years ago. I had a webcomic I created called Man From Space. I did a number of versions of this character, before…

"The comic bridges the gap between the final Dirk Gently novel and the start of the TV show. They’ll all fit together" Comic Heroes: You and Dirk Gently go back a long way… Arvind Ethan David: We certainly do! I adapted Douglas Adams’ original novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency as my school play when I was 16. I played Dirk himself and it was a transformative moment for me, as it gave me street cred and made me cool. It also told me that I love theatre. I did it again at college as an undergraduate, and this time something completely amazing happened as Douglas Adams came to see it. He liked it, and seemed to like me, and told me to keep doing it. That was how my…

With 55 years of Spider-Man history being celebrated this year, there have been a multitude of stories, told across many titles, documenting the life, loves and battles of everyone’s favourite Friendly Neighbourhood Wall-Crawler. Spidey’s been married, killed and body-swapped, changed costumes, swung through the streets and been to the stars. And always – well, mostly – with a joke and a bit of banter. Here, in chronological order, are the 25 finest moments from Peter Parker’s history… AMAZING FANTASY #15 Spider-Man swung into action for the very first time in August 1962, at the hands of writer/editor Stan Lee and legendary artist Steve Ditko. The comic book was, of course, Amazing Fantasy #15, the final issue of what had been an anthology series featuring monster stories. The Marvel Age had…

Super-teams typically come together to face off against a villain that none of the heroes could vanquish individually. For the Avengers, it was nothing less than an Asgardian god, Loki. The X-Men’s first mission was to prevent evil mutant Magneto from wreaking havoc after taking control of a missile base. The new-found cosmic-ray-imbued powers of the Fantastic Four were given an airing to halt the Mole Man attacking the surface world with the aid of gigantic beasts bursting out of the sidewalk. The Justice League? They had a giant, one-eyed starfish. But hey, this was the dawn of the ’60s, and the B-movies of the previous decade meant that no-one batted an eyelid at the likes of Starro the Conqueror, come to Earth to have his wicked intergalactic way, so…

If ever there was a character who encapsulated the modern era of comic books, it’s Swamp Thing. You might fairly point to The Dark Knight Returns , or Watchmen , or a number of miniseries or landmark issues that served as the catalyst in the 1980s for the reinvention of mainstream superhero comics as a more fulfilling and mature medium. But none of it would have happened without Swamp Thing. Not that you’d know it from his roots (pun intended, of course). Swamp Thing was created by writer Len Wein and artist extraordinaire Bernie Wrightson for a one-off story in 1971 in DC horror anthology title House Of Secrets. It was a pretty typical non-canon creature feature: scientist Alex Olsen is apparently killed when…

When comics are featured in the media, the focus – if creative teams are even mentioned at all – tends to be on the artists and writers... and very often just the writers. Even the most conscientious comics fan can be guilty of asking whether the “new Grant Morrison is out”, or commenting on “Gail Simone’s latest” online. The truth is that your monthly graphic fix is usually the result of a close-working team effort. Inkers, colourists, letterers, designers... there’s a veritable army involved in creating a book beyond the typical marquee names on the cover. And do you even know what a “flatter” does? Well, here’s where you find out... and where we raise our hats to the unsung heroes who make comics the success they are, month in,…

Revenge punctuates the Western: whether it’s land or love, there’s always something to fight over and someone to avenge. Fitting, then, that Death Be Damned opens on a hot rush of blood, as Miranda Coler wakes up one day to find her family murdered. Without any explanation, our only anchor is Miranda’s steely promise of vengeance. This fixation on the flesh is brought to life by Hannah Christenson’s earthy art style. There is nothing delicate or wispy about Death Be Damned; faces drip from the page like candle wax and landscapes look as rough as hemp. In a supernatural twist, every time Miranda dies she is brought back to life, and the transition between life and death is signified when colourist Juan Useche’s palette of burnt orange and brown blots…

The 100 Bullets writer-artist team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso have reunited for a rather different era of hardboiled crime. This time they find themselves in Prohibition-era America, telling a story about a hooch brewer and the New York gangsters who have unwisely decided that they want the booze. The book focuses on Lou Pirlo, an alcoholic henchman sent to the Deep South to talk Hiram Holt into giving his boss a share of his hooch business. He soon finds himself embroiled in the violent actions of the Holt family, and hunted by the werewolf who stalks the woods. The underbelly that Azzarello and Risso create here is suitably murky, with explosions of extreme violence depicted with a black and red palette. The sprawling cast…

Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 games setting has been with us since 1987. Gothic aesthetics, iconic Space Marines and over-the-top violence have earned it a place in the pantheon of popular sci-fi universes. Beyond an info dump about the mission, these issues assume you know the history of the Imperium. Fans can expect a few Easter Eggs: an orang-utan-like Jokaero, the deployment of Imperial Knights, and one of our viewpoint characters wearing the beaky Mark VI “Corvus” armour. George Mann’s sparsely-worded story sees the Dark Angels visit the Calaphrax Cluster after 10,000 years away, conscious it conceals a secret from the past. It’s fatiguing to read characters talk in proclamations like “Suffer not the warpspawn to live!” But this is core to the cyber-medieval vibe and you get used to it.…

Herman’s humdrum, solitary life as a big-city street-cleaner includes one secret: he has the ability to completely transform his appearance and, as “Bruce,” he strides out into the city streets at night. What for is unclear, but people shrink from him and dogs bark at him as he passes. He also keeps up a running narration on what he is doing, reinforcing the artificiality. One night Bruce is there when enigmatic film auteur Mio issues a casting call for performers for her new film. The queues are endless and the auditions go on for days; Herman’s job, the rest of his life and the city’s activities (seen as passing tableaus) all fall by the wayside. He eventually wins a part in the film but the outcome is not what anyone…

It’s so hard being a superhero sometimes! All that running before you’ve even had your morning coffee, and your costume ripping while you’re trying to fight... Empowered may be nearing ten years old but it’s as subversive and playful as ever. Superheroes are celebrities who drink too much, paperwork must be filled in after weapons or vehicles are deployed for battle, and Empowered is an everyday girl who always rips her suit in unfortunate places. It’s laugh-out-loud hilarious, and whip-smart. The best thing in the series so far is glorious supervillain the Soldier Of Love. A prickly pink-haired antiheroine who brandishes a magic wand like a vape pen, she’s an evil Cupid who’s stolen our hearts. Writer: Adam Warren Artist: Karla Diaz Publisher: Dark Horse Format: 3-issue series Reviewed: Issue…

Steve Niles is no stranger to the horror genre, having made a bloody mark with his vampires in Alaska tale 30 Days Of Night with Ben Templesmith. “Deadly Season”, the latest volume of The October Faction, reunites Niles with Damien Worm to tell the continuing tale of the Allan family. Like a cross between The Addams Family and Justice League Dark, the Allans include a witch, a warlock and a thrill killer amongst their number. After 30 years of monster hunting, Frederick Allan has retired to become a teacher, while also hiding out from the enemies he’s amassed over three decades. Niles’s dialogue is witty throughout, and over the first few issues he doesn’t waste time, cutting straight to the chase as Frederick is found by…

COMIC HEROES: Who are you working with on Accent UK and how did you come to do so? Dave West: Back in the early 2000s there was quite an active small press scene in Manchester and a few of us decided to save costs for the forthcoming Bristol Comics Expo by sharing a table. From this group, Colin Mathieson and I shared a creative vision of our own imprint, which led to Accent UK being formed, and we’ve worked together ever since. Producing annual anthologies gave me an opportunity to work with a large number of creators, which led to artistic collaborations with: Andy Bloor on Wolfmen, Gary Crutchley on WesterNoir, Marleen Lowe on Fastest Man, Joe Campbell on Invisible Man and INDIO! (Brad Tuttle) on Stephenson’s Robot. I’m still…