Comics UK

Digifiend wrote: That's ridiculous! Magazines aren't delivered according to what country they're from, but according to what day the publisher says it's to be released on!

Not in the case of comic specialist shops. They get their deliveries of American comics on Thursday (which come out in the USA the day before) from Diamond Distributors. Sounds like in this case Worlds Apart get their comics a day earlier than most other comic shops in the UK. Presumably Crikey isn't going the long route via America so it'd appear in shops on a different day. Besides, distributors and comic shops give priority to getting the latest American comics on their shelves because that's what 99% of their customers want.

Remember we're not talking about newsagents. This is a totally different system.

Lew

At my local Forbidden Planet some American comics (indies), some books and the manga titles come in on Wednesday, the US Marvel and DC comics come in Thursday, and I think the new Crikey came in on Saturday (the Saturday before the official Monday release date).

Lew Stringer wrote:Sounds like in this case Worlds Apart get their comics a day earlier than most other comic shops in the UK. Presumably Crikey isn't going the long route via America so it'd appear in shops on a different day.

How about this? On my way to catch a train at Lime Street this morning I allowed myself enough time to call into Worlds Apart for Crikey! 13. Guess what, it hadn't arrived! When I reminded the same assistant I spoke to yesterday about his statement that the English material arrived on Fridays, he said that most of it does but sometimes it could be the following Monday or Tuesday, it depends on the distributor. There are two different ones it seems, one for the American material, which always arrives on Wednesdays, and another for the English, which always arrives on Fridays,.......or maybe that's only when there's an 'l' in the month. It didn't seem to disturb him that his casual attitude and partial explanations could have been the cause of my making two pointless and expensive journeys. Are there no certainties anymore?

It wasn't in Forbbiden Planet in Glasgow either yesterday I'm afraid. I was told it would be in soon though so I can wait. Still its a pity US and English (and other UK)local books arrive at different times (and later ) - still looking forward to seeing the new Cloak strip (and reading the articles of course)

So it's not just Liverpool. Seems like there's been a distribution delay then.

Classics, the Commando's and 2000AD

Given the thread about Classics broadening it's horizons in it's own forum i was expecting a sort of "mini re-launch" but it's just about business as usual, the editors section doesn't even mention it!

Oh well, what with the few people a while ago suggesting a parallel version dedicated to adventure comics, it appears to have 'kind of' happened, only instead of a new publication the existing one has just evolved.

What's special about this month's Classics is it's the first time Scoop comic has been used. The adventure strips changes happened about 18 months ago, they did an issue with nothing but Beano material for it's 70th birthday and started using the boys adventure comics the following month.

One of the recent comics I bought was Torpedo, volume one of five. Not a British comic, but a Spanish comic, published by IDW Publishing. Not sure if this is allowed in this Forum, seeing as how it isn't British. But if you haven't read it, I highly recommend this work. Artwork is by Jordi Bernetof Jonah Hex fame. The first two stories were drawn by Alex Toth, but he didn't like the way the series was going and left. Bernet's artwork for me is perfect for the strip.

Torpedo, Luca Torelli is a killer who as a young man moved from Italy to New York to find a better life in the 1930's. Needless to say he doesn't find it. And from there sort of drifted into killing people for a living. And these stories tell of his kills and occasionally his back story.

Torelli is a pretty disgusting character, who doesn't do kindly favours for people. And if he does, he wants his pound of 'flesh' (literally in a couple of cases), from the people who asked for his help.

What I like about the stories is Bernet's artwork and Sanchez Abuli's excellent scripts. Torpedo, works out elaborate and inventive plans to bump off his targets. These are hard-boiled stories, at there most hard-boiled.

VictorHornet wrote:One of the recent comics I bought was Torpedo, volume one of five. Not a British comic, but a Spanish comic, published by IDW Publishing. Not sure if this is allowed in this Forum, seeing as how it isn't British. But if you haven't read it, I highly recommend this work. Artwork is by Jordi Bernetof Jonah Hex fame.

Fear not, there is a British connection. Jordi Bernet was the artist of The Legend Testers in Smash! in the 1960s. Excellent artist, highly regarded in the industry by many UK pros.

Lew

Nothing from the UK for me in town today - I bought Showcase Presents Secrets of Sinister House; a bumper 496 page collection of the early 70s DC horror anthology, which began its first four issues as Gothic romance title The Sinister House of Secret Love (which sounds a bit like a British girls' comic serial), plus the new Jonah Hex.

However I did win a number of consecutive issues of Cor!! from early 1972 on Ebay. I'm hoping one of these may contain the very last Kid Chameleon strip, though I'm not sure exactly when it ended.

I bought GI.Joe comic Issue 6 and it's the last one another UK comic bites the dust.

steelclaw wrote:I bought GI.Joe comic Issue 6 and it's the last one another UK comic bites the dust.

Shame, especially when one realises that Action Man was a big seller for Panini just a few years back. I think this proves that little kids just aren't interested in adventure comics now.

It's a funny old game isn't it? Publishers have pitched comics younger, because older kids don't read them, but young kids don't go out shopping so they're not likely to discover comics. My guess is it's the parents who start them on The Beano and (obviously) the nursery titles. GI Joe? Good comic, but how would most kids know it existed?

I think it really is time that UK comic publishers aimed at new outlets, - Manga style comics to sell in bookshops and game stores for example. Chunky 200 page black and white comics cheaply printed on bog paper, with a dynamic in yer face style to attract modern kids.

But that's easy for me to say. I'm not a publisher.

Lew

G.I Joe was launched on the back of the G. I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra film which came out last August and wasn't especially a big hit, I don't think. Launching a comic as a tie-in to a film isn't really the way to get a long-running comic title; the Star Trek comic did the same around the same time. They could last a while if, like with Transformers, the film is a massive hit and a sequel soon follows, but often the buzz around a film will only last a short while.

I wonder if a Percy Jackson comic will emerge in a few weeks when Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief is released.

Rejoice with me, folks. Crikey! 13 is now in the onion bag!! I popped into Worlds Apart in Lime Street on my weary way to my Merseyrail service this afternoon and, would you believe it, there must have been a dozen of them stacked on a shelf facing forwards. I hadn't seen today's assistant before and naturally he had no idea when they came in. He said, It's all down to the distributors when they deliver. I didn't bother explaining that we'd been down that road before.

Raven wrote:G.I Joe was launched on the back of the G. I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra film which came out last August and wasn't especially a big hit, I don't think. Launching a comic as a tie-in to a film isn't really the way to get a long-running comic title.

Indeed, the Action Man comic Lew Mentioned (if he means the 90's one i remember my brother getting anyway) came out at the same time as an animated series about the character (not sure it was on TV? I remember him having videos of it). Also i seem to remember a brief rise in popularity of the toys at the same time... though that might just have been my brother getting into it and so i noticed it more.