Johnny Nemo vintage t-shirt

I'm always happy to feature a bit of vintage comics merchandise on the blog and today is no exception! Here are some images (swiped from an ebay sale some months ago) of a vintage Johnny Nemo t-shirt. Art from Deadline by Brett Ewins. Co-creator credit to Peter Milligan by the looks of it.

After Image fanzine

I'm grateful to friend of the blog Ewan Brownlow for today's covers gallery. This is a fanzine that I've always liked the look of but only have one issue of (#3). For fellow fanzine collectors then this is what you're looking for.

Note that Lew Stringer also produced a fanzine called After Image which these issues are not to be confused with. 

No.1 and 2 are super rare and had no distribution beyond ACE

No.3 was given out free at UKCAC 1987

4, 5, 6 & 7 were sold nationally in comic shops

After Image #1

After Image #2

cover image not to hand - can you help?

After Image #3 - cover by Glenn Fabry

After Image #4 - cover by Kevin O'Neill

interview with Kevin O'Neill 

Nostalgia & Comics advert by Hunt Emerson

letter from Ewan Brownlow

Original art by Kev O'Neill

Steve Holland talks to Richard Rayner & Vincent Danks

After Image #5 - cover by Barry Kitson

After Image #6 - cover by Simon Bisley

After Image #7 - cover by Brett Ewins

A1 (1992) by Atomeka & Epic

A couple of recent purchases (and the death of Garry Leach) has spurred me on to look at Atomeka Press. A look at the Grand Comics database (here) is helpful (thanks for the images!) but incomplete. So, I thought I'd try and rustle up my own complete (?) list of Atomeka publications.

I've looked at the original A1 series (from 1989) here

The Epic comics anthology (from 1992) is here

Now, thanks to friend of the blog Reuben Willmott we can look at some more Atomeka titles...

From 1992 this production with Epic was a colour (!) [rather than black & white] run featuring new material

A1 book one, Epic comics & Atomeka, 1992, cover by Glenn Fabry

all contents details here - controbutors include Ilya, Steve White, Roger Langridge, Glenn Fabry, Annie Parkhouse & more

A1 book two, Epic comics & Atomeka, 1992, cover by Hunt Emerson

all contents details here - contributors include Steve White, Nick Abadzis, Roger Langridge, Philip Bond, Peter Milligan, Jamie Hewlett, Glyn Dillon & more

A1 book three, Epic comics & Atomeka, 1992, cover by Simon Bisley

all contents details here - contributors include Dan Abnett, Gary Erskine, Pedro Henry, Colin MacNeil, Roger Langridge, Peter Milligan, Jamie Hewlett, Glyn Dillon & more

A1 book four, Epic comics & Atomeka, 1992, cover by Jamie Hewlett

all contents details here - contributors include Peter Milligan, Jamie Hewlett, Glyn Dillon, Dave McKean, Roger Langridge & more

World Aids day 2021

Here's my comic-y contribution to World Aids day - it's some of the highlights from this 1987 A4 56 page black and white magazine...

If you've enjoyed the blog today then please consider donating to the Terrence Higgins Trust (who can be found here)

World Aids day 2020

Here's my comic-y contribution to World Aids day - it's some of the highlights from this 1987 A4 56 page black and white magazine...

If you've enjoyed the blog today then please consider donating to the Terrence Higgins Trust (who can be found here)

Summer of love - part 2

Cut from the pages of the shortlived News on Sunday newspaper (in 1987) are these strips by comic creators Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy

Part 1 is here

from May 31st 1987

from June 7th 1987

from June 14th 1987

World Aids day 2019

Here's my comic-y contribution to World Aids day - it's some of the highlights from this 1987 A4 56 page black and white magazine...

If you've enjoyed the blog today then please consider donating to the Terrence Higgins Trust (who can be found here)

Black Crown party tonight @ Orbital comics

This party is tonight...have fun & check out the Philip Bond exhibition while you're there...

Orbital comics have announced some a great sounding night in-store on Saturday 26th October (plus the opening of a new exhibition) - let's see what they have to say...

...Orbital Comics proudly invites you to an enormous event with none other than curation operation Black Crown!

Founded in 2017 by Shelly Bond, Black Crown’s mission has been to harbour an environment wherein creators and creations commingle, corrupt and correlate to new comic book series. This alternative comics manifesto has lead to runaway successes, like Punks Not Dead, Kid Lobotomy, Assassinistas, Lodger, Femme Magnifique and of course Black Crown Quarterly.

The show kicks off at 6pm on Saturday 26th October with a mega signing, featuring a wealth of creators from the Black Crown talent pool, including….

…. then you’re invited to stick around for a free after-hours party running late into the evening. DJs, drinks and all manner of lush Black Crown swag to be had!

And! And! And! The party also doubles as launch night for a very special Philip Bond Retrospective Exhibition which will be adorning the walls of the Orbital Gallery. The exhibition runs until 27 November.

Needless to say, we’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting this total bonanza of Black Crown goodness. Saturday 26th of October, Orbital’s gonna be the place to be

Black Crown party & Philip Bond @ Orbital comics

Orbital comics have announced some a great sounding night in-store on Saturday 26th October (plus the opening of a new exhibition) - let's see what they have to say...

...Orbital Comics proudly invites you to an enormous event with none other than curation operation Black Crown!

Founded in 2017 by Shelly Bond, Black Crown’s mission has been to harbour an environment wherein creators and creations commingle, corrupt and correlate to new comic book series. This alternative comics manifesto has lead to runaway successes, like Punks Not Dead, Kid Lobotomy, Assassinistas, Lodger, Femme Magnifique and of course Black Crown Quarterly.

The show kicks off at 6pm on Saturday 26th October with a mega signing, featuring a wealth of creators from the Black Crown talent pool, including….

…. then you’re invited to stick around for a free after-hours party running late into the evening. DJs, drinks and all manner of lush Black Crown swag to be had!

And! And! And! The party also doubles as launch night for a very special Philip Bond Retrospective Exhibition which will be adorning the walls of the Orbital Gallery. The exhibition runs until 27 November.

Needless to say, we’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting this total bonanza of Black Crown goodness. Saturday 26th of October, Orbital’s gonna be the place to be

Forbidden Planet - 40 years of signings celebrated

Forbidden Planet have just released a slim (but glossy) 16 page (US sized) magazine highlighting 40 years of signings at their various stores.

Fans of British comics will be delighted to see a brand new Brian Bolland cover and photos of numerous comic creators including Rian Hughes, Mike McMahon, John Wagner, Ron Smith, Dave Gibbins, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Pete Milligan, Mark Millar, Dan Abnett, Cam Kennedy, Lee Sullivan and Simon Bisley.

Here's a few selected images...good luck securing a copy (the main Forbidden Planet store on Shaftesbury Avenue in London had run out of copies the other day).

My spare copy is for sale here

Peter Milligan signing tonight

Don't forget that this is happening tonight people...

Fresh from his Prisoner and Dan Dare recent signing at Forbidden Planet (see his scribbles on my comics here), Peter Milligan has been, er, signed up for a signing at Orbital comics on Thursday 23rd May. Maybe see you there?

A Peter Milligan signing is announced

Fresh from his Prisoner and Dan Dare recent signing at Forbidden Planet, Peter Milligan has been, er, signed up for a signing at Orbital comics on Thursday 23rd May. Maybe see you there?

Recent Signings - New Comic Treasures!

The fruits of Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) signings on Saturday...

Isabel Greenberg did this great A4 illustration for my copy of 'The Encyclopaedia of Early Earth'

At the other end of the scale, here's a Tom Gauld sketch in my copy of 'Mooncop'

A host of 2000ad creatives were at Orbital 

This, thanks to Stephen Collins, makes it look as thought it was MY gigantic beard that was evil, not to worry though as it's not a portrait

A blow up of the BirdMan from Isabel...

From the Peter Milligan signing at Forbidden Planet last week...

 ...and this as well...

Dan Dare signing this afternoon - don't forget!

This is happening this afternoon, don't forget!

The Forbidden Planet megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue (in central London) has announced that on Saturday 28th April 2018 1-2pm, writer Pete Milligan will be signing copies of the collected edition of his recent Titan comics series.

As they say on the website...

Dan Dare returns in an all new adventure, written by Peter Milligan, in which he faces a sinister new foe sent by a deadly ancient evil that threatens not only all life in the solar system, but the very galaxy itself!

Peter Milligan is an award-winning London-based writer of comic books and graphic novels, published in many languages throughout the world. His work includes ground-breaking titles such as the psychedelic Shade The Changing Man and SKIN, about a skinhead suffering from the effects of Thalidomide, up to Greek Street, an homage to Greek myth seen through the prism of violent modern-day London. His work also includes the more mainstream, from Batman to the successful and critically acclaimed re-imagining of the X-Men myth: X-STATIX, described by Kevin Smith as “the most well-observed scholarly analysis of media-manipulation filtered through a pop-culture lens ever committed to the page”. He has also had two films produced: Pilgrim starring Ray Liotta and An Angel For May, starring Tom Wilkinson.

The signed edition is available to pre-order from the Forbidden Planet website here priced at £13.99

The unsigned edition is available to pre-order from the Forbidden Planet website here priced at £11.99

2000ad con - bits & pieces (3)

For any Peter Milligan fans out there...
Here's a copy of the hard to find "Rogan Gosh - star of the East", reprinting work initially published in Revolver magazine

This explains the story better than I can...

And here's Peter's signature

If you're put off by the excessive amounts of Eastern mysticism permeating this book, never fear because, as Peter explained to me, the 'corridor of uncertainty' referenced in the 3rd panel here is actually a reference to Geoffrey Boycott's cricketing commentary (where he coined this very phrase).

Here's a shot of the one and only strip Peter Milligan wrote for the new Eagle - this particular episode is from the issue dated 14th Feb 1987 - so 30 years ago today!