The unseen Ron Embleton - catalgoue now available

Messum's art gallery have now released (here) the catalogue to accompany their extraordinary upcoming exhibition, The unseen Ron Embleton (9th January - 1st February). 

The 36 page catalogue (priced at £15) includes a number of Ron's previously unseen abstract artworks, see a selection below, as well as 5 page article, by Peter Richardson, on his more famous illustration artwork.

The catalogue is available to download as a pdf if you prefer not to purchase it. 

Still no sign of the prices for these pieces :)

Achtung Commando! - issues 3+4

So here we go with issue 3 - best cover yet I reckon!

64 pages in this issue - contents are...

editorial

interview with George Low

Commando index - issues 61-90

Commando comics and me - Harry Warren

The writer's craft - a closer look at Harry Warren's Commandos

Ken Barr - the comic strips

Issue 4 then...

64 pages in this issue - mind you the size of the font has doubled (to something more readable!)

Published in May 2002

editorial

interview with Ian Kennedy

Ian Kennedy - the Air Ace years

Commando index - issues 91-100

Denis Mcloughlin - an appreciation

plus page after page of Ian Kennedy art - even I thought this issue was paying £15 for in 2002

It was (I discovered after buying up back issues on eBay many years later) - a great magazine this, the like of which I wish still existed today. All 4 issues are well worth seeking out by anybody with an interest in British comics.

Achtung Commando! - issue 1+2

Back in the day I remember seeing adverts in Comics International for this (occasional) series of "fanzines" for Commando. Fanzine doesn't really do them justice, these are A5, full colour throughout. If you could have got them in Tesco you'd be calling them a magazine. But there we go, editor Peter Richardson was doing his best dammit. Anyway, at the time I slightly balked at the price (£15 was a lot then), only bought issue 4, regretted not buying issues 1-3 and then spent years waiting fro them to turn up on eBay. Anyhoo, here are issue 1-2 and contents detail. Issue 3+4 coming up soon.

Contents are as follows:
52 pages
Interview with Ken Barr
The Commando index - issues 1-30 (publication date, cover art and story art)
Patrick Wright - an appreciation
Commando - a personal recollection (by David Whitehead)


Issue 2

Contents are as follows:
80 pages in this issue - the longest issue that was published
editorial & letters
Writing for Commando - by David Whitehead
50 years of writing with Syd J. Bounds - by Steve Holland
The Commando index - issues 31-60 (publication date, cover art and story art)
Denis Mcloughlin - by Steve Holland
Shooting from the hip - an interview with Denis McLoughlin

Advertising comics (3) - Road Maniax, issue 2

So here's the cover to issue 2 (cover dated December 1995)

Story 1 art by Barrie Mitchell, script by Ian Rimmer and lettering by John Aldrich

Story 2 art by Peter Richardson, script by Ian Rimmer and lettering by Tom Frame

Story 3 art by Jon Haward, script by Ian Rimmer and lettering by Tom Frame

The centrespread is again by Jon Haward (as is the cover) - sadly, the 2nd and last issue.

Advertising comics (2) - Road Maniax, issue 1

Published in late October 1995 by Fleetway Editions Ltd. this was a 2 issue mini-series promoting the Hot Wheels 'Road Maniax' brand (it seems to have been called 'Road Wars' in the USA - ebay shows items or sale under both brand names)

'Road Maniax' story illustrated by Jon Haward, script by Ian Rimmer and lettering by Tom Frame. Some good art by Jon Haward here, not as good as his 'Fear Pavilion' work but a cut above nonetheless.

'Taking Liberty' story illustrated by Peter Richardson, script by Ian Rimmer and lettering by Tom Frame. All the usual stylised ultra-violence that we saw in 'Streets of rage' is again all present and correct here

'Of machine and men' story illustrated by Barrie Mitchell, script by Ian Rimmer and lettering by Tom Frame. I'm used to seeing Barrie's work on football strips, so it's a very pleasant change to see him illustrating something different and something more adult.

Overall, this 24 page comic features art by 3 top-drawer names and is well worth tracking down.

Ravette (5) - Streets of rage

After the sedate adventures of a spinning blue hedgehog we now turn our attention to a slightly different proposition

with a cover adapted from issue 7 of Sonic the Comic [STC], yes, it's Streets of rage - bad city fighters.

Streets of Rage initially ran from issue 7-12 of STC and it's those 6 issues that are reprinted here. To be honest I'm not sure what this story is doing in the pages of Sonic.
According to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streets_of_Rage
The story (in which Axel, Blaze, and Max quit the highly corrupt police force to do more good as vigilantes, taking down Max's ex-partner, the crime lord and martial artist Hawk) is based on the video game Streets of Rage 2.


Really this is so much more violent than anything that ever featured that blue hedgehog, well worth picking up. On the other hand, this is quite hard to find, laughably, Bookfinder.com have 4 copies listed all at just under $1000 (each, obviously). Happy hunting!




Scripted by Mark Millar MBE, illustrated by Peter Richardson, lettering by Tom Frame