Posted on

Cor!! & Buster Special: go bananas with KID KONG!

Prepare to guffaw and giggle your way through the all-new Cor!! & Buster Humour Special from the Treasury of British Comics – out on 17th April!

Taking the greatest comedy characters British comics has to offer, the new special bring old favourites into the 21st Century and is guaranteed to raise a smile!

Longtime 2000 AD writer Alec Worley and artist Tiernen Trevallion get to go completely ape in the Special with their take on the classic Robert Nixon strip, Kid Kong. With a plentiful supply of bananas, we sat down to chat…

With the Cor!! & Buster Special you’re giving us your take on the Kid Kong strip. What was your approach to it?

Alec Worley: It’s just a three-pager and my approach was pretty much to just preserve the original premise and characters while upping the pace for modern readers.

Tiernen Trevallion: Yes, I imagined [with one eye] that it was an animation.

Alec and Tiernan, you’re both well known around these parts for your work on 2000 AD. So, what was it that drew you to delivering a very different version of Kid Kong for the Cor!! & Buster Special?

AW: As wonderful as the old strips are, a lot of modern humour comics for kids have a much more manic pace and the gross humour has gone up a fair few notches since the ‘70s. Look at strips like ‘Star Cat’ in The Phoenix, graphic novels like Dog Man, and shows like, say, Star vs. The Forces of Evil and Gumball; this is the kind of thing modern kids are used to. You can’t really replicate the pace of the old strips without producing a museum piece. Like it or not, you have to move with the times.

Tiernen, your version of Kid Kong certainly looks very different from Robert Nixon’s original when you first see it. But, comparing the originals to this, you’ve kept so much, the look of Kid Kong is unchanged, the ideas of the strip the same. It’s in the colours, I think, that you’ve stamped a new look on the strip?

TT: I’d say that the line work is certainly adapted from the original. I saw this more of a homage rather than a reinvention. With the colour I was trying for something a bit muted for the first page, where Kid’s a bit miserable, moving to the brightly coloured nirvana of the ‘Banana-Con’. Most of the looks and designs came from Alec’s script, however I did want to re-design Kid’s Gran slightly. For some reason I thought it was funny to make her a bit more ancient and hag like.

How did you decide on the strip, was it something you asked for or did the editor get in touch?

AW: Keith Richardson [Cor!! & Buster Special editor] asked me to pitch for it. But I was a fan of the original and I like big gorillas, so I was well up for it!

TT: Yes, Keith asked me. It was quite a departure!

How did you approach the balance between crafting something new and staying true to the spirit of the originals?

AW: I think all you’re really doing is just introducing the same character but to modern audience. So the characters stay the same; they’re just in a different setting and with a more modern tone.

When it comes to those originals, were you old enough to read them the first time around or have you come to them later?

AW: Yeah, I grew up on this stuff. Whizzer and Chips, Shiver and Shake, Buster, School Fun, etc. Anything with monsters in were particular faves.

The special is another part of the Treasury of British Comics, where we’ve already seen plenty of classic strips reprinted. What do you think of what’s been done thus far and what are you particularly looking forward to seeing, whether reprint or brand-new?

AW: I think Rob Williams and Ben Willsher have done an amazing job on Roy of the Rovers, and would love to see more original graphic novels like that on the shelves.

TT: Not really a Treasury strip, but as I did a Fiends of the Eastern Front with Ian Edginton, I might be biased! Hoping to do more of that… there are plans… I’ve no doubt there are some strips that could be reinvented to keep the the characters intact and bring them to a new audience. Perhaps a quarterly anthology?

With the Cor!! & Buster Special, we’re seeing these classics updated for a modern audience, something that’s essential to keep the comics medium flourishing. What are your thoughts on comics for children and how do you see things developing in the future?

AW: The market for children’s graphic novels is colossal. Books by Dave Pilkey and Raina Telgemeier have initial print runs in the millions! I’m sure one of Pilkey’s last Dog Man books was something crazy like five mill! Yet this never seems to get talked about in grown-up circles. Perhaps comics for adults are so insular and self-important these days such things never register on their news radar.

One thing I’m glad to see left behind is the notion of ‘comics for boys’ and ‘comics for girls’. So many publishers and authors have come out against gender-branding children’s books, the ‘Let Books Be Books’ campaign and so on, and it’s great to see Rebellion going the same way with things like the all-ages specials.

Looking ahead, I honestly think the future’s bright for kids’ GNs. However shaky things may be in in the adult market right now, the kids who are learning to love comics through Roy of the Rovers, Dog Man and Smile will swoop in to save us in a few years time…

TT: To be completely honest, I wasn’t keen on those ‘kids comics’ when I was a kid. I loved the artwork, but things like the Beano didn’t mean much to me. I was more into Tintin or Asterix, until the day I stumbled across EC comics, and then 2000 AD. So I’m not sure I can answer that question effectively!

How did you make your way into comics?

AW: Through the subs pile at 2000 AD. I wrote script after script after script. Made submission after submission. Listened to every scrap of feedback and eventually figured out how the medium worked.

TT: First thing I did was for the Black Library, the Games Workshop’s publishing company. I was a fan of the games the GW produce. I had a concept I wanted to publish, so I thought I’d better get into print.

What is your background, and what have you worked on thus far?

AW: I’ve been a freelance writer for almost 20 years, during which time I’ve done subediting, copywriting, comics, audio dramas and fiction. I had a good hard apprenticeship with 2000 AD before going out into the world and working on European children’s comics like Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’ve also done lots of custom work, and am now starting to break into the world of Warhammer fiction and audio dramas.

TT: I’ve worked as an illustrator and artist since leaving school in the early eighties. Didn’t really start on comics commercially until quite late on… without looking about 15 years ago? …probably more…

And with that, we leave them, happy in the corner, bananas in hand. Comic creators and giant apes… they love them! The Cor! & Buster Special goes on sale 17th April 2019 from all good newsagents and comic shops (Diamond PREVIEWS order code FEB191918)

Posted on

OUT NOW: Fran of the Floods

The latest collection from the Treasury of British Comics is a forgotten classic with a very modern message…

Written by Alan Davidson with art by Phil Gascoine, Fran of the Floods is set in a world where runaway climate change has resulted in the melting of the polar ice caps, causing an onslaught of never ending rain.

As Fran Scott’s town begins to disappear underwater and, after losing her parents in the chaos, she decides to seek out her sister June in Scotland. But as society begins to crumble around her, Fran must overcome a vast array of dangers, including disease, wild animals, marauding gangs of vicious thugs and most bizarre of all, the self-proclaimed King of Glasgow!

Jinty was a weekly comic for girls, but with a difference, published by Fleetway from 1974 to 1981. While other girls’ comics focused on romance and soap opera, Jinty concentrating on science fiction and fantastical stories. Many of the stories addressed concerns of the time, with the growing environmentalism of the 1970s manifesting itself in stories such as FranJassy’s Wand of PowerThe Green People, and The Birds.

Buy now from the Treasury of British Comics webshop >>
Buy now from Amazon >>
Posted on

Order the first Creepy Creations T-shirt now!

As chosen by the fans, you can now get one of the legendary Creepy Creations on a quality tee – it’s the ‘The Fanatical Fungus-Grower of Frogpool’!!

Order yours now >>

The Fungus-Grower is just one of seventy-nine Creepy Creations from Shiver and Shake, which began in 1973 with the ‘The One-Eyed Wonk of Wigan’. Readers were then invited to send in their sketches for further instalments and winners would see their creation brought to full-colour life by various artists, though mainly by the legendary Ken Reid.

Order the Creepy Creations collection >>

This glorious riot of the grotesque was voted by online fans as the one they’d most like to see on the first Creepy Creations T-shirt!

Available to order now in multiple sizes and colours, and printed in the UK, this quality T-shirt is mandatory wear for any fan of the comically macabre!

  • Available in both unisex and women’s cuts on Fruit of the Loom shirts.
  • Available colours: Black, White, Royal Blue, Classic Olive, Red, Sunflower.
  • Available in sizes 3XL (unisex) and 2XL (women’s)
Posted on

Coming to comic book stores in May – Operation: Overlord #1

Rebellion’s Battle imprint is to bring the stories of the beaches of Normandy in 1944 to the direct comics market with Operation: Overlord #1.

The international best-selling graphic novel series by writers Michael Le Galli and Bruna Falba and artist Davide Fabbri, translated into English for the first time, is being published in a four-issue mini-series for comic book stores from this May.

Issue one, focusing on American forces fighting around the French town of Saint-Mere-Eglise, will hit comic book stores on 29th May. It will be available for stores to order from the April Previews magazine from Diamond Distribution.

The acclaimed bandee desinee series tells four extraordinary tales of heroism set during the Normandy landings on D-Day, June 6th 1944. Each 48-page issue is a stand-alone story, set in separate locations such as Saint-Mere-Eglise, Merville, and of course Omaha Beach.

The largest amphibious landing in history, Operation: Overlord – popularly known as ‘D-Day’ – saw American, British, Canadian, and Free French forces storm four separate beaches on the north French coast as the opening gambit in the Allied invasion of Europe.

The whole series has been drawn by Davide Fabbri, an artist well known for his Star Wars comics for Dark Horse and, more recently, his Hellblazer run at DC Comics.

Series editor Oliver Pickles said: “I am really looking forward to bringing Operation: Overlord to an Anglophone audience for the first time – the series has been hugely popular in France, with each book focusing on a different event of the D-Day landings, for instance there is a whole 48 page issue dedicated to the Omaha Beach assault by Easy Company.

“Being able to publish such an acclaimed series for the direct market, and especially under the imprint of Battle, is a fantastic opportunity to bring new stories and new comics to a much wider audience.”

Operation: Overlord #1 will be on sale on 29th May from comic book stores, retailing at £4.99/$6.99

Posted on

Make 2019 extra special with EIGHT new 2000 AD and Rebellion comic specials!

Rebellion is making holidays special again with a whole slate of classic comic book specials for new readers and nostalgic parents alike, resurrecting some of the most beloved comic books in British history – with all new material!

From humour to football, from superheroes to girls’ comics, these EIGHT new specials between April and October will be packed with all-new material, each one honouring a different part of the British comic industry – Cor!! & Buster Special, 2000 AD Regened, 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special, Tammy & Jinty Special, The Vigilant, Roy of the Rovers 65th Anniversary Special, and Scream & Misty Presents The Thirteenth Floor. Plus there’s the already-announced 2000 AD Villains Takeover Special!

And eager readers can now order the 2019 Specials Bundle*, which includes Cor!! & Buster, the 2000 AD Villains Special, the 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special, the Tammy & Jinty Special, The Vigilant, and Scream & Misty Presents: The Thirteenth Floor Special!

Order the 2019 Specials Bundle now >>

Buster and Cor!! were two of the biggest humour comics in Britain – and now they’re back and they’ve brought their friends! The 48-page Cor!! & Buster Special will hit newsstands in on 17th April, retailing at £4.99. From the world’s naughtiest baby, Sweeny Toddler, to Gums, the most incompetent shark in the seven seas, this one-shot special will feature top comics talent including a cover by Neil Googe (The Flash), and strips by Ned Hartley (Star Wars), Cavan Scott (Doctor Who), Abigail Bulmer (2000 AD) and Tanya Roberts (TMNT)!

The dastardly and the iniquitous will be taking over 2000 AD on 4th May – the 32-page US-format 2000 AD Villains Takeover special sees the baddies from some of the 2000 AD’s biggest strips, including Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, and Sláine, get their moment in the spotlight! Available only from comic book stores for the low price of just 99p/99c!

On 8th May, the kids are taking over as 2000 AD gives way to 2000 AD Regened – a one-off special issue of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic intended for all ages! Following the massively successful Free Comic Book Day issue of Regened in 2018, the pint-sized anti-heroes return for another bumper Prog for kids of all ages and species! 2000 AD Prog 2130 will be 48packed pages, retailing at £4.99 from all good stockists!

In 2018, the comics world lost one of its best creators – Carlos Ezquerra. This June, the 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special  will pay tribute to the co-creator of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog with a special issue focusing on some of his greatest moments. It will also include his unpublished work on Specter, a new series he was working on with long-time collaborator John Wagner. The 48-page special hits shelves on 19th June at £4.99.*

In the 1970s and 1980s, comics aimed at girls outsold those aimed at boys – and Tammy and Jinty were two of the biggest titles. This June, these classic titles return, retooled for the 21st Century and with a host of new creators producing high-quality strips that pay tribute to the legacy of trail-blazing comics while introducing a new audience to the medium! The 48-page Tammy & Jinty Special lands on 27 June, priced at £4.99.

After its smash hit debut last year, The Vigilant returns in August, resurrecting the greatest home-grown superheroes Britain has to offer – a team unlike any other, a challenge none have faced before! Even if superhero comics have never been your thing, take up the call of The Vigilant with this 64-page special – out on 14th August , priced at £4.99.

Following his spectacular return to comics, Roy of the Rovers gets his first new special in September for his 65th birthday and the start of the new footie season! The golden-footed hero is back for a new generation! The Roy of the Rovers 65th Anniversary Special kicks off on 11th September with a bumper 128-page £9.99 issue!

And in time for Hallowe’en, the Scream & Misty Presents The Thirteenth Floor arrives on 16th October with a 48-page £4.99 special filled with the best chills that British comics can deliver! Created by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and José Ortiz, The Thirteenth Floor is where the homicidal caretaker computer Max puts those he doesn’t like – a mysterious floor of the tower block he controls where he keeps their worst fears. Few, if any, survive if they get on Max’s wrong side!

Rebellion specials will be available from good newsagents, as well as comic book stores via Diamond Distribution, and through 2000 AD’s webshop and apps.

* Does not include 2000 AD Regened or Roy of the Rovers specials.

Posted on

PRE-ORDER NOW: Fran of the Flood

A book that couldn’t be more relevant if it tried – from the pages of the legendary Jinty comes a story for our times that is ideal for young readers and nostalgists alike.

Fran of the Floods by Alan Davidson and Phil Gasgoine is available to pre-order now >>

Due to increased climate change the sun melts the ice caps, causing an onslaught of never ending rain. As Fran Scott’s town begins to disappear underwater and, after losing her parents in the chaos, she decides to seek out her sister June in Scotland.

But as society begins to crumble around her, Fran must overcome a vast array of dangers, including disease, wild animals, marauding gangs of vicious thugs and most bizarre of all, the self-proclaimed King of Glasgow!

Topical and prescient, Fran of the Floods is the latest release from the Treasury of British Comics, which is bringing back the greatest stories from the heyday of British comics.

Posted on

‘Spring’ into hilarity with the new Cor! & Buster Special!

The greatest characters from Britain’s golden age of humour comics return this Easter for a one-shot celebration of daft and zany fun!

Rebellion Publishing is proud to announce the Cor! & Buster Special will be tickling your funny bone this spring and a whole new generation of readers are about to experience comics’ humour at its finest! 

The 48-page special will hit newsstands in the UK and Ireland, and comic book stores in the UK, Ireland, and North America, on 17th April, retailing at £4.99. 

It will be the first use of the vast number of classic humour characters by Rebellion since it acquired the archive of comics publisher IPC and the Cor! & Buster Special offers new takes on some of the greatest characters from Britain’s golden age of humour comics, with an edgy celebration of daft, zany fun.

From the world’s naughtiest baby, Sweeny Toddler, to Gums, the most incompetent shark in the seven seas, this one-shot special will feature top comics talent including a cover by Neil Googe (The Flash), and strips by Ned Hartley (Star Wars), Cavan Scott (Doctor Who), Abigail Bulmer (2000 AD) and Tanya Roberts (TMNT).

The special will also complement Funny Pages, Rebellion’s title for Free Comic Book Day on 4th May, which will be available for free from participating comic book stores around the world.

Editor on the Cor! & Buster Special, Keith Richardson, said: “Humour titles like Cor! and Buster were a massive part of many a childhood but have been sadly missing from the newsstand for years – the time is ripe to bring these amazing characters back for a new generation. Just at a time when many kids will be on their Easter break, this special will introduce them to some of our favourite classic characters, but all with a modern twist. For us, it’s time to put the comical back into comics!”

Humour comics were once a constant staple of the British newsstand, with dozens of titles filled by some of the industry’s greatest talents, such as Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid. IPC/Fleetway titles such as Cor!, Buster, Whizzer and Chips, and Shiver and Shake entertained generations of children for decades. They were part of the acquisition by Rebellion of arguably the world’s largest archive of English-language comics in 2016 and 2018.

Posted on

‘Battle’ reborn: Rebellion to publish best-selling French graphic novel series

Rebellion Publishing is proud to present the international best-selling French graphic novel series Operation: Overlord for the first time in English – under the banner of Battle, one of the UK’s most cherished comic book properties.

Written by Michaël Le Galli and with fantastic art by Star Wars and Hellblazer artist Davide Fabbri, part one of the series set in World War Two is being published with this month’s Judge Dredd Megazine.

The series is being published under the new ‘Battle presents…’ banner, reviving the name of one of the greatest comic books in UK publishing history.

The acclaimed bandee desinee series tells four extraordinary tales of heroism set during the Normandy landings on D-Day, June 6th 1944, and is being reprinted in a series of reprint editions bagged with the Megazine. Each 48-page issue is a stand-alone story, set in separate locations such as Saint-Mere-Eglise, Merville, and of course Omaha Beach.

Part one comes with Judge Dredd Megazine #404, on sale in newsagents, comic book stores and online on 16th January.

Launched in 1975, Battle Picture Weekly was the groundbreaking war comic from IPC that published series such as Rat Pack, Major Eazy, Johnny Red, El Mestizo, Fighting Mann, and the critically-acclaimed World War One epic Charley’s War. Lauded for its no-nonsense heroes and gritty action, Battle fundamentally altered the comics landscape – readers lapped up its modern sensibilities and no-holds-barred attitude, and it led to the creation of both the ill-fated Action and global industry game-changer 2000 AD.

Rebellion graphic novel editor Oliver Pickles said: “It’s a great feeling to be able to publish Operation: Overlord under the Battle banner, much like the recent Sniper Elite series, and helps bring back the spirit of that classic British war comic title but with a modern sensibility.

“I am really looking forward to bringing Operation: Overlord to an Anglophone audience for the first time. The series has been hugely popular in France, with each book focusing on a different event of the D-Day landings, for instance there is a whole 48 page issue dedicated to the Omaha Beach assault by Easy Company. And the whole series has been drawn by Davide Fabbri, who comic readers will know from his Star Wars comics for Dark Horse, and more recently his Hellblazer run at DC Comics.”

The further volumes of Operation: Overlord will be collected with Judge Dredd Megazine numbers 405 (on sale 20th February), 406 (on sale 20th March) and 407 (on sale 17th April)

Posted on

OUT NOW: Wildcat! I think I love you…

EARTH IS DESTROYED! In 2488 Earth history professor, Turbo Jones predicted that the planet would be destroyed in 2500 by a vast meteoroid storm.

Ridiculed by the world’s leaders, Turbo spent the next twelve years constructing a huge spaceship and employing a group of volunteers to help him leave the Earth and find a new home in the stars…

Turbo Jones and his exploration party are soon captured and caught in a conflict between two alien races. His ingenuity saved him from the destruction of the Earth, but can it save him from the invading Arglon’s dinosaur army?

Originally serialised in Wildcat from 22nd October 1988-7th April 1989, Wildcat Holiday Special 1989, Wildcat Winter Special 1989 and Eagle & Wildcat from 8th April 1989-7th October 1989

Posted on

The 2000 AD Thrill-Cast: Comics from D-Day to deep space!

>> check out the full list now!

The 2000 AD Thrill-Cast is the award-winning podcast that takes you behind-the-scenes at the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic! As well as interviewing top creators and famous fans, we bring you announcements, competitions, and much more! You can subscribe to the Thrill-Cast on your favourite podcast app, or you can listen now at 2000AD.com/podcast