OVS - On Sale this Weekend at Prestonpans and Copenhagen!

The blog may not be very active Saturday, depending on how tired I am after...

The Prestonpans comic event, near Edinburgh, which shall be as small and perfectly formed as ever. Please come along to have a chat and there's even a chance to try OVS for free :)

http://www.prestonpandemonium.com/

Also, thanks to Accent UK, anyone passing through Denmark this weekend can buy a copy of OVS from their stall at the Copenhagen International Comics Festival held over 31st of May and 1st of June. I suggest you do :)

http://www.komiks.dk/

All the best

Paul

Comics - Mick Anglo's Roaring Twenties

When I picked up the book 'Nostalgia on the Twenties' I was delighted to find it was written by Michael Anglo, creator of Marvelman.

I was more delighted still when I read the book, for as well as a lot of very intelligent and humane observations on the times and people, there is more than a little of a young Mick Anglo's life recalled in it as well.

His father was a theatre manager, and through him Mick Anglo met countless acts including Louis Armstrong and the renowned singer of the age, Florence Mills, who it seems cast something of a spell on young master Anglo.

It's full of fascinating times, such as when Mick's father called him down as a young lad to listen to the Jack Dempsey fight on the radio. How later, Mick would meet the legendary American boxer in the army, and again in Dempsey's restaurant in New York.

It tells of how he first got into the art business, and his first work in the fashion industry, selling designs to the rag-trade industry. How the film 'What Price Glory?' lead to a terrible spate of raspberry blowing amongst the English youth.

Ultimately it's the memory of a time viewed through the eyes of a young boy and revisited by an older and wiser man. Fascinating in it's own right as a document of the times, doubly so as it gives us an insight into a real legend of British comic books.

But I'm probably spoiling it for you.

The book is out of print, but I've seen it reasonably priced on e-bay and I know the library service I work for has it in their stores, so yours just might too. I've also noticed that the same author has another book on Victorian Penny Dreadfuls in the library, so I'll be taking that for a spin as well in due course and reporting back. Though I would expect it to be light on autobiographical detail :)

Comics - Mick Anglo's Nostalgic Twenties

Having decided to start researching the 1920's for a game I play and am working on, I thought I'd trawl the boot fairs rather than bother buying second hand other peoples finds on e-bay. The boot fairs have been quite good to me over the years, while most things I like have become a difficult to find, there's always something I'm interested in to look out for.

So, having decided to look for books on the 1920's, off I went and I found one almost immediately 'Nostalgia on the Twenties'. It was within my budget, a pound, so I happily handed over my money. All praise the gods of the boot fair.

The author's name caused me to pause. Michael Anglo. I hadn't heard of many Michael Anglo's, none in fact. but I had heard a bit of Mick Anglo, the creator of Marvelman. Marvelman was a 50's comic strip, very popular at the time, but not currently well known generally. It was created to fill a gap when reprints of Captain Marvel (Shazam!) were no longer available due to a lawsuit from DC comics who claimed the character was based on Superman and essentially took the character for themselves. They later had no problem publishing both Captain Marvel and Superman simultaneously.

It doesn't look like a very credible argument today, but at the time it worked. This legal bullying is something that comic companies have a long history of. Similar tactics would be applied to Marvelman when it was resurrected in good faith by Alan Moore. Marvel Comics would decide that a Marvelman character not owned by them was beyond the pale and threatened legal action forcing a name change to Miracleman and the eternal ire of Alan Moore. Now the character seems to have finally been defeated by malevolent forces, as he is the subject of a convoluted rights dispute, trapped in a limbo, guarded by unnatural fiends who have no pity, shame or remorse.

However, it is undoubtedly so that Mick Anglo still owns the rights to the character, despite it being 'borrowed' by others, he having had at least some copyright stated on old Marvelman work and no company claims it. Not that Mick saw a lot of benefit from the character's subsequent use.

And so, we're back to Mick Anglo, and all I previously knew about the man. Not a lot more than he created Marvelman. But in tomorrow's post I'll tell you what I learnt in the fascinating book 'Nostlagia on the Twenties'.

Event - PrestonPandemonium May 31st, be there or be elsewhere!

This Saturday, Omnivistascope will be making the journey North, to Prestonpans near Edinburgh, where an intimate comic meet and fair will be held in the Gothenburg arts venue.

Please come along and support the event. There will be a chance to try the latest OVS for free, buy some of Ben Clark's Magic Bean Comics and buy a whole load of 2000AD and classic British comic stuff I'm clearing out to make room for more comics! There is also a silent auction to raise funds for people effected by the cyclone in Burma.

It starts at 12 noon, hope to see you there!

http://www.prestonpandemonium.com

p.s. yes, the blog has officially started again. I have taken some time out to get to work on some long-standing projects, but I'll be back again tomorrow to talk about British comic legend Mick Anglo of Marvelman fame.

OVS - Omnivistascope Model IV

Well I'm back from an exhausting, but very successful, Bristol '08 comics show where OVS4 premiered. And, as promised, here is Paul McCaffrey's wrapround uber-cover (sans titles)...

OVS - COUNTDOWN - Time to Kill...

From the pen of cover artist Paul McCaffrey, comes Time to Kill - The Bodyclock™ Murders. This is the last strip image I'll be posting up, and the cover will go up once I'm back from the Bristol Expo comics festival this weekend. Here's hoping it goes well :)

Al the best

Paul

OVS - COUNTDOWN - The Engimatic Smile of Emperor Zoog....

The first of three stories in this issue from Chris Geary (be sure to also catch our contribution to the latest Futurequake - Star Struck). Haunted by the enigmatic smile of Emperor Zoog, one man sets out to understand what it means...

OVS - COUNTDOWN - The Juggerman...

The Juggerman haunts post-apocalyptic Northumbria, feeding off the sin and guilt of the survivors. Barely has Sheriff Frank Thorn recovered from their last encounter, when he is called to put an end to this creature of revenge.

With art by Mike Donaldson.

OVS - COUNTDOWN - From a Dark Start They Came...

An 8-page epic tale of a world invaded by creatures of the night, bringing darkness and despair with them. Art by Bryan Coyle...

OVS - COUNTDOWN - Dirk Despair...

More Tales of Torpor from galactic hero and cosmic slacker, Dirk Despair, with three slices of lo-octane inaction adventure. Courtesy of the pen of Ian 'not insured for drawing this stuff' Stacey.

OVS - COUNTDOWN - Auto Muto...

The vehicular homicide rates have just gone up, courtesy of artist Mike Donaldson, in a world where man has been out-evolved by the automobile.

OVS - COUNTDOWN - Space Lord...

Yes, Space Lord, small press comics baron and High Overlord of the Galaxy returns for the fourth strip in the series. This time Space Lord has set his auto-targeting laser sights on a mild-mannered gossip columnist...

With art by David 'too good to be true' Goodman.

OVS - COUNTDOWN - Keegan Jask...

The galaxy's biggest teller of tall tales returns as Keegan Jask finds himself tangling with The Sect, the galaxies biggest and most powerful crime syndicate, run entirely by bug-eyed bugs. This is the fifth installment of Keegan Jask, with art by Leigh Shepherd...