Strangehaven June 2002 News Digest

This article originally appeared in Strangehaven issue issue #14, June 2002.

New Publication

British publisher Soaring Penguin finally published the fourth issue of its anthology comic Meanwhile… at the tail end of last year, after a long delay in which time the project grew from a 32 page comic to a 96 page square bound book.

Meanwhile…#4 includes an obscure four-page Strangehaven strip that was originally published in the weighty Belgian anthology Formaline in 1995. I’ve also provided a new, fully-painted cover for the book which also includes strips by Mark Stafford, 2000AD artist Frazer Irving, Graeme Neil Reid, the superb Roger Langridge and a preview of Whitechapel Freak by David Hitchcock.

Cover price is $9.95/£6.50. It should be available through your local comic shop or alternatively you can contact the publisher via e-mail, at letters@soaringpenguin.co.uk to enquire about availability and postage costs. There are also limited quantities available to order from the shop at www.millidge.com

Print Media

Glossy mainstream comics magazine Wizard featured a two-page interview/feature on Strangehaven in their March 2002 issue, number #126. Mike Searle‘s column, Secret Stash spotlights an independent creator’s comic each month. . . www.wizardworld.com

Joel Meadows invited me to write a guest editorial for his not-quite-so-glossy British comics news fanzine Tripwire. The Sounding Off feature turned into a tongue-in-cheek rant against the comics industry’s fixation with the superhero comic that was published in the December 2001 issue (volume 4, number 9). . . www.tripwiremag.com

Website Reviews

Those fabulous girls at the Sequential Tart website have just selected Strangehaven as one of their top ten “alternative” reads. Check out all their recommendations at www.sequentialtart.com

And just as I was going to press, I received an e-mail from Alan David Doane telling me that he had just reviewed my two trade paperback collections, Arcadia and Brotherhood for the Comic Book Galaxy website, and he rated it five out of five! www.comicbookgalaxy.com

Upcoming Appearances

For the fourth year running, I will be attending the Bristol comic festival, Comics 2002 over the weekend of 1–2 of June 2002. This year it has moved to a new location in the city, leaving the familiar sweaty confines of the Watershed for the new pastures of the Empire and Commonwealth Museum where I will have my usual booth in the Comics Fair. . . www.comicfestival.co.uk

And for the first time in five years no less, I’ll be returning to the Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. It’s also my first trip to the States since the exhausting SPX tour in 1997 and I’m looking forward to it immensely. I will be signing at the Top Shelf Productions booth throughout the show, which runs from the 1st to the 4th of August 2002. . . www.comic-con.org

Keep up-to-date with Strangehaven news and check on the progress of the next issue at the official website www.millidge.com.

You can find further information on all these stories and links to the sites listed above.