Despite the pandemic British comics underwent a bit of revival last year. I've been a subscriber of 2000AD & the Judge Dredd Megazine for about three years following my partial incapacitation and now use mail order for my comic needs rather than regular visits to the comic shop.
My old haunt 30th Century Comics has now gone mail order only and only trades in vintage comics & magazines. I am currently mainly only collecting trades in both paperback & hardback editions of American comics. There are of course exceptions.
There is a new British comic on the newsstands, Shift which is a highly professionally produced publication and I highly recommend it. There is also the small press who are going from strength to strength through publications such as The 77, Shamen Kane, Technofreak ,Sentinel, Plainer Jane and Zarjaz .
On top of this we have a professionally produced bi-monthly Comics Unlimited magazine covering comic from both sides of the Atlantic.
Then there is Rebellion's Treasury of British Comics publishing programme bringing us classic comic reprints. They have announced their publishing programme for the next 12 months and the following are my personal picks having recently taken delivery of Deathsquad & the second volume of The Trigan Empire probably the greatest British comic strip ever, well in my opinion.
First up in February will be The Steel Claw one of my all time favourites from Valiant a comic I used to love and is frankly missed!
Next up in March is Major Eazy from Battle a comic I missed out on followed in April by the collected edition of The Valiant and although I did get the individual issues and finale in Judge Dredd Megazine I don't know where I put the first issue but fancy this edition anyway!
Also out in April is The Spider. When I was a kid this character never really appealed and although I did get some issues of Lion these were only occasional purchases as I liked so many comics!
In May there's Adam Eterno from Thunder. I never read that comic when it was originally published but do have a few I got around to collecting stuff I missed a few years back. Then in July there's the third volume of The Trigan Empire from Look & Learn.
Finally in December there's Hellman of Hammer Force from Action. I have only ever read a couple of copies of Action and this looked interesting so is added to the list.
There will plenty of other British comics to look out for as I'm sure Rebellion will continue their programme of Specials which bring the reader new material based on classic characters. Also Hibernia will hopefully release more of their Fleetway Library series.
Support British Comics!
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Post-script: Not forgetting our US cousins...
When it comes to new American comics I'm really not so sure. I have pre-ordered DC Generations which is the continuation of the time travelling story in Detective Comics #1027 in collected form. Still there will plenty to read & re-read over the coming year as I delve into back issues sitting on shelves and in boxes around the house.
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