STRIP Magazine Issue Zero by John Freeman

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ACTION ADVENTURE! SCIENCE FICTION! HOOK JAW! CRAZY HEROES AND MAD APES!

A BRAND NEW COMIC FOR

BRITAIN

COSMIC PATROL © BAMBOO

MAURICET & JANSSENS

The countdown has begun... Welcome to our mini-sampler for STRIP MAGAZINE, which will launch in October 2011. We hope you enjoy this taster of Things To Come. (There’s a lot of Things To Come which we can’t tell you about yet - they’re still Top Secret). STRIP MAGAZINE is just part of Print Media Productions’ plans for new comics for the UK. As well as this new monthly action adventure magazine featuring stories from the likes of PJ Holden, Phil Hester, Kev Hopgood, John McCrea, James Hudnall, John Ridgway, Ferg Handley and many more, we’ll also be publishing a number of standalone graphic albums. On sale now is The Iron Moon by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page and Mirabilis by David Morris and Leo Hartas but that’s just the start! We’ve also got a brilliant science fiction story, Frontiers, by John Ridgway and Nick Spender waiting in the wings, not to be confused with Frontier, a weird wild western tale from Jason Cobley and Andrew Wildman. There’s also Steampunk Sherlock by Jasper Barke and Andrew Chiu - and we have many more projects in the works. Also in the pipeline is a carefully-chosen selection of great European material, including the The Devil’s Heritage, an action adventure tale set in the 1930s from Gastine & Felix; Herlock Sholmes by legendary European artist Julio Radilovic; and humour with Cosmic Patrol by Mauricet and Moto by Richez, Cazenove and Bloz. 2011 promises to be an exciting time for us at Print Media Productions and we want to thank everyone who has wished us well so far, and thank all the creators who have come aboard to date for this new venture. To keep up to date with everything we’re doing, check out our oﬃcial web site www.printmediaproductions.com - and drop me a line via ed@stripmagazine.co.uk to be added to our mailing list. John Freeman Editor, Strip Magazine E-mail: ed@stripmagazine.co.uk STRIP MAGAZINE ROLL CALL Cover: Smuzz Publisher: Ivo Milicevic Editor: John Freeman Designers: Tomislav Spajic & Ivo Milicevic Contributors: PJ Holden, Gary Caldwell, Jim Campbell, Phil Hester, John McCrea, Andrew Elder, James Hudnall, John Ridgway, Dean Deckard, Michael Penick and Jeremy Briggs With thanks to: Mark Braithwaite, Melanie Leggett, Steve McManus, Kenny Penman, Andy Martin, Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung, PJ Holden, Jim Campbell, John McCrea, Keith Page, Stephen Walsh, Steve Tanner and countless other people who have supported us this far...

STRIP MAGAZINE © 2010 Print Media Productions, PO Box 721, Lancaster LA1 1XE. Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/StripMagazineUK. Visit our web site: www.printmediaproductions.com. All materials in this promotional Issue Zero of STRIP Magazine are © 2010 their respective creators and publishers as identified. Not to be re-sold. Printed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For more information about Print Media Productions visit www.printmediaproductions.com.

WHAT IT IS - a team of international black ops soldiers, drawn from the disgraced and the deadly – and sent on suicide missions. Their reward – possible pardon – or death! During the Alliance’s war against Iraq, a mystery organisation launched Operation Pandora: a top secret operation using disgraced soldiers to do its dirty work on do-or-die missions. This Black Ops unit is used to deal with terrorist threats across the globe. Its soldiers wear no recognised uniform, their armoury an eclectic mix of untraceable weapons of choice culled from the armies and battlefields of a dozen nations – including the enemy.

All the team are considered expendable – and the promises of their “runners”, those directing the missions – cannot be trusted. From the outset, readers will realize no-one is safe and no-one is what they seem in BLACK OPS EXTREME!

Homeless teen Mia Tsatoke finds herself drawn into a cataclysmic struggle between mankind and elemental monsters bent on the destruction of our world. Clad in a hulking, indestructible second skin, and with the aid of a mischievous trickster god, Mia Tsatoke must not only defeat the rampaging behemoths, but navigate the perilous path between her own fragile humanity and the vast, unearthly power now at her fingertips. Only by confronting her own painful past can she solve the puzzle that will bring an end to the seemingly eternal cycle of violence. Only by donning her Warpaint can she bring peace. A fast paced, but thoughtful adventure bridging the worlds of

fantasy, American Indian mythology, bleak realism, dystopian science fiction, and super heroic action, Warpaint is a tale that will engage readers from the full spectrum of comics fandom and hopefully beyond.

CREATIVE TEAM Story: Phil Hester Art: John McCrea Colour: Andrew Elder Warpaint ÂŠ 2010 Phil Hester & John McCrea

When the gods were born, they remade the world in the image of their dreams. This was known as the Age of Gods. When man was created along with other races of beings, fantastic cities were raised, insane magics were forged and unimaginable wars were fought, as the gods battled for supremacy over all creation. This was known as the Age of Wonders. When the gods fled and man was left to make his way in a world full of monsters and arcane magic, some rose up to right wrongs and create justice. This was known as The Age of Heroes. Journey into the land of Xera, and discover a world of magical wonders, fantastic monsters, and legendary heroes. Follow a blind troubadour in his wanderings as he earns his meals by recounting tales of Xera’s greatest warriors and sorcerers. The stories and characters are as endless and varied as the lands through which he walks. Thrill to the tales of Wex, the fighting druid whose tattoos channel the 8

mystic forces of the earth; Luko, the thief who dares to steal from the gods; Mael, the Crystal warrior; Conor, the one-armed warrior; and many others, including a familiar swordsman named Drake, whose skill with a blade is unmatched – even though he’s blind!

Meet Mia Raven – the brains behind Recovery Incorporated, a company that retrieves stolen valuables – for a price. But it’s a price worth paying when getting something back from the people that stole it might cost you your life!

A troubled runaway, Mia gained an education during her travels far beyond anything she would have received by staying in one place. Skilled in multiple languages, martial arts, fencing, scuba diving, flying, sky diving and rock climbing, she lived her life with reckless abandon, free of rules

or any desire to conform to social conventions. She quickly learned to use her looks to her advantage, giving her a glimpse into a world of financial privilege. Returning to the United States, Mia Raven used all her resources to start her own company: RECOVERY INCORPORATED.

CREATIVE TEAM

Snapping back into comics – the shark star of 1970s comic Action... remastered for the 21st Century!

She is not a harbinger of death; but it is death nevertheless that draws her like a moth to a flame... The Hemispace of Hubris is a oncegreat alien civilisation, which at its height spanned a planet. Now in the grip of mass hysteria and bloody, destructive civil wars, its cityscapes are crumbling; scorched earth prevails in the countryside. War is a disease travelling through the ley lines. It is the End of Empire – and its end is documented by the mysterious savant, Lode, who chronicles the lives of the dying and as a result seeks out war zones. Lode’s blood is part liquid metal. She has intuitive glands that allow her to link with

machines and weapons. She has a hub stem that, applied to the side of the neck, can upload the fragmented data images of the dying (combination of memory/’memes’ and emotion/’emotes’). Sticking the stem into her own neck then allows her to download the data into her brain. She is not a harbinger of death; but it is death nevertheless that draws her like a moth to a ﬂame...

Hook Jaw, the insatiably hungry shark was portrayed as an unstoppable force of nature, but never the villain, a role reserved for human greed. When we first encounter Hook Jaw, it’s Red McNally’s insane quest for oil on his Caribbean drilling rig that is the true horror in the strip. It’s McNally’s greed that takes precedence over any thought for

human life, with British diver Rick Mason providing the sole voice of reason as Hook Jaw devours those simply following orders! Hook Jaw oﬀered no moral judgment in dispatching human monsters, nor the men who opposed them. To him they were nothing more than another meal from further down the food chain!

ON SALE NOW!

GRAPHIC ALBUMS TO COME...

FRONTIER

HAL STARR

THE DEVIL’S HERITAGE

In 1866, out on the Frontier, things got Weird. History failed to record everything that happened, but Daisy wrote it all down in her diaries. In Frontier, we follow Mitch and Daisy as they seek justice but end up finding more adventure and danger than they counted on. It’s weird. It’s wild. It happened out west!

Written and drawn by Sydney Jordan (Jeﬀ Hawke, Earthspace) this outer space adventure of an astronaut caught up in a strange universe has been fully re-mastered for this new edition and coloured by John Ridgway.

Action adventure in the spirit of Indiana Jones! A young artist is drawn into the mystery of Rennes-leChateau, hotly pursued by dangerous Nazis as he tries to solve the mystery of a seventeenth century painting featuring a former lover. It soon proves a deadly, if not fatal, quest!

Story: Jerome Felix Art: Paul Gastine © Bamboo

MORE COMIC STRIP ACTION TO COME!

GRAPHIC ALBUMS FROM PRINT MEDIA PRODUCTIONS MIRABILIS: WINTER BOOK 1

By David Morris and Leo Hartas Print Media Productions is delighted to announce it is publishing hardcover editions of Mirabilis: Year of Wonders this year -- a huge graphic novel project by Dave Morris and Leo Hartas. Mirabilis is a fantasy adventure story for young adults which opens on New Year’s Day 1901, when a green comet appears in the sky. As it gets bigger, the line between reality and fantasy blurs, but then the comet rounds the sun and starts to fade. Will the world be able to go back to a life without magic? ISBN: 978-0-9567121-1-0 Mirabilis © 2011 David Morris and Leo Hartas

THE IRON MOON

By Stephen Walsh and Keith Page A Charlotte Corday adventure... RULE BRITANNIA! BRITANNIA RULES THE STARS! The twentieth century is just around the corner and Queen Victoria is hale and hearty as she heads into the second century of her reign. The British Empire stretches from the white cliﬀs of Dover to the red skies of Mars. Go-getting men and women of the imperial dominions flock to the colours, eager to make reputations and fortunes in the wilds of high space. ISBN: 978-0-9567121-0-3 The Iron Moon and Charlotte Corday © 2010 Stephen Walsh and Keith Page

LAWLESS

AUTOSPY & APE

CRUCIBLE

Lawless tells the incredible story of Jack Lawless and the Irish Legion, a band of renegades and outcasts who fought against the British in the tumultuous era of the Napoleonic wars.

STRIP Magazine isn’t just about action and adventure, we want to have some fun along the way, too! Meet Autospy and Ape (drawn by Jon Rushby) – a dangerous duo out to defeat crime, sometimes more dangerous to themselves than the villains they must face!

Science fantasy adventure on the strangest world you’ve ever seen, as weird monsters fight side by side with sword-wielding heroes and hapless wizards!

STRIP MAGAZINE LAUNCHING OCTOBER 2011 15

STRIP MAGAZINE LAUNCHING OCTOBER 2011 STRIP SPOTLIGHT: WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR Six page, self-contained black and white or colour adventure stories which can have twist or shock endings, or a ‘snapshot’ of an ongoing tale from creator-owned strips. The strips should be action-oriented, reflecting the tone of STRIP MAGAZINE; they can have an adventure, war, fantasy or science fiction setting but should not veer to the adult, horrific or horror. You should use the stories as the means to promote a character or a setting you want the reader to know more about. Those strips that get the best response will be considered for ongoing strip slots. Strips must, of course, be original and not feature characters belonging to other comics companies, and it must be finished work – drawn, inked, coloured (if applicable) and lettered.

WHAT WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR Ongoing tales; stories full of talking heads; cryptic tales full of unfulfilled mystery and no explanations for what the characters are up to; stories without a beginning, middle and end. Think of this slot as a platform for your best work - in terms of both script and art.

HOW DO I SUBMIT MY STRIP SPOTLIGHT?

WILL YOU BE IN THE SPOTLIGHT? STRIP Magazine has lined up some great creators for its launch – but will YOU be one of them? We’re looking for six page self-contained action adventure strips to feature in STRIP MAGAZINE. The selected strips will feature in our special STRIP SPOTLIGHT section – and the creators of published strips will win a cash prize of £250 for publication and, perhaps, the opportunity to turn their story into an ongoing series for our first comic title. The strip and characters featured will remain your copyright, so if you want to feature your own characters you think would be a great part of STRIP Magazine, go right ahead.

- Send art or links to your strip online to stripspotlight@ printmediaproductions.com – Or mail your entries to STRIP MAGAZINE, Print Media Productions, PO Box 721, Lancaster LA1 1XE. - Entries must be received by 12 noon BST 21st July 2011. Judging will be carried out by the editor and publisher of STRIP Magazine, John Freeman and Ivo Milicevic. - After an initial round of judging, narrowing submitted entries to a final 15, the final editorial decision will be made (in partnership with one external judge) to help decide the final winning FIVE entries. The competition will then be re-launched in Issue 5 of STRIP Magazine. - All 15 final selections will receive an appraisal of their work from the editor and publisher of STRIP Magazine and a bundle of PMP Graphic Albums! - For full terms and conditions visit www.printmediaproductions.com