Independent comic publishers Sector 13 Comics have announced that their new anthology title, appropriately titled S13, will be launched at Enniskillen Comic Fest in June – and is available for pre-order now.
S13 will the umbrella title for a series of themed anthologies, each exploring different themes or genres.
The first is Anno Domini, 1900, a 68-page, A4 magazine which imagines what might have appeared, had, in 1877, a far-sighted publisher thought to combine the scientific romances, made popular by Jules Verne, with the talents of the greatest artists of his time to develop a new and exciting way to tell stories.
With stories by Kek-W and John Smith, each famous for their contributions to 2000AD, and Julia Round, the comics academic who, quite literally, wrote the book on Misty, you know that Sector 13 have an outstanding writing team on hand.
“Paddy Brown delivers his best work yet,” enthuses publisher and editor Peter Duncan, “writing and drawing ‘Penny Blood’, and we introduce Pete Howard with his wonderfully funny ‘Penguin’s Tale’ (Pete knows how to please his editor), colourfully illustrated by relative newcomer, Adam Brown.
“Mal Earl, always willing to experiment, continues his Radclyffe epic, last seen in the online comic Aces Weekly and Diego Guerra, has supplied a stunning cover and ten page story, ‘The Woman Who Killed Louis Pasteur’, that really tries to get into the mind-set of the people of the 1870’s.
“Alongside Paddy, Mal, Adam and Diego we have Italian artist Mauro Longhini, on Kek-W’s, ‘Monarch’ and Scott Twells at his inventive and psychedelic best with, Julia Round’s ‘Hell and High Water’.
“Add the atmospheric grace of Pau Scorpi’s spectacular layouts, designs and colour palette on John Smith’s, ‘Feral Flynn’ and you have one the most varied and professional lineup of creators seen in the small press anywhere.”
As a bonus, Mark Bennington, who worked for practically every humour comic at some stage in the 1980s and 90s has written and drawn a superb single page strip, ‘The Slow and Somewhat Irritated’.
“This is a big move for us.,” Peter emphasises. “Until now, we’ve been unable to pay creators due to the ‘not for profit’ status that we had to abide by when using copyright, 2000AD related strips. It was something we’d become uncomfortable with.
“The effort and talent put into the last issue of Sector 13 by our writers and artists was something that we thought needed to be acknowledged in the future, if only with nominal payments.
“And that is why, for the first time, we are offering pre-orders for one of our books. “S13 001, is ready to go with a second issue due for launch at Enniskillen Comics Fest. Any help we can get with paying the printers bills will help us with what we have planned for the the rest of the year.
“We hope the comic community will help us out. We promise, you’re going to love what you see with this comic.”
Peter also tells us the next edition of Sector 13 Comics humour title, Splank!, which is almost ready to go to the printer, will be S13: 002 and the Sector 13 team are intending to have out for Enniskillen, as well.
S13 001: ‘Anno Domini 1900’ is available for pre-order for £13 inc. UK P&P from the Sector 13 Comics Store. Pre-orders will be dispatched prior to the main launch on June 8th and 9th in the last week of May/ early June.
Limited-edition Ashcans are also available – see the Sector 13 Comics Store for more details.
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comic Previews, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
