The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Tripwire Magazine #54

Editor-in-chief Joel Meadows

You have to hand it to Joel and the team, against sometimes impossible odds they keep pulling it all together in the face of the impending apocalypse for magazine publishing. They’re not carried by Diamond US now (news here – bad Diamond US, good Diamond UK) so the workload is effectively doubled – it’s hard enough getting the magazine made, now they have to do the distribution work as well.

Which is, of course, a real pain for them. Especially as Tripwire’s varied and quality coverage of comics, TV, film, prose and more combined with a cracking design sense and readability has long marked it out as one of the best magazines about comics (and the rest) that I’ve seen for many, many years (here, here and here for previous reviews).

So….. Tripwire issue 54 is the first Tripwire of 2010 and maybe the only Tripwire of 2010, who knows? They long ago did away with any idea of a news section, increasingly irrelevant in this era of always on news. So Tripwire is a features led publication, and one that takes a deliberately wide approach. Joel’s built up a solid list of contacts over the years and it does show. From the exclusive Futurama cover and interiews with Matt Groening and David X. Cohen to Dave McKean talking over his long and varied career to Michael Moorcock looking back to various intriguing looks at the movie FX industry, Tripwire really cover everything it possibly can – and it covers it damn well.

The high standards of the magazine do mark it out as something special. Design is crisp and simple, not shouty, not eye-burningly over the top, just clean, well laid out pages with a lot of white space and a layout that gently guides the eye over the pages. Similarly the writing is easy going and informative, illuminating and intriguing stuff.

There are several sample pages at the link here, but have a look at these, purely on design…

As for content, every reader (or potential reader) will obviously cherry pick certain parts from Tripwire. The great thing about the magazine and it’s writing is that even those articles and interviews you had no particular interest in are generally pretty enthralling and interesting reads. I loved reading more about Dave McKean, enjoyed the Mark Schultz interview and the extended feature on Largo Winch and it’s author Jean Van Hamme. But I also found myself thoroughly entertained by the other material – Michael Moorcock’s interview and overview is a particular treat, fan or not.

(Langridge’s Muppets and Michael Moorcock both take on the good Doctor. From Tripwire issue 54.)

Tripwire also cleverly streams it’s content into themes and there’s a pattern to the whole thing that makes reading the issue a real pleasure. Fror example, a Muppet feature chatting about the legacy of Jim Henson runs straight into an interview with Roger Langridge, the creator of the Muppets comic from Boom Studios. From there it’s a short comics step to Garen Ewing’s Rainbow Orchid, Scar Comics Madam Samurai, off to Marvel and 70 years of Captain America where the comics and the upcoming film are discussed. Follow that with a feature on other genre related movies in production and you begin to see the flow that Tripwire always follows through it’s pages.

Essentially I have to say that Joel and his team really do create one of the best magazines covering every aspect of pop culture I’ve seen for many years. The breadth of material is impressive, but better than that, the quality of the magazine, and it’s writing means an entertaining sit down is practically guaranteed. You’ll read the things you want first perhaps and find them a satisfying experience. But such is the appeal of Tripwire that you’ll keep going, onto the articles you may have had no interest in at first, and you’ll read them all.

Quality magazine, quality content and quality writing, can’t really ask for more.

There’s a Tripwire website and Joel Meadows has his own blog: Walls & Bridges (with Tripwire specific posts here). Tripwire should be available from all good comics shops and you can, of course, find it in the FPI online store.