Winner – Steve English: “Belle’s Magic Mobile”  scooped the big gong, winning  £1,000, certificate, plaque & publication in The Beano & various goodies, such as the Tartan Bucket itself, full of books and DCT merchandise (sorry no image, having trouble finding Steve’s comic online, if anyone has a link, let us know!)

Runners-up: netting £250, certificate & web publication (Beano Website) were Steven Baskerville – “The Ape Prentice”, Jamie Huxtable – “Elly’s Evil Teddy”,  Paul Rainey – “Jack the Robot”  and Adam Smith – “Holly Unlikely”.

Special Mention: Craig Balmer:  “Cookies” – Book and Certificate

Graphic Scotland also tells us that Ian Kennedy and Cam Kennedy were honoured with Lifetime Achivement awards at the event. David Bishop was also  there and blogs a little about a talk by the great John Wagner, dispensing some story writing widsom:

“Strong characters make strong stories. Events are fine, but you have to filter them through character. If you combine bad and good in the one character, that’s always stronger. The reader can take them how they like. Judge Dredd is a genuine hero and a genuine villain. I had him do something heroic and villainous in every story.”
Doctor Chris Murray commented “The standard was very high in all the submissions, but particularly in the final five that became the winner and four runners up. These were Steve English, the winner, and Paul Rainey, Stephen Baskerville, Jamie Huxtable, and Adam Smith. These were all excellent, and we’d congratulate all those who made it to the final five“.

Meanwhile one of our regular faves, Paul Rainey, sends us a link to his entry for the Dundee Comic Prize which he’s now posted online, Jack the Robot:

He’s being deliberately quiet about where the strip is heading, and so far all we know is it’s a tale of a young, soap addicted girl who might be getting a job at popular soap mag Soap Suds. Here’s the first couple of pages, updates Monday & Friday:

Andrew Cheverton usually works with Tim Keable on the brilliant Western comic West, and it’s a partnership I’ve really, really enjoyed so far – making it one of my favourites of 2010. But this year, the continuing adventures of their wandering gunman hero across the wild west continues with Stray Bullets, a short fiction series. The idea of Stray Bullets is to tell small chapters of West’s life and use various artists to illustrate each story.

And you should recognise most of those names as well – Rainey, WJC, Price, Ioffreda and even Cherverton himself gets a look in. But I’ll go on record now in saying that not one of them will nail West like Tim Keable does/will. His art in West: Distance particularly was simple marvellous.

I’m looking forward to the whole West: Stray Bullets series but especially the chapter by Cheverton and Keable – a great team-up. More details from Angry Candy as and when.

And available to buy right now is the latest issue of Martin Stiff’s The Absence, another one that made it onto my Top 10 of 2010.

The issue is currently on my review shelf, and I’m looking forward to getting a blissfully quiet hour or two this weekend to go back and read all 3 issues together before reviewing it. But if issue 3 is anything like as good as the first two, it’s an absolute must buy for all of you.

Details on Martin Stiff’s blog. Or go straight to Lulu and buy it.

And on February 19th Paul will be appearing as part of a new double act “The Two Pauls” at London’s Orbital shop. The other Paul in question is Paul Cornell. Whether they’ll be as good as Messrs Barker and Corbett only time will tell.

by Paul Rainey

Self-published.

“If you’re new here …. then you’re really going to be confused.” Those are Paul Rainey’s opening words in his editorial for issue 13 – the final part of his time travelling, dimensional warping, head spinning sci-fi soap opera odyssey after nearly six years of work.

There’s always the worry with a series that starts out complicated and then throws more and more twists and turns into the mix that the finale will never live up to the buildup, but I honestly think Rainey’s finished it off perfectly, resolving everything, squaring each character’s circle. There’s No Time Like The Present’s final issue provides a most satisfying finale to what has been an excellent series over the years.

The problem with trying to review issue 13 of course is that there’s almost no point at this late stage in covering this final issue – after all, who honestly reviews the final chapter of a book or the last 15 minutes of a movie? But it’s worth taking a look back at the series and seeing it as a whole now that the end has come and gone. And if you feel the need, there’s the previous reviews to go back to for more insight and plot points along the way (reviews of issues 1-8, 9, 10, 11, 12).

The whole work is practically a trilogy of stories – starting with Cliff and his sci-fi obsessive 30 something friends…..

“We join the story with Cliff; a 30 something sci-fi obsessive who lives as a lodger with Kelly…. hates her job, is desperate to leave and fears she’s never going to manage it. Cliff’s best friend is another 30 something sci-fi collector called Barry, who’s just not that nice a person….”

“…..it starts as a slice of life look at a group of mates with an unhealthy interest in Science Fiction shows and a collectors mentality …. But very early on Rainey throws a curveball into the story with the fact that one of the gang is getting future episodes of movies and TV shows from the Ultraweb. Such a  simple thing, thrown into the plot without fanfare, but it’s to prove the backbone of the story.”

“Slice of life meets a bit of time travel and future knowledge. Cliff and his mates living their lives against a backdrop of ennui and a general worldwide feeling of what’s the point? … Each episode is played out with a realistic, naturalistic tone, as each character’s life slowly and rather painfully develops in front of us.”

It then shifts 50 years into the future and Cliff, Barry and their elderly friends are in the day care centre, reflecting on their lives and all the incredible science fiction going on around them outside their door – all the time travelling, the Ultraweb, future Junction worlds, whilst they spend their time watching old, familiar episodes of Dr Who on the TV.

“From here you expect Rainey to jump to and fro, visiting Cliff et al in present and future, young and old. Except he doesn’t – that would be too easy, too obvious. Instead we’re with the old guys all the way, learning little bits about their lives through conversations in between episodes of crappy sci-fi. … But even with all of this time travel and jumps between timeframes, Rainey always grounds the work solidly with his characters. The amazing things occur off panel, affecting our cast tangentially.”

And finally, as the cast slowly succumbs to the inevitable result of old age and the funerals start mounting up we’re propelled forwards again, to rejoin someone who disappeared early on in the series and listen in as she recounts her life story to another old friend, 250,000 years out of time on a strange, new planet.

This is the best thing about Rainey’s work – the sense of amazing advancement is always secondary to the real lives of his characters. The final few issues see us take a near guided tour through the worlds of the future, full of time travelling coasters, trans-pods, personal chronometers, alien species and so much more. But far more important to Rainey, and to me as a reader is the emotional development of the storyteller, this woman out of time, coming to terms with a future she never dreamt of.

This final issue could have simply been Rainey desperately trying to tie up every loose end in his series, throwing things at us just to get it finished. But despite there being an awful lot of information on every page, it never overwhelms the true story, that of the characters we’ve followed through time and space. And then it ends with a remarkably affecting low key ending playing on all the ideas of ageing and acceptance of one’s life that we’ve touched on throughout the series – that was quite lovely and a perfect way to finish.

As I was looking through that final issue, looking for images to share with you it became clear that most of them were going to give away important stuff, but on reading it all again, these two panels struck me as a beautiful way to sum up TNTLTP, of the journeys each character has gone on, through time and space, young and old, the amazing thing isn’t the sci-fi world around them – it’s themselves and what they’ve done. Plus, I think that one close up panel really shows you how good an artist Rainey can be….

Rainey’s There’s No Time Like The Present really does deserve reading in one go, I guarantee that all 13 parts will have you enthralled and intrigued, and more than that, when read together this way, Rainey’s intricately plotted story genuinely shines. Now all it needs is to be collected. Publishers?

Paul’s work is available from the FPI online store and direct from Paul’s online shop. And in case you really needed further proof, Rainey’s put the first 39 pages online for your enjoyment.

Currently sitting on my shelf waiting to be read is the 13th and final episode of Paul Rainey’s There’s No Time Like The Present. The culmination of Rainey’s near 6 year epic of time travel and personal relationships.

I’ve looked at all the various  parts so far here on the blog (here’s the most recent review of issue 12) and no doubt they’ll be a review on here at some point. I’m pretty confident that, barring a complete disaster, Rainey’s done more than enough in the prior 12 parts to make a thoroughly entertaining and satisfying conclusion work.

Issue 13 is available from better comic shops and from Rainey direct.

by Paul Rainey

Self Published

It’s getting very close to the end of Paul Rainey’s excellent sci-fi/ time travel/ kitchen sink drama of OAPs and collector culture.

And since it’s a very complex story that demands the reader consumes all 11 previous issues before tackling this one (not a chore, believe me) there’s very little I can actually tell you of this issue that wouldn’t possible spoil your considerable fun when you tackle the whole series.

But I did review the previous issues (1-8, 9, 10, 11) and there’s enough reading there to hopefully persuade you how worthwhile There’s No Time Like The Present really is. I will point out that this episode does finally reveal the importance of the milkfloat from issue 4 and exactly what connection it has with Kelly’s disappearance - come on, you’re definitely intrigued now aren’t you?

There’s No Time Like The Present started off with such promise, as Rainey was obviously attempting to do something far more interesting and offbeat than a simple slice of life tale. As it developed and turned into something a lot more sci-fi, it also became quite clear that his sci-fi, just like his slice of life, was far from the norm. And now we’re nearing the end, it’s genuinely a pleasure to be able to say that (unless issue 13 is unbelievably awful – which is highly unlikely) this sci fi soap opera with it’s varied and unusual, non-stereotypical cast of characters lives up to every bit of early promise it showed.

(Milkfloats and horn-headed ambassadors from the future. That’s Paul Rainey’s There’s No Time Like The Present.)

There’s No Time is available from good comic shops, from the Rainey section on the FPI webstore or direct from Rainey’s website. Luckily for you people, every other issue of the series is also available as well, since rainey realised early on that this was going to be something that really demanded reading the whole story.

And whilst we’re talking of Rainey and endings I’ll point you in the direction of Joe’s post yesterday on the conclusion to the monumental 2000AD Prog Slog Blog.

(the first Prog of 200 AD; dinosaurs fighting cowboys from the future, Volgs invading Britain, MACH 1 and the return of Dan Dare. It was 1977, I was ten, it was brilliant)

Regular readers may remember us mentioning from time to time Paul Rainey (writer/artist of a couple of comics series we absolutely love) embarking on a long-term comics project, the 2000 AD Prog Slog Blog, where he was working his way through a huge pile of back issues of The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic and blogging as he went. Well he’s coming to the end of the run of back issues he bought and rather than paraphrase here’s Paul himself to talk about it:

“In November 2006, after an impetuous ill-thought out bid on eBay, I won the first 1188 programmes of 2000 AD. Rather than just have them sit piled up in my bedroom collecting dust tormenting me about how much money I had spent on them, I decided I was obliged to read them all.  I thought, rather than just read them why not blog about the experience too. So, I started the 2000 AD Prog Slog Blog where I review every other issue of the Galaxy’s greatest comic and many of it’s associated publications.

Well, after three and a half years of thrill power intensity turning my mind into a boggled mess and over 700 entries , the blog is due to come to it’s intended conclusion this weekend. Of course, I would like to tell you how proud I am to have got this far but there’s a part of me that feels ashamed at having used up so much time on a project which, let’s face it, is obsessive and stupid. All I can say for certain is, ‘it’s been emotional’ and  ‘thank God it’s over’.

If you ever read 2000 AD when you were younger or have an interest in the blog then you can read all entries so far at www.2000adprogslog.com. The final prog is scheduled to be reviewed early Friday evening while the farewell entry will appear sometime over the weekend. Finally, if you’re one of those people who think that the 2000 AD Prog Slog Blog should continue then you will be pleased to know that David Page is picking up where I will be leaving off on his blog. ”

(Johnny Alpha – still one of the best 2000 AD/Starlord creations ever – on the cover of Prog 1174, one of Paul’s recent reviews on the Prog Slog)

Holy drokk on toast, I remember Paul announcing the start of this project, I hadn’t realised just how much time had actually gone by. Is that really three and a half years? It’s quite a feat for any reviewer dealing with any long running comic. But of course, for British fans especially, 2000 AD is not just any long running comic, it’s the comic, the one we grew up with, that exposed us to names like Dave Gibbons, Carlos Ezquerra, Bryan Talbot, Kev O’Neill, Pat Mills, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon, Brendan McCarthy, Steve Dillon and goodness knows how many others.

For a lot of us, especially those who started reading right back at the first Prog when we were knee high to a knee pad (and playing with our free space spinner) this was our entry card to a wider world of comics, writing and art and as we’ve seen those creators expand to become now famous names worldwide we’ve followed them (with no small amount of pleasure and satisfaction at the sheer amount of top class talent Tharg has fostered that the restt of the world wants to read now). Reading 2000 AD, especially in the early days when it was our main SF fix, really did turn a lot of us on to a wider world of comics reading further down the line.

Yes, Paul may be right, perhaps it is a bit ‘obsessive and stupid’ to spend so much time on such a project. But we’re all geeks (and proud to be geeks!) and we empathise with those kinds of urges; it’s those kinds of interests and urges that prompt us to write about and celebrate comics after all. So if it was a silly endeavour then, like the efforts of Don Quixote, they were magnificently, heroically silly, which is the finest kind of silly. Paul, we doff our Judge’s helmets to you as you prepare for the Long Walk and look forward to David mounting the Lawmaster to carry on in the mean streets of the Big Meg. Splundig vur thrigg.