The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘You Say That Like It’s A Good Thing’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
Ah, Sunday, day of rest and all that stuff… but comics news never sleeps, so it’s time for The Sunday Spotlight…
CONGRATULATIONS TO COMICS ETC IN AUSTRALIA, WINNER OF THE COMIC SHOP RETAILER APPRECIATION AWARD 2025…
Always a pleasure to give you news that promotes those great comic shops serving the comics community. Announced at San Diego Comic Con last week, the Image Comics Select Retailer Award/Comic Shop Retailer Appreciation Award went to Comics Etc. in Queensland, Australia.
Here’s what James Jagic, co-owner of Comics Etc had to say…
“Since we were little, it’s been our dream to win the Image Select Retailer Award. Even though the award is relatively new, we’ve always looked forward to this day, We’re incredibly proud and honoured to be recognised for all the hard work and effort we’ve put into supporting the best damn comic publisher there has ever been!”
This is a relatively new award, last year it went to Peebles Comics & Games in Scotland, with shops nominated by fans. Comics Etc. basks in the warm glow of its recognition, gets a commemorative medallion, a spotlight Q&A on Image Comics’ socials and website, and a gold exclusive variant, limited to 250 copies.
But mostly it’s about recognising that its obviously a great shop, well loved by its customers. And we should be celebrating all the great comic shops out there, particularly in a world where things are seemingly getting more difficult month by month for them to continue doing what they do so well. So, get out there and support your local comic shop – after all, you’ll miss them when they’re gone!
JAMIE SMART’S GOT A CARD GAME COMING OUT? REALLY, HASN’T HE GOT ENOUGH GOING ON? (ANSWER, NO, BRING US ALL THE NEW JAMIE SMART YOU CAN!)…
So yes, The Phoenix Comic announced the first card game from the multi-million selling Jamie Smart, and it’s always a pleasure to say that, not least becasue Jamie’s a lovely, lovely man, but mostly because it’s fun to bait the ‘comics just aren’t any good any more/ kids just don’t read comics’ groups out there.
So yes, Hero Slam is running as the latest Smart comic in The Phoenix weekly right now, and they’re releasing the Hero Slam: The Card Game on 20 August 2025. You can order it from the Phoenix site here.
ACES WEEKLY INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LLOYD AND MORE AT AIPTCOMICS…
Marvel Maximus of AIPTComics has a chat with David Lloyd, Carlos Yacolca, and Alberto Rayo about Aces Weekly, the weekly digital comics anthology.
If you don’t know, and you really should, Aces Weekly is a digital-only anthology giving you 20 pages of short comics tales every week, later collected in volumes. It’s ridiculously cheap for what it’s offering, £1 a week or equivalent, and you should all really be subscribing right now.
Here’s how creator David Lloyd describes the Aces Weekly experience in the interview…
“To put regular comics on screen instead of paper — that’s all that we do — to gain wider access at minimal cost and maximum effectiveness. And when I say ‘regular comics,’ I mean the traditional, panel by panel, page after page, with balloons and captions comics. Apart from basic maintenance costs, online comics have no need to pay for repro, printing, packaging, and distribution. The pages are just files to be slotted in, sometimes just before the day they’re due to be read, and it’s all just sent down the super highway.
‘And it looks better on screen — no bad printing to worry about — and you can have it really big on your smart TV! Sadly, the mass of comics readers are still hopelessly in love with their customary form on paper and cling to it with annoying tenacity, so despite all the good things we offer for a good cause, we’re still battling for it.”
GOSHFEST 2025 – GOSH COMICS LONDON BRING YOU A DAY OF COMICS IN A SMALL PRESSTIVAL – 30 AUGUST…
Well, the poster does the job all posters for this sort of thing should do, and tells you pretty much all you need to know. Gosh Comics London are having a small press day, celebrating the finest in self-publishing comics and zine makers. Over 40 guests, with no doubt more added to the line-up as we get closer to the event. The guests will be working on a comic for the day, available free to anyone getting four Gosh event stamps for attending any of the shop’s plentiful events through the next few months.
There’s also a Gosh drink & draw happening the evening before, featuring some of the artists appearing the next day. It all kicks off at 11.00 on Saturday 30th August
All the details you could want here.
AND FINALLY…THE STERANKO NICK FURY PAGE THAT GAVE MARVEL CONNIPTIONS… YET THE EDITED VERSION MADE IT WORSE…
This from Kev Sutherland, looking at the famous Nick Fury page by Jim Steranko that Marvel really didn’t like, seeing as it implied that Nick and Val were having sex.
He recounts seeing a panel at the 1979 Birmingham Comic Con where Steranko talked about the page and the censorship Marvel demanded in the third from last panel. Over to Kev…
“It’s supposed to show the phone off the hook. In 1967, that was how you stopped yourself receiving calls, the modern day equivalent would be turning your phone off. Only the editor thought the implication, that they were about to have sex and didn’t want to be interrupted, was too strong. So they had Joe Sinnott draw the receiver back on the phone. Which, coupled with the shape of the shadows of a fern above, made it look like the phone was ringing. So now the implication is that Nick Fury and Val are having sex so noisy they can’t even hear a ringing phone.”