The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Also, Pie. I’m Thankful For Pie’ Edition

by Richard Bruton

The Sunday Spotlight, an excuse for me to share with you a few things I’ve seen about comics this week…

Supergirl and Batgirl being thankful – by **Mike Maihack**

Yes, it was Thanksgiving and no doubt everyone who celebrated is feeling just that little overindulged this weekend. Too much of everything I’d imagine. But one thing I still want to get my head around – marshmallows with sweet potatoes? What the hell is that about America?

Oh well, onwards to the news bits…

SOMETHING FOR YOUR MUST BUY LISTS – TYRANT ARTIST EDITION BY STEVE BISSETTE…

One of those lost books, Tyrant by Steve Bissette, was meant to be an epic tale of dinosaurs, specifically an autobiography of a T-Rex. It was a stunning book, whose four issues from 1994 to 1996 are still treasured here. Beautifully done, a masterpiece in the making, lavishly detailed artwork that Bissette really put his heart and soul into.

Alas, four issues were all we ever got. Never reprinted, lost to us all… or so it seemed.

Except now we have news of the Tyrant Artist’s Edition coming to Kickstarter at some point in the future from Lighthouse Press, a new company founded by Chris Stevens, formerly of Locust Moon Press. Honestly, this is one that you should all be making a note to back. No doubt I’ll be bothering you some more about it when there’s more news on the Kickstarter.

Rob Salkowitz has the details at Publishers Weekly.

FORBIDDEN PLANET PRESENTS… THE BIG XMAS GATHERING PART 1… BATTLE ACTION FOR CHRISTMAS… 13 DECEMBER…

Forbidden Planet’s London Megastore has a few plans for Christmas it seems – which is presumably why they’re calling this signing with Garth Ennis, Keith Burns, Rob Williams, Steve White & Torunn Grønbekk for Battle Action Volumes 1, 2 & 3 is labelled ‘The Big Xmas Gathering Part 1.’ So, you can expect a few more Christmas gatherings through the festive period.

This one kicks off at 2.00 pm on Saturday, 13th December 2025, at the FP London Megastore, where all involved will be happy to chat and sign Battle and more. Details here.

ANGOULEME LOOKS IN DOUBT – THE 2026 FESTIVAL NOW ‘ON INDEFINITE HOLD’…

Well, the continued disaster that is Angouleme rolls on. As usual, Dean Simons at the Comics Beat has the skinny behind it all, together with the update here.

Long story short, although it’s been announced that 2026 will be the last festival run by 9e Art+, there’s way too much unrest about the practices and history of various alleged abuses, including sexual assault allegations, and many more problematic issues to do with the organisation running the festival. Pretty much everyone, including the town’s mayor, has been calling for the 2026 festival to be cancelled.

And in the update, he reports on the news that, as of 27th November, 9e Art+ ‘has officially put production of the 2026 event on indefinite hold.’ As Dean says, it’s not officially cancelled yet, but it’s sure a strong indication that the biggest comic festival in Europe won’t be going ahead for the previously announced dates of 29th January to 1st February 2026.

Go read Dean’s pieces for it all, but here’s the first para of the first piece, which summarises it up and gives you the sheer weight of numbers of those who didn’t think it was a good idea for Angouleme to go ahead…

‘Angoulême International Comics Festival 2026 should be cancelled. That seems to be the resounding message from publishers, authors…and as of today public partners – including the town mayor. The final fateful decision is now in the hands of controversial showrunner 9e Art+, which as of yesterday still claimed talks were ongoing. It’s the latest twist in the ongoing controversy that has rocked one of the largest dedicated comics events in the world.’

SONIC THE COMIC REILLUSTRATED – A FAN-CREATED TRIBUTE TO SONIC & LEW STRINGER…

Lew Stringer reports that the new Sonic The Comic Reillustrated issue #5 is available, free to download, right now. It’s a fan-made tribute to the enormously popular UK comic that was published by Fleetway from 1993 to 2002, a comic that’s beloved to this day by generations of Sonic fans – issue 5 celebrates Lew’s work as a writer on the comic, with over 50 artists chipping in (one panel per artist) to recreate some of his most fondly-remembered tales.

Here’s what Lew had to say:

‘This came as a pleasant surprise! In the 1990s I was a writer on Sonic The Comic, and now some of those talented readers have created a tribute comic re-illustrating one of my most popular stories. Each panel is drawn by a different artist. The back up features spotlight some of my characters and reader’s memories of my stories. I’m totally stunned by such a nice tribute.’

You can, and if you’re a fan of Sonic, really should, head to the site and have a look – all five issues are available to download for free.

JAMIE SMART’S CORPORATE SKULL – NOW COLLECTED…

What do you do if you’re the million-plus selling Jamie Smart, beloved by so many children for his Bunny Vs Monkey books, and you have a whole load of very not for kids comic pages hanging around that people really want to get hold of?

Well, the comics in question are Corporate Skull, the tale of ‘Alan Buttons, who loses his face in a horrifying photocopier accident. Reborn as ‘Skull’, he rampages around his office with a newfound confidence, smashing, drinking and fighting everything he can find. However, this office holds secrets, terrifying, monstrous secrets, and the further down Skull spirals, the deeper the conspiracies go…’

It started out in life as a webcomic, and the first 175 pages are still online here. And then it had a limited run in The Guardian newspaper. It is very silly, very violent, very sweary, and very not for kids.

Jamie’s solution was to go direct. He’s had some printed up as books, containing all seven issues and plenty of bonus stuff too. And he announced it on his socials like this…

‘Hello friends. I made a book of my Corporate Skull comic – all seven issues and loads of bonus stuff in there too. I got literally just a handful of them printed and I’m going to sell them (signed) here on Facebook. Nowhere else. I just want to make sure they get to people who actually know the comic, which might be you, rather than the general public (who might accidentally buy it for their kids).

Well, as you’d expect, there were plenty out there who loved the comic when they first read it and really, really wanted a copy. So much so that the initial run literally flew out. But fear not, there’s plans for more soon. Just follow Jamie on Facebook to find out when.