The Sunday Spotlight: The ‘AKK! Aaaaaaaa’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
Welcome once more to the whole Sunday Spotlight thing, where I pick out a few things that caught my eye this week and you read them. Simple, huh?
Broken Frontier’s Andy Oliver interviews Alison Sampson, Dave Elliott, Fred Van Lente and Cathy Kwan on the return of not one but two legendary titles — A1 Deadline:
Over at Broken Frontier, a site bringing you all the very best in comics, specialising in small press, self-published, micro published, and truly independant voices in comics, Editor-in-Chief Andy Oliver interviews four creators included in the new A1 Deadline anthology — Alison Sampson, Dave Elliott, Fred Van Lente and Cathy Kwan.
If you didn’t know (yet you should), A1 and Deadline were two cutting-edge anthology titles from the late 80s and early 90s created by Garry Leach and Dave Elliott (A1) and by Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon (Deadline). Together they brought us the likes of Tank Girl, Hugo Tate, Wired World, The Bojeffries Saga, and so much more.
The new A1 Deadline anthology brings together names from the past, including posthumous work from Dillon, Ewins and Leach, along with a whole new generation of comic creators. It’s all put together by Dave Elliott and was successfully Kickstarted earlier in 2026.
Alison Sampson has this to say, which sums up both the legacy of A1 and Deadline, and gives you a clue to where this new A1/Deadline is headed …
“To me these magazines were about what was truly innovative in comics at the time they were made. I don’t mean that they set out to be avant garde, because that is not what they were. It was that they were fresh and unique and it was people genuinely feeling unconstrained and *trying stuff* and lo and behold, that stuff was good. And without A1 and Deadline, we might be in an entirely different place in comics. Would there be a Vertigo without Deadline? Would there be a way of drawing that was so influential that without it commercial comics might look very, very different, a lot of people would not have had illustrious careers and exciting contemporary artists might not have picked up a pen. We owe Deadline a lot, even if we never had sight of a copy. Its DNA is *everywhere*.”
2000 AD and Gosh! Comics presents a very special signing, four giants of comics — Brian Bolland, Gerry Finley-Day, Dave Gibbons, Mick McMahon, 15th August …
Oh, this is very, very special indeed. A chance to meet four absolute legends of comics — Brian Bolland, Gerry Finley-Day, Dave Gibbons, and Mick McMahon, all four the architects of 2000 AD and much else besides, and all four appearing for one very special signing at Gosh! London.
Details here.
The Comix Experience GN Club Books of the Month for August…
As is usual, I’m putting these before you because Comix Experience, owned by Brian Hibbs, is one of the best comic shops out there, pioneering the idea of a graphic novel club, and their picks are pretty much an indicator of something great to be on the look out for.
So, the Adult Club Pick for August 2026 is American Caper, written by Dan Houser (co-founder of Rockstar Games and lead writer on Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption) and Lazlow, with art from David Lapham and Chris Anderson.
“A Mormon hitman. A gambling-addict lawyer. Two neighbors intertwined in a real estate deal gone wrong. Mix in a Mexican beauty queen on the run from her past, a red-pilled housewife, two escaped convicts in love, a Wall Street billionaire who has become a cowboy, and a maniac hell-bent on revenge. The manicured wilderness of Verona, Wyoming is the perfect cocktail of American culture: real estate development, violence and snake oil. From the tax-avoiders in the Rockies, to the thought police of liberal Brooklyn, to the confused political and environmental battlegrounds of Florida, one thing is certain: This tragedy is someone else’s fault.”
As for the Kids Club pick, it’s something spooky from Insha Fitzpatrick and Ashley Robin Franklin, The Girl Who Loved Monsters.
“When Charlotte Bissett discovers a creepy cool book in her school library called Liber de Monstrum, she can’t help but take it home to investigate. Horror has always brought her comfort — as long as it’s safely within the pages of a book. That night she reads a few pages out loud before going to sleep. And the next day, some really weird things are going on in the small town of Devilfish Bay. There’s snow outside for the first time in years, Charlotte’s favorite teacher is missing, and the new substitute teacher, Miss Fell, is a little strange. She just might be a werewolf! Charlotte’s worried she made a big mistake reading from the creepy book. She knows it’s up to her to make things right—but to do so, she’ll have to recruit her friends Molly and Griffin to help. But will they even believe her? And if they do, can this new crew of kid monster hunters actually defeat a real werewolf?”
As is usual, Comix Experience will be interviewing the creators involved. There’s a live and in-person show for American Caper happening Saturday 29th August, signing at 5 pm and Q&A at 7 pm. Both Lazlow and Chris Anderson will be in attendance. If you can’t make it, the interview will be up on the CE socials later in the month. Similarly, the video interview with Fitzpatrick and Franklin for The Girl Who Loved Monsters will be posted later in the month.
Gosh! Comics presents Peter Hogan Resident Alien: The Book of Changes signing — 22nd August, London, UK …
The final volume of Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse‘s wonderful sci-fi tale, Resident Alien, as seen on TV, hits the shelves in August. To celebrate this end of what’s been a great series, Hogan will be appearing at Gosh! London on 22nd August, from 1-2pm.
Details here.
Another great UK comics signing event — Liam Sharp, Dan DiDio, Mike Perkins, Barry Kitson, Matylda McCormack-Sharp, Ben Stone, and Henry John at Forbidden Planet Derby — 23rd August …
Already covered by Olly here, but worth a reminder — seven creators getting together for a signing at FP Derby on 23rd August, 3.00pm – 5.00pm.
