#Steve McManus

[sonicpanels]

Sonic the Comic #124: "The Lump"

Writer: Lew Stringer Pencils/Inks: Carl Flint Colors: Steve White Letters: Gordon Robson

Editor: Deborah Tate Managing Editor: Steve McManus

[onedegreeofsoniccomics]

2000 AD #973: Cover

Cover Credits

Art: Steve White

Editorial Team

Editor: John Tomlinson Managing Editor: Steve McManus

[downthetubes]

Hibernia Comics tease collection plans for 2025

Independent comic publisher Hibernia Comics has hinted at some smashing new classic British comic-inspired projects in the works for 2025

[ginge1962]

The Lawless Touch collection (free with Judge Dredd Megazine No.387) featuring strips from the british comic Tornado No,11-22 & Tornado Annual 1981.

[cryptocollectibles]

Punisher War Journal #50 (January 1993) by Marvel Comics

Written by Chuck Dixon, Steven Grant, Tony Skinner and Pat Mills, drawn by Mark Texeira, Shawn McManus, Tom Morgan, and Jimmy Palmiotti, cover by Steve Geiger. 

[graphicpolicy]

Creepshow Vol. 3 #3’s Comic Book Grail Is to DIE For

Creepshow Vol. 3 #3’s Comic Book Grail Is to DIE For #comics #comicbooks

[canmargesimpson]

Spring Cleaning

I believe that Steve's mom was a bit of a control freak. I mean, she went on business trips with her own husband to make sure she wasn't cheating on him. so she clearly likes to have her own rules in her house. 

i mean she went on a trip with her husband to make sure he didn't do anything sus. So I feel like she would also be this clean freak, every spring, she would tell Steve to clean his entire bedroom and get rid of the things she didn't need. After a while, this became a bit of a habit for Steve, so, when spring arrived and the sun started shining once again, he would clean his entire room and re-organize everything.

Later, when he is about to move in with Eddie, he realizes his room is a complete disaster. So he went full on mom mode. He summoned the entire party, put on an apron that said “Mom’s kitchen!” and bought a bunch of cleaning products (most of them he knew for cleaning after a party). At first Eddie thought Steve was messing with him, but when he showed up with the kids and the offer for them to clean his room, he was left with no choice but to say yes. And so they got to work.

First they took off all of the posters, in which Eddie was very whiny about, saying that if they broke them or even wrinkle them, he was going to sue. Then went to the closet, in which Steve, Robin and Nancy took care of. Lucas took the records and boxes of music outside to organize them next to Max, who was just sunbathing. Will, Dustin and Erica took care of the books that were everywhere. Like… Everywhere. 

“Why would you leave a book in the oven?” Dustin exclaimed as he took the collection of Sunglasses After Dark books

“Cuz i had no place to leave them” he shrugged as he turned around and kept trying to keep calm at everyone touching his stuff

Mike and Eleven were in charge of collecting the plates, empty beer cans, and food which were laying around. Finally, Argyle and Jonathan were in charge of organizing what was for donations, trash, and to keep. BUT, Argyle was lucky enough to find some edibles and weed treats and they both ended up high as hell on the couch watching looney toons. They weren’t much help at the end of the day, but at least they didn’t stand in everyone’s way. After organizing the clothes from the category, they sat and tried to see which ones were appropriate to keep, which were clean, and which were… actually clothes.

“Oh I missed this shirt!” Eddie took it from robin and raised it to see the cover of a weird ass band album cover.

“Mama’s boy? Really?” steve raised a eyebrow at his boyfriend

“Hell yeah! in 1985, they opened for Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, it was a hell of a night. I got the cassette too! Hold on” he ran outside to find lucas and max laughing

“Red, Lucas, Mama’s Boy, Power and Passion” 

“Let me- god where did I leave the M…”

“Third box, right after Malice” Max said nonchalantly, leaving both boys astounded and she just smiles “just because im blind doesn't mean i can’t see anything” 

Lucas took the cassette and handed it to eddie who was quickly inside and went to the trailer and placed the cassette in the player and connected it with the speakers, and pressed play, and the music started ( lol this is the link of the album, since its not in spotify, it should tho, their music is great tho)

“Wait…” Robin called as everyone turned to her “Why do you have like… four of their shirts?”

“Well…” eddie bit his lip and looked away trying to come up with an excuse… but at this point, he had no option but to tell the truth “I MAY have… slept with the drummer, and i might have stolen them”

“You what now?” steve smiled a little confused

“It was like, 3 years ago Stevie, don’t worry, he probably doesn't remember.” he reassured

“You slept with a drummer from a famous band?”

“Well i have fucked more famoust people, Tommy McManus is a particle compered to what i have gone through” he shows off but when he turns to his boyfriend with an un amused face

“Who then?

Eddie started laughing nervously, looking around for help, but robin and nancy were trying not to laugh while Dustin and Erica were clearly enjoying this.

“Joey Tempest… from Europe…”

“You fucked a Eurpoean?”

“ i mean, he is from sweden, and his in the band called Europe, but yeah”

“Do they sing a song we may know?”

Eddie’s cheek turned bright red as Steve looked at him with such an intimidating stare, it was too pretty for Eddie to say no to.

“You know… It the final countdown, tanana, tananana, tanana, tanananananana aaa” eddie sang in a low voice, pretty embarrassed of the situation he’s in

“Oh my god” Steve rolled his eyes and groaned

“You slept with carol perkins while she was dating tommy!” 

“Don’t you dare play the carol card on me right now!”

After a long discussion over each other's sex lives, they got back to cleaning and organizing, till the sun was setting.  They all ended up on the couch, in front of the tv, discussing which movie to watch. Their options were Howard the Duck, Mary Poppins, and Lawrence of Arabia, in which they chose Mary poppins. Steve ordered a pizza for everyone, and when Wayne came back, he could help but to join the kids watching the childish movie. They eat everylast pizza piece, and they all fall asleep on the couch munched together, and it was too cute not to take a picture, so wayne grabbed Eddie’s polaroid, snapped them a picture, which ended up the first frame that was hanged in the Munson - Harrington flat.

[i-am-the-oyster]

ALBUMS

Where's The Beef?

According to the man himself, Paul can bash out a song in the time it takes Linda to whip up a soyasome supper. But is this necessarily a good thing?

By Chris Ingham. Illustration by Richard Camps.

Paul McCartney

Flaming Pie PARLOPHONE

McCartney sans band again. Self-penned, played and produced, apart from contributions by Jeff Lynne, Ringo Starr, Steve Miller and son James McCartney.

I'VE STOPPED TRYING TO JUSTIFY LOVING solo McCartney. Of course some of the work of the last 27 years has been slack and misjudged. Yes, his trust in stream-of-consciousness and the inspiration of the moment ("If you're working too hard on something, it probably means its not very good") has left a catalogue with at least as much eccentric, cavalier material as substantial. But if you respond to someone, you respond. A lot of minor McCartney means as much to me as the major. The aloof will sigh; we expect more from a pop giant.

But there is more - the gargantuan Liverpool Oratorio has its moments, his minimalist-impressionist chamber piano piece A Leaf is a charmer, the forthcoming Standing Stones symphony is an intriguing prospect - it's just that these days, pop is only part of what he does. In pop, he's changed the world already, he's had his purple patch, and he hasn't had another genius to run his new songs by for quite a while; that can do things to a man's quality control.

However, though less spectacularly ambitious than the serious work, there is much to be enjoyed here. The indisputable melodic flair, the uplifting, doe-eyed optimism, the daft rockers, all here on Flaming Pie, an album in the McCartney tradition of pretty good, nudging upper middle. If you're hip to him, that's all you'll need.

Though not reaching the coherent, miraculous heights of Band On The Run (1973), it's miles better than the interminable live albums or his last, the heart-sinkingly ordinary Off The Ground ('93). Better, too, than the aberration of Give My Regards To Broad Street ('84) and the not-as-bad-as-you've-heard Press To Play ('86). So, it's probably on a par with Flowers In The Dirt ('89) which, though lauded at the time as a major return to form (prompted, no doubt, by the red herrings that were the awkward McCartney-McManus collaborations), now seems no better/no worse than the slick, unfailingly tunesome Tug Of War ('82) or Pipes Of Peace ('83).

What noses Flaming Pie ahead of the pack, however, is a return to the engaging home-made quality of his earliest solo work. Back in do-it-your-self, down-home primitive miniaturist mode, back on deep-groove drums and bluesy guitar, there are echoes of McCartney (1970) and Ram (1971) here, and it all has an authentic ring of auteur about it. It's not that Beatley, but it's very McCartney.

Some of it is positively reckless, there's a determination to follow the mood, have a laugh, see what happens. Three songs here are little more than jams. Flaming Pie was a self-imposed challenge to finish a track with Jeff Lynne in four hours (like you do). Funny, surreal lyrics, a cracking 3 Legs-type vocal, a thunderous Why Don't We Do It In The Road/Don't Bring Me Down groove and some hilarious, cack-handed barrel-house piano; this is the track I'm playing visitors.

Ringo and Paul lock into a super-taut, muscled riff on Really Love You and McCartney makes up the song as he goes (like Mumbo from Wild Life but with words); mad, indulgent, but kind of happening. Only the duet with Steve Miller on a slinky Texas 12-bar palls. Two minutes of this good-vibe, one-take blues would have been a treat, four minutes feels like eight.

Interspersing this japery is good and OK Macca fare made better, perhaps, by co-producer Jeff Lynne's ear for detail on over half the tracks. There are no obvious ELO/Wilbury mannerisms and, oddly, the ones that sound most like Lynne don't involve him (both the strangely sinister If You Wanna and lightweight, damnably catchy Young Boy - the one he completed in a couple of hours while Linda was tinkering in the kitchen - feature orchestras of acoustic guitars), though the dry-as-a-bone sound and upfront vocals elsewhere betray Lynne's welcome presence.

Track Listing

The Song We Were Singing

The World Tonight

Somedays

If You Wanna

Young Boy

Calico Skies Flaming Pie

Heaven On A Sunday

Used To Be Bad Souvenir

Little Willo w

Really Love You Beautiful Night

Great Day

The Song We Were Singing is a vivid evocation of an evening with friends in the '60s; the sweet, hazy vocal, the trippy twang of the guitar, the struggle to make "...discuss the vast intricacies of life" scan, the soaring, singalong chorus all combine to give the track an enchanting, stoned elegance. Heaven On A Sunday is prime, dreamy Macca with gorgeously textured sound. It also features his son's debut as Dad trades his Oo You guitar licks with 20-year-old James McCartney's Dave Gilmour ones. Souvenir is an oddball beauty; a soulful, lazy thing with a surprise guitar-riff-from-hell and a psychedelic fade. This is all very encouraging, Lynne appears to have helped McCartney sound more like himself, somehow. To be continued, hopefully.

There are three finger-pickin' solo numbers. Calico Skies is an earnest little love song which develops into an anti-war prayer. Somedays is a portentous song of doubt, always threatening to mean something, beautifully decorated by George Martin's arrangement. Great Day manages to allude metrically to the Vincent Youmans's 1930 standard of the same title and melodically to McCartney's own Big Barn Bed in a sweet, throwaway piece of unfeasible optimism. They ain't Blackbird, but they're fine.

It must be noted that the man's singing is a marvel. The grey-around-the-edges folk-balladeering of Calico Skies, the falsetto blues-croon of Heaven On A Sunday, the deliriously uninhibited rock-shriek of Really Love You re-confirm that McCartney's vocal-style range is without equal in pop. Sinatra's pipes had virtually cracked at 55. What is this guy on?

"No sleepless nights over this one," he told Steve Miller. What with the serious stuff people keep asking him to write, who can blame him? Making this will have been a holiday by comparison.

The World's Greatest Living Melodist crown must lay heavy; here McCartney is sporting his Eccentric Primitive Miniaturist colours. Flaming Pie is a fine reminder of how much they suit him.

Paul McCartney talks to Chris Ingham live from his car somewhere in the great British countryside.

Flaming Pie. Pleased with it?

Yeah, like it a lot actually. It's always good when you're proud of what you've done, because when you're not you're always moaning at the record company about how they don't put posters up, or how they don t get plays and all that. But I sort of don't care. Even if radio doesn't take to it, posters don't get put up and people don't say the right things, I've got a feeling that because I like it, I don't give a shit. I'm not sure that's 100 per cent true but the feeling's there. It feels good. I'm comfortable; there's a lot to be said for that.

Don't you feel like this after each new record?

No, not really. You always enjoy like having a new baby, as it were, but this one feels a bit special. It's like Anthology, people would ask, "Are you worried? Should you have done it? Is it right to do Free As A Bird?" I would say to them, listen, once The Beatles and George Martin have signed off on it, I always get a great feeling that it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks, we're a sufficiently cool enough gang of dudes, it's a question of sod the rest of them. I always used to get that feeling on Beatles albums; hey, it's The Beatles, we all like it, that's a pretty strong opinion.

It's not as easy to get that on my solo records because it's mainly me. I don't have the strength of the Woolwich around me. But on this one, there wasn't much pressure because the record people said, "We don't actually need a record from you for a while, so l started making music just for my own fun.

I think I've given the Anthology a decent interval, my stuff is suddenly ready, asked Linda if she had any photos, she had a great little selection, banged it together and it all suddenly seemed to work and it was, "Oh, there you go.

And I've told the marketing guys, "I don't want any sweat on this record, I don't care if you don't come up with a good idea, we're just gonna have a laugh." It's funny, they don't know where you're coming from, they re so used to that 'gotta get it right, get the right image desperation. Whereas I'm saying it'd be nice, but it's only a record. It really does cool things down.

One big thing with The Beatles, once in the early days we broke down on the motorway going back up to Liverpool in the severe winter, somewhere. One of us said, "Oh, what are we going to do now?" and another said, "Well, something'll happen." And it sounded so naive, we all laughed, "Yeah, something'll happen." Immediately a lorry came up and said, "Wanna lift, lads?" We all piled in. I'm a great believer in that "something'll happen" syndrome. It's like if you allow that space, that bit of peace in your mind, something sort of comes in to fill it. It's all very metaphysical.

You've said, "Songwriting's like the thumb in the mouth." It's interesting that through a worrying time with Linda being ill, you've made an upbeat kind of record. Is there a connection?

Yes, I think there is. When you have a major problem like that, it focuses what's important. I know everyone says that but it really does. For me, my family comes first, and a close second is music and working. I think it stopped me pissing around. I might have made a record and thought, Oh that's OK. But with that and having just done Anthology I thought, No I'm gonna make sure I'm happy with every song on this album. I don't want to waste time. I think that's the main force. If you're just breezing along you can think, Aah I've got forever, it's all great - you can find yourself wasting time. And also having looked at The Beatles albums and running your finger down the tracklist and it's Nowhere Man, Here There And Everywhere, Taxman, bang, bang, bang, every single one is a song you remember. I thought, I'm gonna make an album like that. I sorted a lot of songs and didn't bother with things I was in doubt about. So the whole episode focused me up quite a bit.

You've admitted in the past to feeling daunted by the Beatles' achievements, yet all this full-on Beatlosity of the past 18 months or so seems to have spurred you on.

Yeah well, the sort of plan was to take a holiday. But I'd just be sitting around with my acoustic, writing a song in a power cut in America, played it to a few people and it's "Ooh yeah, that's a good 'un." So I started stockpiling a few with nothing in mind, stuck 'em on a cassette and called them New Songs. Suddenly I had a lot of them. Called Steve Miller, who I'd known and played with once in the '60s after a Beatle session which was aborted because of, ahem, business differences. God, I've just come across a big field full of sheep here. Amazing. But I digress... I'd say to Steve, "look we don't need to get into heavy breathing, let's just knock it off", the way we did that track of his, My Dark Hour. He'd invited me up to his studio in Sun Valley, Idaho, did a track. Returned the hospitality, knocked off a couple more.

You're working with Jeff Lynne again. He'd passed the Free As A Bird test then?

Yeah, that was the audition (laughs). He was sort of George's boyfriend, if you know what I mean, and, you know, you don't want to tread on people's toes. But I'd enjoyed working with him and found him really easy to get on with, we always had a laugh. And I said, "Do you want to come over for a couple of weeks?" He said, "Well, you can't do much in a couple of weeks." I said, "Well, we can do a couple of tracks and mix 'em.."

What was the dynamic between you and Jeff?

I'd show him the song. And then first of all we'd bang it down with a couple of acoustics so we'd have a wash to go against, instead of a click track. It's an old Beatle trick, really. Everything used to have two acoustics, at least. It was mainly me and John showing the guys the song. That's one of Jeff's production tricks, too. I can't think where he got it. A lot of people when I mentioned working with Jeff their eyebrows raised, and I picked up what they meant was he's going to make an ELO of you. I actually had that worry with Free As A Bird. But then I thought, No, we'd worked around it, and even though it was a Jeff Lynne-type production I still thought it sounded very like The Beatles. So I had a chat with him and I said, "I don't want to get into your recognisable sound." He was actually a little bit surprised, I don't think he thinks he has a sound (in surprised Brummie voice), "What do you mean?" He's a very innocent kind of bloke. I said, "If I feel we re getting into a bit of a Jeff Lynne formula, let's find a trick to get round it, subvert it." He was quite into it, actually.

John Lennon said in the late '70s that if The Beatles were still making records, they'd sound like ELO.

Yeah, it was important to Jeff to meet John and have him say, "Oh I love some of those ELO tracks." I liked them, too. It's a bit like Oasis. Anyone who gives such an obvious tribute to you, you either hate it or you love it, and I love it. They're taking our style and proliferating it, if that's the word. ELO were good, you know, pity about the haircut. (Pause) I'm only kidding about the haircut, you'd better put in brackets - he'd kill me. He's still got it.

Given Ringo's and George Martin's cameos, George Harrison remains conspicuous by his continued absence. Is it difficult, given your history and the reported 'artistic tension' on the Free As A Bird/Real Love sessions, to contemplate a Harrison/McCartney collaboration?

I don't know really. To tell you the truth, when I was working with John, it was so, I don't know, so full, you never had a minute, so if working with George never really came up, I got in the habit of not working with him, I never really learned how to do it. When we did Free As A Bird there were one or two little bits of tension, but it was actually cool for the record. For instance, I had a couple of ideas that he didn't like, and he was right. I'm the first one to accept that. So that was OK. We did then say that we might work together but the truth is, after Real Love I think George had some business problems. Er, it didn't do a lot for his moods over the last couple of years. He's been having a bit of a hard time, actually, he's not been that easy to get on with. I've rung him and maybe he hasn't rung back. No big deal. But when I ring Ringo, he rings back immediately, we're quite close that way. You know, I'll write George a letter and he might not reply to it. I don't think he means not to reply to it but it makes me wonder whether he actually wants to do it or not. And if you're not sure, you back off a little. But I love him, he's a lovely guy and I would love to do it. It'd be fun, he's good.

[janeiscompletelyfine]

Characters

Hey folks, I had an idea. So I'm writing a fic called Once More, With Feeling, and I am about ready to put another chapter out, but at the same time I have also finished the character sheet of every character in my fic who goes to school at the same time as Harry (whew.)

So my idea was that I would release said character sheet and people could do asks pairing a character with a subject they liked (for example, Keiko Tanaka with older lesbian awakening) and I write them a chapter if I could, because 1. motivation and 2. it would be fun!

One note: please don't use any original characters without asking. I know there's still a chance that it will happen and maybe it's not fair to ask, and if so lmk, but if at all possible, if you are reading this, inherent creative copyright is the basis of all fanfiction and if we can't agree on that, so much of what we love wouldn't exist. If you ask I'm 100% amenable to the characters being used, but please ask.

Okay, without further ado, here is the list as of right now, with Harry as a first year. When I get to the next year I'll reblog with the new kids and without the seventh years. The * refers to an original character, and the (a) refers to a character that has already been introduced in the story, which doesn't mean they can't get a chapter written but means they may already have a bit of a personality.

Once More, With Feeling Characters!

First Year:

Gryffindor:

Hermione Granger (a)

Ron Weasley (a)

Harry Potter (a)

Neville Longbottom

Seamus Finnigan (a)

Parvati Patil (a)

Lavender Brown (a)

Dean Thomas (a)

Ravenclaw:

Cho Chang

 Anthony Goldstein

Padma Patil (a)

Michael Corner

Lisa Turpin

Mandy Brocklehurst

Terry Boot

Morag MacDougal

Hufflepuff:

Ernie Macmillan

Hannah Abbott

Justin Finch-Fletchley

Wayne Hopkins

Sally-Anne Perks

Susan Bones

Lily Moon

Slytherin:

Draco Malfoy (a)

Pansy Parkinson (a)

Daphne Greengrass (a)

Tracey Davis (a)

Vincent Crabbe (a)

Gregory Goyle (a)

Theodore Nott (a)

Millicent Bulstrode (a)

Second Year:

Gryffindor:

Cormac McLaggen

Katie Bell

Poppy Lassers*

Juliet Torley*

Abraham Kent*

Callie Zeller*

 Alfie McTuckett*

Ravenclaw:

Marcus Belby

Eddie Carmichael

Marietta Edgecombe

April Whiteflower*

Lila Webster*

Bellamy Schon*

Isabela Martin*

Hufflepuff:

Rob Summerby

Leanne Nott

Kenneth Towler

Tara Moon*

Jasper Davis*

Louie Nabbit*

Oscar Cross*

Slytherin:

Billy Harper

Hakim Urquhart

Emmeline Denkel*

Lola DeLuma* (a)

Ezra Fawley*

Finch Rowle*

Leopold McManus*

Third Year:

Gryffindor:

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Angelina Johnson (a)

Alicia Spinnet (a)

Lee Jordan

Arthur Marrigan*

Ines Cardoso*

Scott Nunez*

Ravenclaw:

Roger Davies

Patricia Stimpson

Oona Sianche*

Asa Merrythought*

Molly Moon*

Catherine Prewett*

Fabler Murray*

Hufflepuff:

Cedric Diggory

Holly Hopkins*

Henrietta Noot* (a)

Maria Jimenez*

Teddy Torley* (a)

Phineas Borde*

Alabaster Borde*

Slytherin:

Miles Botchley

Graham Montague

Paula Cardoso*

Millie Wanewright*

Warwick Yarrow*

Barry Costman*

Madeline Morrisey*

Fourth Year:

Gryffindor:

Abelia Scott*

Keiko Tanaka* (a)

Fabian Cross* (a)

Elizabeth Benson*

Benjamin Denkel*

Peter Morebb* (a)

Steve Baumgarten*

Ravenclaw:

Sylvia Fawcett

Isobel Barclay*

Callum Marrigan*

Knox Wilson* (a)

Jacob Benowitz*

Mia Solendska*

Hufflepuff:

Juno Summers

Jameson Snock*

Johnny Ahmed* (a)

Amelia Wanewright*

Lauren Zeller*

Lizzy Beckett*

Slytherin:

Lucian Bole

Cassius Warrington

Adrian Pucey

Peregrine Derrick

Maryam DeLuma*

Seraphina O’Wane*

Zuzu Clapton*

Fifth Years:

Gryffindor:

Percy Weasley (a)

Oliver Wood (a)

Hank Murray*

Rachel Flick*

Mary (Matey) Nicks*

Bill Walters*

Zoey Lost*

Ravenclaw:

Penelope Clearwater

Claude Sollens*

Abigail Beck*

Robert Wailing*

Josh Browson*

Arabella Gardens*

Hufflepuff:

Michael McManus

Mabel Macmillan* (a)

Jenny Rosier* (a)

Wallen Exeber* (a)

Maya Ahmed* (a)

Odwulf Hausmann*

Sylvester Blink*

Slytherin:

Marcus Flint

Joey Markington* (a)

Philippa Morn*

Magdalena Fawcett*

Sebastian Swann*

Winter Barking*

Sixth Year:

Gryffindor:

Sophia Ferrate*

Romina Murray* (a)

Betty Sloper* (a)

Joe Spinnet* (a)

Thomas Denkel*

Darren Cross*

Yara Fawcett*

Ravenclaw:

Fergus FInnigan

Philip Baffler* (a)

Caroline Morian*

Diana Bow* (a)

Wesley Marrigan*

Dalia Ahmed*

Lucy Torley* (a)

Petrovna Berezkina* (a)

Hufflepuff:

Cara Smith*

Bennett Hopkins*

Hugh Madley*

Bruxo Castelan*

Finn Shamble*

Stella DuLuma*

Charlotte Pack*

Slytherin:

Cecilia DeTona* (a)

Faye Winger*

Astelan Smitt*

Robin Cospen* (a)

Terence Tackman*

Berto Conti*

Walter Mane*

Lea Shallan*

Seventh Year:

Gryffindor:

Reed Dennaghue*

Dorothea Bow*

Ernest Fluckster*

Wulfric Shee*

Kirk Dunbroch*

Sarah Fawcett*

Calliope Burns*

Patrick Torley*

Ravenclaw:

Gerald Biggs*

Tony Walden*

Zelda O’Heran*

Reginald Battes*

Morgana Abbott* (a)

Aurelian Dane*

Olivia Shee*

Hufflepuff:

Jada Shafiq*

 Aster Rosier*

Norbert Caster*

Posy Kettleburn*

Helen McManus*

Tate Fawley*

Slytherin:

Terence Higgs

Clare Jameson*

Bettina Magorian*

Layla Ahmed*

Torey Denkel*

Timothy Starling*

Wander Fyke*

Sienna DeTona*

And that's it! Thank you!

[nightwings-puphood]

April 14, 2024

Hon. Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al-Thani

Embassy of Qatar

Washington, D.C.

Hon. Motaz Zahran

Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt

Washington, D.C.

Dear Ambassadors Al-Thani and Zahran,

As members of the community of Batman writers, artists and editors, we are contacting you concerning the young Batman fan who was taken hostage by terrorists and has been held in Gaza since last October 7.

Ariel Bibas, age 4, and his brother Kfir, now age 1, were taken hostage by Hamas, along with their parents, Yarden and Shiri Bibas. Ariel’s maternal grandparents were murdered in the same attack.

Moved by the many anecdotes of Ariel’s affection for the iconic character who has become a symbol of hope and justice for so many, we implore your governments to exercise all possible leverage on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to immediately release the Bibas family, and all the Israeli hostages, from captivity.

Sincerely,

Charlie Adlard – Artist, Batman/Scarface; Harley Quinn; Batman Arkham

Sal Amendola – Artist / Writer, Batman; Detective Comics; World’s Finest


Mark Bagley – Artist, Batman; Batman: Long Shadows; Justice League of America

Hilary Barta – Inker, Elseworlds Finest; Batman: Gothic Knights; Detective Comics

John Beatty – Artist, Batman; Detective Comics; Justice League of America

Scott Beatty – Writer, Batman: Gotham Knights; Batgirl: Year One; The Batman Handbook

Terry Beatty – Artist, Batman: Gotham Adventures; Batman Beyond; Batman Strikes

Deron Bennett – Letterer, Batman: Arkham; Detective Comics; Harley Quinn

Simon Bowland – Letterer, The Bat-Man: First Knight; Batman: Gotham by Gaslight


Matthew Brake, M.Div., M.A. – Co-editor, Batman & Theology

Reilly Brown – Artist, Batman/Fortnite; The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox

Mike Carlin – Writer, Batman Black & White; Editor Batman Confidential

Amanda Conner – Writer/Artist, Harley Quinn; Batman; JSA Classified

Denys Cowan – Artist, Batman: Gotham Knights, Detective Comics, Batman Confidential

Alan Davis – Artist, Batman and the Outsiders; Detective Comics

Chuck Dixon – Writer, Detective Comics; Robin; Vengeance of Bane

Steve Englehart – Writer, Batman; Detective Comics; Legends of the Dark Knight

Andrew Farago – Author, Batman: The Definitive History

Sholly Fisch – Writer, Batman’s Mystery Casebook; The Brave and the Bold

Frank Fosco – Artist, Batman – Contagion; Robin

Kami Garcia – Writer, Joker/Harley; Teen Titans: Robin

Noelle C. Giddings – Artist / Colorist, Batman: Blind Justice; Gotham Central; Bane of the Demon

Jordan B. Gorfinkel – Longtime editor of the Batman comics franchise

Mike Grell – Artist / Writer, Batman: Masque


Matt Harding – Writer, Batman: The Brave and the Bold

James Harvey – Artist, Batgirl; We Are Robin

Mike Henderson – Artist, Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Klaus Janson – Artist, Batman: Gordon’s Law; Detective Comics; Batman: Death and the Maidens

Dan Jurgens – Writer, The Bat-Man: First Knight; Batman Beyond


Lovern Kindzierski – Artist / Colorist, Batman: Legends of the Dark Night; Batman: Sword of Azrael


Tim Levins – Artist, Batman: Gotham Adventures; Justice League

Paul Levitz – Former Batman writer, editor and publisher

Shane McCarthy – Writer, Batman Arkham; Batman Legends of the Dark Knight; Detective Comics


Shawn McManus – Artist, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight; Detective Comics

Scott McRae – Artist, Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Dr. Rafael Medoff – Contributor, Theology and Batman; Director, The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies

Yehudi Mercado – Writer / Artist, Batman: Arkham Asylum


Dan Mora – Artist, Superman/Batman; Joker; Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Dean Motter – Batman: Nine Lives; Batman: Gotham Knights

Ann Nocenti – Writer, Batman; Catwoman; Joker

George Pratt – Writer / Artist, Batman: Harvest Breed

Tom Richmond – Artist, Batman/Superman; Detective Comics

Prentis Rollins – Artist, Batman: Ultimate Evil; Robin; JLA Incarnations


John Rozum – Writer, Detective Comics

Greg Ruth – Artist, The Riddler


Arlen Schumer – Batman historian

Sander Schwartz – Former President, Warner Animation

Stephen B. Scott – Artist, Batman; Batman Confidential; Batman: Eye of the Beholder

Declan Shalvey – Artist, All-Star Batman; Batman Incorporated; Nightwing

Hayden Sherman – Artist, Batman: The Adventures Continue; Batman: Urban Legends; Harley Quinn


Howard M. Shum – Artist, Joker/Mask

Saida Temofonte – Artist / Letterer, Batman: Urban Legends; Batman: Scooby-Doo Mysteries

J. Torres – Writer, Batman: Knightwatch; Batman Motion Comics on YouTube


Darren Vincenzo – Editor, Detective Comics; Batman: Gotham Adventures

Mark Waid – Writer, World’s Finest; Kingdom Come; The Brave and the Bold

Thomas Yeates – Artist, Detective Comics

Chip Zdarsky – Writer, Batman; Batman/Catwoman; Batman: The Knight

[sonicpanels]

Sonic the Comic #121: "On the Run (Part 1)"

Writer: Nigel Kitching Art: Nigel Dobbyn Letters: Elitta Fell Editor: Deborah Tate Managing Editor: Steve McManus

[onedegreeofsoniccomics]

Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future #15: "Bomb Man"

Cover Credits

Pencils/Inks: Dylan Teague

Colors: Dondie Cox

Story Credits

Writer: Nigel Kitching

Pencils/Inks: Dylan Teague

Colors: John Kent

Letters: Gordon Robson

Editorial Team

Editor: David Bishop

Managing Editor: Steve McManus

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matthew McManus for The UnPopulist:

An enduring conceit of the leftist imagination is that the right is a unified monolith. While the left has enjoyed guillotining its own since at least the French Revolution, the idea goes, conservatives, reactionaries, and “counter-revolutionaries” inevitably put their differences aside for the sake of the cause. This isn’t true, of course. The new right is at least as ideologically diverse as the modern left, and many of its varied factions aren’t shy about publicly expressing their contempt for one another. While they may be brought to heel by fear of Donald Trump’s ability to declare anyone persona non grata within the broader MAGA movement, they are also motivated to maneuver against one another for relative power and influence within his orbit. We saw a quietly spectacular example of this recently in the interregnum spat between Elon Musk and Steve Bannon and their respective followers. For those fortunate enough to need a refresher: Musk is currently acting as a combination of lickspittle and wrecking ball for Trump, and is widely regarded as a leader in the tech-bro wing of the MAGA movement. Appropriately for the billionaire scion of South African emerald mine money, Musk has also helped shore up support from finance oligarchs like Jamie Dimon and Bill Ackman. The other front was led by Steve Bannon: Once considered “Trump’s brain,” Bannon was infamously pushed out of the first MAGA administration before briefly serving prison time awaiting the second. He now heads the Bannon WarRoom podcast, a major source of news and conspiratorial thinking on the far right. Despite lacking the access he once had, Bannon is still widely regarded as a major thought leader on the right and speaks for a vocal wing of the movement.

A House Divided

The spat began when it became clear that the incoming Trump administration would heavily favor the Musk wing of the party over the Bannon wing, with the former expressing an openness to more generous (at least by MAGA standards) immigration policies. Bannon and his allies accused Musk of being an “evil person” and not even a U.S. citizen, and expressed deep hostility towards the idea of maintaining visa programs for highly skilled workers. The Bannon wing quickly spiraled into racist ranting against Indian immigrants, contending that those jobs should go to Americans instead. By contrast, figures like Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy insisted that to maintain its competitive edge America needed to continue attracting the best of the best.

The Bannonites proudly proclaimed that the populist wing of the party would win out in the end, even as it became very clear that more billionaires would get into line alongside Musk than in any other administration in American history. For their part, Musk and his legion of fans fired back over several months, characterizing Bannon as stupid and sparring online with anti-immigrant diehards. Musk even liked a post characterizing the Bannon right as too “retarded” to do high skilled jobs (both factions remain aligned on the use of slurs like the r-word to characterize opponents). Now there is yet more twists in the never-ending court politics. Bannon has recently softened his tone on Musk, stressing the need to work together. This comes just as Trump’s enthusiasm for Musk in general seems to be softening after the embarrassing defeat of the latter’s electoral strategy in Wisconsin. Beyond just a clash of big egos, the cattiness reflects a deeper set of ideological divisions that the administration may or may not be able to hold together. For many decades, the conventional wisdom was to follow Ronald Reagan in describing the (mainstream) modern American right as a “three-legged stool” of economic libertarians, socially conservative white evangelicals, and anti-communists/foreign policy hawks. Many elements of this old configuration persist, but they have been joined by a menagerie of smaller factions. These new groups range from neo-reactionaries openly hostile to democracy like Curtis Yarvin, a variety of (often religious) post-liberals, national conservatives who want an open embrace of Christian and/or ethnic nationalism, atheist “Eugenicons” who have traded not reading Locke for not reading Nietzsche, and of course plenty of Trump ride-or-die followers who are happy to go along with whatever happens to pop out of his mouth at any given moment. All this, along with the personalist governing style and impulsive favoritism of Trump himself, has made 2025 court politics something of a brazen spectacle. Trumpism’s novelty, in the vast historical sweep of era-defining ideologies, means it is still quite possible for any faction within it to effectively shape it in its own image. Of course, any faction that does seek to define it will need to incorporate some of the other groups in temporary alliances and sideline yet others. What can the Musk-Bannon dispute tell us about how this might happen?

Tech Bros and Ethno-Nationalists

Musk and Bannon, the two factional figureheads who attempted to draw lines in the sand about what the precise MAGA position on immigration will be, certainly have overlapping ideological affinities. But each also represents a core constituency on the Trumpian right.

On the one hand is the burgeoning tech-bro wing of the American right, which tends to combine right-libertarian economic attitudes with an authoritarian politics rooted in powdery elitism (pun intended). This disposition has roots in the American right going back to the height of social Darwinism and running through Ayn Rand’s division of the world into productive builders and parasitic takers. Its version of libertarianism is more a kind of aristocratic hyper-individualism, where America is mythologized as the land where the best of the best can rise to the top through their own unaided efforts—a few million-dollar loans from dad notwithstanding. The authoritarianism comes, as Peter Thiel once put it, from ressentiment over how democracy enables the many to place limits on those who see themselves as the gilded few. At its most extreme, figures like Yarvin openly contemplate running America like a business by just appointing someone, like a CEO in chief, to wield king-like power. But while the tech-bro wing is very willing to listen to self-flattering myths about heroic investors, it historically has less patience for crude nationalist appeals to put Americans first, at least when doing so will cut into profits by limiting their ability to pool talent from across the globe and do business where needed. By contrast, Bannon’s wing of the party takes its authoritarianism in an explicitly populist and ethno-nationalist direction, comfortable with blatant racism. For the ethno-nationalists, America First means putting Americans first—though who is allowed to count as American is debated and ever-changing. This attitude, unfortunately, is not a rarity in U.S. history: from the Dred Scott decision declaring only white Americans as fit to be citizens to transparently racist immigration laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act, the original Nazi-friendly America First movement, George Wallace’s fierce defense of segregation, Bannon and his ilk are drawing from a well they did not themselves construct.

Could there be a MAGA spilt on immigration between the Tech Bro wing led by Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Curtis Yarvin and the nativist wing led by Stephen Bannon?

[ginge1962]

Blazer #1 from a Kickstarter campaign here in the UK.

Masterminded by Steve McManus (of 2000AD fame) and produced very much in the vein of the UK comic weeklies of old.

A Valiant effort but only one decent strip in my opinion.

Still, at least you get a free sticker!

[jorrated]

Lil archival of a message i really liked on the STC Yahoo groups

ABOUT GRIMER WORMTONGUE

(Message ID_ 13800):

Nigel Kitchin: “Right. I'm going to rush this but I'll give you what I can remember. When I first started on Sonic Id imagined that I was expected to use Snively because he was amongst the reference that I had been given. Then Richard Burton (the editor at the time) pointed out that this character had been created for the TV series and we wouldn't have the rights to use him. So I simply came up with Grimer as an alternative. The name: At art college a friend of mine used to be very keen on science fiction and fantasy. One time he was telling me about this character Grima Wormtongue and what a great name that was. For some reason I was under the impression that he was from The Gormenghast Trilogy - probably because this book (as well as Lord Of The Rings) was part of the same conversation. So I just got mixed up. Weird thing is that a couple of years later I read the Lord Of The Rings so I must have come across the character again then. I suppose that when I came up with my Grimer it was many years later and it was the conversation with Pete that came to mind and I simply forgot about Grima being in Lord Of The Ring. The thing that I like about my Grimer is the business of him being pathologically loyal to Robotnik - he wasn't out to advance himself and had no personal ambition that we can make out. He lived to serve his master. We kind of got the same thing with Smithers and Mr Burns in The Simpsons - but I was first, I think. You also asked about the Drakons: When I wrote that first Sentinel story I had a pretty open ending with the Sentinel flying off into space to find his long lost masters. Richard Burton didn't like that and wanted a more dramatic finish - which I supplied. Then Richard went on holiday and Steve McManus stepped in for a couple of weeks. He didn't like the new end to this story (he didn't know it had been written to Richard's specification) and asked me to rewrite it somewhat. I have no idea what I changed for Steve or how the story was after the first rewrite - it was a long time ago... I didn't specifically have the Drakon's in mind when I wrote this but I did know that the Aquatic Ruin Zone (is that what it was called?) was an alien outpost of some kind and I thought that it would be fun to think about what had become of this alien race and what their interest in Mobius was.”

(Message ID_ 13801)

benm2k9:"Wow thanks a lot Nigel! Thats really helpful, and yeah it is Aquatic Ruin zone. Yes I can see what you mean about Grimer being fanatically loyal, I suppose you’ve got to be while Robotnik’s around or you might end up dead :D. Just one more thing, what actually IS he? A lizard? There’s been speculation by a few people on STC-O that he’s somewhat related to Proctor Spectle. Also I’m sure you’ve been asked about this before but the oxygen tanks on his back, whats with them?. sorry about all the questions but its really interesting to know :D”

(Message ID_ 13802)

Nigel Kitchin: "... It s not self-preservation with Grimer though - serving Robotnik is what he aspires to. Different to Snively as we shall see... ... I don t know.

These ‘Wow thanks a lot Nigel! Thats really helpful, and yeah it is Aquatic Ruin zone. Yes I can see what you mean about Grimer being fanatically loyal, I suppose you've got to be while Robotnik's around or you might end up dead :D’ It's not self-preservation with Grimer though - serving Robotnik is what he aspires to. Different to Snively as we shall see…

‘Just one more thing, what actually IS he? A lizard? There's been speculation by a few people on STC-O that he's somewhat related to Proctor Spectle. Also I'm sure you've been asked about this before but the oxygen tanks on his back, whats with them?’

I don't know. These things are the invention of Rich Elson. In fact the hole look of Grimer may be Rich's… Let me explain. all those early scripts I thought I had to use Snively so I probably (can't actually remember to be honest) wrote his personality based on the refs I had. The first time I wrote Grimer as Grimer was in the story featuring Knuckles probably. I don't remember how I came to describe Grimer into Rich and it's possible I wrote something and it's possible that I gave him something to work with over the phone but it's also possible that he just came up with the look himself after Richard Burton told him Snively was off-limits. It just so happens I came across my early Sonic scripts so here is the part of issue 21 that introduces Grimer (well, Snively).

Longer shot of the door to Robotnik's office. We can see that there is a secretary sitting at a desk outside. Once again she is a weird looking human. Snively has approached her desk. Snively is a character from the Sonic TV Series model sheets. He is Robotnik's assistant and has ambitions to power in a Uriah Heep kind of way.

Secretary: I WOULDN'T GO IN THERE IF I WERE YOU, SNIVELY. THE BOSS IS IN A REALLY UGLY MOOD TODAY.

Snively: I'M SURE IT WILL BE ALL RIGHT FOR ME TO ENTER, MY DEAR. I AM THE DOCTOR'S RIGHT HAND MAN, AFTER ALL....

Snively is now in the office but Robotnik has been replaced by a Robotnik-sized egg. Snively registers surprise but not too much, he's a cool scheming character this Snively. The egg is smoking slightly.

Snively: MASTER, IS THAT EGG YOU?

Snively: I REALLY CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT….”

[graphicpolicy]

John Arcudi, Chris Condon, Shawn McManus, and Martín Morazzo Headline Creepshow Vol. 3 #3

John Arcudi, Chris Condon, Shawn McManus, and Martín Morazzo Headline Creepshow Vol. 3 #3 #comics #creepshow #horror