British Comics

The makers of comic book heroes from Dennis the Menace to Judge Dredd are banding together to take on their biggest enemy yet — AI copycats.

A newly formed trade association, Comic Book UK, will bring together companies such as DC Thomson, which publishes the Beano, and Rebellion Entertainment, which makes 2000AD.

Other members will include The Phoenix Comic, which has published the Bunny vs Monkey series, graphic novel company Avery Hill Publishing and Fable, a digital comics platform.

The group will lobby for government and investor recognition that UK comics are an important export industry and develop valuable intellectual property.

One of the most immediate issues will be securing the industry’s future as the UK government considers proposals to relax copyright laws to train AI models.

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Comic Book UK says the industry produces hundreds of thousands of pages of comic book content every year and has extensive archives of historic content.

British publishers are behind some of the most recognisable comic characters in titles “enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of readers every week and graphic novels read by millions more each year”, it says. These characters are often used in films, TV programmes and video games. Comic book content is particularly valuable for generative AI training because it is both highly visual and narrative driven, it argues.

The group warns that exemption proposals are not feasible in practice and will fail to provide rights holders with appropriate control over and means to seek remuneration for the use of their content and IP in AI training.

This will inhibit the growth of the comics industry, it said.

Archive

This March, Stanley Arts are hosting Yo Comics!, the first South London Comics & Zine Fair for kids and by kids.

A free entry, family friendly event, Yo! Comics will be a day full of free workshops, free giveaways and the chance to meet some of your favourite kids comic book creators.

Comic creator stars from The Phoenix and published authors of your favourite comics will be at this special new event, including Gary Northfield, creator of “Derek the Sheep”, Neill Cameron (Mega Robo Bros, Donut High), Tor Freeman Marc Jackson, Woodrow Phoenix, and many more. Also at the event is The Cartoon Museum, Comics Youth and other brilliant comics educators.

In a first for comics fairs, young people will also be joining in with these fine creators to sell their comics, with local schools and youth groups taking part.

The day’s workshops are hosted by the professionals themselves and will be for the 7-14 age range. The workshops will allow kids to make their own comics and cartoons which they can trade with other young comics creators.

A woman from New Zealand has filed a civil lawsuit against bestselling British author Neil Gaiman and his estranged wife, musician Amanda Palmer, accusing Gaiman of repeatedly sexually assaulting her while she was working as the couple’s babysitter and nanny.

Scarlett Pavlovich filed the lawsuit in federal court in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New York on Monday. Pavlovich previously publicly identified herself in an interview with New York magazine, which published an article in January detailing allegations of assault, abuse and coercion levelled at Gaiman by multiple women.

Pavlovich’s lawsuit also accuses Gaiman of rape, coercion and human trafficking, and Palmer of “procuring and presenting” her to Gaiman “for such abuse”.

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Pavlovich’s lawsuit states that she filed a police report in New Zealand, accusing Gaiman of sexual assault, but she alleges “the police took no action because Palmer refused to talk to them”.

Gaiman has worked with numerous publishers over the years. Two of them, HarperCollins and WW Norton, have said they have no plans to release his books in the future. Others, including Bloomsbury, have so far declined to comment.

Dark Horse Comics announced in January that it would no longer release its illustrated series based on Gaiman’s novel Anansi Boys. The seventh of eight editions was released earlier that month.

A production of Coraline has been cancelled, while Disney has paused a planned adaptation of Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. Netflix is still scheduled to release a second season based on The Sandman, but announced last week it would be the last, in a statement that did not acknowledge the allegations against Gaiman.

Marvel Comics recently told the New York Times that they have "no new books forthcoming" from Neil Gaiman. Gaiman had written a number of comic book series for Marvel over the years, including Eternals and 1602. But most recently, that was just the republication, recreation and continuance of the series he had written for Eclipse Comics back in the nineties, Miracleman, and which had been tied up in legal problems for thirty years. After first republishing Alan Moore's original run, Marvel Comics then published Miracleman The Golden Age by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham, as they had originally created it back then, followed by The Silver Age, which had been partially completed. Only for artist Mark Buckingham to radically redraw the entire arc from scratch, and take over more of the writing duties for its conclusion, to much acclaim. This was then to have been followed by the unpublished The Dark Age. Mark Buckingham would take the creative lead on the project, though based on discussions, deliberation and collaboration with Gaiman. But that seems no longer to be the case. I understand Buckingham ceased work on The Dark Age last summer and asked to be reassigned. He has recently been working on Amazing Spider-Man at Marvel Comics instead.

In his new Substack newsletter, Marvel's X-Men Group Editor, Executive Editor and Senior Vice President Tom Brevoort, when asked by Bleeding Cool regular Ray Cornwall, "What is the status of Miracleman: The Dark Age? Has the script been delivered? If so, is Mark currently working on it?" replied "At the moment, Ray, nothing is going on with THE DARK AGE. If something changes in that regard, I'm sure you'll hear about it." But that seems very unlikely right now.

The first Mersey Margins Collective Comics Fair taking place next month at Future Yard CIC in Birkenhead is shaping up into a smashing showcase for comic creators.

Organised entirely by young people through the Marginal Changemakers project, the event is set to champion diversity, inclusion, and community within the comics industry.

Tickets are free but must be booked in advance via Comics Youth Eventbrite.

Taking place on Saturday 15th February 2025, the day includes free workshops like “Comics and Mental Health” with Bex Ollerton and “Comics and Climate Justice” with Emma Reynolds. There’s also a panel on “Comics and Identity” featuring creators like Lewis Hancox and Julian Gray (subject of the solo Lowry exhibition “Stories for Us”), delving into how comics empower marginalised voices.

The event will also showcase the work of twelve early-career comics artists from across the Liverpool City Region will exhibit their work, including Cara Brown, named one of Broken Frontier’s 2025 “Six to Watch.”

Given the character's enduring success, movie adaptations invariably surfaced, the first being 1995's Sylvester Stallone vehicle Judge Dredd. Unfortunately for fans, the movie was a commercial and critical flop, universally panned for marring the character. Following years of development hell, it wasn't until 2012 that an unrelated adaptation in the form of Dredd—starring Karl Urban—surfaced. Though still a financial flop, Dredd was far better received by fans and critics alike for its greater adherence to the source material. However, this movie still garnered criticism in some sectors for its depiction of Mega-City One and lack of 2000 AD's signature satire, leading to another uneven adaptation. As such, fans are still clamoring for a movie that encapsulates everything that makes Judge Dredd so special.

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Ultimately, filmmakers should learn from past mistakes in any future Judge Dredd adaptation by combining the successes of Judge Dredd and Dredd. Indeed, if Judge Dredd's depiction of Mega-City One were fused with Dredd's characterization of the titular lawman, fans would no doubt be deeply satisfied. Furthermore, Dredd could have benefitted from including the iconic antagonists of Judge Dredd rendered in a comic-accurate manner. Importantly, both adaptations lack 2000 AD's characteristic playful yet biting humor and satire, and this should undoubtedly be addressed to ensure the financial and critical success of any future effort.

Moreover, it is important to note that none of Judge Dredd's quintessential storylines beyond The Return of Rico have ever been adapted for the big screen despite now boasting two adaptations. The Day the Law Died, Judge Death, The Judge Child, Oz, and Judge Death Lives! are all iconic tales that are yet to see any semblance of adaptation, meaning there is still a wealth of source material to mine. In particular, having never seen Judge Dredd's arch-nemesis Judge Death grace the big screen seems incredibly perverse—imagine if no Batman movie had yet featured the Joker. By learning from the mistakes and successes of the past, filmmakers will hopefully one day grace fans with the Judge Dredd movie they deserve.