Crucible Comic Press

Once again, Doctor Who shoots for the moon even if, in this case, it has fallen to Earth at the entrance to the Pier Pavilion in Penarth, the Cardiff-adjacent seaside resort that has previously provided locations for Doctor Who and its spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Here the pier-front is masquerading as a cinema exterior in 1950’s Miami. Doctor Who hasn’t become an end-of-the pier show - at least not yet. In fact, I am going to front-load this review with candyfloss positivity.

25th April was officially named Anzac Day in 1916, which today includes remembrance of all Australians killed in military operations. So what better time of year to offer new Commando adventures starring Australian heroes, alongside two classic archive tales? Commando Issues 5847-5850, published by DC Thomson, are on sale from Thursday 24th April 2025. Wartime adventures set at sea have a bit of a reputation for being a hard sell.

Artist Simon Pritchard pays tribute to a British toy industry legend... my thank for his permission to feature this here (and, soon, hopefully on downthetubes)… Dave Barnacle, one of the great British artists of the 1970s and 1980s toy industry passed away in April. For any kid like myself who grew up in Blighty during the 1970s the wonderful box art featured on the Action Man range from Palitoy will be imprinted on their minds, very deeply so for me.

A mini Graphic Brighton event is running as part of this year’s Brighton’s Fringe Festival on Saturday 3rd May 2025, with a focus on refugee narratives in comics and animation.

Family time last week meant skipping last week’s weekly roundup of downthetubes top news items, but it didn’t stop the news coming, of course, including, this week, reaction to US President Trump’s new tariffs on US imports and how they will impact comic publishers and retailers. As yet, there don’t seem to be many positives.

Work on upgrading downthetubes continues behind the scenes, but in the meantime we’re back publishing as many comic-related news, and other media-related items we hope will be of interest.

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