The Geeky Brummie Pull List – One-Star Squadron – 2nd March

Full Colour Halo

Where did she go? Out. What did she do? Everything…

Rebellion is proud to announce that Alan Moore and Ian Gibson’s ground-breaking feminist space opera and science fiction classic, The Ballad of Halo Jones, is to be published in a full colour omnibus for the first time.

With artwork restored and lovingly coloured by Barbara Nosenzo, and featuring extra content, The Ballad of Halo Jones: Full Colour Omnibus Edition will be published in January 2023 and available from all good book and comic book stores, as well as online retailers, and digitally through 2000 AD’s webshop and app, and on Amazon Kindle.

This radical and revolutionary series remains one of Moore’s most beloved and lauded stories and this new omnibus edition brings together Nosenzo’s colour work on the three books of Halo Jones, previously only available as separate volumes.

Barbara Nosenzo’s sensitive and enthralling colour work on Gibson’s art was a revelation when published as three separate volumes on 2018, and the omnibus is an opportunity for fans old and new to experience the worlds of Halo Jones afresh. The project was the first major English language work by the Italian colourist, who was talent-spotted by Rebellion at the Angouleme comics festival in France, and has since gone on to work on the science fiction series Deep Beyond from Image Comics.

A Halo For All Seasons

A cultural icon and a high water mark for both science fiction and British comics, this timeless tale from the writer of Watchmen and V for Vendettafollows one woman’s journey through dead-end jobs, deadly wars, and personal tragedy, as she changes from an innocent teenager into a world-weary woman.

Described by award-winning author Lauren Beukes as her ‘first love’ and ‘first role model’, Halo is an ordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances. Trapped in a crowded housing project floating off the coast of Manhattan, a dystopian world where jobs are scarce and excitement non-existent, a bored Halo dreams of escaping out into the galaxy any way she can to rewrite her destiny.

But in a city where dangerous riots happen at the slightest provocation and even going to the shops is an ordeal requiring careful planning and a handful of zen-inducing-grenades, the price of freedom might prove to be more than she bargained for. And even when she does get out, there are challenges awaiting her in the cosmos that she could never possibly imagine or be prepared for.

First published in weekly instalments between 1984 and 1986, Halo Jones is Moore at his most inventive and empathic best, following Halo as she explores the galaxy while also, through both victory and tragedy, finding herself. It was Moore’s last work for 2000 AD before he went on to make comics history with fellow 2000 AD alumni, Dave Gibbons on Watchmen and Brian Bolland on Batman: The Killing Joke, at DC Comics.

The Ballad of Halo Jones: Full Colour Omnibus Edition will be an essential collection not just for Moore completists but for fans of series such as Saga and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

The Hooded Man Returns

Nothing is forgotten.

Richard Carpenter’s Robin of Sherwood is often considered the finest version of the Robin Hood legend. A lavish and hugely popular television series that ran from 1984 to 1986.

It was turned into an accompanying comic strip by the bestselling young people’s magazine Look-In; which also ran a wealth of interviews, features, and articles (alongside other comic strips) for all the most popular family and children’s commercial television series of the time.

The Robin of Sherwood strips ran for the entirety of three years that the series was broadcast, encompassing a change of actor in the role of Robin Hood; some in colour, some in black and white. Rebellion, Chinbeard Books and Spiteful Puppet have collated the entire run of these exquisitely illustrated and action-packed comic strips in this unique, limited-edition collection, with every page carefully and lovingly restored.

The artists were Mike Noble, with Arthur Ranson and Phil Gascoine, and the writer across the whole run of strips was Angus Allan. For fans of these artists and writer, this is a snapshot of their work collected together for the first time. For fans of ‘Look-In’ magazine, it also offers some of those interviews, articles, and features that adorned the pages alongside the comic strip.

A New Collection

This hardback book features specially written inserts by Robert Hammond(restoration technician and graphic designer), alongside Hooded Man author Andrew Orton, and commissioning editor Barnaby Eaton-Jones.

It is 288 pages and is ONLY available via www.spitefulpuppet.com in a very limited print run.

A pre-order target needs to be met before this book goes to print but – exclusively – you can buy this handsome tome for a reduced price of £35 for this two-month period, available now. After that, the price will go up to £45. The publication date is the 31^st of May, unless the limited print run target is met – in which case it will be sent out earlier.

ABOUT REBELLION

Rebellion is the custodian of the world’s biggest catalogue of English language comic book properties. Acquired from Egmont UK Ltd in 2016 and TI Media in 2018, the archive of the former IPC publishing empire encompasses more than 130 years of comic book publishing, with over 400 separate weekly and monthly titles and thousands of characters. The archive includes Comic Cuts, the 19th Century title gave the comic book medium its name, to Billy Bunter, from Tiger to Sexton Blake, from Valiant to Look-In. As the UK’s leading contemporary comics and graphic novel publisher, Rebellion not only cares for this priceless cultural treasure but brings gems from a century of comic book history back to life with high quality collections through its Treasury of British Comics imprint, as well as creating new comics based on timeless characters such as Roy of the Rovers.

www.treasuryofbritishcomics.com

ABOUT SPITEFUL PUPPET

Spiteful Puppet Entertainment Ltd specialises in producing full cast plays and enhanced audio books. Since it was set up in 2015, Spiteful Puppet has been awarded a BBC Audio Drama Award and 3 trophies from the New York Festival, for Hood, Robin of Sherwood: The Knights of the Apolcaypse, and Passport To Oblivion. They revived Up Pompeii as a 50^th anniversary audio special, as well as the classic BBC radio comedy I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again.

Their most recent co-production featured Rhod Gilbert in his first acting role, as Nye Bevan, in Getting Better: The Fight for the NHS – a 10-part audio series for Audible, with Springboard Productions.

ABOUT CHINBEARD BOOKS

Chinbeard Books was established in 2015, specifically to publish books and charity anthologies that might not be found anywhere else or catered for a specific interest or nostalgic niche. After acquiring the license for Robin of Sherwood, they teamed up with Spiteful Puppet to produce original stories based on the television series, unique content, and adaptations of Spiteful Puppet’s audio range. Most recently, they have been proud to announce a collaboration based on the popular comedy series, The Goodies – with new adventures of the iconic trio of Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Bill Oddie.