STRIP Magazine #5/6 in UK stores this week

After several unforseen and unwelcome delays due to shipping issues, Strip Magazine Issue 5/6 - a giant-size double issue of Print Media's action anthology - will be in stores tomorrow (Wednesday 31st October 2012).

Priced at £4.99, the 96-page special features a cover by John Ridgway and is another comic shop-only issue and wraps the first Black Ops Extreme story arc by John Freeman and PJ Holden and concludes James Hudnall and John Ridgway's Age of Heroes fantasy adventure - for now.

This special giant size edition has even more comic strip action and adventure than ever, with almost a dirty dozen pages of Black Ops Extreme as the the do-or-die military team try to end an embassy siege in London - and confront a ghost from their past.

Also in the issue, the battle for the future of Earth hits the streets of Houston in Warpaint (by Phil Hester and John McCrea); the gripping conclusion to the first Devil's Heritage adventure (by Jerome Felix and Paul Gastine), as dangerous Nazis hunt a diabolic treasure; elven magic in Age of Heroes; and not one, but two STRIP CHALLENGE winning stories, one by Stephen Baskerville and the other by Paul Rainey and Robert Wells; and two episodes of classic Action comic strip Hook Jaw.

Features this issue are interviews with creators Leo (Mirabilis) Hartas and Nick (Hugo Tate) Abadzis.

• Please note that due to the delayed release of this issue, features and information on the future plans of the title printed in the issue are completely at odds with the current aim of a 2013 news stand launch for Volume 2.

• The print edition of STRIP #5/6 was split into two digital editions for iPad, which include a small amount of digital extra material, some of which will be featured in future print issues 

• Buy STRIP Magazine for Issue 5

• Buy STRIP Magazine Issue 6

The previous digital issues of STRIP - for iPad only at present - are also available for just £1.99 each.

• STRIP Magazine for iPad Issue 1

• STRIP Magazine for iPad Issue 2

• STRIP Magazine for iPad Issue 3

• STRIP Magazine for iPad Issue 4

STRIP #7 for Christmas!

After innumerable delays STRIP #5/6 is finally on its way to the shops and to subscribers.

“It’s a case of if anything could go wrong, it did,” explained Mike Conroy, head of Print Media Productions UK operation. “I’m not going to attempt to justify the title’s lengthy absence but I would like to apologise to readers – especially to subscribers – for the inexcusable delays, which they have accepted with great equanimity.”

As for the future, STRIP #7, with a cover by Croatian artist Maxim, will be an 84-page issue carrying a £4.99 cover price.

The Christmas special includes a classic Dredger episode from the controversial 1970s British comic, Action.

PMP is then putting STRIP on deliberate hiatus but only until February, when the comics anthology is to be relaunched as a newsstand title.

“We will be using this time to continue to resolve many of the problems we have encountered. One of our top priorities will be secure a UK shipping company which will be able to deliver STRIP efficiently and on time,” stated STRIP publisher Ivo Milicevic. “You wouldn’t believe what sort of problems we have had with carriers… one entire print run is still wandering somewhere in Italy while our latest shipment only got through on the second attempt… no one knows where or how the original vanished!

“I am amazed and grateful just how supportive our audience has been. I can promise that the relaunched STRIP – The Comic Magazine will bring more really great art and stories to he newsstands. It will be worth to wait,” he proclaimed.

STRIP #7 is currently in production and set to hit shops in the first week of December.