Strip Issue Zero hit by French strike

We're very sorry to announce that our print version of STRIP Magazine Issue Zero - which was to have been be given away free to Bristol International Comic Expo visitors this weekend - has been caught up in an industrial dispute at Charles de Gaulle airport, France.

The promotional magazine,now available to read online here or download as a PDF is a victim of a walkout by staff at the airport's FedEx depot.

Business news site Bloomberg reports FedEx have cancelled several flights and delayed deliveries of thousands of packages because employees in Paris have been walking off the job in a labour dispute - and there is no indication of when the walkout might end.

"FedEx have been very apologetic and tried to find a solution," said STRIP Magazine editor John Freeman, "The company is tweaking flight and delivery plans to blunt the effect of the walkouts, but we've been told it's unlikely we'll receive copies this weekend."

"Naturally, we're sorry to let people down, especially after the positive feedback we've been getting via Twitter and Facebook, but the situation is not of our making.

"We're looking at ways to get print copies of Issue Zero to fans," John added. "We already have copies scheduled to go to Diamond UK, and we've already had offers of other help, which is really heartening.

"There will still be a STRIP Magazine panel at the Expo on Sunday afternoon and I'll be around to talk about our plans at other times."

Wrapped in a cover by Smuzz, Issue Zero features background on key strips in the new comic magazine such as Black Ops Extreme by John Freeman and PJ Holden, Warpaint by Phil Hester and John McCrea, Age of Heroes by James Hudnall and John Ridgway, Savant by Jim Alexander and Ferrer and Carlos Vila - plus some highlights of the upcoming Print Media Productions graphic album range.

There's also a special competition in the Sampler which will offer comic creators the chance to have their work in the title when it launches later in 2011.

• Read STRIP Magazine Issue Zero Online

• Let us know what you think via Twitter or Facebook

Strip Magazine Issue Zero Cover Revealed

Here's the cover of STRIP MAGAZINE Issue Zero - which will be given away free to Bristol International Comic Expo visitors next month

Issue Zero features background on key strips in the new comic magazine such as Black Ops Extreme by John Freeman and PJ Holden, Warpaint by Phil Hester and John McCrea, Age of Heroes by James Hudnall and John Ridgway, Savant by Jim Alexander and Ferrer and Carlos Vila - plus some highlights of the upcoming Print Media Productions graphic album range.

The sampler comes wrapped in a cover by Smuzz, perhaps best known to comics fans for his work on 2000AD's 'ABC Warriors'. The image is taken from his new comic, 'Crucible', which will feature in STRIP Magazine.

There's also a special competition in the Sampler which will offer comic creators the chance to have their work in the title when it launches later in 2011.

Find out more when you pick up your copy at the Bristol Comic Expo!

• Bristol International Comic Expo - 14th - 15th May 2011. More info: www.fantasyevents.org/bristolcomicexpo

Coming Soon: the STRIP Magazine Comic Challenge

The Print Media Productions team would like to thank to many dedicated comics creators who have pitched ideas for graphic albums and comic strips at STRIP Magazine. Your submissions are being considered pending our next round of commissioning, but this will not be until later in 2011.

We will however be announcing a Comic Strip Challenge at the Bristol International Comic Expo in May which will offer the chance for the best creators to have a strip in the new Magazine. Please do not send us submissions until you have seen the guidelines.

Mighty World of Marvel Issue 17

I got one of my first breaks in comics thanks to a 'strip challenge' in Mighty World of Marvel way back in 1984. Editor John Tomlinson published a strip called Cat and Mouse, drawn by Matt Bingham.

I've been enthusing about doing something similar since I first started talking to Ivo Milicevic about the STRIP Magazine project and I'm glad he's backed the idea.

Other titles have also promoted new work in the same way, most recently in CLiNT in the UK, the brainchild of Kick Ass creator Mark Millar and publisher Titan Magazines. 

In addition to the announcement at the Expo, details of the Challenge will appear on our full, official web site when it goes live in the next few weeks.

Writers Jasper Barke and Jim Alexander and others will be joining me as part of a special Print Media Productions panel on Sunday at the Expo.

• Bristol International Comic Expo

• Please do not send us submissions for the Comic Challenge until you have seen the guidelines

-- John Freeman