Local comic artist Dave Hughes will be celebrating the first professional publication of his work this weekend, when he heads to the Birmingham International Comic Festival to sign copies of his graphic story, Thomas Wogan is Dead.
Dave self-published his quirky tale back in January, and it met with praise from comics fans, including longtime comics editor and writer John Freeman – another Lancaster-based creator – who gave the Morecambe-based story the thumbs up on his British comics new site.
Enthused by the response, Dave sent the book out to various publishers, with Dorset-based Tabella picking up the reprint rights in July. The new edition of the story will be on sale at the Birmingham International Comic Show this weekend, which is expected to attract thousands of comics fans from across the country and beyond for a two day extravaganza at the Think Tank venue.
Dave, who works at Lancaster University, is clearly delighted by the new edition, which should be available to order from local bookshops over the next few weeks.
“There are some differences to the original version, the most noticeable of which, I feel, is the addition of a commercial font,” says Dave. “I gave this some serious thought after Tabella suggested looking at the lettering.”
Lancaster is now home to several comics creators, including Boom! Studios artist Paul Harrison Davies, DC Comics and Marvel writer Andy Diggle, football comic artist Nick Miller, writer Antonella Caputo and others.
• Thomas Wogan is Dead is available from Tabella Publishing for £5.99: more details here. ISBN: 978-0-95580888-3