IAN RANKIN CLINT DEBUT

Ian Rankin, one of Britain's biggest-selling crime writers who sparked alarm and grief among his fans when he retired his hard-boiled policeman John Rebus, will this week make a foray into comic strip writing.

The Edinburgh-based novelist has written Someone Got to Eddie for the sixth edition of the UK magazine CLiNT, launched last year by Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar.


Rankin follows other high-profile names including Jonathan Ross, Stewart Lee and Frankie Boyle in writing for the magazine. Of course all this is assuming that the latest Clint magazine will get to the shops on time - the title, this short in its existence, has already seen its last two issues arriving late and it seems to have skipped a month somewhere along the line.

Rankin admitted he found the experience hard work and challenging. "If you're a novelist and you're used to working on your own, this is a very different mindset, it's a very different way of telling a story. It's all geared to the visual, it's all geared to you explaining to the artist what you want to show.

The novelist said comic books were an art form like any other. "I've been reading comics my entire life and I'm a great champion of them. I do think they are an aid to literacy which is especially important in high schools and with boys."


Rankin published 18 Rebus books, retiring him in 2007 in Exit Music. Since then he has made his first foray into the comic book genre when he wrote a comic book called Dark Entries featuring the established Hellblazer character John Constantine and – in Complaints – created a new character, Malcolm Fox, a cop who investigates cops.


A follow-up to that is due out this year but Rankin did not rule out a return of Rebus. "I know what he's doing, he's working for a cold case unit, staffed by retired detectives. He's still working as a quasi-detective."

Clint magazine delayed again but Strip on track

Things are not looking good for Clint, one of the freshest comic magazines to hit the UK market in years, decades even. It's certainly more consistently entertaining than Judge Dredd Megezine has been in many a moon. Issue 4 took an age to arrive and now the official website are reporting delays with issue 5.

If you've been looking out for CLiNT #5 and have been wondering why you haven't spotted it yet, the reason is simple - it hasn't come out yet. The release of the new issue has been delayed and it will now hit shelves in the UK and Ireland on 27 January 2011. This means it's due to arrive in the US and Canada on 22 February.

They'll need to get their act together because pretty soon they are going to have some competition in the form of a new UK magazine, Strip which is based on the bestselling Bosnian based comic magazine. Strip will feature alongside new material a reprinting of the classic and controversial Hook Jaw which first saw light of day in IPC's 1970's banned Action Comic.

Left is a preview of the cover from issue one of Strip which should launch this spring.

Clint creator Mark Miller is facing the anger of fans because of the title's problems. He has been accused on Twitter of ignoring fans and one commentator posted on THE CLINT MAGAZINE'S Facebook page -

" I love the way they just post this, with no real apology. No other magazine could get away with this. At least it hasn’t got David Mitchell or some one similarly un-cool on the cover... we’ll have to wait for issue 6 in a few months for that treat."

Another asked - "Yeah, so does this mean it's now bi-monthly as it's missed an issue? Issue 6 should of been out that date!"

And yet another moaned - " ok what the fuck is going on? you should have informed us, not leave us hanging, you said issue 5 on december 30th, you have to deliver issue five NOW."

The Tainted Archive were themselves unable to get a comment from the Clint people. Go on guys get the comic out there, make our day!  

Clint Magazine issue 4

Is Clint magazine struggling? Well it took an age for the fourth issue to hit the shops (I only got mine yesterday) and although the snow is being blamed for the distribution problems I must admit to being dubious. The official website is still listing issue 3 as the current issue which can't be a good sign. If they can't be bothered to update the website and then the issue arrives almost two weeks later than the initial expected publication date, it does make one wonder.

It will be a pity if Clint vanishes - it's a great magazine/mature comic hybrid with humour and style. And great to see the Sexy Chavs back.

Here's looking foward to issue 5 and hoping it arrives sometime before mid 2011.

Comic Creators sought

Mark Millar is looking for new comics talent to contribute to CLiNT with a view to having their work appear in the magazine.
He wants "three, four or five-page stories in the style of 'The Twilight Zone' and showcase their talents in an easier and faster way for me to look at." There is the prospect of contributing regularly to CLiNT with a fully developed comic story. Mark encourages new writers to team-up with artists and vice-versa, and to get onto his creative forum at his website, Millarworld to make that happen.
When the work is complete, it should be submitted to the project's thread on Millarworld.

Clint rides again

Clint issue 2 is now on the news-stands and now even W H Smith are stocking the title. Overall this second issue is stronger than the launch issue but still lacks a letters page which I do hope they adopt for future issues - the readers letters pages are always a blast in publications like this.

The comic strips are continued from the previous issue - Kick Arse 2, Jonathan Woss's Turf, the bizarre Rex Royd from Frankie Boyle and this issue also contains the first part of American Jesus by Mark Miller which was previously published stateside but I believe is making it's UK debut here. Space Oddities is an amusing one off tale and Mark Miller's Nemesis is also continued.

The humour is of the FHM/Nuts variety and the poster of sexy chavs is hilarious, though I think I prefer the over-dressed porn concept. There are interviews with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as well as Charlie Booker. There's an article looking at famous dwarfs from which I learned that the smallest man in the world is barely the length of a Giraffe's tongue.

I really do hope this title is a success - it'll be nice to see more comics on sale on the UK stands - check out the trailer for issue 1 below and then visit the official website HERE

Clint - out there now

It's been a long time since anyone launched a new comic book in the UK, writes Mark Miller in his editorial to this comic magazine that seems aimed firmly at the more mature comic reader.

The mag is made up of comic strips and features - the features are taken care of with an interview with comedian Jimmy Carr,a look at Charles Manson's celebrity death list, the secret diary of a celebrity pot head and a hopefully regular feature called overdressed porn which is basically a picture of hot chicks fully dressed - it's porn for the deeply moral. The strips are Kick Ass2 by Mark Miller, Turf by Jonathon Woss, Rex Royd by Frankie Boyle and Nemesis by Mark Miller.

It's on sale now, priced at £3.99 and should hopefully do well.

Check out the trailer for the magazine below: