Paul Cornell's Friday Newsletter

The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s is Out Next Week! Signed Copies Available Now!

In six days, on November 13th, I’ve got a book coming out from Bloomsbury that’s part of a new range of popular studies of Marvel Comics! The Mighty Avengers vs. the 1970s is fully illustrated with panels from the comics, and is my journey through how Marvel’s main super team navigated that difficult decade. This is very much a labour of love for me, a book I’ve wanted to find a way to write for the longest time.

You can pre-order it from the publisher (and from all good booksellers), now with some preview pages at that link that really show off our full colour art!

And if you want a signed copy right now, you can either pop into the Close Encounters comic store in Bedford, or get one by mail order from their site here.

All the Thought Bubble Details! (I’m Judging the 2000AD Talent Contest!)

Lizbeth Myles and I will once more be tabling at the wonderful Thought Bubble comic convention in Harrogate on November 15th and 16th. (You can find the full list of exhibitors here.) I’ve also once again been given guest status, bless them!

You’ll be able to find us at table D4 in the ComiXology Hall (along the right wall, right by Entrance 5!)

(We’ll have Rachael Smith on one side, which is handy for signing Who Killed Nessie? and Gary Erskine on the other, so we’re in lovely company.)

I’ll have five new titles on sale!

At 12.45pm on the Sunday, in Panel Room 2, Queen's Suite, I’ll be one of the judges of the 2000AD Writer Talent Search. (You can find entry details at the link.)

And also if you’re an aspiring comicker, and want a pro to check out your portfolio, I’m one of many at the show who’s signed up to do just that! Check out all the details at the link.

Vision & Labour: Making Comics, The Art Of Avery Hill Publishing is an exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate which is going to be running between 18th October and 26th April. (Neatly over the weekend of Thought Bubble.)

Included in the exhibition will be a display case featuring the process of Rachael Smith and I making Who Killed Nessie?!

There’s an opening night for the exhibition on the Friday of the convention, November 14th from 6.30pm. I’ll be hanging around, pointing at our display case.

I’m really looking forward to all of it, and I very much want a copy of Kristyna Baczynski’s poster below.

Of Intrigue and Espionage

I have a story in this just-announced forthcoming volume from Stars and Sabers publishing, which is due out in October 2026. I’m in good company, as you can see from the full announcement here.

Cosmic Lighthouse and Salvation’s Child

Check out the new website for my comics company Cosmic Lighthouse, with a first glimpse at Sophie Aldred (Ace in Doctor Who) playing Adrian Tchaikovsky’s cloned soldiers The Partheni!

Cosmic Lighthouse is the brainchild of myself and Lee Harris, with Anthony Cronin helping out with the day to day business. I’m the Editor-in-Chief.

Our mission is to publish original graphic novels by bestselling SFF authors.

And here, via this news story at IGN, where you can see lots of preview pages, is our launch title!

Salvation’s Child is the digital graphic novel Prologue to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s best-selling SFF novel series The Final Architecture. (So new readers can start here!) It’s by Adrian himself, artist Mike Collins, colour artist Pippa Bowland and letterer Simon Bowland. We’re publishing it together with our partners ComiXology.

It’s 110 pages of comics, plus extras, at what we think is quite the wonderful price. (Under a fiver!)

Check out these pre-order links at Amazon US and Amazon UK.

You can read more about the company and the project, with biogs, blurbs and histories, in our press release here.

And you can find Cosmic Lighthouse at these links on BlueSky and Instagram.

Salvation’s Child will be released by ComiXology Originals on June 16th, 2026!

Telefantasy Time Jump

The new podcast from me and Lizbeth Myles covers the history of SFF on TV, from 1953 onward, with our regular episodes (on the 14th of every month) covering a show released that year in the UK, and the Patron Bonus episodes (on the 28th) covering a show from the rest of the world. The shows for November (covering 1963) are Doctor Who and The Outer Limits. The main episode is available free wherever you get your podcasts. To get the bonus episode, you need to follow us on Patreon at £3/$3 or above. (And you get access to seven years of Hammer House of Podcast bonus episodes!) You can find all the info here.

My Ko-fi and eBay Stores (Now with Commando!)

Here’s my Ko-fi store, where you can buy my books and comics, signed and personalised, for shipping worldwide. (I’ve just added my Commando issue!) And here’s my ebay store, full of Bronze Age Marvel comics at bargain prices.

My Linktrees

You can now find all my social media links, my website/blog and links to where you can buy my books, in one place here, thanks to Linktree! And here’s the one for Cosmic Lighthouse!

The Work of Friends

If you’re an SF fan, here’s a treat: my old friend Geoff Ryman doing a radio interview with fellow author Kim Stanley Robinson discussing his novel The Ministry for the Future and the current state of the climate crisis, ahead of the COP30 summit in Brazil.

And Simon Birks has just over a week to go on what’s already a highly successful Kickstarter, offering his The Curse of Cthulhu choose-your-own-adventure gamebooks, which require only two dice and a pencil to play!

My Week

The panel and signing at Bedford Central Library and the Close Encounters comic shop went very well, with a lovely chummy popular comic store crowd feel to the whole thing. I think Rachael Smith and I both enjoyed ourselves, and, as I mentioned above, I left signed copies of my Avengers book which the store are now offering by mail order and on the shelves. The drive home was a little fraught, with road closures and the early darkness I hate, and by the time I’d got back I was feeling pretty woozy, something that had been getting gradually worse all day.

I think the stomach issues and slightly off brain chemistry in the days that followed might have been down to me sneaking a few, and then more, chunks of chocolate while I was looking after Thomas solo. I ended up eating dairy like I wasn’t lactose intolerant, and then, ouch, those cows came home to roost. During that time, I sent some emails in the early hours which now read to me as very paranoid, and spent the daytime with my stomach clenching. (Mind you, during that time, I also signed up for two new commissioned projects.) Then on Wednesday, I woke up suddenly fine in that way I have, what I call my Mutant Healing Factor. My head had a sudden clarity too, and I was able to continue preparing for Thought Bubble, and the writer retreat I’m going to beforehand, in a much happier state of mind. I also had a very exciting TV meeting. Although the idea of leaving Thomas behind for 10 days feels like shirking my duties, I think I could do with some actual time off. I may spend the first day of the retreat lying in some forest glade, allowing leaves to drop on me.

To Be Continued

As you read this, I’ll be driving north to the retreat, so no Newsletter next week. I hope I see as many subscribers as usual at our table in Harrogate, always a pleasure.

And I hope to see all of you here again on Friday 21st November!