iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This guy. Judge Dredd by Stipan Morian #dayofdredd

Judge Dredd by Stipan Morian - he is firing his Lawgiver. Stipan has done some weiiiird perspective fish-eye magic to his drawing.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

In “water is wet” news, this is a good book.

Daredevil: Born Again IDW Artisan Edition by Miller and Mazzucchelli.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Wondering if any of my moots are planning on going? (If it is a do, like the 40th) Be good to clink glasses/moan about my creaking joints.

Teaser for the 2000AD 50th event.

Reads:

6-7 MARCH 2027
• CELEBRATING HALF A CENTURY OF THRILL-POWER
EXCITING DETAILS TO BE ANNOUNCED
500N

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Truly, the end times. This is the business that took over the old record shop where I used to work - Mike Lloyds in Newcastle-u-Lyme. They kept it going for twenty six years. With the same carpet!

Rakhi Gifts in Newcastle. Formerly Mike Lloyd Music. Even the window blinds are the same.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Jeffy as catcher’s mitt.

A husky white and ginger cat with belly on display - a palm print has been scritch-scratched into his generous belly fur.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

What’s a poster you had up in your room growing up? (This was like a magic eye picture - hours lost, just staring at Nicole Kidman’s head wondering what part of her body it was attached to)

Batman Forever poster. Cast of characters with a very odd looking Nicole Kidman.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I can see why he thinks this.

Quote from Moore:

“I increasingly get a sense of the comics industry going through my trashcan like raccoons in the dead of the night...”

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Proper BlueSky purchase - a book I wasn’t aware of that popped into my feed a few weeks back. MERCY: SHAKE THE WORLD by JM DeMatteis and Paul Johnson. Big fan of Johnson - one of many painters that appeared post-Bisley but far from a clone. Beautiful composition, colours and energy.

Cover to MERCY. The title character, her hands pressed together in prayer.

Internal page: a grey-haired man in a hospital bed, attached to machines.

Internal page: Mercy moving through space/dream/subconscious/spirit world.

Internal page: the same man from the hospital bed, only now it’s his spirit form drifting in limbo

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It’s a nice touch, I suppose, but a little unexpected. I’m a bit guilty I never named it now.

Condolence card from our vets “Thinking of you, from all staff for the loss of a dear friend and companion, ‘chicken’”

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Reading SUNDAY by O. Schrauwen. Quite taken with this flight of fancy where the main character daydreams about James Brown, in particular the descent to splits. Perfect!

Page from SUNDAY. James Brown does the splits - he is a blur.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Had Pong, had the ZX81, had the spectrum - I am old. But Quazatron was *probably* the one game that I just completely fell in love with. (Honourable mention: Lazer Squad)

Quazatron screenshot. Little robots bimbling about on ramps.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Lael Neale @ The Ritz. More my speed.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Belair Lip Bombs @ Psychfest. Good first venue, this.

A band playing under a flyover in a skatepark.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I thought they were only meant to persuade me to buy *their* comics. No regrets. Plugged a long overdue gap.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

People were sharing this article a few weeks ago, so I wrote to my MP to object. She was kind enough to write to the minister, Jacqui Smith. I’ve attached the reply, omitting my address details. Also attached my original email.

The government recognises the important contribution that creative and performing arts subjects make to our cultural life, economy and local communities. The UK's creative industries are a major national asset, supporting economic growth, international competitiveness and the UK's global cultural influence. These changes are not a reflection of the value of these disciplines, but part of a broader set of decisions required to ensure the overall sustainability of higher education (HE) funding.
we have had to make difficult prioritisation decisions owing to the challenging fiscal environment. In doing so, we have sought to protect support for high-cost subjects that are essential to delivery of the Industrial Strategy and core funding to support access to HE for disadvantaged groups. It is important that the targeted funding allocated through the SPG supports courses that have higher costs of delivery, our Plan for Growth and the Industrial Strategy.
At the same time, we have continued to support specialist providers with internationally recognised expertise, allocating £57.1 million in funding for the 20 small and specialist providers that the Office for Students (OfS) previously identified as world leading in the 2026 to 2027 academic year. Of the 20 selected providers, 12 have provision which is solely focussed on the creative and performing arts.
The SPG must focus on the highest-cost provision and areas of greatest skills need, requiring difficult trade-offs. In the 2025 to 2026 academic year, SPG funding for creative and performing arts subjects under the C1.2 price group was around £130.54 per student (FTE). This figure is just over 1% of total public funding and 99% comes from tuition fees.
Therefore, provision for these subjects will also benefit from the increase in tuition fee limits in line with inflation. As a result, the maximum fee for a standard full-time undergraduate course in the 2026 to 2028 academic years will increase by 2.71% and 2.68%.

Students studying these courses will still attract funding through the student premiums (full-time, part-time, mental health, and disabled students' premiums), which is funding targeted to providers to help support disadvantaged students.
I can assure Mr Dawson that we are working with the OfS to review and reform the
SPG. The reform will ensure that high-cost subject funding is more effectively targeted towards priority provision that supports future skills needs and the Industrial Strategy, as well as ensuring that funding is targeted towards the most disadvantaged students accessing and participating in HE
Thank you again for writing and I hope that this response is useful for Mr Dawson.
Yours sincerely,

The Rt Hon Baroness Jacqui Smith
Minister for Skills

Good evening,
I am writing regarding the following decision to remove grant funding for certain courses as per this article -
https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/dfe-
slashes-creative-and-performing-arts-teaching-grants-for-universities
Whilst I understand that government finances are stretched, and that old chestnut about
"hard decisions " is now being applied to nearly all areas of public life, can I ask that the government reconsider, if only from a purely business standpoint?
I struggle to think of another industry that over-performs as much as our creative industries, when weighed against other areas - compare the massive return on investment, global standing of goods, and delivery of "soft power
" around the world, and there really is nothing to match. The arts sector in the UK is worth £8.5 billion per year - I would hope that this would be seen as a priority for support, as opposed to the shabby treatment it has received for years, if not decades.

Support for the arts and the creative industries is not going to be popular with the (majority) of the press. Who cares? They don't and won't ever support a Labour government, and certainly not one that invests in that way (I'm old enough to remember numerous headlines about "luvvie " this, and "dead-end degrees " - repeated like clockwork). No amount of photo ops in hard hats and high-vis will satisfy that press, in any event.
I note your very welcome support for "our creatives " in one of your recent Facebook posts, and hope that this support will continue.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Getting more than my money’s worth from the health service. A thing that works. Heroes one and all.

Consulting room in a hospital. A computer is showing an X-ray of a leg made of bone and metal.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Happy birthday to @eliartmkh.bsky.social - Breaknecker OG, fantastic artist, bear botherer. Art from her story in the anthology that we all somehow survived.

A page of Eli’s art from the Breakneck Anthology. Boy, that’s a whole other story.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Definite missed alt text opportunity.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I’ve remembered another one (can you tell my Dredd sweet spot?) Hitman by Wagner and Baikie. “I may be getting old, Hershey, but I’m still not anyone’s patsy” (God, I love chatting Dredd)

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Related: the weirdest piece of merch I own. Panel from The Sage on a bar mat. Licensed merch as well!

Bar mat with picture of the sage punching Dredd in the mush.

“And I, my friend, have reached that limit!”

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

This was great, and nice to hear some other choices away from the epics for once. As for me, top of my head - Bloodline by Wagner and Simpson The Sage by Wagner, Grant and Fabry Full Mental Jacket by Wagner, Gibson and Parkhouse And more recently, Risk Assessment by Carroll and MacNeil.

Two panels from Bloodline -

Dredd has a bad back…he’s getting old.

Two panels from The Sage.

Sage: “That, my friend, is the legendary Magic Buffalo”

Dredd: “Mister, it it checks out rad-free, you can call it steak, stew and oxtail soup!”

Three panels from Full Mental Jacket - a gang member gets out of the cubes…

A panel from Risk Assessment - outside the “Local Drugstore”

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

This is the cover he definitely did.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Heres are some others. Someone suggested Brendan McCarthy for the Doom cover and John Ridgway for the Lizard?

Secret Wars UK cover with picture of Galactus

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

On me tod today, so what better way to spend a sunny afternoon than some bleak and disturbing horror comics. Enjoyed these. Easy read, some nice imagery and atmosphere and really interesting page design.

Lemire and Sorrentino’s BONE ORCHARD series.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Here we are. (Got some spares too, if anyone fancies a bit of nostalgia)

Big stack of Marvel UK’s Secret Wars comic.

Big stack of Marvel UK’s Spider-Man And Zoids comic.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Depressing. Poster asking for submissions for a local “pop-up art exhibition”. Poster is AI slop. “Showcase your creativity”

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Wagner Dredd. Yes please.

Two panel sequence from Judge Dredd: Guatemala.

1. Close up of a display dial on the body of a robot which is flashing red. Dialogue: “Please, colonel! Your output has gone into overload!”

2. The robot colonel looking over its shoulder at a smaller droid.
Droid: “if I could adjust your ferocilator- “
Colonel: “Not now, Gomez, you snivelling armadillo! I’m emoting!”

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Mail call 2: Bouncing round Discogs, and we have a Galliano remix album (primarily for the Weatherall remix), a mod soul comp (for an Impressions track), a Beat best of, and Milk And Kisses by the Cocteau Twins, which seems oddly difficult to get hold of.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Mail call: Two @raynewman.bsky.social books: Thin Places In Hard Concrete and Intervals Of Darkness. Signed, no less. Am really enjoying Ray’s other short story collection, Municipal Gothic, so this was a no-brainer.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Nowt better than a good comp. Here we go. New worlds await!

Four CDs - Promise Me Delight, a 78 - 88 euro pop comp on Ace, Bridges Towards Open Spaces on Two Piers, Jon Savage’s S.F. Sike 66 - 72 and finally, the Junior Boys Own Retrospective 88 - 98.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Today. Came up with the idea for a story for Zarjaz on the dog walk, did a bit more hopping in the gym, and started the festivities for this one’s fourth birthday. Good start.

A beautiful big lump of black dog wearing a “birthday girl” tiara. She fabbbbbbulous.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Well, this is absolutely a good time. CONAN by Busiek and Nord - loads of fun, and completely nailing what it is to be good Conan comics.

Cover to CONAN: The Frost Giant’s Daughter showing a fierce looking Conan menacing the reader with a bloodied sword.

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Craig Dawson @dossa.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Just been to see Backrooms. Or Potteries Centre Service Corridor. And the whole “liminal/weird/kinda wrong” thing? Yeah, definitely Potteries Centre Service Corridor Photo evidence of original signage.

Black and white photo of a sign stating “LELVEL 5”

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