Welcome to ACES WEEKLY Volume 74, Week Four!

Friends, I hope some of you got to Lawless this last weekend to see the greats attending there!  Because ' comic cons ' and such are a recent development in the history of comics apppreciation in the UK, some of the founding figures in UK comic art creation never had the opportunity to meet and greet their readers on the level afforded to those living now that you got to see. Frank Bellamy and Frank Hampson ( the creator of Dan Dare, a comics creation that extended its influence to the UK general public in a way that hasn't been matched since by any other comics character ) were the last of a pre-world war2 generation of creators who got to experience and understand the full effect they were having on those who encountered their work, even at the low level those early UK comics gatherings afforded them.  I was lucky enough to be at a comics event at the same time Lawless was running where work of mine was celebrated outside of the boundaries of the UK, in Italy, where there's been a decades-long difference between those two territories of comics appreciation. Regular - and continuously on the public consciousness - comics books of popular characters have been easily accessible to all Italians through common reach on the streets in kiosks, which are similar to the old US newstands of times past.  They keep the cultural presence of comics constant in the eyes of the mass everywhere and not in some separate space in stores or specialist stores.  It's how all art keeps healthy for the whole public, not just a dedicated section of it - being there and easy to see for all.  If it isn't, it cannot generate the energy it needs to maintain as the essential part of the culture it must be.  Aces Weekly is driven by that intention to make comics common - hard though it is to do so in the way we choose to do it against resistance from those who would prefer we try to do it in another more dificult way.  But the path of least resistance is not there to be ignored if it exists, and we choose it happily, in hope it brings more followers to join us on it as we go along...  : )   Stay safe, everyone, wherever you are!

Remember, we ALWAYS want to hear from you!  Ask questions, talk to us at our blog or at facebook.com/acesweekly. Or send mail to [email protected] to see it right here, whatever you want to say!