A Look Back At 2025…

…And A Look Forward To 2026

As we traditionally do at this time of year, we take a look back at the past year and tease what’s coming next…

2025 has been a very productive year for Tripwire and for Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders:

1. We put out two new issues of the magazine with some very strong features and interviews as ever. Both of the covers were striking and looking at the covers with the others we have created since coming back in 2020, you can see a development in terms of quality.

1. We ran four new Kickstarter campaigns, two Tripwire ones, one new Sherlock Holmes related one and one which was our most successful so far, our first art of book campaign.
2. We ran our eighth Tripwire awards which were very well-received and glad to put something back into the industry as ever.
3. We published a paperback of Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders volume 1 and debuted a hardcover and a paperback of Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders volume 2.

But we don’t intend to rest on our laurels. In 2026 we shall be doing a lot:

1. We shall be publishing Into White: The Art Of George Pratt this spring, our first art book and we are in discussions with a number of high profile other UK and US artists to follow this up with at least one but hopefully more art books from Tripwire. We are also in discussion with a European comic show about launching the book there.

2. After the success of Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders volumes one and two, we shall be bringing out a collection of the two books together with a brand new wraparound cover from Eisner winning artist Laurence Campbell (Hellboy) and a new introduction from JM DeMatteis (Moonshadow, Spider-man: Kraven’s Last Hunt). We are publishing this in tandem with a medium-sized US comic publisher so it will get out to a wider audience than its single volume progenitors. Available to order from here https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/Sherlock-Holmes-and-The-Empire-Builders-The-Gene-Genie/Joel-Meadows/0/9781545824283

3. We shall be launching our Stripwire strip anthology campaign in February on Kickstarter with prelaunch around the middle of January. So this is a 100 page collection of mostly strips that have run in the Stripwire section of the magazine since 2007 featuring work from the likes of Frazer Irving, Declan Shalvey, Roger Langridge, Brent Anderson, Kody Chamberlain, Lyndon Webb, John Charles, Ian D Peterson and many others.

4. 2026 will see more print magazines featuring a look back at Steven Spielberg in his 80th year and a tribute to film poster legend Drew Struzan who we lost earlier this year. Plus it’s the 65th anniversary of Michael Moorcock’s seminal Elric creation and 60 years since Star Trek The Original Series debuted.

5. Our Sherlock Holmes prose novella, Down and Out In London, will come out in the first quarter of the year, which includes a selection of my photos accompanying the text and we are also planning an illustrated version with brand new stand alone illos from Empire Builders artist Andy Bennett.

There will be another Tripwire awards coming in the autumn too, our eighth.

There will no doubt be a few other projects that will fall into our schedule too but we have a lot planned for 2026. And then in 2027 it’s Tripwire’s 35th anniversary so planning something for that too.

Thanks to everyone who visits the website and supports our books and print magazines.

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year

Joel Meadows
Tripwire