Red Dwarf Smegazine

RDmag — Red Dwarf Magazine Logo (first two issues)

Red Dwarf Magazine - the magazine part of the title changed to Smegazine from issue three - was launched in 1992 by Fleetway Editions. It comprised of a mix of news, reviews, interviews, comic strips and competitions.

RDsmegazine — Red Dwarf Smegazine Logo (volume 2 version)

The comic strips featured episode adaptations and original material, including further stories of popular characters like the Polymorph and Ace Rimmer. Some of the stories made alter egos or hallucinations such as Dwayne Dibbley, Jake Bullet, and Mr. Flibble into real characters. Some of the stories were set in the continuity of the novels, featuring such places as Garbage World (Better Than Life) and Blissfreak infested Mimas (Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers).

The comic strip stories were notable for the fact that hologrammatic characters, predominately Arnold Rimmer, were drawn in greyscale. This was at the request of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who had wanted to use the technique for the television series, but the process was deemed too expensive to produce.

The magazine went through a 23-issue run (14 issues for Volume 1, and 9 for Volume 2). Despite achieving circulation figures of over 40,000 per month, the magazine's publisher decided to close the title down to concentrate on their other publications. A farewell issue was published, labelled Volume 2, #9 and cover dated January 1994. It featured the remaining interviews, features and comic strips that were to feature in the following issues.