Tube Surfing: 26 June 2008

• Writer Mark Millar has just been interviewed for Scotland's Evening Times, just back from the opening of Wanted in Hollywood (Check out this viral site inspired by the movie...).
"To see it polished and finished up on the big screen was mad," says Mark of the film, which stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. "You were looking sideways and looking at the actors from the film which was kind of weird."
The article notes Millar, like one of the superheroes he writes seems to live a curious double life. In one guise, he's the doting father taking his 10-year-old daughter Emily to the flicks or walking the family's spaniel. The next he's chatting comic books with Jonathan Ross, enjoying nights out with Simon Pegg and Ben Affleck or being invited to dinner parties at the home of Mr Claudia Schiffer, film director Matthew Vaughn. Read the Interview

• The Phantom writer and former 2000AD editor David Bishop will be in Cheltenham next Tuesday (1 July 2008), one of the guest speakers at the Screenwriters' Festival there, talking about the similarities and differences between creating comics and screenwriting. Afterwards local comic shop Proud Lion is hosting a signing from 2.00pm. "It's part of an outreach programme by the festival organisers," says David, "though a mid-week signing is unusual for any comic shop, unless you've got a big name guest like Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman."

• Over on Bear Alley, Steve Holland reports the Don Lawrence Collection's boxed set of Karl the Viking is approaching the finishing line. "The project dates back quite a few years," Steve explains. "I think Rob [van Bavel] - publisher and king-pin of DLC -first discussed it back in 2006... but it took a long time to bring the scans of the original artwork up to scratch and Rob had the idea of reproducing the original lettering as it had appeared in Lion when the strip ran in the 1960s. Not the easiest task as all the balloons that were missing from the artwork had to be painstakingly scanned, cleaned up and reinserted into the artwork."
Karl the Viking, many stories drawn by Don Lawrence, originally ran in Lion in 1960-64 and six stories were reprinted in Smash! as 'Erik the Viking' in 1969-71. This will be the first time in over forty years that the whole series has been made available.

• The leats issue of Fortean Times Magazine (#238) features an extract from John Reppion's forthcoming book 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool. The article is all about the elusive Spring-heeled Jack and his reported appearances in Everton.

The magazine costs £3.99 and is available in all good newsagents.

• Bugpowder has just plugged Last Bus, a new self published ongoing comic book from Irish creator Patrick Lynch. The first issue contains three separate stories: “Last Bus”, “What Became Apparent...” and “These Things I Know” engaging such diverse themes as public transport, street violence, absent friends and dream logic. Read more about it here

• The Guardian reports on Doctor Who fans work recreating lost stories from the 1960s in today's Technology section. This will not come as news to most Who fans but it's good to see the not-for-profit work of the WHO3D group in the spotlight -- let's just hope they don't suffer the same problems as the lady who came up with Adipose knitting patterns...