Tube Surfing: 13 October 2008

COMICS AND 'ZINES

• Radio 4 will be airing four 15-minute programmes on comics and cartoonists with Phill Jupitus, broadcasting on the back of a favourable response to his previous comics programme. The first one with Doonesbury creator Gary Trudeau went out last Tuesday and is available on Listen Again and has also got its own permanent link. the three to come include one with Bill Griffith and Alex creators Peattie and Taylor – again will be on the Listen Again after broadcast for seven days but Radio4 say they hope to do permanent links for them like the first one too at some point. More deatils from the Forbidden Planet International blog. "It's nice to see them following up on the earlier ones and their reception, feels FPI's Joe Gordon. "Between this, Comics Britannia and some other radio spots the Beeb has been fairly nice to the comics community this last year (and we have their SF drama series early next year on the radio too)."

Here's the line up:
• Tuesday 14th October at 0930 - Cartoonists with Attitude (Mikhaela Reid, Brian McFadden, Jen Sorensen, Masheka Wood)
• Tuesday 21st October at 0930 - Charles Peattie/Russell Taylor, creators of Alex
• Tuesday 28th October at 0930 - the great Bill ‘Zippy the Pinhead’ Griffith

• Mangaquake, sister title to top UK indie title Futurequake, is now available yo read online from the Futurequake press web site. All the strips from Mangaquake 01 have now been formatted to be read individulally.

• BBC Birmingham has published an interview with Moseley-based creator Andy Johnston about Zine Arcade, available throughout the UK and as far a field as the USA and Japan. The title brings together writing, poetry, drawings, artwork and more into one magazine and features many of Andy's contemporaries as well as his own work.
The first issue of Zine Arcade featured material by twenty self-publishers from Europe, North America and Australia. More info from the Zine Arcade web site.

In future there will be a new issue from FQP available each month! Next month it is the now legendary FQ06.
• 1980s small press fanzine Critical Wave, later sub-titled "The European Science Fiction & Fantasy Review", is to return. Published and co-edited by Steve Green and Martin Tudor, the original Critical Wave ran from October 1987 until the summer of 1996. Last month, Steve and Martin decided to relaunch Critical Wave as an electronic newszine, published monthly via eFanzines. The first edition is scheduled for mid-November, to coincide with Novacon 38.

• The small press event UK Comix Web Thing is to return in March 2009. More details from the offcial web site, although depending on your entry point there are currently conflicting dates listed for the event.

• Kickback and V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd will be in New York on the weekend of November 14-16 for the Big Apple Con at the Pennsylvania Hotel. "My last visit to one of those shows was in '06, at which I had a terrific time, and the organisers have now been kind enough to ask me back for another."

TV NEWS

• More bits of Doctor Who news over on Digital Spy. First, as widely reported, Doctor Who stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate will go head-to-head at this year's National Television Awards. Lead actor Tennant and Who newcomer Tate, who played The Doctor's companion Donna Noble, have both received a nomination in a new Outstanding Drama Performance category. However, they face competition from Ashes To Ashes star Philip Glenister (Gene Hunt) and The Bill's Alex Walkinshaw (Sgt. Dale Smith).
The web site also offers an overview of Doctor Who movies, as rumours fly about a possible big screen outing for the Time Lord.

• Variety reports US broadcaster NBC has ordered four more scripts of its new SF series Knight Rider from Universal Media Studios. The original series was a popular strip in weekly comic Look-In, often drawn by Barrie Mitchell who now draws Wendy for DC Thomson.

• In mobile media news, the BBC is now allowing television programmes to be downloaded to mobile devices capable of playing back content protected by Windows Media digital rights management. Among the supported devices are the Sony Walkman E and S series and Archos' Internet Media Tablet. The Windows Media DRM-protected TV shows join DRM-free radio programmes and podcasts among the BBC's download offerings.

FILM NEWS

• SciFiWire reports Fox 2000 has acquired rights to Joe Haldeman's 1974 classic SF novel The Forever War, and Ridley Scott is planning to make it into his first science fiction film since he delivered back-to-back classics with Blade Runner and Alien, Variety reported.

GAMES NEWS

• Digital Spy has also just published a handy potted history of the adventure game, the genre that achieved market dominance in the 1980s and 1990s. meanwhile, games publisher Bungie has confirmed that there will be no more Halo 3 add-ons after the upcoming Recon.

• Compiled with thanks to Matthew Badham, Joe Gordon and others. Cheers!