Ninja Turtles, Grandville and other anthropomorphic comics on Resonance FM

Panel Borders: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Continuing Panel Borders' month of shows about anthropomorphic comics, Alex Fitch talks to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman, Rich Magallanes (Senior Vice President, Nickelodeon animation) and British comic book writer David Baillie about the ever popular franchise. Alex discusses the history of the comics and cartoons with Kevin and Rich as well as the latest versions of the characters appearing in IDW's new comic book and Nickolodeon's forthcoming series. Alex and David talk about the latter's experience in writing TMNT strips for the Eastern European market, in the form of two page comics that look at the point of view of both the Turtles and the villains from the series.

8pm, Sunday 12th August, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Clear spot: Anthropomorphic literature

To complement this month's series of Panel Borders on anthropomorphic comic books, tonight's Clear Spot explores the use of animal characters with human characteristics in literature. In the first half of the show, we're proud to present an extract from one of Bryan Talbot's lectures on anthropomorphism in children's books, cartoons and comics, and their relevance to his own graphic novels series Grandville. Alex Fitch also talks to Bryan about his interest in the subject, and to children's writer and illustrator Helen Ward about her adaptations of Aesop's Fables for modern audiences.

8pm, Monday 13th August, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Bryan's Badger Detective Trailed

The official trailer for award-winning comic creator Bryan Talbot's next graphic novel, Grandville, has just been released.

Bryan, probably best known as the author of Britain's first ever graphic novel, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright but also creator of The Tale of One Bad Rat and Alice in Sunderland, has now completed work on this brand new steampunk graphic novel.

The story is is set in a retro sci-fi world populated by anthropomorphic animals and stars Detective Inspector LeBrock, who the writer artist describes as a "large working class badger”.

"He has the deductive abilities of Sherlock Holmes but, being a badger, he’s also a bruiser and is quite happy to beat the crap out of a suspect to get information," Bryan recently told Steampunk magazine. "His adjunct and close confidant is the diminutive and elegant Roderick Ratzi, who talks like Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey.

"I wanted to do one of those sorts of adventure stories that starts very small and parochial but gets bigger and more exciting as it goes along until it finishes in an epic climax," he continues. "The story begins with LeBrock investigating a murder in a small English village (in actuality Rupert Bear’s Nutwood). The trail leads him to Grandville, where he discovers a shocking and far-reaching conspiracy. It’s basically fin-de-siecle Paris, populated by animals and furnished with speaking tubes, automatons and steam-driven hansom cabs."

Grandville is set for release in October 2009 and will be published by Dark Horse in the USA and Jonathan Cape worldwide.

• View The Trailer...

• For more information about the book visit www.bryan-talbot.com/grandville

• Check out full the interview Bryan gave to SteamPunk Magazine