Tube Surfing: Dr Strange and Spider Man, zines in Birmingham , a misunderstood shark and more CLiNT reviews

Right, what's out there today:

There's an excellent interview with artist Brendan McCarthy over at Mark Kardwell's Bad Librarianship blog. In it, Brendan gives us the inside track on various projects past and present, as well as discussing his new trade collection, Fever (starring Doctor Strange and Spider Man):

"Marvel got a fun and unusual comic and I was able to get the Ditko/Dr. Strange thing out of my system. The Fever trade collection also reprints the 1960's Spider Man Annual by Lee and Ditko that inspired my story. I wish they could have scanned it directly off the old printed pages to get the period feel. Still, artistically it's Ditko at his peak. His genius is there to be enjoyed. Sadly, I am not worthy to sharpen his pencil!'

• Leonie O'Moore has posted a short (and funny) online comic about Jaws at her blog. Have a read!

• Comics collective We Are Words + Pictures (WAWP) will be attending the Birmingham Zine Festival this weekend and running a Drop-in + Draw session there too. What's a Drop-in + Draw, you say? Over to the peeps at WAWP:

'We’re also running a Drop In + Draw in the nearby Island Bar between 5 and 6.30pm, a chance for creators and the public to unwind with pencil and paper. We’ll have material to help you get started, and a few people on hand to guide you and answer your questions, all for free.'

• Speaking of the Birmingham Zine Festival, their site has lots of cool interviews that are worth checking out, such as this one with James Nash.

• Oh, and a whole bunch of people are reviewing Titan Publishing's new anthology, CLiNT: we already mentioned some, but check out further reviews at Comic Book Resources (via), Paul Gravett (scroll down for this one), Bleeding Cool and Comic Vine...

Oh, and we reviewed it too awhile ago...

Anyway, that's all for now, folks. See you at my next Tube Surf!

Tube Surfing: Monsters, Heroes, Cycling and Moon Hoaxes

I'm really behind with everything. Anyone else behind with their deadlines and work?

Oh, dear, it's all gone a bit Pete Tong...

Anyway, a bit of tube surfing always peps me up. What's out there today?

Ace cartoonist Darryl Cunningham offers previews of the strips he's currently working on over at his blog. He's been doing various science-related strips and the latest one is about the supposed 'moon hoax'. He's also working on an instalment of his rather ace 'Uncle Bob' series. All good stuff!

The Forbidden Planet International blog makes us aware of cartoonist and illustrator Luke Pearson's inclusion in an exhibition hosted by the London Transport Museum (well done, Luke). The exhibition is on the theme of cycling and if you want to check out the art on display, it runs until 22 August. Some of the art is also online at the Guardian website. Go take a look!

Cartoonist Sarah McIntyre has been on holiday to Cornwall and I suspect that in the coming days she'll be posting some cool artwork chronicling her trip. There's already one picture up.

Just stumbled across this 2009 mini-interview with cartoonist James Nash. James is a major talent and the interview is worth a read.

The Manchester Comix Collective has lots of interesting stuff to share with the world, including news of Heroes and Monsters, the summer exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery, which features a mural and workshops by cartoonist Jim Medway. Here’s more information from Manchester Art Gallery’s site:

‘Come and play in our Heroes and Monsters exhibition (20 July – 19 September) and see Jim Medway’s fantastic mural. It brings those Ancient Greek superbeings into our modern world and sends you on a journey of discovery around the gallery. There you can put on your crown and pick up one of Jim’s amazing interactive Hero Quest maps. You are the hero in your own epic story as you play, draw and imagine your way around the gallery, finding mysterious objects, meeting other heroes and immortals and slaying monsters.’

And finally, I wanted to mention the Birmingham Zine Festival. Running from September 10 - 12, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, with a zine fair, zine picnic, Atta Girl zine party, exhibitions and also workshops to be announced. (Via Pete Ashton.)

Nice To Have A Friend

Comic artist James Nash has a new comic available called It's Nice to Have a Friend Such as Yourself, collecting all the diary drawings that he did in 2007.

James started a diary strip "just to explore the idea that the subjective language of comics could communicate something as objective and personal as a person's diary," he says. He's been doing his comics diary fro about four years. "I began putting the drawings together as a collection and, along with some friends similarly interested in comics, began exploring the idea of self publishing our work and distributing it via the small press community.

Copies of It's Nice to Have a Friend Such as Yourself are available from Gosh! in London, Dave's Comics in Brighton and Platform Clothing in Birmingham.

Alternatively, if anyone would like to recieve one directly from the artist, then please contact James direct via jamesnash61 AT hotmail.com

James will also be running a diary comics workshop and have copies available at the V&A Museum as part of the Bad Idea exhibition and anthology launch at the end of this month (May 2008).

• Visit James Nash's MySpace Site