I'm ready for my close-up: Manhwa and Metamorphosis
Two events taking place this weekend are ideal places for fans of fantasy and SF to visit - SCI-FI-LONDON: EAST and Manhwa: Korean Story & Painting - each in venues not known for exploring those genres. Alex Fitch talks to director Chris Swanton about his adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, screening Sunday 11th November at Stratford Picturehouse and to comic book creator Min-Woo Hyung regarding the art he's exhibiting at the Korean Creative Content Agency, 1-3 The Strand. Alex and Chris discuss why the director chose a hard to translate novel by Kafka as his directorial debut, following a career as an editor on such projects as the BBC's Ghostwatch, and Min-Woo talks about his career as a Manhwa creator from his debut Chronicle of a Hot-blooded Judo King to his latest project Ghostface and his most famous series Priest, which was adapted as a blockbuster in 2011.
More info about SCI-FI-LONDON: EAST (9th-11th November) at www.scfilondon.com and Manhwa: Korean Story & Painting (1st-21st November) at www.manhwa101.com
Continuing Panel Borders' month of shows looking at the writing of superhero comics, Alex Fitch talks to writers Gail Simone, Andy Diggle, Robin Furth and Al Ewing about their work on British and American titles, in a panel discussion recorded at last year's Thought Bubble festival. Gail and Andy discuss their work for DC Comics and contributing to anthology titles, while Robin talks about adapting Stephen King's The Dark Tower for Marvel Comics and Al discusses moving from 2000AD to his first work on American strips.
Thought Bubble 2012 runs from 11th - 18th November, culminating with a two day comics convention on 17th and 18th November at Royal Armouries, Leeds
Comics @ Sci-Fi London takes place this weekend (30th April - 1st May) - a two day festival about the best of British Comics from the last 30 years in a lovely new space - The Blue Room - at BFI Southbank, London. Here's a full run-down of the weekend's events.
This is not a ticketed event, however there will be a sign up sheet on the door on both days, if you would like to reserve a seat for individual panels.
Day One: Saturday 30th April
The Blue Room, 1st Floor, BFI Southbank, Waterloo, London
Doors open at 10am – Small press creators will be around to sell their work and meet visitors.
Creators in attendance include Paul Collicutt (Robot City Adventures), Phillipa Rice (My Cardboard Life), Alex Milway (The Mythical 9th Division), Eddie Robson (Doctor Who Adventures), V.V. Brown, David Allain, John Spelling (all City of Abacus), Lee O’Connor (Ctrl Alt Delete unmasks corruption), Zarina Liew, Yuri Kore, Clio Millett (Manga Jiman winners), Matt Jones (BERG design) and Matthew Sheret (Paper Science).
11am – SF comics for kids
Paul Collicutt (Robot City Adventures), Phillipa Rice (My Cardboard Life), Alex Milway (The Mythical 9th Division) and Eddie Robson (Doctor Who Adventures) discuss creating Science-Fiction and Fantasy comics for kids and having interested children in the format, how to keep their love of comics going. Followed by a children’s workshop run by Paul Collicutt.
Chair : Chris Johnson (CBBC)
12.30pm – City of Abacus
A panel discussion with four of the creators of the serialised graphic novel City of Abacus including writers V.V. Brown and David Allain and artists Lee O’Connor and John Spelling, who drew issues two and three respectively, looking at the intriguing mix of dystopian SF and fantasy that the comic presents. Followed by a City of Abacus signing
Chair: Alex Fitch (Resonance FM)
2pm – Manga Jiman
Three recent finalists – Zarina Liew (Runner-up 2009/2010), Yuri Kore (Winner 2009/2010), Clio Millett (Winner 2010/2011), Karen Rubins (Runner-up 2008, 2011) – of the Japanese Embassy’s ‘Manga Jiman’ (Pride in Manga) competition join one of the judges, to discuss the homegrown manga scene in the UK and the difference between Manga and Western style comics.
Chair: Karen Rubins (Comic book artist in residence, Victoria and Albert Museum 2010)
3.30pm – The work of Warren Ellis
Editor Matt Jones (principal, BERG design who commission Ellis’ new comic SVK) and writer Matthew Sheret (Solipsistic Pop), whose love of comics started with Warren’s work, discuss the work of comic book / multimedia writer Warren Ellis who has penned some of the most influencial SF comics of the last 20 years.
Followed by 10 minute preview screening of new documentary, Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts.
Day Two: Sunday 1st May
The Blue Room, 1st Floor, BFI Southbank, Waterloo, London
Doors open at 10am – Small press creators will be around to sell their work and meet visitors
Creators in attendance include Al Davison and Tony Lee (IDW Doctor Who comic), Tom Humberstone (Solipsistic Pop), David Hine (Batman), China Miéville (Kraken), Denise Mina (The Field Of Blood), Alice Duke (Self Made Hero), Mark Stafford (Cherubs), Martin Fisher (Battle Among the Stars), Huw J. Davies (Freeman), Edward Ross (Parasites!) and Roger Mason (The Mice)
11am – Small Press to Mainstream
Al Davison and Tony Lee (IDW Doctor Who comic), Tom Humberstone (Solipsistic Pop) and David Hine (Batman) talk about how working in small press comics has lead to work for mainstream publishers, but also provided a home to publish alternative titles throughout their careers so far. Followed by ‘Drop in and draw’ activities for first time artists wanting encouragement in creating comics, run by Tom Humberstone.
Chair: Matt Badham (Judge Dredd Megazine)
12.30am – H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe
Novelists China Miéville (three-time Arthur C. Clarke award winner for SF literature) and Denise Mina (The Field Of Blood) alongside artists Alice Duke (Self Made Hero) and Mark Stafford (Cherubs) discuss the influence of American writers Poe and Lovecraft on comic books and the difficulties posed by adapting their stories into strip format.
Chair: Alex Fitch (Resonance FM)
2pm - Comics and Moving Pictures
Comics have been both the basis of and influenced the look of much TV and film over the past few years and so creators Martin Fisher (Battle Among the Stars), Huw J. Davies (Freeman, Garth), Edward Ross (Filmish, Parasites!) and Roger Mason (2000AD, The Mice) will be talking about how their interest in both fields has led to cross-pollination in their work and how they see this influencing both media as a whole.
Chair: Rich Johnson (Bleeding Cool)
3.30pm – Horror and noir
A panel looking at the crossover between two popular genres with guests Denise Mina, graphic novelist Hannah Berry who will be previewing her new book Adamtime and David Hine who has written horror themed comics throughout his career from Strange Embrace to Spawn.
This year's cinematic interest in comic book adaptations shows no sign of slowing down with adaptations of Scott Pilgrim vs. the world and Tamara Drewe hitting screens over the next few weeks. To coincide with this, the SciFi London festival team have released the next in their series of podcasts recorded in front of a live audience at this year's Sci-Fi London festival.
In it, Alex Fitch talks to cartoonist Woodrow Phoenix and film maker Howard Webster about the dialogue between comics. film and TV, looking at Woodrow's work adapting his comic Pants Ant for the Cartoon Network and Howard's interactive webcomic The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore. The podcast also features a brief appearance by Marcus Gilbert (Biggles / Army of Darkness) talking about his roles in Howard's comics.
