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: Alan Moore, web/hyper/small press/all types of comics and events aplenty too!

Alan Moore guests on Utter Shambles, a podcast hosted by comedians Robin Ince and Josie Long.

Pete Ashton will be talking about the emergence of the British small press comics scene in the early eighties at the Birmingham Zine Festival in September.

Al Davison's new web-comic, Muscle Memory: A Survivor's Story, is online. (Via Bugpowder)

Head down to the Comica Comiket small press fair in London this Sunday. (Also via Bugpowder)

The Forbidden Planet International blog has posted a very useful comics and zine-related events round-up.

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.)

Tube Surfing: Dan McDaid, Madame Tussauds and Zine Fayre News

Right, let's see what's out there...

Over at the Forbidden Planet International blog, downthetubes contributor Matt Badham (that's me) talks to cartoonist Dan McDaid about his work on the comic strip in Doctor Who Magazine and Image Comics' Jersey Gods. In the interview, Dan reveals what finally made him pursue his dream of working as a comics writer and artist.

"I lost my job," he says, "and there was pretty much nowhere else to go. I’d been itching to write or draw something Who-shaped for a long, long time. Since I was a boy, in fact. And losing my job with... Scots publisher DC Thomson gave me the kick up the arse necessary to send out some samples." (Above: A page from Dan McDaid's Hotel Historia strip from Doctor Who Magazine)

Matt has also recently interviewed comics writer Jason Cobley, over at top blog (Conflict of interest alert!) Citizen Badham. In the interview, Jason talks about creating small press icon Winston Bulldog and gives his thoughts on the current state of the British comics industry:

"I’m optimistic about comics as a medium – I think graphic novels do well in bookshops now and kids really do like reading them – but I don’t know whether there is an ‘industry’ anymore."

One part of the industry that is thriving is the self-publishing scene, which will no doubt receive some representation at the forthcoming Bradford Zine Fayre. The Forbidden Planet International blog has details:

"The event is scheduled for Sunday the 20th of June at the Impressions Gallery on Centenary Square, with evening shenanigans to follow at the 1 in 12 Club on Bradford’s Albion Street afterwards; check the sites or contact them at bradfordzines (at) hotmail dot co dot uk for more details or to take part."

Meanwhile, those comics fans whose tastes are for super hero slugfests and in particular the four-colour antics of Marvel heroes such as Captain America, Spider Man and the Hulk, could do worse than check out the new Madame Tussauds’ Marvel Superheroes 4D Exhibition, which we've already mentioned here and is, according to a review at Rich Johnston's Bleeding Cool, worth a look:

"...overall: its fun," writes Hannah Brown for Bleeding Cool. "Hands up who doesn’t want their picture taken hanging off the ceiling with Spiderman, who hasn’t idly wondered what it would be like to have those claws or join in an epic superhero battle. Anyone? Didn’t think so. Well worth a visit." (Look out for a competition to win tickets here later in the week)

And finally, cartoonist Marc Ellerby has posted (a few weeks ago, but I've only just spotted it) a comprehensive account of his visit to Toronto, Canada to attend TCAF (the Toronto Comics Art Festival). In his report, Ellerby bemoans the state of British cons, which he finds sadly lacking in comparison to their Canadian counterpart:

"The thing with British shows is that there's very few that I actually want to attend nowadays. Previous trips to Bristol and Birmingham have been expensive and without much reward as they're catering for a mainstream, diehard comic audience who are very happy to pay £12 a day just to get into the venue."

The whole report is definitely worth reading, even if you don't entirely agree with what this promising cartoonist is saying...

Tube Surfing: 5 September 2008

• There's an excellent interview with David O'Connell, the writer and artist behind science fiction comic Tozo, over at Garen Ewing's website.

David's art is very much in the tradition of ligne claire (clear line) artists such as Belgium's Herge (of Tin Tin fame) and France's Jacque Tardi. In the interview, Garen, himself a talented cartoonist, talks to David about ligne claire, world-building and the Dutch comics scene (David lived in Amsterdam for a while):

"The Dutch domestic comic scene is unsurprisingly small but very healthy," says David in the interview. "They have fun with what they do and are more interested in the 'artform' of comics than in the 'business', or at least, that's my perception.

"I've found that idea very important to hold on to: if you go looking for some kind of material gratification through comics, whether it's in terms of cash or number of blog comments then you'll end up miserable."

Garen Ewing is the man behind the rather fantastic Rainbow Orchid. He's also got a forthcoming strip, Charlie Jefferson and the Tomb of Nazaleod, in new children's comic The DFC. You can see a preview of this strip here. David's Tozo strip can be found here.

(This interview sourced via the brill Forbidden Planet blog)

• Oliver East of Bugpowder makes us aware of the new issue of Colouring Outside the Lines, which features an interview with British indie cartoonist, Lizz Lunney.

According to its myspace site, Colouring Outside the Lines is "...a zine featuring interviews with contemporary female artists; illuminating various corners of current female artistic and creative activity."

Lizz Lunney's minimalist style and occasional anthropomorphic stylings should appeal to fans of cartoonists such as Ralph Kidson and Lewis Trondheim.

Anyway, sounds like a cool zine. Please check it out.

• Speaking of Oliver East, his blog is well worth a read, especially for its stream of consciousness musings on India, the creative process and fellow cartoonist Stuart Kolakovic's superb rugs!

• Richard Bruton draws our attention to cartoonist Hunt Emerson's recently revitalised website, Large Cow.

I'll let Richard do the plug for this one:

"Hunt Emerson's website Large Cow is proving to be a black hole of time stealing delight. I was directed there via Pete to have a look at the Owl & The Pussy Cat three page strip from the Beano and I find myself looking around for the best part of an hour..."

If we're mentioning Richard, we should also give a shout-out to his excellent blog, Fictions, which often contains lots of comics-related goodies, including the Propoganda reviews that are cross-posted at the aforementioned Forbidden Planet blog.

And finally... Peter Murphy has just posted an interview with comics legend Alan Moore over at the Blog of Revelations. It's pretty good stuff, with some classic Moore-isms and interesting anecdotes:

"So I got the second draft of the [film] script [for V for Vendetta] where I think to justify the special effects budget, they decided that having Britain taken over by fascists was just not exciting enough, and they’d used the fact that I mentioned a limited nuclear war to say, ‘Right, there’s mutants everywhere!’ So instead of it being fascist policemen that are patrolling the benighted streets of this enslaved London of the future, it’s half-goat mutant policemen. You’ve got these people that are policemen down to the waist and have goats’ legs. And as I said at the time, if you wanted to do a film about goat policemen, then why the f**k didn’t you just buy the option to Rupert Bear?!!"