Hi-Ex: Again

A few more pictures for you from last week’s Hi-Ex comics convention based mainly in the ground floor area of the old Bishop’s Palace in Inverness.

Hi-Ex was organised by Vicky Stonebridge and Rich Cements of Future Quake Press so it was inevitable that FQP would be putting on a good display on their dealer's table - seen here in the calm before the storm of the doors opening to the public. FQP's titles include FutureQuake, MangaQuake and Something Wicked, plus the two 2000AD zines Dogbreath and Zarjaz.

Later on in one of the quieter moments on Sunday FQP's Dave Evans aka BOLT-01 got a chance to do a little sketching.

Over in Graeme Neil Reid's and my little section of the dealer's room Al Ewing gave us his best Sunday impression of "the morning after the night before".

Declan Shalvey stopped by as well to show off his Freak Show and Tequilla titles and to let us know that he is well advanced on his work for Classical Comics Frankenstein which is due to be published later in the year.

Meanwhile beside us Ben Clark and Paul Scott of Omnivistascope and Solar Wind wonder if there is a way to repress the irrepressible as Kev F Sutherland gives them little option but to be in a Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet video. The look on Cam Kennedy's face as he walked past while this was going on was a joy to behold.

Vicky and Rich have added a list of on-line reviews and press coverage that the convention received in the news section of the Hi-Ex website. Fingers crossed for Hi-Ex 2009.

• Read another review of Hi-Ex on Hi-Arts by comics neophyte Georgina Coburn

Space News: Last Lunar Eclipse until 2010

The last Total Eclipse of the Moon before December 2010 will begin in the small hours of Thursday 21 February in the UK.

The entire event will be visible from South America and most of North America (on 20 February) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on 21 February).

This NASA web page explains that during a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark grey.

An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun's rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.

In Western Europe and the UK the time of the eclipse on the 21st is as follows:

• Partial Eclipse begins 0143
• Total Eclipse begins 0301
• Total Eclipse ends 0351
• Partial Eclipse ends 0509

• For more information, visit this NASA page, and to find out more about lunar eclipses visit the agency's special web page lunar eclipses for beginners.

• Image above: this picture of total lunar eclipse was captured on 20 January 2000. by Mr. Eclipse/Fred Espanack (www.mreclipse.com).

Technology News: Prince victim of Identity Theft

Morocco's state run news agency is reporting that authorities in Casablanca have rounded up the usual suspects and arrested an engineer accused of stealing the identity of Prince Moulay Rachid on Facebook.

The prince, shown here perhaps at the moment he realized his reputation as "The King of Hearts" had earned him the friendship of thousands on the online social network, is the younger brother of King Mohammed VI and second in line to the throne.

Among many other duties he is president of President of Marrakech International Film Festival Foundations, and has been focusing much of his programs on the need to bridge the North-South and East-West divide.

"The clash of civilizations has no place in Marrakech, Morocco since public appreciates as much as Hollywood or Bollywood films as they do appreciate Moroccan films," he recently told the German press. (This doesn't stop Morocco's authorities barring access to sites that might offend the King, as they did with YouTube for a time last year - a bar now lifted. I'm guessing Facebook isn't very popular right now, either).

I can see British journalists picking up on this and scouring Facebook for Prince Charles or the Queen's profile even now. The closest they may come is to the "Campaign for the Return of Prince Charles' Moustache"or links to news stories about the Prince's decision not to attend the Olympic Games in Beijing, posted by a Free Tibet Group.

Sarah Jane To Return

Despite bad news on some fronts for children's drama in the UK - the cancellation of Grange Hill surely a reflection of how disparate TV viewing has become that it can no longer attract a large audience - the BBC has announced several new commissions for its children's channel CBBC.

Among them are a second season for Doctor Who spin off The Sarah Jane Adventures and a new season of M.I. High.

The second season of Sarah Jane Adventures starring Elizabeth Sladen as investigator (and former companion of the Doctor) Sarah Jane Smith will comprise 12 episodes, for broadcast later this year. Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner for BBC Wales and Sue Nott for CBBC will executive produce.

New to the CBBC drama family are Half Moon Investigations about crime, based on the books by Eoin (Artemis Fowl) Colfer, corruption and general wrong doing in the school playground; We Are Family (working title), following the colourful and heart warming comedic adventures of a singing family who are a talk show's resident pop group; Roy, the story of an extraordinary cartoon boy marooned in the real world; and Paradise Café, a beachside mystery with a supernatural twist.

Announcing the line up, Anne Gilchrist controller of CBBC described drama as being "at the heart of CBBC".

"We're very excited about these new and returning commissions," she continued. "As well as the titles we're announcing today, we are also developing an exciting drama based in the north east of England for 2009/10 and a project from Lime Pictures with writer Jeanette Winterson. The dramas will be from across the UK, and I am extremely proud of such a strong line-up."

On the cancellation of Grange Hill, Gilchrist explained that "Part of CBBC's reputation for reflecting contemporary Britain back to UK children has been built upon Phil Redmond's brilliantly realised idea and of course it's sad to say goodbye to such a much loved institution."

Ratings for the series have declined in recent years, with what were once controversial storylines replaced by mild comedy. The Scotsman notes that perhaps reality has left Grange Hill behind, and the disruptive behaviour and classroom language of 2008 cannot be broadcast before the evening watershed.

Gilchrist feels the lives of children have changed a great deal since Grange Hill began and "we owe it to our audience to reflect this.

"We're actively seeking out new and exciting ways of bringing social realism to the CBBC audience," she outlined, "through drama and other genres."

• The first season of The Sarah Jane Adventures will begin to be released on DVD in March.