Panel Borders: Resident Aliens / Caption podcast with Brown and Duffield

Panel Borders: Resident Aliens

In this week's episode of Panel Borders on Resonance 104.4 FM (London), the last of our series of shows about comic book creators who collaborate together, Alex Fitch talks to Steve Parkhouse and Peter Hogan about their new comic, Resident Alien, initially serialised in Dark Horse Presents and now continuing as a comic book miniseries. 


The comic tells the story of an alien who has crash-landed in rural American and found a job as a small town doctor, now turned detective when a body is found in mysterious circumstances. Alex talks to Peter and Steve about working together, producing comics for both the UK and US markets and their previous experiences on revered British anthology titles Crisis and Doctor Who Monthly. (Recorded in front of an audience at Kapow!, London, Spring 2012)



8pm, Sunday 29th July 2012, Resonance 104.4 FM / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / uncut podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Caption Podcast: Kate Brown and Paul Duffield

In the latest episode of the Caption Podcast, and the first to have been recorded at Caption small press festival 2011: Alex Fitch hosts a discussion between cartoonists Kate Brown (The Lost Boy) and Paul Duffield (FreakAngels) about their comics and working practices. Kate and Paul are both alumni of the Manga Shakespeare line published by Self Made Hero and bring subtle, illustrative lines to their work, with washes of colour and and obvious interest in Manga. 

The two creators discuss sharing a studio, bouncing ideas off each other and working on children’s comics such as The DFC and The Phoenix as well as their first graphic novels.

Caption 2012 takes place on August 18th / 19th, East Oxford Community Centre, Cowley, Oxford OX4 1DD 

More info and previous podcasts at caption.org

Alphablocks, new Phonics pre-school title launched

Immediate Media, the company now publishing many former BBC Magazines along with new titles such as Rastamouse, has just launched another pre-school title. Alphablocks magazine aims to help the growing number of parents who want to support their child's reading and writing in a fun and creative way before they start school.

A survey of 1,000 UK parents, conducted on behalf of the magazine via Immediate Media's Parenting websites, found that 88 per cent of parents think it's important to help their child learn to read and write before they start school. This is even though just 43 per cent of the adults surveyed were helped to read and write by their own parents before starting school.

Aimed at pre-schoolers aged 3-5 years - and based on the popular CBeebies TV programme of the same name - Alphablocks magazine is the only title that supports phonics, a technique that helps children learn to read using letters and sounds. The title provides parents with an engaging and affordable resource that they can enjoy with their children and use to support their learning from an early age.

Phonics is now high on the government's education agenda, with all children to be given a phonics-based progress check in year one*.This survey's findings suggest that this may have influenced the current generation of parents who are now more concerned with giving their pre-school children a good grounding in literacy.

The survey also found that adults who had learned to read and write with their own parents had fond memories of the experience and wanted to instil the same positive attitude towards books and reading with their own children. They also wanted home learning to be fun and playful, rather than structured.

, editor "As we start the summer holidays, a lot of parents with young children will be thinking about giving their children a head-start before they start their first term at school," explains editor Stephanie Cooper. "Learning to read and write should be fun and a chance for parent and child to bond, share a sense of achievement and create happy memories of learning to read. Alphablocks magazine gives them the chance to embark on a learning journey together, through reading and making words all with the aim of giving children a strong, confident start with literacy."

- Alphablocks magazine is priced at £2.50 and is available now at all major retailers and independents around the UK.

 

Titan launches augmented Awesome Animals app for new magazine

Titan Magazines has partnered with Aurasma - the world's leading augmented reality platform - to launch the first kids augmented reality app for its new magazine, How To Draw #1... Awesome Animals.

How To Draw... Awesome Animalsmagazine explains to kids clearly and concisely how to have fun learning to draw awesome animals such as lions, zebras and elephants and then turn those skills into their very own comic-strip story.

The new kids augmented reality app, "Titan Alive", allows readers to bring video, music and 3D animated content to virtual life on their iPad, iPhone and Android devices using Aurasma's augmented reality technology.

All readers need to do is download the Free Titan Alive app, powered by Aurasma, from the iTunes apps store and point their smart devices at the magazine to view detailed video demonstrations by artists who clearly show readers how to draw awesome animals.

As well as interactive features inside How To Draw... Awesome Animals magazine, the front cover comes to life with a 3D animated model of a charging, trumpeting elephant.

Titan Alive, which the company plan to use on other titles, allows your smart phone or tablet to recognise images in your favorite comic, then changes your view of the real-world with videos, music and 3D animations called "Auras".

"We're really excited about this unprecedented AR Magazine in the youth market and looking at more ways to involve AR content through our kids magazines portfolio," commneted Michelle Fairlamb, Titan's Group Advertising Manager. "This offers our readers additional content, a more enriching experience and even further ways to interact and engage with their favourite magazines."

Ben Wheeler, Creative Director at Aurasma said, "Through the Titan Alive app, Aurasma and Titan have brought art and technology together to show a whole new way of seeing and interacting with the physical world. We hope this brilliantly practical use of augmented reality will enlighten, educate and entertain readers!"

Aurasma is the world's leading augmented reality platform, developed by and part of software company Autonomy – an HP Company. Available as a free app for iPhones, iPads and high-powered Android devices or as a free kernel for developers, Aurasma uses advanced image and pattern recognition to blend the real-world with rich interactive content such as videos and animations called "Auras".

Auras can be created for printed images, product packaging, clothing, physical places and users can even use the app to create and share their own. Since its launch in June 2011, Aurasma has had more than four million downloads and over 6,000 partners in markets including retail, fashion, sport, automotive, education, advertising and publishing are using the free technology in their campaigns, on their products or embedding the technology in their own applications.

• How To Draw #1 ... Awesome Animals magazine is available in all good magazine retailers from 26th July.

• For more information, visit: http://titanmagazines.com

Digitally Infinity! Panel Nine releases iPad-based comics magazine

Digital graphic novel publisher Panel Nine has launched a free preview issue of INFINITY -- a new magazine devoted to digital graphic novels and comics.

The magazine contains a roundup of digital comics news, features and reviews delivered via Apple’s Newsstand service for the iPad, including a terrific interview with comic creator PJ Holden, talking at length about Murderdrome, the digital comic he created with Al Ewing that was banned by Apple.

There's also a sampler of Panel Nine's excellent digital title Dapper John by Eddie Campbell and an extract of interview with artist David Lloyd, talking about his film noir inspired graphic novel Kickback. (The full interview is part of the Panel Nine Kickback app).

In a "Where Are They Now" style item, the magazine also profiles artist Simon Russell, the head of Brighton-based agency Boing today - but who worked with Russell on INFINITY's previous incarnation as a small press comics fanzine in the 1980s.

Today, INFINITY publisher Russell Willis has swapped his photocopier for an iPad and relaunched it for the digital age.

“Digital delivery is a huge part of the future of comics," says Russell, "and we’re launching INFINITY to cover things as they develop, debate the big issues such as user experience, platforms and pricing, interview the key players, and provide a guide for people to the good stuff.

"Appropriately the magazine is specially designed for the iPad, and contains audio, video and Panel Nine’s “Panel Mode” presentation of digital comics.”

The first issue proper of INFINITY will available in September as a NewsStand ready title. The magazine will initially be published bi-monthly from then on.

Users can download the preview issue (and all subsequent issues) for free from iTunes.

• Download from iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/infinity-digital-graphic-novels/id540599442?mt=8