Get yourself down into Edinburgh’s historic Old Town for a chance to meet two of the UK’s finest creators who have taken their work from the UK to the international scene.
When the Forbidden Planet International blog heard that there was going to be a new stage version of Halo Jones produced at the Lass O'Gowrie pub in Manchester (a spot already well known to local science fiction and comics fans), they sent roving reporter Bat Cardigan to find out what it was all about! The following interview with Lass landlord and staunch comics and SF supporter and promoter, Gareth Kavanagh is the result of Bat's Mancunian adventure and is re-published here on downthetubes with full permission of all involved (thank you!)...
Bat: Gareth, who are you and why would what you're doing be of interest to readers of the FPI blog?
Gareth: Well, over on Twitter I describe myself as "award-winning Northern hospitality operator, management consulting guru, publisher of Vworp Vworp and gentleman of the road."
In essence, I own and operate the Lass O'Gowrie, a very nice little pub down the side of the old BBC [in Manchester] and publish a very nice fanzine and (with luck) comics if we can get the rights to the odd interesting property.
I suppose it's of interest because I use the Lass as a platform for all the things I love, so it's festooned with original comic art, old collectables and vintage arcade machines. We also programme plenty of genre shows, including, come January, Russell T Davies' Midnight and a brand new adaptation of Halo Jones.
Bat: Please tell us about this new production of Halo Jones? It's not just a re-staging of the 1980s stage play, is it? Who's involved and what's your role?
Gareth: No, it's a fresh adaptation of Books One and Two, going back to the source material. The odd thing we'll be looking at [changing] and there are a lot of healthy debates going on in the team as to location, characters and design.
There are some practical things to get over too, so Toby is now a humanoid dog character to get him off all fours, but it works trust me! I'm involved this time round as Producer, so I'm overseeing it, chipping in where I see fit and making useful suggestions.
The chaps have termed me Joel Silver, which I'm taking in the spirit it was intended (honest; you're fired, chaps!). Alongside me is Ross Kelly, who has been scripting, Daniel Thackery who is directing and a top-secret script editor who has asked not to be revealed, but has been brilliant to work with.
And, as of today, we've cast all but one of the roles and it's the best cast I've ever worked with. We've settled on Louise Hamer as Halo and she's perfect. See Casting Call Pro [now The Mandy Network - Ed] if you don't believe me. In fact, if you don't fall in love with Halo all over again after this then frankly, you're dead inside.
Bat: Halo Jones is part of the Mid-Winter Lassfest. What else have you got on that may be of interest to the blog's readers?
Gareth: A whole heap of goodies. An event with genre publisher Hirst Books. They will be bringing along a host of his writers for a day on Saturday, 7th January. Three episodes of Coronation Street from 1968 penned by the legendary Jack Rosenthal and performed on the ground floor of the pub, cast by the great June West of the Road to Coronation Street fame.
A revival of Jack's Play for Today from 1974, Hot Fat', never since repeated and the tapes have been long wiped by the BBC.
Oh, and an adaptation of Russell T. Davies' Midnight, originally from the 2008 run of Doctor Who in our claustrophobic Salmon Room upstairs.
Bat: How did you get permission to put on a performance of Halo Jones and also Russell T Davies' Midnight?
G: Well, we asked Rebellion [publishers of 2000AD] very nicely and they very kindly allowed us to perform Halo. Similarly with Russell, who is a fan of [Gareth's rightly celebrated Doctor Who fanzine] Vworp Vworp and knows the Lass from his BBC Manchester days (apparently he lost his watch there in the 1990s. We've still not found it!), although what we're adapting is the script and characters created by Russell. Nowhere are the Doctor or Donna to be seen, but a brand new mysterious stranger known only as John Smith. You may recognise him.
Bat: Word is that you had to chat to Tharg himself, the mighty Mr. Moore and that you've been seen in the company of television giant, Russell T Davies. It must be a big thrill to be rubbing shoulders with (or making phone calls to) these guys. Are you in geek heaven?
Gareth: Oh absolutely. In fact, it's like being controller of your own TV channel! Alan has been very kind to us with Vworp Vworp and he's such a pleasure to work with. I was adamant we wouldn't do Halo unless Alan was cool with it, even though it's not his IP, it's important to let people know what you're about and what we're here for.
Ditto with Russell who we've got to know again through Vworp Vworp, so we want it to be right.
The Lass doesn't profit by a penny from Halo or Midnight. We do it, because we want to and we love the material. And it's often completely forgotten, but these guys are fans of things too. We're all fans.
Adrian Salmon's original art for the new Halo Jones play poster
Bat: Please tell us about the theatre space you've got at the Lass.
Gareth: Well, we have a wee space above the pub called the Salmon Room (named after our good pal, the artist Adrian Salmon) which we've developed as we've gone along into a great studio space that seats around 35 people. Our budget is non-existent, but we work our capital hard and with support from sponsors, we do manage miracles. Of course, a first for us this January is to use the ground floor of the pub to stage things, so Halo and Corrie will be down there and that will be amazing.
Bat: Tell us about the mighty publishing adventure that has been Vworp Vworp. It's a fanzine that, I think, is fair to say, has exceeded expectations?
Gareth: Again, we've been blown away by the supper for our little fanzine, but the love and nostalgia seems to have been there, which is lovely. I mean, what could be better than publishing a lost Abslom Daak tale from Steve Moore?
Plus, working with people whose work I so admire like Steve Dillon, Steve Moore, Dez Skinn, Mick McMahon, Alan McKenzie, Ade Salmon and Martin Geraghty is so not work. It's an honour.
Bat: What's the word on Vworp Vworp 3? What's in it and when's it out?'
Gareth: Well we're beavering away myself and co-editor Colin Brockhurst and we're aiming for Summer 2012. And you can look forward to a frankly amazing chat with Alan Moore talking about his early Doctor Who and Empire Strikes Back strips, his thoughts on contemporary Doctor Who and something so top secret, you'll weep when you read it.
Elsewhere, we've more Abslom Daak as well as a sequel to the seminal Iron Legion strip penned by Lance Parkin with pencils and inks by Dan McDaid and colours by Charlie Kirchoff. And, of course, another wizard free gift that will top issue #1 2s transfers and #2 2s Weetabix cards.
Bat: What's next for you, the Lass and for your adventures in pub theatre?
Gareth: Well, we've ambitions for a much bigger space up there to make the Lass a proper, London-style theatrepub. We'll see.
Bat: Finally, there's quite a lot going on year round at the Lass. What regular events might the blog's readers want to pop along to?
Gareth: We open our doors to Doctor Who fans on the last Saturday of every month in the Snug for drinks and the occasional screenings. We also hold retro gaming nights on the second Friday and last Tuesday of the month, as well as open mics, book clubs, karaoke, meat-free Mondays and the like. Come see us on Facebook, or bob over to www.thelass.co.uk!'
Thanks to Gareth and Bat for taking the time to conduct this interview. Bat, a short, balding man with (according to his dad) shifty eyes' was last seen at Manchester Piccadilly Station clutching a stained copy of Fantastic Four #6. If anyone has any information about his whereabouts, please contact us here at the blog. His mum is very worried about him. '
(To be honest, we're not that bothered, we know he'll come home when he gets hungry enough.)
• The Halo Jones stage production runs from the 2nd to 7th January, a fine way to start the New Year if you're in town please do go along and give them some support.'
(Above: a piece of fan art for Garen Ewing's Rainbow Orchid by Sarah McIntyre.)
Tube surf time again...
• The Forbidden Planet International blog has really gone to town with their reviews of the DC Comics '52' re-boot (re-launch?) Here's a round-up of all their reviews for the first week of that 'event' (several of the titles are by Brit creators).
• Ed Kayeinterviews Rob Williams and D'Israeli for 2000 AD Online about the new series of Lowlife. Plus he also has a chat with Kek-W about his new series, Angel Zero. Ed seems to be that site's resident interviewer now and, I have to say, he's doing good work.
Forbidden Planet Manchester - shop window damaged in riots but still open
Comic shops in Manchester, Birmingham and other cities are open for business as usual, despite coming under attack from looters over the past few days during Britain's riots.
In Birmingham, looters were back on the streets last night. Richer Sounds, the electrical store next door to N&C was badly hit earlier in the week, the thieves recorded on video (above).
Customers of Richer Sounds - which is open for trading - were out in force to help staff clean up after the attacks. "We’re still evaluating the stock situation but the main point is that our colleagues are all safe and well," a spokesperson said on Twitter. "It’s reassuring that there are still plenty of decent people out there!"
"After the rioting and fires in our area we have now regained access to our premises and will be working hard to get the shop open as soon as possible," say the staff. "The police cannot advise definitively when this will be but we hope it will be by the weekend. Additionally, we anticipate listing this weeks comics up on our Ebay Store, by Thursday.
"Outstanding orders, new orders and emails will be processed as soon as we can, but we desperately need the extreme understanding and patience from our customers – these circumstances are unprecedented and we are doing everything we can to resume business and regain a sense of normality as soon as possible.
"Our London Store is continuing to operate as normal.
"Please continue to support us - it's a devastating time for us and our community... we need your support and continued business."
Forbidden Planet Croydon - owned by the Titan Entertainment Group - also escaped the devastation, as did Travelling Man in Manchester. "Manchester is unscathed," said Haroon, one of its staff via Twitter, "but a lot of damage in our area. "[The] Council have done a great job tidying!" The shop was offering brews to clean up squads this morning.
Forbidden Planet International's Joe Gordon tells us that he'd received numerous messages from Manchester comics folks outraged about the attack on the store, some posting goodwill message on the shop's Facebook page.
"It was shock news but also touching in a way," he says. "So many folks asked after the state of the store and the safety of the staff.
"I spoke to them on the phone this morning and they were much cheered by the news of how many local comics folks were worried about them - nice to have friends.
"The good news is that like the Nostalgia & Comics store the day before [the looters] damaged the windows but didn't get into the store and staff weren't there so they are all thankfully unharmed."
The chain's Wolverhampton store reports both staff and shop are fine despite overnight riots there.
"I checked with our Wolverhampton lot too as there was trouble there last night," Joe says. "They escaped it but some retailers near them not so lucky, although volunteers are already gathered and cleaning up the mess there.
"We're all open for business, it's New Comics Day and we'll be selling those comics if we have to stand there with a full load of hi-ex in our lawgivers!"
To celebrate the release of Prog 1700 of 2000AD, fan Jason Garrattley is posting '...a week of rare bits and pieces from the archives (well, some old fanzines from the loft) from some of the cornerstone creators of the magazines' early years...' over at his blog.
• Meanwhile, Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool makes us aware of the second season of Pilgrim on Radio 4. He says that the series is the closest thing to Hellblazer you'll get on the radio...
For the first time, Comica Festival and Laydeez Do Comics are thrilled to be teaming up to invite to London the important comic artist and writer, from the seminal underground comix of the Seventies to such icons as Wonder Woman, Barbie, Powerpuff Girls and her own GoGirl!, lecturer, curator and America’s foremost comics ‘herstorian’, Trina Robbins. She is coming over to present a paper at the academic conference Motherhoods, Markets and Consumption at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford on Monday 13 September and has kindly agreed to visit London for this special extra event on Tuesday 21 September.
She says the current state of newspaper illustration is encouraging in that "there is more of it, because papers are bigger and reproduction is so much better". But she worries that computer generated work is becoming "samey", and about the decline of political cartoons. "It is very sad, although the great Steve Bell and a few others are notable exceptions. But maybe it's a sign of the times. How interested are people in politics? Are they getting their satire on jokey emails?"
Anyway, that's all for now, folks. See you at my next Tube Surf!
David, who has been published in 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, is one of my fave cartoonists and there are some cracking strips in the portfolio.
• Another of my fave illustrators is John Welding, whose diary comics are always a treat. However, even though he doesn't make that many comics any more, his blog is still worth following. Check out these sketches of Cumbria, in particular. Beautiful stuff.
• And finally, I'm saddened by the news that 2000AD Review has closed for business. It was a great site, with informative articles, interviews and, of course, reviews (which sometimes slagged off my work for the Judge Dredd Megazine, but, you know, that was their job). The reviews on 2000AD Review have, I hope, helped me to become a better writer. Go read the last 2000AD Review feature ('Best of 2000AD - the creators speak') here.
"It’s Azzopardi’s skill in communicating the day to day ups and downs of everyday life, his worries and his eventual withdrawal from the project, that really makes the whole thing," writes Bruton, "especially the difficult and heartbreaking task of being forced to find a home for his aging and ill cat, incredibly engrossing and absorbing. As Azzopardi opens up and reveals himself he delivers a very touching and interesting autobiographical comic."
The Forbidden Planet International blog also draws our attention to this fun strip by Tom Gauld. Tom's work is always worth your time...
‘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.’
At the Forbidden Planet International blog, Richard Bruton draws our attention to free music magazine, Stool Pigeon. The latest issue contains lots of cool looking comics and also features an interview with Alan Moore. Good stuff!
And finally, have I given a plug to 2000AD Covers Uncovered yet? If not, I should have. It's a blog devoted to, in their own words, '...showcasing artists' covers for 2000AD in all their glory'.
But actually, it does much, much more, providing some great analysis and commentary on said covers. Go and have a look.
Warren Ellis' and Chris Weston's wonderfully retro Ministry of Space is available for a limited time from Forbidden Planet International for £5.39 - that's 40 percent off the usual price.
This is the 2009 paperback edition - 96 glorious pages.
Ministry of Space has, arguably, proved to be a bigger hit with Dan Dare fans than most recent Dan Dare revivals. Set in an alternative reality where Britain dominated the space race after World War Two but never underwent the social revolution of the 1960s the book is considered a must for sci-fi fans, comic fans and anybody who like a good tale well told.
Chris Weston, whose credits include Judge Dredd and Swamp Thing, is the artist on whose designs the new Dan Dare figures are based.
The book is available at the lower price until Wednesday 14th April 2010.
• The Hi Ex elves may have been quiet but they tell us they've been busy behind the scenes rushing around the country banging on doors and jumping through hoops to get their next Highlands convention shipshape.
"We're working hard to try and get funding to put on more, bigger and better," says co-organiser Vicky Stonebridge. "We hope to get outreach events throughout the year and in the lead up to the event... watch this space." In the meantime they are now on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/HiExComicCon. Plus, a member of the 2000ad online message board has come up with a transport solution, if you want to travel to Hi Ex 2010 in style... although we're not really sure a minibus really counts, what about a stretch limo for the weekend?
• Indie publishers tell us that since putting our graphic novelJack in the Boxon digital books service Myebook six weeks ago, which includes links to the HD trailer and the full Jack in the Box website, 3,000 visitors have checked out the page. It's impressive but again, aside from a promotional tool, where's the revenue stream for publishers?
• There's a great new interview with Rainbow Orchid creator Garen Ewing over on the Forbidden Planet International blog, which includes a peek at some artwork from volume 2 to enjoy.
• Part 10 Paul Rainey's comic There’s No Time Like The Present is now available. It still costs only £2.50 and, if you live in the UK and buy it from his website: that includes postage to destinations in the UK.
• Top artist Jon Haward reports there are now lettered preview pages of The Tempest (drawn by Jon) and Will Volley's Romeo and Juliet to view in the Previews section of the Classical Comics website. They look gorgeous: Romeo and Juliet graphic novel is out to buy now in three versions - Original Text, Plain Text and Quick Text. The Tempest graphic novel will be out 24th September, also in three versions, and Jon will be signing copies of The Tempest and Macbeth plus posters on the 25th and 26th sept at the Ace Comic Gallery in Colchester, his only sigining this year. More details on his blog here.
• And finally, talking of trailers and promotions, there's a promotion for comics writer Jaspre Bark's new novel, Way of the Barefoot Zombiehere on Youtube.... great fun!
(Comopiled with thanks to Matthew Badham and Joe Gordon)
Some good news for British small press publishers - another store wants your comics. The Manchester Comix Collective reports that part of a major makeover for the Nostalgia and Comics shop in Birmingham - which is owned by Forbidden Planet International - is to include more space for small press titles.
Kenny Penman, director of Forbidden Planet International (and Blank Slate publisher) has recently been overseeing the refurbishmet of Nostalgia & Comics and is fired up with his aim to make the store one of the best comic shops in the country with a stock range second to none.
Part of the re-development will include greater emphasis on British comics. "Small Press, self-published, call it what you like, the British scene is vibrant and interesting and really adds another dimension to a comic shop," says Forbidden Planet International staffer Richard Bruton.
To that end, FPI is now contacting small press publishers about getting their comics into Nostalgia & Comics.
The trading terms being offered to small publishers are as follows: N&C will take 30% of cover price, whatever is set by the publisher; N&C will get full Sale or Return on any comics that are not sold; and publishers must meet the incoming post costs (FPI/N&C will meet the return postage).
Payments will be 30 days end on month terms - in effect that will mean 60 days. Publishers can ask for info on their sales once a month on the 1st - via Kenny and by e-mail.
"If [publishers] are local I'd encourage them to go in and make pals with [manager] Dave Hopkins," Kenny Penman suggests.
If enough publishers respond, Kenny plans to devote a specific section to the material
• Cradlegrave, from John Smith and Edmund Bagwell, has proven to be one of the most popular stories in 2000AD for years. Over on the 2000AD Review Siet, thanks to John Smith, you can now read the script for episode 9 - so you can see how it made the transfer to the page. Warning: there are spoilers and there is bad language...
• Geek Syndicate is running a competition to win a signed copy of ComX's upcoming superhero-styled Forty-Five comic, due for release in December. Forty-Five is a series of Superhero interviews documented by James Stanley. As a soon-to-be father, James wants to find out what lies in store for his family if his unborn child turns out to have a Superpower. Forty-Five features Forty-Five different industry artists, all having just one page to capture the essence of each interview. More info on the Com.X web site: www.comxcomics.com
• Talking of Com.X, a company never averse to innovation, they've just announced, in collaboration with Iconology, Inc., that Com.x comics are now available for download from the iTunes store. The first wave of releases features Cla$$war #1, #2 and Path. These will be followed by the rest of the Cla$$war series and other, soon to be announced, titles. The application is available for £0.59 or ¢99, dependent upon your location. Once you have purchased the app, which enables you to read the comics, you will be able to download Cla$$war #1 and the first chapter of Path free of charge. If you like what you see, you can then download the rest of the books for 59p/99¢ and £1.79/$2.99 for Cla$$war and Path, respectively.
• 2000AD #1646 features a new Future Shock with art by the legendary John Cooper, from a script by Mike Carroll.
• David Hine and Shaky Kane are working on a new Image comic called Bulletproof Coffin.
• Over on the BBC web site writer Mark Gatiss and radio producer Simon Hollis offer a revealing insight into their love of Doctor Who Target books, the focus of their recently-aired Radio 4 documentary, recent Radio 4 documentary, 'On The Outside It Looked Like An Old Fashioned Police Box'. They rightfully sing the praises of those with painted art covers...
• Over on the Coventry Telegraph's web site, David Bentley has an interview with Coventry-based artist and author Al Davison, who is taking Tennant's popular Time Lord to a whole new dimension. Al's new Doctor Who comic for IDW Publishing will consist of alternating two-part and four-part stories, all written by Tony Lee. Al is drawing the two-parters while the artist on the four-part arcs ironically has the same name as the new Doctor Who, Matt Smith.
The ongoing series is launched with Al's first story arc, called Silver Scream and sees the Time Lord investigating an unearthly mystery in 1920s Hollywood.
"The first arc has already had a very good response, it's a very strong Doctor Who story," Al says. "Tony has really captured David Tennant's voice and personality: you read it and it really does sound like Tennant. Read the full interview, which covers much of Al's prestigious comics career Coventry Telegraph - The Geek Files.)
• Swindon will play host to the Swin City Comics Retro Fair on 26 September, to be held at Wharf Green. More details here on Facebook.
• After a few months concentrating on his The Spine Chillers webcomic, artist Ben Clark has moved hisMagic Beans! to a new location on Blogger. Expect the usual Clark madness to ensue in the coming days!
• Talking of web comics, Forbidden Planet International honcho Kenny Penman has been talking to Richard Cowdry and Daniel Locke recently, with the result that they’re going to be doing the new resident strip for the FPI blog. First Somersault went live recently and should be every Tuesday, just like they did with Darryl Cunningham’s Super-Sam.
The Forbidden Planet International blog has just published a smashing interview by Pádraig Ó Méalóid with Eddie Campbell (From Hell, Alec and much more), just as Top Shelf’s big Alec: the Years Have Pants collection is announced in Previews, due this autumn in both hard cover and paperback.
The interview covers 2009 Eisner Award nominee Eddie's career from his earliest, self published work to DC, Marvel, the First Second work, From Hell and some upcoming work like The Playwright.
Top Shelf's Alec: the Years Have Pants is a 640-page compendium which Eddie describes as "undoubtedly my single most important publication to date.
"It collects the work that has always been the principal strain of my oeuvre, and it allows me the opportunity to add a new ‘book’ to the set," he reveals. "The thing I enjoyed in seeing it all together was a sense of sweeping through time, of characters ageing, without that being a conscious plan, since after all I drew it all over a course of nearly thirty years."
The collection includes work such as 'The King Canute Crowd', 'Graffiti Kitchen', 'How to be an Artist' and the new book, The Years have Pants. There are also a couple of sections of short things and fragmentary works, appearing in their proper sequence.
As you’d expect from Alan the subjects and references are many, from Threepenny Opera to Monty Python and the Clangers (and the especially nice thing is you just know he’ll attach as much importance to a Clangers reference as he would to a classical literary reference). This part also includes more background on Alan and Kevin O'Neill's latest book, Century: 1910, and some of his past music work. Will he perform again? Read the interview to find out.
When we say huge, we mean it by the way. "The interview ran to two hours long, all of which I then had to type up, with the exception of a very small personal piece that got left out," says Padraig. "The whole thing was 27 pages and nearly 15,000 words long." Not quite as long as one of Mr Moore's famous comic scripts, then.
• Comics artist Doug Noble, whose past works include work for Marvel, Live Static and The Silent Choir and who was recently interviewed by fellow creator Sean Azzopardi, is about to launch a new longform strip called Complex. "Hopefully some of you will be interested in checking it out once it starts," he pitches. "It’s going to be fairly interesting, I hope. An end of the world story, a love story, a murder mystery." Check it out from Monday on www.strip-for-me.com Doug is currently working with Daniel Merlin Goodbrey on the webcomic The Rule Of Death at serializer.net.
• Fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be pleased to hear the Cartoon Network has announced a second season is in the works. Now showing on Cartoon Network UK, the series features in Titan Magazines' Star Wars Comic, available in all good newsagents. The latest issue sees the start of Shipyard of Doom, an epic Clone Wars action spectacular... As the Republic and Separatist forces race to build their armies, a desperate battle rages at the crossroads of the hyperspace lanes of Nexus Ortai. Our heroes, meanwhile, head beyond droid enemy lines…
• Happy Birthday to the Forbidden Planet International blog! The team there, headed up by Joe Gordon, celebrate four years of comics and genre news blogging, encompassing US and European comics as well as British coverage. "Growing out of our increasing online presence we wanted a way that we could discuss and highlight good comics, graphic novels, SF&F, cool merch - all the things we do through our stores and the webstore and our catalogues," Joe says of the blog's aims. "Mostly we wanted to be able to use it as a platform where we could share our love of comics and SF; we’ve posted news, reviews and interviews and some great comics art, we’ve talked to folks who make comics in their bedroom in their spare time and make up part of the vibrant small press and we’ve talked to some of the best known creators and all of them have been interesting, all of them a part of the medium we love." Never mind all that, where's the cake?
• Dynamite writers Leah Moore and John Reppion will be giving a talk on their latest project The Complete Dracula, a new five issue comic book version of Stoker’s novel illustrated by Colton Worley, at the prestigious Dublin Writers Museum on Saturday 18th April. The talk will begin at 3.00 pm. More details here
• As reported previously, Captain Jack Harkness actor John Barrowman has written a Torchwood comic strip with his sister Carole Barrowman - and she's been interviewed by the Newsarama.com guys about the story that appears in current issues of Torchwood Magazine.
• The Times features an interview with Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons this week. Dave reveals that he was not involved in any earlier attempts to turn the comic into a film but when it came to the eagerly-anticipated Zach Snyder film, it was the top British comics artist who approached him about making it. "I’d been invited along to the London premiere of 300," he tells Michael Moran, "which was based on the graphic novel by my friend Frank Miller. I thought it was a fantastic, a wonderful, true adaptation of Frank’s work. I think it had been announced then that Zach was in the frame to direct Watchmen, so I thought, I’ll have to go and shake him by the hand. I grabbed him on his way to the VIP enclosure at the premiere party and shook him by the hand and introduced myself. I just really wanted to say hello but we ended up talking for half an hour. I realised then that he did understand Watchmen. I got such a gut feeling that he could do it justice.” Read More...
• Talking of Watchmen, Bear Alley notes that the graphic novel has sold around 750,000 copies since it was first published in 1986. Following its appearance in Time magazine's Top 100 English Novels since 1923 and the release of the Watchmen movie trailer, it has been racking up sales at an astonishing rate these past few months and was the highest-selling graphic novel in the USA in 2008. "Brian Hibbs revealing recently that Bookscan figures put the 2008 US sales at 308,396 copies," notes Steve Holland, "and that's probably a low figure as Bookscan does not cover all outlets)." Read More...
When the Forbidden Planet International blog heard that there was going to be a new stage version of Halo Jones produced at the Lass O'Gowrie pub in Manchester (a spot already well known to local science fiction and comics fans), they sent roving reporter Bat Cardigan to find out what it was all about!
Bat: Please tell us about this new production of Halo Jones? It's not just a re-staging of the 1980s stage play, is it? Who's involved and what's your role?
Bat: What's the word on Vworp Vworp 3? What's in it and when's it out?'
To celebrate the release of Prog 1700 of 2000AD, fan Jason Garrattley is posting '...a week of rare bits and pieces from the archives (well, some old fanzines from the loft) from some of the cornerstone creators of the magazines' early years...' over at his blog.
I'm really behind with everything. Anyone else behind with their deadlines and work?
• Indie publishers tell us that since putting our graphic novel Jack in the Box on digital books service Myebook six weeks ago, which includes links to the HD trailer and the full Jack in the Box website, 3,000 visitors have checked out the page. It's impressive but again, aside from a promotional tool, where's the revenue stream for publishers?
• Over on his brilliant site Bronze Age of Blogs, Pete Doree has posted a short article on DC Thomson's much-loved teen hero Billy the Cat, prompting artist Sean Phillips to respond with this fab drawing of William Grange in action...
Alan Moore and interviewer Pádraig Ó Méalóid. Picture via Forbidden Planet International
• Comics artist Doug Noble, whose past works include work for Marvel, Live Static and The Silent Choir and who was recently interviewed by fellow creator Sean Azzopardi, is about to launch a new longform strip called Complex. "Hopefully some of you will be interested in checking it out once it starts," he pitches. "It’s going to be fairly interesting, I hope. An end of the world story, a love story, a murder mystery." Check it out from Monday on www.strip-for-me.com
