Birmingham Comic Con offers manga, TV and film attractions

MCM Birmingham Comic Con and Memorabilia, Britain's biggest collectors' event,  come to the NEC on 16-17th March, and the team behind it tell us they have an awesome line-up of film and TV guests waiting to meet fans, host panels and sign autographs.

Guests for their Comics Village area, with an emphasis on manga, include creators Josh Clarke, Kit Jo Yuki, Lily Mitchell, Lisa Cummins and Lyndon White; and indie publishers such as Subversive Comics, T Publications and Vimanika Comics UK.

Here's a selection of the special guests attending the shows:

• For Doctor Who fans there's Colin Baker, who starred as the sixth incarnation of The Doctor, Nicola Bryant, who played his companion Peri Brown and Sophie Aldred, who was The Doctor's companion Ace. Other Doctor Who guests include Frazer Hines, who played Jamie McCrimmon in no fewer than 117 episodes of the show; Terry Molloy, best known as the Daleks' villainous creator Davros, and stuntman Jimmy Vee, who has played a host of monsters and aliens in Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

• A trio of bold knights from Merlin will be at comic con: Alexander Vlahos (Mordred), Rupert Young (Sir Leon) and Eoin Macken (Sir Gwain).

• Potter Personalities - Chris Rankin, who plays Percy Weasley in six of the blockbuster Harry Potter films, Steffan Rhodri, who was Reg Cattermole in Deathly Hallows and Hugh Mitchell, who appears as Gryffindor student Colin Creevey in The Order Of The Phoenix. Steffan is also famous for playing Dave in hit comedy Gavin & Stacey, and recently won plaudits as the voice of Drippy in acclaimed videogame Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch.

• Primeval stars Andrew Lee Potts (Connor Temple), Hannah Spearritt (Abby Maitland), also famous as an original member of S Club 7, and Lucy Brown, who played both Claudia Brown and Jenny Lewis.

• Bond girl and Avengers star Honor Blackman. Other Bond girls at Memorabilia include Shirley Eaton (Goldfinger), Lana Wood (Diamonds Are Forever) and Maryam d'Abo (The Living Daylights).

• Iconic glamour model Samantha Fox. As well as being the most popular pin-up girl of the '80s, Sam is a 30 million album-selling pop singer and actor.

• Gary Dourdan, best known for portraying Warrick Brown in eight seasons of the massively popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

• Canadian actor Connor Jessup, best known for his role as Ben Mason in the Steven Spielberg-produced sci-fi series Falling Skies.

• Masters of Horror - best known by his stage name John Morghen, Giovanni Lombardo Radice achieved cult status with his roles in 1980's Italian splatter movies such as Cannibal Ferox, City Of The Living Dead and Cannibal Apocalypse. He'll be joined at Memorabilia by scream queen Madeline Smith (The Vampire Lovers, Frankenstein And The Monster from Hell) and Eileen Dietz (The Exorcist).

• Tickets for MCM Midlands Comic Con on 16- 17th March are available at www.midlandsmcmexpo.com/tickets And remember: KIDS GO FREE! *. Birmingham Comic Con visitors also get into Memorabilia free of charge

Website: www.www.midlandsmcmexpo.com
Twitter: @MCMExpo
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mcmexpo
YouTube at www.youtube.com/mcmexpo

* The ‘Kids Go Free’ offer applies to General Entry tickets only. Children aged 10 years or younger gain free entry if accompanied by a full paying adult, to a maximum of two children per full paying adult.

Dead lie Waiting for Midlands Comic Con!

From a metal band's new comic to the galaxy's most bad ass bounty hunter to two of the best new games to come out of Japan, this Saturday's MCM Midlands Comic Con at Telford International Centre comes jam-packed with geeky goodness.

Guests for their Comics Village area, with an emphasis on manga, include creators Josh Clarke, Kit Jo Yuki, Lily Mitchell, Lisa Cummins and Lyndon White; and indie publishers such as Subversive Comics, T Publications and Vimanika Comics UK.

Here are a few other highlights:

• Star Wars fan favourite Boba Fett will be touching down in Telford as British actor Jeremy Bulloch meets fans, signs autographs and hosts a panel. As well as playing the iconic bounty hunter, Jeremy's credits range from James Bond movies to TV shows such as Doctor Who, Spooks and Robin of Sherwood.
• Metal band The Dead Lay Waiting will be at the show to promote their new comic book. Nominated for the Best British Newcomer award by the readers of Kerrang! in 2011, the band have recently been touring the UK and Europe
• The sci-fi theme continues with Primeval stars Andrew Lee Potts and Hannah Spearritt. Andrew is currently playing palaeontology student Connor Temple in the show's hit spin-off, Primeval: New World, while former S Club 7 star Hannah appeared in all five seasons of Primeval as zookeeper Abby Maitland.
• Find out first-hand why gorgeous-looking new Japanese RPG Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is flying off the shelves courtesy of Namco Bandai. Fans of the game will also discover the voice of Ni no Kuni's lovable Drippy - Gavin & Stacey actor Steffan Rhodri - over in the signing area
• Voice actor Alix Wilton Regan is also at the event. Best known as the voice of Samantha Traynor in BioWare's Mass Effect 3, Alix's other roles include Mhairi in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening and Calista in Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's The Last Story.
• Konami is giving visitors the chance to get hands-on with the eagerly-anticipated Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ahead of its 22nd February release date, as well as its ever-popular Yu-Gi-Oh! collectable card game.
• Telford also sees the first comic con appearance by Eoin Macken, best known as Sir Gwaine from BBC fantasy series Merlin. Eoin also recently appeared in Roman war epic Centurion, playing opposite Michael Fassbender.

• Tickets for MCM Midlands Comic Con on 16th February are available at www.midlandsmcmexpo.com/tickets And remember: KIDS GO FREE! *

Website: www.www.midlandsmcmexpo.com
Twitter: @MCMExpo
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mcmexpo
YouTube at www.youtube.com/mcmexpo

* The ‘Kids Go Free’ offer applies to General Entry tickets only. Children aged 10 years or younger gain free entry if accompanied by a full paying adult, to a maximum of two children per full paying adult.

Sneek peek of 2000AD Lawgiver prop at National Space Centre's BritSciFi event

TV legend Gerry Anderson is to join the crew of Leicester's National Space Centre on 19th - 20th March for a celebration of British science fiction that also includes an appearance by Blake's 7's Gareth Thomas and a sneek peek look at the new Judge Dredd Lawgiver replica.

2000AD will be giving fans a world exclusive and allowing you a never before seen “sneak peek” at the new licensed replica Judge Dread Lawgiver MkII, made by Jon Scott of Great Scotts Props.


Gerry Anderson MBE, British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his shows such as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Fireball XL5, Space: 1999 and Joe 90, to name but a few, will be making a rare appearance next month as he joins the crew of the National Space Centre to celebrate all things science fiction and British.

Appearing on both days of the event, visitors will be able to meet the man who created the Supermarionation technique, that made the series he produced so ground breaking.

Anderson will be joined by a whole host of guests and characters from the past 50 years (with more to be announced), including Gareth Thomas who played the lead role of Blake in the iconic TV series Blake’s 7.

Alongside these guests will be displays and talks by Mat Irvine and Mike Tucker on the launch of their new book that charts their amazing careers leading the teams in the BBC Visual Effects Departments.  Between them they have worked on hundreds of shows including Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and Rentaghost.

An amazing display of original props and costumes will be guarded over by an invasion force of Daleks, who are out in force to raise money for Children in Need… and you thought they had no heart!

The original K9 will be joining Doctor Who, Torchwood, Spooks and Primeval writer James Moran, for some cozy chats on writing science fiction. James will not be alone as the Primeval team also be there to talk about the series.

Talks are still ongoing with more guests and participants, so all eyes should be on the sky as you never know who could be dropping in next!

The National Space Centre is the UK's largest visitor attraction and research facility dedicated to space. It opened to the public in June 2001 and was co-founded by The University of Leicester and Leicester City Council.

More info: www.spacecentre.co.uk/Page.aspx/324/BritSciFi/

Primeval Revived, So Where's the Comic?

ITV has changed its mind about cancelling its Saturday teatime time travel and dinosaur show Primeval, prompting some to wonder if this means a comic will now get off the ground.

ITV announced yesterday that Primeval will return to UK television screens for two new series from 2011 comprising 13 new episodes, thanks to a ground-breaking deal between ITV, multichannel broadcaster, UKTV, and producers Impossible Pictures.

Back in 2007, British artist Neil Edwards, now the artist on Marvel's Fantastic Force (#4 is on sale, previewed here on CBR), worked up sample pages for a proposed Primeval comic, which would have been published by Richard Emms AP Comics. The project never got off the ground and Richard is now firmly embedded with Flash Gordon publishers Ardden Entertainment, but with two new seasons in the works, a film, and a strong licensing programme including books and toys, it's surely only a matter of time before Doctor Who Adventures gets a rival?

In the meantime, ITV reports the new Primeval TV series will be showrun once again by Adrian Hodges and will feature the return of stars from the previous series, including Hannah Spearritt, Andrew Lee Potts and Jason Flemyng (so we'll get to find out, at last, how they get back to the present day!), alongside the acclaimed special effects created by the award-winning team at Framestore CFC.

The premieres of Season Four and Five will be split between ITV1 and UKTV’s new entertainment pay TV channel, Watch. ITV1 will be the first to broadcast season four (in early 2011), while Watch will premiere season five later that year, with ITV1 screening it later.

In a perhaps unlikely team up of broadcasters, Impossible Pictures has worked closely with BBC Worldwide to implement a new funding strategy for the series, in which BBC America, which has acquired previous series for broadcast in the US, joins Germany’s Pro7 as a co-production partner for the new episodes.

“I'm thrilled that ITV has agreed to this new deal which will allow Impossible Pictures to produce another 13 episodes of Primeval," says Tim Haines, Creative Director of Impossible Pictures Ltd. "The confidence demonstrated in the programme's continued success here and abroad will help us bring more big screen action and a whole host of new creatures roaring back into people's living rooms.”

“We’re delighted to have agreed this new deal with Impossible to return Primeval to ITV1,"commented Laura Mackie, Director of ITV Drama Commissioning. "The innovative nature of this partnership will allow the show to maintain its high production values and deliver the fantastic programme that our viewers know and love.”

"We're really excited to be part of this truly innovative deal that guarantees the continuation of this fantastically entertaining series," added Paul Moreton, Channel Head of Watch.

"I know Primeval is going to be a massive hit with Watch viewers and the perfect complement to other popular sci-fi dramas such as Doctor Who and Torchwood.”

There. You see? Doctor Who - a comic (on both sides of the Atlantic) and a magazine with a comic. Torchwood - a magazine with a comic. Primeval...

Primeval Greetings!

Card and wrapping paper company Gemma International are to launch a range of greeting cards inspired by top ITV show Primeval in January.

LicnesingBiz reports the collection will consist of age cards for six to nine year-olds, a no-age card, a sticker card, a moving picture card, a pop-up card, male relations and gift wrap.

The range will launch in January to catch the start of the third season of Primeval, which is due to begin broadcasting from February on ITV.

With all this interest in the show, can a comic-magazine be far behind from some savvy publisher?

In Review: The Tripwire Annual 2008

Review by John Freeman

Joel Meadows has edited and designed Tripwire since 1992, and, as editor of the magazine and a freelance journalist for newspapers such as The Times, The Indpendent and various other titles, has interviewed almost everyone of import in the comics world, including Alex Ross, Alan Moore, Mike Mignola and more.

Despite his numerous other writing credits, it's Tripwire that remains his passion (that, and photography) and this passion is nowhere more evident than in the pages of the latest annual, wraped this time in a gorgeous Doctor Who cover by Tommy Lee Edwards.

With a remit that includes television, film and animation as well as comics, I'd best describe this as an essential snapshot of developments in those industries, something that magazine and books can deliver that the web, with its constantly changing flux of material, cannot. Readers could pick up this Magazine five years from now and get a feel for some of the cutting edge developments for key sectors of the entertainment industry in 2008, and still learn from the sheer wealth of material included.

This latest annual is elegantly designed by someone who knows the best way to present the visuals in a way that complements the editorial -- something many magazine designers, with their idiotic predilection for seeming hip, using white lettering on brash colours that make whole sections illegible for example fail to achieve. The title offers a fascinating, carefully chosen selection of material, presented in a way that will appeal not just to fans of an article's subject matter but also for those simply dipping into the mysteries of, for example, Futurama or the many worlds of Michael Moorcock, for the first time.

Features include interviews with Bryan Fuller about the Emmy award-nominated hit TV show Pushing Daisies; with Tim Kring and Jeph Loeb on the future of Heroes; a celebration of the "renaiassance" of British sci-fi, wirh articles covering Doctor Who (fronted by a stunning double page illustration by Jeff Carlisle), Life on Mars and Primeval (the latter highlighting design secrets on the show); an entertaining and informative interview with Matt Groening, David Cohen and Bill Morrison discussing the return of Futurama in the form of made-for-DVD movies as well as to TV; and a look at Pinewood Studios’ new plans.

For comics fans, the annual includes an enjoyable by Andrew Colman feature on the seventy year history of Superman; an interview with graphic novelist Posy Simmonds, author of Tamara Drewe and Gemma Bovary, who talks about illustration and her career; and a feature about the career of James Bond storyboard artist Martin Asbury; and a much fought over list of 15 grahic novels for 'regular readers', books the Tripwire team recommend for people who don't read comics such as Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs and We Can Still be Friends by Mawil.

Michael Moorcock also talks about Elric - a film starring the character is imminent - and Walt Simonson, Michael Whelan and P. Craig Russell discuss translating Moorcock’s vision to the comics.

There's plenty more, too: the magazine is a veritable cornocupia of visual and editorial delight for someone like me, rounded off with a small selection of short. sharp but carefully selected comic strips from creators such as Roger Langridge, Jamie McKelvie and Declan Shalvey, whose No Witnesses is "silent strip" perfection in terms of storytelling.

This is a truly excellent collection, taking full advantage of the beauty of print in presenting stunning visuals in a way that the Internet has yet to emulate in any meaningful way. Editor Joel Meadows has an instinctive feel for the advantages of print as opposed to the immediacy of the electronic medium and puts those skills to good use throughout.

The next Tripwire Special will be released at the end of February 2009 and will focus on Superheroes in comics, TV and Film and in the works are a Joss Whedon interview, a DC feature that chats to Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns about the current state of play in the DC Universe, a Marvel feature that chats to Brian Bendis and Ed Brubaker and also a looks at Marvel in the wake of Secret Invasion. Look out for updates via Joel's Walls and Bridges blog.

• You can buy Tripwire from any good comic shop (or they should be able to order it for you via Diamond). The title will be available soon via online sales points.

Links

Tripwire Annual: www.tripwireannual.com
In development as of 18 September 2008
• Walls and Bridges: Joel Meadoews' Blog • Tripwire Specific Posts (including layout examples)
• Read a 2008 interview with Joel Meadows, discussing his other 2008 project, and Studio SpaceTripwire on the Forbidden Planet International blog • Buy the 2007 Tripwire Annual from amazon.co.uk which includes interview with Mike Mignola

ITV Announces Zombie Invasion

by John Freeman

ITV has announced a new one off zombie drama, Renaissance, which will star Kelly Brook (School for Seduction, Smallville) and Alan Dale (Ugly Betty, The OC, 24). The show is integrally linked to the second season of behind the scenes of TV production dramedy Moving Wallpaper, which returns this autumn - without its first 'linked' show, Echo Beach.

Renaissance opens in London, in the present day with John Priest (Alan Dale) and his children flying home after a well deserved break. Upon arrival things take a dramatic turn for the worse as the plane is attacked by what can only be described as zombies...

In the panic John and his children are unwittingly thrown together with another passenger, a young woman called Samantha (Kelly Brook). As they escape the chaos surrounding the airport they find themselves questioning what terror has been unleashed on the country and what is the true meaning behind the sinister Renaissance?

Renaissance is linked with some changes to ITV's Moving Wallpaper, returning for a six part series on ITV1 soon. That show picks up where the last series ended, with the hapless producer of Echo Beach, Jonathan Pope (Primeval's Ben Miller) and his team awaiting their fate at the hands of the merciless Head of Continuing Drama at ITV1, Nancy Weeks (Raquel Cassidy.

News comes in that Echo Beach has been canned (in the real world, Echo Beach was a ratings failure, but Moving Wallpaper was a success). However, a clause in Jonathan’s contract means
ITV must now offer Jonathan a pilot to produce – much to Nancy’s annoyance.

That show is Renaissance.

Brook and Dale will be joining Miller and Cassidy as part of the cast of Moving Wallpaper, along with james Lance (Teachers), Sarah Hadland (Peep Show), Elizabeth Berrington (The Office), Lucy Liemann (The IT Crowd), Dave Lamb (The Smoking Room) and Sinead Keenan (Trouble With Sex).

Will Jonathan’s complete lack of subtlety or tact but occasional genius be enough to make it work?

“I’m passionate about this project, I think it’s very special," says Pope. "I’ll be doing what I do best, setting trends and making sexy television. I’ll be taking the rule book and tearing it up. I’ll be boldly going where no television executive has gone before...”

Both Renaissance and Moving Wallpaper are produced by Kudos in Association with Red Planet Pictures. Tony Jordan, lead writer and story consultant for EastEnders, co-creator of Life On Mars and creator of Hustle executive produces both shows with Kudos’s Jane Featherstone and Alison Jackson. Howard Burch is the real producer of both shows.

Primeval Renewed

Broadcast reports ITV's SF time-spanning drama Primeval has been renewed, with the current (second) season continuing to score good ratings in its Saturday slot.

Production on the third season will begin in March, for broadcast in January 2009. The first episode of the next series will feature a monster designed by a member of the public, with viewers invited to submit their designs in an online competition before 7 Apil 2008.

"By giving people the opportunity to design a monster for the third series, we are creating a chance for them to be more involved," explained Tim Haines, executive producer for Impossible Pictures, "and feel closer to the programme."

The first three episodes have pulled an average audience of 5.7m in its 7.30pm slot and won a 26% share of viewers for last Saturday's installment.

When the first season screened last year on ITV, it picked up a strong 6.7m (28.5%) in a slightly later slot of 7.45pm. The entire six-part series averaged 6m (26.6%).

Season One DVD box sets of the show are already on sale and Titan Books are to release a series of novels, the first titled Primeval: Shadow of the Jaguar (released on 21 March 2008), plunging Cutter and the team into the Peruvian rain forest for a thrilling prehistoric ride. A Primeval comic is also in the works, drawn by Neil Edwards, and this may now get a green light with the new commission.

A range of Primeval action figures from Character Options is also now widely available, who also make the Doctor Who and Scooby Doo figures

• ITV's Primeval web site: www.itv.com/Drama/cult/Primeval

Primeval: Less Pants

Primeval actress and and former SClub 7star Hannah Spearritt has put a stop to "panty scenes" in the show's second season.

The actress, who plays reptile expert Abby Maitland in the ITV1 drama (but spent much of the first episode in the new season knocked out as the team battled deadly raptors in a shopping mall), told the Daily Star she didn't feel the show needed any more of what appeared to be her character's constant underwear scenes.

"I thought the clips of me wandering around in my pants last year were a bit much," she told the paper. "The thing is, this was already in the script when I got the part and I didn't think too much about it at the time.

"We filmed the scenes [for the first season] all in one block," she revealed. "But the actual clips got spread across the series so it made it look like I was walking around in pants all the time. When we watched it back, we were quite shocked. I say 'less is more'. We don't need it for the show."

She added: "If you want to see hot naked flesh, then the lovely James Murray, who plays Stephen, gets his top off!"

Despite the change, Hannah still has an army of loyal fans delighted by her acting work rather than her pants. Good for them.

The new season has had a reboot explained by changes in the timeline (emphasizing the dangers of messing with the past), with the actress Lucy Brown, previously a Home Office liasion now a ruthless PR manager assigned to keep the activities of the Anomaly Research Team, which now has a nifty HQ inspired by the home of a well known Hammersmith-based publishing house, but still in the dark as to the cause of the anomalies that are dropping dinosaurs from the past into the present.

Next week's episode will see the PR guru locking horns with Cutter while Connor’s potential new love interest, Caroline (Naomi Bentley), gets Abby hot under the collar. But is her interest for real or does she have an ulterior motive?

As we reported a few days ago, the ratings success of the show and strong 100,000-plus Season One DVD box sets sales have resulted in early merchandising from the show. Titan Books are to release a series of novels, the first titled Primeval: Shadow of the Jaguar (released on 21 March 2008), plunging Cutter and the team into the Peruvian rain forest for a thrilling prehistoric ride. A Primeval comic is also in the works, drawn by Neil Edwards.

Aside from some glaring continuity errors (particularly disappearing guns between scenes) this is a fun show and the reboot seems to have put the show on more solid ground and is setting up some strong character relationships. Let's see how it goes.

• ITV's Primeval web site: www.itv.com/Drama/cult/Primeval