Local Heroes Events in Edinburgh

As the National Library of Scotland's graphic novel exhibition Local Heroes approaches, the Library have announced a program of talks in conjuction with the Edinburgh exhibition.

On Wednesday 9 April at 7pm Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy will return to the library for another discussion on their work which includes the recently released Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, while on Tuesday 15 April at 1pm Dr Mel Gibson will give her talk on Getting To Grips With Graphic Novels, Comics and Manga.

On Wednesday 23 April at 7pm Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers of Metaphrog will be discussing their range of Louis graphic novels, and this will be followed on Friday 25 April at 2pm when Exhibition curator John Birch will give a guided tour of the exhibition.

The range of events concludes on Tuesday 29 April at 7pm when DC Comics artist Vincent Deighan, better known as Frank Quitely, will talk about his work From Electric Soup To Superman.

All events are free but ticketed and there are more details on the events and how to obtain tickets at the NLS exhibitions page.

The Local Heroes exhibition in the National Library of Scotland on Edinburgh's George IV bridge opens on Friday 4 April and runs through to Sunday 1 June. It is open seven days a week including some late nights and is also free. Opening time details are available from the NLS exhibitions page.

Gingerbread TARDIS

With the BBC ramping up its publicity for the fourth season of Doctor Who of the 'modern era', what better time to celebrate with a special TARDIS cake?

Which is exactly what one enterprising fan has done, and a smashing looking item it looks too. Here's a link to the full recipe.

Sadly it seems the cake isn't bigger on the inside, so it's unlikely to last much longer than ooh, about ten minutes after the series begins next Saturday night in our house...

• Doctor Who, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, returns to BBC One at 6.20pm on 05 April, 2008.

Dan Dare at the Science Museum

The Eagle's Dan Dare will be the focus of a new exhibition at London's Science Museum later this month.

Titled Dan Dare and the Birth of High-Tech Britain, Dan Dare enthusiast Dave Britton, who, among other things, has helped organise several Dare exhibitions in the past across the UK, tells us there will be one or two cabinets with items he is lending the Museum, and other references to Dan Dare and Eagle and their context in shaping the role played by technology in creating post-war Britain.

"There is also the possibility that the two murals that Frank Hampson painted for the new Space Gallery that opened in 1977, will be put on display," says Dave. "That is not final yet."

• Dan Dare and the Birth of High-Tech Britain runs from 29th April 2008 to 3rd May 2009. Entry is free and details may be found on the Science Museum Website.

If only it would happen here...

News this week that the US courts have ruled that Time Warner, owner of DC Comics, is no longer the sole proprietor of Superman must be be good news for the heirs of Jerome Siegel — who 70 years ago sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130.

The heirs are now entitled to claim a share of the United States copyright to the character, subject to inevitable appeal in a court case that has rumbled along since 1999, but The New York Times reports the ruling left intact Time Warner’s international rights to the character, which it has long owned through its DC Comics unit.Still to be decided is how much the company may owe the Siegel heirs for use of the character since 1999, when their ownership is deemed to have been restored.

Imagine if the creators of comic characters in the UK, or their heirs, were able to make similar claims against DC Thomson, IPC, Egmont and all the other comics companies that have laid claim to all rights to the creations that have made them a fortune in terms of comics sales and merchandising.

Unfortunately, they will all happily point at the work for hire agreements all creators will have signed when working for them which, bar some characters, mean those who put the effort into making them a success on the printed page will never see any royalties in terms of initial use, reprint in comic collections or t-shirt sales. A situation I have always regarded as bizarre when companies can so easily work out how much to pay another company in fees and royalties when it comes to licensing, but not build in similar payments to the creators who may have written the licensed comics.

As usual, the individual creator has to wait for a landmark case like this one to start the ball rolling in their favour and most simply do not have the energy to devote to such a cause.