Panel Borders: Collage and reappropriation

Continuing a month of shows looking at webcomics, Panel Borders examines the work of a quartet of creators whose online strips and cartoons reinvent retro images and iconic characters from film and TV to beguiling effect. In a pair of short interviews recorded at Thought Bubble, Leeds 2012, Alex Fitch talks to American creators Scott C – about his webcomics Double Fine Action Comics and The Great Showdowns – and Becky and Frank about Tiny Kitten Teeth, cartoons which utilise imagery from toys, cereal packaging and children’s literature.

Also, Alex looks into the varying merits of print and web-based comics with British writer / artist Paul O’Connell, in an interview recorded at the University of Brighton. Paul’s postmodern fumetti mash-ups mix comedy and horror via strips such as A Muppet Wicker Man and The Seinfeld Matrix, and the artist discusses his collaborations with other Brighton based creators, including Lawrence Elwick on Charlie Parker, Handyman, plus his aspirations for using the medium of online comics to its full interactive potential. (Originally broadcast Sunday 24th March 2013 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

For more info and a variety of different formats you can stream or download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

Links: Paul O’Connell’s website, The Sound of Drowning
Scott’s blog / Great Showdowns and Double Fine Action Comics
Becky and Frank’s website, Tiny Kitten Teeth

Listen to Dickon Harris’ 2010 interview with Paul O’Connell
Listen to Alex’s interview with original Wicker Man director Robyn Hardy

Recommended events:

Comics at Crawley Wordfest

Alex Fitch hosts a panel with Myriad Editions creators Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Eaton and Nye Wright, discussing the mythological in graphic novels Naming Monsters and Things to do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park.

7.30pm, Tuesday 26th March, Crawley Library , Southgate Ave, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 6HG

More info at http://wordfestcrawley.org / http://www.myriadeditions.com/events

Tripwire 21st anniversary Kickstarter campaign

In 2013, Britain’s favourite comics and genre magazine celebrates its 21st birthday. To commemorate, we are doing a must-buy book.

TRIPWIRE has been Britain’s only features-driven comics and genre magazine which has published since 1992 and with 2013 being the magazine’s 21st anniversary, its coming of age if you like, we thought it would be remiss if we didn’t do something to commemorate this.

The book will come in regular paperback and in a limited hardcover edition. Between its covers will be a selection of new material, including art either never seen before or rarely seen from the likes of Drew Struzan (poster artist for Indiana Jones, The Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Phil Hale (award-winning portrait painter), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, The Shadow, Blackhawk),Frank Quitely (Batman & Robin, All-Star Superman), Walter Simonson (Elric, Thor), Dave Taylor (Batman, Tongue Lash) and many more. Additionally, it will include features looking at the trends and issues that have played a major part in comics and genre over the past 21 years, including the best and worst comic and genre movies 1992-2013, the 21 most important creators to come to the fore in the last twenty-one years, the 21 best graphic novels (mainstream and independent) and much more. It will also include the best content from twenty-one years of TRIPWIRE, a magazine which covered the cream of comics and genre and will include the likes of Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Guillermo Del Toro, Mike Mignola, Joss Whedon, Joe Kubert, Will Eisner to name but a few. It will also include a selection of photos pulled from the magazine of genre movers and shakers. It will be a must-buy for fans and aficionados of comics and genre, approached with the same level of professionalism and quality that people have come to expect from the magazine.

“TRIPWIRE really is a breath of fresh air. Its layouts are superb, with great well-written features perfectly set off by the pictures, adding clarity and intelligence to every page. And it keeps on doing it. Amazing, Gratifying. A pleasure to look at, a pleasure to read…” MICHAEL MOORCOCK

Incentives run at prices between £1 and £500 including signed copies, PDFs, prints T-Shirts and more…

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/154246759/tripwire-21st-anniversary

Help launch The Black Cloud

Support Charles Cutting’s new graphic short story compilation… If you think it’s the kind of thing you would be cool with posting about, liking and sharing on Facespace and Twitter, Charlie would be most grateful…

Over the last year and a half Charles has produced three short stories in graphic form for three different authors.

‘After The End’ is penned by Tauriq Moosa and deals with a secret scientific experiment.

‘Two Little Boys’ concerns an intriguing coincidence linking the lives of Adolf Hitler and Ludwig Wittgenstein and is written by Christian David. It first appeared in Issue 29 of The Illustrated Ape.

The final story ‘The Bleeding Horse’ is an adaptation of a macabre story by Brian J Showers about a haunted Irish pub.

Charlie needs $2000 to cover the printing and shipping costs. By pre-ordering a copy of Black Cloud via Indiegogo you will be entitled to various perks depending on how much you wish to chip in to the campaign. These cost between $15 and $200 and include sketches, advertising space and original artwork.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/black-cloud

British SF Films need funding

If you’re a fan of SF films or SCI-FI-LONDON, you could help and find a moment to post some news to your friends/contacts about their crowd funding of new British Sci-Fi films…

To time its release with this year’s film festival they’re making a short film called “Ellipse” – co-written and directed by Ilana (We Are All Cylons) Rein. It’s a co-production with SCI-FI-LONDON and The Royal Observatory Greenwich. They have much incredible talent on board including Territory Studios – the group that did some of the FX for Prometheus….

The campaign page is here http://www.sponsume.com/project/ellipse

Also, SCI-FI-LONDON’s first feature has begun production – an askew look at Alien Abduction dramas called “The Search for Simon”, directed by Martin (Death) Gooch, which will included crowd sourced footage in its production. To quote the director: “Think Shaun of the Dead rubbing up against The X-Files, with a little Blair Witch Project, and UFOs thrown in for good measure.”

Perks include a chance to drive a WW2 tank! (Louis Savy, CEO of Sci-FI London says: “Really, a tank! You can be an oddball for the day in our homage to Kelly’s Heroes!”)

The campaign page is here https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-search-for-simon

Exhibtions at Orbital Comics

Des Taylor

Orbital Comics proudly presents to you a collection of limited edition art prints by British illustrator Des Taylor.

His client list reads the likes of Michael Jackson, Theo Fennell, La Perla, FHM, Cosmopolitan, Ministry of Sound, Universal Music, ITV Studios, and many more. In this exhibition you will see pieces from his vast collection of artwork influenced by fashion, classic comics, Pop art Icons and his love for screen sirens of the 50?s and 60?s.

He will also be promoting art from his latest book Scarlett Couture Investigations and The Trouble With Katie Rogers which has recently been optioned by ITV Studios America. An artbook shall be on sale exclusively for this event.

19th March – 14th April 2013

(To all of you artists out there: Orbital Comics Presents a Pin-up Art Class by Des Taylor featuring model Nina Hearne as the muse posing in a variety of Pin-Up and character inspired outfits. The class will take place on Friday, April 5th at 7:30pm, more info at http://www.orbitalcomics.com/destaylor-masterclass)

Andrew Hickinbottom

is a digital 3D illustrator who specialises in stylised pinups. His work has been showcased on the internet over 60 times, and has been featured in many international books and magazines, appearing on 4 covers. Some of his clients include EA, Tassimo, Seat, Intel and The international Olympic Committee.

This exhibition of his personal works features a wide range of his appealing female character illustrations, with signed prints, an artbook and even a VERY limited edition figurine for sale.

17th April – 10th May

Reappropriating Lichtenstein

Artists Jason Atomic and Rian Hughes are curating an exhibtion at Orbital Comics, on the subject of Reappropriating Lichtenstein to coincide with the final weeks of the exhibtion at Tate Modern in May. Any practising comic book artists who would like to trace back one of Lichtenstein’s images to its original source, crediting the original artist in the process, and produce a new version themselves are invited to submit proposal for exhibition by April 6th.
More info here: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/19/a-call-for-comic-artists-to-respond-to-roy-lichtenstein

Orbital Comics, 8 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JA