Panel Borders: Women at the Front

Starting a month of shows about the portrayal of war in comics, Alex Fitch talks to Jessica Martin, Anna Dowsland, Clare Wood, Lauren Murphy and Francesca Dare, five contributors to the new war comics anthology ‘To Arms!’, published by Limehouse Comics.
Alex also discusses the exhibitions ‘Never Again! World War I in cartoon and comic art’ and ‘1914: Day by day’ with curator Anita O’Brien; the two shows contain a variety of responses to the Great War from the work of Bruce Bairnsfather and William Heath Robinson to modern day cartoonists such as Zoom Rockman and Kate Charlesworth, and are on display until 19th October at The Cartoon Museum, London.
Originally broadcast Thursday 2nd October 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM (London)

Cover of To Arms and interior art by Francesca Dare, Jessica Martin, Clare Wood, Anna Dowsland / art from Never Again by Heath Robinson, Bruce Barnsfather / art from 1914 by Kate Charlesworth and Posy Simmonds

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: To Arms! facebook page
Limehouse Comics website
Anna Dowsland’s website
Jessica Martin’s website
Francesca Dare’s webcomic
Lauren Murphy’s website
Info on 1914: Day by Day and Never Again exhibitions at The Cartoon Museum
BBC Radio 4 website on 1914: Day by Day cartoons

Panel Borders: Women at the Front [ 49:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Scott Pilgrim, Lost at Sea

Concluding his two part interview with Bryan Lee O’Malley, Alex Fitch talks to the author about his debut graphic novel Lost at Sea and his seminal six part series Scott Pilgrim. Fitch and O’Malley discuss the film adaptation of the latter, O’Malley’s use of autobiographical incidents which inform his work and pencilling covers for comics by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. Also, in a podcast exclusive, the episode includes brief interviews with Edgar Wright and Michael Cera recorded at the London premiere of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. (Recorded in front of an audience at the British Library, August 2014, and originally broadcast 25th September 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Bryan O Malley and Alex Fitch, Scott Pilgrim, Lost at Sea, Michael Cera

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: Bryan’s website – www.radiomaru.com and wikipedia page
Listen to Alex’s interview with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World director Edgar Wright Continue reading →

Panel Borders: Scott Pilgrim, Lost at Sea [ 52:49 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Seconds

Opening a new season of Panel Borders, Alex Fitch talks to Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley in the first of a two part interview about his work. This week Fitch and O’Malley discuss the new graphic novel Seconds, published by SelfMadeHero, which depicts the adventures in time and (local) space of a young female chef who encounters a house spirit on the eve of opening her own restaurant. O’Malley talks about the influences on the book from reading Diana Wynne Jones to working in a kitchen while drawing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and the challenge of creating his first full colour graphic novel. (Recorded in front of an audience at the British Library, August 2014, and originally broadcast 17th September 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Pages from Seconds by Bryan Lee O’Malley

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: Wikipedia page on Bryan Lee O’Malley
Bryan’s website – www.radiomaru.com
More info about Seconds at www.selfmadehero.com‘s website

You can also watch a video of this interview on youtube:

Panel Borders: Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Seconds [ 45:53 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Adapting Don Quixote

Concluding a month of episodes looking at the connections between comics and literature, Alex Fitch talks to cartoonist Rob Davis about adapting Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote as a pair of graphic novels for SelfMadeHero. Fitch and Davis discuss boiling down the novel’s 1000 pages to the shorter length of the graphic novel, how this relates to his Quixotic experience of editing the exquisite corpse project Nelson and his previous work illustrating Doctor Who. Recorded at the Cervantes Institute, Belgravia, Summer 2013. (Originally broadcast 28th July 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Excerpts from Don Quixote adapted by Rob Davis

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: Rob Davis’ blog
Info about the Don Quixote graphic novel at www.selfmadehero.com
Cervantes Institute website

Panel Borders: Adapting Don Quixote [ 32:35 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Art and Anarchy in the British Library

Continuing a month of episodes looking at the connections between comics and literature, Alex Fitch talks to Adrian Edwards, co-curator of the exhibition Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK which is on display at the British Library until August 19th, in a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County in Brighton.

Adrian discusses how he helped put together the exhibition – which looks at over one hundred years of British comics – with co-curators Paul Gravett and John Dunning, the marketing of the show and some of the more controversial items on display in the library from Aleister Crowley’s Tarot Cards to examples of comic book erotica. Recorded at Cartoon County, June 2014. (Originally broadcast 14th June 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Art from Jamie Hewlett’s Comics Unmasked poster / Holkham Bible Picture Book / photo of Adrian Edwards

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: Info about the Comics Unmasked exhibition on the British Library website
Cartoon County website
British Library pages on comic book imagery in Medieval manuscripts / Holkham Bible Picture Book

Recommended events:

Birmingham International Comics Expo

ICE – the International Comic Expo kicks off this year in Birmingham at The Studio, 7 Cannon Street, just 5 minutes walk from New Street Station on Saturday. The guest list this year includes American Comics legend Steve Rude, Indie Sensation Jessica Martin, acclaimed artist Ben Oliver, Moon Knight artist Declan Shalvey, Winter Soldier artist Roland Boschi, and colouring sensation Jordie Bellaire, plus many many more. Continue reading →

Panel Borders: Art and Anarchy in the British Library [ 1:08:49 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Graphic Brighton podcast: What is a good graphic novel?

In a podcast recording from the May 2014 Graphic Brighton event, David Lloyd, Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Berry, Nicola Streeten, Hannah Eaton and Ian Williams try to answer the question: ‘What makes a good graphic novel?’ in a panel discussion chaired by Alex Fitch

Hannah Berry, Ian Williams, Hannah Eaton, Corinne Pearlman and David Lloyd at Graphic Brighton 2014 – photos by Paul Slater

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: Listen to the companion podcast, focusing on the work of Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Berry, Nicola Streeten and Hannah Eaton
Visit the Graphic Brighton website
Hannah Berry’s website
Cartoons by Corinne Pearlman
Hannah Eaton’s profile at Myriad Editions
Nicola Streeten’s website
Ian Williams’ website
David Lloyd’s website Continue reading →

Graphic Brighton podcast: What is a good graphic novel? [ 1:03:09 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Guardian Lit

Starting a month of shows looking at the connections between comic books and literature, Alex Fitch talks to Guardian cartoonsists Karrie Fransman and Martin Rowson, and novelist Toby Litt about their processes of comic book creation. Fransman discusses how she broke into the industry before starting Observer Graphic Novel of the Month, The House that Groaned; Rowson looks at how political cartooning lead to his adaptations of literary classics such as Tristram Shandy, and Litt talks about how his career as a novelist helped him write DC Comics’ new serialised comic book Dead Boy Detectives. Recorded in front of an audience at Guardian Masterclass, January 2014. (Originally broadcast 7th July 2014)

Alex Fitch interviews Karrie Fransman, Toby Litt and Martin Rowson at Guardian Masterclass

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: Article about January’s Guardian Masterclass on SelfMadeHero’s blog
Karrie Fransman’s website
Guardian profile of Martin Rowson
Toby Litt’s blog
Listen to Alex’s previous interviews with Martin Rowson and Karrie Fransman Continue reading →

Panel Borders: Guardian Lit [ 1:06:20 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: What makes a good graphic novel?

Concluding a month of shows looking at the work of female cartoonists, Alex Fitch hosts a panel discussion with cartoonists Hannah Berry, Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Eaton and Nicola Streeten to try and answer the question: “What makes a good graphic novel?”, with reference to their own work as writers, artists and commissioning editors and to other publications that have inspired them. Recorded at ‘Graphic Brighton’, University of Brighton, May 2014; broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM, London on 30th June 2014.

Excerpts from work by Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Berry, Hannah Eaton and Nicola Streeten

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: Hannah Berry’s website
Cartoons by Corinne Pearlman
Hannah Eaton’s profile at Myriad Editions
Nicola Streeten’s website Continue reading →

Panel Borders: What makes a good graphic novel? [ 30:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download