Author Archives: alexfitch

About alexfitch

Co-presenter / producer of "Panel Borders", Thursdays 5pm Resonance 104.4 FM. Film reviewer for www.electricsheepmagazine.com Podcaster for www.sci-fi-london.com

I’m ready for my close-up: Shooting Paradise

I’m ready for my close-up: Shooting Paradise

Alex Fitch talks to Michael Almereyda about his new film Paradise, which is currently screening at the ICA and shows the director’s typically avant-garde approach to the travelogue film by collating his home movie footage from the last decade into a thematic sequence of vignettes about the modern world. Alex also talks to Michael about working with David Lynch on the belated Dracula sequel Nadja, Wim Wenders on the script for Until the end of the world and making Hamlet with Ethan Hawke…

Still from Paradise by Michael Almereyda

Still from Paradise by Michael Almereyda

To download / stream this radio interview in a variety of formats, please visit www.archive.org

Links: Buy tickets for Paradise at the ICA
Michael Almereyda pages on Wikipedia and the IMDb

Recommended events:

Ladeez do comics – Cancer and Psychotherapy

In this month’s meeting for female comic book creators and fans of female comic book creators, the guest speakers are: Philippa Perry, Psychotherapist and author of Couch Fiction: A Graphic Tale of Psychotherapy and Ian Williams AKA Thom Ferrier , plus Columba Quigley leading the discussion on our reading book of the month: Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner

Monday 24 May 2010, 6.30-8.30pm, The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

Please visit the Ladeez’ website for more info
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Panel Borders: Manga Jiman 2010

Panel Borders: Manga Jiman 2010

Continuing ‘cross cultural comics month’ on the show, we’re looking at the winners of last year’s Manga Jiman (Pride in Manga) competiton run by the Japanese Embassy in London to find the best new Japanese style comics made in the UK. Dickon Harris talks to the runners up – Zarina Liew and David Lander – about their entries to the competition and the crossover between British small press and manga styles in their work; while Alex Fitch talks to Yuri Kore about her winning entry “The boy who runs from the sun” and drawing comics again, having moved to Britain from the Manhwa industry in Korea.

Excerpts from Manga Jiman winning entries in 2010 by Yuri Kore, Zarina Liew and David Lander

Excerpts from Manga Jiman winning entries in 2010 by Yuri Kore, Zarina Liew and David Lander

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

Links: Info about the winners on the Embassy of Japan website
Read an ebook about the winners, including extracts from the ten shortlisted comics
Winners’ websites: Yuri Kore / Zarina Liew / David Lander

Listen to Alex’s interviews with the winners of the 2007 competition
Listen to Dickon’s previous interview with David Lander about his work

Recommended events:

City of Abacus at The Book Club

Throughout May at The Book Club cafe and bar in Hoxton, London there is a month long exhibtion of the art from The City of Abacus by VV Brown and David Allain, illustrated by Emma Price and Lee O’Connor.

Opening hours: 8am-late Mon-Fri, 10am-late Sat/Sun
100 Leonard Street, London EC2 4RH
More info at www.wearetbc.com
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Panel Borders: British bande dessinée

Panel Borders: British bande dessinee

Continuing our month long look at ‘cross-cultural comics’, Alex Fitch talks to veteran British comic book writer Pat Mills about his forays into the French market over the last 15 years, writing such titles as Sha and Requiem Vampire Knight illustrated by Olivier Ledroit which have only been released in English in the last couple of years. Alex and Pat also talk about the latter’s collaborations with the late artist John Hicklenton which have found a greater and more appreciative audience in Europe, translated into French and other European languages and released as Graphic Albums, than they did in their country of origin.

Excerpts from Requiem Vampire Knight illustrated by Olivier Ledroit and Inspector Ryan by John Hicklenton, written by Pat Mills

Excerpts from Requiem Vampire Knight illustrated by Olivier Ledroit and Inspector Ryan by John Hicklenton, written by Pat Mills

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

Links: Wikipedia pages on Requiem Vampire Knight, Pat Mills, Olivier Ledroit and John Hicklenton
Pat’s French language comics company: Nickel Editions
Read (the French language version of) Inspector Ryan by Mills and Hicklenton at 2000AD online
Read Pat’s eulogy to John on the Forbidden Planet blog
Listen to Pat’s previous appearances on the show
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Electric Sheep podcast: Until the end of the world

Electric Sheep podcast: Until the end of the world

In the latest Electric Sheep podcast, we’re looking at apocalyptic movies: Virginie Sélavy talks to John Hillcoat, director of the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road in an interview recorded at last year’s London Film Festival, plus Alex Fitch talks to Helen McCarthy, a British expert on manga, anime and Japanese visual culture, in a Q and A recorded before a screening of the film Battle Royale…

Takeshi Kitano lays down the law in Battle Royale / John Hillcoat directs Viggo Mortensen in The Road

Takeshi Kitano lays down the law in Battle Royale / John Hillcoat directs Viggo Mortensen in The Road

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

Links: Wikipedia pages on The Road, Battle Royale and Helen McCarthy
Helen’s website
More info on Electric Sheep screenings
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Panel Borders: Lingua Franca

Panel Borders – Lingua Franca: English language comics in Europe

Commencing our yearly, month-long look at ‘Cross Cultural comics’, Alex Fitch talks to Paul Gravett about co-curating a gallery show on Jack Kirby in Lucerne, Switzerland and the film adaptation of the bande dessinée Largo Winch which was shot mainly in English, even though the film is a French / Belgium co-production. Alex also talks to Francesca Cassavetti, Dan Lester, Sean Azzopardi and Oliver Lambden about their anthology B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. which was created as a survey of the best small press creators in London for dissemination at the Angoulême comics festival in France at the beginning of the year.

Display from the Jack Kirby exhibition in Lucerne + extract from the cover of B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. by Francesca Cassavetti

Display from the Jack Kirby exhibition in Lucerne + extract from the cover of B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. by Francesca Cassavetti

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

Links:

B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S.blog
Reviews at Midnight Fiction and Forbidden Planet International
Review of Francesca’s comic book on Angoulême

Kirby at Fumetto website
More info on Dan Nadel’s blog and comicsbeat.com
Paul’s guide to the Kirby exhibition

Largo Winch at Ciné lumièrescreening times
Buy the English language graphic novels from Cinebooks
Trailer at Daily Motion

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010

presents…

Futureproof: the Timehacks and Life-mods of Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger, the co-editor of boingboing.net and author of the bestselling novels LITTLE BROTHER and FOR THE WIN. Join him for tales of woe and wonder that will explore the realms of storytelling as techno-social activism; delving into creativity as symbiotic, cross-cultural hacking; breaching the dangers and shelters of reason; examining the copywrongs of copy-right; transducing pathways to a post-scarcity world while pondering if truth is truly in sight? Be there and glimpse the future, right now… (OK, it might just be a regular author Q&A about some perhaps unusual themes…)

For full details please visit www.sci-fi-london.com / http://nettlefoldhall.blogspot.com

Sat 8th May 7:00PM, West Norwood Library and Nettlefold Hall, 1-5 Norwood High Street, West Norwood, London SE27 9JX
Visit West Norwood by train from London Victoria and London Bridge and on bus routes 2, 133, 176, 249, 415, 417, 432, 689, 690, and N137.

Panel Borders: The art of The Losers

Panel Borders: The art of The Losers

Edited version broadcast 29/04/10 as an episode of Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM

Concluding our month long look at the crossover between comics and film, Alex Fitch interviews Jock, the main illustrator of The Losers, a 32 issue comic book series that has just been turned into an action film of the same name, based on the first half dozen issues of the comic. Alex also talks to Jock about his career so far, working on such characters as Lenny Zero and Green Arrow with writer Andy Diggle as well as illustrating the world of Judge Dredd, both in print and on the forthcoming movie written by Alex Garland.

The Losers - in print by Jock and Andy Diggle and on film

The Losers - in print by Jock and Andy Diggle and on film

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

Links: Jock’s website
Info about The Losers on wikipedia and the IMDb
Official website

Recommended events:

Sci-Fi London 9 – Life in 2050

Starting tonight at the Apollo Piccadilly on Lower Regent Street is Sci-Fi London, the twice yearly festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic film and there are a number of comics related events I’ve organised:

60 Years of Dan Dare

A panel on 60 years of the lantern jawed space pilot -Alex Fitch will be talking to:
Garry Leach, who drew Dan’s return to print in 2000AD, ten years after the end of the original Eagle, in the late 1970s and more recently covers for Virgin comics’ revival of the ‘Pilot of the future’ in 2008.
Rian Hughes who drew the Eagle inspired comic The Science Service in 1989 and then the Mekon’s final revenge in the Thatcherite satire Dare in the adult comics Revolver and Crisis a year later.
Gary Erskine who drew Dan Dare’s most recent official comic book adventures in the Virgin Comics periodical of the same name.
John Freeman, a comics historian and writer. He previous wrote The Science Service and now writes the strip Ex Astris in the 00s Dan Dare magazine Spaceship Away and
Rod Barzilay the editor and one of the writers of Spaceship Away,

10.30am Saturday 1st May

30 years of MARVEL UK

Alex Fitch hosts a panel on the British arm of the American Superhero publisher, featuring:
Dez Skinn, a pioneering Marvel UK editor who launched titles such as Hulk Comic and Doctor Who Magazine which featured early licensed work by Alan Moore, David Lloyd, Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons.
Dan Abnett, who gave Captain Britain a new, darker spin in the 1990s by adding him to an Arthurian team of heroes with
Gary Erskine, co-creator of the Knights of Pendragon
John Freeman, who designed many of Marvel UK’s early 90s titles such as Death’s Head II, Warheads, Killpower and Motormouth, contributing strips to several issues as well.
Simon Furman, primary writer for Marvel’s Transformers, and a dozen issues of Doctor Who magazine. He created some of Marvel UK’s most memorable SF titles including Dragon Claws and Death’s Head.

11.45 am, Saturday 1st May
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Reality Check: Cynical love songs and Tiny Daleks

Reality Check: Cynical love songs and Tiny Daleks

Alex Fitch discusses the cruelty of Daleks, short stories in the style of Roald Dahl and the disappearance of Luxembourg with Doctor Who writer and World Fantasy Award winner Rob Shearman! Alex and Rob talk about his various scripts such as Jubilee which was adapted for TV as ‘Dalek’ starring Christopher Eccleston, his short story collections ‘Tiny Deaths’ and ‘Love songs for the shy and cynical’, why there’s no such thing as ‘radical’ Doctor Who and his love of the series from the 1960s to the present day.

Rob Shearman and his World Fantasy Award for Tiny Deaths

Rob Shearman and his World Fantasy Award for Tiny Deaths

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Rob’s website: www.robertshearman.net
Buy Love songs for the shy and cynical at www.bigfinish.com
Wikipedia page on Rob
Doctor Who audio trailer archive
Listen to Alex’s first interview with Rob, recorded shortly after the first broadcast of Dalek

Recommended events:

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050 from Wednesday 28th April – Monday 3rd May features a variety of comics panels, on topics such as 60 years of Dan Dare, British Female Manga creators, Comics and film and Marvel UK with guests including Kate Brown, Rian Hughes, Gary Erskine, Emma Viecelli, Dez Skinn, Woodrow Phoenix, Garry Leach, Karen Rubins, Dan Abnett, Cyriak Harris and many more. More info at www.sci-fi-london.com

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010

Continue reading

Panel Borders: Mister Green and The Incredible Hulk

Panel Borders: Mister Green and The Incredible Hulk

Continuing our month of shows looking at the crossover between comics and film, Alex Fitch talks to comic book author and film-maker Greg Pak about his experiences in creating both media. Greg is the writer/director of a handful of short films including Mouse, Super Power Blues and the award winning Mister Green, the feature film Robot Stories and also the writer of a variety of Marvel comics. Alex and Greg talk about the similarities of both media, the freedom to develop characters over a fairly long stretch of time and seeing the first storyline of his run on the Incredible Hulk being adapted into the animated feature Planet Hulk.

Clockwise from bottom left: still from Planet Hulk animated movie, cover of Incredible Hulk vol.3 no.98, stills from Mister Green and Robot Stories

Clockwise from bottom left: still from Planet Hulk animated movie, cover of Incredible Hulk vol.3 no.98, stills from Mister Green and Robot Stories

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

Links: Wikipedia pages on Greg Pak and Planet Hulk
Greg’s website: www.pakbuzz.com
Trailers for the Planet Hulk animated film / original comics
Planet Hulk / World War Hulk covers gallery at marvel.com
Info about screenings of Mister Green and other short films at this year’s Sci-Fi London festival
Follow Hercules‘ sidekick Amadeus Cho on twitter
Listen to Alex’s interview with Greg’s Incredible Hercules co-writer Fred Van Lente

Recommended events:

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050 from Wednesday 28th April – Monday 3rd May features a variety of comics panels, on topics such as 60 years of Dan Dare, British Female Manga creators, Comics and film and Marvel UK with guests including Kate Brown, Rian Hughes, Gary Erskine, Emma Viecelli, Dez Skinn, Woodrow Phoenix, Garry Leach, Karen Rubins, Dan Abnett, Cyriak Harris and many more. More info at www.sci-fi-london.com

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010

Continue reading

Panel Borders: British Noir

Panel Borders: British Noir

Continuing our month long look at the crossover between comics and film, Alex Fitch talks to Paul Tanter, the writer of the ‘Jack Says‘ trilogy of British films noir. To accompany the first film, Paul wrote a prequel graphic novel ‘Jack Said‘ which in turn was filmed after the success of the first movie. Paul then wrote a graphic novel sequel ‘Jack Falls‘, which like the first book is illustrated by Mexican cartoonist and animator Oscar Alvarado and now is also entering preproduction as a motion picture.

Panels from the graphic novel Jack Said by Paul Tanter and Oscar Alvarado / the filming of that scene featuring Simon Phillips and Jimmy White

Panels from the graphic novel Jack Said by Paul Tanter and Oscar Alvarado / the filming of that scene featuring Simon Phillips and Jimmy White

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

Links: Official movie site www.jacksays.co.uk
Wikipedia pages on Jack Says, Jack Said and Oscar Alvarado
Buy Jack Falls from Soaring Penguin Press
Listen to Alex’s interview with Soaring Penguin’s John Anderson

Reality Check: The City of Lost Children

Reality Check: The City of Lost Children

In the last of our podcasts recorded at last year’s Sci-Fi London: a Q and A recorded before and an interview recorded after a screening of The City of Lost Children . Alex Fitch talks to Marc Caro about co-directing the film with Jean-Pierre Jeunet , the art of making children cry on screen and the risk of burning his actors with the lights of an over eager cinematographer! Please note: the show is in English and French with translation by Virginie Sélavy.

Clockwise from top left: Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, co-directed by Marc Caro, Dante 01, directed by Caro, Vidocq, designed by Caro

Clockwise from top left: Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, co-directed by Marc Caro, Dante 01, directed by Caro, Vidocq, designed by Caro

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Wikipedia and IMDb pages on Marc Caro
Buy Marc’s books from www.amazon.fr
French illustration and comics blog – Doury is dead
Listen to Alex’s panel discussion with Marc and four other directors about low budget SF filmmaking at Sci-Fi London

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010

Sci-Fi London 9: Life in 2050, April 28th - May 3rd, 2010