Panel Borders: Chase Promethea, Batwoman!

Continuing our month long look at unusual depictions of superheroes, Alex Fitch talks to comic book artist and graphic designer J. H. Williams III about his work from early forays into the superhero genre for DC’s imprint ‘Milestone’ to his acclaimed renditions of female characters in Chase, Detective Comics and Alan Moore’s epic Promethea. Alex and Jim talk about the latter’s approach to creating sequential art, from the layout of a page to the relation of a sequence to its surrounding comic or graphic novel and the delegation of work on his new ongoing Batwoman comic.

Two 2 page spreads from Promethea and Batwoman by J.H. Williams III

N.B./ This show was recorded live at Orbital Comics, 8 Gt Newport Street
London WC2H 7JA

Links: J.H. William III’s website
Info about Jim’s forthcoming comics on the DC comics blog
Article on Jim’s Promethea illustrations from a fine art point of view

Recommended events:

Comica, London week three

Storytelling: The Future is Graphic: A free talk by Paul Gravett on new developments in visual and verbal narratives on and off the page.

London College of Communication , Elephant & Castle, London SE1 6SB, November 19, 2010 – 10am to 11am

Louis Wain: The Man Who Drew Cats –
BBC and Channel 4 broadcaster and comedy writer David Quantick explores the life and work of the Edwardian cat artist Louis Wain with underground cartoonist Savage Pencil.
London Print Studio, 425 Harrow Road, London W10 4RE, November 23, 2010 – 7pm to 8pm

Comica Argentina: Thomas Dassance, Carlos Nine and Oscar Zarate, Explore the rich traditions and vital current scene of comics in Argentina. London Print Studio, 425 Harrow Road, London W10 4RE, November 24, 2010 – 6.30pm to 8.30pm

More info about all the above and more at www.comicafestival.com

Continue reading →

Panel Borders: Chase Promethea, Batwoman! [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Becky Cloonan – Demo Graphics

Continuing our month long look at unusual takes on superheroes, Alex Fitch talks to artist Becky Cloonan about her work, focusing on the series Demo, written by Brian Wood which is a more down to earth look at the problems teenagers with superpowers might face in the real world. Alex and Becky also talk about her horror collaboration project Pixu with Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon and Vasilis Lolos and her foray into manga with East Coast Rising.

Panels from East Coast Rising vol. 1 and Demo vol. 2 #6

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 page on Becky Cloonan
Becky’s website and blog
Articles on Becky at the Vertigo blog
Info about Becky’s next collaboration with Brian: Northlanders: The girl in the ice

Buy East Coast Rising Volume 1, Pixu: The Mark of Evil, American Virgin vol. 1, Demo: vol. 1 and Channel Zero: Jennie One from amazon.co.uk

Recommended events:

One dot zero festival, London Nov 10-14

Pioneering festival onedotzero_adventures in motion returns this year to London’s BFI Southbank from 10 – 14 November 2010, presenting the most exciting international moving image work, from the offbeat to the radical, aiming to push the boundaries of creativity, innovation and technological wonder.

Highlights include:

Superhero Me + Steve Sale Q and A
UK 2010. Dir Steve Sale. 84min

This entertaining and warm-hearted fly on the wall documentary follows film maker Steve Sale on his journey to becoming the real life superhero known as SOS. With unique cinematography shot on any available format, from a digital handheld to a mobile phone.
Thu 11 Nov | 20:30 | NFT3

Chico & Rita
Spain-UK 2010. 94 min. Courtesy of CinemaNX

Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey – in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero – brings heartache and torment. This animated ballad from Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba and designer Javier Mariscal will play alongside a making of short film.
Sat 13 Nov | 15:50 | NFT3

Short film programme includes:

wow + flutter: Innovative and experimental shorts forecasting the future of moving image.
Thurs 11 Nov | 18:30 | NFT1 / Sat 13 Nov | 20:30 | NFT3 / Sun 14 Nov | 18:30 | NFT1

wavelength: Visually progressive, radical and offbeat new directions in music video.
Thu 11 Nov | 20:50 | Studio / Fri 12 Nov | 18:30 | NFT1 / Sun 14 Nov | 20:45 | NFT1

j-star: An audiovisual blast from japan’s finest moving image-makers.
Fri 12 Nov | 20:50 | Studio / Sat 13 Nov | 10:00 | NFT3

robotica: Diverse visions of a future dominated by robots and androids.
Fri 12 Nov | 20:30 | NFT3 / Sat 13 Nov | 18:30 | NFT1 / Sun 14 Nov | 18:40 | Studio
Continue reading →

Panel Borders: Becky Cloonan – Demo Graphics [ 31:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download