Panel Borders: Pat Mills’ Great War comics

Continuing a month of shows about war comics, Alex Fitch talks to Pat Mills, one of the acclaimed masters of the genre. Alex and Pat discuss the completion of Titan Books’ reprints of his classic strip Charley’s War, his adaptation of Isaac Rosenberg’s “Dead man’s Dump” in the war poetry and comics collection Above the Dreamless Dead published by First Second Books, and his introduction to the anthology To End all Wars from Soaring Penguin Press. (Originally broadcast 16th October 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Covers of Charley’s War omnibus and Above the dreamless dead / interior art from Dead Man’s Dump / cover of To end all Wars

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: Pat Mills’ website
Charley’s War tribute website
More info about Above the Dreamless Dead on First Second Books’ website
More info about To end all wars on Soaring Penguin Press’ website

Panel Borders: Pat Mills' Great War comics [ 33:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Commitment to International Aces

Continuing a month of shows about war comics, Alex Fitch talks to cartoonist Chris Geary about his series of four comic book short story collections International Aces, which tell the tales of various fighter pilots across the globe from Von Richthofen to Rickenbacker. Fitch and Geary also discuss the latter’s interest in classic war strips, the packaging of the Aces books and his educational graphic novel Commitment, which uses a narrative about a stressed female executive to explain the concept of ‘real options’ analysis. (Recorded in front of an audience at ‘Nine Worlds GeekFest‘, Heathrow 2013, and broadcast 9th October 2014, on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Interior art and cover of International Aces / Limited edition cover and interior art of Commitment by Chris Geary

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: Chris’ website and publishing imprint
Review of International Aces at the Charley’s War website

Panel Borders: Commitment to International Aces [ 34:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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