Panel Borders: The art of Marc Caro

In the first of a month of shows looking at the crossover between comics and film, Alex Fitch talks to director Marc Caro about his experiences in both media, how working in bande dessinée led to animation, how animation led to live action film. Marc talks about his work appearing in Metal Hurlant with Enki Bilal and Moebius and how the work of Spiegelman and Satrapi made the form more respectable. Also, Alex and Marc talk about his work designing the comic book adaptation Blueberry, how his colleagues Jean Pierre Jeunet and Pitof fared in America making Alien Resurrection and Catwoman respectively and what it was like making his first film – Dante 01 – without his famous Delicatessen collaborator.

The interview was recorded before and after a screening of The City of Lost Children at Sci-Fi London. Please note: the show is in English and French with translation by Virginie Sélavy.

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 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

Panel Borders: The art of Brian Wildsmith

Concluding Children’s Book Month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to octogenarian illustrator Brian Wildsmith on the eve of a retrospective of his work at The Illustration Cupboard in Piccadilly. Brian is famous for his gouache paintings of animals in picture books and his narrative paintings depicting classic texts such as the Easter Story. Alex talks to Brian about his training at The Slade, breaking into illustration via the Oxford University Press and having a museum collection of his work opening in Japan.

Brian’s exhibtion at The Illustration Cupboard, 22 Bury St, London SW1Y 6AL runs from March 24th to April 24th 2010, with a chance to meet the artist on April 13th…

Brian’s exhibtion at Seven Stories: The Centre for Children’s Books
30 Lime Street, Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 2PQ runs from April 2nd

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: For Brian’s website – please visit www.brianwildsmith.com
Info about Brian’s work, published by Oxford University Press
Exhibitions: The Illustration Cupboard, Piccadilly / Seven Stories, Newcastle Upon Tyne
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Panel Borders: The DFC Library

From May 2008 – March 2009 Children’s book publisher David Fickling launched a bold experiment in creating a new kids comic – The DFC – for the British market, which on a weekly basis featured new stories in a variety of genres from some of Britain’s best up and coming comics creators, not to mention a lead strip written by Philip Pullman. Unfortunately the comic folded after 43 issues, but now a year on, the first three volumes of The DFC Library have been released, reprinting collections of material in European Graphic Album format.
Alex Fitch talks to Kate Brown, the award winning creator of Spider Moon, Dave Shelton, the creator of Good Dog, Bad Dog and Ben Haggarty, the writer of MeZolith, who with artist Adam Brockbank has created a book that one critic has already called “the most important British graphic novel of the last twenty years”.

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: More info about The DFC Library
Read extracts from The DFC Library at www.randomhouse.co.uk
DFC creators blog – Super Comics Adventure Squad

Good Dog, Bad Dog – Dave Shelton’s blog and website
Review of Good Dog, Bad Dog on the Forbidden Planet International blog
Good Dog, Bad Dog fan art on the S.C.A.S. blog

MeZolith – Info about Ben Haggarty’s Oral Storytelling group – Crick Crack Club
Adam Brockbank’s website
Review of MeZolith at the Mirablilis blog

Spider Moon – Kate Brown’s blog and website
Info about Kate winning the Arts Foundation Graphic Novelist prize
Info about the Spider Moon stage production

Previous DFC podcasts: Alex talks to Philip Pullman, John Aggs, Patrice Aggs and Jim Medway at The DFC launch in Spring 2008, to Kate Brown at the 2008 Bristol Comics Expo and to Sarah McIntyre at her studio in Deptford, Autumn 2009
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Panel Borders: Yetis, ghosts and other things that go bump in the night!

Continuing children’s book month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to two creators of atypical titles for kids, which are being published by Walker Books. John Dunning is the writer of Salem Brownstone: All along the watchtowers, a Graphic Album in the European format which combines his script in the style of American horror writers H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe with Nikhil Singh’s elegant artwork, reminiscent of Victorian illustrators such as Aubrey Beardsley. Salem Brownstone was originally serialised in the small press anthology Sturgeon White Moss and Alex talks to John about the process of creating this unusual title.
Alex Milway is the author of The Mousehunter trilogy of pirate novels for young adults and in his new series of books – The Mythical 9th Division – which tell the tales of a trio of crimefighting Yetis who work for the British government, he is pioneering a new kind of storytelling in which every chapter of the books segues from sequential art into more traditional text. The two Alexs talk about the first of the Yeti books – Operation Robot Storm – which is being released in June and how comics can be used as another device to get kids into reading.

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: Alex Milway – profile and info about Operation Robot Storm on Walker Books’ website
The Mousehunter website / blog
Old Hokey’s Whimsical tales blog

John Dunning – Interview with John & Nikhil on www.paulgravett.com
Info on Salem Brownstone and John Dunning on Walker Books’ website
Forbidden Planet International review
Interview with Nikhil about his Visa traumas at caribbeanbookblog.wordpress.com
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Panel Borders: Robots of various sizes

Starting Children’s Books month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to two artists who have inadvertently found themselves making comics for younger audiences. Joe List is a graphic designer and animator who, with his first collection of comic strips inspired by Saturday morning cartoons – Freak Leap – has compiled a whimsical series of adventures starring pirates, monsters and giant robots with spindly legs suitable for all ages. Paul Collicutt is a children’s book illustrator who has previously been engaged in fully pained artwork for traditional picture books but now, as the creator of a series of Robot City Adventures, is telling tales of a Retro Sci-Fi future where robot Private Detectives and coastguards mix with humans and sea monsters alike.

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: Joe List – website / flickr site
Freak Leap website
Annotated Weekender blog

Paul Collicutt – Info on Robot City Adventures from Templar Publishing
Info on Paul’s books at librarything.com
Paul’s contact details at illustrator.org.uk
Interview at mindlessones.com

Recommended events:

Lost Treasures of the Black Heart

Josie Long’s monthly comedy night at the Black Heart Pub in Camden features an eclectic mix of comedians intructing the audience about esoteric trivia and facts you never knew you needed to know! Alongside this fol-de-rol is the paper magnificence of the We are words + pictures stall selling their four colour treats, comics and merchandise…

8pm, Tuesday 9th March, The Black Heart, 2 Greenland Place, Camden, London NW1 0AP

Panel Borders: Necessary Monsters

Concluding webcomics month on the show, Alex Fitch catches up with artist Sean Azzopardi and writer Daniel Merlin Goodbrey as the first series of their epic webcomic Necessary Monsters comes to its conclusion after a total of 125 pages serialised over two years. The series mixes a ‘black ops’ style spy thriller with the tropes of modern horror films and bizarre characters with ultra violence to maximum effect. Alex talks to Daniel and Sean about the progression of the strip, the various ways it’s been published and their collaborations with another webcomics creator – Douglas Noble – on a zombie western (The Rule of Death) and surrealistic thriller (Sightings of Wallace Sendek) respectively.

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: Read Necessary Monsters online from page one, with more info about the cast of characters here
Reviews of chapters one and two and three and four on the Forbidden Planet International blog
Read an illustrated article on the construction of a page of the strip at www.comicmonsters.com

Sean’s website – www.phatcatz.org.uk
Daniel’s website – www.e-merl.com

Listen to Alex’s 2008 interviews with Sean and Daniel

Recommended events:

Five years of the Forbidden Planet International blog

The Forbidden Planet International blog celebrates its 5th birthday today and is an invaluable source of comics book and genre film news and reviews and a great friend of this blog. If you’ve never visited it before – and why not, it’s the 31st most influential blog in the UK according to Cision – now’s as good a time as any, with the latest post seeing the blog writers choosing their favourite authors and other recent posts include animation by Dylan Mercer, a review of Norwegian graphic novelist Jason’s latest book, info on Grant Morrison and Stephen Fry’s TV project and much, much more.

Web: www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog
RSS feed: www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/feed/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/fpinternational
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Panel Borders: Little Terrors and (other) Psychiatric Tales
Edited version broadcast 18/02/10 as an episode of Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM

Continuing our month long look at webcomics, Alex Fitch talks to two writer artists whose work started off telling fantastical tales, took a detour via stories set in Hell and its environs and are now doing work with a greater autobiographical element. Darryl Cunningham is the creator of the humourous superhero strip Super Sam and John by Night, whose sequel to that strip tells tales of the inferno, The Streets of San Diablo and more recently to critical acclaim has started rendering experiences from his day job in Psychiatric Tales; Jon Scrivens is the creator of Little Terrors, a popular strip that tells the tale of a friendly zombie who is trying to connect with his old friends, who have also turned into a variety of monsters, in the wake of an outbreak of the living dead. and Jon is just about to start on a new strip, When’s Graham, which mixes collegiate humour with a touch of time travel…

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: Jon Scrivens – Comic: www.littleterrorscomic.com
Website: www.jonscrivens.com
Review of Sherlock Holmes by Jon at theatrehopper.com
Myspace page: www.myspace.com/zombie_soundtrack

Darryl Cunningham – Website: www.darryl-cunningham.blogspot.com
Super Sam and John-of-the-Night: interview and archive at forbiddenplanet.co.uk
The Streets of San Diablo: http://act-i-vate.com/75.comic

Info about the 2010 Web and Mini Comix Thing
Info about Blank Slate Books

Recommended events:

LAYDEEZ DO COMICS

The monthly meeting for female fans of comics and fans of women who make comics!

Next meeting: Monday 22 Febrary 2010, 6.30-8.30pm
Venue: The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

Guest Speaker: Kiriko Kubo, cartoonist, animation director and writer, creator of ‘Cynical Hysterie Hour’ and ‘Hime Mama’ (‘Princess mother-in-law)

Book for Discussion: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Full details: www.laydeezdocomics.com
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Panel Borders: Comic Sushi and Public Servants
Originally broadcast 11/02/10 as an episode of Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM

Continuing this month’s look at webcomics, Dickon Harris speaks to a couple of creators of very different online strips at the Movies Comics and Manga expo in London’s Docklands. Liz Lunney creates a variety of humourous and cute animal strips under the anthology title ‘Online Comic Sushi’ which she has also printed in collections such as ‘Bears in your Face / The Man with Tetris on his Chin’ and ‘I Love Dinosaurs and they Love Me’ which led to her inclusion in the American Indie publisher Top Shelf’s collection of online comics, Top Shelf 2.0.
David O’Connell also makes family friendly comics in the form of his ongoing web strip ‘Tozo: The Public Servant’, a European ‘Clear line’ style comic reminiscent of Hergé, which tells the tale of a police inspector on the island city of Nova Venezia, who has been ordered to investigate the murder of Luco Lello, an employee of the Financial Exchange. His investigations include the mysterious but troublesome Spider Empire and the Ombra Society, led by the sinister Lady Magdalene, who travel by airship and Tozo is always accompanied by his sidekick, the mecha-golem ‘Klikker’!

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: Lizz Lunney – Website: www.lizzlizz.com
Blog: lizzlizz.blogspot.com
Pages at Top Shelf 2.0
Interview at threadless.com

David O’Connell – Website: http://www.tozocomic.com
Livejournal page: tozocomic.livejournal.com
Read Tozo: The Public Servant from the first page
Interview with David conducted by Garen Ewing
Listen to previews interviews about Clair Ligne comics conducted by Alex Fitch and Dickon Harris
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Panel Borders: Transmission X

Originally broadcast 04/02/10 as an episode of Strip! Resonance 104.4 FM

Starting web comics month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to three members of the Canadian webcomics collective ‘Transmission X’ in an interview recorded during last year’s Comica festival after their signing at Orbital Comics. Cameron Stewart is best known for his work on Grant Morrison’s Seaguy and Batman and Robin, but has also been responsible for a online crime comic called Sin Titulo which between its first instalment in 2007 and its 89th page last autumn won the 2009 Joe Shuster Award for Best Webcomic. Also on the Transmission X site are a collection of other terrific strips in a variety of genres including Kukuburi and Butter Nut Squash by the prolific Ramón Pérez and The Abominable Charles Christopher by Karl Kershl. While they were on the London leg of their European tour, Alex caught up with Cameron, Ramón and Karl and talked about working in a variety of genres on the web, how this contrasts with their superhero comics for more famous publishers and the experience of updating web comics on a regular basis.

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: Transmission X homepage
Transmission X youtube channel

Cameron Stewart – Sin Titulo webcomic
Cameron’s blog

Ramón Pérez – Kukuburi and Butter Nut Squash webcomics
Ramón’s blog

Karl Kershl – The Abominable Charles Christopher and North Sea Epoch webcomics
Karl’s blog
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Panel Borders: Gay Super (Duper) Heroes

Concluding our month long look at ‘Masculinity in American comics’, Alex Fitch talks to Brian Andersen about his self published indie comics So Super Duper, Sex and the Superhero and Unabashedly Billie… Alex and Brian chat about representations of gay characters in superhero comics, making the transition between web and print publishing and becoming a publisher of other people’s comics to help the proliferation of LGBT titles on the shelves.

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: Brian’s website – sosuperduper.com
Read So Super Duper online at newsarama.com
Brian’s profile at www.prismcomics.org

Listen to Alex’s month on gay comics creators from December 2008 and interviews with Pam Harrison, Zan Christensen, Patty Jeres
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