This week on(line): Becky and Frank, Paul O'Connel and Scott C on webcomics / Myriad Editions at Crawley Wordfest / Sophie Aldred, Martin Gooch and Sloane U'Ren on low budget British Sci-Fi
Alex Fitch
here's info about my shows etc. this week:
online
Reality Check: Time and relative Dimensions in the Search for Simon
Alex Fitch talks to the cast and crew of two new low budget British SF movies: director Sloane U'Ren, editor Adam Garstone and members of the cast of Dimensions discuss their 'Merchant Ivory' style time travel film which mixes a love triangle with a time loops that joins their pasts with their futures. Also, on the set of new alien abductee comedy drama The Search for Simon, director Martin Gooch and one of the stars - Doctor Who alumnus Sophie Aldred - talk about this crowd funded feature that mixes elements of travelogue with the X-Files.
http://panelborders.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/reality-check-time-and-relative-dimensions-in-the-search-for-simon
on air
Panel Borders: Collage and reappropriation
Continuing a month of shows looking at webcomics, Panel Borders examines the work of a quartet of creators whose online strips and cartoons reinvent retro images and iconic characters from film and TV to beguiling effect. In a pair of short interviews recorded at Thought Bubble, Leeds 2012, Alex Fitch talks to American creators Scott C - about his webcomics Double Fine Action Comics and The Great Showdowns - and Becky and Frank about Tiny Kitten Teeth, cartoons which utilise imagery from toys, cereal packaging and children's literature.
Also, Alex looks into the varying merits of print and web-based comics with British writer / artist Paul O'Connell, in an interview recorded at the University of Brighton. Paul's postmodern fumetti mash-ups mix comedy and horror via strips such as A Muppet Wicker Man and The Seinfeld Matrix, and the artist discusses his collaborations with other Brighton based creators, including Lawrence Elwick on Charlie Parker, Handyman, plus his aspirations for using the medium of online comics to its full interactive potential.
6pm, Sunday 24th March / 4.30pm, Tuesday 26th March, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com
'on stage'
Myriad Editions at Crawley Wordfest
Comics journalist Alex Fitch hosts a panel with Myriad Editions creators Corinne Pearlman, Hannah Eaton and Nye Wright, discussing the mythological in graphic novels Naming Monsters and Things to do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park at the South Coast literature festival, Crawley Wordfest.
7.30pm, Tuesday 26th March, Crawley Library, Southgate Ave, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 6HG
More info at http://wordfestcrawley.org / http://www.myriadeditions.com/events
recent podcasts
Panel Borders: James Moran Vs Comics
Continuing a month of shows about webcomics, Alex Fitch talks to screenwriter James Moran (Cockneys vs Zombies, Torchwood) about his new webcomic Day + Night, an urban vampire tale that casts the creatures of the night as 'sharks on legs' rather than the sparkly urbane figures found elsewhere. Also, in a panel recorded at Thought Bubble 2012, Vs Comics editor Mike Garley talks about the strip he's writing - Eponymous - and introduces creators Nich Angell (Tabby and Trout), Ned Hartley (Ghost Club), Adam Christopher (The Sentinel) and Sally Jane Thompson (Happy Birthday) who present the strips they're contributing to the online anthology comic, with the help of designer Mike Stock. (Originally broadcast 17th March on Resonance 104.4 FM)
http://panelborders.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/panel-borders-james-moran-vs-comics
Panel Borders: Steampunk Geniuses
Continuing a month of shows looking at webcomics, Alex Fitch talks to the creators of a popular online steampunk strip that combines Victoriana, mad scientists, fantasy and strong female characters. Phil and Kaja Foglio discuss the history of Girl Genius, their careers before the start of their most famous comic and why they prefer the term ‘gaslamp fantasy’ for their niche in the science-fiction subgenre. (Recorded at Congenial, Role-Playing Unicon, Cambridge 2012) Originally broadcast 10/03/13 on Resonance 104.4 FM.
http://panelborders.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/panel-borders-steampunk-geniuses
online magazine
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ELECTRIC SHEEP ONLINE Issue 73 THEME: SLEEP Nocturnal monsters, dreamers and insomniacs To mark the release of Jaume Balaguero’s brilliantly disturbing psychological thriller Sleep Tight, our March issue is all about sleep with reviews of Joseph Ruben’s influential 80s sci-fi thriller Dreamscape and inventive animated short Rarg, and a feature on the Sleep Paralysis Project, which brings together film and science to explore a fascinating sleep-wake phenomenon. Insomniac author Peggy Riley chooses Scarlett O’Hara as her filmic Alter Ego while our Comic Strip Review is a series of artists’ dreams. Also out on UK screens this month is Park Chan-wook’s first Hollywood film Stoker, Steven Soderbergh's crime drama Side Effects, Craig Zobel’s chillingly intelligent Compliance, which probes excessive trust in authority figures, Franck Khalfoun’s brutal remake of Maniac and John Boorman’s classic existential crime thriller Point Blank. We also have a feature on the Birmingham Arts Lab, which
flourished as an underground art centre in the 60s and which will be
celebrated at the Flatpack festival from 21 to 31 March. In the blog we
report back on the Rotterdam and Berlin festival and on Glasgow
FrightFest while Cine Lit looks at books on jazz and Jules Verne on film as well as the latest opus by David Thomson. |
| ELECTRIC SHEEP EVENTS Event, Radio, Book EVENT: Mondomanila at Flatpack Festival, Birmingham - Friday 29 March Electric Sheep are proud to present a screening of Khavn de la Cruz's Mondomanila at the Flatpack Festival in Birmingham on Friday 29 March. A joyfully outrageous slice of life in the slums set to a punky soundtrack, Mondomanila is a slap in the face of Western expectations of politely miserabilist depictions of the downtrodden. A hyper kinetic, super stylised wild carnival of the destitute, it follows a midget, a one-armed rapper, a ‘day-glo fairy’, a disabled pimp and their friends as they try to get as much sex and drugs as they can and tackle a racist white paedophile. A toothless showman opens this exuberant bad taste spectacle, promising something horrible and creepy, but the Mondo-style shockumentary aspect is underpinned by the crude reality of life in Manila, making the film vital and energising. Flatpack runs from 21 to 31 March in Birmingham. For more information on the festival please go to the Flatpack website. Carla MacKinnon, film festival producer (Branchage, London Short Film Festival, East End Film Festival) and organiser of film and thought events Rich Pickings, talks to Virginie Sélavy about her latest venture, The Sleep Paralysis Project, a cross-platform investigation of a common parasomniac phenomenon and its cultural and scientific background through film, live events and online. The project was launched at the London Short Film Festival in January with an evening of film and talk. A short documentary is currently in production. I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, Friday 15 March, 5-5:30pm, Resonance 104.4FM. |
recommended events / fundraisers
Exhibtions at Orbital Comics
Des Taylor
Orbital Comics proudly presents to you a collection of limited edition art prints by British illustrator Des Taylor.
His client list reads the likes of Michael Jackson, Theo Fennell, La Perla, FHM, Cosmopolitan, Ministry of Sound, Universal Music, ITV Studios, and many more. In this exhibition you will see pieces from his vast collection of artwork influenced by fashion, classic comics, Pop art Icons and his love for screen sirens of the 50′s and 60′s.
He will also be promoting art from his latest book Scarlett Couture Investigations and The Trouble With Katie Rogers which has recently been optioned by ITV Studios America. An artbook shall be on sale exclusively for this event.
19th March - 14th April 2013
(To all of you artists out there: Orbital Comics Presents a Pin-up Art Class by Des Taylor featuring model Nina Hearne as the muse posing in a variety of Pin-Up and character inspired outfits. The class will take place on Friday, April 5th at 7:30pm, more info at http://www.orbitalcomics.com/destaylor-masterclass)
Andrew Hickinbottom
is a digital 3D illustrator who specialises in stylised pinups. His work has been showcased on the internet over 60 times, and has been featured in many international books and magazines, appearing on 4 covers. Some of his clients include EA, Tassimo, Seat, Intel and The international Olympic Committee.
This exhibition of his personal works features a wide range of his appealing female character illustrations, with signed prints, an artbook and even a VERY limited edition figurine for sale.
17th April - 10th May
Reappropriating Lichtenstein
Artists Jason Atomic and Rian Hughes are curating an exhibtion at Orbital Comics, on the subject of Reappropriating Lichtenstein to coincide with the final weeks of the exhibtion at Tate Modern in May. Any practising comic book artists who would like to trace back one of Lichtenstein's images to its original source, crediting the original artist in the process, and produce a new version themselves are invited to submit proposal for exhibition by April 6th.
More info here: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/19/a-call-for-comic-artists-to-respond-to-roy-lichtenstein
Orbital Comics, 8 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JA
Tripwire 21st anniversary Kickstarter campaign
In
2013, Britain's favourite comics and genre magazine celebrates its 21st
birthday. To commemorate, we are doing a must-buy book.
TRIPWIRE has been Britain's only features-driven comics and genre
magazine which has published since 1992 and with 2013 being the
magazine's 21st anniversary, its coming of age if you like, we thought
it would be remiss if we didn't do something to commemorate this.
The book will come in regular paperback and in a limited hardcover
edition. Between its covers will be a selection of new material,
including art either never seen before or rarely seen from the likes of
Drew Struzan (poster artist for Indiana Jones, The Shawshank Redemption,
Star Wars), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Phil Hale (award-winning portrait
painter), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, The Shadow, Blackhawk),Frank
Quitely (Batman & Robin, All-Star Superman), Walter Simonson (Elric,
Thor), Dave Taylor (Batman, Tongue Lash) and many more. Additionally,
it will include features looking at the trends and issues that have
played a major part in comics and genre over the past 21 years,
including the best and worst comic and genre movies 1992-2013, the 21
most important creators to come to the fore in the last twenty-one
years, the 21 best graphic novels (mainstream and independent) and much
more. It will also include the best content from twenty-one years of
TRIPWIRE, a magazine which covered the cream of comics and genre and
will include the likes of Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Guillermo Del Toro,
Mike Mignola, Joss Whedon, Joe Kubert, Will Eisner to name but a few. It
will also include a selection of photos pulled from the magazine of
genre movers and shakers. It will be a must-buy for fans and aficionados
of comics and genre, approached with the same level of professionalism
and quality that people have come to expect from the magazine.
"TRIPWIRE really is a breath of fresh air. Its layouts are superb,
with great well-written features perfectly set off by the pictures,
adding clarity and intelligence to every page. And it keeps on doing it. Amazing, Gratifying. A pleasure to look at, a pleasure to read..." MICHAEL MOORCOCK
Incentives run at prices between £1 and £500 including signed copies, PDFs, prints T-Shirts and more...
Help launch The Black Cloud
Support
Charles Cutting's new graphic short story compilation... If you think
it's the kind of thing you would be cool with posting about, liking and
sharing on Facespace and Twitter, Charlie would be most grateful...
Over the last year and a half Charles has produced three short stories in graphic form for three different authors.
'After The End' is penned by Tauriq Moosa and deals with a secret scientific experiment.
'Two Little Boys' concerns an intriguing coincidence linking the
lives of Adolf Hitler and Ludwig Wittgenstein and is written by
Christian David. It first appeared in Issue 29 of The Illustrated Ape.
The final story 'The Bleeding Horse' is an adaptation of a macabre story by Brian J Showers about a haunted Irish pub.
Charlie
needs $2000 to cover the printing and shipping costs. By pre-ordering a
copy of Black Cloud via Indiegogo you will be entitled to various perks
depending on how much you wish to chip in to
the campaign. These cost between $15 and $200 and include sketches,
advertising space and original artwork.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/black-cloud
SF Films need funding
If
you're a fan of SF films or SCI-FI-LONDON, you could help and find a
moment to post some news to your friends/contacts about their crowd
funding of new British Sci-Fi films...
To time its release with this year's film festival they're making a
short film called "Ellipse" - co-written and directed by Ilana (We Are
All Cylons) Rein. It's a co-production with SCI-FI-LONDON and The Royal
Observatory Greenwich. They have much incredible talent on board including Territory Studios - the group that did some of the FX for Prometheus....
The campaign page is here http://www.sponsume.com/project/ellipse
Also, SCI-FI-LONDON's first feature has begun production - an askew look at Alien Abduction dramas called "The Search for Simon", directed by Martin (Death) Gooch, which will included crowd sourced footage in its production. To quote the director: "Think Shaun of the Dead rubbing up against The X-Files, with a little Blair Witch Project, and UFOs thrown in for good measure."
Perks include a chance to drive a WW2 tank! (Louis Savy, CEO of Sci-FI London says: "Really, a tank! You can be an oddball for the day in our homage to Kelly's Heroes!")
The campaign page is here https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-search-for-simon
thanks for listening,
Alex
Programme maker, Resonance 104.4 FM (Arts Council) - www.resonancefm.com
Assistant editor, Electric Sheep Magazine - www.electricsheepmagazine.com