Archive | January, 2008

Reality kicks fiction in the face: “I find it hard to write Judge Dredd now, I really do”

29. January 2008

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I’ve said before that re-reading some of the classic 2000 AD strips – even allowing for my rose-tinted nostalgia glasses – reminds me not only what great strips they were (and are) but how often they contained ideas that were far ahead of their time, ideas that were a satirical, exaggerated take on society which, [...]

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John Hicklenton speaks out about MS

28. January 2008

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John Freeman was passing around a story originating from the Telegraph which has been a fair old schocker to most of us in the British comics community – John Hicklenton, probably best known to many of us for his work in 2000AD (in fact there’s a great big serving of John’s classic work in the [...]

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From Our Continental Correspondent – Besson to bring Tardi’s Adèle Blanc-Sec to the big screen

28. January 2008

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Last week it was announced that French film director Luc Besson (well known for Léon, the Big Blue, Taxi and The Fifth Element) will be bringing the adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec to the big screen. The deal involves three films, of which the first will be released in 2009. The fantastic adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec [...]

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Stargate’s Paul McGillion appearing at FPI Manchester

28. January 2008

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The Manchester Forbidden Planet International (65 Oldham Street) will play host to Paul McGillion – best known to science fiction fans as Doctor Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis – who will be appearing in the store on Wednesday 30th of January at 4.30pm, so there’s another event for SF fans to stick in their diary. [...]

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Take the Bassa with Sababa: a debut showcase of Israeli comics and graphic novel artists in London

28. January 2008

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Artist and publisher Amitai Sandy from the Israeli comics collective Dimona Comix has been in touch to let us know about a fascinating-sounding new exhibition of artwork by Israeli comics and graphic novel artists coming up in the Spiro Ark Gallery (25-26 Enford Street, London W1H 1DW, nearest tube station: Baker Street) from February 17th [...]

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From Our Continental Correspondent – the Angoulême winners

28. January 2008

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Yesterday the 35th edition of the Angoulême Festival, one of the most prestigious comics festivals in the world, closed its doors after four days of mayhem. I don’t know yet whether the festival itself was a hit, because, much to my chagrin, I wasn’t able to attend this year. In any case, a [...]

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Chris Riddell exhibition at the Guardian

28. January 2008

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Political cartoonist and frequent collaborator with Paul Stewart, Chris Riddell has an exhibition of his Observer cartoons coming up at the Guardian Newsroom (60 Farringdon Road, London) from Friday 1st of February to Friday 11th April. In addition to his work for the Guardian’s Sunday sister publication The Observer the exhibition will include some of [...]

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Persepolis nominated at the Cesars

28. January 2008

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The film adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis continues to garner nominations for prestigious awards; this time it is in the running in France, where it has been shorlitsted for the best animated feature in the Cesar awards, the French cinematic world’s equivalent to the Oscars. (via the BBC)

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Manga night in Belfast

26. January 2008

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The Belfast Forbidden Planet International will be hosting a manga night on Wednesday February 6th from 7 to 9pm. A representative from Tokyopop will be coming along and there will be games (including some Wii fun), competitions, giveaways and I’d imagine there has to be some cosplay because how can you have a manga night [...]

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New Bond movie title announced

25. January 2008

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Bond 22 now has an official name – “Quantum of Solace”. The title is drawn from a short story collection written by Bond’s creator Ian Fleming in the 60s; according to Daniel Craig the title reflects how Bond’s heart was broken at the end of his first big mission as a double-0: “at the end [...]

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Shave, sir?

25. January 2008

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Johnny Depp, who recently had his Captain Jack Sparrow costume flown over so he could wear it while reading stories to the kids at Great Ormond Street Hospital, can be seen with Tim Burton on a video interview on the BBC website discussing Sweeney Todd, which opens this weekend in the UK. In a particularly [...]

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Bats in the Times

25. January 2008

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The possible demise of the Batman has made even the august pages of the Times take note; I like the way Michael Moran compares publishers killing off a major character to the same way magazines use a ’sex’ issue to try and improve readership figures – he may have something there. Perhaps DC should think [...]

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Did You Miss Me? – Favourite comics of 2007

24. January 2008

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I didn’t get round to writing any review pieces this year so this will be a longish, if rather late, wander through the things I enjoyed the most in what was another excellent year for the spread of comics. If it lacked a single achievement to rival last year’s ‘Fun Home” it seemed to me [...]

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Claudio Sanchez in Belfast

24. January 2008

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Our Belfast colleagues had a great turnout yesterday evening for the appearance of Coheed & Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez, in town to perform that night with the band as part of their UK tour (see their site for full details of all gigs) and kindly taking time before the show to talk to fans and [...]

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“Werewolf. Where wolf? There wolf.”

24. January 2008

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JoBlo has scooped some photographs apparently from the upcoming X-Files movie – hard to tell what is going on here, looks rather like X-Files creator Chris Carter is checking out what looks suspiciously like a werewolf head rig from one of his special effects crew. Does this mean there will be werebeasts in the new [...]

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