The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

As another week wooshes by bringing us to Thursday (already??) its time for Alex to update us with some of the shows he’s involved with, including a second look at Doctor Who in comics form, this time the classic Who strips. As usual for more details and links to archived podcasts of previous shows check the Panel Borders site.

Strip!: Doctor Who comics then…, tonight on Resonance FM at 5pm

Alex Fitch talks to two of the creators of Marvel UK’s seminal Who comic strip printed in Doctor Who Weekly. Pat Mills co-wrote the first 43 instalments of the weekly Doctor Who strip with fellow 2000AD cohort John Wagner, bring to the page such outlandish tales as The Iron Legion and The Star Beast about a Robot Roman army and a psychotic cute alien who befriends children. Dave Gibbons drew 56 of the first 60 instalments of the Marvel comic, making him the most iconic artist to be associated with Tom Baker’s Doctor in comic strip format and drew the first episode of Peter Davison’s run, as his swan song. Alex talks to Pat and Dave about their work on the comic and also about Pat’s forays into Who on the radio, writing scripts for Colin Baker and Paul McGann.

(cover to the Doctor Who: the Iron Legion collection by Mills, Wagner and Gibbons, published Panini)

Goblin at the Supersonic festival

The name Goblin first appeared on the map in 1975, when the band recorded the soundtrack for Dario Argento’s “Profondo Rosso”. This was the starting point for a decade long, highly creative and widely influential collaboration between the eccentric film maker and Goblin, that made the group become the aural signifier of the Italian horror film movement of the seventies and the eighties, creating sound tracks to such cult classics as “Suspiria” (1977) and “Dawn of the Dead” (“Zombi”, 1978).  (I seem to recall Argento thought their music so important to his influential horrors he would play the music on set for the actors to inspire them – Joe)

Alex Fitch talks to the band (Agostino Marangalo, Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli, and Maurizio Guarini) on stage in the Theatre space, Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B9 4AA, 6.15pm, Sunday 26th July, Supersonic Festival, Birmingham

Previous podcasts:

Reality Check: Torchwood in print, online now at Sci-Fi London

In a panel discussion recorded live at a meeting of the British Fantasy Society, late 1980s Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel talks to a quartet of Torchwood novelists – Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough,Guy Adams and Joe Lidster – about bringing the show to the printed page and expanding the adventures of Jack, Ianto and Gwen to the length of a hardback novel.

Panel Borders: Doctor Who comics now…

Alex Fitch talks to the creators of a couple of recent innovative Doctor Who comics about bringing a new angle to the popular franchise. Leah Moore and John Reppion wrote the recent one off comic “The Whispering Gallery” which sees the Doctor and Martha exploring a terrifying museum on an alien planet. Also, Alex talks to Richard Morris, creator of the popular and unauthorised web comic, “The Ten Doctors” – an epic serialised graphic novel which celebrates almost every aspect you can think of from 46 years of the Timelord’s adventures.

Coming soon:

Strip!: The art of Kevin O’Neill, due on Resonance FM on Thursday 30th at 5pm

Concluding Sci-Fi comics month on Strip!, Alex Fitch talks to artist Kevin O’Neill about his work with writer Pat Mills from his early days working on Nemesis the Warlock and ABC Warriors in 2000AD to the hero hunting cop Marshal Law. Alex and Kevin also talk about the film adaptations of his work from Hardware (based on the short story Shok!) to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, loosely based on the comic he co-created with Alan Moore. Recorded live in front of an audience at Sci-Fi London. (Kev’s fabulous artwork is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Illustration Cupboard)