Strip!: The DFC Library, tonight at 5pm on Resonance FM, podcast afterwards on Panel Borders

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 (see here for Kate’s recent talk-through of some of her sketches and finished pages from the book), 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”.

Clear Spot: Alternative Press at Angoulême part two, tonight at 8pm on Resonance FM, podcast afterwards at the Alternative Press site

The second of the Alt. Press radio shows on their trip to Angoulême is an hour long and features interviews, music and stories from Angoulême International Comics Festival, the largest comics festival in the world (outside Japan!), including Stripburger from Slovenia, Chilli con Carne from Portugal and Robert Crumb!

Recent podcasts:

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.

“BB: It looks like a good year for British comic book scribes in Hollywood with both The Losers and Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass  released later this year. Why do you think British comic book writers prove to be such successes and are there any other British led comics you’d like to see get the Hollywood treatment?

British comics I’d like to see get the Hollywood treatment? There’s loads, but top of my list would be Phonogram and Suburban Glamour, along with three decades’ worth of stories from the untapped intellectual property goldmine that is 2000AD, starting with my personal favourite, Strontium Dog. Old British war comics like Battle are also filled with stories ripe for adaptation.”

Oh yes, I think we’d go along with some of those choices for film versions, oh yes indeedy…

No idea yet if and when it will get a release in the Anglophone world and given the fact Tardi’s name is not as famous with as large a readership here as it is in France I wonder if it will get a general release in the UK or if it will be on the European/arthouse circuit only, but I guess we will just have to wait to see what happens with UK screenings further down the line.  For those unfamiliar with Tardi’s work I’m delighted to say that the good folks at Fantagraphics have been working on English language editions of some of his work -- You Are There (regarded as one of the earliest full-length European graphic novels) and West Coast Blues (a powerful graphic novel adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s 70s crime novel) were both released in 2009 and his It was the War of the Trenches is due for publication from Fantagraphics this spring. If, like a lot of the English-language world, you’ve not had much exposure to Tardi I highly recommend having a look at them. I’m currently having a sneak peek at Trenches, a work I’ve seen a little of in French and wanted to read in translation for quite some time and I’m sure I’ll talk more about that soon. Meantime it would also be nice to see some of the Adèle albums translated, hint, hint!

Update: George, one of our reader, has kindly left a comment with a link to Fantagraphic’s Flog where they confirm they’ve been translating Adèle for publication later this year (thanks, George!). Great news.

Made me smile. How many do you recognise?

(via Buzz Feed)

Strip!: Yetis, ghosts and other things that go bump in the night!, tonight at 5pm on Resonance FM, podcast after transmission at Panel Borders

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.

Clear Spot: Directing low budget Science-Fiction films, on Resonance FM on the 17th at 8pm, first segment now online at SciFi London

In an hour long panel discussion recorded live at last year’s London Science-Fiction and Fantastic Film Festival, Alex Fitch discusses the many aspects of creating engaging and convincing SF scenarios on film with a quartet of eminent low budget film directors – Marc Caro (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children), Stuart Hazeldine (Exam), Cory McAbee (Stingray Sam), Gerald McMorrow (Franklyn) and Richard Jobson (A Woman in Winter). The panel was sponsored by The Directors Guild of Great Britain and Mr Caro’s translator was Virginie Selavy.

Recent podcasts:

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.

Lucky Cat podcast: The films of Park Chan-Wook

Episode 4.6 of Resonance FM’s Asian culture show presented by Zoe Baxter. This episode is a Park Chan-Wook special to coincide with the UK DVD release of the Korean auteur’s vampire film Thirst. Zoë Baxter is joined in the studio by Mira Stout (author of bestselling novel “One Thousand Chestnut Trees”, playwright, and film critic) and Alex Fitch (broadcaster and assistant editor of Electric Sheep film magazine) to discuss Thirst and Chan-Wook’s oeuvre.

Fallout: Teaser Trailer from tupaq felber on Vimeo.