Irish comics collective the Eclectic Micks paid a successful return visit to the Dublin Forbidden Planet at the end of last week (thanks to Kev and the FP Dublin crew for the pics; no Irish comics artists were harmed during the making of this event).

Our colleagues in FP Dublin have kindly sent us over a batch of pictures from Saturday’s Irish launch of the Eclectic Micks Sketchbook with Nick Roche, Stephen Thompson, Bob Byrne, Will Sliney, Stephen Mooney and Declan Shalvey meeting readers, signing books and comics and creating sketches; looks like a good time was had by all! (more pics from the event on the FPI Flickr stream, click the pics for the larger versions; thanks to the FP Dublin crew for the images and to the Micks for a fun event  and fans for lending their support).

Readers in and around Dublin’s fair city, don’t forget Forbidden Planet Dubin has the crew from the Irish comics artist collective Eclectic Micks in the store tomorrow (Saturday 14th) from 3 to 5pm for the Irish launch of their Sketchbook, so come down and lend some support to Nick Roche, Stephen Thompson, Bob Byrne, Will Sliney, Stephen Mooney and Declan Shalvey. And its a full on comics weekend in Dublin as the following day (Sunday 15th) the store will host Karl Kerschl (Superman, Teen Titans), Cameron Stewart (Seaguy, Catwoman, Batman & Robin) and Ramón Pérez (Star Wars: the Clone Wars, Butternut Squash, JSA) from 3 to 5pm.

Its a great weekend of comics events coming up at FPI – kicking off on Friday 13th we’ve got the comics legend Gilbert Shelton at our Nostalgia & Comics store in sunny Birmingham from 4 to 5.30pm to celebrate the publication of the Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus; a rare chance to meet a serious comics icon. Let your Freak (brother) Flag fly!

On Saturday 14th its the turn of FP Dublin to put on the comics ritz with two gigs, starting with the Irish comics collective the Eclectic Micks – Stephen Mooney (Angel; After The Fall), Will Sliney (Farscape), Stephen Thompson (Die Hard; Year One) Bob Byrne (Mr. Amperduke),  Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later) and Nick Roche (Transformers) should all be present from 3 to 5pm to talk to fans and sign copies as they enjoy the Irish launch of their new Sketchbook.

Then on Sunday 15th Dublin FP plays host to Karl Kerschl (Superman, Teen Titans), Cameron Stewart (Seaguy, Catwoman, Batman & Robin) and Ramón Pérez (Star Wars: the Clone Wars, Butternut Squash, JSA), who will be in the store from 3 to 5pm as part of their TX Euro-tour (which also sees them go on afterwards to Comica, Orbital and Thought Bubble; see Karl’s blog for full details here).

Regular readers will already know we’ve been enjoying the art being shared on the Irish comics collective blog Eclectic Micks over the last while and that the Micks had decided to publish their very own sketchbook, drawing, no pun intended, on the artwork the seven of them take turns to post daily on the blog. I’m delighted to say the home turf Irish launch for the sketchbook will be taking place in the Dublin FPI branch (5-6 Crampton Quay, phone 0035 3167 10688) on Saturday 14th November from 3 to 5pm. Stephen Mooney (Angel; After The Fall), Will Sliney (Farscape), Stephen Thompson (Die Hard; Year One) Bob Byrne (Mr. Amperduke),  Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later) and Nick Roche (Transformers) should all be present to talk to fans and sign copies, with a planned bash afterwards in the Twisted Pepper. The Irish comics scene has really been developing well in recent years and I hope if you’re in the area you’ll come on down and lend the boys some support.

Strip!: Eclectic Micks and stars of Solipsistic Pop, tonight at 5pm on Resonance FM, podcast after transmission on Panel Borders

Continuing ‘anthologies and collectives month’ on the show, Alex Fitch talks to four members of a group of Irish comic book artists – Stephen Mooney, PJ Holden, Will Sliney and Declan Shalvey – who work for a variety of British and American comic publishers and collectively promote their work through a blog with the title “Eclectic Micks”.

Alex also talks to the creator and editor – Tom Humberstone – and some of the contributors – Julia Scheele, Matthew Sheret and Stephen Collins – of the new anthology “Solipsistic Pop” which intends to bring the sensibilities of high-end American Indie comic anthologies to the under represented world of British small press creators. Julia and Matthew also talk about disseminating their own self published comics – “We are words and pictures” – to the public via market stalls and club nights.

Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest

The second of this year’s Sci-Fi London festivals is shorter but perfectly formed, taking place over two nights in two different locations…  Friday 23rd October at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich:  As part of the International Year of Astronomy celebrations, SFL have teamed up with the Royal Observatory Greenwich to create a brand new Planetarium show: SCI-FI-UNIVERSE where we look at the night sky from a sci-fi perspective. Do you know where Space 1999′s Moonbase Alpha was located? In Hitchhikers’ Zaphod and Ford came from Betelgeuse, but do you know where that is in the night sky? And what would the sky look like from Vulcan? Find out which stars and planets in science fiction films and literature are real or simply journey to a ‘galaxy far far away’ in this unique planetarium experience.

Plus: panels and talks by space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, writers Paul Cornell, Simon Guerrier and Paul McAuley, journalist and film maker Timandra Harkness and many more, as well as special screenings of STAR TREK (2009) and FOR ALL MANKIND (1989)

Saturday 24th October at the Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street:

Our legendary ‘all nighters’ return with anime – including the UK premieres of Evangelion 1.0: You are (not) alone and Mamoru Oshii’s The Sky Crawlers – Aliens vs.Predator and MST3K strands. Also, following the success of the live improv redub of Labyrinth at our Spring festival, we are proud to present live stand-up comedy curated by Alex Fitch and Jessica Fostekew, featuring Sara Pascoe (Free Agents / In the thick of it), Mould and Arrowsmith, Lou Sanders, Rob Deb, Mark Restuccia and MC James Acaster.

Women in Comics conference, Sunday 25th October, Cambridge

A one day conference at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge featuring Belgian-based artist Dominique Goblet in conversation with Paul Gravett, Helen McCarthy on women and gender roles in the work of Osamu Tezuka, and other talks by Melinda Gebbie, Sarah McIntyre and Asia Alfasi.

Resonance FM journalist Alex Fitch will be chairing the panel on autobiographical comics featuring Kate Evans, Woodrow Phoenix & Corinne Pearlman.

Recent podcasts:

Panel Borders: Swedish Manga

Continuing ‘anthologies and collectives month’ on the show, Dickon Harris presents Fredrik Strömberg and Sofia Falkenhem’s panel on Swedish Manga from the 2008 Bristol International Comics Expo, about a Manga studio (Yokaj) imported to Europe from Japan! Since this panel was recorded Yokaj studio have gone on to win the 2008 award for best Swedish comic book…

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: New approaches to Zombie cinema

In a special early Halloween special, Alex Fitch talks to Jeffrey Coghlan, the producer of the innovative Canadian Horror film Pontypool and Marc Price, director of the excellent British living dead film Colin about their new approaches to the zombie genre on a limited budget. Pontypool is currently on limited release in the UK, while Colin is released on 23rd October.

Declan has also started posting up some sketches from his BICS trip on his own blog.

And also sticking with a PJ theme, scribe Jasper Bark has scanned in an old Future Shock from 2000 AD (the short tale Future Shocks being a tried and tested place for many writers and artists to try out their craft and a much loved feature among 2000 AD fans, myself included), Autocrats Anonymous, complete with art by PJ and lettering by the late, great Tom Frame: