Comics Britannia

[Adrian Bamforth]

...begins on Monday 9:00 on BBC4.

There's loads of stuff already on the web site including interviews with Leo Baxendale and Alan Moore - I was chuffed to see in the Moore interview that he's actually wearing an otherwise unavailable 'Weeping Gorilla' (from Promethea) T-shirt I had printed up and gave to him at an event/signing (to my surprise, he almost leaped in the air with glee when I showed it to him).

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/comicsbritannia/" target="_blank">Comics Britannia

[Funt Solo]

Oh - that's a shame - the Moore video requires RealPlayer.  

Damn.

I'll have a biscuit to cheer myself up.

[WoD]

There was a teaser segment for this on Radio 5 with Simon Mayo the other day.  Not bad, but the guy from Viz got on me tits a bit.  I understand where he's coming from, but he was damning of comic readers and thinks that every one is a fat, nerd with the skin colour of a peeled potato (hang on, he could have a point...)

[Dudley]

From their quiz -

Question 2
Which of the following characters from Victorian fiction doesn't appear in Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
- Sherlock Holmes
- The Invisible Man
- Dr Jekyll

I thought "Ooo, tricky!  Obviously they're trying to catch you out!  Because copyright law meant Moore wasn't allowed The Invisible Man, so he just had "a" invisible man. Sneaky bastards!"

But apparently the "correct" answer is Sherlock Holmes.  So they're just wrong.

Disappointing, really.

[Peter Wolf]

  Try the are you a superhero/villain personality test.Its rubbish.


 "do you have an underground lair under a volcano ? "

[Adrian Bamforth]

Another tie-in item on Robert Elms' show on BBC London on Tuesday, had someone I should probably know talking very informatively about British comics.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/" target="_blank">Listen Back

[paulvonscott]

"I was chuffed to see in the Moore interview that he's actually wearing an otherwise unavailable 'Weeping Gorilla' (from Promethea) T-shirt I had printed up and gave to him at an event/signing (to my surprise, he almost leaped in the air with glee when I showed it to him)."

Excellent!

[Buddy]

Watched a lot of the 2000ad related stuff on the BBC website, couldn't help but notice that Pat Mills believes most readers think The Blood Of Satanis (sp?) actually like it.

He obviously hasn't been visiting the board recently!

[paulvonscott]

Pat and others might argue the board isn't most readers.  It's a much safer bet to place your trust in those honest, intelligent, savvy, switched on, normal, decent, sexy, sane and *silent* readers who clearly have more taste and the good sense to shut up and bask in your geni-arse.

I think Blood of Satanus is pretty bad, but I still think Pat Mills is pretty great.  If Blood of Satanus ran for another 3 books (I'm guessing it probably won't), I'd still like Pat Mills' other stuff.

Given enough time (or rope) eventually everyone produces a duffer.  It may have been written with the same skill, enthusiasm and commitment as any other strip.  The writer may love it as if it were their own child, but you can't control what people think.  You can attempt to try and shape the public perception of the strip to your own ends, but it's a futile battle and much more negative than just getting on with the next strip.

Anyway, Mills comments aside (and there is seemingly nowhere they can't strike), I can't wait for Comics Britannia.  Enjoyed the Moore bit on the BBC site about V for vendetta.

"thinks that every one is a fat, nerd with the skin colour of a peeled potato"

Presumably that was Simon Donald, the skinny  nerd with the skin colour of a peeled potato and current editor and not his brother Chris Donald who is the fat nerd with the skin colour of a peeled potato, the former editor.

Love the Viz guys, and the Viz story, read the book, seen their talks a couple of times.  

Mind you, watching the second one I felt they already weren't as funny as they used to be during their first talk.  At current rates of humour depletion, it's predicted they will have ceased to be entirely funny around 2064.

[Funt Solo]

Ah now, the original Blood of Satanus (progs 152-154) is really good.  Maybe he's talking about that.  

[TordelBack]

'Course, even if it was "the" Invisible Man (Jack Griffin?), he doesn't really 'appear' in LoEG when he is the Invisible Man, does  he?  It's more the Visible Coat and Hat that appears.  We're not talking Sue "dotted line" Storm here.

[Peter Wolf]

 What a hypocrite.Viz geezer says comic readers are fat nerds with the skin colour of a peeled potatoe?Thats the funniest thing i have heard for ages.Then the pot called the kettle black.He gets on my tits as well.big time.

  Its comic readers what pay his wages.What a twat.

[petemaskreplica]

Just to be pedantic (what? on an internet message board?), it is "The" Invisible Man in the book, but "an" invisible man in the rubbish film. And Sherlock Holmes, although alluded to, doesn't appear in the book.

[Dudley]

Yes he does.  The whole fight at the Reichenbach Falls is shown.

[Dudley]

Oh God, Pete - did you compile the questions?