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Yes, my friend's older brother similarly had cp- and his other brother beat seven bails out of him for laughing at joey deacon, and threatened me at the same time. Quite rightly- sort of- i guess. But it certainly hasnt stopped that particular period of childhood being utterly cemented in my brain. I still do the 'joey' thing to myself- in exactly the same way everyone who watched 'johns not mad' will never forget the sheer cruel hilarity of tourettes. We shouldnt be ashamed of how we felt as children, and the 'joey' response is as embedded as 'd'oh!' is for another generation. No one ever forgot joey deacon, which was i think the point of blue peter featuring him in the first place.

SBT

Come now, mr green, it's a bit more complicated than that! joey deacon was, for millions of british kids, the very first time a disabled person had been seen on television. In many cases, the very first time they (we) had even seen someone with cerebral palsy. And like all things that are misunderstood and not a little bit scary, the communal eight year old reaction was to find it hilariously funny.

We can look back with shame now, of course, but that doesnt stop us all secretly sticking our tongue between our bottom teeth and our bottom lip and mouthing a quiet "hnn, joey" when we do something wrong, or see someone else do something wrong. It's innate now, and fighting it is hopeless. We may not like it, but these things run deep.

It has also caused those of us of a certain age to double-take several times when younger friends or siblings, inspired by the omnipresent 'Friends' in the 90s, named their male children Joey after joey tribiani.

SBT

A second for Marvel Superhero Squad... if they still do it

My nephew loved those comics

It's an all new version- issue one is out now- based on the brilliant cartoon series. It's lost all the "spidey and friends" picture stories and "trace the letters" writing practice exercises, and gained a strip reprinted from the US comic, posters, quizzes and the like. The strip- where they get zapped by Dr Doom's time machine and turned into babies- is really funny, if short.

SBT

[Dr Who Adventures]

It's hard- as the market is swamped with comics aimed at a preteen readership. Would readership be the right word, as the audience probably can't read? Lookership, maybe?

I've been giving my kids comics since way before they could read. Youngest, at 6 and a half, is still finding reading difficult- but it's his desire to read fun stuff that is moving him forward. He's had the weekly Dr Who Adventures for about three years now, if not longer. He loves the pictures, and me reading it to him- but is becoming less interested now, as his love of the programme wanes due to it being way too complicated and boring, and the sheer repetition of DWA from week to week takes its toll.

He has responded well to the first issue of Marvel Super Hero Squad Magazine- he finds the characters accessible, and loves the tv cartoon and games. It's also genuinely funny- unlike the brief comic strips in DWA, which are lowest common denominator trash.

But, being a comics-person Colin, you're probably more concerned with "getting them young" than you are about using comics to inspire reading. I understand that, and did exactly the same thing- but I kind of wish I hadn't in a way. My eldest had hundreds and hundreds of comics before he was five. he's eight now, and gets the Beano, Beano Max, UK Spider-Man, Marvel Super-Heroes, Pokemon magazine and ocassionally Scooby Doo- as well as access to all my stuff, obviously, within reason.

But I'm not sure I see any real love of comics in him. He adores the Beano and its characters, but despite having so many I'm not sure he has any great fondness for Spidey et al.

Probably the best thing to do would be to get him whatever comic is tied-in to his favourite tv show. If it's Shaun the Sheep, get that. He'll be looking at the pictures more than anything at his age. BBC Publications used to do a good weekly CBEEBIES comic- that had puzzles and games and learning exercises- and my two certainly responded well to that when they were younger.

It's very difficult. There's a world of difference between what we call a comic, and what is on the newsagents' shelves for kids. They're more like flimsy puzzle/poster books with a token picture strip, whose main selling point is whatever tat is taped to the front.

I'd focus on helping his reading along- by whatever means necessary (picture books, cards, etc), and then in a couple of years think again about comics.

SBT

Still ploughing through kim stanley robinson's 'red mars', which responds well to very close reading, and so is taking me forever. While doing that, ive taken a break for a few days to read 'the walking dead: rise of the governor'.

Went into it not expecting much- i love the series as a comic, enjoyed the tv vesion but feel no great desire to hurridly watch season 2, and was expecting this to a quick tv-friendly tie-in. It's not.

What it is, is one of the best zombie novels ive ever read.

If you're a fan of the comics, you know who the governor was, and how his shadow falls over the book to this day. This tells his origin story- which, in the world i inhabited before finishing the novel, i felt would be massively unnecessary and irrelevent. In the world i inhabit now however, id happy to urge people to read this with all the fervor or a lay-preacher.

So, that done, im back to mars now- pausing briefly to tug out a couple of stories from solaris books' 'end of the line' anthology- there's a nice, lovecraftian antarctic tale by gary mcmahon that id urge you to read, and our good old mr jasper bark acquits himself very well with a very twilight zoney piece. I look forward to going through the rest over the next week or so.

Oh, and also dynamite entertainment's trade collection of their six issue 'freddy vs jason vs ash', an adaptation of what would have been the cinema follow up to 'freddy vs jason'- but which im very glad wasnt, because it's a confused, rambling mess that's built around a series of escapes from certain death, sees ash played as the middleaged butt of teenagers' jokes, and freddy once more in full-on bob monkhouse mode. The central plot line, of people trying to grab the necronomicon is baffling and confusing and ultimately disappointing. It plays up the weaknesses of all three franchises and absolutely none of their strengths. Dismal.

SBT

Swamp Shark

Have i done this one before? Anyway, just watched it again, this time with the boys. They responded very well to the various shark attacks, yuck yuck yucking their way through the largely cg-created gore. The lack of swearing and nudity makes this pretty good sunday afternoon fun, and the vivid characters are child-friendly even if the bad guy's motivation took some explaining.

Fun. With a great cajun soundtrack. Yee haw!

SBT

Excellent, cheers Bolt. Put me down for one of each from the November run please. I'll email you for prices, etc.

SBT

Hey zarjaz folk, could someone please confirm exactly which issues will be available, and from when? Dj#2, new zarjaz... and dogbreath? Futurequake? Something wicked? Enquiring minds with a payday on the horizon would like to prepare!

SBT

Yeah, ive been thinking this over since i read your post earlier in the day. Ive come to the conclusion that nothing i can add to what's been written above would sound anything other than trite. I have no expertise here, as my kids arent of that age yet, and i didnt feel that way as a teenager.

You have my best wishes, as does your daughter, and im glad you felt you could at least share this with The Board. Im sorry that's no help, but its all ive got.

SBT

Stakeland

The zombie apocalypse, only with 'vampires'. Zombieland, only played straight. A road movie set in a post-apocalyptic America, after a vampire happening. Our young boy hero teams up with a grizzled vampire killer in an attempt to drive across country to 'New Eden', where it's safe, in Canada. Along the way they pick up Kelly McGillis (from Top Gun) and Danielle Harris (from Halloween 5 and Hatchet 2) and run into a lunatic christian cult who dog their tracks throughout the movie.

It's very good- the vamps are mindless, snarling zombies (basically, they're zombies, it's a zombie movie) who have added interest in that they burn in daylight. There's plenty of gory action, and the most interesting name in the credits is that of producer Larry Fessenden, whom you may know as the talented director of the brilliant Wendigo and The Last Winter, which this echoes quite a lot.

Fessenden is a fairly new name in horror cinema and one that's truly worth keeping an eye on. His work is imbued with a melancholy lyricism, notably in his use of locations, their interaction with the cast, and his singular soundtracks. Check out the odd foley in both his directorial features, and how it mixes with the dialogue and the music; it's almost mesmeric- and i detect his hand in the look and soundscape of Stakeland. Which, if that were the only thing i could recommend, would make it worth watching in itself. Thankfully, the movie is a cluster of good bits- and the overall package is more than the sum of its parts.

Not perfect by any means- the plot mechanics that result in the climactic showdown are lame, but not lame enough to ruin it.

Double disc comes with a bunch of extras: two commentaries, a docu and a gaggle of prequel 'webisodes' being the main attraction.

SBT

Logan's Runs

The misadventures of a lone GI, caught behind enemy lines in the early days of the war on Nu Earth, with a bad tummy. Follow his quest for the ever-elusive Nort mobile toilet division.

Six episodes, i'll write it if they give me Cam Kennedy on the art. You listening Tharg?

SBT

Not in my local whs- which still has the same six copies of #8 its had since they came in. Which is never good.

But, as they didnt have Burlesque Bible #2 either, and the BB people say whs have been having difficulties with their warehouses, this may not be unexpected. Will check again tomorrow.

I should add that i like Comic Heroes a lot- the tone, the spread of articles (im prepared to tolerate superhero crap for a few things on comics i like) the depth of the articles... It makes up somewhat for the still-keenly felt absence of Deathray. It's just the price. It's a £4.50 mag in a cardboard sleeve with pointless 'gifts'. I just cant afford £8 an issue, im afraid.

SBT

Last night, due to my wife and her friend watching naked ladies on dvd and my laptop's dvd player dying, i had to find something to do while i reinstalled everything. So i started a massive reread of the case files from volume one.
Let me tell you there's NOTHING 'really really bad' about those early strips. I even got through the robot wars in one sitting, which surprised me.

SBT

I may pick this one up then, as i havent for a few issues. Cheers for that, though im amazed its still going to be honest.

SBT

I didnt really explain myself properly, cosh. What i meant was, ive seen time and again people censured for saying 'this person was a shit' after they died. It's the 'RIP' idea taken to extremes. These threads should be just simply a record of who's died and people's comments upon that.

My comment was largely aimed at other forums where the rule of 'nothing bad must be said about the deceased' is strictly enforced, and those who break it are banned. Gallifreybase, for example, exploded when bin laden carked it. The mods had a revolution on their hands when they started deleting posts and telling people off. It was very funny, but they deserved it, the sanctimonious shits.

Maybe 'RIP' is the wrong title for a general thread of this nature. Im uncomfortable with notices of boarders' close friends and family's deaths in the same thread as bin laden and gadaffi.

SBT