Comic Clippings - 3 October 2006

Monday was radio day for me as I was doing interviews with Radio Newcastle, Radio Cumbria, Radio Swindon and Radio Wiltshire and, nearly, Radio Manchester. I say nearly because when they dialed up to get a line they contacted BBC Essex's main studio in Chelmsford only to be told I wasn't there... which is true because I was at BBC Essex in Colchester. Hopefully we can reschedule. It wasn't as terrifying as expected thanks to the friendly, chatty first interview with BBC Radio Newcastle's Paul Wappat and Ian Robinson, who was out with the Big Blue Bus. If you've ever done any radio you'll know that you get about 30 seconds warning before you're live so learning that you're about to talk to someone on a Big Blue Bus was... interesting! Turns out The Blue Bus is the name of the show. But with that first one under my belt and a regular supply of coffee, the whole day went pretty well. Kudos to Paul & Ian, Paul Braithwaite, Graham Seaman and Gavin McCoy.

Between that and other work for Look and Learn, I've not had a chance to write anything for a few days. So here's a round-up of odds and ends spied on the web this evening.

• Paul Gravett had a lengthy interview with Alan Moore in the Independent on Sunday (1 October 2006). A DVD, The Mindscape of Alan Moore, is due out on 18 November from Shadowsnake Films after screening up the upcoming Comica Festival at the ICA. The whole thing kicks off on the 6th with a 24 Hour Comics Day. For a full rundown of events, see here.
  

• D. C. Thomson have an area of their site where you can find their latest Annuals and calendars which, this year, includes an Art of Commando Calendar.

• Robinson are due to publish The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga on 26 October. Over 500 pages of all-new stories edited by Ilya (Ed Hillyer) for a mere £7.99.

• The Forbidden Planet blog is reporting that cartoonist Ralph Steadman has been involved in a car accident. He was to have been a guest on the Phil Jupitus breakfast show on BBC Radio 6.

• The band The Gorillaz are publishing an autobiography, Rise of the Ogre, on 2 November. Over 300 pages with lots of colour illustrations by Jamie Hewlett.

• Books just out: The Best of Girl (which, incidentally, doesn't show up if you do a search on Amazon.co.uk... but it's there!), True Brit, and Jackie: Dear Cathy & Claire. The best of your favourite problems page, all from Prion Books.

• Just noticed that Robson Books Ltd. have just published The Best of My Guy (28 September). OK, not comics, but one of the iconic girls' papers of the 1980s (it actually ran from 1978-95) that killed off the traditional girls' comics. The original editor was ex-Oh Boy! assistant Brigid Callaghan who later worked for The Sun and now, I believe, works for The Times Online. I remember Gaythorne Silvester (who was managing ed. of the girls' magazines) telling me a couple of years ago that some of the staff had gone on to better things. Seems he was right.
  

(* Bringing things full circle, the Oh Boy! office was next door to Look and Learn at King's Reach. Small world, eh?)