Well, this year it was the turn of our other neighbour...
A large portion of the tree fell into a busy road. This is not the first time a tree has fallen onto the road. Last time it happened the tree landed on a car, killing a woman outright and badly injuring her husband. And when we've asked if anything can be done about the trees along the road, the Home Office (yes, it goes all the way up to the Home Office) say nothing can be done because the trees are all subject to preservation orders.On Wednesday our boiler blew up. It wasn't very spectacular, just a very loud "pop" and the water heater stopped working. The circuit board is fried and there's a leak. We've no clue when it can be fixed but, thankfully, after one night freezing our bums off, we dug out some old heaters which are taking the chill off the air.
Other niggling little problems have been... well, niggling and taking up lots of time when I should be working. The Mike Western Story is starting to take shape and I've been scanning lots of stuff for inclusion. I'm hoping to have examples of just about every strip he worked on, which has meant borrowing a lot of comics and living with the frustration that I don't have time to scan every page of every issue. Let's hope that next week is better and I can really get on with it.
Here are some odds and ends of news...
* John Freeman interviews Jon Haward at Down the Tubes.
* The follow up to Kidnapped by Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, has been released and a lengthy (8 minute) report can still be seen at the Scottish Television website (link via Forbidden Planet International). Jeremy Briggs has posted a comprehensive round-up about the launch at Down the Tubes.
* ICv2 have re-estimated the sales for comics sold through Diamond Distributors in January. As previously mentioned, the original figures as issued took into account reorders that were not normally included, which skewed month-on-month comparisons. The sales figure for Virgin Comics' Dan Dare #3 showed a significant leap—up 31% on the sales of the first issue—to 10,245. This has now been re-estimated and a more realistic figure is 7,657, lower than the sales figures for issue 1 (9,434) and 2 (7,838). So, rather than taking a jump (which I initially put down to demand outstripping supply on the first issue), the sales continue their inevitable decline, although only by a couple of percent (2.3%). That's far less than the 17% drop between the first and second issues.
For those of you who missed it first time round, Virgin are re-releasing the first three issues of Dan Dare as an oversized, 80-page hardcover collection in April. I also hear that issue 4 is now out.* Talking of Dan Dare, there are interviews with Garth Ennis to be found at Heavy Ink (about Dan Dare) and Comic Book Resources (about The Boys) And there's a three-part interview with Grant Morrison at Newsarama (part 1, part 2, part 3). (links via Journalista)
* Alex Fitch's interview with Alan Moore (part 1, part 2) is also available on video in various formats form the Internet Archive.
The major problem with trees is that Councils have cut back generally (no pun intended) funds to maintain them and keep them in good order, to save money. This simply means the trees aren't being checked and then accidents like this happen. So it's a false economy in the long run, but an error being repeated across the country.
ReplyDeleteDespite your problems, trees in streets are actually a good thing if looked after -- they soak up all the crap cars churn out for one and reduce the amount of dust in the atmosphere. The GLC have done huge studies of "tree impact" and where they've kept them in London they've found they really are pretty useful... if maintained!
Cheers for the link to the Jon Haward interview.
As you say, John, trees are a good thing. I like having all the trees along the road but the Council need to get their act together and check them over once in a while.
ReplyDeleteAlways happy to link to news stories. I try to be strict with myself regarding news... there would be an awful lot more if I covered new comics but I try to limit myself to only older British characters, comics and creators which usually means anything, say, pre-1990. Down the Tubes, the FPI Blog, Lying in the Gutters, BugPowder and other newsy websites do a fabulous job covering everything else.
Hi Steve,some interesting news on the Dan Dare character.Al at ComicsUK has this to say-"You may have noticed that there are no Eagle or Dan Dare images or references on the site anymore. This includes the Annuals, Specials, Galleries and the actual Eagle section. This was due to me receiving a high-handed solicitors letter from Colin Frewin's solicitors. Frewin is the guy that spent £500,000 on securing the rights to Dan Dare and Eagle. Oh happy days eh??"
ReplyDeleteVery interesting!