Comic Cuts

The 'Karl the Viking' box-set saga continues... the line-up for each of the books has been juggled slightly and an additional story added—which means the volumes will now be truly complete and feature all the non-Don Lawrence drawn strips as well. This brings the total pagination for the set to just over 500 pages. The introductory material will be spread over 24 pages across the four volumes and there are 450 pages of strips, so it promises to be a bumper package.

I've moved seamlessly from working on that to working on another book about science fiction art so I'm knee deep in reference books at the moment. It would have been thigh deep but I've consigned all reference material relating to Vikings to a teetering pile in the other room; I don't want to think about Vikings again until the proofs for Karl start coming in. Grandville and Robida and Eduard Riou are going to be filling my Bank Holiday weekend with bizarreness.

The weekend got off to a good start with a trip out to Ipswich last night to see Dara O'Briain. Sadly no photos but here's a YouTube video of the openeing of one of his gigs so you can get a taste.



Because a lot of the show is interaction with the audience each gig is pretty unique. We were with a group of friends and one was almost crying with laughter for the whole two hours. Picking up his live DVD (of which the above is part) is hugely recommended. I think his new one (due in November) will have to be on my Christmas list.

That's my news, here's some from elsewhere...

* The Dan Dare exhibition is reviewed by Andrew Webb, along with a short video interviews with the Science Museum's Ben Russell & John Liffen and Peter Hampson, son of Frank Hampson, at the BBC News website (1 May) (news via Forbidden Planet International)

* Fans of the Daily Mirror's 'Jane' might fancy a look at Christabel Leighton-Porter's 1949 starring-role in The Adventures of Jane. She was artist and Jane-creator Norman Pett's model and became heavily associated with the character, touring music halls and theatres in stage productions and featuring in pin-ups. The DVD also features a second movie, Murder at 3am starring Dennis Price as a Scotland Yard police inspector baffled by a series of late night murders. The still below, showing Christabel from the movie—which the DVD cover doesn't—comes from Jane: A Pin-Up at War by Andy Saunders. (news via Down the Tubes)

* The Carol Day website has added two new stories by David Wright to its archive—Henry Dietz (eps 1522-1621) and Mystery Man (eps 2967-3042)—and are promising two more for the end of June.

* A long interview with Michael Bond and an extract from the new Paddington book, Paddington Here and Now, can be found in The Times (3 May).