Comic Cuts

Here we are 10 days after work on the house began and so far we've had workmen in on 5 of them. My office (cleared out 8 days ago) is a complete wreck and, although the window is in the hole I still can't move everything back in because the trim still needs to be done. Half of my office is in the living room, making that room unusable and the delicate eco-system of the office (which I share with a number of spiders) is ruined beyond all repair. Where books I needed to refer to were within arms' length, they're now buried somewhere.

Still, the windows look nice. And once we can get the curtains back up I'll start feeling a little less like an exhibit. I'm actually looking forward to doing some shopping and getting some fresh air that isn't swooshing in through gaping holes in the walls.

A quick review: the latest issue of Jeff Hawke's Cosmos is now out. Vol.4 No.3 (issue 12, April 2008), sees the magazine going perfect bound and the pagination increased to 80 pages. This allows space for the reprinting of three Jeff Hawke stories: 'Here Be Tygers' (originally published in the Daily Express in 1971-72), 'S.O.S.' (1969-70) and 'Rescue Party' (1970). Each story has accompanying notes by Duncan Lunan on their scientific background and, amongst the handful of other features in the magazine, Andrew Darlington examines the history of Ron Turner's comic strip 'Space Ace'. It all makes for a fine package and, bar a little moiré affecting some of the heavily letratoned strips, the reproduction of the strips is incredibly good.

Hopefully anyone introduced (or re-introduced) to Jeff Hawke by the recent Titan Books' reprint will discover Jeff Hawke's Cosmos. The background material on the stories makes great reading, but the strips themselves are enough to make this a must have. It's a snip at £7 per issue; subscriptions are available (£18.50 UK; £28 overseas airmail) from The Jeff Hawke Club, 6 The Close, Alwoodly, Leeds LS17 7RD (please enclose an SAE with enquiries). You can find out more about the publication and about Jeff Hawke at the Jeff Hawke website.

News from around the net... and elsewhere

* The latest issue of Book and Magazine Collector (#296, July 2008) contains a 70th birthday article for the Beano by Norman Wright & David Ashford.

* Photos from the recent Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons and Sean Phillips signing at Forbidden Planet for Joel Meadows' Studio Space book, which is now available from Image Comics in both hardback (ISBN 978-1582409092, 31 May 2008) and softcover (ISBN 978-1582409085, 31 May 2008). (link via Journalista)

* Pádraig Ó Méalóid begins a long interview with Alan Moore at the Forbidden Planet International blog, with part two to follow.

* The final part of Kristy Valenti's appreciation of Peter O'Donnell is up: part 1, part 2, part 3. (link via Journalista)

* Jim McCarthy and Steve Parkhouse will be signing copies of Sex Pistols: The Graphic Novel (Omnibus Press ISBN 978-1846095085, 9 June 2008) at Forbidden Planet on Saturday, 28 June between 1 and 2pm.

* In The Independent (13 June) Tom Lubbock takes a look at a 1936 Punch cartoon by Pont (Graham Laidler)