Bear Alley: Comic Cuts - 24 February 2017

BEAR ALLEY BOOKS

AVAILABLE NOW!
The Bill Kellaway Quartet by Gwyn Evans
Click here for details and payment options.
"The narrative is packed with action and I think readers will have a lot of fun with [Hercules, Esq.] and there are some genuine moments of laugh out loud humour. I can understand why the film rights for this book were snapped up and even today I could envisage it being a very enjoyable one-off TV series." — Cross Examining Crime.
"Although there’s some criminous stuff going on and Bill often finds himself vying against or working with various lawbreakers, the stakes are never really life and death in this book ... There is some slam-bang action, though, as well as a smart, really likable protagonist and a lot of really clever plot twists, but what really makes HERCULES ESQ. work is Evans’s style, which is consistently breezy, fast-paced, and funny." — James Reasoner, Rough Edges.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Comic Cuts - 24 February 2017

This will be a short 'n' sweet entry as there's very little to report. I had an article about financial reports to re-write, which will hopefully now be OK – the editor wanted it beefing up and I've added some examples of what I was talking about; hopefully it will now be OK and I can get on with the next one.

That aside I've been working on the Valiant index – the actual index element of the book – compiling contents listings for all the annuals and summer specials that I can get my hands on. I'm missing four spin-off annuals and three of the summer specials, so if anyone can help that would be brilliant. If you know any collectors who might have copies, or you're on a forum where Valiant collectors might gather, let them know, please, as I'm trying to make the book definitive.

So... I'm after content listings for these summer specials:

I'll be even happier if I can get scans of the contents, as it will give me a chance to identify artists and sources of reprints.

I'm also after contents/scans of the three Valiant Book of Sport volumes, plus this stray spin-off:

Random scans: as Broadchurch is about to begin its third season, I thought I'd put up some covers of recent tie-ins to shows I like. I found the first two seasons of Broadchurch riveting – I know some people thought the second season wasn't as good, but I thought it was gripping... and an incredibly brave move to show the consequences of the first season rather than brush them mostly under the carpet, as is the habit of most TV detective shows. Let's hope the third season doesn't let us down.

Mel isn't a fan of Homeland, but I've stayed faithful and watched all the seasons to date. The new season is being shown at the moment but I'm letting episodes build up on the box until I get a chance to binge watch a few episodes at a time. Not the whole show, just a few episodes. Even the most avid watcher must allow Claire Danes some time to recover from being so miserable. What will make Carrie cry this season?

I think Mel would, on the other hand, wholeheartedly recommend Scott & Bailey, which we only started watching with the second season. I enjoyed it, but it was the third (?) season, the one with Nicola Walker, that really turned me into a fan of the show. We love Nicola Walker – me since her days in Spooks, Mel since her appearance in Sue Perkins' Heading Out. We've just finished watching Unforgotten, which is another excellent crime series.