Comic Cuts - 7 August 2020

I had a bit of a late night last night, so I'm going to keep this a little shorter than last week's podcast chatter. I've had some good feedback on the upcoming magazine, which I think I'm definitely going to have to call BAM! as that's how I and others have been referring to it... and I now can't get my head around calling it anything else. It was tempting to try and bring back the Comic World title, but as I'm hoping to focus on British comics, that would probably require a title change to British Comic World. 

Now, old folks like me will know that there has already been a magazine with that title. It was written and published by two young lads (back in the day when I was also a young lad, I might add) called Alan and David Coates. Alan I remember as a regular at the Westminster Comic Marts back in the 1980s. He was part of a group of us who would wander back towards the station and go into Granny Lee's, which had a fairly expansive seating area where we could sit around, drink tea, eat cakes, and show off what we'd been buying.

Holding court would be Denis Gifford, with Ray Norton and his son, and Dave Giacardi. Then there would be John Allen Clark, Sue (his wife), myself and Alan Coates—I think that was the hard-core of regulars, although we were often joined by others who might have only been able to attend Westminster irregularly.

I wish I had a TARDIS so I could go back in time and record those conversations. Or, at the very least, a camera so I had some photographs of that merry bunch as we munched through teacakes and pulled out new purchases from bulging carrier bags.

Happy Days!

I'm trying to keep a lot of balls in the air at the moment, writing, proofing, subbing and trying to keep up with e-mail and trying to get in touch with a number of people to ask for articles, assistance with scans, opinions on specialist subjects and generally trying to draw them into my web of insanity. There are already people trapped in it... I can see legs kicking feebly... In fact, I already have a couple of articles in and others due. The first couple of issues are likely to be a real mix, but further down the line there should be some themed issues. I'm looking at reprinting some comic strips in the mag and wondering just how obscure I should go! I have feelers out for possible interviews, but nothing confirmed as yet.

I want to give a quick tip of the hat to Jacques Gauthier, who responded to my plea last week and... well, I'll just say we could have our BAM! logo. Thanks, Jacques.

Keeping the weekend clear for writing meant that I didn't get far with the Longbow proofs. However, I'm now well into the second volume with not too many corrections to make to the first. I will have the payment pages up and running next week and, unless something goes horribly wrong, a firm release date.

Ideas and thoughts are always welcome, by the way, but I can't always respond immediately. If I'm trying to finish something off I might not look at my e-mail or my Facebook page for 24 hours. Don't panic, I will get back to you.