2009

01 June

blog

Comics Bleeding Cool by Nick

Bleeding Cool: A new comics blog/magazine from muck-raking comics journalist Rich Johnston. Looks impressive, and the roll-call of talent includes the prolific comic writer Warren Ellis.

I think we can finally forgive Johnston for getting the identity of the next Doctor Who so badly wrong (got our hopes up, he did!)

07 February

reviews

Comics Mini comics and visual diaries by Kate

Two things I picked up at last week’s Alternative Press Fair were Depressed Cat’s guide to Alternative Press and DIY Zines and Isabel Greenberg’s If I Could Only See Around Corners. The first is a tiny, tiny history of zines as told by Depressed Cat and was created by Lizz Lunney especially for the day and for the upcoming Brighton Zine Fair. A great way of explaining zines to people who don’t know and it fits in your pocket. If I Could Only See Around Corners is a ‘visual diary’, day to day stories of life captured as comics. I’m just kicking myself that I didn’t get the second part of the journal on the day too, because it really made me laugh (Isabel is funny and Isabel’s friends are funny) and i really hate just reading part one of something. You can find the journals and other self-published graphic novels at www.isabelnecessary.com .

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25 January

blog

Books Censorship in Anime: Special series on the Anime News Network by Kate

Chicks on Anime have published a really interesting 2-part series on censorship in Anime, a conversation between Bamboo (the managing editor for ANN), Casey (a writer for ANN) and Sara (an animator). They cover a lot of different angles, including the growing influence of Borders and the like on what is and isn’t published, self-censorship and the implications of a recent obscenity trial in the US.

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2008

31 May

blog

Comics Freakangels by Nick

I’m correcting a terrible oversight by finally linking to Freakangels, Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield’s new free weekly webcomic. Jump to the beginning with the prelude.

Freakangels is a grittier update of the cozy catastrophe genre of science fiction beloved of English writers such as John Wyndham. In fact, it’s basically a punk revision of The Midwich Cuckoos, exploring what happens after the creepy kids grow up and have destroyed the world. In this scenario, they’re not quite as bad as you’d think. But they have purple eyes instead of bright blue.

Ellis’s script has his usual quota of sex, violence, and swearing, but it’s Duffield’s art that is truly extraordinary in its depiction of a partially drowned future London.