| You know you're jealous |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|09:15 pm] |
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What's up gang? First of all I miss the group dearly and secondly, I'm going to Comic Con '08!!! Whoohoo. End of the month I'll be in comic nerd heaven. I'll let you all know how it goes. |
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| SW2 readers read 'Walking Dead 2' |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|06:09 pm] |
We are reading The Walking Dead Book 2 by Robert Kirkman and will meeting at 7p.m. at the Streatham Library 21 July to discuss it
They are dead and they walk, go figure. I've posted about zombie fiction before so you probably all got the general idea that it's not my favourite subject for reading. It is survivalist horror and not much more than that. I believe that movies do this sort of thing better.
However the author has introduced new elements into the story. There are disturbing developments but not nessecarilly from the zombies. And I would reccomend this book to anyone wantng a good yarn to read. The other reason for reading this book? It's illustrated by the talented Charlie Adlard:)
To find Streatham Library check the link below:
Map |
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| CRÉCY |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|11:13 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | West Norwood | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Historical | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Angelo Badalamenti | ] |
CRÉCY
By
Warren Ellis & Raulo Caceres
Published by Avatar Press last year, Crécy is the best surprise I’ve had from Warren Ellis in recent times. Instead of some weird sci-fi with chemically enhanced, cyber engineered humans criss-crossing dimensions, time and space we have instead a quite factual historical account (or at least that’s how it felt like – I haven’t gone to the trouble to actually read any history books – so there) of one of the most important battles in English history and, according to Ellis, world history. For Crécy marks a turning point in terms of military strategy. And the big change is that the only rule from then on is to win. At any cost.
( DRAW! FAR RANGE! LOOSE!!! ) |
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| ALL-STAR SUPERMAN VOL.1 |
[Jul. 7th, 2008|05:31 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | West Norwood | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Super! | ] |
| [ | music |
| | dEUS | ] |
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN VOL.1
By
Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant, Phil Balsman
I want to say: Grant Morrison has done it again.
So I am actually going to.
GRANT MORRISON HAS DONE IT AGAIN.
(dammit)
(or, better, damn glad that he did...)
( I know, I know. I’ve heard it all before... ) |
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| SW2 Readers read & discuss Maus |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|07:07 pm] |
(Don't know what's up with the image I keep posting up here. You guys willl just have to read this topic sans image)
The SW2 readers group had plenty of spare seats when we sat down to discuss Maus by Art Spiegelman at Streatham Library on the 23 June. At first it was a little odd as we've been very cosy in the cramped space we meet in. But it was not really surprising as we all knew this reading & discussing Maus was going to be uncomfortable. It was, as the image above & our absent friends might suggest.
If you are interested in reading Maus with us please get in touch with Streatham Library at 0207 926 6776 to reserve a copy or post here. We are meeting again to read & discuss Maus on the 7 July at Streatham Library at 19:00. Print map out from this address.
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| SW2 readers on the radio |
[Jun. 26th, 2008|03:48 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hyper | ] |
The Streatham library group's discussion of Charles Burns' 'Black Hole' and my interview with Dickon, Pedro, Dave and Tony is on the radio - Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com - this evening at 5pm...
More info at http://panelborders.wordpress.com/ |
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| NAUSICAA VOL. 6 |
[Jun. 24th, 2008|04:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | West Norwood | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Epic Cold | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Godspeed! You Black Emperor | ] |
NAUSICAA VOL. 6
By
Hayao Miyazaki
Nausicaa has disappeared and the moulds have united. Charuka and Chikuku set out to explore the wasteland ridden with Ohmu carcasses. From the flying jar they see that a part of a village hasn’t been eaten up and that Wormhandlers are stealing Nausicaa’s Mehve.
Now that the Dorok lands have been conquered by the forest they belong to the 11 Wormhandler tribes that have come to peacefully divide them amongst them.
Even though Charuka wants to keep the babies that the handlers have saved throughout their travels, they allow no such thing as they wait for the sun to break through the clouds and bring the forest to their fuller splendour.
Chikuku takes Nausicaa’s Mehve and, as things turn to the worse, 2 of the forest people arrive, creating a protective bubble around the sphere while being adored as gods by the Wormhandlers.
( The penultimate chapter in Nausicaa’s destiny continues HERE ) |
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| OCEAN |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|01:44 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | West Norwood | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Oceanic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Tom Waits | ] |
OCEAN
By
Warren Ellis, Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Randy Mayor, Wendy Broome, Wildstorm FX, Tomy Avina, Jared K. Fletcher
SYNOPSIS
Nathan Kane doesn’t like weapons. But, more than that, he doesn’t like the wrong people to have them.
This is why he’s Weapons Inspector for the United Nations.
This is why he undertakes a mission of high risk and quickly changing odds.
On the Jovian moon Europa something has been found, buried deep in the solar system’s largest ocean. Something unexpected. Something old. Something extremely dangerous.
But as soon as Kane docks in Cold Harbour, the government space station orbiting Europa, he realises that the multi-planetary super conglomerate Doors knows more about what’s floating beneath the ice than he or any of the crew members at Cold Harbour. And Doors wants to keep the findings at all costs.
It’s a tough gamble but Kane will stop at nothing to set matters straight and prevent the ancient artefacts from falling into the wrong hands.
( Dive deep into Europa’s ancient secrets under an ice covered OCEAN ) |
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| Comic event on 19th July |
[Jun. 19th, 2008|01:29 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  complacent | ] |
Ok forgot to mention on the 19th July there is an indepdent comic event at The plough pub 27 museum st London wc1a1lh., (next to the Comic museum) nearest tube is Tottenham court road or Holborn. Its a 'celebration of small press and indpendent comic creators.
I will def be going but it is really statisfying seeing guys who do this as they are all talented. I can't really recommend this stuff enough really. For those of you impatient for your comic fix make sure to check out undergound comics at camden market. there is a stall there every saturday and you can check out the mighty Dan Lester and Co.
Enough postings from me.
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| Greeting comic peeps |
[Jun. 19th, 2008|12:23 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | wierk | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | the tings tings | ] |
Hello fellow scribblers and readers, I am just checking about our next gathering. Am I wrong in thinking it is this Monday June 23rd?
I potentially have a day off on Friday so will try and have something to show for Mon. Anyhoo let me know definite dates.
Speak soon
Dickon
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| YOUNG AVENGERS VOL. 1 |
[Jun. 17th, 2008|01:02 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | West Norwood | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Avenging! | ] |
| [ | music |
| | New Order | ] |
YOUNG AVENGERS VOL. 1
By
Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, John Dell, Mark Morales, Drew Geraci, Justin Ponsor and Cory Petit
Yeah. I know. Why would I pick up a book with a title like YOUNG AVENGERS in the first place? After all with a title like this it sounds more like marketing strategy than anything else…
And maybe it is. But the case was I didn’t know the title, the writer or the artist. I picked it up for curiosity’s sake (one of my sporadic tests on the health of the mainstream superhero genre…)
And it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected.
In fact, it was quite good.
( Click to continue with a Young Avenging Review ) |
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| NAUSICAA VOL. 5 |
[Jun. 16th, 2008|04:53 pm] |
NAUSICAA VOL. 5
By
Hayao Miyazaki
If in the previous volume the Daikaisho was a mere possibility, in this one it becomes a reality.
We open up with Miralupa’s ship arriving at Shuwa, transporting the Holy Emperor’s rapidly decaying body.
Again in this book Miyazaki presents us with amazing visuals, creating a panoply of elements that enable us to easily recognise Dorok culture. One can feel that he has put a lot of effort into enabling us to identify and experience cultural differences just by the way people are dressed, build or behave. And he does it with his wonderful sense of grace and ease, simultaneously conveying a patent sense of mood and being.
( From foolishness, through sacrifice, into redemption, nature is the key ) |
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| SCARLET TRACES VOL.2 THE GREAT GAME |
[Jun. 14th, 2008|10:26 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | West Norwood | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Spatial | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mouse on Mars | ] |
SCARLET TRACES VOL.2 THE GREAT GAME
By
Ian Edginton and D’Israeli
The Great Game continues a few years after where the previous volume left off. Lady Charlotte, a photographer for The Inquisitor finds herself amidst a bigger plot than she could have ever imagined as she meets up with Bernie Golden, the Inquisitor’s proprietor and editor. After being rescued by none other than Autumn himself (now very old but still fighting the good fight), Charlotte learns a few puzzling pieces of the many mysteries surrounding the ongoing war being waged in space. Wanting to avenge her employer’s death and take the ultimate journalistic challenge, Charlotte decides to embark undercover towards Mars and see with her own eyes what’s really happening there. It’s BIG trouble for sure…
( Continue the Great Game written in crimson over the red sands of Mars… ) |
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| We3 |
[Jun. 11th, 2008|04:51 pm] |
The Reading Group met to discuss We3 written by Grant Morrison & illusrated Frank Quitely. It's a subversive little piece. The first thing one sees is the cover with three animals pimped in cute pastel cybergear.
But as one gets into the story it becomes apparrent that We3 is a pastiche of The Incredible Journey and a platform for insurgent little ideas like is it moral to alter any life for the purpose of making war.
If someone you know thinks comics are safe and comfortable and you don't want to put them off with anything too intellectual or serious (we all know someone like that:) ) slip this into their reading list:)
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| Maus |
[Jun. 11th, 2008|03:45 pm] |
We are reading and reviewing Maus by Art Spiegelman at the Streatham Library at the Graphic Novel Readers Group Meeting on the 32 June and on the 7 July at 19:00.
Map
Many of you will already know of Maus by reputation even if you have not read it. For a comic that does concern it with brightly clothed superhumans beating the bejabers out of each other it is an anomaly. For it is one of the more famous comics of the late 20th & 21st century. But it is probably not one of the first comics anyone would reach to the bookshelves to read. Why not? Because it is an uncomfortable read. It is about a period of history where the depredations and sins of the human race were laid bare to the public camera. At the end of World War II the German Nazi Government were revealed to have organised a systematic persecution and extermination of over 10 million people. 6 million of those people were Jewish. Maus is the story of the author’s father’s experience as a Polish Jew surviving the Holocaust and is a perspective on the Holocaust as a whole. Art Spiegelman portrays the characters as anthromorphised animals; Jews as mice, Germans as cats and so on. But it does not portray the victims or their captors as two-dimensional. Rather it describes them as people which, perhaps, makes the events that much more chilling.
If you are interested in reading Maus with us please get in touch with Streatham Library at 0207 926 6776 to reserve a copy. If the Library has run out of copies post to me here and I'll try to find you a copy. If you don't have the time to attended the meeting but are still interested in what we have to say about Maus and may have something to contribute yourself then add keep the address of this site as we will be posting up here on the subject after our meeting. |
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| SCARLET TRACES VOL.1 |
[Jun. 10th, 2008|08:34 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | West Norwood | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Weird | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Frank Sinatra | ] |
SCARLET TRACES VOL.1
By Ian Edginton and D’Israeli
Being a lover of SF and seeing the two volumes of SCARLET TRACES displayed at Gosh! a few months ago got me started. Then, just a few weeks ago, I saw the two volumes in display in the library where I work – West Norwood. Finally, today, I could not resist and grabbed both.
SCARLET TRACES follows where WAR OF THE WORLDS ends. After the Martians are defeated by a virus we humans have long since adapted, the British Intelligentsia starts to study Martian technology and building a nation the likes the world has never seen. 10 years pass and Britain becomes the most powerful and feared country on the planet. All seems well. But only on the surface. For as soon as dozens of bodies of young women show up in the banks of the Thames a strange plot begins to be revealed.
( Who said H.G Wells was dead? Click for more world wrapping warfare ) |
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| Dickon (kind of) on the radio |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|12:47 pm] |
I know I'm always on the bloody radio, but for a change so is young Harris, albeit behind the mic, this evening (though I seem to remember him asking a couple of questions as well - I'm still editing it):
Strip!: New European Manga(ka)
Continuing our series of reports from this year’s Bristol International comics Expo; in this week’s episode we’re looking at new European Manga creators. Alex Fitch is talking to two artists who have drawn Manga Shakespeare and are doing very well in serialised comics: Kate Brown (The DFC) and Paul Duffield (Freak Angels) and our new roving reporter Dickon Harris has recorded Fredrik Strömberg & Sofia Falkenhem’s panel on Swedish Manga produced by a Manga studio (Yokaj) imported from Japan!
5pm 05/06/08, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.com
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| News from a friend |
[Jun. 3rd, 2008|12:05 pm] |
I haven't posted anything on comic news or related events on this community for ages. But the wonderful Mr Paul Gravette has saved my bacon. He posted to the readers group summarising his site including his events page. Which I am now happily cannabalising:)
The DFC is a new british weekly comic published from the 30, May called . It's aimed at kids between 8 & 12 years, It's available only subscription intially. It will be about £3. But the publishers random house are offering a deal of 4 free issues as a sample and 25% off 22 issues if customers subscribe now. It works out at £49.50 and can be payed in installments And you can try out a 3 month package for £29.99
The Times Online was supposed to be hosting Nick Abadiz' s comic The Trial of the Sober Dog but the link appears to be down. Check it out, you might have more luck: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/soberdog. If not the best example I've found of his work is on Expressions.
The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics edited by Mr Gravette and designed by Paul Stanbury.will be in the shops on the 18 July. But it will be available as advance copies at the book's launch at the ICA event Between The Panels on the 11 Jume where Mr Gravette, Mike Dawson, Mio Matsumoto, Woodrow Phoenix and Warren Pleece will be present.. Writers o fthe book's storys include Moore, Hammnet, Spliane, Eisner, Tardi, Munoz, Sampaya, Gaiman & others. There will also be copies at the 29 June Comic Mart in London: The National Collectors Marketplace.
Also check out the TV l;istings for BBC2 on the 12 July. and keep an eye out for mention of Mr Gravettes Comics Britannia.
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| Trespass 4 launch |
[Jun. 2nd, 2008|10:59 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
I guess Trespass magazine won't be turning up to the group, as their comic book themed issue has a launch party on thursday near Leicester Square if anyone wants to go along...
More info at their myspace page... |
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