Last post...

Dear loyal blogger readers, spambots et al...

this is the last entry you will find on this blog. Please use www.panelborders.wordpress.com from now on (I'll be making it look more exciting soon)...

Thanks for all your support to occasionally make this the 50th most popular blog on the 'net, especially to Joe Gordon at Forbidden Planet International, Kinga P, Paul Cornell, Dirk Deppey, Shaun Pimlott, Paul Gravett and Rich Johnston for mentions on their blogs which have sent traffic in this direction...

Hope you all have a great New Year and 'see' you at the Panel Borders blog in 2008 and beyond.

best wishes,
Alex

A day of hot chat...

Broadcast today on Resonance FM from noon is a variety of the best 'chat' shows from the last twelve months. This will include a selection of "I'm ready for my close-up" and "Panel Borders" / "Strip!" and will hopefully include some of the episodes which have been podcast but not yet broadcast on air. So if you're bored of Christmas TV and want to find out why The Observer thinks Resonance is one of the top five radio events of the year, why not tune in...

Podcast: The Art of Mark Buckingham

Panel Borders: The art of Mark Buckingham

Alex's and Duncan's half hour interview with Mark Buckingham about his comic book career so far drawing such titles as Spider-man, Fables, Death and Miracleman and collaborating with Chris Bachalo on Generation X and Ghost Rider 2099- originally broadcast as the first half of last week's Strip! on Resonance FM...

Happy Christmas!

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com (mp3 format, 30 mins, 27.1mb)

Today's show: Classic Childrens’ characters in Comics

Today at 5pm on Resonance 104.4FM - Strip!: Classic Childrens’ characters in Comics

In the last Strip! of the year, Alex Fitch and Duncan Nott are looking at the depiction of beloved children’s characters in comics. First we have our interview with Mark Buckingham about reinventing classic fairy tales in Fables and the challenge of bringing something new to the character in his two year run on Spider-man.

Later in the show we have the first on air broadcast of Alex & Duncan’s conversation with Geoff Senior and Simon Furman on 25 years of Transformers, which was first podcast last summer. This is a change to the show advertised at the end of last week’s episode (which was to be about adaptations of classic literature in comics and will be broadcast in a fortnight) mainly because I accidently left the CD at home this morning…

Links: Wikipedia pages on Mark Buckingham, Fables and the comic: Peter Parker, Spider-man
Download free Marvel Comics by Mark
Partial bibliography
Interview with Mark at Silver Bullet Comics

Panel Borders: The work of Simon Spurrier

Panel Borders: The work of Simon Spurrier

Alex's and Duncan's half hour interview with Simon Spurrier about his comic book career so far and writing his first novel Contract - originally broadcast as the second half of last week's Strip! on Resonance FM...

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com (mp3 format, 30 mins, 28.7mb)

Today's show: Tamara Drewe and the Angel Gang!*

Today at 5pm on Resonance 104.4FM - Strip!: Tamara Drewe and the Angel Gang!*

*(it amuses me, anyway, to suggest Tamara has adventures as exciting as her long lost cousin Nancy...)


The first half of today's show is continuing Resonance FM's coverage of the London ComICA festival - the second half of a discussion held at the Comica festival in which Lisa Appignanesi talks to Guardian cartoonist in residence Posy Simmonds about the collection of her strips from the newspaper which has just been published as a harback graphic novel Tamara Drewe by Jonathan Cape. The talk was recorded live at the ICA last month. Please note: this discussion will not be podcast, so please tune in if you want to catch it.

In the second half of the show you'll hear an interview that Duncan Nott and Alex Fitch conducted at the Birmingham International Comics Show with British novelist and comics writer - Simon Spurrier** - about his work from acclaimed strips in 2000AD and Judge Dredd megazine such as Lobster Random and The Simping Detective to his recent forays into the American market with Gutsville and The Silver Surfer.

**not to be confused with Simon Guerrier or Paul Spurrier (it's getting like that game where you keep changing one letter to make a new word!)

Links: More info about ComICA at www.ica.org and www.paulgravett.com
"Read yourself Raw" profile on Posy Simmonds
Reviews of Posy's Literary Life and Tamara Drewe
Wikipedia pages on Posy Simmonds and Simon Spurrier
Simon's profile at 2000AD online
Info about Simon's novel Contract
Simon's website and myspace page
Listen to Alex's interview with Simon's frequent collaborator, Frazer Irving

Podcast: The art of Charlie Adlard

Panel Borders: The art of Charlie Adlard

Alex's and Duncan's half hour interview with Charlie Adlard about his comic book career so far - originally broadcast as the second half of last week's Strip! on Resonance FM...

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com (mp3 format, 32 mins, 29.4mb)

Today's show: Exploring the Smoking Cabinet

Today on Resonance FM at 3.30pm Alex Fitch is guest presenting Richard Thomas' show on Ephemera - Tight Pudding and is talking to Claire Cook, Simone Pyne and Kate Grove about the "Burlesque Cinema" weekend they've curated at the Curzon Soho Cinema and Volupte Lounge in London. The Smoking Cabinet mixes short films, features (The Blue Angel), live acts and talks to explore depictions of cabaret on film from the 1890s to the 1930s.

Today's show: Tamara Drewe and the Walking Dead!

Today at 5pm on Resonance 104.4FM - Strip!: Tamara Drewe and the Walking Dead!


The first half of today's show is continuing Resonance FM's coverage of the London ComICA festival - the first half of a discussion held at the Comica festival in which Lisa Appignanesi talks to Guardian cartoonist in residence Posy Simmonds about the collection of her strips from the newspaper which has just been published as a harback graphic novel Tamara Drewe by Jonathan Cape. The talk was recorded live at the ICA last month. Please note: this discussion will not be podcast, so please tune in if you want to catch it.

In the second half of the show you'll hear an interview that Duncan Nott and Alex Fitch conducted at the Birmingham International Comics Show with another British comics artist - Charlie Adlard - about his work from acclaimed zombie comic The Walking Dead to Judge Dredd and the challenges of drawing Mulder and Scully in the comic book adaptation of the X-Files.

Links: More info about ComICA at www.ica.org and www.paulgravett.com
"Read yourself Raw" profile on Posy Simmonds
Reviews of Posy's Literary Life and Tamara Drewe
Wikipedia pages on Posy Simmonds and Charlie Adlard
Lambiek.net pages on Posy Simmonds and Charlie Adlard
Interviews with Charlie at 2000AD review and G Wie Gorilla!
Article on Charlie joining The Walking Dead at Silver Bullet Comics
Read Kim Newman's vampire story Mildrew Manor, illustrated by Charlie

Podcast: The art of Sean Phillips and Duncan Fegredo

Panel Borders: The art of Sean Phillips and Duncan Fegredo

Alex's half hour long interview with Sean Phillips and Duncan Fegredo about their work in comics and their art collaborations - originally broadcast as the second half of yesterday's Strip! on Resonance FM...

For more info and a selection of different file formats you can download or stream, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.com (mp3 format, 30 mins, 28.6mb)

Tonight...

...there's no episode of "I'm ready for my close-up" broadcast on Resonance FM, due to the station's live coverage of the London Music Collective's 16th Anniversary...
(in case you were wondering)

Today's show: Comics for girls and (Hell) boys part 2

Today at 5pm on Resonance 104.4FM - Strip!: Comics for girls and (Hell) boys part 2


The first half of today's show is continuing Resonance FM's coverage of the London ComICA festival - the second half of a discussion held at the Comica festival that we started broadcasting a couple of weeks ago - in which a variety of critics discuss their love of and the cultural impact of British Girls' comics, introduced by Paul Gravett. Writer and performer Stella Duffy; Jane Purcell, author of the Radio 4 play 43 Years in the Third Form; Unskinny cartoonist Lucy Sweet; Nina Myskow, former editor of Jackie and others relish the heydays of Girl, Bunty, My Guy and more and reflect on their lessons and legacies. Hosted by Dr Mel Gibson (not that one). Please note: this discussion will not be podcast, so please tune in if you want to catch it.

In the second half of the show Alex Fitch talks to artists Duncan Fegredo and Sean Phillips in a conversation recorded at the Birmingham International Comics Show. Duncan and Sean have recently collaborated on an art book in which they start and finish each other's drawings, which spills over into their conversation style! Duncan's work includes Jay and Silent Bob - Chasing Dogma, Enigma and (to justify the title of this week's show) Hellboy - Darkness Falls. Sean has worked on Hellblazer, WildCATS, Marvel Zombies and both artists worked on the offbeat superhero comic Kid Eternity.

N.B./ As featured on last week's show: Jim Mahfood and Bill Shag's exhibition is still on at Dreamspace Gallery 'til tomorrow...


Links: More info about ComICA at www.ica.org and www.paulgravett.com
Article on I love girls' comics at newsarama.com
Hellboy.com
Wikipedia pages on Kid Eternity, Enigma, WildCATS, Marvel Zombies and Hellblazer
Website promoting Duncan's art book "Stuff"
2000 interview with Duncan at Sequential Tart
Sean's website
Interview with Sean at Forbidden Planet International
Splash Page Art pages on Duncan and Sean