Mo' links.

1. And talking of Norn Iron, looks like THE SIMPSONS are finally getting around to taking the mick out of The Troubles, in their usual restrained way.

2. Don't write him off yet. Big Russ still has plenty of DOCTOR WHO opinions in 'im.

By Odin's sash!

Most of us here in Norn Iron look upon Kenneth Branagh's career with a mixture of pride and hilarity. As in, "he's one of us, and look! He's getting away with it! Go for it, big fella.". Good man, our Ken. Your THE MAGIC FLUTE was something to behold. Heh. Heh. No really, I'm cracking up here. Anyway, Ken may well be following up his mystical masonic masterpiece with THE MIGHTY THOR for Marvel's movie limb. Fair enough, this may not be as odd a choice as some may think. Also: I'm sure Ken is thinking one thing I agree with 100%. Brian Blessed for Odin. Or Jimmy Ellis. Either's solid gold, really.

Brendan McCarthy's THE PERVERTED.

Brendan McCarthy's a guy who understands an artist's contract with the Fourth Estate. Alongside a polite request to take down a rather prematurely posted peak at his upcoming Marvel project, he sends along this coarse piece of filth for your delectation. Enjoy!

Glen Brunswick talks JERSEY GODS over at Comic Book Resources.

Lots of JERSEY GODS art from this blog's pal Dan McDaid over here. And god-damn, is it kick-arse. That said, CBR rather badly failed to credit Mike Allred, Darwyn Cooke and Paul Pope for their various cover/cover roughs displayed there. Whoopsie. But I think the average, discerning reader of BL should be able to tell which is which.

Comic Creator's FLICKR Photostreams.

New feature added in the sidebar: comic creator's Flickr Photostreams. Some of these are ran like repositories for the good stuff, others like blogs. If you've come across any more, or want yours added, feel free to email me with the links.

*update* And already, thanks to Sean for a load of these.

To [B7]him, life is a great big [Em]bang up, [B7]Whenever there's a [Em]hang up, [B7]You'll find the Spider [Em]man!

Just came across this, it's been up for a few days at Jonathan Edwards' blog, but it bears repeating, now: an amazing doodled Spider-Man playing a kinda Vox peardrop lookin' axe.

EyeCandy #1: all about the pony.

Remember EyeCandy, Al Ewing and PJ Holden's paradigm-busting comic for the iPhone? Issue 1 is available from iTunes now. This is a plug, and therefore not the time for me to go into a lecture about why this here's yer future for comics distribution, right here, right now. But it is.

It's probably not the most economic decision I've ever made, but I might buy an iPod Touch just for this.

Brother by another mother.

Warwick Johnson Cadwell has been blogging a year, and to celebrate, he's created a jam image featuring lots of recurring characters from his work, and he's included another one of me in there too. I love that maniac. Wish I had a really big copy of this to use as my wallpaper.

Things to check out at this year's Open House Festival

Thursday: Bob Log III.


Saturday: Heavy Trash.

She's got Russell Davies' eyes.

I'll give some credence to this story, mainly because it follows my preferred model of how to work a DOCTOR WHO movie with minimum fuss (two production offices, working simultaneously but independently).

Ban this Filth.

Hate music? Then you'll love this.

Sneaky Pete Kleinow. Now THAT was a pedal steel player.

Over at the Tank Girl Blog, Alan Martin's offering a sneaky peek at the THE CREAM OF TANK GIRL book, which won't be out in the shops for another month, plus change.

A public service announcement - with comics!

The Belfast Apple Store launches at 9am on Saturday morning (Les' birthday - hi, Les!), and the first 1000 people through the door get a free t-shirt! Big whoop! Give my regards to Jim Jones, you brainwashed nutters.

Only, some lucky blighters will be getting two free t-shirts: all hail PJ Holden, punching the smug face of retailing with comics!

Frank Miller's THE SPIRIT: still not right, nor next to near it.

Eye pain here.

Pouring down the broadway in the rain.

Last week I was discussing the notion of Jack White doing the new Bond theme, while hurtling along the N165 in France in an Aston Martin DB8. Only kidding. It was a Toyota Corolla. I said to my sceptical pilot that White is enough of a McCartney fiend to go completely LIVE AND LET DIE on our asses. So here's something of a preview of the track, and, no, it's not McCartneyesque. In fact, it sounds like a late model Page/Bonham turnaround (hardly new territory, then), with added weak-beer John Barry pastiche sections. Anyhoo, I'll reserve judgement until I hear the full track. I'm enough of a sucker for both White and Alicia Keyes to hope they pull victory from the jaws of defeat.



*Update* Heard it on the radio this afternoon and actually liked it. It's the best Bond theme in many years, though that may be to damn it with faint praise (when was the last decent one? Nobody Does It Better in 1977?).

INCOGNITO teaser.

DC solicits again.

Darwyn Cooke does AMBUSH BUG.
Quitely does BIRDS OF PREY.


DC Direct produce a Christopher Reeve tribute statue. Should go down well in the Millar household, anyway.

Book Byrne-ing.

Here's one for the library contingent out there. John Byrne living up to his reputation. Oh aye. Quick! Comics need protecting, from those pesky potential readers!

Ever since I started writing for a living, I have found myself viewing libraries
somewhat differently than once I did. I think we are all in agreement that
libraries are A Good Thing -- but are they A Good Thing right across the
board? When we have niche products like comics, is it really a good idea for
them to be available in libraries? Some might argue that reading a trade
paperback could encourage a reader to seek out the comics themselves, but
I wonder if that really happens as much as we might like to think it does?
After all, as I have complained so many times, the comicbook industry has
done just about everything it can to make it as difficult as possible for
someone to start reading comics. The product is sold almost exclusively
thru out-of-the-way venues. It is "expensive". Shipping schedules are
erratic. Increasingly, once juvenile (in a good way) fare has become "adult".

The notion of "waiting for the trade" has, I am sure, had a negative impact
on the sales of the monthly books. How much more negative impact comes
from those trades being available in libraries? Not only are they reliably on
the shelf from month to month in a library, they are free! Taken from the
most cold hearted and mercenary stance (which is where I think we really
have to be in this crumbling business!) are libraries a Good Thing for
comics?

(via Gutters)

Changed priorities ahead.

Kidrobot have more Paul Pope vinyl toys on the batter. I see they're also selling some leftovers of Pope's first design, the SDCC exclusive Masked Karimbah. God, I'm so tempted to whip out the credit card and get one, never mind the fact that I'll have a statement due soon with about a grand's worth of fancy French wine to pony up for.

INCOGNITO #1.

Here's one Marvel have managed to keep mysteriously quiet about so far. It sounds like Brubaker and Phillips are heading back into SLEEPER territory, which can't be a bad thing at all.

INCOGNITO #1
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Art & Cover by SEAN PHILLIPS
From the creators of Criminal and Sleeper comes the most insane and evil super-villain comic youve ever read!
What if you were an ex-super villain hiding out in Witness Protection... but all you could think about were the days when the rules didnt apply to you? Could you stand the toil of an average life after years of leaving destruction in your wake? And what if you couldnt stand it? What would you do then?
INCOGNITO a twisted mash-up of noir and super-heroics by best-selling creators Ed Brubaker (The Death of Captain America) and Sean Phillips(Marvel Zombies) with Val Staples on colors.
And continuing Criminals single issue tradition, each issue of Incognito has more pages of story content, as well as articles on pulp and noir and behind the scenes looks!
32 PGS./Mature Content/No Ads ...$3.50

Henry Flint's HAUNTED TANK #1 cover is nice.

Flint, an artist you probably know for drawing in a style that blends Carlos Ezquerra, Mick McMahon and a pinch of Steve Dillon, seems to be factoring in a little Frank Quitely here. Similarly, along those lines, I see Vincent is down as the major contributor to FINAL CRISIS: SECRET FILES #1. Is this a cruel joke, or can we really expect a major chunk of work by the Morrison/Quitely super-team? I've been burned on them thar SECRET FILES books before, y'know.

None more Welsh.

Yeah, there's an idea, Russell. Get Catherine Zeta Jones in to play The Doctor's assistant. And maybe Tony Hopkins to play the villain. And Tom Jones to sing the theme tune. Why not?

Even you must be into you.

The shop across the street from work has started selling this stuff, and I'm hooked. In fact, I've had so much of it in the last three days that I've just detected that I now smell of pears. It's nice. I'm kind of turning myself on.

Matt Fraction, comic genius.

Boom, boom.

Shake some action.

Okay, when the history of comics is written, Northern Ireland mightn't feature much until Garth Ennis & John McCrea hit CRISIS, but goddammit, we're the guys who did away with paper! In your face, Quebec! Take it away, PJ!

Things I missed while on holiday.

1. Brendan McCarthy kicking my arse.


2. Team Tank starting their own blog.

3. Paul Pope going all THB, Batman, WATCHMEN, Kirby crazy over at his Flickr page.

Careful, now!

Kids, think carefully before knocking one out to the sexy, sexy women who appear in the comics drawn by Sean Phillips! You might never know just who he used as photo reference...

So, has Frank Miller been a naughty boy again or what?

ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN #10 recalled. Guess we won't find out why until Wednesday. Do the right thing, comics retailers of the world!

Moebius and Me.

As a librarian, I must say the CNBDI is very impressive. We've plenty of great advocates for comics in the Anglophone world, but most of them come from a business or entertainment background. To get something like this off the ground over here, we'd need a strong public voice coming from academia, but damned if I can think of any likely candidates. Given its history, surely there should be a UK national comics library at Dundee?

Anyway, I went to the library there and asked for their Chris Weston section. They must have been watching Fawlty Towers on their monitors, because they started laughing and saying "qué?" a lot.

Ce ne pas mes oignions!

Ou est mes oignions?! Il s'agit de l'ail!

Leaders Of The New School.

So, guess what we were singing as we drove past the Courvoisier factory? That's right. "Gimme Some More".

Diggle it. Just a little bit.

Apparently, Andy Diggle wanted to write a Judge Dredd/Superman crossover, has it entirely plotted, but Dan Diddyman wasn't interested. Just add another page to the burgeoning "is DiDio an idiot?" casefile. It's another of those great "just imagine who they'd have asked to draw it?" scenarios. Bolland, Gibbons, Jock... every one's a winner.

I'm back!

What did I miss?