Panel Borders: Looking for Lost Girls part 1

February 19, 2008

Originally broadcast 14/02/08 as part of Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM

The first half of Alex Fitch’s 2008 interview with Alan Moore – originally broadcast on Valentine’s day. Alex and Alan discuss Alan’s epic graphic novel Lost Girls, from its beginnings – serialised in the horror anthology Taboo – to its final printing 16 years later as a beautiful three volume slipcased hardback published by Top Shelf
Visit the home of this episode at archive.org

Links: Invisible Girls and Phantom Ladies – an article on the portrayal of women in comics by Alan Moore (circa 1983) …
Alan Moore strips on Scans Daily (perhaps I could have worded that better) …
Paul Gravett interviews Alan Moore …
Alex’s previous interview with Alan part one, part two, part three …
Extracts (and a very cool photo) from Alan’s recent interview with Word magazine …
Index of Alan Moore interviews available on the web … Wikipedia page on Lost Girls …
Top Shelf productions (publishers of Lost Girls) website …
Gosh! Comics website

Comics news…

The nominations for this year’s Eagle Awards have started – www.eagleawards.co.uk…

If I might use this blog to make some suggestions… You can get a full list of all the comic book creators I’ve interviewed over the last year and a half at podcasts.resonancefm.com and I’d like to show my appreciation for their contibutions to this show – so if you’d like to vote for say Simon Spurrier or any of the Manga Jiman creators for favourite newcomer writer or artist respectively, that might be cool, or the likes of Alan Moore, Leah Moore, John Reppion, Ian Edgington, Rich Johnston, Paul Cornell etc. for favourite comics writer, they deserve it. Favourite writer / artist – I think Bryan Talbot is without peers in this category* – , favourite artist (spreadable between inkers, pencillers, colourists etc.) – John McCrea, Mark Buckingham, Charlie Adlard, Sean Phillips, Duncan Fegredo, D’Israeli, Frazer Irving, Melinda Gebbie**,(Resonance’s very own) Mark Stafford all seem like good candidates to me…
I’ve not interviewed any letterers as yet – I’m happy to recommend Todd Klein** on Alan Moore’s behalf – but will try and do so in the next few months. The only editor I’ve interviewed is Matt Smith, a year ago, but he continues to do good work on 2000AD…

Publisher: Self Made Hero (Nevermore) and Rebellion (200AD) are up there already, but Modern Monstrosity (Tales from the flat) deserve a nomination…
Nominating comics and graphic novels (particularly American) is very much down to personal taste – all the above creators and everyone else I’ve interviewed has done very good work over the last year – though it would be remiss of me not to suggest Tales from the Flat for best British Black and White comic, The Mark of Aeacus for favourite new comic book, Alice in Sunderland for favourite new Graphic Novel and Pat Mills’ Nemesis the Warlock book 3 for favourite reprint.
In terms of related media – the Forbidden Planet International blog has supported this show throughout the last year, so gets my recommendation for best favourite website, though Bugpowder, London Underground Comics and Journalista!** are all very deserving too. If we can get Oli Smith’s London Underground Comics video podcasts listed under favourite TV / film (going for the loosest definition of the words), that would be great too.
Finally the roll of honour – at the risk of being terribly egotistical, may I suggest me, Alex Fitch in the category of “entrepreneur whose achievements have… increased public awareness (of comics)”? (I know it says “in print”, but then I do publicise the show in [electronic] print)

That said, I noticed Paul Gravett and Ed Hillyer haven’t won in the past and are far more deserving than me! (Shameless self-publicist Oli Smith is after nomination as well and as I guess he’s the Barack to my Clinton, he doesn’t need any extra help from me!)

*as the Eagle awards are the comics equivilent of the BAFTAs, I’m going to recommend British creators except for those with **two asterixes for reasons listed above…