Panel Borders and other podcasts

Panel Borders and other podcasts

Podcasts, radio shows, writing and more by Alex Fitch

You can scroll the shelf using and keys

Next week’s show: Unusual City Dwellers

June 1, 2023

Cover and interior art from The Bogie Man by Robin Smith, and a 2000AD cover by Smith / photos of Ellice Weaver, Alex Fitch and Robin Smith / Covers and Interior Art from Big Ugly and Something City by Ellice Weaver

Cover and interior art from The Bogie Man by Robin Smith, and a 2000AD cover by Smith / photos of Ellice Weaver, Alex Fitch and Robin Smith / Covers and Interior Art from Big Ugly and Something City by Ellice Weaver

In a programme looking at comics which depict unusual city dwellers, Alex Fitch talks to artists Ellice Weaver and Robin Smith about their work. Weaver discusses her urban graphic novels Big Ugly and Something City which tell the lives of friends and neighbours in city environments, Smith chats about the kickstarter campaign to collect the small press British comic The Bogie Man ,a pastiche of Bogart noir films set in Glasgow, plus his career in British comics.

5.30pm, Wednesday 7th June 2023, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 11th June 2023, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Info about The Bogie Man Kickstart campaign
Ellice
Weaver’s website
Order Big Ugly and Something City from publisher Avery Hill
Robin Smith’s pages on Lambiek and the British Comics Database
Listen to Alex’s interview with 2000AD and The Bogie Man writer John Wagner

Next week’s show: Exploring human behaviour

April 28, 2023

Alex Fitch, Alex Frith, Veronika Muchitsch and Daniel Locke discuss the graphic novels Two Heads and Cyberman in a Q and A at Waterstones, Brighton (photo by Myf Tristram)

Alex Fitch, Alex Frith, Veronika Muchitsch and Daniel Locke discuss the graphic novels Two Heads and Cyberman in a Q and A at Waterstones, Brighton (photo by Myf Tristram)

In a programme looking at non-fiction graphic novels that explore human behaviour, Alex Fitch chairs a panel discussion with a trio of comic creators about their work. Veronika Muchitsch discusses her book Cyberman which investigates a year in the life of webcammer Ari Kivikangas, plus Daniel Locke and Alex Frith chat about their collaboration – Two Heads – with the latter’s parents, Uta and Chris Frith, detailing their research into how the human brain works, recorded at Waterstones, Brighton (photo by Myf Tristram).

5.30pm, Wednesday 3rd May 2023, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 7th May 2023, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Info about Cyberman on publisher Myriad Editions’ website
Article on Veronika Muchitsch winning the Myriad First Graphic Novel competition in 2020
Veronica Muchitsch’s website
Buy Two Heads from publisher Bloomsbury’s website
Info about Two Heads on artist Daniel Locke’s website
Articles by Alex Frith on Usborne’s website
Alex Fitch’s previous interview with Alex Frith and Daniel Locke, recorded at the British Science Festival

This week’s show: Junkyard Jack, Street Noise, and Monster Fun

February 28, 2023

Art from Monster Fun: Hire a Horror by Matt Baxter, covers of books published by Street Noise, art from Junkyard Jack by Danny Noble

Art from Monster Fun: Hire a Horror by Matt Baxter, covers of books published by Street Noise, art from Junkyard Jack and the Horse that Talked by Danny Noble

In a programme looking at comics for young audiences, and a young publisher looking to widen audiences, Alex Fitch talks to editor Liz Frances about her imprint Street Noise Books, who publish a range of graphic novels about diversity and activism, and to artists Matt Baxter and Danny Noble about illustrating Hire a Horror and Junkyard Jack and the Horse that Talked respectively in a panel discussion recorded at Graphic Brighton.

5.30pm, Wednesday 1st March 2023, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 5th March 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Danny Noble’s website
Info about Danny’s books with Adrian Edmondson
Alex’s previous interview with Danny about music and comics
Matt Baxter’s design company – Baxter and Bailey
Buy back issues of Monster Fun
Info about Street Noise Books
Follow Danny Noble, Matt Baxter and Street Noise Books on Twitter

Next week’s show: Youth and Wellbeing – Bechdel, Berry, Huxtable and Slattery

January 26, 2023

Alison Bechdel and Hannah Berry on stage at LICAF / art from G Bear and Jammo, and Don't Call Me a Tomboy

Alison Bechdel and Hannah Berry on stage at LICAF / art from G Bear and Jammo, and Don’t Call Me a Tomboy

In a programme looking at comics about youth and wellbeing, a quartet of artists discuss their work which touches on these topics. Former Comics Laureate Hannah Berry chats to renowned cartoonist Alison Bechel about her latest book The Secret to Superhuman Strength, as well as her classics Dykes to Watch Out For and Fun Home in a Q and A recorded at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Also, Alex Fitch talks to artists Jaime Huxtable and Zara Slattery about their titles for younger readers including G Bear and Jammo, and Don’t Call Me a Tomboy respectively, in a panel discussion recorded at Graphic Brighton.

5.30pm, Wednesday 1st February 2023, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 5th February 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Hannah Berry’s website
Alison Bechdel’s website
Jaime Huxtable’s website and info about his comics course
Zara Slattery’s website and info about her art courses

Next week’s show: Guantanamo Voices

January 20, 2023

Covers of Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi / Guantanamo Voices edited by Sarah Mirk / Photos of Andy Worthington, Alex Fitch and Sarah Mirk / Close Guantanamo website

Covers of Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi / Guantanamo Voices edited by Sarah Mirk / Photos of Andy Worthington, Alex Fitch and Sarah Mirk / Close Guantanamo website

To discuss the 21st anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay, and the lives of the people still incarcerated there, Alex Fitch talks to writer Sarah Mirk about her graphic novel anthology Guantanamo Voices, which tells the tale of ten people associated with the prison, and to journalist Andy Worthington about his continuing campaign to Close Guantanamo. Also, Worthington talks with Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a former prisoner of the site about his experiences, in a Q and A recorded at the University of Brighton in 2022.

8pm, Monday 23rd January 2023, repeat broadcast 10am, Tuesday 24th January 2023, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Sarah Mirk’s website including info on Guantanamo Voices
Alex’s previous
interview with Sarah about her political comics anthology The Nib
Andy Worthington’s website and Close Guantanmo campaign
Andy’s band The Four Fathers on bandcamp
Buy Mohamedou’s book The Mauritanian, previous published as Guantanamo Diary from bookshop.org

Next week’s show: Local / Locas Stories by Jaime Hernandez and Susan Sainsbury

December 1, 2022

Pages from Love and Rockets: Maggie the Mechanic, and Flies on the Ceiling by Jaime Hernandez /  Hernandez chats to Alex Fitch at LICAF / pages from Cheery Cak, Big Knickers and work in progress by Susan Sainsbury

Pages from Love and Rockets: Maggie the Mechanic, and Flies on the Ceiling by Jaime Hernandez / Hernandez chats to Alex Fitch at LICAF / pages from Cheery Cak, Big Knickers and work in progress by Susan Sainsbury

Alex Fitch talks to a pair of comics creators whose work is based around representation of marginalised people and cultures in specific times and places. Graphic novelist Susan Sainsbury discusses her Worthing based titles Kitty and Cheery Cak, about female lives lived on the South Coast of England, recorded at Cartoon County; and acclaimed cartoonist Jaime Hernandez celebrates the 40th anniversary of the award winning comic Love and Rockets, featuring L.A. punks, down-at-heel superheroes, and LGBTQ+ musicians in a Q and A recorded at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival.

5.30pm, Wednesday 7th December 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 11th December 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Susan Sainsbury’s website and instagram site
Buy eBooks of Susan’s graphic novels
Info about Jaime Hernandez at publisher Fantagraphics website
Review of Flies on the Ceiling at ‘How to love Comics’ website
Articles on gay superheroes and comic book diversity by Alex Fitch in The Conversation

Next week’s show: Comics / Civil Wars

October 28, 2022

Cover and interior art from No Country by Patrice Aggs and Joe Brady / Interior art and cover of Vanni: A Family Struggle through the Sri Lankan Conflict by Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock

Cover and interior art from No Country by Patrice Aggs and Joe Brady / Interior art and cover of Vanni: A Family Struggle through the Sri Lankan Conflict by Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock

Alex Fitch talks to the artists of comics about civil war and conflict, in a pair of interviews recorded at Cartoon County. Lindsay Pollock discusses drawing the graphic novel Vanni which looks at the displacement of families during the Sri Lankan civil war, and his work with Postive/Negatives, a website that hosts strips about conflict and unrest around the world. Patrice Aggs chats about her art for the ongoing strip No Country, serialised in the weekly children’s comic The Phoenix, and collected in book length editions, which imagines a more dystopian United Kingdom where the country has been divided geographically between warring ideological sides.

5.30pm, Wednesday 2nd November 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 4th November 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Lindsay Pollock’s website
Info about Vanni on Positive/Negatives website and New Internationalist shop
Patrice Aggs’ twitter
Publishers’ websites on No Country and It’s Her Story: Shirley Chisholm

Next week’s shows: Doctor Who spin-offs / the Vectrex at 40

October 23, 2022

Covers of Doctor Who: Forty volumes 1 and 2, Vecman game, mock-up of Vectrex with Vyrzon installed, cover of Vectrex Multicart, photos of Sean Kelly, Matthew Jacobs, covers of The Black Archive 25, Faction Paradox: The Boulevard, photos of Peer Johannsen and Steve Hopkins

Covers of Doctor Who: Forty volumes 1 and 2, Vecman game, mock-up of Vectrex with Vyrzon installed, cover of Vectrex Multicart, photos of Sean Kelly, Matthew Jacobs, covers of The Black Archive 25, Faction Paradox: The Boulevard, photos of Peer Johannsen and Steve Hopkins

Alex Fitch presents two programmes celebrating aspects of pop culture hitting 40th anniversary dates in their history… In the gap between the end of one incarnation of Doctor Who and the start of another, spin-off material related to the show keeps fans entertained in its absence: Janet Fielding talks about reviving her character Tegan in audio dramas, Matthew Jacobs and Vanessa Yuille discuss their documentary Doctor Who Am I about fandom, and Stuart Douglas chats about publishing imprint Obverse Books which explores offbeat corners of the Whoniverse.

Also, in a look at much loved, but obscure video game console the Vectrex, programmer Steve Hopkins talks about forthcoming shoot-em-up Vyrzon, publisher Sean Kelly discusses reviving long lost games for the platform, and lecturer Prof. Peer Johannsen chats about training a new generation of coders at Pforzheim University, and making his own new games.

Doctor Who: 13, 26, 40 (ish) is broadcast at 8pm, Thursday 27th October, repeated 10am Friday 28th October on Resonance 104.4 FM / DAB (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com
40 Years of the Vectrex is broadcast at 8pm, Friday 28th October, repeated 10am Monday 31st October on Resonance 104.4 FM / DAB (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com (more…)

Next week’s show: Curating and Creating Comics

September 27, 2022

Covers of Mary and Agnes, and Now Wash Your Hands by Cathy Brett, plus photo of her work space including elements of Mrs. Thorwald: The Victims Story / Photo of Henny Beaumont in the Invisible People exhibition at Worthing Museum, plus Lost Generation (Covid cartoon of the year 2021)

Covers of Mary and Agnes, and Now Wash Your Hands by Cathy Brett, plus photo of her work space including elements of Mrs. Thorwald: The Victim’s Story / Photo of Henny Beaumont in the Invisible People exhibition at Worthing Museum, plus Lost Generation (Covid cartoon of the year 2021)

As the start of a new season of Panel Borders, the UK’s only monthly broadcast radio show about comics, Alex Fitch talks to a pair of artists whose work includes autobiography, museum display, and responses to Covid and Lockdown. In a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County, Henny Beaumont chats about the exhibition Invisible People, which features art based on her graphic novel Hole in the Heart and political cartoons alongside work by neurodiverse artists, and how she sequed into satirical work for The Guardian. Cathy Brett discusses her comic Mary and Agnes, about her grandmother’s friendship with Mary Trump, as featured in the BBC Alba documentary The President’s Mother, her work in three-dimensional collages and reliefs, and her new role as a curator at Leatherhead Museum.

Invisible People is on display Wednesday to Sunday at Worthing Museum and Gallery until 30th Oct 2022.
Cathy Brett is shortlisted for Surrey Artist of the Year 2022, which is on display Tuesday to Saturday at New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham until 5th November 2022.

5.30pm, Wednesday 5th October 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 9th October 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Henny Beaumont’s website / More info about the Invisible People exhibition
Cathy Brett’s website / Review of Mary and Agnes at Broken Frontier

Next week’s show: Unusual Buildings

July 1, 2022

Cover and interior art from You're Thinking About Tomatoes, and Welcome Home / Photos (by Myf Tristram) of Michael Rosen and Cole Henley, Alex Fitch and Clarrie Pope

Cover and interior art from You’re Thinking About Tomatoes, and Welcome Home / Photos (by Myf Tristram) of Michael Rosen and Cole Henley, Alex Fitch and Clarrie Pope

In this month’s show Alex Fitch talks to the creators of graphic novels set in unusual buildings… Former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen and artist Cole Henley discuss the comic book version of You’re Thinking About Tomatoes, in which a boy on a school trip to a country house gets embroiled in an adventure with a girl from a painting and a mummy come to life, in a Q and A recorded at Graphic Brighton; cartoonist Clarrie Pope explores the graphic novel Welcome Home about the lives of a community of squatters in a condemned tower block, co-written with her sister Blanche, in a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County.

5.30pm, Wednesday 6th July 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 10th July 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Info about You’re Thinking About Tomatoes on publisher Unbound’s website
Michael Rosen’s website
Cole Henley’s website and instagram site
Info about Welcome Home on publisher Minor Compositions website
Clarrie Pope’s website
Broken Frontier article about the Myriad First Fictions 2018 shortlist
Other interviews with former laureates recorded at Graphic Brighton include: Chris Riddell and Hannah Berry

This week’s show: Multimedia Comics

May 30, 2022

Hannah Berry and Lance Dann at Graphic Brighton / cover and interior art from The Rez / page from The Train by Chihoi / The Train on display in the window of the Southbank Centre

Hannah Berry and Lance Dann at Graphic Brighton / cover and interior art from The Rez / page from The Train by Chihoi / The Train on display in the window of the Southbank Centre

This month, Alex Fitch talks to comic creators about multimedia engagement with their sequential art. Chinese cartoonist Chihoi chats about his comic The Train, which is currently on display in the riverside window of the the Royal Festival Hall, London, and at Graphic Brighton, audio producer Lance Dann and graphic novelist Hannah Berry discuss a comic and podcast called The Rez, which is a science-fiction title about kindness aimed at a young audience.

5.30pm, Wednesday 1st June 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 5th June 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: The Rez website, comic, and in app podcast
Order a print copy of The Rez from Soaring Penguin Press
The Rez page at Apple Podcasts / iTunes
Hannah Berry’s website and previous interviews
Info about The Train at the Southbank Centre
Chihoi’s website and gallery exhibitions
Info about Chihoi’s comic The Book Fight
Order Chihoi’s comics collection The Library from Lambiek

Next week’s show: New Anthologies

April 30, 2022

Cover of The 77 annual, Blazer no.2, Eat More Comics: The Best of The Nib, The Nib no. 6 plus photos of Ben Cullis, Steve MacManus, Alex Fitch, Sarah Mirk, Myfanwy Tristram, Daniel Locke

Cover of The 77 annual, Blazer no.2, Eat More Comics: The Best of The Nib, The Nib no. 6 plus photos of Ben Cullis, Steve MacManus, Alex Fitch, Sarah Mirk, Myfanwy Tristram, Daniel Locke

In a pair of interviews recorded at Cartoon County, Alex Fitch talks to a number of creators about their work on anthologies. Sarah Mirk discusses her work on political comics anthology The Nib with contributions from artists Myfanwy Tristram and Daniel Locke, talking about their strips created for the title. Ben Conan Cullis, a.k.a. Benksy, and veteran comics editor Steve MacManus talk about the various titles they’ve launched via kickstarter including The 77, Blazer and Pandora which are a love letter to classic British comics.

5.30pm, Wednesday 4th May 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 8th May 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: The Nib website
Sarah Mirk’s website
The 77 website and shop
Listen to Alex’s previous interview with Steve MacManus about launching the first issue of Blazer

Next week’s show: Sporting Titles

March 31, 2022

Comics by Ellen Lindner and Josh Hicks / photos of Lindner, FItch and Hicks

Comics by Ellen Lindner and Josh Hicks / photos of Lindner, FItch and Hicks

In a pair of interviews recorded at Cartoon County, Alex Fitch talks to cartoonists whose recent work has been on sports themed comics. Ellen Lindner chats about her project ‘A History of Gender Rebellion in Baseball’ – which has generated the comic, Lost Diamonds and two issues of the zine The Cranklet’s Chronicle, so far and looks at how female presenting people, and people of colour have been marginalised by the sport, and Josh Hicks discusses Glorious Wrestling Alliance, which follows the escapades of ‘the universe’s least-professional wrestling company’, as well running Carp Publishing Endeavours, a micropress based out of Cardiff, plus his work on animating a pop video for the Foo Fighters.

5.30pm, Wednesday 6th April 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 10th April 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Ellen Lindner’s website
The Strumpet comic website
Josh Hicks’ website
Carp Publishing Endeavors website

Next week’s show: Music, Comics and Performance

February 25, 2022

David Bramwell performs The Cult of Water at Brighton Festival 2018, Once Upon a Time by Danny Noble, Cover of Black Crown Quarterly featuring a fictionalised version of Will Potter (drawn by Philip Bond)David Bramwell performs The Cult of Water at Brighton Festival 2018, Once Upon a Time by Danny Noble, Cover of Black Crown Quarterly featuring a fictionalised version of Will Potter (drawn by Philip Bond)

In a pair of interviews recorded at Graphic Brighton Alex Fitch talks to a trio of performers who mix music and comics in their creative output. Will Potter (Cud) and Danny Noble (The Meow Meows) discuss how being in bands has an influence in their writing and drawing comics, while David Bramwell talks about how music is an important part of his performance piece The Cult of Water which examines the work of Alan Moore.

5.30pm, Wednesday 2nd March 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 6th March 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Danny Noble’s website
Info about Black Crown Quarterly on Cud’s website
David Bramwell’s website

Listen to Alex’s interview with Philip Bond about drawing music related comics More Graphic Brighton podcasts

Next week’s show: Historical Adventures

January 27, 2022

Interior art from Freedom Bound and Incognegro: Renaissance, drawn by Warren Pleece / covers of these books / cover and interior art from Basil & Victoria drawn by Edith

Alex Fitch talks to artists Warren Pleece and Edith (Grattery) about their work on historical graphic novels. In a Q &A recorded at Cartoon County, Brighton, Pleece discusses the joy of rendering adventures set in the past, and the importance of creating comics featuring people of colour who often get excised from history, when drawing the books Freedom Bound and Incognegro: Renaissance. Plus, in an interview recorded at Amiens comics festival, Edith explores her technique and references, including inspiration from Gustave Doré, when rendering Basil & Victoria and her adaptation of Tom’s Midnight Garden, dramas set in Victorian England and beyond.

5.30pm, Wednesday 2nd February 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 6th February 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Warren Pleece’s website
Info about Freedom Bound on publisher BHP Comics’ website
Info about Incognegro: Renaissance on publisher Dark Horse Comics’ website
Edith’s profile on Lambiek
Info about Basil & Victoria on publisher Humanoids’ website
(more…)

Next week’s show: Drawn from Experience

December 29, 2021

Excerpts of comics by Steven Appleby, Sayra Begum, Matt Smith and Rachael Smith

Excerpts of comics by Steven Appleby, Sayra Begum, Matt Smith and Rachael Smith

Alex Fitch talks to creators of autobiographical comics and graphic novels inspired by life, about depicting their own experiences on the page. In a panel discussion recorded at the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, Steven Appleby, Sayra Begum, Rachael Smith and Matt Smith talk about their titles Drag Man, Mongrel, Quarantine Comix, and You’re Stuck with Me Now in front of a live audience.
Also, as part of the Academic Comics conference ‘L’Enfance de l’Art: Jeuness et Bandes dessinées’ (The Childhood of Art: Youth and Comics) hosted at Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Laurence Grove (University of Glasgow) discusses his personal experiences of observing depictions of disability in comics for children and adults.

5.30pm, Wednesday 5th January 2022, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 9th January 2022, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Steven Appleby’s website
Sayra Begum’s website
Rachael Smith’s website
Matt Smith’s website: Smith vs Smith
Laurence Grove’s profile on University of Glasgow website

Next week’s show: Drawn from the past

November 25, 2021

sabba_emmanuel
Pages and cover from The Roles We Play by Sabba Khan / Cover and images from The Middle Ages – A Graphic History illustrated by Neil Max Emmanuel

In this month’s show Alex Fitch talks to a pair of cartoonists whose work recreates moments from the past. Former ‘Time Team’ illustrator Neil Max Emmanuel explores the various drawing styles he’s adopted to illustrate The Middle Ages – A Graphic History which illuminates numerous moments from ‘The Dark Ages’ and how some of the period reflects the Britain of today, and Sabba Khan discusses her graphic novel The Roles We Play which mixes infographics, comics autobiography, and family history of forced migration from Mirpur in Pakistan, in a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County.

5.30pm, Wednesday 1st December 2021, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 5th December, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Sabbah Khan’s website
Neil Max Emmanuel’s website
More info about The Middle Ages – A Graphic History on Icon Books’ website
Info about The Roles We Play on Myriad Editions’ website
Buy The Roles We Play and The Middle Ages: A Graphic History from Amazon UK
Listen to Alex’s interview with Meg-John Barker about Icon Books’ Queer: A Graphic History and Gender: A Graphic Guide
Listen to Sabba Khan’s presentation about her previous comics work at LDComics

Next week’s show: Superhuman Creatures

October 30, 2021

Pages from Swamp Thing vol.2 #53 and Miracleman #16 by John Totleben and Alan Moore / Photos of Totleben, Fitch and JMKE / Pages from The Will o'the Wisp and P.S. by JMKE
Pages from Swamp Thing vol.2 #53 and Miracleman #16 by John Totleben and Alan Moore / Photos of Totleben, Fitch and JMKE / Pages from The Will o’the Wisp and P.S. by JMKE

In a belated Halloween episode, Alex Fitch talks to a couple of artists whose work features mutated humanoid figures in haunted landscapes. Alex talks to veteran artist John Totleben about working with Alan Moore on classic 1980s titles Swamp Thing and Miracleman, and to cartoonist Josephine Mairead King Edwards about comics P.S., and The Will o’the Wisp – the latter recently reprinted by Breakdown Press – in a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County.

5.30pm, Wednesday 3rd November 2021, repeat broadcast 11am, Sunday 7th November, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: JMKE’s website
Info about the Breakdown Press reprint of The Will o’the Wisp
Scans of The Comic Journal interviews with Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben
Order the Saga of the Swamp Thing paperback Box Set and issues of Miracleman by John Totleben on Amazon
Listen to Alex’s interviews with Steve Bissette and Alan Moore about working on Swamp Thing

Next week’s show: Sound and Vectrexians

October 19, 2021 1 Comment

On Friday October 29th at 8.00pm on Resonance 104.4 FM and DAB, Clear Spot: Sound and Vectrexians

Fell holds a prototype Vecribbon overlay / anticlockwise screen shots from Vecribbon, Raiding Party, Holzer Vectrex generated hand and polyhederon / Derek Holzer at Zagreb Vector Hack Festival 2018

Fell holds a prototype Vecribbon overlay / anticlockwise screen shots from Vecribbon, Raiding Party, Holzer Vectrex generated hand and polyhederon / Derek Holzer at Zagreb Vector Hack Festival 2018

In a Clear Spot looking at new uses for the Vectrex games console, an arcade style machine by Milton Bradley from 1983, Alex Fitch talks to a pair of creators who use the machine to generate graphics paired with unique sounds. Programmer ‘Fell’ discusses his titles Raiding Party and 3D Vector Space Cab, plus forthcoming game Vecribbon, as part of the programming team Shattered Screens. Audiovisual artist Derek Holzer explains how he hacks the Vectrex to allow input of frequencies which generate complex images on the screen of the device, and can be manipulated for artistic effect.

8pm (BST), Friday 29th October 2021, repeat broadcast 10am (GMT), Monday 1st November, Resonance 104.4 FM and DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Shattered Screens website including free demos and Vecribbon preorder
Derek Holzer website including article on Vector synthesis art
Videos by Derek Holzer on Vimeo and youtube
Vectrex fandom website including page on International Play Your Vectrex Day
Vectrex ProGaming Boards pages (more…)

Next week’s show: Telling Truths

October 2, 2021

Interior art from Livestock, Graphic Science, Fukishima and Such, Such Were The Joys

Interior art from Livestock, Graphic Science, Fukishima and Such, Such Were The Joys

Alex Fitch talks to a quartet of graphic novelists whose work reflects events from history over the last hundred years. In a panel discussion recorded at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Hannah Berry, Darryl Cunningham and Fumio Obata discuss how their work is based on recent culture and economics regarding graphic novels Livestock, Graphic Science and Fumio’s Fukishima comic. Also, cartoonist Jaime Huxtable talks about illustrating the graphic novel adaptation of George Orwell’s autobiographical essay Such, Such Were The Joys, with script by Sean Michael Wilson, in a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County.

5.30pm, Wednesday 7th October 2021, repeat broadcast 10am, Sunday 10th October, Resonance 104.4 FM + DAB (London) / broadcast streamed at www.resonancefm.com / Resonance Replay stream on mixcloud.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Links: Hannah Berry’s website
Darryl Cunningham’s blog
Fumio Obata’s website
Jaime Huxtable’s website

More info about the latest graphic graphic novels by this episode’s guests: The Garden by Fumio Obata, Livestock by Hannah Berry, Putin’s Russia by Darryl Cunningham, and Such, Such Were The Joys by Jaime Huxtable