There are few movie makers other than some actors and a few directors that could be said to have become legends in their own lifetime. Special effects creator Ray Harryhausen is one of those select few with his skeleton fight from Jason and the Argonauts being regarded by many as the best stop motion sequence ever filmed. The first motion picture that he worked on was the 1949 version of Mighty Joe Young which won the special effects Oscar for that year and he was honoured by the American Academy with a lifetime achievement award in 1992.

For many years his Film Fantasy Scrapbook was the best reference book on his work, eventually being published in four different editions, but in recent years he has collaborated on two sumptuous reference books with co-author Tony Dalton, Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life and The Art Of Ray Harryhausen. He has also recently licensed his films to Bluewater Comics in America who have been publishing various limited series titles under the Ray Harryhausen Presents banner.

To date the best of these has been Wrath Of The Titans, a sequel to the 1981 film Clash of the Titans, and the current Bluewater title is Flying Saucers Vs The Earth based on the 1956 film Earth Vs The Flying Saucers.

Now in his late eighties, Ray will be appearing twice at the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival, at a signing session after a screening of Jason and The Argonauts at the Dominion Cinema on 24 June and as the subject of one of the In Person interviews at Cineworld. The In Person event will take place on 25 June when he will be interviewed by Tony Dalton. Both men will sign copies of their books afterwards.http://beta.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

• More details of the Jason and the Argonauts screening and Ray Harryhausen: In Person can be found at the Edinburgh International Film Festival website.

amazon.co.uk links:
• Buy Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life from amazon.co.uk
• Buy The Art of Ray Harryhausen are available from amazon.co.uk

amazon.com links:
• Buy Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life from amazon.com
• Buy The Art of Ray Harryhausen are available from amazon.com

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

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