MALARIA CURE?

By mimicking a toxin produced by the most lethal malaria parasite, researchers at MIT and in Australia report that they have created a vaccine that is extremely effective in mice. The researchers hope their work may lead to a human vaccine against the lethal tropical disease. MIT Professor of Chemistry Peter Seeberger and an MIT colleague built a complex oligosaccharide that is structurally similar to the toxic carbohydrate found in the single-celled parasites that cause malaria. The synthetic toxin they created produced exactly the same immune response as the natural product.

More: web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2002/malaria.html

ALAN MOORE ON TOP!

8/10/02: It’s official. Alan Moore is on top – Top Shelf, that is. Top Shelf Productions is pleased to announce three upcoming projects from famed comics scribe Alan Moore, the virtuoso behind such landmark works as From Hell, Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The first two projects, The Mirror of Love and Voice of the Fire, are due out Summer 2003, with the third project, Lost Girls, to follow.

• Top Shelf Comics web site: Go

THE 1970S – B-MOVIE HEAVEN!

8/10/02: B-Movie Theater, the popular web site (www.b-movie.com) celebrating the art and industry of the low-budget film genre, has announced the fifth annual inductions in the B-Movie Hall of Fame.

During the voting process, the B-Movie Hall of Fame provided ballots with 100 B-Movie titles and 100 B-Movie icons to choose from. “This year’s winning votes overwhelmingly reflect the B-Movie glory years of the 1970s,” said Ron Bonk, president and founder of the B-Movie Hall of Fame. “When 70s icons like Pam Grier, Divine and Dario Argento and classics like Eraserhead, I Spit on Your Grave and Dawn of the Dead dominate the votes, it is clearly time to recognize this decade as being a golden era for the B-Movie genre.” 

MADONNA’S BOND DAY TO “DIE’ FOR

10/10/02: Die Another Day, Madonna’s new single and the title song for MGM’s forthcoming James Bond film, will be in stores on 22 October, Warner Bros. Records has announced. The song has had a triumphant first week response at radio, reaching a listener audience of over 32 million in the US and is expected to debut at #24 on the Billboard singles chart. Die Another Day was written and produced by Madonna and Mirwais with string arrangements by Michel Colombier. 

• Buy the single from Amazon.co.uk: Go

TOP TIPS BOOK PUBLISHED

11/10/02: Just published by A & C Black, Robin Hall’s Trade Secrets is an excellent book about how to become a successful cartoonist or comics artist, featuring tips from a huge number of professional artists. It also features, with my permission, a version of my online article on Writing for Comics.

• You can buy it from Amazon.co.uk by clicking here

PERSUADED TO RETURN

11/10/02: The UK Guardian reports Carlton is planning to revive The Persuaders, the cult 1970s TV drama starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis.

The show, about two private investigators who use their high-rolling international lifestyle as a cover to pursue criminals, gained a dedicated following for its inadvertently camp humour.

Filmed in 1970 and early 1971, The Persuaders was a hit in the UK and Europe but not in the crucial US market, where it was cancelled after one 24-part series.
Now Carlton is talking to Hollywood studios and US broadcasters about reviving the programme.

Carlton has owned The Persuaders format ever since it bought the programming library of the show’s producer, Lew Grade’s ITC. A comic strip based on the show ran in the UK comic Countdown and TV Action.

DC’s COLLECTED EDITIONS LIBRARY

11/10/02: A staggering 200 titles from the DC Comics backlist are showcased online now at www.dccomics.com/collect, each with cover art, three interior story pages, and content descriptions. The newly-posted site updates the previous version of the DC Graphic Novels webpage and last year’s acclaimed DC Comics Collected Editions Library CD-ROM, reflecting the upcoming Version 2.0 of the CD-ROM. 

The new site offers selections from the DC Universe, WildStorm, Vertigo, the Will Eisner Library, MAD Books, and more, spotlighting titles from series such as Batman, Superman, The Authority and many more.

BITE ME!

14/10/02: Variety (subscription required for full story) reports that Warner Bros. has optioned the Kelley Armstrong novel Bitten, with Jolie attached and Industry Entertainment producing under its new first-look deal with the studio.

The novel centres on Elena Michaels, a model woman for the 21st century: self-assured, keenly intelligent, fighting fit. And like every modern woman, she has her secrets. Nothing extraordinary about that. Except that Elena really is extraordinary. In fact, she may well be the most extraordinary woman alive. She is, after all, the only female werewolf in the world…

Variety says the novel will be adapted by Alexander Stuart, whose script credits include The War Zone and who just penned the Film Four/Industry co-production Under the Skin for Sexy Beast director Jonathan Glazer.

SCOOBY DOOBY THREE!

15/10/02: Hollywood Reporter (subscription required for full story) has revealed that with a sequel to Warner Bros. Pictures’ Scooby-Doo on the fast track, the studio is already moving forward on a third installment, hiring scribes Dan Forman and Paul Foley to write a script, tentatively titled Scooby-Doo 3. The duo recently turned in a rewrite on Warners’ The Jetsons, another animated television property being conceived for the big screen.

TIMBERWOLF SIGNS SEVEN BOOK DEAL

18/10/02: Timberwolf Press and author Bill Baldwin have reached an agreement to re-launch the best-selling military Science Fiction Helmsman saga. The first six books in the series, The Helmsman, Galactic Convoy, The Trophy, The Mercenaries, The Defenders, and The Siege will be re-released in new, revised, “Director’s Cut” editions. In addition, Baldwin will pen a new novel, picking up where the existing series left off. 

Each title will be published in book form as well as in Timberwolf’s signature Next Generation full-cast unabridged audiobook editions. 

Timberwolf is an entertainment and production services company, publishing award-winning original fiction books and unabridged, full-cast audiobooks on cassette, CD and MP3 CD. 

Web Link to Timberwolf Press: Go

DOCTOR WHO TELEVISION COMPANION REPUBLISHED

21/10/02: The acclaimed Doctor Who reference book The Television Companion is being reissued next year by Telos Publishing.

Rather than being a straight reprint authors David J Howe and Stephen James Walker intend to rework some of the material from the Virgin Doctor Who Handbooks into the reprint with the aim of making it the definitive guide to the TV series. It will also have some material reinstated that did not make it into the BBC Books edition.

The unofficial and unauthorised Telos edition will retail for £15 in A5 paperback, and will be available from May 2003. There will also be a limited edition hardback, numbered and signed by the authors available.

Meanwhile, Telso have also announced their licence to publish Doctor Who novellas will cease in 2004, as BBC Worldwide have declined a request to extend the licence for the books beyond that date.

“We are shocked and of course deeply saddened by BBC Worldwide’s decision,” commented David Howe of Telos, “which we know will greatly disappoint the thousands of regular readers of the Doctor Who Novellas. However, having discussed this with BBC Worldwide, we are resigned to the fact that there is nothing we can do to persuade them to change their minds.” 

• Web Link to Telos Publishing: Go