Panel Borders: Big Questions

By John Freeman on August 4, 2012

Starting a month of shows about anthropomorphic comics on radio show Panel Borders – comics about animals with human attributes – Alex Fitch talks to American cartoonist Anders Nilsen about his epic 658 page graphic novel Big Questions.

The book, originally serialised as 15 comics, first self-published by Nilsen and then continued by Drawn and Quarterly, tells the tale of the pilot of a crashed bomber and his relationship with a colony of birds and local wildlife in the countryside where his plane went down.

The artist also discusses his award winning graphic novella Dogs and water and why he is often drawn to animals as the subject matter of his comics books.

• Panel Borders: Big Questions airs at 8.00pm, Sunday 5th August, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.