Continuing a month of shows about comics and controversy, Alex Fitch talks to graphic novelist Paul Collicutt about his book The Murder Mile, published by SelfMadeHero, which centres on a murder set against the spectacle of Roger Banister running the four minute mile, an event that has reached its 60th anniversary earlier this month.
Alex and Paul discuss how the book combines the latter’s interests in running and film noir and how the author used a real life event to tell a tale of organised crime and sports betting. Recorded at Cartoon County, Brighton.
Sample pages from The Murder Mile. Art © Paul Collicutt
The Guardian described Paul’s novel as “a beautifully illustrated detective story that unfolds alongside the race to break the four-minute mile. The Murder Mile is like Chariots of Fire as rewritten by Raymond Chandler, a mash-up that is completely delightful on the page.”
“Collicutt’s watercolour artwork is a glorious tribute to the splashy élan of Fifties advertisements and cigarette cards,” enthused The Telegraph, “and there’s no shortage of impressive scene-setting, from widescreen sequences at the Normandy landings to evocative renderings of Jet Age streets, diners and stadiums.”
Paul is offering this stunning poster of famous mile record holders through his online shop. Art © Paul Collicutt
An athlete, artist and chairman of Brighton Phoenix AC, Collicutt is a former training partner of one of Britain’s supermilers – Steve Ovett. He recently created a stunning poster celebrating mile world record-holders, available at paulcollicutt.bigcartel.com.
• Panel Borders: Exploring The Murder Mile airs at 4.30pm, Monday 19th May 2014 (repeated Thursday at 11.00am) on Resonance 104.4 FM, London / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com
Resonance is installed at the Science Museum’s Media Centre from Tuesday 20th May until Sunday 15th June inclusive, and are broadcasting from there from 2.00 until 5.00pm each day. This means quite a few changes in the schedule. See www.resonancefm.com for more details
• Paul Collicutt’s blog is at http://paulcollicutt.blogspot.co.uk
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.
Categories: Audio, British Comics - Graphic Novels, Comic Creator Interviews, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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