Yes, we know we haven’t done one of these for a while: juggling work for ROK Comics and Titan Books as well as a few other things is proving a welcome but all-consuming challenge most days of the week…
• Chris Weston reports on his new 2000AD Future Shock, “Whatever Happened to the Green Pedestrian Palm?”, which appears in 2000AD‘s Christmas issue, Prog 2010, on sale 16 December 2009. “It is cearly inspired by the star of Seventies Public Information Films, The Green Cross Code Man, whose previous comic-strip exploits were handled by The Govenor himself, Mr. Dave Gibbons…” Expect some merry mickey taking of merchandise superheroes, including Mr. Muscle.
• Comics Are Good For You: but that’s the message from Carol L. Tilley, a professor of library and information science at the University of Illinois, who insists that looking down upon graphic novels as being inept at benefiting the children is a mistake. She argues comic books are as valuable as any other form of literature to be a part of children’s education. So ditch those books and break out the Beano now!
“A lot of the criticism of comics and comic books come from people who think that kids are just looking at the pictures and not putting them together with the words,” Tilley said. “Some kids, yes. But you could easily make some of the same criticisms of picture books — that kids are just looking at pictures, and not at the words.” More on this story here on Science Daily.
• We’re sorry to report the passing of Belgian Josette Baujot, who has died aged 88, was responsible for colouring Hergé’s Tintin albums for more than a quarter of a century during the peak years of his popularity, and established the “colour code” that helped take Tintin far beyond Belgium and France to an international audience. Phil Davison pays tribute to the colourist in The Guardian here.
• Tweeters out there will be pleased to hear that the comics charity Draw the World Together is now on Twitter! Follow its work there
• Comics-related podcast Small Press Big Mouth dropped by CD24‘s table at BICS 2009, and bought a copy of the Jack in the Box graphic novel. There’s an audio review on episode 11 of their podcast, and they’ve got some really nice things to say about the book and are “infectiously enthusiastic” about the comics scene in general, and you may find some rather cool recommendations (apart from Jack in the Box) if you’re stuck for something to read!
• And finally… for those of you who are fans of Alan Moore but are not necessarily on the Alan Moore Yahoo! Group mailing list, Pádraig Ó Méalóid tells us there has recently been a YouTube channel set up to collect all of Alan’s appearances that are on YouTube. “We’re still adding things to it, so it’s by no means complete and definitive,” says Padraig, “but it’s a good start, at the very least.
“One of the things I’d particularly draw your attention to is the most recent posting, under the name of Alan Moore Swamp Thing Interview. A wee while back I bought a video on eBay which turned out to be something he’d done for DC in about 1985, which I believe was for showing in comics shops and the like, where Alan talks very enthusiastically about his work on Swamp Thing, and about his forthcoming work on Watchmen. With the help of a few different people, I got this put up on YT, as I’m no good with technical stuff, and anyway it’s a US video. It’s kind of sad to see how enthused he is there, compared to how he feels now after how we was treated by DC.”
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: 2000AD, Tube Surfing
Tube Surfing: Digital comics funding, real robots, 2000AD Regened, and an upcoming “Fables” Box Set 
Tube Surfing: Autumnal art, Beano shorts, Buck Rogers revived, Dalek delights, and recalling Dandy Xtreme