Birmingham Mail - Speech Balloon

Seduction of the Innocent? A Documentary of Fredric Wertham

2014-07-16T23:45:45Z

DIAGRAM FOR Delinquents is a documentary on Fredric Wertham, scourge of the American comic book industry, directed by Robert A. Emmons, Jr to be released on DVD and as a download by the Sequart Organization.

In 1950, America was in a state of panic. Juvenile delinquency was destroying the very fabric of society. Ninety percent of all children were reading comic books. In 1954, psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham wrote a scathing indictment of comics called Seduction of the Innocent. Its central premise: Comic books were the leading contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. That same year, Dr. Wertham testified at special hearings on comic books at the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in the United States. Comic books were on trial.

Diagram for Delinquents captures the zeitgeist of late 1940s and early 1950s America and investigates how the funny books found themselves under fire. Using expert and comic book insider interviews, never before seen historical photographs and films, and animation, Diagram goes further than any previous comic book documentary to explore and understand the controversial figure at the centre of this American tale: Fredric Wertham.

The Sequart Organization is devoted to the study of popular culture and the promotion of comic books as a legitimate art form. Sequart has released twenty books, five films, and thousands of online articles. Its documentaries include The Image Revolution, and its books include Grant Morrison: The Early Years. Later this year, Sequart will release the documentary She Makes Comics (about the history of women in the comics medium), and next year will see the release of a documentary on Neil Gaiman.

Robert A. Emmons, Jr. is a documentary filmmaker focusing on American popular culture and history. His films include Enthusiast: The 9th Art, Wolf at the Door, Yardsale!, Goodwill: The Flight of Emilio Carranza, and De Luxe: The Tale of Blue Comet. Goodwill was screened as part of the Smithsonian exhibition Our Journeys/Our Stories: Portraits of Latino Achievement. It also won Best Homegrown Documentary Feature at the 2008 Garden State Film Festival, and it led to him receiving Mexico's Lindbergh-Carranza International Goodwill Award as a Messenger of Peace.

Diagram for Delinquents is currently available as a download, including a version with over an hour of bonus material. The DVD version is expected to ship in August, but can be pre-ordered. For more information on Diagram for Delinquents visit: www.sequart.org/store

You can view a trailer for Diagram for Delinquents below:

Nostalgia & Comics Celebrate Free Comic Book Day 2014 Part 20

2014-07-15T23:33:33Z

NOSTALGIA & COMICS has been at the heart of Birmingham's city centre for quite literally years! Since 1977 in fact. It was not only one of the first comic shops to become established in Great Britain, but in Europe too, and is still going strong.

From superhero to independent comics, from small press British fanzines to the best in European graphic albums, the West Midlands shop still has regular customers who've become old faces over the decades. Even so, the shop attracts the whole family these days, from the young as well to the young at heart, male and female alike.

Free Comic Book Day 2014 took place on Saturday 3rd May and Sutton Coldfield-based photographer Martin Tierney was there once again to capture Nostalgia & Comics and its patrons and the celebrations.

See if you can spot yourself or anyone you know on the photos either today or over the coming days. And if not, when you next pop into the shop and hear a sound going "Click" you might just end up appearing here in the future!

Nostalgia & Comics is based at Queensway, Birmingham City Centre. It has new comics in store every Wednesday.

For more digital information check them out on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/NostalgiaComics?fref=ts or on Twitter via twitter.com / Nostalgia&Comics@NostalgiaComics and at www.superfriendsofnostalgiacomics.blogspot.co.uk/

Martin Tierney also specialises in other visual media, and below is a video he filmed and edited featuring award-winning writer Marv Wolfman (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Tomb of Dracula etc) as interviewed by Paul H Birch.

For more digital information about Martin Tierney visit www.facebook.com/martin.a.tierney.5?ref=tn_tnmn and
www.facebook.com/artofillusionphotography?ref=tn_tnmn.

Rose of Eibon

2014-07-14T23:54:39Z

ROSE OF Eibon is a new publishing venture based in the West Midlands looking to produce a range of genre and specialist publications, including prestige magazines and prose fiction books that showcase quality horror and dark fantasy, plus some comic book content.

Launched in March 2014, Rose of Eibon has already published Chrissie Harper's collection Halloween Comix. Future projects include a quarterly genre paperback magazine Dark Matters, edited by Steve Green and Chrissie Harper; The Camera Never Dies, a spooky novelette by Liz Black and The Dispossessed and Other Weird Tales, a charitable anthology dedicated to the memory of the late award-winning writer Joel Lane.

The Dispossessed and Other Weird Tales features a forward by Stephen Jones and an afterword by David Sutton. Its impressive line-up of line-up of writers and artists include Thomas Ligotti, Adam Nevill, Chris Amies, Conrad Williams, Gary McMahon, Jasper Bark, Joe Pulver, John McCrea, Mark Owen, Mat Joiner, Mike Chinn, Nicholas Royle, Nina Allan, Peter Crowther, Ramsey Campbell, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Simon Avery, Simon Bestwick, Stephen Jones, WH Pugmire and Dave Sutton. Joel Lane himself will be represented twice, including the story that gave this book its title (unseen in the UK or USA since its magazine appearance in 1989).

Profits from the sale of The Dispossessed and Other Weird Tales will be donated to the Terence Higgins Trust, a charity close to Joel Lane's heart.

For more information about Rose of Eibon visit: www.facebook.com/pages/Rose-of-Eibon/1444513822457187?fref=ts

Raining Cats & Dogs...

2014-07-13T23:10:26Z

CANINE/FELINE CLASSICS is the latest book of from Eureka Productions, making it the 25th volume in their Graphic Classics series adapting literature into comic strip form.

Canine/Feline Classics is a unique two-in-one volume, with half of the stories for dog-lovers, and half for cat-lovers.

Featured within are The Emissary by Ray Bradbury, Ancient Sorceries by Algernon Blackwood, The Beast from the Abyss by Conan author Robert E. Howard, plus 17 more stories and poems, including two from the volume's co-editor, John Lehman, author of The Bark of Love and Dogs Dream of Running.

The Graphic Classics series presents the works of renowned authors in the form of comics adaptations and heavily-illustrated text. The adaptations are written at an adult level, and utilise as much of the author's original language as possible. Their intention being to create books that are enjoyable for adults, yet accessible to children ages twelve and upwards.

Canine/Feline Classics is 144 pages long in full colour, and as with all Graphic Classics available in US bookstores, comics shops internationally, and direct from the publisher, Eureka Productions at: www.graphicclassics.com.

Farmageddon 12th July 2014.

2014-07-11T23:15:26Z

IT'S Farmageddon time!... Click on the strips below for this week's fun & frolics.Below is a clip of the Farmageddon animation series proposal in development:

Niel Bushnell's novels Sorrowline and Timesmith are published by Andersen Press.

Neil Bushnell was interviewed for BBC Radio Tees by Bob Fischer, you can listen to it all here:

For more on Farmageddon visit: www.farmadeggon.tv

For more on Niel Bushnell visit: www.nielbushnell.com and www.qurios.com

For more on Gordon Fraser visit: www.freewebs.com/gordonfraser/

Don't miss out next week when we have another special episode of Farmageddon - Click on the RSS Feed to subscribe for free!

The Future Beckons Locally...

2014-07-10T23:00:21Z

WOLVERHAMPTON WRITER John J Robinson is finding residing in the West Midlands is the perfect place to be these days, as his comic scripts are finding their way into the pages of quite a few local independent publishers.

Currently undergoing a Kickstarter campaign is The Geeky Book of Horror, an extensive tome that should find the debut of Robinson's Ma'at character, who he describes as a "universal force of balance and justice," and he has also been offered the opportunity to submit ideas for Time Bomb's Bomb Scares anthology.

Meanwhile, it's all systems go at Futurequake Press with Robinson having written a story for their 2000AD tribute comic magazine Zarjazz and working on scripts to feature characters he hopes will become well established in around a dozen issues of their titular anthology Futurequake.

Out now, Futurequake #25 features The Grimaldi, introducing magician turned comedian Lee Hicks; "Your friendly neighbour Hoodie Tyler Dann, a mouthy old school rap-loving teenager who is able to download many abilities through his sentient eye phone B.R.U.V." is introduced in Futurequake #26, to be followed the issue after by the second chapter of his Second Chance series in a chapter titled The God's Tear; and then the return of The Grimaldi as the series begin to alternate, but with the same creative team of Robinson, artist Alex Paterson and letterer Bolt-01.

Having had the opportunity to sift through a few of these stories in advance, Speech Balloons can vouch that Robinson and his team are able to encapsulate the comic short story with some insightful thought that feels contemporary but has classic craftwork underpinning it and it will be interesting to see how their works develop.

For more on Futurequake visit: www.futurequakepress.blogspot.co.uk

For more on The Geeky Comics visit: www.geekycomics.com

For more on Time Bomb Comics visit: www.timebombcomics.com

London Film & Comic Con 2014

2014-07-09T23:58:25Z

THE LONDON Film & Comic Con is a three day event taking place from tomorrow Friday 11th to Sunday 13th July.

Another newer show derived from Birmingham's original Memorabilia show, like many others it uses the current American trend of abbreviated Con to refer to a convention, but at least applies the word film before comics in a more realistic manner regarding what the event's focus is.

But while the likes of Helen Slater who took the leading role in the Supergirl film will be there with others from the movie industry it is important to note that Stan Lee will be making his last ever European signing appearance at the show too.

For more information visit: http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/

Nostalgia & Comics Celebrate Free Comic Book Day 2014 Part 19

2014-07-08T23:09:20Z

Free Comic Book Day 2014 took place on Saturday 3rd May and Sutton Coldfield-based photographer Martin Tierney was there once again to capture Nostalgia & Comics and its patrons and the celebrations.

Nostalgia & Comics is based at Queensway, Birmingham City Centre. It has new comics in store every Wednesday.

For more digital information about Martin Tierney visit www.facebook.com/martin.a.tierney.5?ref=tn_tnmn and
www.facebook.com/artofillusionphotography?ref=tn_tnmn.

Other videos by Martin Tierney can be viewed at
www.youtube.com/user/martinftierney?feature=mhee and for photos you can visit: www.viewbug.com/member/martinartofillusiontierney

Come back soon and see what other new surprises we have in store for you!

Same Place, Same Time, Different Shows but with Crossover Appeal

2014-07-07T23:16:34Z

IN BIRMINGHAM on Saturday 2nd August two very special events will be taking place at The Studio on Cannon Street, the ICE Comic Convention and Comics Uncovered.

Some people have expressed confusion regarding how the events will overlap, with concerns about how to get the best out of the day.

However, after clarifying such matters with the organisers it is Speech Balloons intent to pass this information onto those attending, or still considering their best options.

Comics Uncovered is intended for those who want to break into the comics book industry, be that as writers, artists, publishers etc. It is similar in focus to the Comics Launchpad event held at The Studio by BICS a few years back.

Comics Uncovered will feature master classes from professionals like Steve Rude, Tony Lee, Marie Javins and Emma Vieceli, as well as portfolio reviews from DC Comics and Titan, all rounded off by an evening networking party. While being supported by public lottery funding by the Arts Council England there are also higher admission fees required for delegates to offset costs. These events are expected to take place on the ground or lower floors.

The International Comics Expo, or ICE as it has been abbreviated to, is a comic book convention similar to the BICS shows that proved so popular in recent years, and similarly will focus more on the comics medium itself rather than peripheral and associated media such as films and gaming that the various Comic Cons that have developed in the UK in recent years, following in the style of the original Memorabilia Show first held in Birmingham.

There were concerns by some people that while established dealers and comic book companies were announced as being present at the ICE show, promoting and selling their goods that writers and artists would not be. This however is not the case, and creators will not be confined to the Comics Uncovered event only, and will be signing and chatting to their fans at ICE throughout the day, except for when giving classes or talks at the other show.

Additional guests announced for ICE include multi-award winning graphic novelist Bryan Talbot, Moonknight's Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire, Winter Soldier artist Roland Boschi, Mike Collins, David Roach, Jessica Martin and local creators like Phil Winslade, Ian Edginton and Hunt Emerson.

Other events such as cosplaying will take place, and all at a great value price. For those wishing to know more or book tickets visit: www.thecomicsshow.co.uk

Dredd Special to Celebrate Zarjaz 21st Anniversary!

2014-07-06T23:40:31Z

THE ANNUAL Dreddworld special of Zarjaz is now on sale featuring a full wraparound cover illustrated by Patrick Goddard and coloured by Owen Watts, from Midlands based publisher FutureQuake Press.

"This issue is so thrill-packed it comes in at a whopping 56 pages," declared co-editor Dave Evans of the special 21st edition of Zarjaz. With stylish interior art by the likes of Barry Renshaw and Simon Hayes across the nine strips within, some focus on Dredd himself, there's one on Brit-Cit's Armitage and all in some way feature the Mega city landscapes and its civilians, mutants and robots' worldview derived from a sci-fi comic strip fans have come to enjoy since the late 70s.

FutureQuake Press itself has now clocked ten years under its belt, having not only been publishing Zarjaz itself three times a year since 2007 (following on from Underfire Comics' initial run of the title) but also publishing the spin-off Strontium Dog title Dogbreath, both of these fan comic magazines being based on characters now owned by the by Rebellion, current publishers of 2000AD.

"Rebellion are happy to allow us to play with Tharg's toys, as long as the characters are respected," said Evans of FutureQuake being allowed to publish these non-canonical stories. "Rebellion receive a copy of each issue released and so far the feedback has all been positive. The covers for Zarjaz are almost exclusively produced by artists working on the comic, and are all created especially for the comic."

Notwithstanding their own self-created anthologies FutureQuake itself and Something Wicked, over the years many of the contributors to this independent company have gone on to work in mainstream comics, including Nick Dyer (2000AD, Strip), Alec Worley (2000AD), Will Sliney and Cullen Bun. Many professional comic creators have also provided work for the titles including Nigel Dobbyn, Jon Haward, Andi Ewington and Matt Timson.

You may well be able to meet some of those creators at the FutureQuake Press table when they exhibit at ICE in Birmingham on Saturday August 2nd. If not, Zarjaz itself is available from many comic shops as well as online from the company's website at www.futurequake.co.uk

Farmageddon 5th July 2014.

2014-07-04T23:08:15Z

IT'S Farmageddon time!... Click on the strips below for this week's fun & frolics.Below is a clip of the Farmageddon animation series proposal in development:

Niel Bushnell's novels Sorrowline and Timesmith are published by Andersen Press.

Neil Bushnell was interviewed for BBC Radio Tees by Bob Fischer, you can listen to it all here:

For more on Farmageddon visit: www.farmadeggon.tv

For more on Niel Bushnell visit: www.nielbushnell.com and www.qurios.com

For more on Gordon Fraser visit: www.freewebs.com/gordonfraser/

Don't miss out next week when we have another special episode of Farmageddon - Click on the RSS Feed to subscribe for free!

Steve Rude VIP Meet & Greet Event at Nostalgia & Comics

2014-07-03T23:42:25Z

STEVE RUDE, the co-creator of Nexus and renowned American comic book artist for publishers such as DC, Marvel and Dark Horse, will be appearing at Birmingham's Nostalgia & Comics on July 31st in an exclusive Meet & Greet event.

The event is being undertaken in partnership with ICE, the Birmingham comic convention taking place at The Studio on Saturday 2nd August, and is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for fans.

In what will be a fully catered event with food and drink, Rude will discuss his career, no doubt giving insights into both his work ideology and the creative process and discussing drawing such iconic superhero characters as Batman, Superman and The X-Men, co-creating the long running science fiction hero Nexus with writer Mike Baron, and drawing the adventures of the classic animation TV character Space Ghost.

There will also be a personal book signing session at the Meet & Greet event with an opportunity to buy original sketches from the artist.

The VIP Meet & Greet event is limited to 100 people and will begin at 7pm. Tickets cost just £30 that can be purchased directly from Nostalgia & Comics at 14-16 Smallbrook Queensway, in Birmingham or from ICE direct at: www.thecomicsshow.co.uk

When Manga Came to America...

2014-07-02T23:47:56Z

WHEN MANGA Came to America: Super-Hero Revisionism in Mai, the Psychic Girl by Julian Darius is now available from the Sequart Organization.

The first manga widely available in English, Mai, the Psychic Girl - as written by Kazuya Kudō, with art by Ryoichi Ikegami - offered a near-perfect story for American readers: a realistic super-hero story, in line with revisionist American comics of the time (like Watchmen).

In this short book, Dr. Julian Darius explores the comic, its depiction of super-powers, its relationship to revisionism, its depiction of female sexuality, and the various attempts to adapt the story as a motion picture.

When Manga Came to America: Super-Hero Revisionism in Mai, the Psychic Girl is Sequart's first book on manga, runs 80 pages and is available in both print and as an ebook.

For more information visit: wwwsequart.org

Nostalgia & Comics Celebrate Free Comic Book Day 2014 Part 18

2014-07-01T23:07:05Z

Free Comic Book Day 2014 took place on Saturday 3rd May and Sutton Coldfield-based photographer Martin Tierney was there once again to capture Nostalgia & Comics and its patrons and the celebrations.

Nostalgia & Comics is based at Queensway, Birmingham City Centre. It has new comics in store every Wednesday.

For more digital information about Martin Tierney visit www.facebook.com/martin.a.tierney.5?ref=tn_tnmn and
www.facebook.com/artofillusionphotography?ref=tn_tnmn.

Other videos by Martin Tierney can be viewed at
www.youtube.com/user/martinftierney?feature=mhee and for photos you can visit: www.viewbug.com/member/martinartofillusiontierney

Come back soon and see what other new surprises we have in store for you!

Glasgow Comic Con 2014

2014-06-30T23:13:24Z

GLASGOW COMIC Con takes place place across four different venues over the weekend of 5th - 6th July.

Guests include John Wagner, Alan Grant, Simon Bisley, Howard Chaykin, Kate Charlesworth, Rufus Dayglo, Roger Langridge, Erik Larsen, Colin Macneil, Peter Milligan, and Gail Simone.

For more information visit: www.gccon.wordpress.com