Dark Roasted Blend has posted up a whole bunch of classic Soviet-era science fiction images, mostly by Yury Markov for a series of books by Alexander Kazantsev from the 50s to 70s. Rocket ships, robots, aliens and men smoking pipes - its great stuff! (link via Boing Boing)

(is it just me or does the chap here look a bit like an old version of Brains from Thunderbirds?)

Demo was the great Brian Wood book that never did as well as many believed it deserved to. With Brian now at home at DC’s Vertigo imprint it seemed only a matter of time before some of his earlier material was reprinted and reissued. As so it proves, with this reprinting of Demo being the first time it’s all available at the original comic size.

Comic Book Resources has a great interview with Brian where he talks of all these things and more. Including the great news is that Brian Wood and the artist on Demo; Becky Cloonan are reuniting for Demo 2, coming out this year from Vertigo:

“Demo” opened the door to DC Comics for Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, both of whom went on to produce their most famous works for the publisher, so it is appropriate that Vertigo is expected to release by the end of 2008 an all-new six-issue “Demo” miniseries. “’’Demo’s’ what got me in at Vertigo, and Becky as well (we came in on parallel but separate paths). And I think when we launch the second series, it’ll be the biggest launch of my career so far.”

The Open Rights Group has posted a disheartening story of the BBC stopping a fan from posting knitting patterns based on characters from the show. The knitting and Who fan who goes by the web name Mazzmatazz has been creating interesting knitted versions of characters from the popular show and decided to share the knitting patterns online. The Beeb decided this contravened their copyright and asked them to stop; the patterns have now been removed due to fear of possible legal action.

As the ORG notes it is possible that technically Mazz may have inadvertently infringed the BBC’s rights slightly, but since these were non-commerical sites, a fan of knitting sharing patterns from a popular show with other fans to make themselves it is hard to see why they would be so bothered about it - it would be different if they were being sold (obviously they have to protect their rights against that kind of thing), but they weren’t and so as the ORG site observes “it’s hard to see how Mazz’s non-commercial knitting patterns actually damage the commercial interests of the BBC.” Does this mean the Tom Baker scarf my aunt knitted for me in the 70s is illegal and will I be busted next time I wear it? Come to that does it mean John Culshaw breaks copyright whenever he does his impression of Tom Baker’s Doctor? (link via Boing Boing)

Reading British comics – especially old British comics – can do serious damage to your mind. At least that’s the findings from my recent survey… Okay – that survey consisted of me talking to myself; but it did provide some insight into the collective mind of British comics fandom.

After several years of reading the mostly bizarre, often grotesque, always unusual and let’s be honest, downright weird strips in what were once household names (well, maybe not Emma, Hoot or Jag) you get to the stage where you start to take for granted certain behaviours that in the ‘real’ world could be seen as, well, a bit peculiar.

(an airborne scene from “My Pal Ropey”, published in the Beezer)

For instance, take my Saturday morning habit. I like to start the weekend with a quick trip back to the comics of my childhood. So just before I go to bed on Friday night, I drop this week’s comic on the carpet behind the mailbox. Of course, it’s not actually this week’s comic. At the moment I am reading my way through Valiant (the home of strips like ‘Steel Claw’, ‘Captain Hurricane’, ‘The Wild Wonders’ and, by the by, early Seventies, ‘Star Trek’). To someone brought up in the company of weird delights such as a chap who has a piece of rope for their best mate (‘My Pal Ropey’ in The Beezer) or ‘Fishboy – Denizen of the Deep’ (boy stranded on an island, learns to breathe underwater – Buster) my little something for the weekend seems quite harmless.

(Buster’s Fishboy, the boy who can, er, swim like a fish...)

My wife did draw the line at getting up before me to surprise me with a ‘comic of the week’. I guess those wedding vows weren’t taken as seriously as I thought (I don’t know, she’s still putting up with you! - Joe).

Another strange comicy habit of mine is trying to work out what voice certain characters would have. I work in theatre and occasionally I will show a comic strip to an actor and ask them to interpret the character. As you can see, it’s a wizard hoot being around me when things get quiet. “So James, this animated man-shape made out of a pile of magical bubbles (‘Mr Bubbles’ – Sparky), what would he sound like?”

Some voices have been done for us. Both Big Finish and Sly Stallone have given us their versions of Judge Dredd. TV has given us Banana Man and a host of other comicy characters. Recent DVDs have given us many DC Thomson characters (all wrong according to my head, by the way).

Some characters are relatively easy – Desperate Dan (to my mind) has a deep, slow American west voice – with a hint of Scots thrown in to match the syntax. ‘Adam Eterno’ (Lion) I imagined with a soft Dorset accent – a bit like ‘Master of the Marsh’ from Smash comic. Buster from er, Buster, was a Geordie. Minnie the Minx is an Essex girl. Dan Dare, no matter which incarnation we talk about, always has that reassuring Dirk Bogarde/Kenneth More voice (Jack Hawkins for Sir Hubert? - Joe).

Anyway, enough of my babbling – I’ve just noticed that there’s a surprise comic on the carpet behind the letterbox. This could turn out to be a very good weekend.

Just for the record – Crikey! Magazine has a whole section in each issue looking at Nutty Notions from bygone comics. Order your copy on-line from the website or pop down to your local FPI shop.

It seems that Dark Horse Comics have a MySpace page. And instead of filling it with make believe friends and lists of all the rubbish they like in music, TV and movies they’ve taken the great step of filling it with quality web only comics.

There are all sorts of creators on there; Peter Bagge, Mike Mignola, Ian Edginton, John Arcudi, Gabriel Ba and most importantly to me: Evan Dorkin. I love Evan Dorkin. I worry about his mental health, but I love reading about it. But the most wonderful Evan Dorkin comic is also the simplest Evan Dorkin comic. A milk carton and a slab of cheese hit things. Repeatedly. Comedy ensues. Blood flows.
This is Milk and Cheese. They are very funny. You must agree. This time they’re off to a furrie convention in “The Fursuit of Happiness”:

One of these days I keep telling myself I’ll get around to reviewing Milk and Cheese. But this is one of those occasions when all you need can be done in just one picture:

That should be enough to get the entire gag over to you. Milk and Cheese is just simple funny. There’s Milk. There’s Cheese. A carton of hate and a wedge of spite. Dairy products gone bad. They both hate you and would dearly love to set about you with all manner of sharp objects. Now, what could be funnier than that?

The Dark Horse MySpace page with Milk and Cheese is here. Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer blog and have a website at the House of Fun. All images belong to Evan Dorkin. Hands off or the dairy produce will be coming for a visit.

Boing Boing has a link to a video made in 2003 to promote Rebel Visions: the Underground Comix Revolution. With a new (and somewhat overdue) edition of the book by Paul Rosenkranz coming shortly from the good folks at Fantagraphics the old video has been resurrected via the magic of the web and features interviews with some legendary names, including Gilbert Shelton, Rick Griffin, Robert Crumb and others. I should point out for the benefit of younger readers that the term Underground Comix does not mean publishers beavering away in the bowels of the London tube system - that doesn’t happen too often because as those of us who know our Donald Pleasance movies are aware there are mad cannibals down there who would eat the publishers.

The BBC reports that a portrait of the late Heath Ledger, shortly to be seen posthumously in the new Batman movie, has won a people’s choice award in Australia. The portrait by Vincent Fantauzzo was shortlisted for the prestigious Archibald Prize, the biggest Australian award for portraiture; it didn’t land the top gong but it did obviously appeal to the ordinary voting public who selected it in their people’s choice award. The artist has donated the painting of the young Australian actor - completed only shortly before his early death this year - to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The main Archibald award went to Del Kathryn Barton for “You are what is most beautiful about me”, a self portrait with Kell and Arella, a self portrait of the artist with her children.

Vape those geeks!!!! I love this VCs cover for Zarjaz, brings back nostalgic early 2000 AD memories for me (Dave tells me that this splendid art comes from Colin MacNeil). Dave Evans from top Brit small press publisher FutureQuake tells me they’ve been busy updating the FQ site and family of comics just head of Bristol, including their first issue of the 2000 AD inspired Zarjaz, the first since they took over publication (see here for a review of the previous Zarjaz, the last by Colin J Dinnie), plus a new issue of Dogbreath. The guys will be on hand at the Bristol Comics Expo this weekend (and kudos to Dave, he was also one of the small press publishers who travelled to the Inverness comics gig too, he puts in a good bit of time and effort into these events) - do yourself a favour if you’re going and swing past the FutureQuake table, say hi to the guys and treat yourselves to some damned fine Brit anthologies (and at a mere three creds!) - Dave also tells me he will have the original of that brilliant Zarjaz VCs cover by Colin MacNeil (above) on show at Bristol. For more updates on the FQ stable check the Quaequam blog.

BBC Radio 4 turns up trumps again, this time with a programme about one of the great names from animation, the incomparable Mel Blanc, the multi-voiced artist who gifted speech to a multitude of famous characters, not least Bugs Bunny (one of my important role models when I was growing up), Daffy Duck and Barney Rubble over a seven-decade career. Mel has to be one of my all time heroes from the animation world. I missed it - the show actually went out on Tuesday, but we’ve still got a few days remaining to check it out on the Listen Again function on the Beeb’s site.

(Bugs with Elmer Fudd as the blushing bride)

Marc Ellerby was one of those cartoonists I was aware of but hadn’t picked anything up by until I walked into a comic shop and saw Venal Muse and Polar Opposites sat on the shelves, looking fun, fresh and frankly, out of place amongst a morass of crappy comics.

So I got hold of more of his books and sat down to review them. The results of that can be found elsewhere in the blog, but it’s always nice to be able to talk to these British cartoonists and get a little insight into what makes them tick.

So without further ado, Marc Ellerby:

Richard: To start off with, what’s your background, and how the hell did you wind up doing comics? I gather from the blurbs on your books that you’re relatively new to the whole scene. So was your intent always to make your own comics or has it merely occured through necessity?

Marc: I guess I am still kind of new to the industry. I’ve been working on a book for Oni Press for the past two years called Love The Way You Love and before that I illustrated a story in the Belle & Sebastian graphic novel (Put The Book Back on the Shelf - Joe) that Image put out (both these were written by Jamie S. Rich) but with regards to the UK scene I’ve only been a part of it for the past year and I’m only starting to find my feet I think.

I’ve always loved comics but I had a falling out with them in my mid teens, but when I went to university I got back into them in a big way, Blankets by Craig Thompson came out in my second year and that was hugely influential and I was loving Jeffrey Brown’s books and I saw the opportunity the medium provided with telling a honest and introspective narrative through illustration and that just inspired the hell out of me.

R: Obviously, when looking at your work and it’s autobiographical content the reference points for me are the autobiog cartoonists I read during the time when every other comic of note was some cartoonist talking about themselves, whether it was Chester Brown, Seth, Joe Matt or Adrian Tomine. Is this something you’re aware of or did the desire to tell your own life in pictures come from somewhere else?

M: Oh yeah I’m totally aware of it. Autobio has it’s own sort of cliche and stereotype that the medium often falls into and more often than not, new work produced has hints of Tomine, James Kochalka, Jeffrey Brown and therefore doesn’t stand on it’s own rather it’s a just a poor cover version. With my book Venal Muse and like wise with my personality I try to engage the reader as much as I can, inviting them to relate to what I’m saying or question if I’m wrong or if they have a different viewpoint. As I with all my autobio stuff I just try to write stories that people can go “oh this reminded me of such and such” or “oh I do that too!” I think sometimes with Joe Matt or Chris Ware they can often alienate the reader because they’re so self critical and self deprecating, personally I find it a bit tiresome, I mean they can be endlessly harsh on themselves that it’s sometimes hard for the reader to care.

R: Artistically you’re nothing like those artists, although the lines and stylings of Tomine are in certain panels. What artists have influenced your work?

M: Matt Groening is probably the single biggest influence, I mean I was a huge Simpsons fan growing up and the Simpsons is something that’s embedded in my generation and it was really hard to ignore it, seeing as it’s been in my face since the age of 10. But there’s something so simple yet engaging about his stuff, the big eyes, the overbites, the ugly yet somehow attractive nature of his characters. I love his Life in Hell books and they’re really crude in places but that’s what’s so great about his stuff. It’s not perfect and he knows that but he just carries on with the tools he was given.

Andi Watson too is a huge influence. He’s probably the most underrated and underused artist in the whole bloody comics industry and that’s completely unfair. Perhaps some of the book companies jumping on the graphic novel bandwagon could stop looking overseas for creators to sign when Andi has a extensive back catalogue that’s bursting to get out to to the mainstream audience. Other than that, I guess a lot of my contemporaries influence me, like the early Oni crew of Jim Mahfood, Scott Morse and Chynna Clugston. Chris Bachalo, Bryan O’Malley, Tom Gauld. The list is endless.

(From the Venal Muse, fine detailing on the flashback sequences to set these pages apart from Marc’s direct to the audience panels.)

R: In the last year, from Venal Muse to Ellerbisms there’s been a shift in your art style. Venal Muse had a somewhat finer line and more detailed background. But Ellerbisms has a more solid, simplified style. Is this just a natural progression in your art or some conscious decision to change how you draw?

M: No, with Ellerbisms it was originally going to be a daily web-comic so I kept things as simple as I could so I wouldn’t get bogged down with it as I was still drawing Love The Way for Oni at the time. I think with Venal Muse, the subject of muses and clouded emotion sit well with adorned backgrounds and textures plus I wanted something that would look drastically different from the scenes where I’m talking to the audience and there’s a blank white background to where you turn the page and it’s suddenly got gray tone and detail and hopefully the reader is taken back by that.

With the Ellerbisms I’m drawing now, I’m using a brush (as I did with Love The Way) and it’s got a lot more weight and expression to it. I’m also putting in more backgrounds, doing away with the stationary shots and moving things around more. One of my original goals for Ellerbisms was to use it a ‘playground’ for my sequential art, so I could try new things and if they don’t work, well so what? I’ll know not to use it next time.

R: My main criticism with Ellerbisms (and it’s only a small one) was that I found the single page diary format too restrictive. In Venal Muse you showed that you obviously have the talent and ability to work to a longer narrative so when I was reading Ellerbisms I kept thinking that I wish you’d expand on some of the pages, give us more of the story. Is there any chance that future volumes may have a slightly longer narrative?

M: With Ellerbisms, it was only ever meant to be a daily web-comic, so in terms of narrative, there is no ending, but I do agree that there is perhaps no overall structure of the book when collected. Again though, I wanted to highlight small things in life that people could relate to, perhaps without much context. However saying that, I am hopefully going to launch it as a proper web comic later this year and one of the things I hope to achieve is to develop a sort of story arc over time, so when collected it won’t be so all over the place.

(From Ellerbisms by Marc Ellerby. The coloured versions are from the website. Ageism rampant in the under 20s. I wonder what they think of 30 somethings standing at the back with a pint?)

R: At the moment the British Small Press scene appears to be in a purple patch, with a lot of really great work coming out. How are you finding things at the moment, is it a good time to be doing what you’re doing?

M: Yeah it does seem to be going through a resurgence but then I think the whole industry is, so perhaps it’s a knock on effect from the mainstream interest in graphic novels and Manga currently kicking arse in the book shops. It’s a pretty good time for the British small press scene as there’s plenty of good stuff coming out, though I do question just how far the British scene can go. I mean I know I can’t live off photocopied minis so I turn to the U.S for publication and work as far as the U.K is concerned there’s fuck all over here. Where is the British equivalent to Oni or Top Shelf? What publishers do we actually have over here? Rebellion? Jonathan Cape? They are the Marvel and Drawn And Quarterly of the U.K world, but there’s no middle ground. It’s still bewildering why the industry is so behind what’s going on in Europe and Japan. Is there a demand over here though, I guess that’s the question. Maybe the bubble burst of the industry in the 90’s still scares people and they’re waiting for the current one to go pop?

R: Where can we get hold of your work, have you had much success getting into comic shops at all? What do you think of the current retail comic scene in Britain. Do the shops cater for you and similar cartoonists or do you find them reluctant to venture beyond those blokes with the underwear on the outside of their suits?

M: Oh a select few shops are great. Gosh in London, Page 45 in Nottingham, Dave’s Comics in Brighton, OK Comics Leeds and the Travelling Man chain are joys to work with. They have excellent small press sections and don’t make much if any money from selling my stuff but do it because they love comics. There’s a few shops around where I live and one employs old ladies to work there and just caters for the superheroes crowd so I know not to bother with them as it’s not my audience. It’s a weird place to go into, actually, come to think of it.
It’s nice to get emails from people who don’t usually read comics saying they found my books in Page 45 and they loved them. You know your work’s in good hands.
Other than that you can buy everything from my web site http://www.marcellerby.com and at conventions (I’ll be at the Bristol expo, No Barcodes in Camden, the Birmingham expo and maybe Thought Bubble in Leeds)

R: You’ve had some involvement with the London Underground Comics stall I believe - how did you find it? Personally I think Oli’s doing a good thing and obviously has a knack of getting incredibly good promotion for the stall.

M: None at all I’m afraid. (Bad interviewer edit: Research is a great idea. In my defense I was sure he’d been mentioned in some of Oli Smith’s posts. Must have just been talking about the comics. Ooops.) I’ve heard nothing but good things about it though. I’m exhibiting at the No Barcodes event on May 31st, so that should be interesting especially with the prospect of reaching non comic fans. It’ll be good to see just what outsider demand there is for these type of events.

R: What’s next for you?

M: I’m working on a pitch for a creator owned book about a monster hunter that I hope to be a multi volume series. It’s so early in the planning stages that I don’t want to say much about it, but it’ll probably end up being less about the actual monster hunting and more about getting the bus.
Me and Jamie S. Rich also have the second collection of Love The Way You Love coming out in August from Oni Press. It collects volumes 4-6 of the regular series, the first collection is out now. We’ve talked about working together on a new book so we’ll see how that pans out.
Also www.ellerbisms.com should start seeing some content soon. A second mini comic collection should be out in time for the Birmingham expo in October.

(As Marc points out so subtly - his Ellerbisms website should start seeing some action later in the year.)

R: And finally, because one of the best ways to hear about new stuff is to get others to point you in the right direction, what sorts of things are you reading right now? Is there anyone out there we should all be paying attention to?

M: I picked up a book called Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki from Dave’s Comics last month and that knocked me out. The drawings are immaculate, the lines are rich in expression and the layouts are gorgeous. I really recommend that for anyone who loved Juno or Freaks & Geeks. Mariko’s doing a Minx book with Steve Rolston soon, so that should be pretty cool.

British small press scene wise, you could do no wrong by checking out Lizz Lunney’s books. They’re a bit like Simone Lia, maybe slightly cruder but are just as hilarious. They features lots of dinosaurs and cats with issues. My convention buddy Adam Cadwell’s Everyday books are getting better and better with every release, the art’s stronger than it’s ever been I think. Liz Greenfield’s new mini Fancy Circumstances features strips about a cardboard boyfriend alongside a new, rougher style of art that I hope fans of her Stuff Sucks web comic enjoy because it looks amazing. Urrm who else? Jim Medway, Edd at Hey Monkey Riot! oh the list just goes on and on. Lots of lovely books!

And with that we have to leave him. Thanks very much to Marc for the interview and for sending me his comics.

Marc’s going to be at the Bristol Expo with Kieren Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and John Cei Douglas. He’ll also be at the Birmingham Con later in the year, where I shall stop by and say hello and try not to look to old next to his youthful visage.

As is the case nowadays, he’s all over the web: Website, blog, Ellerbisms site, Flickr.

Email Marc to tell him how much you love his comics and he’s a git for making me feel old.

Jason Polan is using his blog to show sketches and cartoons he is creating as part of an ambitious project to draw everyone in the Big Apple: “I am trying to draw every person in New York. I will be drawing people everyday and posting as frequently as I can. It is possible that I will draw you without you knowing it. I draw in Subway stations and museums and restaurants and on street corners. I try not to be in the way when I am drawing or be too noticeable. Whenever I have a new batch of drawings I will post them on this blog.”

(artist Jeff Koons on the roof of the Met; (c) Jason Polan)

That’s quite an undertaking considering the sheer size of New York City and I’m not sure if he will be able to draw every single resident (will it include visitors too?) but its certainly pretty interesting and looks to be worth a look. Hmmm, you know, this make me wonder if perhaps we should have an offshoot of 24 Hours Comic Day, a draw your town or city day? People and/or buildings, sketches stuck up on Flickr and geotagged. Just a thought. I hope Jason doesn’t get hassled by police or security as he sketches in the same way many photographers have been as they go round cities making images to share. (link via Boing Boing)

It’s Thursday, it must be time for our weekly update of what comics and science fiction related audio goodness Alex Fitch has coming our way, with some top notch comics and SF creative folks for us to tune into, from the legendary Pat Mills to this year’s Arthur C Clarke award-winner Richard Morgan (as ever check the Panel Borders blog for more details and links):

“Strip!: Comics and the outside world, tonight on Resonance FM at 5pm

In today’s show we’re looking at periodicals that look at the crossover between comics and the outside world. In the first of today’s interviews, guest presenter Grant Rogers, a former animator on such shows as Tales of Beatrix Potter and Dogtanian, is interviewing Pat Mills about his critically acclaimed serial about the 1st World War – Charley’s War – which was serialised in the pulp war comic Battle Picture weekly in the late 1970s and is now being reprinted in lavish hardback volumes by Titan Books.

Then, Duncan Nott and Alex Fitch are talking to Joel Meadows, publisher and editor of Tripwire magazine which ran for ten years and now exists as an annual publication and features at the links between comic books and multimedia from films to TV shows and animation. He has also written a new book - Studio Space - about the work of comic book artists which is released tomorrow.

I’m ready for my close-up: Modern silent movies, Friday, Resonance FM at 5pm

Inspired by the forthcoming release of the amazing Argentinia film La Antena in cinemas next week, Alex Fitch and Electric Sheep magazine editor Virginie Selavy talk about the phenomenon of modern silent movies or rather films without dialogue from the work of Guy Maddin to Belleville Rendezvous.

Reality Check: Humour at Sci-Fi London (online from the 14th)

Alex Fitch talks to a quartet of sci-fi fans who have used a mixture of the fantasy genre and comedy in their work, Guillaume Ivernel and Arthur Qwak - directors of the new feature length French cartoon ‘Dragon Hunters’ plus the unexpected double act of Rich Fulcher (The Mighty Boosh) and Dean Haglund (The X-Files).

Previous podcasts of interest -

Part one of Alex Fitch’s interview with Barry Forshaw and Mark Evanier is online now at the Panel Borders site.

Graham Sleight interviews with two nominees and the winner - Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod and Richard Morgan - of this year’s Arthur C. Clarke awards is online at www.sci-fi-london.com/audio

(Alex’s interview with Joe Lidster has been slightly delayed and will be online in a fortnight) “

The BBC site has a short interview with Alan Cumming, star of the X-Men and the James Bond flick Goldeneye among many others, discussing his new role in the upcoming mini-series Tin Man, a modern take on the classic Wizard of Oz tales by L Frank Baum, which looks quite interesting (and also stars Zooey Deschanel, known to SF fans for her role as Trilian in the movie version of the Hitchiker’s Guide), due to air on the UK SciFi Channel quite soon. Alan is also asked about the perception of gay actors playing a straight character, in light of Stephen Fry saying he sometimes feels pigeon holed in the roles offered to him because of his own sexuality: “there is a lot of homophobia in the world - but in Hollywood definitely. But I really don’t think that people care that much - the people that go to see films. I think the thing about people being scared to come out in case it affects their film career - I think in a way [the media] make more of a deal of it. It’s made into a slight controversy and then it’s self-perpetuating. I actually don’t think it’s that big a deal.”

(Alan Cumming with Zooey Deschanel in SciFi’s upcoming Tin Man)

Scoop recently reported on a research trip that cartoonist Billy Tucci recently undertook in preparation for the upcoming limited series ‘Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion’, to be published by DC later on this year. Tucci is both artist and writer on this book (there’s also an older chat with Tucci on Scoop here).

In his efforts to make the mini-series as authentic as possible, Tucci went to France to search for documentation on the 100th/442nd RCT, an army unit that consisted of Japanese/American “Nisei” soldiers, volunteers who enlisted while their families were detained in wartime internment camps in the US. The life story of these volunteers is the central subject of Tucci’s Sgt. Rock story.

(sketch of Sgt Rock by Billy Tucci)

In the story, the guys of Easy Company find themselves surrounded on all sides by an enemy force ten times their size. The men of the 100th/442nd RCT will play an important part in the series, along with well-known DC war heroes, such as Johnny Cloud and The Haunted Tank.

While documenting his story, Tucci contacted historians Hervé Claudon and Gerome Villain, who during the war had helped Americans escape from occupied France, and now served as consultants. They brought him into contact with several resistance fighters who are still alive, and also proved to be a valuable source of first-hand information and anecdotes.

On March 4, 2008 Tucci was even given the honour of Ambassador of the Bruyeres Region. Michel Langloix, Vice-President du Conseil General des Vosges, bestowed the honour of Ambassador to William Tucci in the ancient town of Bruyeres. The citation reads, “William Tucci, Ambassadeur, De La Region De Bruyeres, Vosges, France.” This is no empty honour, as Tucci was to find out :

““I was stunned by this wonderful surprise. I couldn’t believe it. Here I was holding this beautiful wreath, representing the United States. I had asked Monsieur Langloix, ‘Why me? I had nothing to do with the Liberation. I don’t deserve this.” But he simply smiled and sternly instructed me that not only were they appreciative of my work but that the ambassadorship means that I am to tell my countrymen that the people of France will never forget their liberators.”

(Billy Tucci in front of a Sherman at St. Mere-Eglise in Normandy, scene of some dreadful fighting around D-Day, not least the struggle of Allied paratroopers; pic borrowed from the Scoop article)

It will be good to see DC’s war heroes in a real story again. They often lend a sense of authenticity to a story, as we last saw in Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier.

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and when not thinking about the benefits of their fine waffles writes extensively on comics culture; you can read more of his work on his own Ephemerist blog.

Tom Humberstone - he of Vented Spleen fame - reports that the first, limited edition run of My Fellow Americans will launch on May 28th from 7pm at the Cross Kings, 126 York Way, King’s Cross, London. As mentioned on the blog before Tom and his friend, the writer Dan Hancox, were over earlier this year covering the US presidential campaign in both words and illustrations (with more travels and coverage hopefully to follow later in the year as the campaign rolls on). For more details check Tom’s site or the My Fellow Americans website.

(“vote for change”, an illustration by Tom Humberstone)