…london horror comic…

Film 4 London Frightfest Film Festival 2010 – 38 days to go

I’m attending this year’s Film 4 Frightfest Film Festival in London after a two-year absence.

If you’re a horror writer it’s important to stay up to date with what’s being done in the genre -if only to avoid using ideas that have already been done. A tense work schedule prevented me attending before, but I’m making the time this August.

The FrightFest always provides a good selection of films. They première the big Hollywood stuff alongside the independent and edgier films from all over the world.

What’s great is making a discovery: wading through some of the inevitable tripe to find that one film that will blow you away. I’ve made several superb finds through the Frightfest, some of which, like ‘The Orphanage’ and ‘Jeepers Creepers’ have taken pride of place in my DVD collection and have gone on to enjoy mainstream success.

Then there are the other lesser known ones, which, while excellent, have failed to make the impact they deserved. Films like “Teeth,” “The Neighbour No. 13,” and my guilty pleasure, “Monster Man,” would have forever been under my radar had they not been on the bill at FrightFest.

Attending the Frightfest is a gruelling experience, with several back to back screenings a day, testing the limit of your capacity to consume Red Bull. But in a very geeky way that only horror fans will appreciate, your world is made that bit richer by discovering a truly great and imaginative scary move.

London Horror Comic #3 Review on Direct Edition

London Horror Comic #3 is given a short mini review on Direct Edition above. We chime in at 2.27 and the whole show gives a good run down on what’s out. The show is produced by a chap called Iyare and you can catch more videos over at his channel.

You can buy copies of London Horror Comic #3 here or click preview to take a flick through issue 3.

The Gorbals Vampire

London Horror Comic was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 as part of the The Gorbals Vampire documentary.

Click the here to listen to The Gorbals Vampire. (12mb)

London Horror Comic comes in at about 24:30,

Novelist Louise Welsh presents the programme. Production credits go to David Stenhouse. BBC Radio 4.

Super Man grounded? Great!

News that US comic books won’t be shipping any time soon to the UK because of flight restrictions provides an opportunity to examine how purchasing comics could change.

It’s rare that comic book readers are forced to go cold turkey.

Genuine delight in a comic book series can dissipate over time. But the habit of turning up to a comic store each week can mean that the purchase of a book continues well-past the point it ceases to be any good.

A comic is bought not because it is any good, but because it happens to be Thursday and that’s when you buy your new comics.

The result of this Pavlovian response? Money is funnelled into perpetuating bad work and diverted away from publishers who produce genuinely new and interesting work.

Readers aren’t without recourse during the drought.

The option of illegally downloading comics exists for those who really want to get hold of their monthly fix.

Such readers then realise they can continue downloading titles rather than pay, or, out of a sense of completeness download and then buy the print title – but only if they really liked the issue.

The driver behind these actions is that readers have to feel that the comic is worth their time downloading to begin with.

Downloading, as opposed to buying from a store, then speeds the decision of continuing to stick with a series – if a comic wasn’t, on review, worth the effort of downloading, you’ll remember that next time you see it on the shelf in store.

You’ll remember it doubly if you went through the awkwardness of reading the comic on your monitor, rather than in print, and deciding past the third page that it wasn’t worth the strain.

The speed of being able to download and sample complete comics therefore brings the quality and propensity of a customer to buy a print version into sharp focus.

Offering a print comic will have to become a different proposition, in the same way that offering an album has had to become, given the speed that customers can access and digest singles.

The legal download market for comics isn’t mature as yet to support a full publisher switch-over from print to digital, but the soon commonplace $3.99+ price point for single issues will tip this the other way.

But will digital downloads lead to greater varieties of works being produced as well as purchased?

I’d like to say, yes. But I’m doubtful.

As ash spreads through the skies, there is little on the floors of comic shops in the way of UK produced comics ready to fill the gap left by American publishers.

And even if there were, would UK readers be willing to give them a second glance or would they just hold their dollar for more super hero action?

While the channels for buying comics and the medium for reading them will undoubtedly change, our biggest hope for the continuation of a comic industry lies with what we have to offer readers when Super-Man stops flying.

London Horror Comic on BBC Radio 4 iPlayer

London Horror Comic over at BBC Radio 4 Interviewed on Horror Comics

We kick in at about 24 min 30 secs

Corrupt comics – London Horror Comic on BBC Radio 4

From the BBC website:

“These comics, so the theory went, were corrupting the imaginations of children and inflaming them with fear of the unknown.”

The Gorbals Vampire will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 2300 GMT on Tuesday 30 March, and will be available on BBC iPlayer.

London Horror Comic is interviewed as part of the radio show, so listen out if you can.

Airport Limbo

Anything becomes food when you’re waiting for your flight.

BBC Radio 4 Interview

I finished an interview about horror comics for BBC Radio 4 which goes out 23:00 on March 30.

I thought about doing my best Mark Kermode impression for the recording, but then realised to I would have had to slam horror comics for not being as good as The Exorcist film if I wanted to pull the impression off.

The interview was fun.

I got a chance to talk about the appeal of horror comics, the change in styles over the years and the danger of horror comics falling into the hands of kids.

One of the things I had to point out was that, by and large, kids don’t really have access to the range of comics they did back in the fifties.

Super hero reprint titles and the Cartoon Network-style range of comics make up all that kids are likely to find in the local newsagents or WHSmith.

Any material a few degrees left of ‘capes and cowls’ is likely to be held in a local comic shop, which requires the walking cash machine that is a parent, who will no doubt inspect any purchase before buying.

If you’re after horror comics, you have to seek them out; they don’t jump out at you from shelves. You also have to be well-informed about what’s available and suitably cashed up to the point where you don’t ask for pocket money.

The arguement that horror comics warp fragile little minds is weakend by kids having a lack of direct access to much wider material in comics form.

This is weird when you consider that some of the best selling kids novels are horror stories – wizards and werewolves.

Food for thought.

Welcome SFX Readers!

Hello to SFX readers who may be visiting the site for the first time and who caught our full-page colour ad in issue #194 on sale this month (it’s the one with the Dr.Who cover that follows you around the room or something).

Anywhoo. London Horror Comic is a 32 page, print, full colour horror comic. It also happens to be, coincidentally, British. It’s written, published and rocked to sleep each night by me, JP Kamath.

Since the SFX ad cost me my left kidney, the least you can do is wander over and buy issues #1 #2 and #3 of the London Horror Comic using PayPal from our online store. You can buy issues #1, #2 and #3 at a special price of £8 total or buy individual issues separately for £3.50. All prices include p+p and comics come bagged and boarded.

What’s that? No! You want to see a preview of all three issues of the London Horror Comic before you part with your hard earned cash? Well, mosey on over to our preview page where we have selection of choice cuts from each issue to help massage the cash out of your wallet.

What’s that? Still don’t take our word for it? Yeesh. Head on over to the reviews page then. More than enough people have said nice things about the comics including Garth Ennis and comedian Stewart Lee, so rest assured, you’re in good company if you do buy the London Horror Comic.

Anything else? Oh yeah, you can listen to me at 23.00 on the 30th March on BBC Radio 4 where I will be talking about the London Horror Comic.

Thinking on this:

“I had to make up my mind whether I really wanted to continue making films. There was so much negativity you might as well stop. So what do you do? Stay down dead? No. I realised then, you can’t let the system crush your spirit. I really did want to continue making pictures. I’m a director. I’ll make a low-budget picture, After Hours. I’m going to be a pro and start all over again.”