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Friday Runaround – Bend It Like Bacon

Published Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:49:52 -0600

Last updated Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:05:50 -0600

So I spent last night in the pub with the likes of Paul Cornell, Kieron Gillen, Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood. Apologies for any subsequent… lethargy.

BeckhamWatch: Yesterday's David Beckham comic piece from BleedingCool.com gets picked up by The Daily Star.

BattleWatch: B Clay Moore has announced a sequel to Battle Hymn with Jeremy Haun, saying;

Looks like it's back to the Golden Age with a sequel to Battle Hymn. Jeremy and I are plotting, he's doing the cover. And I think we've found a new artist and someone to do a fun backup.

BeidiWatch: Heidi's off. My own favourite comics gossip columnist is taking The Beat blog from Publisher's Weekly and giving it its own URL. Seriously, this could be as big as Longbox…

LocalWatch: Wisconsin State Journal profiles John Kovalic over his creation of Dork Tower and his sale of the rights to Apples To Apples…

"I'm not allowed to talk about the details," Kovalic said, but it's clear all concerned made out well.

LocalWatch2: According to local newspapers, not only can comics be literature, but they can also be culturally relevant. Who'd have thought, eh? Either way, apparently, less is more.

LocalWatch3: The artist of Bluewater's Sonia Sotomayor biographical comic, Cesar Feliciano, gets a local splash in the Hartford Courant.

The illustrated Sotomayor doesn't fly or shoot lasers out of her eyes, but because it's a comic book, Feliciano can take certain liberties that would be out of place in a straight biography. For instance, it's unlikely that Sotomayer was surrounded by the cheering cast members of "Seinfeld" when she ruled against an unauthorized trivia game based on the show, but Feliciano makes it happen in the comic.

FreeWatch: Dark Horse is giving the iTunes version of the first issue of its Mass Effect: Redemption comic available for free on February 3rd only, when issue 2 is released.

GamesWatch: Jason Kingsley of 2000AD's Rebellion talks about the upcoming Aliens Vs Predator game.

There's no point in defanging it. It's intrinsic to the license and while people will have their own opinions on whether or not we've gone too far with it I personally don't think we have. I think we're about right and I defend it for that, though I do say to people; don't play it if you're squeamish. If you can't cope with 18 cert material then avoid it. It's certainly not suitable for children in my opinion.

At the end of the day those people don't have to buy it. They can buy The Sims instead – I'm fine with that. Different games for different people, but it's our right as a creative studio to do the game in the way the franchise deserves.

GrannyWatch: Bestselling French comic book Happy Sex causing confusion amongst grandmothers.

Explaining the success of "Happy Sex" is not hard, argue industry analysts, when you consider illustrator Zep is also behind the hugely popular and long-running series "Titeuf," which features a blonde-quiffed boy as its eponymous hero.

"It's the name. It's that simple. It's Zep," said Gilles Ratier, secretary-general of the comic critics' association ACBD.

Elderly ladies were said to be buying "Happy Sex" for their little grandchildren thinking it was the new "Titeuf," he added.

Booksellers are also seeing other erotic comics benefiting from the success of Happy Sex, said GfK analyst Celine Fedou.

"It's had a strong impact on the segment," she said.

FilmWatch: Le Grand Chef: Kimchi War, the sequel to the 2007 Korean comic book movie adaptation Le Grand Chef is out.

It presents food as art, which is highlighted by the split-screen frames reminiscent of "Iron Chef" competitions. The entertainment factor lies in the juxtaposition of the main actors, the intuitive Seong-chang who allows gritty life lessons to rub off on his homey dishes, versus the cool-headed perfectionist Jang-eun who uses a measuring cup to whip up something deliciously modern.

It's like another world… and now I need a bacon sandwich. As long as I don't look at that screenshot again. Laters.

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