I feel terrible letting down the organizers who have been so supportive of my work and promoting me online, and shouldering the finances of flight and hotel bookings. I also feel bad to let down any friends and readers who were hoping to see me there. It sounds like a great event and with temperatures still over 20 degrees C would have made a nice alternative to our winter climate.
Yesterday, Malta Today published an interview with me that was conducted last week. All rather pointless now, but you can read it by clicking here if you wish.
I've also fallen behind schedule due to this bug so must press on with work now. My apologies to all concerned regarding the Malta Comic Con and I hope you guys have a great weekend.
http://www.maltacomic-con.com/
That's a shame about your bug,Lew - I just read your Malta interview, so do you think The Beano and 2000 AD will go fully digital in the next few years or will some print weeklies always be around?
ReplyDeleteI think those comics are good for a few years yet. I dunno. I think we're more likely to see an increase in graphic novels than more digital comics.
ReplyDeleteThey won't let you board the aircraft now if you have the flu Lew. They get very sensitive about things like germs now.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense I guess.
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better by now. You're spot on about the 80's. The decade started off brilliantly for UK comics (and US, for that matter ), but the last half of the decade was very depressing for those of us who bought our comics at the newsagents. I was hoping that Marvel UK would start again at the beginning to cash in on a new generation, but they missed out on that opportunity. The 2000 AD reprints had raced through their back catalogue far too quickly .Thank goodness that funnies like Oink and Viz came out, spawning a myriad of immitators at the end of the decade and into the next, otherwise I would have had no "fix" for my habit.
ReplyDeleteAs for the digital future of UK comics, I can't help thinking that they are missing a huge opportunity with the reprint back catalogue. If we had a UK App like Comixology selling old DC Th, Fleetway, IPC,etc. they would rake it in from our generation!
Unfortunately, as seen by comments on forums and elsewhere, there's still a resistance to digital comics. Plus a lot of collectors of the older material simply don't have computer tablets to read them on.
ReplyDeleteI know I mentioned digital in the interview but I think at the moment the stronger future is in books (which I also mentioned). I know some critics claim the UK comics industry is dead but that's simply not true. It's shifted away from newsagents and more towards graphic novels/albums. Admittedly there isn't as much material being produced as there was 40 or 60 years ago, but that's true of many industries. Nevertheless, there are numerous comic books still being produced in the UK.
PS: Sorry, John, for overlooking your good wishes. Yes I feel better than I was a few days ago but still not right. Thanks for asking.
ReplyDelete