THAT COMIC SMELL: European Comics

The new episode is online now.

From the web:

“¡Aquí! Necesitas escuchar este episodio de ese olor cómico o de lo contrario”

buen día! bonne journée! Schönen Tag! And a good day to you! Welcome to our all European comics special. We last did one of these before the mics were even turned on. Literally the meeting before we decided to do a podcast so this is a very special one for us. You will hear us figure out how long it’s been that we have been meeting up (roughly) to do these. We also talk about a whole host of incredible European titles from all over. Of course there is also a fair bit of rambling. We really hope you enjoy.

This and all the usual comics chat on the only comics podcast to go from Paris to Berlin but every disco we went in our hearts weren’t quite pumping for love…

That Comic Smell!

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13 Rue Del Percebe (Francisco Ibañez)
Asterix & The Sassenachs (René Goscinny, Albert Uderzo)
Blacksad (Juan Díaz Canales, Juanjo Guarnido)
Booth (C.C.Colbert, Tanitoc, Hilary Sycamore)
Corto Maltese [Magazine] (Various)
Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun (Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Zosia Dzierzawska)
Exterminator (Enki Bilal)
Groo vs Conan (Sergio Aragonés, Thomas Yeates)
Harum Scarum (Lewis Trondheim)
Illegal (Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Giovanni Rigano)
It Was The War of the Trenches (Jacques Tardi)
Iznogoud's Nightmares (René Goscinny, Jean Tabary)
Logicomix (Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos, Annie Di Donna)
Mortadelo Y Filemon (Francisco Ibañez)
Novelty (Mohar Kalra)
Il Punitore (Belter of a Punisher story)
Revelations (Max Bertolini)
Speciale Batman [Magazine] (Various)
STORM CLOUDS, GHOST BEACH, OPEN HEART (Ben Mitchell)
The Story of Sex: From Apes to Robots (Philippe Brenot, Laetitia Coryn)
Super Lopez (Jan)
El Tesoro Del Cisne Negro (Paco Roca, Guillermo Corral)
Thorgal (Jean Van Hamme, Grzegorz Rosiński)
Valerian (Pierre Christin, Jean-Claude Mézières)
Vampire Loves (Joann Sfar)
Zonzo (Joan Cornella)"

TAY BRIDGE DISASTER COMIC #25

Click on image for larger view.

BUT A DREAM! at THE COMIC BOOK YETI

Christa Harader has reviewed But a Dream! over at Matt Ligeti The Comic Book Yeti.

Have a read here.

BELL TIME at COMICHAUS

Print and digital copies of Bell Time are now available at Comichaus - The App and Marketplace/Database for indie comic books!

Have a look here.

STAR JAWS #30

"A brand new decade, with the same old stories..."

The new Star Jaws issue 30 is out now from Barnstormer Comics, featuring work from Robin Barnard, Doug Chapel, Martin Hand, and myself!

More information at the Images Degrading Forever website here.

FRED EGG COMICS REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2019

My annual round up of what I've been up to throughout the year.

In January, my weekly webcomic Bell Time continued with pages 28-31.

John Freeman interviewed me over at Down the Tubes.

That Comic Smell podcast presented two episodes. In the first we discussed our Top 3 Bronze Age comics, the second covered Justice League International Volume 2.

My other webcomic concerns the Tay Bridge disaster. Here is the 22nd strip.

Copy That! #59 featured my comic, Down to a Tea.

In February I presented Bell Time pages 32-35.

I took part in Hourly Comic Day.

We enthused about our favourite comic shops and comic shop memories in That Comic Smell.

I posted my 23rd Tay Bridge Disaster comic strip.

Bell Time pages 36-40 were posted in March.

In April, That Comic Smell discussed Batman and Fantagraphics.

Bell Time 41-44 and Dundee Shmundee #24 were posted.

Bell Time continued in May with pages 45-48.

I put together a collection of comics I did in the 1990s and released them as But a Dream!

That Comic Smell did our third Justice League International episode, and a show where we each picked three random comics to Review, Recommend. Highly Rate.

I guested on the Comic Scene podcast, discussing Hulk Annual 1980 and Soldier’s Heart by Carol Tyler.

In June Bell Time was approaching the end with episodes 49-53.

Star Jaws 3 of 3 from Barnstormer Comics featured two of my comics, Was There Always a Bigger Fish? and Training Days.

That Comic Smell discussed Slice of Life comics and Film and TV tie-ins.

I wrote a guest blog for Daddy Duder Comics.

Bell Time came to a conclusion in July with the posting online of 54-56. I decided to colour the pages digitally before collecting them for print.

In August That Comic Smell discussed British Super-Heroes, and Tom did his first Creator Conversation; starting with me!

August was also the 10th anniversary of this blog and I did a competition to giveaway the entire Fred Egg Comics back catalogue.

A Place to Hang Your Cape interviewed me.

I wrote an article on the Walt Simonson Star Wars Artist Edition, and conducted an interview with Death Wish writer Barrie Tomlinson.

In September Good Comics ran my comic God Bless the Posties.

1990s comics were the topic for That Comic Smell.

I did a couple of Hulk panels for Adam Falp's 102: Tribute to Jack Kirby.

In October I was guest on Samuel George London's Comics for the Apocalypse podcast - a kind of Desert Island Discs for comics.

I had a comic called Coming of Age in Bloom; the latest anthology from Big Brown Eyes.

That Comic Smell did a second episode on horror comics for Halloween.

In November I posted online my Blade Runner tribute comic Los Angeles, November 2019.

In the run up to attending Thought Bubble to launch Bell Time, I appeared on An Englishman in San Diego.

The print edition of Bell Time was released, with coloured pages, guest writers' stories drawn by me, and making of section.

I had a couple of comics in Funtime Comics Anthology #32.

My comic Water (Load of Rubbish) was published in the Water Worlds anthology.

That Comic Smell visited Thought Bubble and recorded a show whilst there.

Star Jaws began publishing my Blade Runner comic with #29.

In December That Comic Smell did a show on Books about comics, a show on Annuals and 2019 favourites, and then faced off with The Awesome Comics Podcast in an end of year quiz.

Have a great 2020, everyone!

AWESOME COMICS QUIZ OF THE YEAR

The Awesome Comics Podcast Quiz of the Year has gone online.

This time they went head to head against That Comic Smell.

Not since Duran Duran battled Spandau Ballet on Pop Quiz has there been a media square-off like this!

Have a listen here.

THAT COMIC SMELL: Christmas Dinner

The new episode is now online. This is a goodie - you are invited along to our Christmas dinner, wherein we enthuse over our Christmas annuals, and talk about comics we've loved in 2019!

From the web:

“Come, they told me, Pah-rum-papumpum”
Before we get into things, we just want to take a second to thank all of you for listening. The stream of support we have received for the podcast this year has been beyond overwhelming. We tried a couple of different things these past 12 months and you folks have been so open to listening to them and have came along with us on our comics chat journey. Thank you!
In this episode, the folks here sit down to their Christmas meal and chat about that good old British tradition of Annuals! We also take a look at our picks of what we read in 2019.
This and all the usual comics chat on the only comics podcast who’s made a list and most certainly is checking it twice…
That Comic Smell!
Merry Christmas and A Very Happy New Year Everyone!
Follow us on Twitter & Instagram @thatcomicsmell
Get us on…
Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c
Spotify: tinyurl.com/y2qtu2cs
YouTube: tinyurl.com/yajnxcno
Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab
Podbean: tinyurl.com/yxvecykj
and most places you find podcasts.

2000AD
Batman
Battlestar Galactica
Conan the Destroyer
The Dandy
Danger Mouse
Eagle
Fantastic 4
Flash Gordon
Garfield
Marvel Super Heroes Omnibus
Mighty Heroes
Monster Fun
Moschops
Oor Wullie
Raiders of the Lost ark
The Real Ghostbusters
Sparky
Spider-Man
Star Wars
Superboy
The Super Heroes
Thundercats
X-men

Star Jaws (Robin Barnard)
Long John Silver (Xavier Dorison, Matthieu Lauffray)
In Waves (AJ Dungo)
The Whore Chronicles (Tony Esmond)
The Immortal Hulk Omnibus (Al Ewing, Joe Bennet)
Satan's Library (Adam Falp)
The Intercorstal (Gareth Hopkins)
Batman #66 (Tom King, Jorges Fornes)
Sky in Stereo (Sasha Mardu)
Green Lantern Vol 1: Intergalactic Lawman (Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp)
Death Inc. vol 3 (Charles H Raymond)
Ell Tesoro del Cisne Negro (Paco Roca, Guillermo Corral)
Stand in your Power (Rachael Smith)
DeadEndia (Hamish Steele)
Death Wish (Barrie Tomlinson, Vanyo)
CYDO (John Tucker)
Solipsistic (Various)

CHRISTMAS COMICS: Archie's Classic Christmas Stories Volume 1

This is the cover to a really nice collection from 2002.

One story features Archie on an out of control reindeer sleigh!

It's a fun read. Pick it up if you come across it.

Have a great Christmas!

STAR WARS: EPISODE 9: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Because Star Wars is a money making franchise which has to continually be kept running, Disney has been busy training everyone to understand that Episode 9, rather than being the end of Star Wars, is more accurately the end of “the Skywalker Saga” - a subset of Star Wars which sits alongside all the other shows like The Madalorian and spin-off movies like Rogue One. However I understand it in the context presented to me in 1979 - it's the final episode of the 9 movie Star Wars saga.

Here's an excerpt from the very enjoyable book "Once Upon a Galaxy" by Alan A.Arnold:

"Alan A. Arnold: Tell me more about the overall concept of the Star Wars saga.
George Lucas: There are essentially nine films in a series of three trilogies. The first trilogy is about the young Ben Kenobi and the early life of Luke's father when Luke was a little boy. This trilogy takes place some twenty years before the second trilogy which includes Star Wars and Empire. About a year or two passes between each story of the trilogy and about twenty years pass between the trilogies. The entire saga spans about fifty five years."

The Star Wars adaptation comics have been a mixed bag. The first three have sterling work from Roy Thomas / Howard Chaykin, and Archie Goodwin / Al Williamson. By the time we got to the comic of The Last Jedi last year, I found I enjoyed that more than the movie. I was able to swallow the events of that story more when presented as a comic (which I could pretend was an expanded universe type of thing).

As far as I’m aware a comic for The Rise of Skywalker hasn’t been announced, but with this last trilogy, the adaptations have been coming out a year after the movies, so we’ll see.


In any case, tomorrow sees the culmination of the promised 9 part saga. Obviously a lot of things have changed along the way (Lucas’ non-involvement is a deal-breaker, truth be told). But it is what it is, and it feels like a momentous occasion to me.

Goodbye, Star Wars p2 from Break the Cake, 2018.