Almost famous!!

A few weeks ago, the communications writer from Cantest corporate headquarters called our lab to speak to me. It seems one of my co-workers had told our boss that I ran a site about comic books (Milan!!!!!!), so they decided to write a feature about me in the corporate news letter. It was a telephone interview, so a few things got mixed around, and to be honest, I think the girl's knowledge of comics extended about as far a Jughead's double digest, but it seems to have come out OK.

Check it out:

Previewing January - New Stuff I'm Looking Forward to

No new news on my Mum yet, as we are still waiting for the results of her CT scan. The Bloody NHS is so damn slow! Anyway, it hit that time of the month when I needed to get my pre-order in, so I thought I would let you guys in on my top recommendations for new series and trades coming out in January. The list isn't as big as normal, as I am having to cut back a bit.Tomorrow I think I am going to go through my pull list and trim the fat a little. Sad Times :(

January

Avatar

Alan Moore's Neoronomicon Horn Book
Alan Moore's Light of Thy Countenance

Beserker

Church of Hell
Maura

DC Vertigo

Complete Death Deluxe Edition

Dynamite

Garth Ennis' Battlefields: Dear Billy

IDW

Star Trek: Countdown
The Presidents of the United States

Marvel

Punisher (New Series)
Ruins
Secret Invasion: War of Kings

Time, Death & Wastefulness

So, it's been a while since I posted anything at all remotely comic book related. I hate people who have dormant blogs, and I hate it even more when people have dormant blogs, but occasionally leave posts about how they don't have time to post....... that being said, I am about to do just that :)

I think I first lost control of this site a couple of months ago, when I moved house and got a new job. Then, about a month ago my grandmother died, so I was pretty torn up about that. Just as I was starting to feel a bit better about life, last week I got a call from my Dad in the middle of the night. It seems that my Mum has been very sick and tired recently, so they decided to take her to the Doctor. This was a very big step, because my Mother doesn't trust the medical profession, and has never register with a GP. So, it turns out that due to the fact that she doesn't really eat much, she has anemia and malnutrition. While she was there they gave her an X-Ray, and it showed that she has Lung Cancer! We've all been extremely upset and depressed for the last week. Today she is booked in for a CT scan to see the extent of the damage, and size of the tumours. After this she will have to have a biopsy and start treatment. I am hoping that the Cancer was caught early and is operable, but we won't know more until they finish all the tests.

So, sorry about the lack of posting, things are just difficult at the moment.

Edward

An Iron Maiden Halloween

This year for Halloween I dressed as Eddie, the Iron Maiden Mascot. I forgot to take any damn photos though, but due to the magic of Facebook some pictures trickled onto the web, and I stole them :) So, for your viewing pleasure, here is my Eddie mask, and accompanying Pumpkin!

R.I.P. Guido Fawkes

November the 4th was quite definitely a day to remember, congratulations to Barack Obama! However, remember, remember the 5th of November.

Today is the day when residents of the UK celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November, 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, were alleged to be attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, England.

The tradition is to light large bonfires, and burn upon it an effigy of Guy Fawkes, the most well known member of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The traditional song sung on this night is:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Don't forget though that the symbolism of burning Guy Fawkes is to show show the country's hatred of the Catholic church. In some small villages around the UK it has been known for people to burn effigies of the Pope! Did you know that Catholics can't hold the office of Prime Minister of Parliament! That's good old fashion religious persecution at work there.

We shouldn't be burning Guy Fawkes, we should be commemorating the death of one of histories greatest anarchists!

John Reppion's Haunted Towns

The readers of this blog will mostly be comic readers, so you will most likely know John Reppion's work primarily from his collaborative comic book work with his wife, and writing partner, Leah Moore. However, John has lately been exploring non-fiction works outside of the comic world, and contributing articles to publications such as Fortean Times, Strange Attractor, The End Is Nigh, SteamPunk Magazine and Revenant Magazine.

This year saw the publication of John's first book, 800 years of Haunted Liverpool. Haunted Liverpool is a wonderful book that looks at the 800 year history of the city of Liverpool, and all the ghostly tales that have become legends through it's troubled and storied past. I would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in the history of Liverpool, or any one with even a passing interest in the paranormal.

I love to read this sort of book. I don't necessarily believe all the stories, but I find them incredibly interesting. Similar local legends seem to occur in every town, and seem to survive as whispered stories, passed between children at camp, and friends trying to scare each other. I find it really interesting that everyone seems to remember them, or at least a variant of them. Often these stories seem to survive generations without ever being written down. It's more than you can say for many other stories, or historical events. Perhaps it is something within human nature that makes us want to be scared, some sort of escape from the very real horrors of modern life, or a wish to know that there is something beyond, life after death...

Anyway, This is my very round about way of telling you that John is currently researching his second book, which is very much a follow up to the last, Haunted Northampton. He has started a blog, and is asking people to submit any stories or local legends about the area, which might be of interest. If you can help him out, send him an email at [email protected].

If you would like to buy 800 Year of Haunted Liverpool, then head over to History Press. I understand that the book is currently going back for a second printing.

You know, I was thinking I would like to collate some of the tales told in my town, Victoria B.C. I find it very interesting that the town has only been here a couple of hundred years, and there are tonnes of haunting stories. The town was originally First Nations land, before the British built a fort here, and it has seen tonnes of different types of industry over the years, which tends to lead to lots of stories and superstitions. Also, Victoria is supposed to be the World capital of Satanism (according to William Gibson), and is the setting for Michelle Remembers, the true life tale of Michelle Smith, who discovered through therapy that she had suppressed memories of her parents involving her in Satanic ritual abuse.

From the Wiki:

The first ritual attended by Smith took place in 1954 when she was five years old and the final ritual documented in the book was an eighty-one day ritual in 1955 that summoned the devil himself and involved the intervention of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Michael the Archangel, who removed the scars received by Smith throughout the year of abuse and removed memories of the events 'until the time was right'. During the rites, Smith was allegedly tortured, locked in cages, sexually assaulted, forced to take part in various rituals, witnessed several murders and was rubbed with the blood and body parts of various killed babies and adults.

Could be interesting!