Comicsphere: Nowhere Girl by Justine Shaw

I am what is called a meta-textual reader — I just read the book I am reading, I read every single thing that is associated with it and then continue outwards and ever outwards from there. So a fair while back now I found this story called Lazarus Churchyard and through that discovered this guy [...]

Comicsphere: Freakangels Friday: Interlude

So, today there was something a little different being offered in stead of the Freakangels webcomic which is on a one week hiatus. Today Warren Ellis offers us some thoughts on his preoccupations with disaster fiction and the very British influences which have filtered into the story which we are logging on every week to [...]

Comicsphere: Dragon’s Claws

From the moment I saw that first advert for Dragon’s Teeth, as this series was originally to be called I was hooked on the idea. Back when marvel actually had an interest in a unique British market Dragon’s Claws was a stand out title. There was some great stuff that came out of that small [...]

16 Flaws Launched

So, the first two parts of this massive project I am undertaking is up for your enjoyment — I hope you’ll all support me and leave me loads of comments to let me know what you think. I have something like a hundred and sixty characters to introduce you to and each story will be [...]

Take Art: Peter Blake

Best known for creating the cover to The Beatles album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, Peter Blake is, for me at least, one of the most accessible of the pop artists. He is someone else I found through the Pop Art exhibition back in the nineties at the Tate Modern.
I don’t know if to [...]

Underappreciated: American Prayer by Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison is often dismissed as a poet — his lyrics are often ripped apart. Sometimes he was a dick, a drunken clown and a buffoon, sure, but that doesn’t mean all his work was worthless. I owned Lords & the New Creatures, American Night and Wilderness and hey there is work in there that [...]

People Watching: Valerie Solanas

Of the people who went in and out of the doors of The Factory she stands out perhaps most of all. Why? Because she is the woman who shot Andy Warhol. Which bring me neatly to how I heard of her — the film I Shot Andy Warhol. That film was a great portrayal of [...]

Take Art: Jean Michel Basquiat

The film by Julian Schnabel delivered the tragic yet charming story of Basquiat to me before I found it, which I eventually would have through my exploration of Warhol and the world of The Factory.
His art is unlike anything else that I have seen before or since — it has a musical quality to [...]

Take Art: Andy Warhol

When I first saw the works of Andy Warhol i have to admit to being totally non-plussed. It was at a Pop Art exhibition at the Tate Gallery and lined up next to the other people there for me he didn’t stand his ground. I think I was arrogant enough to think I knew what [...]

Rebellious Jukebox: Throwing Muses

For some reason they never seemed to attain the status that The Pixies did which I always thought was unfair though maybe understandable: the Pixies despite being fairly twisted by most standards were a more straight forwards proposition than Hersh’s band. They are the great unrated group that if you know them you love them. [...]