What you should be reading: People I Know

I'm going to spend a few posts talking about some of the gems I discovered at this year's Thought Bubble Comic Con because I think it's important to showcase small press creators as well as the big guns. My hope is that after reading this series you will go and check out these comics and support the people behind them.

Today I'm taking a look at People I Know, the brainchild of Timothy Winchester, a London-based cartoonist who I happened across at the con. His bright, bold and simple art style popped out at me and after a quick flick through a couple of his books I just had to throw some money down. The particular book I bought was called Thirteen, a choose-you-own-adventure comic that revolves around a conversation with a fairy who casts a bunch of magic spells for you, from turning into an owl tote bag to making everything 8-bit. It's a fun idea and being a gamebook fan I had to take it.

Winchester also runs a webcomic where he publishes all his strips, some of which make it into print volumes. He started drawing these in 2009 and has since done hundreds of them, ranging from slice of life comedy to cutesy absurdism, with characters like Toby, a dinosaur who's constantly looking for a boyfriend, Christina the piece of toast and Toby's sort of friend, and three wizards who have a habit of appearing every Wednesday. Like me, Winchester has a love of puns and throws out some zingers as well as some groanworthy ones. His style is quite sweet and the plethora of colourful characters makes this a really fun comic and one well worth checking out.

- Scott Malthouse

Follow @scottmalt on Twitter

Pratchett's daughter to continue Discworld legacy

In an interview with The New Statesman, Discworld author and all round legend Terry Pratchett stated that his daughter, Rhianna will continue writing the series when her father is no longer able to write.

Currently, Pratchett uses dictation software and the help of his assistant Rob Wilkins, who has been aiding him for 12 years. However, as Alzheimers takes more of a hold of the author there will be no way of him continuing.

Rhianna doesn't lack writing chops, having worked on Tomb Raider, Heavenly Sword and Prince of Persia to name a few videogames. Having grown up with her father's stories, I have no doubt that she will do his work justice and keep Ankh-Morpork ticking over nicely.

I've been a fan of Pratchett's books for many years as I was introduced to them when I was quite young. The mythology he's created is unimaginably brilliant and it will be a very sad day when he has to stop writing. Still, I have no doubt that Rhianna will be an excellent writer and someone who will keep the Discworld alive for decades to come.

[Via io9]

10 gifts for your nerd this Christmas

Can you believe that it's almost a month until Christmas? Me either, and if you're anything like this lazy nerd you probably won't start shopping until at least three hours before the big day. However, this year I want to make it easier for you to find the gifts the nerd(s) in your life will love. So prepare the chestnuts over the fire and put up the tinsel - here's ten gift inspirations to set you on the path to present success.

Subscription to their favourite comic book

Make their life easier by finding out their favourite ongoing comic and buying a subscription to it. It doesn't cost a whole lot, but it's a gift that keeps on giving for a whole year. Either that or if they're Marvel fans, buy them a digital subscription, which I still believe to be the most value for money of everything ever. Seriously, you can read thousands of comic books, making the fee negligible. Trust me, they will thank you for it.

A personalised superhero action figure

Imagine tearing open the wrapping to find your likeness on the body of Iron Man. That would be awesome. Make it someone's dream come true with one of these awesome personalised superhero action figures. All you need to do is send a couple of photos of the recipient (how you obtain these secretly is up to you, I don't want to know anything about it) and choose a figure out of heroes like Batman, Thor, Power Girl and Superman.

Rebel pilot headphones

Gold leader standing by and rocking out. You know what it's like - you're cruising in your Y-Wing, getting ready to bomb some Imperial bunkers but dammit, you have no tunes to compliment your wanton destruction. Any good pilot goes out with some damned snazzy headphones like these ones, so you can crank out The Trooper while taking down the Empire. Oh yeah!

 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Remember the days when death came swift and bloody to most characters in D&D, in the time before healing surges and ridiculous hit points? The grognard in your life sure does, so why not treat them to a copy of the new AD&D rules re-print! Being able to go back to the days of yore, when fighters bashed people with a sword and wizards fled under a table when they were out of spells.

Game of Thrones: The Card Game

Whether they're a fan of the books or an initiate into George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy world through the TV show, Fantasy Flight's upcoming card game will surely be a winner. Players wage war on the fields of Westeros, using plot cards to change the balance of power and overcome your opponent with military might. Why not stick on the series soundtrack while you play?

Star Trek Catan

How did it take so long for this to be made. Mind melding the classic resource management boardgame with Star Trek, the latest version of Catan sees the federation populating the galaxy and harvesting resources from planets. Just look at those super cute USS Enterprises! All tiny and junk. If you're sick of playing Monopoly with the family at Christmas, give the gift of Catan and watch your family degrade into crazed resource hoarding lunatics.

The Hobbit Lego

By far the most anticipated movie this winter is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, where we return to Middle-Earth for more awesomeness courtesy of Peter Jackson. It was inevitable that Lego would seize the opportunity to produce some cool blocky dioramas of some of the key scenes from the film. There are a bunch of sets to get, ranging from Attack of the Wargs to Escape from Mirkwood Spiders. You can see the full range here. 

Blood of the Zombies

You've probably heard all the praise I have to give for the latest in the Fighting Fantasy series but I can't stress enough how much I love Blood of the Zombies. If they're a zombie or gamebook fan, this is a must. In this book, YOU are the hero as you try to escape a maniac's castle that happens to be filled with flesh-eating zombies. Gather an arsenal of weapons and start tearing into these undead critters, lobbing grenades, beating them with a bat and mowing them down with machineguns. All within a book. Awesome.

Fund a Kickstarter

Sure, this isn't one that's going to produce a tangible gift on the 25th December, but if there's a Kickstarter that they want to fund then why not give them a helping hand by pledging some money towards it? 

The Wonders Collection

There is a god and his name is Professor Brian Cox. The Wonders Collection includes two amazing series: Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, in which Cox expertly takes the audience through the creation of the universe and the magnificence of astronomy. Not only is this a terrific exploration of science, but it's Cox's cheeky charisma that really makes these series shine. 

- Scott Malthouse

Follow @scottmalt on Twitter

Thought Bubble Comic Con Day 2 - Kate Beaton steals shows

The second and final day of Thought Bubble wrapped up today and although I'm sad to have to wait another year for it to return, I had lots of fun and met some great people. I actually had chance to properly browse creators' wares today and have some nice chats with a few of them about their experiences. Read on to find out who sang to me, why Hollywood are very lazy, and how Kate Beaton was Queen of the Con.

Sunday was a day for browsing, and it was the day I picked up the most comics. I decided to focus only on small press and independent creators rather than going for the big guns because it's always good to discover brand new things and support up and coming artists and writers. The first panel, Women in Comics, was by far the most popular of the whole con with a queue that snaked around most of the Armouries Hall, and for good reason. The panel consisted of Alison Bechdel, Kate Beaton, Simone Lia, Hannah Berry, and Fiona Stephenson, moderated by Dr Mel Gibson (yes, she did make a joke that she has been invited to a prison to give an inspirational speech in place of the actor). What followed was a funny and insightful panel, looking into the perception of females in the comic industry, what the panellists grew up reading, and how more women have come to work in comics. No doubt the star of the show was Kate Beaton, creator of Hark! A Vagrant, who shone on every panel she was on with witty snark and an amazing down-to-earth attitude. Of course, the rest of the panel, particularly Alison Bechdel, were fantastic too.

After the panel I went into wandering mode, approaching most tables and chatting with creators. One particularly memorable exchange came from Timothy Winchester, who greeted me with a sing-song voice and instantly captured my attention. He's the creator of People I Know, a hilarious webcomic that's now in print which captures slices of his daily life as well as some nice surreal humour. The particular book I purchased was Thirteen, a choose your own adventure comic (hear that, Mr Lloyd?) which I'll be reviewing this week. I also spoke to Joe List, who did some promo art for the convention, and picked up all of his stuff because, frankly, it's awesome. I then queued for a while to meet Kate Beaton and get her book signed with a sketch.

Soon I was off to the last panel I'd be attending, From Stand to Screen - Comics in Film, which included Robin Furth, Jock, Charlie Adlard, and Phil Noto. All of them had worked on TV and film in some way or another, from The Walking Dead to Dredd, and opened up a discussion about translating the comics medium to film. The panel became more like an intimate conversation with the audience, which was great. I managed to ask them whether they thought the influx of comic book movies has impacted the mainstream perception of comics. The answer was that with well-known franchises like Spider-Man and to some extent The Avengers, it was negligible, but for less well-known comics like Ghost World and The Walking Dead there's clearly a lot of people becoming interested in comics through film. The most interesting and revealing part of the discussion was when the panellists spoke about Hollywood optioning properties. It's not uncommon for Hollywood to go to a convention like San Diego, approach creators and tell them to list all their properties they would like optioning. Because of this, producers end up with huge lists of potential properties to choose from, very few of which come to light. Hollywood loves comic books because a) it saves money on creating new ideas and characters, and b) they can easily visualise characters and scenes because most of the work is already done for them, again, saving them lots of money. It was a great panel to wrap up the final day and I came away from the weekend educated and lighter in the wallet.

- Scott Malthouse

Review: Halcyon & Tenderfoot #1

Remember the innocent days of superheroes when the good guys were actually good instead of being good sometimes and arses to each other the rest of the time? If you fondly recall those days, then Halcyon & Tenderfoot is probably a comic you want to pick up. While it's primarily aimed at children, this small press gem is something that an adult can definitely embrace, especially one who has become jaded with the current spandex scene.

Written by Daniel Clifford, known for his work on Sugar Glider, Halcyon & Tenderfoot doesn't wait around to introduce all the main players of the story. Halcyon is the world's best superhero and an overt commentary on the state of the modern day 'gritty' superhero. He stands for justice and goodness is every respect and outright denounces other heroes whose methods straddle the line of heroism and villainy. He's also had a long career and is seen by many as washed up and irrelevant in today's society. At the beginning, Halcyon introduces the world to his new sidekick, his son Lennon, also known as Tenderfoot - the 'fastest boy on Earth'. Tenderfoot is unsurprisingly excited to get out and do some real heroics, but his father tells him to be patient and cherish the moments that he's not out trying to save the world. However, this changes when it's discovered that a prolific villain has been released from prison. Although this is a book for young people, that hasn't meant development and real human emotion has been edited out of the equation. At the end of the day this is a story about a father and his son, and when they're both out on the field there's not a single panel where Halcyon doesn't look concerned about his boy's well-being. It's a testament to Clifford's writing that something as deep as this can be read in what could have been a simple two-dimensional comic.

Not to spoil anything, but the final panel definitely comes as a shock and I'm looking forward to reading the second issue. Lee Robinson does the artwork, which is bold and clean, popping out of the page even in the absence of colour. I especially love how Robinson draws facial expressions and he also has a really good eye for perspective. However, one day it would be great to see this book in full colour.

It's clear that a lot of heart went into the creation of Halcyon & Tenderfoot and while on the surface it's a kids' book, underneath lies a commentary on modern superheroes as well as a touching relationship between father and son. My only real complaint is that the dialogue can be a little stilted on occasion, but this is a minor fault.

*****

-Scott Malthouse

Hard science: the future of crop protection

Food security, whilst something of a buzzword, is one of the great challenges facing this generation and every generation for the foreseeable future. A major threat to global security is pestilence. Total yield lost to pathogens and pests is an immensely difficult thing to quantify. It’s subject to a whole host of variables but a decent estimate would be something in the region of 25% globally. Gone are the days when crops could be liberally doused with chemicals designed to kill the disease causing agent as standard procedure, largely because these chemicals have an annoying tendency to kill things we’d really rather keep alive! Not to mention the remarkable speed at which populations of pathogens resistant to our chemical warfare emerge. In the future, a smarter approach is required, one which will probably involve genetic engineering. Those best placed to provide the solutions are molecular biologists working at the interface between pathogens and their hosts.

In the contemporary plant pathology scene, the major paradigm is the study of so-called ‘effectors’. An effector is a small molecule, often a protein, which is secreted into the plant cell by microorganisms with the aim of eliciting some kind of response in the host which will benefit the pathogen. However, the pathogen certainly doesn’t get it all its own way. Plants, unlike animals, don’t have an army of motile immune cells capable of rushing to infected tissue to repel invasion. Plant cells, as a rule, don’t move. Sure, they possess a fully functioning vascular system roughly analogous to an animal circulatory system, which transports water, sugars, hormones and other signalling molecules but it most certainly does not transport immune cells. What they do have is a very efficient surveillance system capable of recognising signals associated with pathogens and then producing an immune response.

The first layer of resistance recognises microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs for short), which are patterns which microorganisms produce on account of being microorganisms. A good example is flagellin, a protein involved in cell motility. MAMP recognition triggers a weak immune response. Why bother with a weak immune response though? If you know you’re under attack surely it’s better to hit the attacker with everything you’ve got? Well, not necessarily. The fact is that all microbes produce MAMPs but not all microbes produce disease. As a ‘strong’ plant immune response tends to involve localised cell death, killing your own cells every time you recognise a microbe would be a terrible strategy in terms of evolutionary fitness. This is where the second layer of resistance comes in, a resistance which concerns the effector proteins I mentioned earlier. One major function of effectors is the subversion of MAMP triggered immunity in order to facilitate infection. However, as well as recognising MAMPs, plants are also capable of recognising effector proteins through the production of recognition proteins from genomic regions termed ‘resistance (R) genes’. Pathogens produce a diverse array of effectors and plants possess an equally diverse set of R genes, the system is a classic example of an evolutionary ‘arms race’, a race which the pathogens most definitely seem to be winning! Recognition of an effector by the product of an R gene often leads to a robust immunity in the form of the hypersensitive response, a localised cell death signal which restricts the growth of pathogens that require living tissue to complete their life cycles. Unfortunately, many effector proteins are not recognised by R gene products and are free to exert their effects on the host.  In order to develop resistance to important crop pathogens we need to fully understand how effectors produce their effects in the host cell and how effectors and R proteins interact. Knowledge of these processes remains thin on the ground so current research is very much focused in their direction.

One fruitful avenue of research is the structural characterisation of the key players involved in this system. It’s parsimonious, then, that the 1000^th crystal structure determined at the Diamond Light Source, Oxford, happened to be that of an effector protein secreted by the tomato pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, which was published in the journal PNAS last month. Scientists from the John Innes Centre, using the x-ray diffraction facility at Diamond, were able to figure out the structure of the protein, known as AvrRPS4, by inference from the electron density pattern it produces when x-rays are directed at the protein and diffracted. This structural information was then used to inform the generation of mutant effector proteins which were no longer recognised by the associated R protein and of mutants which were able to interact with the R protein whilst still inducing resistance but without any associated cell death.

The Diamond Light Source, Oxfordshire

                                            
The implications of this are pretty cool. Firstly, it tells us which parts of the effector are needed for recognition by the host. Secondly, and more importantly, it adds to an emerging body of evidence suggesting that cell death is not a requirement for resistance. This is a big deal! Resistance without cell death is extremely desirable in terms of food production and this research represents a massive step toward developing it and, ultimately, deploying it in real crop production situations.

As an aside, structural study of effector proteins also allows an incredible snapshot of how protein structure underpins the incredible rate at which these ‘molecular weapons’ evolve. And, trust me, they evolve extremely quickly!

For those interested who have access to PNAS, the reference for the full study is as follows:

Sohn KS, Hughes RK, Piquerez SJ, Jones JDG, Banfield MJ. (2012) Distinct regions of the Psuedomonas syringae coiled-coil effector AvrRps4 are required for activation of immunity. PNAS. 109(40): 16371-16376.

- Ben Hall

Follow Ben on Twitter @benkhall