Blog Archive: February 2025

And The Universe Cried "DOOM!"
Today I have written TWO (2) songs, both in the space of about four hours! That's almost unheard of in the twenty-first century - back in the 1990s when there was NOTHING TO DO I had songs spilling out of me in a quite undignified manner all the time, but these days I can go MONTHS without a glimmer of a tune, so getting two in quick succession like this is Quite Exciting.

Both are for the Data and Doctor Doom show what I am currently a) WRITING b) trying to book shows for. As ever, trying to do the latter is a delicate and intricate process which is progressing gently, but the former is ZOOMING along like nobody's business. It's helping that I'm trying to sit myself down at the desk first thing and do half an hour or so of BASHING OUT THORTS, many of which appear to have magically manifested overnight. It feels like my BRANE is really getting into it, and so, on today's evidence, is THE UNIVERSE.

For LO! Two great SIGNS have appeared to me on this day of double song writing! The first was during the writing of a song tentatively called "If You Want To Know What People Think", which is about the process of doing a SURVEY about Doctor Doom. As I'm sure you will recall, back in 2020 I put out a TWEET (if anyone remembers what those were) asking people to help me by answering some questions about Doctor Doom. It looked like this:



I wanted to include this in the song so copied out the text and thought "OK, how can I move these words around so it SCANS properly and how can I then make it rhyme?" but then, to my astonishment, realised I didn't need to as IT ALREADY FLIPPING WORKED!! THUS:

Have you got 20 minutes to answer some questions
About Doctor Doom for my PhD?
It would be very much appreciated if so
Details here and please RT
Please take my Doctor Doom survey!

All right, I concede that it only SCANS if you sing like what I do, but it definitely RHYMES!

I had JUST finished this, the second song of the day (the first is about Random Stratified Sampling, and yes, THAT RHYMES TOO), and turned on the internet when LO! I saw Mr Paul Cornell announcing that he had a new book out as part of a new series from Bloomsbury. The series is called 'The Marvel Age Of Comics'* which mixes personal narratives with a history of specific characters or teams within Marvel Comics. If anyone is now thinking "Gosh Mark, maybe you could write up some sort of 'pitch document' suggesting something similar for Doctor Doom?" then I would reply "WAY ahead of you chum!" for I wrote EXACTLY that a few months ago and asked my Literary Agent to send it out to various publishers. I am sure it is a matter of DAYS now until they get back to me with a MULTI-POUND deal to write it up!

Even if that doesn't happen (seems unlikely) it does rather feel as if THE COSMOS is calling out for information about superhero characters presented in an accessible, even FUN, way, possibly in the format of SONGS. If so, I am READY for it, The Cosmos, CALL ME!

* Anyone unsure of what 'The Marvel Age Of Comics' means could always read the article Periodizing 'The Marvel Age' Using The Production Of Culture Approach which explains what it means and how it can be precisely defined. It's available for free via Open Access and - OH YES - is written by ME! ALL RIGHT, The Universe, I HEAR YOU!

posted 19/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Catalyst Club
Last night I headed SOUTH for the seaside and BRIGHTON where I was due to spend the evening at Catalyst Club. Before that however I had an ASSIGNATION with a PAL in the very nice indeed Evening Star, which is a LOVELY pub. We discussed some THINGS which will hopefully enter the public domain in a few months, but mostly just had a DELIGHTFUL bit of pub time. It was ACE!

I then TORE myself away from that to head back up the road to Grand Central, above which the night was occurring. It took me a while to work out where the DOOR to the upstairs was, but once I'd got that sorted out I headed up for an evening of EXPLANATIONS. Catalyst Club is a similar sort of idea to stuff like Nerd Nite and so on that I've been to lately, except this one was a lot less science-y based and more General Interesting Stuff.

The VIBE was very much in the Totally Acoustic vein, with a crowd of what appeared to be REGULARS and Dr David Bramwell doing some excellent hosting. It kicked off with Jane Bom-Banes doing a poem called "Aqua Annie" which was a) accompanied by a series of paintings b) funny and c) EXCELLENT. Then Rebecca Stott gave a talk about BARNACLES that was EXTREMELY interesting and, after the break, Chris Roberts talked about the history of some South London parks and included an EXCELLENT joke that I GOT about 0.5 seconds before we were supposed to and inadvertently ROFLED.

It was all brilliant but the most exciting bit was at the end, when Chris Hogg gave an excellent talk about the positive possibilities of AI which had the effect of making people FURIOUS. I really felt for him, as he'd tried to show the good side of how it could be used to create new possibilities, but I think some of the language used ("mundane activities" for instance) inadvertently would people RIGHT up. He dealt with it very well indeed, and I was sad to have to fly off for my train and miss seeing whether it all ended up as a PUNCH-UP or LOVE-IN!

It was, as I say, a GRATE night - I'm really enjoying going to these sort of things, where enthusiastic and interested people explain things they're enthusiastic and interested in to other people of a similar persuasion. To be honest I've been GOING to some of these as GIG-SCOPING to see if I can do some Doctor Doom explaining at them, but I've been really really enjoying just GOING!

posted 14/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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The Comic Crush
A little while ago I recorded a LENGTHY conversation about Doctor Doom and Doom-related issues with Mr Paul Dunne of The Comic Crush, and it is now ready for you to view HERE:



It's part of their "Script and Pencils" podcast series, so it's also available to listen to (without MY LOVELY FACE tho) on Spotify and everywhere else you get podcasts from.

As you can probably tell, we both had a FINE old time yacking about the then-recent news of Robert Downey Jr's casting and also diving into multiple aspects of my RESEARCH. Paul held it back a bit to coincide with the unleashing of the new One World Under Doom series which came out today. I haven't had a chance to get to the comic shop yet to read it, but I will be doing so as soon as humanly possible!

posted 12/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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An Evening Of Unnecessary Detail
Last night I headed over to distant Edgeware Road to play a GIG for An Evening Of Unnecessary Detail at The Cockpit Theatre. I had a GRATE time but it was VERY different from my usual such outings!

To start with it was in an ACTUAL THEATRE, with lighting rigs, sound systems, backstage areas etc etc. On the rare occasions when I venture into performing in such venues I am always amazed by how many PEOPLE are involved with everything. I'm used to doing things like Totally Acoustic where the entire CREW is ME and/or STEVE, but then that's because there's no tickets, no sound system, and no lights (apart from switching off the ones at the back when things start). Here there were all sorts of people wandering around doing jobs, not least an excellent STAGE MANAGER who very kindly talked me through many aspects, and especially how a RADIO MICROPHONE works.

Cor! I have never used a radio mic before and it was AMAZING. Once it's put on (round the back of your head! Who knew?) and you hear your voice MAGICALLY amplified it's like everyone else is suddenly hearing the voice inside your MIND. I had been practicing my set in Actual Gig Conditions with a microphone stand, but not having to worry about that was FABULOUS.

I'd got there super early to soundcheck so had plenty of time to wander round the corner to The Seashell Of Lissom Grove for a MASSIVE, also DELICIOUS, portion of chips. I then waddled back round to the theatre to read my book for a bit, at which point The Sentences In My Paragraph arrived and we went in, she to the auditorium and me to the DRESSING ROOMS.

For LO! there were actual dressing rooms which, as ever, were Quite Exciting when first encountered but then turn out to be just some rooms, if with lightbulbs around the mirrors. All of us performers were gathered there to take our turn going on, and I must admit I was not highly sociable because i was wracked with NERVES. The whole thing was so very different to my usual gig experience that it made me AFEARED. For instance, usually I'd be sat in the AUDIENCE watching everyone else do their bit, but here I felt like I was HIDING. Unfortunately this meant that I didn't catch much of most of the other acts - you could hear a bit of what was going on but not see much of it, which always makes me TERRIFIED. What if I go on and BLITHELY repeat something that someone else has just said, for instance?

I was thus in a BIT OF A STATE by the time it was nearly my turn and I stood next to the backstage entrance in MORTAL FEAR, but then once I was announced and had strode onto the stage everything felt MUCH better. The microphone worked, the SLIDES functioned correctly and best of all people seemed to LIKE it. Another FEAR FACTOR was that I had a twelve minute SLOT, with a COUNTDOWN appearing in front of me. I knew that my fastest practice so far had been 11 minutes 47 seconds, so I was highly aware that I shouldn't WANDER OFF too much, but I am happy to report that in the end my full set was 12 minutes and 38 seconds, which hopefully was within acceptable parameters. Phew!

I've talked about Doctor Doom before (A LOT) but this was the first time I'd performed any of it in the new MUSICAL format, with two new songs - Like Batman But Better and My Unified Catalogue Of Transmedia Character Components. They both seemed to WORK, which was a relief, but my favourite bit was when I did the section where I asked the audience to suggest a fictional character to use to DEMONSTRATE the unified catalogue. The FIRST character shouted out was Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which I was DELIGHTED by because I had used Buffy as my own example during my final rehearsal the day before, so had half of it already worked out. I guess Buffy is currently in THE ZEITGEIST what with the possible revival (NB NOT A REBOOT), but still it was a nice surprise.

I was the last act in the first half so once I'd de-microphoned it was time for a well-earned BEER before returning to thoroughly enjoy Matt Parker's preview of some of his new material in the second half. After that there was some LURKING AROUND in the bar during which I answered several INCISIVE questions before saying our farewells and heading home. It was, all in all, a pretty FAR OUT evening for me, full of NOVEL experiences on a journey into a whole other world of GIGGING. It was scary but I did enjoy it - I hope I get to do it some more!

posted 11/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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Playing for The Internet Archive
On Monday I did my first gig of the year and it was an EXCITING one, for LO! it was a ZOOM gig for the wonderful people of The Internet Archive.

It had all come about because they'd put out a CALL for ARTISTES on Bluesky, explaining that every week they get someone to come in and do a quick ten minute set at the start of their all-staff meeting. This sounded like a fantastic thing to apply for, not least because it would give me the chance to say thanks to them in person (or at least virtual person) for rescuing Rob Manuel's video of Hey Hey 16K and ARCHIVING it. Rob did the original video in FLASH, so when that program was removed from The Internet there were several YEARS when the only way to see it was via some Not Entirely Excellent YouTube videos. Now, however, it is available in all it's original glory, and that is GRATE!

Thus, I got in touch and to my delight they said "YES", and so I began several weeks of PREPARATION. The easier part of this was working out the SET, as OBVIOUSLY I was going to do Hey Hey 16K and then the other two songs (as I was doing ten minutes) were fairly easy to choose. However, the bit that was NOT easy at ALL was getting my laptop set-up sorted out. Last year I bought a "Podcast starter set" with a mixing desk and couple of microphones but had never been able to work out how it all fitted together, but thought that THIS might be the ideal reason to have a proper go at it. Friends, I can confirm that after WEEKS of watching online videos, swearing at cables, crying, plugging things into different USB sockets and general hopelessness I was unable to do so. I DID manage to get another microphone working, but then I had a few hours PANICKING because ZOOM appeared to be too SENSITIVE to manage my VOLUME. Eventually I realised that it has ACTUAL SETTINGS for BELLOWING and MUSIC and calmed down a bit, but it was all a bit stressful!

Come the day of the gig I was in a bit of a STATE, worried about a) the IT and b) ME all working properly. The staff meeting was first thing in the morning for them but as they were mostly in AMERICA it was at the end of the working day for me, so that made for quite a long day of NERVES. However, I did calm down a bit when my Zoom session started properly and the very nice chap who was doing sound came on and talked me through it, followed by another very nice person who explained how it was all going to work. I was still a BAG OF NERVES, but at least now a small bag that you might put a greetings card in, for example, rather than a WHEELY SUITCASE of FEAR.

Soon it was SHOWTIME, and I was introduced via a mention of Tom Lehrer, which felt a bit spooky as his name has come up SEVERAL times in recent discussion. After that I launched into it and shouted THESE across the Atlantic:

AI Guy

It Only Works Because You're here

Hey Hey 16K

I had thought I was being DEAD CLEVER by doing my three computer-y songs, but what I had not realised was how ENGLISH a lot of it was going to be. This always happens when I play songs for non-UK audiences, as suddenly all of my lyrics turn out to be "A cup of tea in WH Smiths and spending ten quid on marmite gor blimey ain't it guvnor?" Still, they were all very nice about it, and I saw messages flash up briefly from people SAYING they liked it, which was much appreciated. There was one scary moment when the sound guy came back on camera, which I think meant it was getting a bit loud, so I quietened down and all was well once more.

Afterwards the Internet Archive FOUNDER came on to say thanks, which enabled me to say thanks to THEM for doing the Hey Hey 16K restoration, which then enabled Jason who'd DONE the Hey Hey 16K restoration to come on and explain it a bit, which was a DELIGHTFUL circle of gratitude! I then left them to have the rest of their meeting, as I'd had enough of my OWN such meetings earlier in the day, but it had been a LOVELY experience, and one I hope to be able to share with everyone else fairly soon when they add it to their Perfomance Archives!

posted 6/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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FCFC In The List
A couple of weeks ago The Funny Comics Fan Club received an EMAIL in our dedicated inbox. We set this up when the show first began, expecting to be DELUGED by comments from listeners but it hasn't quite worked out that way as people tend to contact us on the SOCIALS instead, so an Actual Email is always a source of excitement.

Thus I was already pre-excited when I opened it and discovered that we were going to be in THE LIST! They were getting in touch to ask for a PHOTO to use alongside a REVIEW, which I supplied and then immediately looked for people to SHOW OFF too about it. To my surprise quite a few people didn't know what THE LIST was, and it took me a while to realise that that's because it is very much Glasgow and Edinburgh based, so people in That London might not have heard of it unless, like me, it's one of the main places you send PROMO STUFF to if you're doing the Edinburgh Fringe, in which case it is A Big Deal.

FAST FORWARD to this week and the magazines is OUT, and we are in it! I was hoping for a nice review but I was in no way prepared for the BLOODY GRATE one that we actually GOT, one which made me SO HAPPY that I am going to repeat it in full here, and also THUS:



What I flipping LOVE about this review, by Mr Neil Cooper (thank you!),is that he has clearly listened to quite a few episodes and GOT what we are on about. I was ESPECIALLY pleased that he talks about all of the CLASS WAR stuff that we've been finding, as I've found it ASTONISHING how much class tension there is in so much of the storytelling, and also how differently that's expressed in the IPC and DC Thomson comics. I'm basically just really happy to see it APPRECIATED like this! Thanks, THE LIST!

posted 5/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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A Three Thing Day
Last Thursday I went to distant Crystal Palace to see a Work In Progress performance of Mr Ben Moor's new show A Three Thing Day. Executive summary: it was ACE.

The performance was taking place at The Bookseller Crow bookshop which I have often heard about but never been to, and it turns out that this is in large part due to the fact that it is FLIPPING MILES AWAY. It was all fine getting to Crystal Palace station but then TfL decided to send me on a KRAZY and also SPOOKY route along deserted streets and through a dark and misty abandoned playground what was like something off one of those Eerie Post-Apocalyptic Games that they now make award-winning streaming shows out of, before making me walk up a BASICALLY VERTICAL hill.

I was thus a bit flustered when I arrived and so was grateful of a) a refreshing FREE BEER and b) the company of Mr Dave Green, a fellow survivor of The Early Internt and all-round delightful chap.

Very soon it was time for the show and, like all of Ben's shows, it was a LUXURIOUS hour of WORDS and IDEAS and BEAUTIFUL JUXTOPOSITIONS. As ever there were SO MANY thoughts in it that after a while you have to just resign yourself to not getting all of it first time around - Ben does BOOKS of his shows so that you can get all the bits you missed in the live environment, and they are always entirely excellent. I await the release of this one eagerly!

This was especially the case this time around as there's a section towards the end where another character tells a story AT SPEED so it feels like you are riding down an extremly long LOG FLUME of IDEAS being bashed and splashed by them all the way down. Also, as ever, the ONSLAUGHT of IDEAS tends to rewire the BRANE a bit, so for about an hour afterwards it feels like everyone else is talking in Ben-speak, so you're looking for extra meanings and puns in EVERYTHING, and also trying to do it yourself!

Luckily for me I was still in the company of Dave who did his transformation into Glittering Society Host and went around introducing everyone to each other, and this transferred over the road to a handy PUB where we were able to congratulate Ben on yet another fantastic show. This one is, I think, going to be TOURING around and then going to The Edinburgh Fringe, so if you get a chance to see it I would HIGHLY recommend going at least ONCE, if not more!

posted 4/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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emajendat and The Call
Last weekend myself and The Rooms In My Gallery headed over to distant West London to visit not one but TWO Serpentine Galleries to see some ART. Executive summary: we DID!

The first show was Lauren Halsey: emajendat at Serpentine South. This was a site-specific installation which at first I didn't think much to, as it felt like just walking along past various STUFF. However, that completely changed when we got into the main room in the middle of the gallery, which was, to quote the artist's description, FUNKADELIC.

The walls were coated with CDs, arranged like scales or chainmail, so everything had a RAINBOW GLOW to it, and the floor was GLASS so you could look down and see a huge collage that was repeated all around the exhibition. There was a big statue of a young girl leaning down to do some crayoning in the middle, and an AMAZING statue of another girl playing basketball and grinning. It was all HUGELY life-affirming and positive, and we both felt the need to walk around the whole thing all over again just to take in how LOVELY it was. I would HIGHLY recommend having a look at the image gallery and/or going for a wander through it yourself. It only takes about 15 minutes, which is pretty much the perfect length of time for an exhibition I reckon, and it is GRATE!

After that we wandered down to Serpentine North to see and INTERACT with Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call. This was an AI project where the artists had built up a database of Choral Sounds by going round various choral societies doing EXERCISES with them, getting them to record some specially written SONGS, and then using that to train AI to respond to people singing into a microphone. The last bit was ALL RIGHT, but in my opinion the best parts were a) the museum guide managing the queue to use the microphone who was VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about it all and b) the recordings of choirs singing the exercises. As someone who is SHALL WE SAY skeptical about the business side of Creative AI it was nice to see people USING AI to ACTUALLY make art by thinking through the process rather than churning GLOOP out of ChatGPT, but even nicer to feel that the stuff produced by Actual Humans Working Together was the best bit.

It was, all in all, a thoroughly life-affirming afternoon of ART and BEING DEAD CULTURED. 'The Call' has finished now, but if you happen to be in That London at any point between now and 23 February this year I would very much suggest popping along to see 'emajendat', as it is ACE!

posted 3/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett
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