Mark Askwith | |
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| Nationality | Canadian |
| Education | Trinity College, Toronto |
| Occupation(s) | Producer, writer, interviewer |
| Website | https://www.space.ca/ |
Mark Askwith (born April 6, 1956) is a Canadian producer, writer, interviewer (and sometime-publisher/editor), and a familiar name in the fields ofscience fiction andcomics.
Askwith was born into a military household on April 6, 1956. His family moved about before settling inOttawa, Ontario, when he was six years old. Here, Askwith's mother subsequently ran a children's bookstore called the Bookery, through which he was able to gain access to a wide range of literature. He cites this exposure to all forms of literature – in particularThe Adventures of Tintin albumExplorers on the Moon and a "stash of superhero comics" – as a "pivotal event" in his young life, which clearly deeply imbued in him considerable enjoyment of such genres and titles.
He has stated that he "didn't take comics seriously", until his friend, Peter, showed him 'The Tiny Perfect Collection', bringing to his knowledge a range of different comics (by such greats asEisner,Steranko,Kaluta andWrightson), during his first year at University. He graduated with a B.A. in English fromTrinity College,University of Toronto.[1][2][3]
After working at Oberon Press, and Coach House Press, between 1982 and 1987, Askwith managed one of the premiere North American comic book stores -The Silver Snail inToronto. Situated at that time opposite theBakka-Phoenix Science Fiction Bookstore, it provided an opportunity to soak up the comics/Sci-Fi atmosphere, and allowed Askwith to meet legendary (and local) Science Fiction and comics authors, includingFrank Miller andBill Sienkiewicz.[1]
Leaving the Silver Snail in 1987, he started work on aPrisoner comic withDean Motter (below), and worked in an art directorial supportive role onRon Mann's comics documentaryComic Book Confidential (Sphinx Productions, 1988), an overview/history of thecomic book medium in the US, from the 1930s to the '80s. The documentary featured interviews with such noteworthy individuals asCharles Burns,Art Spiegelman,Françoise Mouly,Frank Miller,Stan Lee,Will Eisner,Robert Crumb,Harvey Pekar, andWilliam M. Gaines. The success of the documentary inspired Askwith to expand upon some of Mann's ideas into a television magazine programme which would similarly explore areas offan interest (comics, Science Fiction, horror, etc.) largely through interviews and commentary. The programme was calledPrisoners of Gravity.
In 1989, Askwith became a full-time television producer and writer, and one of his first programmes wasPrisoners of Gravity. The brainchild of Askwith,Daniel Richler, andRick Green (who also hosted the programme),Prisoners of Gravity was a Canadiannews magazine program that exploredspeculative fiction, specificallyscience fiction,fantasy,horror andcomics. Produced byTVOntario, the series ran for 139 episodes over five seasons.
The establishing framework for the programme is not dissimilar to that of its similarly-targeted peerMystery Science Theater 3000, both featuring a stranded host who ostensibly broadcast the programme themselves from isolation. The similarities largely end there, however.MST3K was a comedy programme that focused each episode on a particular film and provided running gag commentary on it.Prisoners of Gravity ran a series of interviews with authors and creators from the science fiction and comics communities, with the host linking the subject matter together and focusing down on a specific topic for that episode.
Episodes from the first season (broadcast between August 1989 and March 1990, and now believed largely missing/wiped) reportedly focused on areas includingUFOs,Star Trek andComic book conventions. The subsequent four seasons (preserved, and available for viewing by appointment atThe Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy[1] public library located in downtownToronto, Ontario, Canada) often featured episodes on much more specific topics. These included "Will Eisner &The Spirit", "Watchmen", "Cyberpunk", "Ray Bradbury", "The Sandman", "Tolkien" and "Jack Kirby" among many others.
Many of the interviews for these programmes (including specific interviews withWatchmen creatorsAlan Moore andDave Gibbons, andSandman authorNeil Gaiman) were apparently carried out by Askwith himself.
Prisoners of Gravity first aired onTVOntario and ran for five seasons and 139 episodes before being canceled in 1994. Many of its episodes were subsequently syndicated, and have appeared (briefly) onPBS,The Discovery Channel andSpace, of which Askwith is one of the founding producers.[1]
Space is effectively theCanadian equivalent ofThe Sci Fi Channel, an English languagecable televisionspecialty channel owned and operated byCTVglobemedia. It features mainly sci-fi and fantasy movies, documentaries and television series.
Askwith was one of the founding producers of the channel, which was licensed by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1996, and debuted on October 17, 1997, at 6:00 p.m. EST, under the ownership ofCHUM Limited. Askwith is particularly involved in the documentary side of things, and the so-called 'interstitial' materials which pepper the channels' output. The first of which was a comment on the channels first-broadcast filmForbidden Planet by noted Canadian Science Fiction authorRobert J. Sawyer.
He has produced - and appeared in - SPACE'sHypaSpace Daily/Weekly, an entertainment news programme which looks specifically at the Science Fiction news.
Having been inducted into the worlds of science fiction, fantasy and comics at a young age (Askwith cites in particularC.S. Lewis'sNarnia books, works byAndre Norton andRobert A. Heinlein,Superherocomics andThe Adventures of Tintin),[1] and later rubbing shoulders with Science Fiction and comics authors at The Silver Snail and Bakka-Phoenix, Askwith has dabbled in writing himself, mostly comics.
Most notably, his collaboration withDean Motter in helping write the authorised "The Prisoner" sequel met with considerable critical and fan-approval. The four-part prestige-format mini-series, serialised between 1988 and 1989 has subsequently been collected in graphic novel format asShattered Visage, still in print (since 1990) and published byDC Comics/Warner Bros. in the US, andTitan Books in the UK.
Other comics work includes:
The Hugo Award-nominated novelHumans by Canadian science-fiction writerRobert J. Sawyer, published in 2003, carries this dedication: "For Mark Askwith, Master of Multiple Universes."
Askwith is thanked byAlan Moore in his andBill Sienkiewicz'sBig Numbers comic, for, in Askwith's words "read[ing] several articles about chaos theory in the mid- 80s and sav[ing] them", later to be forwarded to Mr Moore, as research for that, ultimately aborted comic series.[8]
He is credited for coming up with the name "Taboo" forStephen R. Bissette's horror anthology, which was until then being called "The October Project".[9] The titleTaboo supposedly played a key part in inspiring Alan Moore (withEddie Campbell) to write the landmarkJack the Ripper graphic novelFrom Hell.[8]
He adapted theanime television series of theCapcom gamePower Stone into English.[8]
In recent years, due in part to his familiarity with the comics and Science Fiction scenes, and his role with SPACE, he has played a role in various events relating to those fields. On October 23, 2007, he hosted readings byJasper Fforde,Spider Robinson,Robert J. Sawyer andJay MillAr as part of the 2007TorontoInternational Festival of Authors.[10]
On October 30, 2008, Askwith interviewedNeal Stephenson at theRyerson Theatre in Toronto. This event is part of the 'This is Not a Reading Series' of book events hosted by Toronto's Pages Book Store.
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| Books about/D.W. Series | 1987 - D.W. Flips! 1988 - D.W. All Wet1993 - D.W. Thinks Big1993 - D.W. Rides Again!1995 - D.W. the Picky Eater1998 - D.W.'s Lost Blankie1999 - D.W. Go to Your Room!2001 - D.W.'s Library Card2003 - D.W.'s Guide to Preschool2006 - D.W.'s Guide to Perfect Manners | ||||
| TV/Arthur Adventure Series | 1980 - Arthur's Valentine1981 - The True Francine (later republished and retitled in 1996 as "Arthur and the True Francine")1982 - Arthur Goes to Camp1982 - Arthur's Halloween1983 - Arthur's April Fool1983 - Arthur's Thanksgiving1984 - Arthur's Christmas1985 - Arthur's Tooth1987 - Arthur's Baby1989 - Arthur's Birthday1990 - Arthur's Pet Business1991 - Arthur Meets the President1992 - Arthur Babysits1993 - Arthur's Family Vacation1993 - Arthur's New Puppy1994 - Arthur's Chicken Pox1994 - Arthur's First Sleepover1995 - Arthur's TV Trouble1996 - Arthur Writes a Story1997 - Arthur's Computer Disaster1998 - Arthur Lost and Found1999 - Arthur's Underwear2000 - Arthur's Teacher Moves In2011 - Arthur Turns Green | ||||
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