“Over the years SFX, and its readers and their votes in the polls, have always been very kind to me. I thought I’d return the favour with what used to be called, in journalistic circles when I was a boy, a scoop.

As anyone who’s read my blog knows, I’m a big fan of a certain long-running British SF TV series. One that started watching — from behind the sofa — when I was three. And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that, it’s quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called “The House of Nothing”. But it definitely isn’t called that any more.

Countdown. You’ve got about 14 months.”

This makes me very, very happy.  I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, and Neil + Who (plus the brilliant Steven Moffat having taken over the show, let’s not forget that!) is one of the best anythings ever.

SFX via IO9

Here’s the announcement on Neil’s Journal.

Congratulations both!

Tor has one of Neil’s old stories (it says copyright 1986!) online, “I, Cthulhu, or, What’s A Tentacle-Faced Thing Like Me Doing In A Sunken City Like This (Latitude 47° 9′ S, Longitude 126° 43′ W)?“, along with the above marvelous illustration by Brian Elig.

So I thought, When I talk to other people about Neil Gaiman, where does the conversation tend to go? Easy. In the end, I don’t tend to tell people the very private and permanent ways his writing takes hold of me. I tend to talk about his hair.

The big news from Marvel at San Diego this year is that they’ve purchased the rights to the long-lost legendary character Miracleman, home of some of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman’s earliest published work.

However, the article goes on to say

It’s unclear from Marvel’s announcement whether their new ownership includes the Moore/Gaiman work. Marvel’s announcement talks about Anglo’s involvement in the purchase, but it’s possible that the new agreement only covers new stories done with the character, as the rights to the classic Moore and Gaiman runs were previously believed to be at least partially held by the creators themselves. Most tellingly, Marvel are reviving the character under his original name, Marvelman, which was previously changed in 1985 due to – ironically – concern over legal action from Marvel Comics;

All Neil has said so far is via Twitter:

Re Marvelman: I think it’s great news that Mick Anglo’s creations is going to be seen again, and hopeful that my work & Bucky’s will be back