The Comic Embassy - An Interview With Inimitable Local Artist Foo Swee Chin

The pop-up artist commnunal space at Tekka Place called The Comic Embassy, is featuring two artist ambassadors for the month of July. Veteran local freelance artist Foo Swee Chin, more affectionately known as FSc, is one of the artist ambassadors. The other is local illustrator and comic book creator Alan Bay.

FSc has been creating comic books cartoons, games, manga, tattoos and web journals since the early 2000s. Her various works have been published in Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and the US. She is well known for her NIGHTMARES AND FAIRYTALES comic book series (2002 to 2005) published by Slave Labor Graphics (SLG), in collaboration with writer Serena Valentino. She gained a large following in Japan when she managed to publish her work there. One of them is NIHON LAH (2012 to 2015), an online travel blog comic. Her other works include psychological-supernatural tales like muZz (SLG) and MINCE (Neko Press). FSc's historical action comic PARAMESWARA AND TEMASEK: THE SACKING OF SINGAPORE, was also featured during the Singapore Bicentennial celebration.

There is no easy way to describe FSc's unique yet recognisable art style. Her mix of the morose, almost Tim Burton-esque sentiments and fluid, imaginative visuals, are as enigmatic as FSc herself. Curious to find out what makes her tick, Red Dot Diva asked her some nosy questions:

The Comic Embassy - An Interview With Versatile Comic Book Creator Alan Bay

The Comic Embassy, a pop-up artist commnunal space at Tekka Place, is currently in its second month of operation. Every month from June 2022, two artist ambassadors will be in the spotlight, providing ample opportunities for people to meet them, and get to know more about their creative works. In June, the artist ambassadors were Collin Yap and James Leong. This month, local artists Alan Bay and Foo Swee Chin will step into the spotlight.

Alan Bay is a prolific illustrator and comic book creator who is known for his artwork in several high profile projects, including games like Assassin's Creeds: Brotherhood and TMNT, and the comic book “ONCE UPON A SINGAPORE... TRADERS”, which was nominated for Singapore Book Publishers Association's Book of the Year 2019.

Red Dot Diva last met Alan Bay when he was busy promoting local fantasy comic book “SACRED GUARDIANS”, published by Asiapac Books. She managed to catch up with Alan for this interview as he prepares for his appearances at the Comic Embassy:

Star Wars: Visions - Stunning Visuals and Unique Stories In Anime Form

STAR WARS: VISIONS, an anthology of nine anime shorts, is wonderfully creative and goes right into the emotional core of what the Star Wars is all about. Even though it is not canon, the series offers a thrilling alternate universe, while taking you back to the mega franchise's Japanese roots.

Star Wars has always drew ideas heavily from Japanese culture. In interviews, George Lucas mentioned that he is a huge fan of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa. When you watch Kurosawa's 1958 black and white movie THE HIDDEN FORTRESS side by side with the original 1977 Star Wars movie, you will see the same story beats about a princess, a general, a pair of comedic peasants and the fight against a feudal lord.

Samurai lore and visual traditional Japanese aesthetic, like the ronin, lightsaber, Darth Vader's helmet and kabuki, are also embedded in Star Wars. Even in the sequels, you will find that the Japanese influences remain strong. In THE LAST JEDI, Rian Johnson paid homage to Kurosawa's RASHOMON by portraying the re-telling of young Ben Solo and Luke Skywalker's fateful incident at the training temple in three different versions. Also, Kylo Ren's repaired helmet in the last movie of the Skywalker saga is influenced by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery.

The anime studios involved with STAR WARS: VISIONS are Kamikaze Douga, Geno Studio (Twin Engine), Studio Colorido (Twin Engine), TRIGGER, Kinema Citrus, Science Saru, and Production I.G. When Red Dot Diva was binge-watching the series, it was evident that the production teams adored the Star Wars franchise, and threw their hearts into it by putting their own unique spin to their animated shorts.

Kelly Marie Tran in Teaser Pic from Hulu's New Horror Anthology Series Monsterland

Fans of Kelly Marie Tran can look forward to her hyperspace jump from the Star Wars universe to a world of horror in Hulu's new anthology series called MONSTERLAND. In fact, you can check out the pic above to see Kelly Marie Tran as Lauren, wearing a wedding gown, from the episode entitled IRON RIVER, MI.

After the disappointing lack of Kelly Marie Tran screen time in the final instalment of Star Wars' Skywalker saga, Red Dot Diva hopes that the lovely actress will get to flex more of her acting skills in this series.

The 8-episode MONSTERLAND is inspired by American horror & dark fantasy writer Nathan Ballingrud's book NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS, and is set to premiere on 2 October 2020.

Black Mirror Teases Return of Season 5 on Netflix , 5 June 2019

Emmy Award-winning science fiction anthology “Black Mirror” has released a teaser for its 5th season, which will premiere 5 June, exclusively on Netflix.

The inventive show, created by Charlie Brooker, consists of dark tales that unfold in a familiar, yet dystopian, technology-driven world set in the near future. It is this familiarity, the reflection of our basic human flaws, and the plausible scenarios depicted that provide viewers with an uncomfortable sense of paranoia.

Killer robotic dogs? With Boston Dynamics showing off the technological advances with their  animal-like bots... Yep! Totally possible. Dating apps that dictating your life, including how long you need to live with someone? Not too far away from reality. Same for people who are crazy... literally, off rocker insane, about raking Likes and approval on social media. With each episode, “Black Mirror” episode, the series takes you on a mostly satirical journey together with androids, augmented consciousness programs, neural implants and more.

In the upcoming season, there will be 3 new, mind-bending stories that star Anthony Mackie, Miley Cyrus, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Topher Grace, Damson Idris, Andrew Scott, Nicole Beharie, Pom Klementieff, Angourie Rice, Madison Davenport and Ludi Lin.

Check out the new trailer:



If this is the first time you have heard of “Black Mirror”, there are already four season out in the wild, plus an interactive instalment called “Bandersnatch”. There is still some time to catch up all of them before the series take us all around the bend again!

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Official website: netflix.com/blackmirror