A perfect Sunday with... Simon Furman
Returning to the Tomb of Dracula, going Bond and beyond, and... bell ringing
Every week, a top writer, artist, actor or creator reveals how they’d fill their perfect Sunday, sharing their favourite comfort reads, movies, food… anything that would make their weekend great.
Today, it's the turn of legendary Transformer writer, Simon Furman.
Simon's perfect Sunday… brunch
Not that I often indulge, but a good, traditional fry-up would be my treat to myself. Bacon, egg, sausage, etc. Can’t beat it, really. Part of the joy of travelling, be it on holiday or to a convention, and staying in a hotel, is you get that guilt-free ‘full English’ option as a matter of course. Whereas at home, I can rarely be bothered to get the ingredients in and cook one. So, really, roll on the next con!
Simon's perfect Sunday… read
Can’t better a Reacher book. Or a good private eye novel (Robert Crais, Robert B. Parker, one of Denis Lehane’s Kenzie and Gennaro books). But right now, I’m heavily into the Slough House/Slow Horses series by Mick Herron, trying to stay ahead of the TV adaptations as the books are a) a little different and b) just brilliantly and funnily descriptive. Not often something makes me laugh out loud, but Herron’s prose does. I’m on Book six, Joe Country, at the moment!
Simon's perfect Sunday… comic
Right now, I’m in a bit of a Bendis phase. Reading his Daredevil and Avengers runs. But probably, on a lazy Sunday, I’d grab whatever Marvel Masterworks volume landed most recently and just snuggle up. And for me that’s Tomb of Dracula vol 4. Must’ve read these stories in pretty much every edition – from original comics (UK reprints and then the US originals) to Essential to TPB to Masterworks, but I still find so much to love in these stories (and, of course, the incredible Gene Colan art). It’s pure nostalgia, but it can’t be beat.
Simon's perfect Sunday... Movie
As it’s a Sunday, I’d grab a classic Bond movie. I have lots of go-to/comfort movies, from American Werewolf in London to Warriors, but something about a kick-back Sunday afternoon just requires that level of silly escapism. And much as I rate the Connery Bonds, that’s kind of a ‘latterly’ thing for me, so it’s the ones I saw as a kid, in the cinema, and loved, I’d default to. Those were the Roger Moore Bonds, and so I’d opt for The Spy Who Loved Me, which is my quintessential Bond of that era (though the opening to Moonraker, and its raft of louche double-entendres is my sub-fave… just not the rest of movie!)
Simon's perfect Sunday... TV binge
I’m currently watching Daredevil: Born Again, which is making me want to go back and watch the three Netflix Daredevil series (plus Defenders) all over again. Really good TV. But I’d probably just hit a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is laugh-out-loud funny and cringey in equal measure, but I love how it isn’t afraid to tackle stuff other shows fear to spotlight. It’s brilliantly written. Everyone in it is superb – especially the celebs playing versions of themselves.
Simon's perfect Sunday… podcast
Even though I do a podcast myself, with Andrew Wildman, called The Rest is Giant Robots, I’m not a big listener to podcasts generally. I do enjoy Uncanny on BBC Sounds (far more than the TV version), especially to listen to late at night, but overall, I don’t really have a show I never miss.
Simon's perfect Sunday… album
Knee-jerk choice would have to be the Blues. Howling Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Magic Slim… or just a best of. Currently, though, my turntable – yes, it has to be vinyl on a Sunday – choice is Warren Zevon’s 1978 album, Excitable Boy. Everyone knows Werewolves of London, right? But the rest of the album is equally brilliant and somewhat quirky, musically and lyrically.
Simon's perfect Sunday… treat
Really like spending time in the garden. Always stuff to do out there. Definitely falls into the ‘mindfulness’ category. Helps me switch the brain off for a while, go into neutral. But on a Sunday, regular as clockwork, I bell-ring. Where I live, we have two local churches with bell towers, and I ring at both. Thankfully, there’s no requirement to be religious to ring the bells, and we’re out of there before the actual service starts, but I really enjoy doing it. It’s tougher than you might think. Another – radically different – string to my bow, you might say.
THE REST IS GIANT ROBOTS - A PODCAST THAT'S MORE THAN MEETS THE EAR.
Writer Simon Furman and artist Andrew Wildman go back to the beginning... Charting a 40-year stint in comics, TV animation, games and more, including - of course - a healthy discourse on the rise and fall and rise again of TRANSFORMERS, also now 40 years old.
In a series of roughly chronological, informal chats, Furman and Wildman relive the ups and downs and highs of lows of the creative life, spotlighting key moments in their respective, and joint, careers - many of which, naturally, involve giant, transforming robots.
Nothing is off-limits as Furman and Wildman delve deep into their (unreliable) memories, presenting a humorous but warts-and-all story of life inside the comics biz that is still... TO BE CONTINUED.
Find The Rest Is Giant Robots on its Patreon or wherever you get your podcasts.
Simon Furman is a writer for comic books, games & TV animation, his name indelibly linked to Transformers, the 80s toy phenomenon (in 2012 Furman was inducted into Hasbro’s official Transformers Hall of Fame).
His past Transformers credits includes numerous stories for Marvel UK (among them Target: 2006, Dinobot Hunt and The Legacy of Unicron), Marvel US (from #56-80), Transformers: Generation 2 (#1-12), Dreamwave’s The War Within and IDW’s Infiltration, Escalation & Devastation, and more recently Transformers: Regeneration One and Transformers ’84. He also created the popular Marvel character Death's Head.
Screen credits include the final episode of the Beast Wars animated TV series, Nemesis pt2. For games, Furman continues to contribute storylines for mobile build & battle game Transformers: Earth Wars, with two further game projects currently in development.
He is the author of Transformers: The Ultimate Guide and oversaw the recent Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection (from Hachette).
Furman is currently writing The Leopard From Lime Street for Rebellion – in Monster Fun. As well as Astrobots – an all-new mecha series from Whatnot Publishing, drawn by Heavy Metal artist Hector Trunnec and based on toy designs by Aaron Thomas.
With artist Geoff Senior, Furman is the co-creator of To The Death, a 10-issue maxi-series combining hard-hitting sci-fi action and sharp-edged satire, and TTD spin-off Killatoa (both currently serialised in Shift Comic). The Shift Yearbook features new To The Death material by Furman & Senior as well as ‘Bring The Rayne’, an all-new story with artist Barry Kitson. A new creator-owned crime noir GN, Five Points (with artist Martin Stiff), released in early 2023
Past comic credits include Action Force, Alpha Flight, Annihilation: Ronan, Death's Head, Doctor Who, Dragon's Claws, How to Train Your Dragon, Robocop, Robotech, She-Hulk, StarCraft, Terminator, Torchwood, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, What If? and The Vigilant.
FOLLOW SIMON ON INSTAGRAM
FOLLOW SIMON ON X
FOLLOW SIMON ON FACEBOOK