The Titanic Troubles Theme Park

June 20, 2012Andrew 1 Comment

I’ll be appearing as a guest at Q-Con, the Belfast Gaming and Anime Festival this weekend. The job is to assist PJ Holden and Stephen Downey with a 2000AD Comics Workshop. PJ has written a post here preparing his students for the Sunday morning session.

Gareth McKnight and Debbie McCormack of East Belfast run an enjoyable lo-fi comic called Don’t Panic!

With every mad jack hurling money around anyone with the sinking ship motif, I suggested they produce a Don’t Titanic comic.

Small press being what it is the projects running a spot late for an anniversary (although the spin-off shares scandal involving the Liberal government, ran for the better part of the year)

Anyhow, here’s the entry drawn by me, and co-written with Danny Pongo, adapted from his original blog post.

COMIC: Binary Dog Lennox (Feat. Luke, Hanley and Kelly)

October 11, 2011January 22, 2013Andrew Leave a comment

The following is an adaption and analysis of Judge Nixon’s death penalty ruling on Lennox the pitbull.

The original document (referred to throughout the piece) can be found athttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/5470073/Judges%20Ruling%20on%20Lennox.zip

UPDATE: Apparently an out of context video of Sarah Fisher and Lennox has come out. Fisher herself has made a statement about this, which provides far better description of the methods she uses than I could http://positively.com/2011/10/11/lennox-update-statement-from-sarah-fisher/

David Baillie – Paris, Colchester and Where You Are Sitting Now

March 12, 2010January 11, 2013Andrew Leave a comment

A re-blog from the archives of my regular column for Alltern8; Comicking.

A fixture around the UK comics scene for years, the creative David Baillie has been strongly touted as set to make the jump to television. For those of you unfamiliar, here’s the intro from David’s friendly website,

“His work has appeared in 2000AD, Judge Dredd Megazine, Tripwire, Redeye, Comics International, Zombies, Robots and a dozen other fabulous places. His screenwriting has recently been nominated for a BAFTA/Rocliffe Award and shortlisted for the hotly-contested Red Planet Prize and Scotland Writes Drama Competition. Exhibitions of his art have been mounted in London, Edinburgh, Paris and Oxford.”

Paris

Baillie has recently completed The Casita Situations, with webcomic pioneer Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Italian architect Valerio Ferrari. “A micro-world” within the walls of the children’s mental health clinic at Avicenne Hospital in Paris, Ferrari conceived “a series of interchangeable wall panels…text, written in the diverse range of languages spoken by the young people there.”

Baillie and Goodbrey have thought through the language of visual psychology. The work is uplifting, and by design, engaging. The opportunity for patients to decide on placement allows for them to be a part of creating the environment they are in the care of, and so empowers. Also…dinosaurs, winged men, dog and cat-heads in suits…it’s super-kewl!

Goodbrey has reproduced the Situations online as a randomly generated hypercomic.

Colchester

Baillie’s stint there seems an extension of this; the production of “an anthology of stories about Colchester and its inhabitants” arrived at through interacting with visitors. He’s to be involved in a master-class there, and I would guess he’ll be pulling extra shifts. Firstsite have decided that April is comics month. Their programme has contributions from writer/editor Pat Mills, historian Richard Reynolds and artists Simon Grennan, Ed Hillyer (Ilya) and Chie Kutsuwada. Boys and girls comics, contemporary art and comics and manga and subversion are to be explored in talks. There are also several schools sessions and activities for the family and children.

Oh, and a screening of Persepolis. All here.

Online

I recently went through David’s website and read a bunch of the handsome, entertaining and free comics there. I was struck by the fact that Baillie is a fantastically great writer. His way with dialogue, particularly in ‘Scribe’ and the World’s Finest pieces, stand out like the shape of a fit model, endowned with intellect and great hips. Likewise “The indiscriminate device”, a powerful work, directed with pace and care.

Like the rest of his website, the comics seem a great lesson in how to present an online portfolio, with something in every medium, genre and style. Television executives, take note.

To end on, my capsule reviews of Baillie’s works to date.

The Belly Button Chronicles (2008) Webcomic diary of a man approaching thirty. Currently running near 300 pages and full of friendly observations, wit and varying shapes. Could so easily be lazy, but not Baillie’s way.

The Final Adventures of RocketBoy (2007) ‘Wittle’ protagonists in pastels and a smattering of computer-aided lettering in this Weekend Cupid Cutefest extravaganza with jetpacks. Occassionally too shallow and sweet, delivers a finale that made me both shed a tear and laugh heartily.

Tongue of the Dead (2007-08) From the first third of the book, a fluently related sword and sorcery adventure. Great page layouts and realised action scenes. Ordering a copy direct from the author via Paypal for only £10 (p&p included) will get you a personalised sketch too!

A Dog’s Tale – Nonsensical fun and fast-moving adventure narrative containing every something you could want out of a stupid comic. Recommended.

The Indiscriminate Device(2004-05) Well rendered scream from the heart.. One of the most affecting comics I’ve ever read.

Kwot – Slow starting science fiction evolves into a 2000AD-esque tale. Super-heroes, Hitmen, Mutants, robots and regular working folk. Dedicated to Will Eisner, containing a lucid and random-ness often found in his work.

Mindy / Pool – The trials of a pool attendant and a famous artist, visualised in classic minimal style. Full of wit, poignancy, sadness and frustration. No ill side effects, these comics have proved very popular with readers on the festival circuit.

Monkey and the Writer – Four shorts: cute and fun.

Scribe – Another brilliant piece of reverse-engineering iconography, or if you prefer, a story about writer’s culture and it’s ability to envelop or remove. Also, taps into universal and hidden notions we get from reading comics. A solid down-to-earth winner.

Just Like Greta Garbo (2005) A thinking, ripping yarn with deeply considered attention in this “World’s Finest” story. Visually disperses with show-off realist flash, opting for a fantastical friendly look, coloured using prettiness. Wholly functional and layers of cleverness. I like it, I like it a lot.

How I Learned To Love The City (2002) A short about the author’s big lifestyle choices. Artistic evolution in topic, content and form, with pleasing results. Optimism out of Drudgery.

Cradle to the Grave – Mini meditation on mortality, with anecdotes and Baillie’s running symbolism.

The Dream – Visuals only mini-comic dream diary. Simple and creepy. (2002)

The Ballad of Jack (2003) Short rhyming character meditation. Sensible words on lifestyle.

You can read most of these works and buy them at David’s website, http://davidbaillie.net

Don’t Get Lost Making A Graphic Novel

February 10, 2010January 11, 2013Andrew Leave a comment

A re-blog from the archives of my regular column for Alltern8; Comicking.

I’ve been making comics since childhood, since 1997, for other people to see. I practiced as a scriptwriter, drawing my own comics out of necessity. I’ve made around forty, and last year I made my first attempt at a graphic novel.

No one can tell you, as fact, what the right way to make a comic is. You do not have to purchase Bristol boards, you are not obligated to work with brush, or colour. (Heck, you can use a sandwich bag) You don’t have to pay printers a grand. As a comic strip artist, instructions per conformity like anatomy reference books are a choice. Successful use does not necessarily demonstrate a link in narrative content with the medical discoveries of Vesalius or DaVinci. Comprehende?

“Just do it”

I chose to work without script or thumb-nails and used an A8 (shirt pocket) note-pad with (light) 60gsm paper. A4’s wide open space is agony to me and the comfortable intimate pocket-book suited my wish to develop a sporadic style. “Don’t Get Lost” was based largely on personal experience rather than research and so I could dive straight to work at any point in my day. Many professional comics artists draw page designs on A5 (half a sheet of paper, the standard for many small pressers) and photocopying them by twice the size to A3 (121%) for use with a light-box. This is then pencilled to the page to form layout structure. I’ve even heard a tale of one professional who takes directly his A5 thumbnail to finished computer art. With this, the energy and spectacle of flow is retained and a good reader can notice and feel the difference.

My pencil work developed quickly to look confident. In one 24 hour session I unconsciously worked up thirty good pages in twenty-four hours. This didn’t happen creationist style, I’ve about twenty pages of shoddy, stumbling early work to prove it.

It’s worth mentioning my prior intentional experience with the 24 hour comic challenge is one that I will be repeating, and would recommend to any artist embracing a challenge. If you’ve not seen my 2007 comic ‘Gran’, I suggest book-marking this download page for an idea of a great 24 hour comic.

The accompanying video filmed in August 2008 is a bit waffly but gives an interesting insight into the strip’s content and that notable notebook.

My early experiences with using a gel pen at bus stops on Don’t Get Lost….that sentence finishes itself. I have little understanding of inking practice outside tracing, it’s clearly much more. Spending time on reference guides would have been a useful discipline to cultivate. That said, I did manage to put my corner-shop biro to some use. I’m becoming aware of how many great artists use the humble, unassuming biro. Paddy Brown works consistently in red biro, and the results blow the lay-man’s socks off.
Graphic Novel Coming

I didn’t set out to create a graphic novel of 300 pages – it just happened that way. First, it was 40, then 150 and so on. Eighty pages in, the notebook went missing for a day I mentally screamed and wept and my insides nearly bled. Then it turned up, and I do believe I kissed the book repeatedly, pocket fluff and all. Then copied it, anally.

Sally-Anne Hickman’s diary comics inspired: looking drawn fast, relaying honesty, immediacy and reality. Her choice of start and cut-off points and the length of sixty pages, longer than most mini-comics at sixty pages made them feel like novels. I strove to replicate this, breaking my work into chapters, the first a 144 page pocket comic-book.

I was working part-time at a stationers and spent my staff discount on two magnetic white-boards and a batch of cheap magnets. A sob of regret dismembering the notebook. The pages were numbered along each row. Staple-bound comic books work in supplements of fours and for a 144 page book I had to work things out in advance.

Once I’d done this, I took 36 A4 sheets, folded them and lightly numbered the pages in pencil. The pages were removed from the boards and lightly white tacked until I ran out began stripping posters from my walls.

Graphic Novel Fail

A big problem with this method of assembly could be in production: carting precarious stickys to a copy shop results in confusion with much slimmer volumes. Many copy-shops will specifically ask for .jpegs or .pdfs but I was lucky to have access to the use of the university photocopy room off-semester, when students were busy studying their parent’s satellite wide-screens. Three copies were made at this point: one each for the critical faculties of John (Robbins) and the conscientious Matt (Badham) I bound the comics using a single elastic band, a method Sally uses for her sixty pagers that is surprisingly great. I re-read the completed work, noting changes and sent these out in the packages.

Reviewing comics is a lovely job, one I’ve found gets progressively harder the more I do it. In this case, it was an opportunity for my editors to alter the narrative. Concerns were expressed. John and Matthew were made aware my narrative was a damn disturbing one. There are places in the narrative were characters are plunged into shock and despair, sickening states. While DLG is light and enjoyable in many places, at core a survival narrative, these moments don’t have the immediacy of drama as device that the latter do. This was compounded by other subject matter: media social panics and ambiguities in regional translation. Telling narratives of other people led Matt to raise concerns that, without their consent, I could be overstepping ethical codes. I’d changed names and altered appearances, but the occasional photo-realistic style didn’t help. I certainly didn’t want it to look as if those portrayed could be identified even though I was almost sure they could not. It’s just a mini-comic based in a small town that no one from there is going to read, right? Almost wasn’t good enough, and I pondered making changes for quite a while.

By this time I had moved back to Northern Ireland. Unlike mainland UK, Canada and the States, we don’t have Kinkos, Staples or photo-copiers in corner-shops as common place. Copying seems pricier. I graduated straight onto the unemployment line and a friend’s sofa, the book sat on the shelf. I took my single copy on the road to the 2D Festival were I showed it off to a few, including an attendee who advanced me £4 for a copy before I lost his contact details. I also made mini-comic previews of selected scenes in the book.

The accompanying video from June 2009 shows how I set about making this 16 page mini from one A4 sheet preceded by the formative stages of another. It also shows a copy of the preview I sent Matt and John. Warning: Contains disturbed complexion and over-dramatic pauses related to an all-night stint before deadline.

Webcomic On

Having produced those many pages made for good therapy and a sense of accomplishment. My stubborn nature and need to set a discourse off persevered. A friend I’d showed it to loaned me his scanner. I knew enough to host the images on my livejournal account, which has enough permanent storage space to hold them and to set up a free blogspot which was more accessible and would allow me to post in advance should I need to take a day off.

Some pages were muddied with dirt, wear or pencil smudges that deleting had to be applied to selected areas. I chose not to get bogged down, not wipe energy or construction in this. Ralph Kidson remarked that the pencils in my work may be a form of colouring, which I think is quite a good way of looking at it.

The new year was coming in and it seemed as good a time as any to launch the webcomic. However, other factors got in the way and I was too busy to promote it properly. I sent Matt and John courtesy emails, and quicker than imagined, word spread with links on Forbidden Planet, Bugpowder.com and the blogs of Richard Cowdry and Paddy Brown welcoming me to the world of webcomics. I doubt this would have been possible without these connections made over time.

I’d had some success posting preview pages on Twitpic over the summer. Pete Ashton has an interesting piece here on Neill Cameron’s venture doing something similar. This did more good than posting in communities were I’m less an active part, such as Digg and Delicious.

Were I to fill every comic forum with links, I would not obtain my objective. The narrative has many strong themes: sexual abuse through rape and it’s effect on secondary survivors, paedophilia and the media panic surrounding it. Blogging without links was once considered bad practice. I intend to build this over time, as the narrative unfolds. Linking to communities who deal with those issues and their resources I’ve found useful, outside of my pithy scribbles. If the strip is commented on too, all the better for making another community.

With 300 pages scanned in and another 50 to do, I have a comic out that doesn’t look as polished as other web-comics but is a damned formidable read. Don’t Get Lost is updated on Thursdays and I hope you’ll find something there to suit you. As all things, in time.

Comicking: The January Ashcans

January 13, 2010January 11, 2013Andrew 1 Comment

A re-blog from the archives of my regular column for Alltern8; Comicking.

Welcome to an occasional collection of comics art, news, snippets and stories of note. Once a month, I’ll bring the easter egg extras that don’t make it to my regular columns, but are a tasty treat nonetheless.

Black Books

Is an independent literary fair, part of the cultural regeneration of Northern Ireland, within NI Culture’s Out To Lunch festival. This weekend Paddy Brown will be manning a stand there, selling work from the North and South, now including Blackshapes’ Phil Barrett.

Keep a look out for special guests!

Eggheads
On Tuesday this week, Paddy completed recording at BBC Scotland for an episode of the knowledge based quiz show, Eggheads along with fellow Belfast comics creators on his team: Stephen Downey (CANCERTOWN) and PJ Holden (JUDGE DREDD) Eggheads features four rounds of specific knowledge followed by a fifth on general knowlege. Teams compete against an Eggheads team of boffs and brainiacs. (PJ’s photo from the BBC lobby here.)

When Eggheads had a cartoonist team appear on the show in October last year, a series of knock-outs and a tense tie-break resulted in a win for The Cartoonists. Could it be that the targeted recruitment of more cartoonists just several weeks after means the Eggheads are out for ink blood or yoke? Be careful guys! Downey confirms this edition of Eggheads had Jeremy Vine hosting, which means it will air over the Summer or Autumn.

(IMAGE MISSING)

Battlefields: Happy Valley is the latest wartime offering from Garth Ennis, published by Dynamite. An air squadron taking on The Third Reich in 1942, over the industrial centre of the Ruhr. Apparently the story made PJ cry.

A panel from Happy Valley is replicated in PJ’s short autobiographical comic drawn in an hour that’s got a great Eddie Campbell quality to it.

Oh Mr. Robinson and His Quango…
Belfast politics are in the news this week as it’s transpired MP Iris Robinson has resigned. She’s had some rather serious mental health issues, undeclared business contracts, lots of cash and the 19-yr old waiter. In the fall-out, her husband the First Minister of Northern Ireland has stood down from his post until the enquiry reaches it’s findings. Oddly, the region’s newspapers are mostly lacking selections from political cartoonists. Here’s some contributions from Stevie Lee on Tuesday, firstly with Peter’s replacement MLA Nigel Dodds and then with Martin McGuinness and replacement First Minister Arlene Foster

(IMAGE MISSING)

Announcing the dates of Derry’s 2D Festival, 2010 David Campbell writes,

“2D, although we are late on the go this year, is happening and will be on from the 3-5th June, in the Verbal Arts Centre and Sandinos, with a similar format to previous years. We are working on guests and contentat the minute and will be publicising the dates as much as we can from here on in, so any help with that is appreciated. Be glad to have you along as an exhibitor again if you’re up for it.”

There are few better ways to spend a weekend than in this real community event and rational for hedonistic partying. It’s the fourth annual festival and last year there was critical debate, Bryan Talbolt, David Lloyd, sketches and workshops for children, dancing and blurred vision. David, my answer is Yes.The 2D website can be found here.

On the subject of Irish political cartooning, do check out these lovely sketches on David’s blog.

There Was More Than One Gunman

Never far from critical clarity, Dubliner John Robbins ruffled a few feathers on the indy comix scene in 2001 with the release of Closing Shots From A Grassy Knoll. The tract explored the motivations of self-publishing cartoonists, and their agendas in product contents agendas through a short repeated question: “Why do you do it?” In many ways, Closing Shots strikes and cuts the small press in much the same way as Roland Barthes’ Death of the Authordeconstructed the culture of writing and the merit of the act when bound to coded referencing of other texts.

Shortly after publication, the text was carried at Bugpowder.com and for a while open to comments and criticism. It’s still a solidly articulate and insightful prose with a directed ire towards contemporary mainstream storytelling. Valuable for discerning reviewers, critics and mostly, thinking creatives on the scenes.

In November, a revised edition was uploaded. If the original on Bugpowder is the ‘Shock’ tract for thinking critically about the comics you read and create, the new edition is the ‘Coax’. Yet perhaps more damning, certainly more directed and appearing clearer: much more relevant to a generation online were alternative transforms to new mainstream.

“Oftentimes there is a misconception among small press creators that they are rebels with suppressed talent, struggling against the might of the inferior mainstream and producing work of greater substance. This romanticised view also alludes to a notion that any production of material beneath the small press umbrella is somehow underground in nature. ”

In requests I publish an interview on the piece, John has stated he prefers the work to speak for itself. John’s new website, Downright Bockedy, is here.

The Baillie Train
David Baillie, author of The Indiscriminate Device and Tongue of the Dead has been blogging from Hôpital Avicenne in Paris, were he and Daniel Goodbrey have been working on something interesting,

“Mr G had been approached by virtuoso architect Valerio Ferrari about a proposed art installation in a Parisian hospital. His idea was that it would take the form of something like a web comic, but one that would be navigated by physically travelling through a space rather than clicking in a browser.”

More about it on David’s blog where he goes on to document his trip from Paris on Tuesday to a big important meeting at BBC Scotland. (Not for Eggheads, no)
Still, if you want conspiracy, I heard rumours of a meeting of other 2000AD types thereabouts….

The Beagle Has Flown
My stage directions for a renewed British Comics Awards ceremony featured on Alltern8.com last month. It met with confusion from editors and a resounding silence from readers who viewed it in healthy numbers. On the same day the piece saw print, it was to be joined by that of another high profile comics journalist confirming that there have been developments in The Eagles story. Just before it was put on the back burner for verification purposes.

Escape
Last month, Paul Gravett announced the return of Escape. Here’s what he told me in an email on Monday,

“it is early days and we’re not planning many books to start with. There will be the Escape anthology returning for graphic short stories.”

Escape has a special place in British comics history. Indeed it featured a wealth of talent and over the 19 issues helped to launch the careers of Eddie Campbell, Dave McKean, Neil Gaiman and Jamie Hewlett among others.. Interesting times ahead: the story is here.

Oli Who?
Professional indy comics activist of London Underground Comics, Oli Smith, is writing Doctor Who. According to the recent official Doctor Who Magazine (DWM), an audiobook ‘The Runaway Train’, presumably voiced by Matt Smith and Karen Gillian may be due out this June. In fact there’s already an Amazon entry for it. The following month sees the release of his first full-length novel, “Nuclear Time” as part of the BBC New Series Adventures. He’ll also be putting some of those comic scripting skills to good use on DWM.

Stalking Sean
I appear to be stalking Oli’s cohort, Sean Azzopardi, whose work ethic is off the scale lately. He’s contributed pages in the shape of “My Only Friend” (oposite) to ’69 Love Songs’ A strip blog interpreting songs from the album of the same name by The Magnetic Fields. (Amazon link) There are also some fantastic contributions by Hum “Lew” Davies, Ton Humberstone, Elizabeth Jordan and a host of others. A wonderful find.
Sean has also been spotted taking part in the 100 Days project: a creative concept to create something beautiful to make the world a better place. Ahh, that’s nice. Sean is posting his creations at his Phatcatz website.

Oh, and you can read my review of Sean’s action fantasy story, Necessary Monsters right here on Alltern8.com

All this exposure, it’s an arrest waiting to happen.

Radio Resonating Comix
Over the last few years Resonance FM, a London community arts radio, has allowed comics journalist Alex Fitch to present his rather excellent show, Panel Borders. In that vein comes the Alternative Press Hour, a monthly show “dedicated to comix, zines and DIY culture” featuring Gareth Brookes and Jimi Gherkin. The first show features interviews with London Zine Symposium organiser Edd Baldry and Mike Lake, co-founder of Titan Distribution and Forbidden Planet. Broadcasts this Friday (15th) at 9pm and should probably be online by Monday.

Finally, it’s just been announced that Darryl Cunningham’s Psychiatric Tales is to be published in collected form in the US, by Bloomsbury. If you’ve not seen this, it’s worth a look and here it is.

If you have an area you’d like to see covered, or a story to share, I can be emailed at drew.luke(at)gmail.com on correspondence marked ‘Comicking’.

I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and right here on Alltern8.com My loud new webcomic, Don’t Get Lost, is updated Thursdays.

Comicking is published most Tuesdays, except for next week as I’m taking a holiday.

(Archive)

Comicking: Necessary Monsters Collection

January 12, 2010January 11, 2013Andrew 1 Comment

A re-blog from the archives of my regular column for Alltern8; Comicking.
THE OPENING OF THIS PIECE HAS BEEN LOST TO THE SPIDER. IT WAS LAST SEEN AT http://www.alltern8.com/library/comics_and_graphic_novels/comicking_necessary_monsters_collection/l-4697.htm

Bodies in corridors, against-odds stand-offs, rogue agents, secret lairs and black helicopters. Richard Bruton of the Forbidden Planet weblog has stated that he loves Monsters’ cliches. While it’s not high concept, to call it unimaginative or derivative alone would be just unfair. Scribe Daniel Merlin Goodbrey long ago staked conceptual turf turning out interactive comics on infinite canvasses, a villain whose self-insight rivals comics theorist Scott McCloud, and a guy with a planet for a head. Some, like myself, would even accord Goodbrey the same status in concept progression as Kirby, Crumb or Moore. His established web-comics commonly explore genres of horror and hybrid western, and are joined here by the monster and spy thriller. Happy anomalies break through: a chicken-head giant with a chain-saw, the inverted and chained Statue of Liberty and other idea gifts, or Merlisms. Fun? Yeah, more than a bit.

The protagonists as we know them seem softer than the ‘monster police monsters’ description given. In the case of the protagonists they’re as much ‘cop monsters’ as taking out bad guys out of altruistic motive. Certainly in the cases of Charlotte Hatred, a haunter of mirrors, and dream stalker Creeping Tuesday their positive humanity is prevalent. In some traits displayed by Jonathon Gravehouse and antagonist Thomas Harp, opposing rogue Watchers Council sorts, they both look human and can come across as not such bad blokes. Apart from the odd bit of within narrative slavery, murder, if you like that sort of thing. The cast is rounded off by downright dirty psycho-paths in the best Krueger/Jason traditions, gimp-masked Cowboy 13 and his arch nemesis, Chicken-Neck. The four members of The Chain are bound together by a chain, networky implants placing them under the organisation’s will and the story concerns Harp’s challenge to their authority. Which is all I’m going to tell you of the plot, because the soul of the series is in the journey, not laminated card battle stats inside some ludicrously priced board game.

This is much harder to write than it is to read you know.

Yes, Monsters’ attributes with Goodbrey’s other works appear. Traceable attributes are far-off from the most well-known output of artist Sean Azzopardi and that is Twelve Hour Shift. A graphic novel about Ed Someone, a night porter struggling to overcome the ritual working and draw his first graphic novel. This sounds a bit boring, which is just how real Shift’s recounting going through the motions is. Balancing the frustration, there’s quiet insights which excel alongside the artist’s poetic reflection and his draughtsmanship of tender visuals. Yet in Monsters’ the cinema is strong directed Western box office to the point were you can hear the grinding of chain-saws and blood spattered over your face while the local cult building spontaneously erupts in flames and your children bang on your windows with hedgehogs over and over until lamps and bookcases where you are sitting fall over.

Necessary Monsters is released in collected edition by ATR/Planet LAR “including updated artwork across all five chapters and a brand new introduction by Kieron Gillen (Phonogram, S.W.O.R.D, Thor)” (One of these re-workings is the introductory visual at the head of this article) It goes out to comic shops in February for $12.95 US and you can be helped to track it sitting down or standing right now with Diamond order code DEC09 0641. It’s also available to order via Forbidden Planet in the UK and via Amazon in the States.

Twelve Hour Shift can be purchased through Sean’s website, Phatcatz.org.uk for the bargain price £6.95 + £2.00 postage.

For more details see http://necessarymonsters.com/

Never Mind The X-Men, Its X-Mas!

December 12, 2009January 11, 2013Andrew Leave a comment

A re-blog from the archives of my regular column for Alltern8; Comicking.

At this time of year, black-belts and red puffer jackets are in. However, before you congeal cotton buds for that handcrafted beard, why not consider the loving homemade gifts already for sale? Comics activists including Andrew Geczy and Matt Reynolds here at Alltern8 and others, have already compiled some lists of easy to pick up comics. The independent press offers items offers items cheaper and often so personalised that the recipient knows they’re one of a kind. And how better to have the gift delivered than right from the cartoonist’s own hand?

For the admirer of Pretty Things…

Shopping at fairs, I prioritise picking up the work of Sally-Anne Hickman. Yes, always great value for money. They’re instantly recognisable, emanating sound mellow vibe covers made from wallpaper and glittery stick-ons. Lovely little things, with energetic and youthful scribblings of the author’s comic-book diary, full of character and conversation. In one of my favourites, “Have you got all your cds & things?” we get an honest, fearless and involving tale of a friendship at departure point. These are pocket-size, affordable and lovely graphic novels, all of them. You can email Sally-Anne at sallyshinystars (at)hotmail(dot)com or contact her on Facebook, a link for which can be found alongside some samples at her blog. You should be able to pick up her books for £4 or less.

“One Word for Everything” is a tastefully decorated collection of strips by Deirdre Ruane that should appeal to the fantasist, spiritualist and party-goer in your life, or anyone who enjoys surprises really. Deirdre describes her work better than I possibly could,

“polar bear temps. black holes in language. strange hovering artifacts. racing snails. festival dawns. selfish genes. the kitsch of the future. a caveman who dreams of aeroplanes. everyday time travel. why sex is like ice skating. why spaceships make me cry.”

Celestial festival, friendship and feel-good, melancholic and hilarious; multi-style, patterns and swirls of grace collecting strips from her fast-shifting “Wasted Epiphanies”. More details on the book at the Shop page were Deirdre will accept Paypal. The collection costs £4.50
Other than the few sample jpegs obtained for this review, I don’t own any wares made by Richy K. Chandler. How could I recommend them for this special time of the year? Behold!

I have seen these up close and they’re every bit of pretty. The packaging is professionally crafted and the comics, just as much. Made of Presents! For further details and samples, check out Richy’s Myspace page. The “Cosmically Enlightened Gift Set” costs just £5 and the “Mini-Comic Box Set” is sterling value at £10, plus £2 postage and packing for each. Top tip for a tasteful gift, which is probably too good for High Street shops everywhere.

For the Lover of Comedy….

Ralph Kidson is probably the funniest man in comics. He delivers post-modern pondering, one-dimensional veneer built to hide a variety performance showcase, bare visuals carrying superb pacing, concise character expression and obscenities, lots of obscenities. Ralph is a consummate social commentator, a snorting punk, a fantastic lover and I can count the comics of his comics I’ve been disappointed with on two fingers.

This is the perfect gift for a friend who likes edgy and relevant comedians. So why not let wish them a Sweary Christmas? *ahem*
Ralph’s tactile “Giant Clam” pocket books are a well spent £2-£3 incl. postage and packing from the Forbidden Planet shop. (123)

A few looks at quality mini-comics that won’t break the bank:

For the Artist….

Back in June, I called Oli Smith and Oliver Lambden’s ‘Bloc’ “one of the best UK comics this year” and it still resonates. Doctor Who scribe and general independent comics revolutionary Smith says of it,

“A postmodern fairytale, BLOC is the story of a stone man washed up on the beach of a mysterious island covered in giant floating blocks…”

Indeed. In the abstract narrative within, Smith deals with themes of physics, psychics, play, philosophy and environment. Not bad for a visual instruction only script. Artist Oliver Lambden excels, whipping out strokes of Kirby, Simonson and Moebius in a work that evokes epic qualities of artistic structure. Not only do both creators significantly up their own games, but re-write comics language, stripping away its facade and celebrating it at once. The book is a tidy baige-coloured volume, classy and worked. Affordable stocking filler, definitely ideal for an artist friend. 48 pages, cost approx. £4 from Oliver Lambden.

Iconic models and their environment also feature in John Robbins ‘Inside Outsiders’, another of the finer comics I’ve read this year. Heres his ad blurb,

“Psychosexual subtext pervades this League Of Extraordinary Toy Story as action figures undertake the perilous search for a fellow room-dweller who has fled an emotionally complicated relationship with a promiscuous Bratz doll.”

Robbins’ piece is shorter and wordier than Bloc, but equally a thriller. Its written with comedic mischief, multiple definitions, paradox, and clever pace to the proceedings. Visually, its been crafted loyally with full-figure as portrait style, lacing fantasy within reality and functionality. This excellent example for good comics is a bargain at only 1.75 Euros/$2.50 US/£1.50 UK, postage included. Adults only. Available to buy at Blackshapes Shop.

The small press has also turned out a few graphic novels of note. Some of these are available in comic shops, but before that, some which aren’t.

For the Trad Comics Action Story Fan..

The United Kingdom has had its fair share of larger-than-life comics icons: Dennis the Menace, Roy of the Rovers, Judge Dredd and Captain Winston Bulldog. Over the mid-nineties and this decade, writer Jason Cobley worked with upwards of thirty artists to deliver tales espousing the stiff-upper-lip of Blighty: eccentric, corny, brave and dashing. Alongside his action narrative, illustrators present a highly structured British metropolis, detailed with anthropomorphic and sci-fi scenes as well as stylised minimalist solid designs that are difficult to put down. Some of the strips don’t lend themselves quite so well to the reproduction, but this package is a valuable cultural historical artefact of a generation and an essential reference point in British comics. Simple action dynamics, occasional insightful humanity and some damn fine fun. With a perfect bound full colour cover the complete 208 pages can be purchased for the bargain of £7.99 here.
For the Lover of Myth and Legend….

“Ness” is the opening work to Paddy Brown’s “Ulster Cycle” comic, were figures and environment gain dimension through directional pen scores and academic research shifts seamlessly into unafraid working narrative. Daughter of the king of Ulster, Ness goes on the run to track down a murderous outlaw, with a looming war between Ireland’s kingdoms for backdrop. The mythology is complimented by Paddy’s occasional lighthearted anachronisms in the script, but the meticulous adherence to source material makes this a fun educational tool as well as a great old yarn. The A5 graphic novel, collects “the full 72-page story in black and white, plus full colour cover, pronunciation guide and seven pages of notes.” and is well worth the £4.99 (incl. postage for the UK and Ireland) payable through Paypal.
Finally, two works which you should be able to pick up pretty much everywhere:

Sand and skulls and the disparate wildness of literate West. Daniel Merlin Goodbrey examines contemporary anomalies through the prism of Western genre and computer-aided minimalist projection is that of a modern-day conjurer in this collection of “Tales from an Unfolded Earth”. These tales are sociology: ‘showing’ often only one or two characters, a sense of their connections with an entire society is ominous and eminent. The meta-narratives character studies’ come with personal histories, labour relations and linguistics among flowing sequences and HD coherence. Merlin Goodbrey is best known for his pioneering work on hypercomics, its to his credit that here he accomplishes providence of something with a similar highly personal feel. “The Last Sane Cowboy and Other Stories” is a cult classic and £7 or $13 well spent. Its published by AiT/Planet Lar and you can find it on Amazon and other places.

Phonogram has re-fuelled my interest in comics, my love towards music and is not only one of the greatest comics being made today but also the simplest. David Kohl is a phonomancer; he uses music to make magic and because he’s a prick sometimes that goes bad. The other main character of this book is Brit-pop, a revivalist movement linked with Kohl’s essence and rewritten, along with natural reality. In writer Kieron Gillen theres all the aspects of a fantastic music journalist, teacher, poet and creative commercial visionary with tolerable arrogance, taking his cue from Moore’s definition of magic. Artist Jamie McKelvie takes his from Grant Morrisson with designer biography sigils, smart, savvy, smug and infuriating characters. Both lads are to be awarded for bringing real, relevant, clever concepts and scenarios to the audience. Phonogram Volume 1: Rue Britannia is published by Image and you can pick the collection up for under $10.

Enough from me, Go, load up your sleigh!

Notes on Content – A Brief Conversation with John Robbins on The Grassy Knoll

April 28, 2008January 22, 2013Andrew Leave a comment

Over 2008 I wrote weekly for ComicsVillage.com, during a very exciting time in the UK comix scene..

My columns are concerned with four aspects surrounding comics – social community, economic factors, festival and exhibition coverage and modes of distribution.

This will be my final online column until May 18^th. It’s not gone. The Bristol Comics Expo will feature a new and challenging print column called ‘An integrated framework of Comics Arts Festival Management Utilising Popular Templates In Co-Operative Agenda’. Or perhaps abbreviated. In between degree assignments I may pop up on Bugpowder, the finest resource for news and current affairs in the UK independent comics industry.

Today I’m strolling off-topic of my usual look at selling and socialising with some self-indulgent agenda setting on creative content. The following is a previously unpublished piece written in April 2006, which constitutes and clarifies my response to John Robbins ‘Closing Shots from a Grassy Knoll’. If you’re not familiar with Robbins wake-up call to creators, I’d urge you to check it out here. The column below is a modified version of that previously printed in the ‘Sheridan Cottage’ print collection.

Notes on Content

Skimming through RedEye Magazine #6, snapshot of the UK comics industry, the healthiest in terms of wealth of product its been since – possibly, ever. The inclusion of centred punk work by and about Aleksander Zograf, a V for Vendetta comparative timeline, mentions of Joe Sacco and more Pat Mills satiate my desires. When this material is called contemporary it equates with relevant. Yeah, it bothers me. The examples I give are all professional, but must contemporary equal the work of someone who is at the top of the league ? Why are there no poor contemporary comics existing in the UK industry ?? (Outside of those marginalised policy-activist circles, from topics of climate change to fundamentalist christian)

Diversity exists. From every bent of genre of superhero bunny ninja robot monkey cop dinosaur dinosaur jetpack. There does not exist reason why these elements cannot find their way into allegory on why Blair’s (Gordon’s) government never launched a proper investigation into the 7/7 London bombings. Traditionally, a cartoonist’s duty is to speak out against government-inflicted grievances, though looking at whats available, the pre-meditated illegality of tate sponsored slaughter of women and children pales in wacky zany loveable bedsit antics of a boy, a PS2 and a gun. There are a number of obstacles to cartooning contemporary from this pop junk background. Firstly, its hard. I knew for some time I wanted to draw political comics but it took about a year and a half before I was able to find some sort of political cartoonists “voice” that was graduated from my crowd-pleasing fantasy narratives of drunken pop culture celebs. Comparative to the process of learning to write and draw initially, though not as difficult as the “100 crap pages before the good ones” syndrome. I estimate this can be very off-putting for creators. Particularly if embarking on a course of cartooning aimed at a sensitive area, say for example, post-rape coping strategies featuring ninjas. It requires a level of maturity which, sweet thing, is not a universal value in comics artists. If you fail, if you turn in a sermonising patronising work of blindness, being a jerk or being a dick is going to get you told to fuck off.

In this age of information, access to points of interest grounded in the real world are obtainable like never before. Well, to an extent it is. Agents of misinformation take up the mass media with lies and diversions, a number of them are even paid high financial monthly wages and advances to do so. This is prevalent globally through centuries and decades. One only needs to study propaganda exercises such as the 1947 -1976 Operation Mockingbird in the 1980s, and its resurgence under various administrations. Recent example: Lil Bush Poo’s gross spending on public relations, such as the Armstrong Williams funds debacle. If you think these changes don’t affect Britain directly, you’re mistaken.
Robbins replies to this,

“The ‘agents of misinformation’ paragraph wanders a little off-topic and perhaps inadvertently highlights the pitfalls related to crafting meaningful comics i.e. shoehorning a message or information into work in which it has no place. Incongruous digression is irksome for the reader, and worse still, can be counter productive. (I always remember that ‘Cat’ person on a Big Brother who tried to bring political activism to the show – so annoyingly out-of-place were her rants that I found myself soured to her causes.)”

“Perhaps a point worth making is that creative processes may require adjusting should creators attempt to meet your challenge. Myself, I rarely write unless I have something to say, and if I’m trying to affect change with my work then I like the entire story structured and the thread/theme established before the text part of the writing commences, which isn’t conducive to the incremental-development-of-story approach favoured by the majority of cartoonists. But then, I suppose I’ve only ever allowed for the organic aspect of comics creation to occur in the writing stage because I am so shackled by my cartooning ability; that sense of a work generating its own momentum has only ever happened for me pre-cartooning – where it’s much less painful to re-focus work that’s wandered from my central theme.”

Having attempted to sculpt my stories in this area I’ve ‘shoehorning’ and the whole process of cartoonist voice modification as Robbins suggests, awkward. ‘Off my chest’ (reprinted below) was in part brought on by shaving off my entire body hair, though only in the title of the piece have I highlighted this. Those who comment on political matters imaginatively through fixed sociable communication (Jeremy Dennis springs to mind) no doubt find insertion of political thought more flexible. Had I explained this in the strip, readers might find more to relate to. Many of my other attempts have something to say but don’t read well at all. This is a big problem with grassroots activists producing comics, many of which have an important message but are a trial to wade through. It’s the old adage of practice makes perfect, draw and re-draw, find this voice that you must have. Re-invent, its not easy, but being historically notable never is. For many of those raised on pop and South Park, this might be the way to go, Transformers in Tibet. Be careful. Metaphor and analogy and parable ? Those are the devices of writers who work without pictures.

In the moment were you wish you had been doing something else, time travelling transformers may not be able to help you. Fantasy encroaches rapidly on reality, and as representatives of dreams, cartoonists oughta exercise with responsibility those notions best benefit reality with their representing. Could it be that one small voice doesn’t count in this world ? This is your life, this is your time. Show them something new, show them something they’re not going to see coming.

I’d heartily recommend anything by Joe Sacco and Pat Mills’ Third World War Book One, and of course, Charley’s War. Perhaps you’d like to list your favourite politicomics or realcomix below ?

Coming up over the summer I’m looking forward to…

War anthology, by Paper Tiger Comics, in collaboration with the Coalition Against the Arms Trade ( as referenced in column two weeks ago)

“An estimated 240 page book with music compilation with over 60 artists from 15 countries.”

And Cliodhna Lyons’ anthology for a registered charity GOAL , If you’re feeling up to to a tackle to challenge, the deadline is 8^thAugust 2008. The theme of the anthology is,

And fuller information the book and requirements for submitting work can be found by clicking on this link.

Look for a new Sheridan Cottage column at the Bristol Expo 9-11th May. Comics Village will be running a fete on the Saturday with a family fun theme, and on Sunday there’ll be some panels and workshops for the grownups. If you’d like to be part of a Sheridan Cottage panel or have any other ideas for the Comics Village fete pitch some to me at drew dot luke at gmail dot com.

andy-luke.com

A writer who draws

Comics

The Titanic Troubles Theme Park

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The following is an adaption and analysis of Judge Nixon’s death penalty ruling on Lennox the pitbull.

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Don’t Get Lost Making A Graphic Novel

Comicking: The January Ashcans

Black Books

Comicking: Necessary Monsters Collection

Never Mind The X-Men, Its X-Mas!

Notes on Content – A Brief Conversation with John Robbins on The Grassy Knoll