Solipsistic Pop Previews

I’ve been very lucky to have been invited to contribute to the next issue of the UK small press anthology Solipsistic Pop, which is due out in November. Editor Tom Humberstone has been posting previews at the SP site including one from my story, The Squire:

The theme of the anthology was ‘Wonder’ with the intention of creating a book that could act as a primer for younger readers on the delights of alternative comic world. Tom chose the red and black colour scheme as a tribute to the old Beano style and Marc Ellerby’s cover also reflects that retro feel. There are great contributions from across the UK comics scene and it’s a fantastic looking book – I can’t wait to to see it in print!

APF 2010

This weekend saw the annual emotional carnage of St Valentine’s Day, the patron saint of unrealistic expectations, ready-meals for one and nights in with only the cold shoulder of loneliness on which to shed bitter, melancholy tears…

Anyway, back to me: I was at the Alternative Press Fair, celebrating its first birthday, and a jolly event it was too. Not as busy as last year, but I came away with more cash than the previous event, perhaps because I was selling more ‘big ticket’ items. It’s swings and roundabouts with these things I suppose.

It was a sort of pre-launch for the Birdsong/Songbird anthology (available here), which looked very fine and had a lot of interest, and I sold quite a few saucy Valentine’s cards (example above – one lady bought two even though she was single. Bless.), as well as prints and minis. Thanks if you came and bought something and said hello!

I was sat next to the master of ink and wash, Joe Decie and we put the world to rights with the help of a few beers and Al Maceachern later on, even the bits of the world that didn’t necessarily need righting. I also sat next to Will Morris, comics newbie, whose work was getting a lot of interest and who I’m sure is someone to look out for in the future.

Other discoveries: Kristyna Baczynski, who traded prints with me and does some lovely work. Also, the unofficial book of the show, The Static Revolter, by Kevin Ward and Lord Hurk. Beautifully produced – everyone seemed to be carrying a copy.

Congrats to Jimi, Peter and team on another great event – just the right cosy mix of social stuff and art stuff. The perfect antidote to romance.

PS. I’ll be catching up with my 100 days project shortly. Angouleme put a spanner in the works temporarily but I’ll be back on track soon.

Thoughtbubble 09

Lots of people have already written about how good the Leeds Thoughtbubble festival was – see here for a summary, including lots of photos. I can only echo those good reports: it was a well-organised (could have done with a floor-plan but that’s a small gripe), well-attended event. Even though the day seemed to go quite slowly, I had my best sales for any event – including the Thing which usually beats everything else hands down.

Here’s a few of the characters who were present:

Fourteen eyes
Fourteen eyes

Hugh Raine, Joe Decie and Al Maceachern, otherwise know as the Twelve Eyes collective, with table decoration Dale O’Flaherty. I bought a couple of comics from these chaps. Highly recommended reads and gentlemen all.

Phil Spence
Phil Spence

My table-neighbour Phil Spence of Ninja Bunny fame. I had an empty table on my other side which didn’t look too good. In front of me was the Forbidden Planet stall – who had put boxes of their stock on the floor, sticking out into the aisle – which meant I had the pleasure of staring at copious arse crack for most of the day, as people bent over for a quick rummage.

Garen Ewing and Dave West
Garen Ewing and Dave West

Garen’s been on the convention trail plugging his excellent book. Dave popped over to my table to say hello – always a pleasure to have a chat with him, which reminded me I’m doing a story for the 2011 Accent UK anthology.

Will Kirkby and Lou Ho
Will Kirkby and Lou Ho

Will and Lou showed me a mock-up copy of the Birdsong/Songbird Anthology they are editing (containing a little story by me). It’s going to be such a beautiful book with all the effort they are putting into the production, and Will’s work in it is his best yet, in my opinion. I can’t wait to see it. I also got to say hello to Warwick Johnson Cadwell, another contributor, who was visiting with the family.

Sorry if I’ve not included you (or maybe you’re not so sorry) – perhaps it’ll be your turn at the next convention….

Murder, She Gloats

Carnage in Cabot Cove

Jessica Fletcher, probably the most successful serial killer in history. The corpses pile up around her, and yet the police are quite happy to pin the blame on Lesley-Anne Down, Lorenzo Lamas or whatever Z-lister happens to be passing, gullibly accepting the old lady’s increasingly outlandish explanations. It’s all material for her books, of course. Though we never see her write a single word…

Drawn for funny chap Timothy Winchester’s Jessica Fletcher Week here.

Chimney Sweep

chim chim cheroo

The chimney in our flat was swept this morning. This was a new experience for me and I was astonished to see our chimney sweep was neither Dick Van Dyke nor a filthy, malnourished urchin, but the well-scrubbed Phil from Forest Hill.

He still used the flat-top brush but these days they have a vacuum cleaner stuck to the end to catch all the soot.
Happily, all was in order with our flue (no birds, skeletons of nannies or obvious structural defects) and I got to see the brush poking out of the top of the chimney pot which was most satisfying. Chim chim cher-oo.

Observer/Jonathan Cape Graphic Novel Competition

The Observer newspaper has been running a graphic novel short story competition for the past three years, but this is the first time I’ve ever entered. The winner was announced on Friday and printed in Sunday’s Observer: Viven McDermid’s story Paint.
What I love about this competition is the way it really makes everyone work an extra bit harder on their comics and also how it throws up new artists and unconventional styles and stories. More often than not I’ve never even heard of the artists in the winning pool – the competition seems to draw creators from all kinds of artistic backgrounds. This is great, as part of the competition’s remit is to discover new and emerging talent, as well as publicising the medium as a whole. People often seem to view it as a technical  ‘who’s the best’ kind of competition and I think that’s a bit unfortunate. It’s all about testing what can be done with the medium and stretching the boundaries a bit.
My entry, Blip, is below. I had huge fun doing it. Congratulations to Vivien and runner up Joff Winterhart and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone else’s entries.

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4.

[The Forbidden Planet blog has more details on the winners.]

London MCM Expo – the review

All human life and more

Part of me, if not all of me, was dreading this event. Having heard of the madness of the cosplayer hordes, I was convinced I was going to hate it. However, the tables in the “comic village” were a very reasonable price, and as I live less than an hour away from the Excel Centre it seemed foolish to miss out on a chance to shill, especially as organiser Emma Vieceli had gone to some trouble to fit a load of last minute tables for exhibitors into the hall.

As it turned out, I really enjoyed myself: the ladies, gentlemen and undecideds of the cosplayer community were really nice and entertaining (apart from a fat little Naruto who tried to half-inch all my toffee giveaways) and, considering there was a room full of thousands of youngsters who had queued for literally hours to get in, they were surprisingly well-behaved. But oh, the cruelty of spandex! Herds of camels must have been slaughtered for the number of toes on display.
I enjoyed the taiko drumming displays, though I think I was far enough away from it not to suffer from sonic shock that some of the other exhibitors were having to deal with, and I saw the cosplay dancing demonstration enough times to learn all the moves by heart. Performances on request.

Trade felt slow, as might be expected at a games/manga/films-oriented event, but once I’d cashed up I found that financially I’d actually done better than I had at BICS in 2008. Whilst my comics had not sold so well, sales of prints and badges had made up for it. I guess this demonstrates you have to think about who your potential punters are and target your wares accordingly. The crowd were not likely to risk their pennies on something new and were more likely to go with something familiar: I noticed that most people who bought badges were not much bothered as to what was on them, they just wanted something to collect. It’s definitely a place where those with a more ‘showbiz’ attitude to selling will do well.

The usual small press suspects were all present: particular thanks to Sarah and Dave for minding my table whilst I had a break.
Shout-outs to:
Wonderful table neighbours Gary Erskine (I was really impressed by the time he spent talking to his punters) and lovely Kat Nicholson and friends;
the nice people at Supermonko;
the chaps from D-Con, which looks like it might be fun;
and a gentleman called Joseph who wants to turn my pics into 3-d paper sculptures.

I was briefly interviewed by the Geek Syndicate guys and had a longer chat with Dickon Harris from Panel Borders. I keep having flashbacks to the daft things I was saying so I doubt I’ll be able to listen to them in case I die of The Cringe, but if I get details of the broadcasts I’ll post about it.

A great addition to the regular convention circuit. There are already plenty of pics of the mayhem on Flickr.

The Planets

Us and our Neighbours

It must be hard being a planet: abuse from comets, space probes taking your picture without even asking your name, and that whole gravity thing – I could go on and on. The new nomenclature doesn’t help: poor old Pluto doesn’t know whether he’s Arthur or Martha. And now there are all these Trans-Neptunian Objects queueing up to join the club. Don’t they know what they’re in for? It’s a tough old universe.

Kitty Bing & Caption 09

Ladyspy!

Kitty Bing, stealing glamorous fashion secrets, 60s-style!

I was at Caption on Sunday, the excellent convention on comic creativity in sunny Oxford. Although I missed out on Saturday’s events, Sunday still had various treats in store, including talks from Sarah McIntyre on the way children’s picture books are making use of comic style art in interesting and innovative ways, and Asia Alfasi on her autobiographical manga about moving from Libya to Glasgow and what that meant for a comics-obsessed young muslim girl. There were loads of other things too (including cake!) but the most important part of Caption is meeting enthusiastic creators and readers. I was particularly pleased to meet Jason Little, creator of the ligne claire-style Shutterbug Follies. I’m also very pleased that my cake fairy picture, that was part of the art auction, found a happy home with one of Caption’s excellent organisers, Jenni Scott.