Free Comic Book Day was spent at the wonderful GOSH! Comics in London’s glittering West End. It was hectic and fun – there should be a word for that. Funtic? I spent some time at the drawing table with budding comic-creators who all had very firm ideas about what they wanted to do. I’m always so taken by surprise by the limitless creativity of the very young. They are capable of making extraordinary and bizarre stories and characters, uninhibited by the tastes and rules of the grown-up world but with a a logic that makes perfect sense. Very refreshing.
My friend Richy Chandler of Lucy the Octopus fame brought his son Emir with him – an honour for me as Emir is a Monster & Chips fan. It was brilliant to hear him talk about the characters so knowledgeably. We drew a picture of Fuzzby together (photo by Richy). All the creators present were then asked to draw a picture on the large windows of the shop. I did a rather splotchy Tintin and managed mostly successfully to keep the paint on the glass rather than on me. You can see all the paintings on the GOSH! tumblr. It was great to see Viv, Gary and Warwick again and to meet Dan White who creates the amazing Cindy and Biscuit. A fine day.
In other news, I’m very proud that Monster & Chips is playing its part in the London Evening Standard‘s Get London Reading Campaign. In partnership with Barnes & Noble, the Standard is providing 1000 Nook e-readers to volunteers from the Beanstalk charity who provide help to primary school children who have fallen behind in their reading. These will be used in 290 schools across the city. I’m very pleased that Monster & Chips is one of the books that has been chosen to be pre-loaded onto the e-readers. It’s good to know Fuzzby & friends are playing their part! You can read more about the initiative here.