bon dieu, je suis ou maintenant?

The French translation of Strangehaven, published by those wonderful Akileos people, is now being promoted through the website digiBiDi via a cool a new online comics reader.

I am not a huge advocate for reading comics online, but this is certainly a nifty little gadget and the best webcomics 'reader' that I've come across. The full screen, double-page spread mode is very impressive. There's a help page in English here (although the preview remains in French, naturally) but I didn't need to refer to it once, such is its ease of use.

With any luck, you find the neat little widget embedded above. If not, you can check out the French Strangehaven preview in its original environment here.

smoky donation

My good friend (and co-editor on Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman) smoky man tells me that his Italian Watchmen project has so far raised a total of 2,500 euros for AIMA (the Italian Alzheimer charity).

The Italian language Watchmen 20th anniversary tribute book was published in 2006 by Lavieri and featured included my interpretation of Silk Spectre II, which I'll eventually get around to posting on my website.

spencer millidge, who?

Well I can't really compete with the fact that Bryan Talbot has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Sunderland University, but I'm not sure even he can claim to be a character in Doctor Who.

Or two, even. A brand new Doctor Who story appearing on the BBC website commemorating the moon landings features a pair of evil CIA agents called Spencer and Milledge (sic).

'We are Agents Spencer and Milledge, Secret Service. Under Code Seven of Revised Project Blue Book, we invoke the rights approved by the late President John F. Kennedy regarding first contact.'

The three part story Blue Moon by Oli Smith starts with a prologue and the agents make their appearance towards the end of episode one. The third and final chapter is published on Monday.

Top that, Doctor Talbot!

the spurge strikes again

Tom Spurgeon has today posted a mammoth interview with me on his essential Comics Reporter website, primarily dealing with my latest tome Comic Book Design.

Tom also pays great complement to the book, he writes, "if I had this book to check out and read during high school study hall, I'd be on my 21st year working in comics rather than my 15th."

Those who read the entire piece might also be rewarded with some hints of my current plans and activities which I somehow let slip, thanks to Tom's perceptive and deceptively easy-going interviewing style.

You can read the entire interview here. Cheers Tom!

In related news, I hear that Comic Book Design is going back to press for the UK market, even though it's only been out a few weeks. So I'm guessing it's already doing pretty well, sales-wise.

my kind of town

While in Barcelona for a few days recently in order to celebrate my friend Mike's last fews days of singledom, I took some time out to try to track down some of the city's comic shops.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of poor research, a terrible free road map from the hotel foyer and the Spanish siesta, most of those I found were closed. The two I did stumble upon that were open were a revelation.

Both had copies of the Spanish edition of Strangehaven, published by Planeta DeAgostini, in stock and on the shelves. Both shops were clean, bright and well organised with both English language and Spanish language books - with strong emphasis on the graphic nove format. I have to say the quality and diversity of the stock in both stores far exceeded the average London comic book shop.

I asked Daniel Navarro, owner of Cosmic Comics (at Castillejos 272) whether his shop was the best in Barcelona.

"Ummm... I'd say it was in the top five," he explained in broken English, modestly.

Franco of the three adjacent Freaks stores in Ali Bei near the Arc de Triomf - one each for DVDs, art books and graphic novels - appeared to be aware of who I was and said that he often had people coming into the shop asking when the next Strangehaven was out.

Freaks website

Finally, I paid a short visit to Barcelona's FNAC in 'El Triangle', a multi-level bookstore with a huge selection of graphic novels. I couldn't find Strangehaven in there, but I did see a Spanish edition of Dez Skinn's Comic Art Now which of course features some of my work.

What a fine city - wonderful museums and galleries, unique architecture, a glitzty marina, fantastic shopping, bars and coffee shops, parks, a terrific beach, twenty minutes from the airport, fabulous weather and comic shops to die for. Just don't mention the football.

more by accident than design

With news reaching me that my book Comic Book Design which I spent the best part of six months writing last year is now beginning to emerge at comic shops, bookstores and the usual Internet mail order retail outlets, I thought perhaps that it is a little overdue that my own blog should better make some mention of it.

This book is something that I consider to be one of my major works. Quite apart from writing approximately 40,000 words on the subject, I had to research, locate, select and scan several hundred appropriate images in an attempt to illustrate the points I was trying to make. Packaged in a lavish 10 ix 11 inch format it contains 160 full-colour pages and takes a design-oriented view of the creation of comic books, strip-mining the depth and breadth of comics history for its example illustrations.

It's not exactly a how-to book, although there are some nice examples of behind-the-scenes materials. It doesn't include anything much about drawing or anatomy or perspective. It's more about how comics work, how creators consciously or unconsciously design a character, a story, a page, a panel; and how it all comes together to form the unique visual storytelling that only comics can offer. There are sections on lettering and colour and publication design itself, and each section is punctuated by a designer spotlight on creators like Brian Wood and Chris Ware.

The book is image-heavy in the coffee-table tradition, featuring some of the stunning best examples of comic design across the spectrum of the medium, from superhero to slice of life, spanning a hundred years of comics. That's not to say that it's light on text, but it's generally presented in easily digestible chunks, resulting in what the publisher describes as a 'dip-in reference book. My intention is to provide instruction and more importantly, inspiration to artists and designers with a passing interest in comics, as well as broadening the horizons of neophyte and professional creators alike.

Interesting to note the differences between the cover of the UK version (at the top of this post) and the US version below, both of which were based on the same initial sketch I provided.

I think probably the cover of the UK edition more accurately reflects the design of the interior pages, and which also features French flaps and spot lamination to boot. I would post some interior pages too, but my scanner is playing silly buggers, my PDFs won't convert to jpegs and I've got to pack for Barcelona. Maybe later.

Comic Book Design is published by Ilex Press in the UK and Watson-Guptill in the US and should be available from any good comic or book retailer, in-store or online.

animal instinct

When I first played the Red Light Company album a couple of months ago, I immediately tried to buy tickets for one of their live shows. I was disappointed as all dates were sold out, so I bought a couple of tickets way in advance for last week's gig at London's Scala venue.

As I arrived reasonably early, I saw support band Animal Kingdom's entire set. I was hooked by the time they played their second number, which culminated in the stunning (if uncharacteristic) Chalk Stars. A highly polished, innovative performance and Richard Sauberlich's unusual falsetto singing was an added distinction. A name to look out for.

Red Light Company themselves rocked the house as you might expect. It's a tribute to the band's professionalism that I didn't notice they were a man down until about three-quarters of the way through their set. For some reason, regular bassist Shawn Day was missing, with the other band members swapping around instruments to fill in the gaps. The consistently high quality of the songs made the set sound like a greatest hits selection rather than a tour to promote their first album. It also surprised me when singer Richard Frenneaux announced that the modest capacity of the Scala was the largest audience the band had played to as headliners. This band ought to be - and most probably will be - absolutely huge.

After a bit of sedate stage diving by the blonde-haired singer and a short two song encore which included a cover of Mia's Paper Planes, they were gone. Try and catch them at a festival this summer.

goodnight cambridge

I’ve been racking my brains trying to remember the first time that I saw the mighty Robyn Hitchcock play live. I’m sure that it must have been with the Egyptians, although as former members often join him onstage, I have some doubts whether it was after their recording career.
It’s likely that it was one of his full-band gigs at the Cambridge Junction, or maybe in London at Dingwall’s or the Highbury Garage. Hell, I can’t even remember where it was the last time I saw him. Maybe his terrific solo performance at the Colchester Arts Centre? Or the Cambridge Boat Race where he played a stunning version of ‘Waterloo Sunset?’
But even though I can’t remember the order in which I’ve seen his gigs, every performance is a unique event, each distinctly etched in my mind – Hitchcock’s live show, drawing seemingly at random from an gargantuan 30-year back catalogue of self-penned material, constantly evolves; songs are given new arrangements, interspersed with surreal, improvised laugh-out-loud funny monologues.
Last night at the Junction 2 was no exception – the addition of cello to the usual triptych of guitar, bass and gave another dimension to the selection of songs chosen for the night’s performance. Robyn was on top form as always, his stories bringing laughter to even members of his own band, specifically cellist Jenny.
The addition of the ex-Soft Boys cohort Kimberly Rew for the final few numbers of the set was the energetic, fitful icing on yet another idiosyncratic, memorable cake of an evening with the amazing Mr. Hitchcock.
Robyn Hitchcock's news page

open other end

My nephew Reece Millidge has been an animator of some note for many years, his fine reputation built on his commercial work for Nexus Productions in London.
Yesterday he received the fantastic news that the Smith-Foulkes film “This Way Up” on which he is credited as ‘lead animator’ has been nominated for an Oscar in the ‘Short Film (Animated)’ category.
You can check out a preview of the film here.
It goes without saying that I’m pretty proud of the lad. Reece is currently seeking funding for a short film of his own. His website Damp Gnat can be viewed here.

blues vs. blues

If there ever was a football match that might divide my loyalties it would be high profile cup tie between the club I’ve supported since I was a seven-year old, Chelsea, and my local team, Southend United.
And as luck would have it, Southend United and Chelsea were drawn to play together in the third round of the FA Cup this season, only their third ever meeting in professional competition – the others being played in 1913 and 1972.
Fans of every other football team other than Chelsea, as well as every local resident with even zero interest in football would be willing on the underdogs. Southend’s lucrative visit to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium ended in high drama, with the seasiders astonishingly equalizing in the final minutes. It was the best possible result in that it meant a replay would have to take place at Southend’s modest home, Roots Hall.

Ten days later, I was lucky enough to be one of the 11,314 who squeezed into the ground to witness the Coca-Cola League One side take a shock early lead, but finally succumb to the Premier League giants 1-4.
Even though I attended many games at Roots Hall during the late 1970s and early 1980s and even now still look out for Southend’s results, there is absolutely no doubt that, past, present and future, my allegiances lay with the London side.
As great as it was seeing the 6000 visiting Southend fans at the Bridge waving flags and singing their hearts out, it was even more special to be standing with 2000 other traveling Chelsea fans in Roots Hall’s North Bank, on almost the same spot where I used to cheer on Southend 25 years ago.
All in all, the perfect outcome – Chelsea progress to the next round with a morale-boosting victory after the hugely disappointing defeat to Manchester United, while Southend United not only do themselves justice on the pitch, but maximize their financial receipts after two sell-out games and television rights.
As for today's fifth round tie against another lower league club, Ipswich Town, well, I hope Chelsea stuff them and no mistake. 

Read Chelsea’s entertaining match preview here...
… and Southend’s match report of the replay here.