Goin' South

Will be heading South tonight, for Tex Axile is at his European residence. The drive to the foothills of the Pyrennees will us take two days, with a stop somewhere near Limoges.
We will be making a not so small detour on the way back in order to fill our boot with wine.


Meanwhile back at the ranch, exciting developments may be taking shape, Dan manning the fort and taking the initiative to rally the troops.

Punky reggae comic party

My first visit to Caption was a resounding success. After the usual shouting match, we headed off down the M40 on Saturday, Dan in the back and Richy K's stock in the boot. 45 minutes later, we rolled up outside the East Oxford Community Centre. The location was lovely and funky, run by a couple of sweet guys to the wonderful sound of classic roots reggae.
The communal table system worked very well: free to hang out with old mates, meet new ones, draw (a bit), and drink. And be really envious of Karen Rubins' position as Comic Artist in Residence at the V&A (couldn't have happened to a nicer person).
Garen Ewing's inspirational long journey to mainstream publication and Sarah Macintyre's look at children's picture books were the other two talks I made it to.
Nick got to chill out , drink beer, read the paper and get invited back to DJ there in October...

I got my hands on Paul Rainey's gem of a Book of Lists, laugh out loud funny and gleaming like a little jewell in glorious gorgeous glossy full colour. This is far more than some one-joke humour book, this is a portrait of a very engaging character, built up through an accumulation of little snippets of information, a judicious use of repetition, warm and wonderfully candid in its revelation. Above all it is human, I may not be a bald single middle-aged male, but I can identify with his anxiety, his anger, his embarrassment and his joy. Get youself a copy HERE.
And to cap it all, had we not stayed in such a ridiculously overpriced hotel, my sales would have covered our expenses...

Caption coming up

The boy is off to Majorca tomorrow. Will send him off with a mixture of joy and envy.
What will we do with ourselves in his absence? Oh, I know. RELAX!
And go to Caption of course. Booked a nice hotel.
I will be flashing around previews of the magnum opus, it's astounding how time consuming colour work can be....

Great Deeds Against the Dead

The prolific Rob Jackson has treated us to yet another superb comic.
Issue One of Great Deeds Against the Dead is a ghost/mystery story involving a painter, a dead wife, an eerie house and a couple of creepy looking psychic adventurers. It is wonderfully drawn – I particularly love the depiction of the storm – Rob's style is very precise and totally legible, and keeps the story going at a cracking pace. My only slight criticism would be that he crams so many frames on to each page that my failing eyesight occasionally has to strain to make out the background detail. And I'm going to have to wait a while to find out what happens next...
The second part of the book, Colonial Amusements consists of a series of outdoor scenes and landscapes, presumably of Bolton and its surroundings, rendered in the style of Jackson's travelogue epic On the Banks of the Mighty Croal. My favourite page has to be the underpass, featuring the best grafitti ever!
Once again, Rob Jackson has delighted me with a warm, gentle and brilliantly silly comic, and on the back page he even tells us why he does it. Get yourself a copy HERE, especially as he's offering FREE postage throughout August!

Check out my website, it's got new stuff on it.