Cartoonists do coffee

Look who was in my garden yesterday? The lovely and talented Sarah McIntyre trekked all the way from Sarf London to have a cosy chat in the sunshine among the apple blossom and the washing. It's good to hang out with the comics sisterhood, draw pictures and talk about life, cartooning and pens. I found out Sarah lived in Moscow for two years!
I am now blushing as she has posted a full report of the encounter with pics and everything. It makes my house sound interesting as opposed to just messy.

Free comics up for grabs

Richard Bruton has kindly posted a review of Striptacular 2 on Forbidden Planet.
You can read it HERE







And don't forget Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. Matt Sheret and We are Words + Pictures will be handing out a free newspaper featuring a veritable smorgasbord of the best of British independent comics with work by Sean Azzopardi, Tom Humberstone, yours truly, Joe Decie, Lizz Lunney, Mark Ellerby, Jamie McElvie and countless others at Orbital. More information HERE
Tonight I will be heading over to Kings Cross for the launch of Solipsistic Pop 2 at the Cross Kings. This one looks to be even more awesome than the first issue!

Uni comic fest

This weekend saw the first Uni Comics Festival at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. I was lucky enough to be offered a table, thanks to Sean and Daniel Goodbrey and ended up sharing it with Andrew Cheverton who was premiering his lovely new hardback West: Justice. I took part in a panel about autobiographical comics chaired by Paul Rainey, along with Marc Ellerby and Phil Spence. The hour of discussion passed most agreeably, an intimate affair as the panel outnumbered the audience. Sales were slow, to put it mildly, and I was becoming positively despondent by mid afternoon, when Dan made my day by selling one of the wrestler paintings I had put on his table. Things picked up after that and after a few drinks with Sarah McIntyre, Gary Northfield and all the other lovely comics folk I headed home a happier bunny.
Hatfield is a convenient half hour drive from my bit of London, so should this become a regular event, I would no doubt attend again. I guess this was a trial run, but I would have thought there was room for at least double the number of exhibitors. A lot more promotion would be needed for the visitor numbers to increase substantially. It is off the beaten track and signposting was not clear either.
While I was there I got Doug Noble to pick out a couple of pages for his learned tome, well he is the editor after all, and I couldn't choose.
Oh and thanks to Matt Sheret I will be featured in Paper Science 2, a whole page no less! The newspaper will be handed out FREE on Saturday May 1st by We are words + Pictures for Free Comic Book Day at Orbital

Comic artists London bash

How many cartoonists can you fit in a police station? And how do you round up a flock of comics folk? Booze and cake will do the trick. Assorted comicarati gathered Saturday night at the Fleece station, graciously welcomed by hosts Sarah Macintyre, Ellen Lindner, Gary Northfield and Lauren O'Farrell, and had a jolly old time, popping into the cells intermittently to relieve themselves. Darryl Cunningham's birthday was celebrated with a splendidly decorated cake, and I believe any disordely conduct whilst under the influence was in the main safely avoided.
We returned home to find our house full of teenagers but remembered to go and hide discreetly in our quarters, and not cause offence by our presence. After a day of rest, Monday was a beautiful day to drive to the seaside, the empty sky a bonus. We passed the airports, both closed, and traffic was blissfully light. Having dropped son off with daughter, treated them to a spot of lunch and stopped in the comic shop, we pootled along the coast to catch up with the Dawgtastic team for the night. Valerie's range of felt goodies now includes these dashing accoutrements.

Back home again and gearing up for Unicon this Saturday in Hatfield – printer don't fail me now!

Heartwarming reviews

Gin Palace is getting some very favourable reviews. Here are links to The Comics Journal
Forbidden Planet and The Mithering Times