Posts from — March 2009

PCO patron Libby Purves made her attempt for competitive stand up comedy glory on BBC Radio 4 and you can watch a clip of her in action here.

PCOer Nigel Sutherland reports on a cartoonists’ island life in the News of the World.

Bloghorn cartoon © Nigel Sutherland

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 6th March 2009.

One: Morten Morland in The Times on Brown meeting Obama

Two: Pete Dredge in Private Eye on Fred the Shred (left cartoon)

Three: David Simmonds in the New Statesman on Brown’s reading material

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

It seems the government is set on printing more money to get us out of
the current economic crisis, so journalists and cartoonists everywhere
are having to learn how to spell quantitative easing.

But when you need funny money in a hurry, who better to call on than a
cartoonist? That’s what Channel 4 News did yesterday, summoning
Bloghorn’s own Matt Buck, aka Hack, into the studio to design Brown’s
new notes. Click the video above to see the C4 report.

Matt said: “It was fun to make visual and verbal work, instead of illustrating written reports.”

Cartoons don’t appear on news and current affairs programmes as much as they used to, though recently other cartoonists, including PCOers Patrick Blower, Martin Rowson and Andy Davey, have all helped illustrate stories on the box. Hopefully editors are remembering that this oldest of visual mediums can work on TV very well.

Cartoon published at Bloghorn © The Surreal McCoy

Bloghorn’s Artist of the Month for March is The Surreal McCoy, whose cartoons have appeared in The Independent, The London Evening Standard, The London Jewish News, The Fortean Times and The Oldie magazines among others.

The Surreal McCoy also held the post of Cartoonist-In-Residence on Sandi Toksvig’s daily show for LBC radio, drawing live on air and publishing a daily cartoon on the show’s website.

Surreal has also provided cartoons and illustrations for Sandi’s latest book, Girls Are Best, which is published by Random House. McCoy publishes daily cartoons and also makes book illustrations and animation.

Bloghorn and DFC contributor Clive Goddard writes:

In June last year there was a meeting at Oxford University Press about the launch of a new children’s comic. Being a local, I turned up hoping to find out what sort of thing they were envisaging and, of course, to hob-nob with its creators.

I met publisher David Fickling and realised he was very serious and passionate about what he was attempting but I learned nothing about being a contributor. Even at that stage they had more illustrators and writers than they needed.

The talk was aimed at potential buyers and editors rather than artists. Having taken out a subscription to get an idea of the content I was surprised at its diversity. Dark, bleak, beautifully drawn graphic novel style strips featuring man-eating monsters and dead babies, rubbed pages with naïve, childlike things seemingly aimed at six-year-olds.

Fickling had said at his talk that he didn’t want the DFC to be seen as either a “girl’s or a boys comic” but appealing to all. To me this lack of identity or focus seemed to be its problem. It was trying to please all of the people all of the time. The subscription-based business model was also difficult with the lack of advertising revenue and the need to be mail order to keep the cover cost down.

I wrote, drew and submitted 3 pages (one episode) of an idea, but never found the time or the motivation to submit more, which is now probably just as well. Of course, specialising in one-panel art, I was also not used to how long it takes to make that sort of thing!

I have my fingers crossed, however, that it might continue in some form or other. Not least because I want to find out what happens to Wilbur Dawbarn‘s dancing bear.

Laura Howell, another contributor to the comic, said:

It was a fantastic project to be involved with, and should be applauded as the daring idea it was. This world would be a poorer place without people brave enough to take a chance on creating something new and unique.

Comics artist and expert Lew Stringer has a good, perceptive piece of analysis about the DFC  here.

The DFC, the weekly kids’ comic launched last year, is up for sale. The publisher, Random House, said it will close on March 27 if a buyer cannot be found.

Philippa Dickinson, Managing Director at Random House Children’s Books, said: “Unfortunately, in the current economic climate, we have decided that the DFC is not commercially viable within our organisation.”

The subscription-only comic was launched in May 2008. It was initially named the DFC as a working title, after publisher David Fickling, but children reacted well to the title in focus groups.

“David Fickling, the staff at the DFC, and all the comic’s contributors have worked tirelessly to produce what is an amazing weekly publication and we would be delighted if a buyer could be found who would like to take the DFC on as a going concern,” Philippa Dickinson added.

Bloghorn has reported on The DFC many times. We will have reaction to this sad news tomorrow.

UPDATED: Forbidden Planet have reported here too.

In case you’ve missed the hype, the film version of one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of all time opens in Britain on Friday 6 March. The movie is, of course, Watchmen, based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon‘s groundbreaking series of 12 comics, first published in 1986. Set against a alternative vision of 1980s Cold War America it follows the investigations by ‘costumed vigilante’ Rorschach after an ex-superhero is found murdered – although, there’s a lot more to it than that…

Unsurprisingly, there has been a lot of interest and speculation out there in the internet, bolstered by an effective viral campaign on the New Frontiersman (the conspiracy magazine within the comic) and if you can get a copy of the free newspaper Metro (according to the Forbidden Planet blog) this Friday’s edition will come wrapped with a copy of the New Frontiersman. You can get Watchmen coffee and Watchmen condoms, or even an DVD of the Tales of the Black Freighter, an animated version of the pirate comic that features in the narrative.

There’s a video of Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, on how the film visually stays close to the comic, and an interview in the Times, and Wired has a feature on the comic and film, including an interview with writer Alan Moore. Even New Scientist has got in on the act with the Science of Watchmen.

There’s also a rare chance to see where it all started. Original artwork from issue 1 Page 1 of Watchmen, featuring an excerpt from Rorschach’s diary and the iconic blood-spattered Smiley badge is going to be on display at Orbital Comics, 8 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JA until the 19th March (thanks to Blimey! for the link).

Lets just hope it lives up to the hype…

PCOer Royston Robertson adds:

Raymond Chandler was once asked what he thought of Hollywood ruining his books. He took the questioner through to his study and pointed to the crime novels on the shelf, saying, “Look, they’re all fine.”

That is kind of how I feel about Watchmen. The graphic novel is an excellent piece of work, and that fact remains, regardless of how good or bad the film adaptation turns out to be.

I would urge anyone, whether they intend to see the film or not, to read Watchmen. It’s the superhero comic for people who don’t like superhero comics. I have never been a fan of the genre myself but in 1988 I was urged by a friend to read Watchmen, so I did. And I’ve read it several times since.

Each time, I get something new out of Watchmen and I’m always bowled over by it. It’s funny, wry, clever, and is a cracking good story. Not unlike the novels of Raymond Chandler, in fact.

Google likes to change its logo now and then, to mark certain events, and today it honours the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, the American cartoonist who is better known as Dr Seuss, creator of children’s books such as The Cat in the Hat.

The nominations for the Press Gazette’s British Press Awards have been announced. The event takes place on Tuesday 31 March. There are seven people in the running for Cartoonist of the Year, and they are as follows:

Steve Bell, The Guardian
Dave Brown, The Independent
Michael Heath, The Mail on Sunday
Stan “Mac” McMurtry, Daily Mail
Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph
Chris Riddell, The Observer
Peter Schrank, The Independent on Sunday

The British Press Awards have been running for more than 30 years. This year’s ceremony is being held at the Grosvenor Hotel and will be hosted by Channel 4’s Jon Snow.