The journalist Paul Gravett, a leading expert on comics and graphic novels, has a report on the Angoulême International Comics Festival, which is now in its 36th year, in the Books section of The Guardian.

Angoulême, a city in the Charente region of southwest France, is synonymous with comics, says Gravett, like Glyndebourne for opera or Hay-on-Wye for books.

You need to scroll down the page to read the Guardian piece, or you can read a longer, illustrated version, at Paul Gravett’s website.

Following on from Bloghorn’s earlier post that mentioned Scott McCloud‘s concept of the Infinite Canvas, it has transpired that Microsoft has released a working demo of a piece of software called (imaginatively enough) Infinite Canvas that allows the cartoonist to tell a story in a way that is unencumbered by the traditional boundaries of the printed page.

In a nutshell, this means that the comic can proceed continuously left to right. Or up and down. Or indeed, diagonally across the screen, forking off at random points, reconnecting with other points in the story or even just crossing it. The comic can be advanced by clicking a frame at a time, or by moving the mouse around, or by zooming out to see the whole strip. Or many, many other possible transitions. The possibilities are, well, infinite…

At the moment, details are sketchy. You’ll need JavaScript turned on in your browser, but you probably have that already. There are a number of sample strips up on the demonstration site, including The Day the Saucers Came by Neil Gaiman (of Sandman and Stardust fame) and Brad’s Somber Mood by Scott McCloud. You can even create your own – I’ve had a quick play myself: The Five Stages of a Blogger’s Life (via the Online Journalism Blog). The tools are a little crude at the moment, but this is a work in progress, and could hold great potential for the future.

(via D’log)

Comic artist and author Scott McCloud (previously mentioned here on Bloghorn) has written widely about the theory and practice of comics and their creation his series of books Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and the more recent Making Comics. In this recent video post on Ted.com Scott talks about subjects covered in these books, including how computers can revitalise the world of comics and his concept of the “infinite canvas”.

(via Drawn.ca)

Following on from his look at the weird and wonderful work of Fletcher Hanks, PCOer John Jensen takes another trip back to the comic books of the 1930s and 1940s with the focus on his native Australia

“The Case of the Haunted Piecrust”, “Wocko the Beaut”, “Supa-Dupa Man”, “Speed Umplestoop” and “Tripalong Hoppity” – all of these and many more funnies fell out of the wonderfully zany mind of cartoonist Emile Mercier.

A panel from “Wocko the Beaut”, courtesy of Lambiek.net

Mercier was born in New Caledonia in 1901. Twenty years later, in Australia, he began his career as a freelance cartoonist. During the Second World War, the bulk of his work, the comics, appeared in an array of Frank Johnson Publications. Johnson encouraged Australian talents and his publications developed a character and liveliness which set them apart – sometimes for the better, sometimes not – from the many US imports which which were dumped in Australia, usually as ships’ ballast, during the war.

Due to wartime paper restrictions, Johnson was forced to reduce the size of some offerings: Star Pocket Comics ran for at least 14 issues, successful in spite of some issues being printed on brown wrapping paper. The same paper shortage brought forth a decree that there would be no new regular runs of comic books.

Johnson resorted to cunning to deal with the situation. His regular characters continued to appear each month but each issue bore a new title: King Comics, Amazing Comics, Gem Comics, Slick Comics, Bonzer Comics, Flash Comics and more. When imagination failed, the word “new” was tacked to an old title and the process began over again. Mercier’s work appeared in most of these issues.

Mercier was a people watcher but the people he watched, ordinary everyday Australians, were transformed into creatures of his eccentric universe. Occasionally in the background of a cartoon someone would be walking around with springs on his or her feet, or on stilts or jumping around on pogo sticks. His characters’ feet quite often sagged at a ninety-degree angle half way along the sole of the foot. Dogs, cats and boozy types abounded. Mercier’s cast list was very Australian.

I met Mercier just after the war, and I asked him for his definition of a good cartoon. “A good cartoon, sonny, is one that is accepted, published and paid for,” he said. You might argue with this definition but for me it was heart-lightening.

A few months after our meeting I took my first comic strip, “Mary Mixup, Female Spy Terrific” (by Jon J) to Frank Johnson Publications where, to my amazement it was accepted and published. My mother, who hated comics, wouldn’t have them in the house. When I took home my copy of Gem Comics No.27 with “Mary Mixup” within, Mum took it, tore it and threw it away.

John Jensen’s “Chester Nutte” was published in Gem Comics, circa 1947

In spite of this, other titles followed, such as “Chester Nutte”, a time traveller, above, and “Snooper McDroople, Ace Newspaper Reporter”. Mercier’s drawing never influenced me but a little of his humour rubbed off. The strips improved a bit over the twelve months I worked on them and there were strips for other comics publishers too, but “Mary Mixup” was an abomination.

Frank Johnson wanted to withhold payment because the drawings were so bad. I remembered what Mercier had told me, and squeaked: “If the drawings are good enough to publish, they are good enough to be paid for.” A voice from a neighbouring office said, “Y’can’t argue with that, Frank.”

Johnson paid up – eventually. I think he was so traumatised by my demand that he continued to use my work, and pay for it … eventually.

Bloghorn says click J for Jensen.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
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PCOer Royston Robertson writes:

The Forbidden Planet blog has a nice piece to mark six months of The DFC, the subscription-only kids’ comic launched earlier this year. Instead of canvassing the opinions of grown-up comic fans, they’ve interviewed a member of the target audience: Molly, nine.

This was interesting to me as my son, who is six, reads The DFC. He loves it, but of course he only knows about it because his cartoonist Dad wanted to see it. His friends are largely unaware of The DFC because it has such a low media profile. It really needs to get into the shops permanently (it’s currently on a one-week trial at Tesco).

Like Molly in the FP piece, he also goes for the funny ones rather than the more serious, adventure ones. I think I did much the same thing with comics as a child.

Forbidden Planet blog

The DFC

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent

Following on from our piece about the Comica convention this coming weekend, it has come to Bloghorn’s attention that the V&A is offering UK-based comic artists a programme of six-month residencies. Budding graphic novelists have until the the 4th January 2009 to apply for one of the four places, which include bursaries and studio space.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent

If you’re into comics then you’ll be spoiled for choice this weekend. For northerners there’s Thoughtbubble, the Leeds Sequential Art Festival, running from 13th to the 16th November, which includes a one-day comic convention at Saviles Hall and Alea Casino, both on Royal Armories Square, Leeds.

And, for those down south there’s Comica, the London International Comics Festival, featuring exhibitions along with a symposium on Archetypes v Stereotypes In Comics & Graphic Novels. The symposium is at the Victoria and Albert Museum on 14th November, and there are loads of other exhibitions and events at the Institute of Contemporary Arts from the 14th to the 26th November.

UPDATED: 17th Nov 2008
A report on Thoughtbubble from Shug

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent

Harrods is hosting Comic Timing, an exhibition of original British comic art encompassing a comprehensive slice through the British comic scene, from early Dennis the Menace and Oor Willie through to the likes of Watchmen and Viz.

The show features artwork from comics as diverse as Jackie, Commando and 2000AD and by artists including Jamie Hewlett, Raymond Briggs and Posy Simmonds.

Bloghorn understands you’ll be able to find drawing and story-telling from the following:

Watchmen, Judge Dredd, The Bash Street Kids, Dennis The Menace (1950s) Korky The Kat (1930s), Oor Wullie (1940s), Batman: The Killing Joke, V For Vendetta, From Hell, Tamara Drewe, Petra Etcetera, Commando, Finbar Saunders And His Double Entendres, Tank Girl, Tale Of One Bad Rat, Mauretania, Captain Britain, Phonogram, Breakfast After Noon, Slaine, Robusters, Summer Of Love, Four Feet From A Rat, Rhapsody Of Love, All Star Superman, The Filth, Hellblazer, Nellyphant, Face Ache, Jackie, Commando, Gentleman Jim, Look-In, Cherubs, Judge Death, Jack Staff, Books Of Magic, Superfly, Goddess, Wired World, and Charley’s War.

The Harrods website, sadly, lacks any information about the exhibition – although it does manage to mention a talk by V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd on September 29 at the Harrods Theatre.

Comic Timing is located at Harrods [map], 87-135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7XL, in the Lower Ground Floor and is directly down the stairs from Door Five, by the Knightsbridge Tube exit. It runs until October 31 and is free!

Further details are here

The PCO: British cartoon talent

The IT giant Google is clearly aware of the power of cartoons in putting across information in an accessible way. The company hired cartoonist Scott McCloud to produce a 38-page comic book to promote its new Chrome web browser. You can see the comic online here: Google Chrome.

While we’re on the subject of cartoons online, the PCO has written a guest post on the influential Online Journalism Blog about how news organisations treat cartoons online.

The PCO: British cartoon talent

Click the above image to enlarge it, and see how many characters you can name

The Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash exhibition opens today at the Cartoon Museum in London.

PCOer Royston Robertson writes: I attended the preview of the show last night and can report that, as you would expect, it’s great fun.

For the cartoonist geeks among us it’s a chance to peer up close at original artwork drawn by some of the much-loved masters of comic art, such as Ken Reid and Dudley Watkins.

But there’s plenty for the younger comic readers too, including activities and quizzes. Can you name all nine Bash Street Kids?

The exhibition spans eight decades and takes in all the Beano and Dandy characters you’d expect to see, from the iconic figureheads of Dennis the Menace and Desperate Dan to much-loved characters from the past such as Brassneck, Winker Watson and Pansy Potter (The Strongman’s Daughter, of course).

A highlight for me was the wartime strip showing Lord Snooty taking on Adolf Hitler. Der Führer is unhappy that the Beano is keeping the British nation cheerful and vows to get rid of it. But Snooty and his pals have other ideas. A classic.

I’ll certainly be returning with my kids, and I suggest that anyone with a love of British comics puts it on their must-see list for the summer and autumn. The exhibition runs until November 2.

The museum is running Beano and Dandy events for children throughout August, including family fun days, cartooning masterclass sessions, and chances to meet Beano artists. For more, visit the Cartoon Museum website.

The PCO: British cartoon talent