20/01/2018
Mort Walker .September. 3, 1923 - January. 27, 2018
Creator of and advocate for comic strip art.

28/01/2018
In addition to the many good reasons why you might buy the Judge Dredd Megazine this issue, it also contains an interview by Stephen Jewell of me about the Beatles book due next month.
Large parts of the article are accurate.

09/01/2019
Jim Baikie - 28th February 1940 - 29th December 2017.
Jim worked for some of the most iconic comics of the late 20th century - including 2000AD. The Eagle, Jinty, Look -in, Tammy, TV Comic, Valentine and Warrior.
In 2000 Jim Baikie won the Eisner Award for Best Anthology . .

07/01/2018
(And Parents Didn’t Even Realize)
Reading this article I found myself smiling. Then wondered why.
Perhaps its the over statement. We don't actually know if any kids were corrupted, only that there are some ideas in the scripts that could be considered a bit iffy.
I think it well worth reading.
As a lefty liberal I shared the view that there was some unpleasantness going on in the strips mentioned but I can't take the threat to the morals of youth as seriously as it author says he?she* does.

15/12/2017
The British Library present an exhibition of rare books, manuscripts and magical objects from their collection alongside original drafts and drawings by J.K. Rowling and illustrator Jim Kay, displayed here for the first time.

Open until Wed 28 Feb 2018

British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB

https://www.bl.uk/events/harry-potter-a-history-of-magic

The New-York Historical Society Museum and Library have announced that the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibit will be opening there in October of 2018.

02/12/2017
In the '40s when I was a slip of a lad my favourite superhero was Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel first appeared in Whiz Comics 02 (cover-dated Feb.1940) It was published by Fawcett, written by Bill Parker and drawn by C.C.Beck.
America it seems shared my interest - it was at that time the USA's most popular comic superhero too. DC Comics put a stop to that.

02/03/2018
A number of people (well 2 is a number isn’t it?) have recently asked how the plan for a Button Man television series is going.
It is at least possible that if two people I know are curious there could be a wider population awondering.
So, ready or not, here is what I was told . .

10/11/2017
On 3 November the Libyan Special Deterrent Forces (military police) shut
down Tripoli’s second annual Libya Comic Con festival. The SDF led by
Salafi Islamist Abdulraouf Kara raided the Dat Al-Imad conference centre
in Tripoli around 5:45 p.m. They arrested more than 20 people including
organizers, participants, and visitors . .

30/10/2017
The British Museum and The Ashmolean Museum are both hosting exhibitions of religious art.

Living with Gods: Peoples, Places and Worlds Beyond.
The British Museum, London WC18. Until 8th April.

Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions.
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Until !8th February.

Art and religion have been intrinsically linked since history began.

25/10/2017
If by any chance you were trying to visit in the past few days and couldn't - my apologies.

Unable to explain why.

07/10/2017
Action Comics is the longest-running superhero comic book series in
publication. The series started in 1938 when Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel
created Superman for Action Comics#1 - now one of the most sought-after comics in history.

Announced at the New York Comic Con was the news that DC comics will be
marking the 1000th issue of ‘Action Comics’ In March 2018, by publishing
some special titles to mark the occasion.

There is to be a special issue of Action Comics #1000 itself in an
oversized edition.

29/09/2017
A book containing sketches from 32 different artists will be on sale next week at the New York Comic Con,in honour of Steve Dillon's memory.

17/09/2017
Conscious of the fact that it has been a while since the previous blog
Not dead but slumping.
This past few weeks I have mostly been working on re-paginating the Look-in strip 'Elvis- the story' . .

28/09/2017
An art tribute to 40 years of 2000AD. An exhibition of original art and prints by comic artists and designers.

07/08/2017
Girls in Print - Female Figures in British Comics
Tower Foyer Gallery, University of Dundee
22 July - 21 October 2017
Mon-Fri 09.30-19.00 Sat 13.00-17.00

The exhibition contains original artwork from DC Thomson and a selection of pieces by current comics creators, - a “ broad range of interpretations of what female figures can be in the British comic culture.”

01/08/2017
To give me the illusion of being connected I chose to have a Google alert thing that sends me notifications of any "comics" or "comic conventions" that the internet throws up.
There are lots.

16/07/2017
'The Beatles Story', originally published in 1981 as weekly episodes in 'Look-in' is being republished in a hardcover edition by Rebellion.
I have seen the claim that this was the first comic strip version of the Fab Four phenomena. If that is true it is thanks to 'Look-in' editor Colin Shelbourn who commissioned writer Angus Alan and I.

14/06/2017
Be Magnificent: Walthamstow School of Art 1957-1967
William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London E17 4PP
9th June - 10th Sep 2017

An exhibition celebrating a particular place and time.
Walthamstow School of Art cultivated some of the most influential creative talent of the 1950s and 60s. Leading names in art, fashion, music and film studied and taught here – including Pop Artists Peter Blake and Derek Boshier, musician Ian Dury, filmmakers Ken Russell and Peter Greenaway and fashion designers Celia Birtwell, Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin.

23/05/2017
Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) is one of Japan’s most famous and influential artists, producing prints up until his death at the age of 90. This exhibition is from the last 30 years of Hokusai’s life and includes some of his most memorable pieces.

If there is a particular piece you wish to see check the website as the works are to be rotated halfway through the exhibition for reasons of conservation.

08/05/2017
Came across this on the Paste Magazine website.
Quote - In the late ‘60s, a discontented Jack Kirby thought long and hard about the industry he helped build. For the co-creator of Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and countless other super properties, the arena of mutants, mayhem and escapism had lost its lustre, , , "
“You fellas think of comics in terms of comic books, but you’re wrong,” Kirby told a crowd at a California convention.

27/04/2017
Leo Baxendale. 27th October 1930 - 23rd April 2017
Creator of 'Bash Street Kids', 'Minnie the Minx', Willy the Kid, and many other comic characters for comics and for books of his own.
Inducted into the British Comic Awards Hall of Fame in 2013.
In 1978 had his memoir of his life in comics, ' A Very Funny Business: 40 Years Of Comics' published by. Gerald Duckworth/
Leo said this of being at the Beano - “At one point, the editor showed me a letter from an adult reader saying that the artist doing the Bash Street Kids was a near-genius. I think he expected me to be pleased.

26/04/2017
Giacometti exhibition at the Tate Modern, London SE1, from 10 May until 10 September.

Alberto Giacometti Born: 10 October 1901, Borgonovo, Italy
Died: 11 January 1966, Chur, Switzerland
Awarded the grand prize for sculpture at the 1962 Venice Biennale. His most characteristic work owes something to Existentialism and to Etruscan art.

18/04/2017
One of the specialty acts of a Superheroes has been dashing off to save some poor planet from destruction -sometimes even this one - but none as far as I know have become members of Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Rainforest Trust or any one of the many environmental organizations,

20/03/2017
Bernard Albert "Berni" Wrightson 27 October 1948 - March 19, 2017.
Inventive, original, imaginative and great pen and ink artist.

http://berniewrightson.com/?s=

http://collider.com/bernie-wrightson-rip/#obituary

16/03/2017
Dans le prolongement du livre français 'L'Exécuteur', l'édition française de ' L'Exécuteur - La - The Confession' sera dans les librairies françaises le 21 mars.
Sur la couverture arrière, il dit "partie de la tradition de grands films et romans évoquant Jim Thompson et Sam Peckinpah. Ce qui est gentil.

In a follow-up to French 'Button Man' book, the French edition of 'Button Man - The Confession of Harry Exton' will be in French bookshops on March 21st.