Palace Pier, Brigthon

In 1998 or 1999, I took some pictures of the rides, painted backdrops, and various amusements on the Palace Pier in Brighton (since renamed as The Brighton Pier). The pictures themselves are nothing special, but I loved the extreme kitsch of the pier decor, and some of the painted characters had a dreamy underground comix feel. The pier gave me a good feeling about Brighton, although I'm not sure how much of this stuff is now left. The security wouldn't let me take pictures inside the amusement arcades.

Friends Are Important

Thanks to Luc for sending me this strip by the great Argentine cartoonist Quino, and thanks to Jorge for identifying it for me.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Quino
http://www.quino.com.ar/

Santa's Workshop (1932)

Merry Christmas

My Christmas card design for this year :

And a "Krampus" card that made me laugh...

Kim Thompson

There's a nice Kim Thompson interview over on The Comics Reporter.
Kim is the co-owner/publisher of Fantagraphics Books, the main player in the world of alternative comics since the early '80's.

Jimi Gherkin at Red Mutha

Jimi G selling comics and zines at the fashion fair in Brighton last weekend.

Introducing... STRASSMAN

By Emix!

Let's You and Him Fight

I finally got the notice from Amazon that my Popeye Volume 3 has been dispatched. It's no exaggeration to say I've waited my whole life to read this strip... and I haven't been disappointed.



Nick Gazin at Vice Magazine puts it best :
"Popeye is great. Some people only know him as a theme song or a shill for the spinach industry, but Popeye was edgy when it came out and it's edgy now. Popeye inhabits a world of greedy opportunistic jerks in which his ability to beat the shit out of anybody is the only justice. He beats up the bad guys and sometimes his friends accidentally. I wish I could punch away my problems. This book is huge and beautiful, and it contains more comics than you'll be able to read for a while. Its subtitle is "Let's You and Him Fight," which would be awesome words to have tattooed on your body, or just to repeat in your head a bunch of times."

Stripburger 48

I'm looking forward to reading the new issue of Stripburger. Issue 47 was a very strong collection, and really opened my eyes to European comix. Well, I don't know about the more conservative publishers, but certainly amongst the alternative artists it seems there's a lot of interesting work being produced. It's refreshing to read comics with a genuinely adult sensibility, and with a bit of spark and independence. I'm not sure how well it's distributed in the UK though.



"The 48th issue of Stripburger features two special sections.

The first one introduces us to Dongery, a group of comics artists from Norway (Bendik Kaltenborn, Flu Hartberg, Sindre W. Goksoyr and Kristoffer Kjolberg).

The second sections reveals one of the youngest comics scene in Europe - that of Latvia (Anete Melece, Kaspars Groshevs and Ingrida Picukane). Also in the focus of this issue is Marco Corona, perhaps one of the most intriguing Italian cartoonists at this moment. Corona was interviewed by Paola Bristot.

Stripburger no. 48 also boasts an unusually high percentage of Slovene authors. Domen Finzgar makes his debut in this issue, while Damijan Sovec returns after a long absence with a series of travel comics. Other highlights of the issue include works by Olive Booger (France), Janek Koza (Poland), Tea Hvala (Slovenia), Gasper Rus (Slovenia) and the duo of Matej Lavrencic and Koco (Slovenia), to name just a few of them."

www.stripburger.org

Express Yrself

comicsandzines.wordpress.com

The Timid Soul

Cartoons by Harold Tucker Webster.



See more at Hairy Green Eyeball.


(link via Journalista).

Appalling Nonsense

Gareth Brookes has a new blog.

Katie Beaton

http://www.katebeaton.com

(Thanks Noelle).

UK Alternative Cartoonists on Resonance FM

An interview with Sean Duffield, Gareth Brookes, Peter Lally, Gavin Burrows, and me. It's clear that some of us aren't used to public speaking, but there are some good points raised. Interview conducted by Dickon Harris.

Robert Crumb

This is a detail from "Flesh and Blood Comics", the free Robert Crumb comic that's doing the rounds. It's a lovely A3 collection of sketchbook pages, and definitely worth seeking out (mine was picked up in the ICA). You can see it here, but it's much better to pick up and read a physical copy.

Garfield minus Garfield

"Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb."

Xmas Art Bazaar

Exhibitors include Chris Watson and Lorna Miller.

A Krazy Kat cartoon from.... 1916!

Krazy Kat And Ignatz Mouse At The Circus
George Herriman / Leon Searl (1916)



And here's an extract from a 1930's Krazy Kat (apparently... you can only tell it's Krazy by his/her bow). The sound has been redone, or messed around with, giving the cartoon a nightmarish quality.



This is the title sequence from Gene Deitch's Krazy Kat cartoons that were made in the early sixties. The usually androgynous Krazy is now female!



And then there's this... Is there a Krazy Kat movie on the way??

Can I Borrow Your Toilet?

Some great art and writing from Gareth Brookes' new magnum opus. This 64 page book really is a jewel of the UK alternative press; nowhere else would one find a publication like this! I find it both heroic and touching that someone would devote such time and skill to a subject as mundane as working as a stockroom boy. The author accurately depicts the bewildering dreariness of unskilled manual labour, somehow making a book that's both hilarious and heartbreaking (and always entertaining).

Wake Up To Christmas

Jimi Gherkin's Xmas comics anthology features work by himself (the great "Black Santa"), plus Jim Burke (nice to see something new from him), Alex Potts (someone I'll be looking out for), Daniel Wilson, Me, a new "Baba" strip by Saban Kazim, and much more.
Contact Jimi at comicsandzines.wordpress.com and hassle him for a copy.

Et Cetera

by Jan Svankmajer

Road Markings and Skylights

"The way that the road markings crack organically and be filled with blackened dirt and the way the structured skylights open up to the sky to let in daylight capture a poetic contradiction which mirrors our daily life."
http://www.ninanoor.co.uk/invisible/

Kirby cover of the month

A Puddle Of Rat Jizz

Johnny Ryan turns his attention to (gulp) bloggers and internet types.

A Message From Patty Hearst

Art by Scott Smith.

100+ page Los Bros. Hernandez interview

The classic Comics Journal interview from 1988 is still available to download here.

Vignettes

Fabulous art by Zeke Clough.





From Eaten By Ducks.

A Night in a Harem

By Lotte Reiniger.
Part 1:

Part 2:

Art Spiegelman on Resonance FM

Grant Rogers talks to Art Spiegelman.



(Photo by Seth Kushner)