The Sunday Spotlight: A Little Bit Of Comics News
by Richard Bruton
It’s Sunday, therefore it’s time for the weekly Sunday Spotlight... Comicon’s roundup of all that’s going on in the world of comics. Well, some of it. But trust us, it’s all good…
This week’s Sunday Spotlight nearly turned into the Monday Spotlight thanks to a trip back to the homeland and the ensuing jetlag. But no, I pulled myself from my slumbers, convinced myself that, no, it wasn’t Thursday, it was Saturday and I really have to do this now. So, matchsticks propping up eyelids… here we go…
But to get you in the mood because it is that time of year (and be sure to follow along with this year’s Advent posts), here’s a Dudley D. Watkins’ Beano cover from 1966…
Forty Lies book launch at The Common Press Bookshop…
David Shenton’s Forty Lies, A Work Of Ipsedixitism looks rather great. 40-ish stories making up something akin to a life story of Shenton through a prism of LGBTQ+ history and activism. I haven’t got a copy yet but I really should because it looks and sounds just perfect for me.
Here’s what the PR has to say…
“This anagram of a book, is a vaguely chronological patchwork of forty(ish) personal stories, that don’t bear too much factual scrutiny, yet are as real and honest as need be, following the trials of Coming Out, the Age of Consent, family rejection, dodgy boyfriends, shaky career prospects, police swoops, the enemy without, queer bashers, the stern presence of HIV/AIDS, the loathsome Section 28,the friends, the outrage and outrageous, the fun, the sex, the scene, Love, Equal Marriage and bereavement… This is my History, it is the history of every 70 year old gay man in Britain today. FORTY LIES = LIFE STORY. Basically, a Comic Book, with knitting patterns.”
Oh, and ipsedixitism? That would be an unsupported dogmatic assertion according to the dictionary.
Anyway, Shenton’s doing a second free book launch event at The Common Press Bookshop. Definitely worth a trip if you’re in the neighbourhood…
Mutts’ Guard Dog finally loses the chain…
The chained up Guard Dog in Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts has long been a symbol of just how cruel dog chaining is. Well, after a decade, Guard Dog finally gets his freedom.
McDonnell had this to say when talking to the Huff Post:
“I think it just hit me that I can’t do it forever and that it has to happen.’ and ‘I started in my sketchbooks drawing a tough dog, I drew a big gruff dog and I put a studded collar on him. And then I drew a chain. And when I did that, it changed everything. I realized that it wasn’t a villain. It was a tragic character.”
And tragic he has been, for a decade he’s sat in the same spot, his entire world defined and limited by a length of chain.
Over the years Guard Dog has become a powerful message used by animal welfare groups to highlight the cruelty of keeping man’s best friend chained. But it seems enough is enough and, in a seven-week storyline where poor Guard Dog gets abandoned, still chained, when his owner ups and leaves, before the good folks in Mutts come to his rescue and Guard Dog gets the happiness all dogs deserve.
Follow the story here and do everyone a favour this time of year – give to the many good causes that McDonnell supports here.
When a ‘Best Of’ list just doesn’t do the work…
It’s that time of year, as all the best of 2023 comics lists come out. Comicon will be doing its usual roundup of all the best in comics from the year later in the month.
But we did have two very different best of lists from The Guardian recently. James Smart gave us this one, packed with some excellent choices including one of my best books, Paul Rainey’s Why Don’t You Love Me. Other books included Daniel Clowes’ Monica, Darrin Bell’s The Talk, Oscar Zarate’s Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter, Sammy Harkham’s Blood of the Virgin, Emily Carroll’s A Guest in the House, Deena Mohamed’s Your Wish Is My Command, Roaming by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, and Lea Murawiec’s The Great Beyond, W the Whore by Anke Feuchtenberger and Katrin de Vries, Okinawa by Susumu Higa, Ed Piskor’s Hip Hop Family Tree: The Omnibus, and Liam Cobb’s What Awaits Them.
Now that might not be your list, but it is a damn fine list to celebrate all of the diversity and brilliance of comics this year.
Compare and contrast that with Rachel Cooke’s list of best graphic novels of 2023, also in The Guardian. To give you an idea of what to expect, it opened with this line:
This hasn’t been a vintage year for comics; a certain grimness clung to many of those that came my way.
Seriously? Seriously? In all the incredible works that were released this year, the incredible depth of talent we have making comics now, and that’s your take? And then there’s the list itself… Camille Jourdy’s Juliette, Monica by Dan Clowes, The Tamakis again with Roaming, Chantal Montellier’s Social Fiction, and the 20th anniversary edition of Craig Thompson’s Blankets.
Five books. One of them 20 years old for God’s sake. No British comic makers at all and from just four publishers – Faber, Cape, Drawn & Quarterly, NYR Comics. That’s just awful. Not so much a best of the year, more a best of the books that were sent to the reviewer from a very select group of publishers that the big press in the UK always cover. Let’s go for must do better.
Tillie Walden makes Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list…
Showing that some people do take notice of comics outside a very particular limited range, Forbes have announced their 2024 30 Under 30 list for the year and have included the amazingly talented Tillie Walden on there.
Walden’s been a star in the comics firmament since her debut with Avery Hill with The End of Summer, and every one of her books since then, I Love This Part, A City Inside, Spinning, On A Sunbeam, etc. etc. have just been examples of the incredible talent that runs through comics in these glorious times.
Forbes had this to say about the artist…
“Farther north, the state of Vermont appointed Tillie Walden its newest cartoon laureate, and at 26, she’s the youngest artist to receive the honor. Walden, who has published more than 10 books, often centering queer narratives, is also one of the youngest recipients of an Eisner Award, often referred to as the Oscars of the comics industry.”
First Graphic Novel Award 2023 – finals time!…
And in case certain broadsheet papers are looking for inspiration, the First Graphic Novel Awards could be a good place. The announcement of the awards happens on Monday…
More Phoenix Comics digital workshops – join Abigail Bulmer in drawing Doggo…
More digital workshops from the fantastic Phoenix Comic – a perfect pre-Christmas treat from Abigail Bulmer on 22 December 2023, 10am BST, tickets £5 per device… details here.
