The Sunday Spotlight – The ‘Danger Sausage’ Edition

Welcome to The Sunday Spotlight, all the comics news. Well, some of it anyway. But it is all good stuff…

The best-selling graphic novel of 2025 – The Cartoonists Club by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud…

The Cartoonists Club by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud, announced last week from Scholastic and with a first print run of 750,000 copies, means it’s pretty safe to say a couple of things – first, it’s going to be up there in the top 3 of books for 2025 (depending on how many Dog Man books Dav Pilkey puts out) and second, it’s another two fingers up to those who bemoan that kids don’t read comics anymore.

Raina Telgemeier, the creator of Smile and all that came after, beloved by kids across the world, teams up with comics royalty in Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics (as well as Zot, Destroy!, The Sculptor, and a lot more besides) to bring us The Cartoonists Club.

Telgemeier describes it, rather perfectly as ‘a graphic novel that is truly 50% of each of our weird brains, and 100% a book I wish I’d had when I was a kid.’

Sounds all rather like a must-buy – make notes in your comic buying diaries right now, the Cartoonists Club is out on 1 April 2025

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More comics making kids get creative – Edward Ross’s Graphic Novel Builder – out 10 October…

Typical, you wait a long time for two great-looking books for kids about making comics and the news of two come along at once!

Whilst the Telgemeier/McCloud Cartoonists Club might get most of the press, allow me to point you to another one, from the great Brit comic maker Edward Ross – Graphic Novel Builder: The Illustrated Guide to Making Your Own Comics.

Ross’s past comics have always been a true delight, including Filmish – A Graphic Journey Through Film (SelfMadeHero), which won a YASLA 2017 Great Graphic Novels for Teens award, and his second graphic novel Gamish – A Graphic History of Gaming (Penguin) that explores the amazing history of games.

Graphic Novel Builder: The Illustrated Guide to Making Your Own Comics is out 10th October 2024.

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Jim Lee shockingly charges what his art is worth…

Don’t know if you saw this one, you more than likely did. Turns out that Jim Lee – yes, that Jim Lee – has a commission list and the prices are rather eye-wateringly high. We’re talking $20k+ for an 11×7 full figure, one character piece, that sort of ballpark.

It was announced on the Albert Moy artist commission page thus:

‘For the first time in over 15 years, Jim Lee will be taking commission requests to be delivered exclusively almost all shows he is appearing. This offer is an exclusive for show attendees only and won’t be shipped out. There is a limit to six per show so act fast to get yours.’

And of course, there were plenty of people getting themselves all pissy about this. ‘How dare Jim Lee charge that much for commissions,’ etc. etc.

But the thing is, these man-babies (and yes, they’re all going to be men) are missing from the argument is many-fold, but here’s what I think are the three main points…

First, he can damn well charge what he wants for commissions and no doubt he’ll have a queue of people signing on to get a one-of-a-kind piece from the artist. Second, too often a collector will buy an original piece from the artist for $XX and then, almost immediately, said collector could sell it on for double (or more) that price paid. And third, it’s about damn time that artists were paid handsomely for the incredible work they do rather than all the money being made by the collectors (and worse, the art flippers) when they drop them on eBay with not a cent going to the original artist.

Great news for all readers – the return of Oxford’s Caption Comics Festival in 2025?…

Caption, the Oxford Comics Festival with a big difference that ran almost every year from 1992 to 2017 may well be making a very welcome return in 2025.

It was a con/festival that concentrated on the small press and self-publishing scene in a time when it wasn’t possible to get these sorts of comics anywhere else. A festival/con with a way more relaxed vibe than the rest, it will be damn good to have it back.

Founded in 1992 by Adrian Cox, Damian Cugley, Jeremy Dennis, and Jenni Scott, it went on to include Andy Roberts and Pete Pavement. Guests over the years have included Bryan Talbot, Hunt Emerson, Carla Speed McNeil, Al Davison, David B, Max, Maaike Hartjes, Pete Loveday, and many more – although the whole relaxed vibe of Caption was always more about readers and comic makers mingling and breaking down the barriers between attendee and guest.

The plan for Caption 2025 is in its early stages right now, with provisional dates of August 16 – 17th 2025, with a venue to be announced. Andy Luke mentions a committee chaired by Amy Letts, with Emily Brady, Norm Chung, Vickie Bernard, and Barry Renshaw.

There’s going to be fundraising with advance memberships on Indiegogo that will launch in a few months. More news when I get it but there’s nothing stopping you signing up for email updates or following along on the Facebook page.

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2024 Helsinki Comics Festival – Brit comics as a theme… 31 Aug – 1 Sept 2024…

The 2024 Helsinki Comics festival will take place in Merikaapelihalli, Cable Factory on August 31–September 1, 2024. The festival artist is Reetta Niemensivu, whose stunning work has gone to creating the visual identity of the festival.

And the themes for this year are pop and British comics, with British festival guests Dave McKean, Zoe Thorogood, Gareth Brookes, and Hamish Steele. Plus, Anneli Furmark from Sweden, Joonas Sildre from Estonia, and plenty of Finnish artists with panel discussions and exhibitions, among them JP Ahonen, Mika Lietzén, Heikki Rönkkö, and Niko-Petteri Niva.

Hey, if you happen to be in Finland at the time…

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Colin Craker’s Columbo & Batman – oh, go on DC, make it happen…

Colin Craker‘s already got form with making unofficial Batman comics, I covered his Deep Sleep short in Webcomics Weekly in 2023 and now he’s got something even shorter for you – just a single page of Batman/Columbo – but a single page that just screams out potential.

Go on DC, you know it would be great…