The Sunday Spotlight: The ‘It’s Not A Toy’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
You know the drill by now surely? It’s Sunday, this is a spotlight on some of the news bits and pieces I’ve seen this week… hence The Sunday Spotlight…
.
More Small Press Day 2024 fun… Gosh Comics turns it into a full-on festival…
Small Press Day is an annual celebration and promotion of small press publishing and self-publishing in comics in the UK and Ireland that began with cartoonist and author David ‘Ziggy’ Greene wondering if something similar to Record Store Day could work for comics.
Since then, SPD has blossomed into a day that really celebrates all the very best of comics talent with signings, sketchings, draw-ins, and much more happening. This year’s SPD happens on Saturday 17th August and Gosh London, always a big supporter of the event, has really pushed the boat out with a one-day festival of comics featuring 44 incredibly talented comic makers (and maybe more to come).
.
More great comic shop signings… Comix Experience for July & August 2024…
Yep, another great shop, more great signings coming up at San Francisco’s finest shop – Comix Experience – although apologies, because you’ll have missed the first one, Beth Hetland, seeing as that was yesterday. That means you’d have missed out on see Beth signing copies of her Fantagraphics graphic novel, Tender, a ‘psychological thriller about a woman obsessed with her vision for a picture-perfect, curated life.’
But still to come, there’s Tina Horn, creator and writer of the sci-fi sex-rebel comic SfSx (Safe Sex), published by Image, in conversation and signing books. Then, in August, there’s Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, creators of the Dark Horse Comic, Minor Threats. Finally, for now, August ends with Samuel Sattin, whose work includes Unico: Awakening, Buzzing, A Kid’s Guide to Anime & Manga, and more – or at least I’m assuming that’s who it is, as the signing poster spells it as Stattin. I’m going with that as a typo!
.
Jamie Smart takes over the world… well, okay, maybe not, but he does have five more Bunny vs Monkey titles coming from DFB…
Announced via the Bookseller, David Fickling Books, in partnership with the Phoenix comic, have acquired five new Bunny vs Monkey titles by Jamie Smart, including expanding the BVMverse with the publication of the first joke book, Bunny vs Monkey: The Gigantic Joke Fight! in October.
Liz Cross, managing and publishing director at David Fickling Books, said…
‘What a joy it is to publish Jamie Smart—a comics powerhouse with an almost magical ability to enthuse, entertain, and inspire children. We’re delighted that our close publishing partnership with Jamie, and with the wonderful Phoenix comic, will be continuing and bringing delight to readers for many years to come.’
And Jamie had this to say…
‘DFB and the Phoenix have been so supportive of both me and my career over the last 15 years—and however many books—so I’m thrilled that we’re going to be working together so far into the future too. With more Bunny vs Monkey and Max & Chaffy books already well underway, and one or two new projects yet to be announced, it’s going to be a really exciting few years. DFB and The Phoenix always encourage their creators to tell the weirdest, silliest, most wonderfullest stories, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.’
As always, congratulations to Jamie, whose conquest of the world continues apace and Bunny Vs Monkey continues to capture the hearts and minds of millions of kids around the world.
.
Julie Doucet Retrospective at Musée Tomi Ungerer – Centre international de l’illustration – running until 3 November 2024…
‘A solo retrospective of Julie Doucet’s work will be on view at the Museé Tomi Ungerer – Centre international de l’illlustration from April 25th to November 3rd in Strasbourg. The exhibition celebrates Doucet’s multi-faceted creative practice over the years. Don’t miss your chance to get up close and personal with her zines, comics, and experimental forays into book and art making through a distinctly feminist lens.’
Since I first saw her work in Dirty Plotte, Douchet’s been an artist I’ve loved, creating some incredible work over the years. Something like this is well-deserved and, should you happen to be anywhere in the vicinity of Strasbourg, a must visit.
Musée Tomi Ungerer – Centre international de l’illlustration is located at 2, Avenue de La Marseillaise in Strasbourg, France. The museum is open Tuesday to Fridays, 10-1, 2-6, and 10-6 on weekends.
.
Dave McKean’s multimedia performance of Black Dog is coming back to LICAF 2024…
As well as a hell of a lot of really impressive comic guests, The Lakes International Comic Art Festival also runs exhibitions, workshops and events across the festival weekend (27-29 Sept 2024) and in the run up to the festival – one of which is the return of the multi-media performance by Dave McKean, Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash.
Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash was commissioned by the 14-18 Now and LICAF, as part of a four-year slate of new artworks for the centenary commemorations of World War One. It is a graphic novel, and a live performance piece, taking in McKean’s artwork and storytelling, original score, projections, and spoken word parts that take the audience through the mind and life of the surrealist painter, war artist, photographer, writer, and designer, Paul Nash, during his time as an officer in Ypres, and how his experiences there changed his art and his character.
After premiering at LICAF in 2016, the performance has toured internationally to great success, including a sell-out performance at Tate Britain, at the Toronto Comic Art Festival in 2017, and as a closing performance at the Derby Book Festival in June 2017. It was awarded the Event of the Year at the Cumbria Life Culture Awards 2017.
More details at the LICAF site, with admittance to the performance included in the price of the event’s Weekend Ticket.
.
Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard talk Rogue Trooper at Forbidden Planet – Video…
Garth and Patrick’s Rogue Trooper: Blighty Valley is out right now. They talk all about it online here at the FP YouTube channel…
.
Essential reading, essential books, Paul Gravett’s PG Tips…
Every month, the great Paul Gravett, author, comics nexus, man at the crossroads, publisher, etcetera, publishes his PG Tips… a list of all the books he’s looking forward to, and September is rather a busy month, with a staggering 43 titles to look at.
The six books he’s picked out of that 43 for September include Final Cut, ‘Charles Burns’ alluring psychodrama, premiered in three volumes in France and now finally translated in one tome,’ backed up with Guard Dog, ‘Patrick McDonnell’s newspaper strip hits a peak in this affecting storyline, as his captive canine finally finds freedom and friendship’. Following those, he recommends Between Two Sounds, ‘The music and genius of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt burst off the page in this visual life-story’, Something Not Nothing, A Story of Grief and Love where ‘Sarah Leavitt expresses her deep grief and even deeper love in this work of remembrance’, Madame Choi and the Monsters, described by Gravett as a ‘strange-but-true saga’ that, ‘recounts the kidnapping of South Korean movie talents, forced to make films for North Korea’s leader’, and finally Ultra Heaven, in which ‘the idiosyncratic surrealism of Keiichi Koike runs riot’.
43 to pick from, go visit Paul’s site, go make a note of what he recommends, pick some of them to dip into, you won’t go wrong with his choices…
