2013 Comics !



Forbidden Planet's 2013 logo

Inching towards the end of the year and I'm pretty pleased on the whole with 2013, although it really zoomed by, but maybe that's just my age!

Anyway last year I posted my favourite comics of the year (see 2012 here) but as the eagle-eyed may  have noticed that the, always interesting, Forbidden Planet blog have already done the job by asking me to contribute to their annual 'best of' postings which you can read here.

It is quite an honour to be included so thanks to Joe and Richard for the invite and it'll be interesting to see what the 'poll of polls' will reveal about what caught people's imaginations this year. Looking at my list, my 'best-of' and honourable mentions were all graphic novels and perhaps more oddly, all my choices were by a single writer/artist creator and also all ones that I'd been fortunate enough to meet at various comic shows I'd attended, probably just coincidence but the truth is I do most of my buying at shows these days as a great way to both discover new works and meet creators in person.

Anyway here's my full choices with a page of their interior art to encourage you to check them out for yourself if you haven't already;

The Nieuport Gathering - Ivan Petrus

Sailor Twain - Mark Siegel

 

 

The Great War - Joe Sacco

Cursed Pirate Girl - Jeremy Bastion

 

 Gigantic Beard That Was Evil - Stephen Collins

 Pachyderme - Frederik Peeters

There was a great many more that I enjoyed last year including finally catching up with Posy Simmonds Tamara Drewe, Cinebooks excellent Scorpion and Spooks series, re-reads of Charley's War and new to me 'discoverys' Kings in Disguise and Freddy Lombard.

 

I once again didn't read any traditional 'pamphlet' comics from the so called mainstream publishers, but instead picked up and enjoyed new works from the likes of Doug Noble, Rob Jackson, Connor & Lizzie Boyle, Ellen Lindner, Jim Alexander, Boulet and latest find, Jessica Martin and no doubt others that slip my mind at the moment.

 

There is thankfully a host of great comics out there and hopefully you've found some time to catch up with some of them yourself, if not what are you waiting for!

Best wishes and See You in 2014 !

Mermaids Ahoy!

Funny how sometimes a few good things all come together at the same time, all sharing something, a common link, all by a happy accident, well that's how it seems to me recently with Mermaids and I'm pretty sure that's a good thing, although it has to be said that Mermaids can seriously harm your health if you let them!

From left to right above is firstly Gary Crutchley's unadorned cover art for Westernoir book 3 (see the printed version below), the latest in his and Dave West's excellent new series following the exploits of a certain Josiah Black. The book of course is from Accent UK and I may be biased but don't take my word for its excellence, check out the latest reviews here and here. You can catch up with the series from us direct at any of our forthcoming shows or buy direct from our website here, you won't be sorry, the story's gathering pace and Gary's artwork oozes style and confidence.

Next up is the sign of The Mermaid pub from of course the new Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost movie The World's End which we saw at the weekend. It's a wonderfully silly, sweary, boozy movie, very British (in a good way!) with lots of funny moments and cameos. Perhaps not quite hitting the heights of the earlier classics Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz but still great fun and well worth a look. The World's End Mermaids are very modern in a late 80's school disco way but true to form are dangerously alluring...

Which leads me nicely to Mark Siegel's elegantly old school Sailor Twain graphic novel and the tragic tale of the Mermaid in New York's Hudson river. I was vaguely aware of Mark's book and was delighted to pick up a copy and meet him at this year's MoCCA festival where he drew me a wonderful Mermaid sketch - which I think is worth repeating;

I've now read Mark's book and its a wonderfully dark, comic, dangerous tale featuring the eponymous Captain Twain, the alluring Mermaid with unpronounceable name, steamboats, saucy liaisons and mystery, all told in absorbing pencil and charcoal. Well worth setting a course for!

These Mermaids all offer something different and may be dangerous to approach but can you resist their siren's song?