No Zulu's Round Here?

"Keep your head down Bromhead, the Ewing brothers have posted their podcast!"

Aha a quick wee post for those of you who've found your way here thanks to Garen and Murray Ewing's War Film's Podcast, featuring of course, ZULU! - and if you haven't yet had a wee listen check their well informed and entertaining thoughts here. 

Their shared blog also offers opinions and insights into other adventure and war movie classics like, A Bridge Too Far, The Man Who Would Be King, SHE, Lawrence of Arabia and the like so is well worth checking out and listening to when you can - see here for details!

"Quick - to the Adventure Films Podcast!"

Details of my own Zulu related posts on the movie, comics and my trips to Zululand can be accessed by clicking on the 'Zulu' topic on my blog labels to the lower right. A good place to start is probably my own recent re-watching of the movie at a classic cinema showing which can be found here and maybe followed by an earlier, 'all things Zulu' posting here.  

"No! Zulu:Water Cart Rescue is still out of print!"

My main related comic, ZULU:Water Cart Rescue! that Garen mentions, is currently out of print having sold out of both it's first and second editions some time ago. However I'm pleased to say that it has been re-mastered and brought vividly to life in glorious colour by the excellent Matt Soffe and, with a brand new back up strip, will be due for release as a graphic novel from Accent UK Comics later this year.
 

The news that Colin is to release a new comic was too much for some!

For those that can't wait, I am very soon to release a collection of some of my short comic strips under this blog's true title, Moments of Adventure which, amongst other delights, features a six page Zulu story, Day of the Dead Moon, with my explanation of why I think the Zulu's famously defeated the pride of the British Army at Isandlwana! 

Keep an eye on this blog for big news about that very soon - promise - and please check in from time to time for other comics and Zulu related news!

Zulu Reflections

I always feel a little melancholy on this day in January (see last year, here), and it's not just the winter blues it's because on this day way back in 1879, the two most famous battles of the Anglo-Zulu War occurred, the Zulu victory at iSandlwana and the successful British defence at Rorke's Drift, (made famous of course in the 1964 movie, ZULU).

My own interest in the period of course stems from that movie and has been a passion of mine ever since developing into books, my own comic book efforts and a couple of battlefield and wider Zululand adventure trips.

All this interest, passion and enthusiasm for the period is tinged with sadness on the anniversaries as so many men, both British and Zulu lost their lives and in the course of the subsequent short but decisive war, the Zulu Kingdom and way of life was destroyed. So I will spare a thought today for those brave souls from 137 years ago and share a few sombre photos from my 2014 trip to these famous sites.

ZULU Dawn!

Isandlwana - April 2014 (photo by Craig Mitchell)

Today is the 136th anniversary of the major conflicts of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879, first the devastating defeat of British forces at Isandlwana by the Zulus and on the same day, into the early hours of the 23rd January 1879, the defence of Rorke's Drift by a British garrison hopelessly outnumbered by Zulu impis. The dramatic events not only resulted in heavy loss of life but had serious consequences for both sides leading to the destruction of the Zulu Kingdom and way of life, and questioning the expansion polices at the heart of the mighty Victorian British Empire.

Yours truly with the distinctive Isandlwana behind (April 2014)

As you will know if you've visited my blog before these far flung events have had a profound effect on me (and others!) all these years later which is difficult to explain. There is something deeply moving about an indigenous people's defence of their realm against an unjustified imperialist invasion and the difference in weaponry and technologies at their disposal. Just imagine for a minute answering your monarch's call to fight against professional soldiers armed with the very latest modern weapons, when all you had were decades old spears (assegai), clubs (knobkerries) and shields.

Haydn, Craig, Paul & I after successfully climbing Isandlwana (April 2014)

In the Zulu's favour were their familiarity with the terrain, sophisticated tactics, discipline and an unnerving loyalty to their King, despite any misgivings they may have had. However, despite these qualities there were huge losses amongst the Zulu's causing their King, Cetshwayo, to seek peace with the invaders, despite 'scoring' several victories over the British. The embarrassment of those victories though sealed the Zulu's fate as the British poured every resource at their disposal to finally crush the Zulu's resistance some 6 months later, setting fire to the royal homestead at Ulundi (Ondini) and eventually capturing and exiling Cetshwayo from his kingdom.

Meeting young Thandeka Zulu at Rorke's Drift (April 2014)

However the bravery of the Zulu's struck a chord with the British public who clamoured for information on these 'noble savages' who had stood up against the empire's might. Eventually Cetshwayo travelled to London where he was feted by the media and granted an audience with Queen Victoria at Osborne House. He was, in time, returned to his Zululand throne, but heavily curtailed in his authority and influence, the previous might of the Zulu kingdom was never again seen.

A panel of Matt Soffe's dramatic colouring from the re-mastered comic!

The interest in all things Zulu has echoed down the years since 1879, most famously for my generation in the movies Zulu, (which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014) and Zulu Dawn, leading directly to me creating my own comic books based on events at Rorke's Drift and of course visiting the battlefield and Zulu Kingdom sites in 2010 and 2014. This interest continues with new Zulu related comic work being prepared alongside a brand new 're-mastered' collection of my Water Cart Rescue strips being coloured for the first time by the very talented Matt Soffe, who has previously contributed colours to several Accent UK books.

More of these projects will follow in the weeks ahead but I just wanted to mark today's anniversary and, as I always do on this day, pay respect to those who lost their lives all those many years ago.
 

The Zulu Memorial at Rorke's Drift (April 2014)

  

The British Memorial at Rorke's Drift (April 2014)

MCM Moments in Birmingham!

Ah, been  a really hectic week or so since Accent UK's appearance at the Birmingham NEC's MCM & Memorabilia show so here's my review of the show.

From a purely comic sales perspective the show was a little disappointing. After last year's MCM madness in Glasgow and Manchester we had high expectations, but in the end only sold about 1/2 as many books as at those one day shows, so with Birmingham being a full weekend, it was disappointing.

I enlist some help to snare a few comic customers!

Chatting to folk it was hard to pinpoint reasons why, the attendance itself seemed busy enough and comparable with Glasgow and Manchester but the comic village didn't seem to get the same footfall that those shows had. It reminded us of the early MCM London shows we tried when the thousands of teenage cosplayers didn't seem too interested in the comics side of things - something I understand that London has 'grown' out of as its attendance has since soared and comic village regulars enjoy brisk trade, (something we will test for ourselves when we return to London in May!).

You could buy anything at MCM but these weren't the droids I was looking for....

I understand that this Birmingham show is a different beast to others in the MCM stable in that it has Incorporated the long established Memorabilia shows which ran for many years. There was evidence of this both in the media star signings and the dealer hall with various toy, book, magazine and vinyl record dealers amongst the regular MCM roster of manga, prints, t-shirts, accessory stalls etc. I think Dave and I rather enjoyed this eclectic mix of dealers with some unusual finds amongst the many stalls - old Lion annuals for Dave and a couple of Zulu movie lobby cards for me!

Alexander and me - despite a slow day, Zulu sold first & sold out!

It may be though that the comic village hasn't yet matured in its own identity within this varied show and struggled to make itself heard. There were some 'hotspots' though with a couple of comic exhibitors doing well but for the majority it was pretty modest stuff.

Dave, Stu and Col share the love!

As always though it was still a very enjoyable time catching up with old and new friends including Steve Tanner of Time Bomb comics, Paul Birch of the Birmingham Mail's Speech Balloons column, Lou aka Naniiebim, Rudra and Lyndon White, (whose promising Cosmic Fish comic is imminent!), Jeremy of the popular  Zombie Bear Comics and of course the irrepressible force that is Stuart Gould of UK Comics Creative. 

Here's me & Jemma about to bust open the 'Colin the Caterpillar' birthday cakes Karen had bought!

As we had the capable Jemma and Scott with us, Dave and I took the opportunity for a few wanders and a coffee to reflect on where we are with Accent UK - something we of course regularly do - but we've had a growing feeling that we're a little 'muddled' in our own identity, possibly mirroring the MCM/Memorabilia's own identity crisis! We also had some valuable constructive feedback from folk we trust so are mulling these over at the moment and hopefully will implement a few positive changes going forward. Nothing overly drastic, maybe just a timely 'resetting' of where we are and what we want to achieve, mmm well that does sound rather drastic and serious doesn't it - anyway I've asked Dave to keep all this under his hat for now............

Dave struggling to contain his ideas hat !

ZULU Moments !

50 years ago since the release of the movie and 135 years since the battle its based on, its great for a fan such as I to see all the attention that 'Zulu' is getting at the moment!

There was a great two page spread by Sheldon Hall in the weekend's Independent On Sunday newspaper, based on his more detailed 12 page tribute in specialist movie magazine, Cinema Retro which in turn distills some of the extensive research and information published in Sheldon's earlier book on the movie, (which features a cameo of my comic!), Zulu:With Some Guts Behind It! , which itself promises an expanded edition, that and renowned Zulu expert and historian Ian Knight's blog report and another at the BFI, concerts and re-showings of the movie, a huge auction of authentic Zulu War artifacts, you could be forgiven for thinking the whole world has gone Zulu crazy?

  

I'm not complaining as I too am one of the many profoundly affected by a childhood screening of the 1964 Stanley Baker, Michael Caine starring movie...ZULU and my life was (literally) never the same! This might sound fanciful but this movie fascinated me from the moment I first saw it and has stayed with me ever since, to the point that I even write these words below a Zulu movie poster and shield hanging on my wall!

I think it must have been one of its re-runs in 1975 or 1976 that I first saw it and then had to patiently wait till it made its first of its perennial television showings. It's hard now to pinpoint exactly why this movie amongst the dozens of others that I would see at the regular Saturday morning matinee made the impression it did, while the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Escape from Planet Of The Apes etc didn't? [ I exclude the original King Kong from this list as I saw it an even younger age (on a school Christmas trip!) and it gave me the proverbial Heebie Jeebies!]

With Zulu though, I think it was the sheer drama and tension of these red tunic, white helmeted British soldiers facing up to this brave fearsome native warriors outnumbering, surrounding and attacking them again and again. There was no hiding place from the Zulu's it was simply fight or die and that along with the dialogue, sharp cinematography and of course that theme tune which resonated with me through the years.

In those far off pre-Internet days, there was after a movie came and went no real way of a small town 11 year old finding out more so I had to be content with slim pickings which for me was one of those delightful history themed Blick Instant Transfer Picture Books where you could recreate some pretty violent action scenes!

Sadly not my childhood original but an ebay find!

Through this book though I learnt a little more about the Zulu people, their shaping into an army and nation by King Shaka, their conflicts firstly with the Boers and then the British which ultimately led to war and the Zulu's defeat in 1879.

From these humble starts came a chance book shop find years later to re-engage me with the true story of Zulu which led to a fairly extensive library on the subject (I've at least 50 books and too scared to do a proper count!). Combining this research with one of my other life long interests of comics, led me to create my own comic book on an incident at Rorke's Drift, but not featured in the movie, The Water Cart Rescue, when after the first day's intense fighting a small group of volunteer soldiers leapt over the 'safe' barricades into Zulu occupied territory to retrieve an abandoned water cart to quench the defenders desperate thirst.

The comic led directly to meeting a certain Dave West and forming, (initially with Barry Renshaw) the indie comic publisher, Accent UK and of course our varied and continued attendance at comic shows far and wide which in those early days included special Zulu themed exhibitions at the likes of the National Army Museum in London and the Regimental Museum in Brecon, happy days.

Never before revealed Issue 2 cover ruff - gulp!

And the Final Version!







My research and studies into the Anglo-Zulu War disappointingly revealed that the movie had taken certain liberties with the real Battle of Rorke's Drift and the more I read about the causes and more importantly the aftermath of the war, it was a pretty brutal affair and did not end well for the Zulus, from which they never recovered and arguably led to many of the modern difficulties facing them today.

It was with these thoughts that I was fortunate to take a dedicated tour of the Zulu War battlefields myself in 2010 with the afore-mentioned historian, author and all round good egg, Ian Knight and a small band of similarly interested companions, most of whom had also had their interest in this period fuelled by the movie. It was the most absorbing and rewarding trip I've ever been on with some genuine moments of adventure, danger, fun and thoughtful introspection.

Hlobane mountain, scene of a violent battle in 1879 and (shortly after
 this photo) a sudden violent thunderstorm in 2010!

During the trip we had several glimpses and reminders of the harsh realities of modern day Africa and spent a little time with some real Zulu's who were on the whole pretty bewildered by our interest in the 1879 war, but pleased nonetheless that we had visited. It was also World Cup year with South Africa due to host the famous football tournament that summer and there was genuine excitement that it would bring a boost to tourism and improve the average person's lot, I hope they, like their national team weren't too disappointed with the way things worked out?



Some friendly Zulus at Shakaland!

2010 Zulu tour group at Ulundi, site of the final battle in 1879

I could (and should) write much more about the trip some day and post some of the many photos and videos I took but space is tight here but I will just mention that the trip, while off the beaten tourist track into deepest KwaZulu-Natal didn't quite cover all the historical sites connected with Shaka and the Anglo-Zulu War, so I'm very, very fortunate to be currently planning to re-join the redoubtable Mr Knight and a few other intrepid adventurers later this spring to return to Zululand in search of some of these hidden and largely forgotten places when I hope to deepen my understanding and respect of the Zulu nation and who would have thought that all this would come from a small boy watching that movie all those years ago.....



Comparison of my comic's Rorke's Drift Zulu Memorial with
the real thing! 



The modern Zulu Warrior's memorial at Rorke's Drift with the
wreath I was honoured to place



The British Soldier's memorial at Rorke's Drift