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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
Nemo: Heart of Ice Original Artwork Now On Sale!
Posted: December 15, 2013
Nemo: Heart of Ice, the new adventure of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from Top Shelf/Knockabout, follows in the traditions of Jules Verne high adventure and Lovecraftian fantasy. After trying for fifteen years to escape the legacy of her famous father - the first Captain Nemo of the Nautilus - Jenni Dakkar finally accepts her destiny and embarks on a perilous expedition to succeed where her father had failed: to explore Antarctica.
The compelling story by Alan Moore is magnified by the extraordinary artwork by Kevin O’Neill, an exceptional creator of atmosphere. His magnificent original pages from the entire album are available for purchase online for one month from Galerie Champaka Brussels. Take a look at the high-res scans and purchasing details on the Champaka website.
Comics Art Picked As Book of The Year!
Posted: December 12, 2013
I am really chuffed that my latest book has been selected by two top critics as their top choices of 2013!
In The Observer, Rachel Cooke has picked Comics Art as one of her Graphic Books of The Year:
“Those interested in putting 21st-century graphic novels in historical context will love the richly illustrated and hugely informative Comics Art (Tate) by Paul Gravett, the co-director of Comica and a regular judge of the Observer‘s annual graphic short story prize.”
Meanwhile, in the New Statesman, Toby Litt has chosen Comics Art as his Book of the Year:
“I’m into comics now - and there’s no better guide to the undiscovered wonders out there, between hard and soft covers, than Paul Gravett. His Comics Art, published as a gorgeous hardback by Tate, is the culmination of a lifetime’s reading, collecting and thinking. There are mind-blowing images on every page turn.”
My Graphixia Interview from Comics Forum Leeds is online!
Posted: December 9, 2013
Peter Wilkins, founder of the lively online discussion site Graphixia, ably hosted short interviews with some of the delegates at last month’s Comics Forum 2013 Conference in Leeds. The line-up features Laura A. Pearson, R. Finn, Lydia Wysock and Mike Thompson (editorial team on Asteroid Belters), Paddy Johnston from the University of Sussex, Louisa Parker from Loughborough University, and finally me, starting 15 minutes in. Take a look! This was filmed ahead of my Conference Keynote, or as Peter put ‘smackdown’, with my good pal Roger Sabin, whom I threatened to arm-wrestle and called a ‘wuss’ - apologies to you, Roger!
Battle Of The Eyes Take Over Orbital Gallery!
Posted: December 8, 2013
The two-headed, multi-faceted art gang that is Battle Of The Eyes have just confirmed their forthcoming exhibition Paint Is… will be held at the Orbital Comics Gallery near Leicester Square, London. The Private View is on January 21st, where BOTE members Chris Long and Edwin Pouncey will be doing a live action painting. Then from January 22nd, BOTE will be working in situ on a large painting that will be on display for the duration of the exhibition till February 14th. There will also be a history wall, examples of recent work, prints, and talks from Chris and Edwin. They will also be selling the first issue of The Battle Of The Eyes Bulletin, together with limited edition reprints of two early BOTE comix.
Essential viewing, listening and reading!
Article: Jaime Hernandez - Breaking Every Rule
Posted: December 8, 2013
Flashback to 1981. In the true D.I.Y. spirit of punk and with some cash from their younger sibling Ismael, Los Bros Hernandez, three twenty-something Latino brothers from Oxnard in Southern California, self-published their 32-page black-and-white comic priced one dollar. They called it Love and Rockets. Instead of the usual Comics Code Authority Seal on the front cover, they drew a stamp stating ‘Fair Warning: This Comic Contains Raw Language, Violence and Nudity’. Inside, they introduced themselves: “We, the brothers (Jaime, ‘Bert, and Mario) Hernandez, have tried to get into the comics jungle for a few years now, but could never seem to make the right connections. But now editor (and future contributor) Mario decided upon himself that it was time to do it ourselves. Our own comics with our own ideas; our own mistakes and our own accomplishments.” Their accomplishments would prove to be remarkable and help trigger a wave of alternative, subversive American comics in the Eighties. Read the rest of my Article here…
The British Library To Exhibit Comics Unmasked in 2014!
Posted: December 7, 2013
First announcements and first image (Dave Gibbons’ cover to The Trials of Nasty Tales from 1973, below) are out this week from The British Library in London about their exciting forthcoming exhibition on British comics. John Dunning and I are co-curating Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK from May 2nd to August 19th in the Library’s main PACCAR Gallery. Lots more details and previews to follow about special exhibit items and a whole programme of related events and activities through the summer. It’s probably the most ambitious and significant exhibition on comics from Britain yet staged in this country.
Dave McKean Exhibition Opens in Brussels Dec 18th!
Posted: December 5, 2013
Callisto and Other Matters is the title of Dave McKean’s forthcoming exhibition opening December 18th at the Petits Papiers Gallery in Brussels. Here’s the poster design for this unmissable selling show of artworks.
Animate Europe Announcements & Exhibit in Brussels!
Posted: December 1, 2013
I am heading off again to Brussels and the stunning Art Nouveau building by Victor Horta which houses The Belgian Comic Strip Centre next Tuesday December 3rd to take part in the announcement of the winner of the Animate Europe comics competition organised by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in collaboration with Dr Lydia Thorn Wickert of Thorn Concept.
I was one of the jury of leading comics creators and experts tasked with selecting the finalists to complete their proposed stories on a European theme and choosing one overall winner. The standard was very high and the viewpoints on Europe diverse and diverting, which made the judging process by Willem De Graeve, Thorsten Ernst, Lilli Gärtner, Andreas C. Knigge, Marzena Sowa, Linda Torfs and myself all the more challenging.
Twenty-one artists from fifteen countries sent in their proposals, seven finalists were picked to finish their graphic short story: Gerardo Cornejo Lucaveche (Belgium), Luke Ellison (USA), André Slob (Netherlands), Emily Victoria Solichin (Indonesia), Marco Tabilio (Italy), James Turek (USA), Kilian & Lukas Wilde (Germany). I hope some of you can join me on Tuesday night to celebrate the varied and outstanding work that was shortlisted and to discover who is the final champion!
Article: PG Previews February 2014
Posted: December 1, 2013
Manga make a big impression within my recommendations for February 2014 thanks to translations of great, accessible single volumes by Moyoco Anno, about her famous husband and their life together, by Jiro Taniguchi about an Edo-period map-maker, and by Inio Asano in an unsettling psychodrama. As an unapologetic Kirbyphile, I have picked two volumes here which celebrate ‘The King’. I also suggest you look into two less-famous American underground comix creators who get some overdue acclaim - the quirky comedienne M.K. Brown and Bobby London, who helmed the daily Popeye newspaper strip.
If I had to pick just one essential purchase this month, it would have to be Just So Happens by Japanese-born, British-based author Fumio Obata. This beautiful and tender debut grew out of his 4-page entry to the Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize a few years ago. It didn’t win but it was a finalist, as all of us judges instantly spotted the talent and seed within it. So now it has been carefully nurtured and expanded by him and the Jonathan Cape editorial team into a stunning graphic novel, fusing elements of manga and bandes dessinées into a unique new voice. I’ve read it and I suspect it will be one of my comics of next year. Read my PG Previews here…
Hoax: My Lonely Heart Opens at Royal Exchange Theatre!
Posted: November 30, 2013
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Ravi Thornton, author of the acclaimed Cape graphic novel debut The Tale of Brin and Bent and Minnow Marylebone illustrated by Andy Hixon, has written a dark musical based on a true story entitled HOAX: My Lonely Heart. It’s accompanied by a new graphic novel called HOAX: Psychosis Blues, also written by Ravi Thornton and involving such leading creators as Bryan Talbot, Hannah Berry and Mark Stafford. Produced by Pippa Frith in association with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester and directed by Benji Reid, it opens next June 4th to 7th and here’s the online booking info.
You can read more about how this is developing here… and about the related comics project here… The buzz about this exciting combination of musical and graphic novel is building!
