The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

News from the New British Comics camp (review of issue 3 here) and another of their competitions, all connected with that rather good cover by Lawrence Elwick. There are 2 free copies to win, and winners will get a special drawn dedication from Lawrence, who’ll either draw the winner or one of the characters from the book.

All you need to do is take a look at the cover and answer one or both of these questions:

Contest #1: Name all the characters (animals too!) which appear on the cover of NBC #3. (The winner will be drawn from those who name all the characters, or the highest number if no one gets the lot.)

Contest #2: Take a look on the NBC #3 cover again. All of the characters there have British roots. All but one. Can you tell which? (Again, the winner will be drawn from all correct answers.)

All entries should be sent to Karol at NBC (karolwisnia@gmail.com) with “NBC #3 contest” as a subject. But you’ll have to be quick – the closing date is the 7th of February 2012.

Full details at the NBC Blog.

Nick Abadzis’ Cora strip was originally serialised in The Times (April 2008), and was always expected to be in The DFC at some point, as Abadzis was heavily involved with the development and launch of the comic (June 2008).

But now, nearly 4 years later, it’s finally seeing print in The Phoenix Comic. A long gestation perhaps, but it’s Nick Abadzis, so no doubt it’s going to be worth the wait, especially as The Phoenix promises they’ll be printing the entire saga starting later this year:

Here’s the PR:

“When Cora and her inquisitive dog Zephyr chow down on a mysterious box of alien breakfast cereal there are some absolutely extraordinary consequences! And you can share their wild, thrilling and very funny adventures every week from this Autumn. Wahoo!

A few of you may have been lucky enough to spot a mini-season featuring Cora in The Guardian newspaper, so you’ll have a little clue into how wonderful it is. But … those strips barely scratched the surface of this sparkling story, or its smart environmental undertones. So we’re absolutely delighted that the Phoenix will be home to the full epic series. And we can’t wait to share it with you.”

And for those more adult fans of Abadzis, 2012 is looking to be a good year, as we’ve the release of the complete Hugo Tate from Blank Slate Books later this spring.

The last of our interviews with the stars of Paper Science is with The King of Things. His story has appeared in the most recent four issues of the anthology, illustrated by the Vimto Corporation’s favourite customer, Mister Adam Cadwell. They’re available to buy online now.

Matthew Sheret: Of all the publications in the world, why did you choose Paper Science as the place to publish the first of your stories?

The King of Things: I have known the editor of the aforementioned periodical for quite some time. I first met a young, fresh faced Matty Sheret on an expedition into the treacherous candy caves of Western Saccharine. I was hoping to discover evidence of the fabled Sweet Tooth Yeti, and young Matty was there to acquire all the uncut peppermint he could fit in his satchel. On our way back to base camp, Matty, with a gut full of sugar, was sick on my cape. I, being a seasoned adventurer, had packed a spare and was not perturbed. I took care of the young lad that evening and told him tales over the camp fire of treasures lost, found and forgotten. Though he was sickly, I enjoyed his company very much and am glad to say I made a friend that night.

Years later, a taller, wiser, stubblier Matt Sheret had taken up residence in our nation’s capital, running odd jobs for pirate radio stations and wealthy artisans. He sent a telegram asking me to visit him to discuss a business opportunity. As I was to visit Oxford around that time to hunt for Gargoyle droppings I obliged him and a train ride later we met in the smoky and colloquial surrounds of a Mile End “boozer”. He told me of his dreams to become a newspaper man, all pinstripes and leaky pocket pens. He had bought a decrepit printing press and saved it from demolition. His company was to be called simply ‘Words’ and he’d usher in a new age of reading to really plump up the brains of those young guns around him striding through the city with their tight trousers and hair-dos. Matt remembered my camp fire stories and asked me to write a weekly column, something about natural history and cryptozoology. I told him I’d consider his kind offer and after scouring the cobbles of Oxford for just the right kind of pebble I returned home. I declined his offer but it gave me the idea of writing my memoirs.

A couple of years on I heard again from Mr. Matthew Sheret, now a towering, beardy gentleman famed for touring the country with his vagabond caravan of writers, artists, comedians and tagalongs. His jolly vaudevillian troupe were staying near my village for some kind of pagan festival wherein they deafened cows and lived in tents without washing for as long as they could bear it. I took a stroll with my old friend through Appelhed’s Orchard one balmy afternoon. He told me how he had expanded his empire beyond the confines of journalism into pictorial storytelling, a new craze sweeping the capital’s youngsters. He was a newspaper scientist now, he told me, and his periodical contained only curiously annotated drawings. His company had expanded it’s name to ‘Words + Pictures’. It seemed like a crazy idea and by golly I liked it! I pitched him an idea, right there and then, as cider apples fell and rolled into the stream. He could serialise my memoirs in pictorial form and I would employ an artist to illustrate the artefacts, trinkets, locales and acquaintances I encountered on each adventure. We shook hands on it moments before Farmer Appelhed shooed us off his land and waded into the stream after his runaway children.

MS: How long have you and your biographer, Mister Adam Cadwell, been acquainted?

TKoT: Only I could possibly be called my biographer. The Cadwallader boy, talented with a brush though he is, serves simply as an illustrator, rendering the precise scenes and events I recount. I sought out his services days after my meeting with Mr. Sheret in the orchard. I was strolling through the town when I spotted a bright eyed but scruffy young urchin repainting a local shop sign. He had added a few charming flourishes I could tell were not part of the original sign. It was clearly thirsty work atop that creaky old ladder so I bought him a cold grape drink from the nearby tonic stand. As he took a break and slurped the purple juice, I asked him if he could paint scenes and people as well as signs. He nodded furiously and whipped out a scraggy stack of paper, folded and stapled and full of drawings of his face. At first I was disheartened but as I flicked through I could see potential and improvement. From then on he visited me a few times a week, I told him of my exciting life and he would scribble things down. A week or two later he would appear holding aloft colourful renditions of my youth and I’d pay him in that grape juice he loves so much.

MS: Did Mister Cadwell mention anything he particularly enjoyed about working in the newspaper format?

TKoT: He did! The bigger he can draw the more details he can squeeze in knowing they won’t be lost when shrank for the printed page. This enables me to fondly remember more intricate details of my travels. He also greatly enjoys colouring in, and boy, does he use all the colours.

MS: After issue 7 Paper Science is going on a bit of a break for while, but if you could pick a theme for a future issue what would it be and who would draw the cover?

TKoT: My that is a humdinger! I do think I would choose the theme of Treasure. People’s minds my jump to thoughts of swarthy pirates plundering booty but may I remind them of the old adage ‘One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure!’ As for who would draw the cover, hmm? Cadwallader’s already had his turn. He giggled the whole time, let me tell you. Maybe the boy’s long lost cousin could do it, he was adrift at sea for many years but regained his memory a while back. Warwick‘s his name. I could telegram him for you, should you wish? As far as my knowledge of Matthew’s associates goes, perhaps the talents of Ms. Samantha Borras, Duchess Josceline Fenton or that clever chap Dr. Robert Ball? Or what about the rosy cheeked Daniel Berries? Oh, I don’t know. You’ve confused an old man. Are you happy now?

MS: Have you any plans to publish more graphical interpretations of your adventures?

TKoT: Why yes! The first has been very popular I’m told. I’ve been collecting forgotten antiquities and treasured items my entire life so I have hundreds of yarns to tell. Most of which are recorded in my memoirs. If the Cadwallader boy can find the time outside his lucrative sign painting business we’ll eventually have them all illustrated. I best stock up on grape juice.

MS: Have you any upcoming expeditions planned? Has Mister Cadwell spoken to you about what he will be scribbling next?

TKoT: Indeed I do, my good chap! I’m soon to set off for an auction where I have a lead on an antique set of whistles which, if my theory proves correct, may be something quite whimsical indeed. As for Cadwallader, I’ve got him working on a short tale about my One Trick Wand and I think after that I’ll recount a longer tale about a dangerous doorstop and gnomes.

Adam Cadwell frequently put his pictures on the internet, and sells some of them too. You can read The King of Things’ debut adventure in issues 4-7 of Paper Science. FPI would like to thank Matthew and the King for taking the time to discuss the Paper Science anthology work; you can read all of the special Paper Science guest interview from this week here on the blog.

Paper Science Issue 7 – Travel

We Are Words + Pictures

Edited by Matthew Sheret

Contributors include Adam Cadwell, David O’Connell, Octavia Raitt, Rob Cureton, James Downing, John Cei Douglas, Marc Ellerby & Meryl Trussler, Kayla Marie Hillier, Philip Spence, Tom Smith, Anne Holiday& Tom Humberstone,

The seventh and final issue (for the time being at least) of Matthew Sheret’s newspaper anthology. And possibly/probably one of the best so far – certainly a great, great cover by Adam Cadwell to delight and introduce you to the issue’s theme. This time we’re travelling, whether it’s actual travel, or merely the idea of it is played upon by each strip inside. And, as you’ll expect by now, the insides feature some of the great and the good from the UK comic scene.

So here we go… one last time…. it’s Paper Science’s best bits from issue 7, although to be honest, it was pretty much universally good this time round.

Special mention has to go to Adam Cadwell, delivering a satisfying and fun fourth and final part to his all-ages The King Of Things adventure. It’s been a lovely strip, bold colours, lovely little story. More soon hopefully.

(Adam Cadwell – The King Of Things)

Philip Spence evokes the artistic stylings of his been away too long Ninja Bunny to deliver a (very) abridged version of the classic Journey To The West (or Monkey to many of us) that’s pithy yet funny:

(Philip Spence – Journey To The West)

The back-pager gives us bird-watching on the Scottish coast, courtesy of Anne Holiday and Tom Humberstone. A simple tale, beautifully drawn by Humberstone.:

(Holiday and Humberstone – The Blushing Scot)

Kayla Marie Hillier knows a lot about this whole travel thing, having comic-ed about it extensively in her lovely Gallavant webcomic (and print available here). Having seen that develop and mature, in both storytelling and artwork, it’s so pleasing to see this latest strip show off just how far Hillier’s come – she show’s off not only some very nice linework, but delivers a gentle, impassioned love letter to a new hometown, evoking both a sense of travel and of return, of finding a place.

(Kayla Marie-Hillier – Lost & Found)

And finally – John Cei Douglas’ Follow Me is quite lovely, a favourite here amongst some really strong competition. Mixing comics and illustration so well in just one page that delivers a story with a delightful innocence, a playful sense of journeying through fantastical places (or merely a child’s imagination), and a sweetness that’s perfectly done:

(John Cei Douglas – Follow Me)

Across its seven issues Paper Science has comfortably and consistently produced some great works, introduced me to some wonderful artists, shown me some old favourites. In this it sits alongside other similar anthology works; Solipsistic Pop, Comix Reader, Ink + Paper et al, all of which have done great things in bringing a group of artists to (we hope) wider acclaim).

As a showcase, it’s been a success, and its format has been a continual joy for me. I do so love these newspaper comics, and trust we’ll see the format continue to be used long after paper Science finishes.

A final mention has to go to Matt Sheret, who’s stewardship has meant Paper Science continually strived to improve, to be as good as it could be, as good as it regularly was. It’s thanks to him that Paper Science exists, and we all thank him for the 7 issues. Hopefully, as he promises on the first page, we’ll see more from the Words + Pictures collective very soon. Right after he comes back from that well earned holiday.

Paper Science is available from the Words + Pictures website.

One of the most rewarding experiences at the Angoulême Comics Festival has to be the Pavillon des Jeunes Talents, the tent that showcases the best entries to the yearly competition for young cartoonists.  Every year, hundreds of young artists from all around the world send in a sample of their work, typically a three-to-four page short story, hoping for a spot on the exhibition and a flash of recognition from one of the many publishers that roam the festival.

This year was no exception, and the quality of the selection was amazingly high, as was the variety in drawing style, subject matter and narration.  One constant though: all entries showed a remarkable level of self-confidence and grip on the medium the artists had chosen.

As of this year, you too can discover the richness of comics to come by heading over to the EspritBD website.  This service, developed with generous financial aid of the French Caisse d’Epargne bank, allows young artists to showcase their works.  It offers a full-fledged authoring kit you can use to turn your pages in a professional-looking e-book, and for each author has his own profile page with links to Facebook, Twitter, a blog, etc.

For readers, EspritBD has a wide range of browsing facilities, from genres and subjects to a number of official selections, such as the Jeunes Talents (showcasing the entries to the Angoulême competition), the Révélation Blog (a selection of the best Webcomics, predominantly in French though) and BD Scolaire (which focuses on comics created by cartoonists in their teens).  You can also create your own bookshelf, or select a number of strips to read after one another in a playlist. And naturally, you can “like” and “share” what you read on your social medium of choice.

EspritBD also has a client for IOS devices, which even allowed us to scan the artwork at the exhibition, and browse the other works by the artist that created it.  It was pretty neat, and in my opinion a very valuable resource for all starting cartoonists.

You can read Wim’s previous posts from this year’s BD festival here, here and also his previews of the festival here, here and here.

I love Sean Azzopardi‘s sketch of the brilliant Eddie Campbell at Angoulême at the weekend:

The latest issue of anthology Paper Science is out this week, and we’re running interviews with some of its stars each day this week. Today it’s the turn of Josceline Fenton, who contributed to Paper Science’s music special last summer to talk to Matthew Sheret..

Matthew Sheret: Your contribution to Paper Science’s music special is lots of fun; how did it come about?

Josceline Fenton: When I was coming up with ideas I was thinking about neighbours being annoyed by music. Then I started thinking it would be a bit irritating if you were an animal living underneath a field where a festival was being held. Originally the story was going to be about a fox, but somehow it turned into a little devil instead. I think it turned out cuter that way though, even if it’s a bit odd.

MS: Is there anything you’ve particularly enjoyed about working in the newspaper format?

JF: I really liked the way the colours turned out on newsprint, it just looks very satisfying somehow! It was a big change for me to do something that size, most of my work is very small.

MS: Hemlock has getting a lot of love from a huge variety of critics and creators lately. Are you happy with how it’s going?

JF: Very happy! I’ve had to slow it down a bit recently since I’m in the final year of my degree, but I try and get at least a page up every week. I’m really grateful that people are still reading it despite that. At the moment I’m also working on a secret project as part of my degree called “Kikimora”. It’s related to Hemlock but it’s less of a comic and more like something between an art book and a “choose your own adventure” story. I’m hoping it will be printed in time for May, but it’s going to be tight! It’s still in the planning stages.

MS: What do you think about the current crop of UK anthologies (I’m thinking of Nelson, Solipsistic Pop and ink+PAPER as well Paper Science)?

JF: I like that they’re all trying to do something very different to each other in terms of format and content. But I think it would be nice if there were more anthologies exclusively for people who are just starting out, since a lot of the anthologies you name focus on established creators. Factor Fiction’s “The Girly Comic” was where I first started out. Jay and Selina were very supportive, and that was what encouraged me to self-publish longer stories.

MS: After issue 7 Paper Science is going on a bit of a break for while, but if you could pick a theme for a future issue what would it be and who would draw the cover?

JF: Halloween special! There are a lot of people who could draw a suitably spooky cover. I’d like to see what Harvey James would come up with, I bet it would be gruesome.

Josceline can be found at her website, and you can catch up with Hemlock (which has been a fave of the blog crew) online too. Paper Science is available now. FPI would like to thank Josceline and Matthew for taking the time to share their thoughts on the anthology. You can read the other interviews in this series here; come back tomorrow for our final interview, with none other than The King of Things.

The Undisputed King Of Nothing – Issue 1

By Paul Stapleton

November: A new strain of flu hits Britain.

March: Spring wakes up to an empty world.

But a single life abides.

Even nothing needs its king

That is a cracking four line back-cover blurb right there. Cracking. Made me really keen to see just what Stapleton had for us, whether he was going to head for downbeat thought piece, a variation on the post-apocalyptic zombie thing, or something else.

However…. in all honesty, that was the high point of the comic. Which sounds a horrible thing to say, but putting it into context will help. There’s a fair bit about The Undisputed King Of Nothing (title, concept, setting, tone) that works really well and I’ll be interested to see where Stapleton takes it. The thing is, that back-cover blurb had me thinking it was going to be really, really good. And it’s not. It’s good enough, but there’s too many faults to live up to the hype.

It starts beautifully, and from just these panels I thought I was in for a real treat. Maybe I just like moody shots of landscape too much, I don’t know:

The whole issue is one man, post apocalypse, the “single life” of the blurb, who spends all day, every day, walking the desolate, broken streets, looking for any tiny sign of anyone else. And he hasn’t seen anyone for weeks. Food, power, his teeth – all worrysome. The answer he finds is to immerse himself into a daily routine, cycling, foraging, stealing, searching. Day after day, cycling through the car-strewn streets.

To keep himself from going mad, he narrates, he thinks, then he writes it all down. Or perhaps, just perhaps, he’s already gone mad, and these meandering thoughts are the perfect example of it. Mad or not, he’s the last one alive as far as he knows, and he’s barely surviving.

There’s one point where Stapleton has his protagonist say this:

“It’s amazing really. I have so many things to get done yet I still find the time to write this horseshit every day.”

Please, don’t get the idea I’m accusing Stapleton of writing horseshit, I’m really not. But he has overwritten it, and that almost seems like, right at the end of this first chapter, to be his way of explaining it. It’s written this way becuase that’s what he wanted to get over in the issue, the isolation, the loneliness, the desperate desire to hear something, even if it’s only the sound of your voice inside your head as it goes down on the page I suppose.

But to me all that thinking just overwhelms the story, and certainly overwhelms the artwork:

Thing is, you might not think the same. Maybe it is just me. I know I bloody hate the sort of people who seem determined in this life to take my precious moment of quiet and fill it with their incessant blabber. And that’s what this feels like. I wouldn’t like this bloke in real life, and he annoys me in comic form.

Yeah, I know he’s thinking it all, and that’s just what I’d do as well, but on a comic page, thoughts have substance and a volume, and sadly these are overwhelming and deafening.

But right at the end. With just that moment, with the character actually interjecting over his own thoughts, with a “hang on” – then it gets interesting again. Enough to rescue it, enough to make me want to read a second issue? Yeah, I reckon so.

Sure, his art is much, much better when he’s focusing on the landscape rather than the man, as his figure work’s not up to much. But I can cope with that. I don’t know if I can hack another issue of deafening thinking all over the pages, but I’ll be around to see what happens.

You can buy The Undisputed King Of Nothing at Stapleton’s website.

Pat Mills points us to a podcast recording of the talk he had with Grant Rogers at the Comics & Conflicts events last summer in the Imperial War Museum, organised by Alex Fitch, Paul Gravett and Ariel Khan, now online so those of us who couldn’t be there can get a listen.

Continiung our reports from this year’s Angoulême comics festival  which Wim kicked off live from the event on Friday, today we have a special treat as the excellent Sean Azzopardi, now a confirmed veteran of the BD festival, kindly agreed to give us his take on Angoulême from the point of view of an independent comics creator, over to this major French festival, once more, with a whole bunch of folks from the Brit comics community. Over to Sean:

This year was a really fun trip.

I had decided beforehand to try and have a more rounded festival experience and combine time behind our author table with attending talks and exhibitions. With that in mind I only travelled to the con with a bunch of mini – comics, which traditionally do sell well. This year the crew consisted of myself, Francesca Cassavetti, Sally Anne Hickman and Oliver Lambden. We have retired the Bastards name and went along as Azfab.

We met Stephen Betts, Ellen Lindner, Gary Northfield And Lauren O’Farell at Eurostar, and then travelled first leg with Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury. In Lille we met the Nobrow crew and Martin Steenton who I was sharing a Tumblr blog that was initiated by Dan Berry.

Straight of the train and to the tent we set up the table and met our neighbours Tom and Chris from AdHouse books. Then off to the house for a night of food and wine (well, when in France…). Thursday was creators meet and greet, so a relaxed day. I went to the Spiegelman exhibition that was split over two sites, the Castro building and the museum. It was great. I actually got the random chance to speak to him, congratulated him on his exhibition. I managed to remain conversational and not gush or ask to have a photo taken with him or give him comics. Later there was an evening of parties; the stand out was at La Maison des Auteurs, which always exhibits excellent work.

Friday was a busier day but took the time out to go to the Eddie Campbell talk. On returning to the table it was obvious that my comics were not going to sell in any great number. So I decided to just relax and enjoy the event. I took a bunch of mini comics round for review, had an accidental  ‘folio review with l’association who liked my drawings. That was an amazingly good feeling.

(pics all by Sean and taken from his Flickr)

Saturday was madness – so many people. This was Francesca’s day as she sold loads. There was no Chris Ware, and the Charles Burns talk was full when we got there. I also got to meet Wim (our very own Continental Correspondent – Joe), which was nice. The Raw talk was held in a cupboard-sized room, so that was a blow-out as well.

Sunday was a more sedate day and this was Sally’s day. I took another look round the Spiegelman exhibition and almost got knocked over by the man himself, a huge media scrum and, apparently, President Sarkozy. It was insane. I just love the whole craziness of this type of large-scale event. It’s like living in a cartoon village, with NO spandex heroes – bliss! After I tried to get into the Fred exhibition but there was just no chance, it was rammed.

If I have a complaint at all, it is that the programming with the venues seemed perhaps a bit lopsided. Overall though my Angoulême 2012 experience was really good. I still feel restricted by language when dealing with publishers, so it’s back to French classes for me. I always return from this festival full of inspiration. It’s such an amazing experience and if any cartoonist is serious about the medium then they have to visit.

Simple.

FPI would like to thank Sean for his time and report – you can follow more of Sean’s work on his own site here and as we mentioned yesterday he has already uploaded a pile of photographs from this year’s festival onto Flickr. Stay tuned for more on this year’s festival from Wim shortly.

Josh Trank’s upcoming new movie Chronicle takes on of the well-known clichés of the superhero genre – the sudden granting of superpowers through contact with a strange source – but treats it a little differently than the usual spandex-fest, taking a cooler, more lo-fi approach. When a group of high school friends find themselves developing powers from a mysterious substance they’re not sure what to do about it – what would any of us do in that situation? Without training or discipline or focus it could be too easy to cause an accident with those new powers… As they develop they begin to experiment and have fun with them, playing pranks, but as they gain confidence and experience in their new abilities they start to push the boundaries of what they will do – but with those growing powers and confidence comes a sense of impunity and immortality, which may challenge their own sense of morality and just how far they might go…

Chronicle has opened in UK cinemas with preview screenings already, and opens fully on general release this weekend; our friends behind the film are helping us celebrate the film’s opening with a very generous competition. Social media and tech features in the film, with the movie gleefully playing with the conventions of the ‘found footage’ genre, and they have given us some cracking prizes: a dual core MacBook Air and a Canon EOS 550D camera. To be in with a chance of winning one of these brilliant prizes just send us your name and contact details to joe (dot) gordon (at) forbiddenplanet (dot) co (dot) uk and tell us the name of the director of Chronicle before February 15th (and if you could put ‘chronicle’ in the subject line, please). Good luck!

The Embassy of Japan and partners have again organised the now traditional annual Manga Jiman competition for new manga comics talent in the UK. The award ceremony is due to be held this Friday in the Japanese Embassy in London, where the final selection will be made. Competing for the top prize (a return trip to Japan) are:

Anya Zhuravskaya – ‘Storyteller Sisters’
Ami Clark – ‘The Flower That Held Its Breath’
Byron Reynolds – ‘Crash Course’
Dean McKnight & Jade Sarson – ‘Shear Brilliance’
Elena Vitagliano – ‘The Deep Needs Train’
Gillian Ha – ‘To The Girl With The Butterfly Ears’
Lorenzo Fruzza – ‘Heart’s Orbit’
Megan Wheeler – ‘A Harvest Love’
Rebecca Burgess – ‘Letters From England’
Sarah Burgess – ‘The Man and his Shadow’
Vivian Truong – ‘Moving On’

As is traditional now with the Manga Jiman competition, the work of all the shortlisted nominees will be displayed at an exhibit in the Embassy (101/104 Piccadily, W1J7JT) which will run from February 6th to 28th. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm and is free to enter, although being in an Embassy building you will need some form of photographic ID for entry. Good luck to all the nominees and of course if you’re in the city during February do swing by the exhibition and give them all some support.

Today it’s the turn of David O’Connell in our series of daily interviews with some of the stars of the Paper Science. David appears in Paper Science 7, which hits stores this week and is available to order online.

Matthew Sheret: This is your second contribution to Paper Science – what tempted you back?

David O’Connell: I love the newspaper format and would like to use for a project of my own but haven’t got around to it yet – I’m quite happy to piggy-back onto someone else’s project in the meantime. Paper Science has been a great showcase for comics: large-scale yet easy to tuck under your arm or into your bag, colourful with high-quality contributions but still with a rough and ready feel to it. Plus, I could never refuse anything to a gentleman such as Mr Sheret.

MS: Is there anything you’ve particularly enjoyed about working in the newspaper format?

DO: I like that you have to think much harder about how the finished comic will look. Newsprint isn’t so forgiving with respect to your colour choices as a higher quality paper and it adds a texture of its own that isn’t always predictable in its effects. You have to consider the craft more, but there’s still an element of guesswork to it that makes it exciting.

MS: In the last few months you started editing another anthology, ink+PAPER; what tempted you to put on the editorial hat?

DO: It looked like a fun chapeau to don. I also thought there was a place for a book where story and text were on a more equal footing with art and style, something you can read over a few cups of tea rather than something you’ve finished before the kettle’s even boiled. Another idea was to show comics as part of the wider graphic arts world, combining comics with articles on photography, design and craft, so that overall it has a feel of a zine crossed with an old-school comic annual. I was thrilled by the stories people produced for it, the way it turned out and the response it’s received so far.

MS: Do you think that the current crop of UK anthologies are doing a good job of showcasing creators, or is there more to do?

DO: They’re great books and they’re doing wonderful work. But us independent comickers live in a bit of a bubble – we all follow each other on twitter and facebook, attend the same events and read the same blogs. A new publication can seem like a huge deal to us because it’s the only thing everyone on our twitter feed is talking about, but we forget that everyone outside that small subgroup doesn’t even know it exists.

In putting together ink+PAPER I’ve been swamped with submission requests – creating a good book is relatively easy with the wealth of talent that’s out there at the moment. But getting it seen by anyone beyond your small subgroup is the hard part, and that’s where the work lies. And it’s work that is boring, repetitive, time-consuming, financially unrewarding, completely uncreative and requires personality traits with which most comickers are not naturally gifted. I’d love the hand the whole distribution thing over to somebody else – is someone out there prepared to run a small-print-run indie comic distro that deals with non-comic bookshops and outlets? Let me know.

MS: After issue 7 Paper Science is going on a bit of a break for while, but if you could pick a theme for a future issue what would it be and who would draw the cover?

DO: “Life in the gutter”. Cover by Louis Roskosch

David’s work can be found online and at a great many comic shows throughout the year. Find out more about ink+PAPER over the anthology’s website. Paper Science is available now. Tomorrow we catch up with Hemlock creator Josceline Fenton. You can follow the Paper Science 7 interviews so far here on the blog. FPI would like to thank Matthew and David for taking the time to talk us through the new issue.

Another month begins, another list of graphic novels and comics we’d like to suggest you take a look at coming at you over the next couple of months… here’s what we’re looking forward to:

FEBRUARY 2012

Finally! Finally! Hopefully…. Morrison and Quitely’s Flex Mentallo re-released

Early Warren Ellis Stormwatch re-released in HC.

First Second release Faith Erin Hicks’ Friends With Boys – webcomic here.

Mary Talbot’s first Graphic Novel, alongside husband Bryan for what looks like a classic debut: Dotter Of Her Father’s Eyes.

And after a debut, here’s a finale. A very sad finale, as this is the last work of Harvey Pekars we’ll ever be lucky enough to see. The master of autobiog is back in Cleveland.

And there’s a new book from Joe Sacco – Journalism. Three must buys I reckon.

King City Comics – by the brilliant Brandon Graham, finally gets collected.

Old buddy, ex-Nostalgia & Comics alumni Ben McCool’s PIGS gets a first collection (biased – absolutely!).

SelfMadeHero release the latest Edginton/Culbard adaptation – Princess Of Mars.

Gloriana – latest from Kevin Huizenga.

Dick Turpin and the Crimson Plague from Time Bomb comics – Britains most famous highwayman comes up against vampires!

Whilst Nobrow’s Cramond Island has Edinburgh native Joe all excited!

Hector Umbra – Out from Blank Slate through previews in February – and previewed here.

Ampney Circus – another Ian Edginton book – from 2000AD this time, and it sounds bloody great!

Kolor Klimax showcases the best of alternative Scandanavian cartooning talent.

MARCH 2012

Compleat Terminal City – brilliant from Motter and Lark, much overlooked over the years.

New HB collection of Elektra: Assassin – back in the days when Miller was readable, ably assisted by manic Sienkievicz artwork, this was magnificent.

Hugo Pratt’s epic, iconic Corto Maltese reissued – it’s been too long! (Meant to be March, but may be out earlier)

More from Blank Slate…..  Laurie J Proud’s Peepholes.

Interiorae – Gabriella Giandelli’s masterpiece Interiorae is a mash-up of day-to-day drama and surreal fantasy set in a high-rise apartment building.

Fallen Words – A new graphic novel from the forefather of the Japanese literary comics movement.

I’m Never Coming Back – a collection of surreal, comic and mournful interweaving tales travelling across three continents, by Observer/Cape/Comic award winning Julian Hanshaw.

Monsieur Jean, acclaimed creation of celebrated European creators Phillippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian, is back in this stand-alone volume

Megalex – Written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, with art and cover by Fred Beltran.

SelfMadeHero with a couple of lovely horror books - Lovecraft Anthology Vol 2, and a new Cthulu adaptation from INJ Culbard – The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward.

And completing a triumverate of books with art from INJ Culbard; here’s New Deadwardians #1, coming from DC/Vertigo.

New Andi Watson! Always a great phrase to utter – Gum Girl is out from Walker Books on the 1st.

Warren Ellis’ 6-issue run on Secret Avengers gets a collection – great spy-tech stuff going on.

And finally – Blue is the debut graphic novel of Australian cartoonist Pat Grant. Part autobiography and part science fiction, Blue is the story of three spotty teenagers who skip school to go surfing only to end up investigating rumours of a dead body in their beach town. Looks stunningly good – see here for pages.

Okay, that’s it for this  month – what looks good to you coming to the shelves?

Andy Luke follows up his impressive Abscence comic, which went out to a variety of organisations across Northern Ireland to promote awareness and understanding of living with epilepsy, with an exhibition at Belfast’s Arts & Disability Forum Gallery in Belfast. The exhibtion will include work from his comics such as “Gran, a reaction to the death of a family member, celebrating legacy; Absence, a study of how epilepsy has affected the artist’s life; and Don’t Get Lost, about a social group shattered by rape. Andy will be in residence at the ADF on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the exhibition, developing a new visual narrative in response to news topics that will be worked live on the gallery walls.”

There’s a preview of the exhibition on Thursday 2nd February  from 5 to 7pm, with the actual exhibition being opened to all from 3rd of February to March 15th. In addition to the exhibition Andy will be giving a talk on Thursday 16th February at 2pm and he will be leading a free comics workshop on Friday 24th February at 11am (you still need to book both the event though as spaces are limited). Some of Andy’s work should also be going up on the ADF’s website. And while we’re talking about the talented Mr Luke, you should have a look The Invisible Artist, an impressive half hour video piece on comics history and culture in Northern Ireland which he wrote and presented:

The Invisible Artist from Northern Visions/NvTv on Vimeo.