Continuing our annual Best of the Year post, today we’re asking one of the UK’s top comics writers and artists, Bryan Talbot. Bryan is well known (and respected) for his ability to create a wide variety of work and styles and the last year or so continues to prove this; following the success of the brilliant Alice in Sunderland he’s collaborated with Mark Stafford on the pants-wettingly funny Cherubs, regaled us with behind the scenes tales of comics creators in The Naked Artist (with Hunt Emerson) and seen a very fine new hardback edition of his extremely moving and powerful Tale of One Bad Rat published; he’s currently working on a fascinating sounding steampunk tale, Grandville and somehow along the way he found time to help Veronique Tanaka get her unusual Metronome ‘silent’ graphic novel into print (and I’m glad he did). Let’s see what Bryan’s been enjoying through 2008:
FPI: Could you tell us what your favourite three comics/graphic novels and/or books have been this year and why they stood out for you?
Bryan: Funny, they’re all by women. Funny because I couldn’t have said that even two or three years ago. It shows how much women are embracing the medium. And they’re bringing in a whole new audience of readers. In no particular order: Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan, Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry and Tamara Drew by Posy Simmonds. They stood out because they’re all bloody brilliant.
FPI: In other art forms was there anything in the world of radio, TV, film or other artistic endeavours that really drew your attention this year?
Bryan: Doctor Who! Great season, even though I’m not a huge Catherine Tate fan. About the only TV I’ve watched since Life on Mars and the last series of Shameless finished.
FPI: On the professional front how did you see the comics world in 2008, from your own point of view as a creator putting your work out there (did you feel it was a good year for you?) and what did you think of the way the comics biz was in general this year? The business becoming more diversified, more accessible to new readers and creators or less welcoming?
Bryan: For me, the trend of the graphic novel becoming an acceptable medium to traditionally non-comic readers continued apace. I was a guest at about five literary festivals this year and half a dozen libraries. Alice in Sunderland went to its fourth printing and Jonathan Cape reprinted The Tale of One Bad Rat in hardback so it’s widely available in high street bookstores for the first time.
FPI: What’s the next project you are working on that we can look forward to?
Bryan: A new graphic novel called Grandville. It’s a steampunk detective thriller with anthropomorphic character. Sherlock Holmes meets Quentin Tarantino with animals! Out next October from Jonathan Cape. (check here for some sneak peek previews – Joe)
(panels from the preview pages of Grandville, by and (c) Bryan Talbot)
FPI: Lastly, are there any new names you’ve come across recently you’d like to pass on as ones to watch for?
Bryan: Hannah Berry, whose first published comic work, Britten and Brulightly, I mentioned above. She’s going to be huge. She’s only 25 and is already an exceptional talent. I should also mention Garen Ewing – whose The Rainbow Orchid has been going for a while in one form or other but the album only came out this year.
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December 8th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Didn’t both Tamara Drewe and Exit Wounds come out last year? Far as I know barring a print of 50 copies Garen’s book isn’t out until late 2009. Hannah Berry seems quite the toast – personally I didn’t get it – seemed weak to me – like a first effort.