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.

By Francesca Cassavetti

Self-Published

Back in 2009 an intrepid band of 10 British cartoonists decided that they were going to visit Angouleme, the pinnacle of Euro-Comics festivals. Not only that, but they decided to exhibit there, amongst the great and the good of Euro-Comics royalty.

An anthology was created (B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. – reviewed here) and they were off. Oh, except instead of ten, this valiant bunch were whittled down to just 4, with lack of money, job conflicts jobs and (I’m guessing here in the case of Schurmgen Jonarhoffs) being a made up character the main reasons.

(Many were chosen, but just four made the epic trip. Onwards you B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. to Angouleme.)

But off they went anyway; Francesca Cassavetti, Sean Azzopardi, Oliver Lambden and Dan Lester. Ready to take on the greatest comic festival in the world. Striptacular 2 recounts their adventures; finding a place to stay (and finding the place they were staying), the perils of getting veggie food in France (pizza and lots of it), the wonders of Angouleme, selling comics in a foreign language, meeting comic heroes (Crumb, Moebius, Joe Sacco, Ivan Brunetti), having comic heroes reject your work (Lewis Trondheim – “Pas Pour Moi” – ouch) and much more.

(Selling comics at Angouleme – seems Sean Azzopardi has it all under control)

Travelogue, diary and journal of a grand adventure, Striptacular 2 is lots of fun and flows along really nicely, full of those beautifully observed little moments that Cassavetti always seems to be able to get down on the comic page so well as she pays as much attention to everything around the festival and her fellow B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. as she does the festival itself.

(The 6 panel Aftermath pages – tighter and crisper Cassavetti artwork compared to the 4 panel Angouleme pages)

But as much as I enjoyed Striptacular, there was a slight nagging thought in my mind all along that it was all a little too rushed. Cassavetti’s artwork, usually so impressively flowing just felt a little too rough here.

I know the Striptacular book was put together quickly between the gang coming back from Angouleme and now, but I can’t help but think a little more time would have made the book a lot better. Or maybe, given that her Aftermath strips are much neater and tighter, it’s just that her 4 panel Angouleme strips are just a touch too big and the 6 panel size of Aftermath suits her art better?

Despite that little concern, Striptacular is still well worth picking up for a unique British self publisher’s view on a marvellous comic experience.

(The B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. at Angouleme – proof that Cassavetti hasn’t just made the whole thing up! Top photo: Lester, Cassavetti, Azzopardi, Ellen Lindner. Bottom photo; Abby Denson, Cassavetti, Lambden, Lester, Azzopardi.)

Cassavetti’s website is here, her blog here and the B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. blog is here. All of our previous coverage of Cassavetti’s excellent work is here – might I particularly recommend the excellent “The Most Natural Thing In The World“.

by Rob Jackson, Francesca Cassavetti, Dave Hughes, Ant Mercer, Jarod Rosello, Lee Johnson, and Simon M.

Self Published

Another anthology title – this one masterminded by Rob Jackson, artist behind Great Deeds Against The Dead and Bog Wizards, and who already has one good anthology under his belt with the Pasty Anthology. Gin Palace features a few names you may already be familiar with from the FPI blog and a few lesser known artists. Although Jackson says there’s no theme to Gin Palace, many of the artists involved have taken the idea of the title and produced alcohol related stories (hmmm, comic creators and alcohol – who would have thought it eh?).

The main problem with Gin Palace is the length of many of the strips; they’re just a little too short for their subject matter – 2 or 3 pages may be enough for a quick, funny gag strip, but anything else really does need a few more pages.

Jackson’s tale; “The Ballad Of Hatty Jack” is a silly, slightly surreal romp through Victorian England where the hat really does make the man, and there are few hats bigger than Hatty Jack, an accidental crimefighter. There’s fun to be had playing on the Victorian setting, chance for Jackson to put a lot of funny incidental jokes into his pages and the inclusion of Sherlock Holmes was a fine, fine touch -

“call himself Murdock Bones … it’s amazing the amount of laudanum he puts away. Wears a fake beard and glasses and a fake nose …. always covered in make up to make himself look dirty .. dresses like an actor who is playing a tramp”

(A city of hats, Murgatroyd & Urchins Ye Olde Laudanum Shop – all part of the rich comedy vein running through Rob Jackson’s Hatty Jack – from The Gin Palace anthology.)

Then there’s Francesca Cassavetti’s 8 page strip: “Measuring Up“. As with pretty much everything of Cassavetti’s that I’ve seen there’s a delightful lightness of touch in both the sentimental, nostalgic story and her rounded, flowing artwork. From childhood to adulthood Cassavetti reminisces over her relationship with alcohol with some typically honest moments that  many of us will recognise.

(Francesca Cassavetti’s first memories of drink, gentle, comforting sentimental stuff – but beautifully done. From The Gin Palace anthology.)

But it’s Dave Hughes, whose previous “Thomas Wogan Is Dead” was reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed here, who really impresses with his stupid but fun science story about a scientific experiment gone awry; “Little Scary Monsters“. Somewhere between Thomas Wogan and now, his style has really sharpened up, his lines are tighter and the whole 5 pages just look really, really good. Noticeably he’s also sticking with the computer font, developed for the reissue of Thomas Wogan from Tabella Press. And it does help to make his strip look far more polished and professional than everything else in Gin Palace. An insignificant thing perhaps and no amount of good lettering will help a bad strip, but when applied to something good like Dave Hughes, it just adds another level of surface polish.

(Recreating Miller and Urey’s famous experiment to create amino acids and generate the basic building blocks of life – although they never reported little scary monsters as a by-product. Maybe they had a secret room full of them? Dave Hughes art from The Gin Palace anthology.)

And after those three strips, Gin Palace is full of decent, but relatively inconsequential strips, short on page count and struggling to be anything more than enjoyable diversions:

Ant Mercer’s “Interview” is a slight two pager on how not to interview for a new job – handy hints; don’t use the phrase “Ladies. I. Am. The. Shit“, don’t swallow a spider and whatever you do, definitely don’t throw up on the desk. There’s another single page word gag later on with “Kennedy“, and both made me think that Mercer’s style looks nice, but there’s just not enough here to really see.

Simon M gives us “In The Gin Palace“, a well drawn three pager on the frustrations of trying to get a drink in a crowded bar. It’s too short, but shows great promise, a lovely cartooning style and beautifully constructed flowing panels:

(Simon M – In The Gin Palace, from the Gin Palace anthology.)

“Rain” by Jared Rosello is another short strip at just 3 pages, but it does work as it’s merely a quick, wordless one idea gag with some great cartooning. Rosello’s a new name to me but I can’t help but think I’ve seen his stuff somewhere else, either that or I’ve seen the style before – who am I thinking he’s drawing like? Answers in the comments please.

(Jarod Rosello  – The Rain, from the Gin Palace anthology.)

Gin Palace ends with the weakest of the lot; Lee Johnson’s “Sin Cat” which certainly isn’t helped by a few layout and technical problems which offsets some of the pages and cuts tops and bottoms of pages off. It doesn’t make it unreadable, but it doesn’t do anything to help. The strip itself is trying too hard to be radical and different and would have been better served by tightening up both narrative and art.

All said, Gin Palace is good, but not excellent. With the likes of Solipsistic Pop and Birdsong already out recently, it’s just that little bit off the pace. There’s just not enough meat on it’s bones and no matter how good the strips are, especially the three by Jackson, Cassavetti and Hughes, the majority of what’s on offer is just that little  bit too slight, that little bit too forgettable. Having said that, Rosello and Simon M. are two I’d very much like to see more of.

Gin Palace is available from Rob Jackson, priced £2.50 at his website.

by Francesca Cassavetti

Fabtoons

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Francesca Cassavetti has a lovely, smooth cartooning style and a wonderful line in gentle storytelling. Her cartooning really is a delight in every one of her comics I’ve seen. And this is no exception.

Sole Searching is a mini comic all about shoes. Now, even though I’m male, I do understand the near obsessional desire surrounding shoes. In many ways it’s just like music, comics or books……. Oh, wait, that’s a fib. I just don’t understand it at all, never have. But after reading Sole Searching I’m just that little bit closer to understanding the shoe thing.

But whether you understand the shoe thing or not, Sole Searching has some great strips from Cassavetti. It all opens with a cautionary tale that shoes can bring great pain as well as great happiness – where one stray lace can lead to a hospital trip and various broken bones. From there I learnt that it’s it’s bad luck to step in dog poo with the right shoe. Left shoe fine, right shoe unlucky. Go figure.

But the absolute highlight is Cassavetti’s fond look at her daughter’s life in shoes, from birth through to adulthood; wellies, jellies, trainers with lights, sandals, heels and flats – all life laid out in footwear. It’s funny, sentimental cartooning, that had me smiling all the way through.

Sole Searching, just like Cassavetti’s other comics, is available from her online shop. If you didn’t already know, I’m not promising you’ll come away with the secret of what makes shoes just so desirable, but you’ll definitely come away feeling great.

Richard Bruton.

Strip!:  Fab Toons and Splendid Zines, tonight at 5pm on Resonance FM, podcast after transmission on Panel Borders

Starting ‘women in comics’ month on the show, we have a couple of interviews with small press creators who are selling their self published periodicals at festivals and competitions around the country. Dickon Harris talks to Bea, a.k.a. Beatrice Lane, in an interview recorded at the Bristol Small Press expo and Alex Fitch talks to Francesca Cassavetti in an interview recorded at “Schmurgen con” in Mile End. Bea publishes “Bear Cave” ‘zines on a variety of subjects from short fiction to music reviews, with her latest issue ‘The most splendid bands I know’ due out shortly, while Francesca’s “Fab Toons” comics tell a variety of autobiographical stories from her life, in strip format, from her days at art school to dating a former punk star and the birth of her first child. (N.B. No Sunday repeat this week as Resonance is broadcasting live from ‘Pestival’ at The South Bank Centre from Friday evening to Midnight on Sunday)

(drunk parents by and (c) Francesca Cassavetti)
Recent podcasts:

Panel Borders: The art of Jill Thompson

Concluding children’s comics month on Panel Borders, the belated podcast of Alex Fitch’s interview with Jill Thompson sees Alex and Jill talk about her career so far from drawing popular DC comics such as Wonder Woman and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to creating her own children’s books Scary Godmother and Magic Trixie. Jill also talks about her influences, her early work on Mike Baron’s Badger and her latest project Beasts of Burden. (With thanks to Gosh! Comics for arranging this interview – originally broadcast 13/11/08 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Panel Borders: Octopi, dogs and bears, oh my!

Continuing children’s comics month on Panel Borders, Alex Fitch talks to artists Henri Goldsmann and Richy K. Chandler about their work. Henri is the author of a new picture book – Harold (a dog’s best friend) – and has a successful career as a caricaturist, having dabbled in graphic novels such as Secret Agent Spanky Sheep on the side. Richy has produced ten terrific mini comics such as Lucy the Octopus and Govinda the Meditating Rabbit over the last couple of years which are now available in a cute bear shaped box set… (Originally broadcast 13/08/09 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Electric Sheep podcast: Dario Argento special

Alex Fitch talks to director Dario Argento about his career from writing Once upon a time in the West to directing his new film Giallo, in an interview recorded at this year’s Cine-Excess festival. Also, in a Q & A recorded live on stage at the Supersonic music festival in Birmingham, Alex talks to the Italian prog rock band Goblin about scoring Argento’s films from Profondo Rosso / Deep Red to Non ho sonno / Sleepless…

Reality Check: Supermarionation special, online at Sci-Fi London

In a special episode looking at two of the people most closely associated with classic Supermarionation TV shows, Alex Fitch and Robin Warren are talking to Francis Matthews about providing the voice of Captain Scarlet and playing cult detective Paul Temple on TV. Alex is also talking to Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson about some of his more obscure titles from Fireball XL5 to Lavender Castle… (Originally broadcast 16/07/09 & 13/08/09 on Resonance FM)

In print:

Ther’s tha devil movin’ in my blood’. The autumn 09 print issue of Electric Sheep looks at religious extremes on film from Christic masochism to satanic cruelty. The extraordinary White Lightnin’ explores the Old Testament world of demented mountain dancer Jesco White while Klaus Kinski disastrously reinterprets the New Testament in Jesus Christ Saviour – and subversives Alejandro Jodorowsky and Kenneth Anger dynamite divine myths. Plus: Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Raindance 09, political animation, louche mariachi rockabilly Dan Sartain picks his top films and Alex Fitch looks at the history of Rasputin on Film. New illustrations by Julia Scheele and James Stringer plus a comic strip review of the films of Coffin Joe by Daniel Locke.

Anthology edited by Jim Medway

Self Published

(Garden Funnies #2 cover: “A Captive Audience” by Gary Northfield.)

Garden Funnies is a lovely all-ages anthology edited by Jim Medway featuring a host of talented folk. It’s Limited to 200 copies and is 22 pages of all-ages horticultural humour with a very fitting green look to all the pages and rather natty rounded corners to boot! (A simple thing, but very effective.)

Molly was most pleased to get her copy in the post and, on finishing it, described it as:

“It was all really good and very funny and I enjoyed all of the different characters, especially the funny fruit and veg. I liked Watermelon Boy because it was very funny, especially the part where he slipped and cracked his bottom but didn’t like The Olive Tree as much because nothing seemed to happen. I’d like to see Garden Funnies #1 and hope Jim does a third.”

Like so much children’s work, the simplicity on show shouldn’t be confused with blandness, far from it; Garden Funnies has ideas firing off all over the place; three panel gag strips on one page leading to robot animal detectives looking for carrot thieves, silly, surreal and fun nonsense strips to low key autobiography about a family growing their own Olives in their family’s tradition. There’s even some very cleverly done humour in my favourite strip here; Duncan Bourne’s The Blumes where sentient plants get drunk on plant food and get amorous only to have their hopes of love dashed:

(Duncan Bourne’s The Blumes – two pages of sentient plant gags and some very nice art indeed.)

The strips are mostly very gentle things as you might expect, but even in all of this vegetable themed crop of tales there’s ample opportunity for some good laughs and the quality is very high throughout:

(Lizz Lunney’s Watermelon Boy – just the sort of surreal fun we’ve come to expect from Lizz.)

And I’ll leave you with some very salient advice for these summer months from Francesca Cassavetti:

Garden Funnies is lovely summer reading, full of ideas, full of laughs, plenty for children and even something for the grown ups to chuckle at whilst enjoying this very strong all-ages anthology.

The full contributor list: Jim Medway, Lizz Lunney, Duncan Bourne, Francesca Cassavetti, Alex Potts, Ed Syder, Steve Tillotson and Adam & Hilary Steel.

Garden Funnies is available from Jim Medway’s website and store.

Richard Bruton.

by Francesca Cassavetti

Fabtoons

Striptacular is Francesca Cassavetti’s latest comic, 36 A5 pages with 9 stories of delightful comic work. I’ve looked at Francesca’s mini comics here and her excellent book about being a new parent; The Most Natural Thing In The World here and it’s no surprise that her latest is just as enjoyable.

Striptacular has a mix of strips, with Cassavetti subtly altering her art style for each one. Some are tight and clear, others looser, but either way, the narrative flow of Cassavetti’s work is always impressive and her open, relaxed art is very easy on the eye.

The best strip here has to be “A Foreign Country”, which was Cassavetti’s entry for the 2008 Observer Graphic Short Story Competitition. It’s an interesting fact about the Observer competition that it’s forced a lot of cartoonists to really raise their game – the lure of the prize and the relative fame really forcing cartoonists to work a lot harder than they would have done otherwise. It’s a common pitfall in the small press and self publishing movement to get a little trapped in one style, to produce solely for yourself and a select few friends, without really pushing your work forwards. Not that I’m accusing Francesca of that, far from it, each of the 9 strips here shows a growth and willingness to adjust her style and try new things. But in “A Foreign Country” I feel I can definitely see the pressure of producing something for competition has pushed her on, made her consider every word, every line.

(The opening to Francesca Cassavetti’s A Foreign Country, her Observer Graphic Short Story 2008 entry.)

So “A Foreign Country” is a gentle tale of the all too common occurrence nowadays of revisiting old friends and old loves online and the inevitable disappointment when you finally meet and realise that they, just like you, have grown older, balder, fatter and are just as sadly middle aged as you are. It’s done in Cassavetti’s lovely, open style and just like her relaxed artwork, the story is easy and free flowing, conversational and very real. Observational comic strips at their best.

The other work in Striptacular varies from 2 to 8 pages and, like I’ve already said, sees Cassavetti working in a variety of styles across a series of stories, some fiction, some autobiographical. Personally I prefer her autobiography as I find her voice when observing the daily goings on around her to be a soothing, immensely enjoyable feeling laced with some gentle observational humour. The fictional strips are fun enough, particularly the whimsical “Dan Lester’s Beard” story (if only for the image of a beard drunk on a park bench wanting to be on Alan Moore’s chin), but it’s Francesca’s tales of her own life I find the most enthralling.

So whether it’s the simple recounting of a Sunday alone in the house managing to waste a day not making comics, the funny results of a shopping trip for a school bag, the hilarious and clever work of a mom cunningly manipulating her son out of holding a party in their house or a rather bizarre dinner party Cassavetti’s observational eye for detail and quiet, everyday humour is an absolute joy.

(Party Politics from Francesca Cassavetti’s Striptacular. Sometimes the grown up can win after all – as you can find out on the next page in the comic.)

There is one disturbing strip though; the final two pager where she recounts her convention experiences. Do her and yourself a favour; next time you pass the “shitty indie comics” force yourself to give one or two a try; you’ll be very pleasantly surprised at the quality and the enjoyment you’ll discover.

(Don’t do this. It’s rude and ignorant and most importantly means you could be missing out on something quite lovely. The Convention page 1 by Francesca Cassavetti from Striptacular.)

Striptacular and all of Francesca’s work is available from her website and you can keep up with her work on her blog.

Richard Bruton.