The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log » Irish

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

Joe — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:01:50 +0000

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you; yes, on this side of the Atlantic we’re well aware there are probably more Americans wearing green wigs and leprechaun hats today than there are people in all of Ireland, but what the heck, it’s still a good excuse of a pint of the black stuff and a good bash. We did ask our resident Irishman Pádraig if he would dance a merry Irish folk jig for us today but his answer was unrepeatable (something to do with Michael Flatley, Riverdance, Slaine, Brian Ború, Garth Ennis and various unmentionable parts of the anatomy), so we’ll settle for a cartoon instead; I liked this one by Donal Casey, which comments on a survey by an Irish TV presenter where they tried to see if some young Irish folks could tell which words were Irish in origin and which were Klingon:

(Irish Gaelic meets Klingon in this cartoon by and (c) Donal Casey)

And while we’re at it, here’s a cracking short video by the League of S.T.E.A.M. as our intrepid steampunk heroes attempt to capture a leprechaun (link via BoingBoing):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlg-p3RfRYY

Irish 24 Hour Comics Day

Joe — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:01:11 +0000

Cliodhna is giving us plenty of advanced warning for this year’s Irish 24 Hour Comics Day – the fifth annual bash will take place in the Central Hotel in Dublin from noon on Saturday 30th of October to noon on the Sunday 31st. Which I guess means you can also go along in costume since it will be Halloween too! We want to see pics of zombies, witches, ghouls and others working on 24 hour comics, folks! Details will be added to the site as the year progresses and while you’re at it don’t forget to have a good browse of some of the previous entries in the gallery.

(a lovely looking page from Random Reaction Comics, Deirdre de Barra’s contribution to the 2008 24 hour comics bash in Dublin, (c) the artist)

The History of Irish Comics part 1

Joe — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:43:37 +0000

No, this is not some strange comics-related sequel to Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part 1, it is in fact the start of what promises to be a fascinating look into the history of comics and cartooning by Irish creators. As Patrick Brown notes at the beginning, its not the easiest topic to research: “It’s difficult to compile a history of Irish cartooning from the available secondary sources. Most cartoon histories use cartoons to shed light on historical events and contemporary attitudes, and have little interest in the cartoonists and their art. For obvious reasons, political cartoons are well represented in such histories, but cartoons on more general subjects are of little interest to historians and are much harder to find.”

This first chapter deals with Irish cartoonists prior to the advent of the 20th century, starting with Henry Brocas, whose work spanned the end of the 18th and early decades of the 19th centuries. As many of the works from this era would be produced specifically for the many periodicals which sprang up in Western societies at the time Patrick has not only looked at what he could find out about the cartoonists, how they worked, methods, prevailing styles and so on but also at the types of publications and how the cartoon work they published reflects the events of the time and the stance of the particular publication – for instance, was it a journal which supported nationalism and independence, so we’re getting historical and artistic context at the same time.

(“O’Connell driving the foreign toads and vipers from the land” by ‘William Tell’, part of a series of 12, shamelessly borrowed from Patrick’s blog)

I’ve retained a fondness for history books ever since my school days (the benefits of good teachers who encourage the kids to read more, bless ‘em) and, perhaps because of my comics interest, always found the period cartoons which often illustrated those books fascinating, especially the way that a good cartoonist could take events you had spent five pages of text reading and summarise them – usually humorously too – in a single frame. I must admit I know practically nothing about the historic cartoonist scene in Ireland; I’m well aware of some excellent contemporary creators like Bob Byrne, Bren B, PJ Holden and Cliodhna Lyons who have been a successful part of a new, vibrant Irish comics scene which is rapidly becoming as confident as the well established UK small press scene, but its fascinating to look back to the cartooning antecedents that pre-date the creators we know and love today (the closet academic in me who recalls writing many an essay is also impressed that Patrick properly references his sources at the end). Highly recommended – bookmark now.