(Phil Lynnott as Dennis the Menace, by Jim Fitzpatrick, Dennis & Gnasher (c) DC Thomson)

(have uke, will travel; Amanda signing copies of Who Killed Amanda Palmer in the Edinburgh FPI yesterday; more pics here)

We had a great turnout for Amanda Palmer‘s visit to the Edinburgh FPI store. Edinburgh right now is in its annual Festival mode -- basically the biggest arts festival in the world is running here and if you’ve never experienced it you’d struggle to imagine how insanely busy it is here right now. Its mad, its crowded but there’s a great buzz on the streets and yesterday we added to the crowds and the energy with a great line of folks waiting in the sun to come in and see Amanda, who entertained us all with a suitably sc-fi-themed song on her ukulele to kick off proceedings. Amanda was kind enough to let me record it to share here with the folks who couldn’t make it along, so enjoy (the film we take our name even gets name-checked during the song -- woot! And indeed, Squee!):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsSIoQmg5Zw

And don’t forget Amanda is performing at the HMV Picture House on Edinburgh’s Lothian Road this Saturday, 22nd August; she’s also doing some other performances during the Edinburgh Fringe, so check her Twitter for updates.

Update, photographer Kenny Mathieson was also on hand yesterday and has very kindly copied us some of his excellent pics to post here and on the FPI Flickr; you should also check out Kenny’s own Flickr stream which has some cracking photographs to enjoy (including more of the Festival).

(Amanda poses with some of the Edinburgh FPI crew, pic courtesy of and (c) Kenny Mathieson; click for the larger versions on our Flickr)

(Amanda in full-on uke mode! pic courtesy of and (c) Kenny Mathieson)

Okay, this is still going on right now, so just a couple of quick photos for the moment, but I promise more to follow and, if you are good boys and girls, maybe even some ukulele science fiction song action too! Stay tuned!

(click to see the larger pics on the FPI Flickr; more pics to follow!)

You might remember recently I mentioned that Amanda Palmer would be performing a gig in Edinburgh (in the HMV Picture House on Lothian Road, August 22nd) and is threatening all sorts of other sneaky performances during the annual madness of the Edinburgh Festival this month (will no-one think of the children???). I’m also delighted to announce that the corpse of the late Amanda Palmer will be joining us in our Edinburgh branch on Southbridge (a moment’s walk from the historic Royal Mile) to sign copies of her collaboration with Neil Gaiman, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, on Sunday August the 16th from 3 to 4pm (please note the time may be subject to change due to performance obligations, so check the site for any updates).

I am informed that Ms Palmer’s body is likely to be revived from its current post-mortem state in time for the signing and the gig, although if she should prove to still be in a post-homicide state we do plan to prop her up with a broomstick especially for the event. Do come down and join us. Meanwhile Amanda’s multiple murders don’t seem to be stopping her getting out and about; keep up with her via her site and her Twitter.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he’s a victim of the times…

…Well, there’s things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin’ everywhere you go,
But ’til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You’ll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything’s OK,
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
‘Till things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black.”(Johnny Cash, the Man in Black)

Just over two years ago we were getting pretty excited here after German periodicals Die Welt and Spiegel posted pages from the acclaimed German comics creator Reinhard Kleist‘s new work about the legendary Johnny Cash. Kleist went on to pick up several awards for Cash, including the Peng! award at the Munich Comics Festival and the prestigious Max und Moritz at the Erlangen Comics Salon and we were delighted to hear of an English language edition Dark Horse were planning. Then, nothing…

Step forward British publisher Self Made Hero, the same folks who have garnered acclaim for their Manga Shakespeare range, their excellent literary classics (like their Dorian Gray and Jekyll and Hyde) and their new Sherlock Holmes titles, which both Richard and I have raved about on here. SMH have lined up an English language edition of Cash for this autumn. And I’ve got to say I am incredibly eager to read it, we’ve been waiting on it for a long time now and I’m delighted SMH have taken it on, especially given the quality of their other titles. And on a wider front I’d have to imagine this is the sort of book which will interest a lot of non-comics reading folks – Cash was a cultural icon, after all. And if that gets more people interested in picking up a graphic novel that’s an extra bonus. I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot more on this closer to the autumn.(thanks to Doug at SMH for the cover, art (c) Reinhard Kleist)