Radio show about Nelson creators: Dan Berry, Rob Davis, Sarah McIntyre and more...

Panel Borders: Nelson

Continuing our month of shows looking at depictions of lives on the page, Dan Berry talks to four of his fellow creators who worked on the award winning anthology graphic novel Nelson, published by Blank Slate Books, including the book's co-editor Rob Davis and artists Jonathan Edwards, Sarah McIntyre & Suzy Varty.

Nelson depicts 54 days in the life of the titular character, a young and then adult female Londoner, who is born in the first chapter set in 1968 and we follower her life to middle age in the present day. Dan discusses the history of the project, the aspects of autobiography that were absorbed into each creator's pages and the collaborative processes involved in working on a exquisite corpse method of storytelling. 

(Recorded at Thought Bubble Festival, Leeds 2011 and edited by Alex Fitch)

8pm, Sunday 9th December 2012, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

British Comic Awards: The Winners

(Updated 19/11/12): The winners of the first British Comic Awards were announced at Thought Bubble last night. If you were at the Awards Ceremony, I hope you were pleased by the results.

This was the first year of the BCAs and I was honoured to be asked to be a judge and I'm delighted by the quality of the nominees and the winners, especially Luke Pearson's Hilda and the Midnight Giant, which I was genuinely moved by when I read it.

It was hard to 'grade' such distinctive work from all those nominated, all of it terrific in its own right but for very different reasons.

The winners were as follows:


  Best Book: Nelson edited by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix (Blank Slate Books)

The other nominees were:

• Science Tales by Darryl Cunningham (Myriad Editions)

• Don Quixote Volume 1 by Rob Davis (SelfMadeHero)

• Goliath by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)

• Hilda and the Midnight Giant by Luke Pearson (Nobrow)

In a post on their Facebook page, Blank Slate commented: "We're so proud to have taken home the first Best Book award at the British Comic Awards. Huge congratulations go out to everyone involved with the book, especially the readers and retailers who helped make Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix's experiment such a success."

Best Comic - Bad Machinery: The Case Of The Fire Inside by John Allison
Published online at scarygoround.com, January 9th – June 28th 2012

The other nominees were:

• Accidental Salad by Joe Decie (Blank Slate Books)

• Girl & Boy by Andrew Tunney - www.andrewtunney.com/comics/girlandboy/

• Hemlock Issue 3 by Josceline Fenton

• Tuk Tuk Issue 1 by Will Kirkby

Emerging Talent - Josceline Fenton

The other nominees were:

• Kristyna Baczynski – www.kristyna.co.uk

• Will Kirkby – http://chamonkee.livejournal.com

• Louis Roskosch – www.louisroskosch.com

• Jack Teagle - http://jackteagle.co.uk

Young People's Comic Award - Hilda and the Midnight Giant by Luke Pearson

The other nominees were:

• Bad Machinery: The Case of The Fire Inside by John Allison

• The Lost Boy by Kate BrownPublished in The Phoenix by David Fickling Books, January 7th – 1st September 2012

• Dinopopolous by Nick Edwards
Published by Blank Slate Publishing (Chalk Marks), October 2011

• Gum Girl 1: Catastrophe Calling by Andi Watson
Published by Walker Books

The first member of the BCA's Hall of Fame is Fungus the Bogeyman and The Snowman creator Raymond Briggs.

The judges this year were comic creator Hunt Emerson, Page 45 comic shop owner Steve L. Holland, academics Dr. Mel Gibson and Roger Sabin, and Stacey Whittle, writer at SFX Magazine website, long-running indie/small press comics podcaster; and myself, comics editor and writer John Freeman.

One thing that I will publicly say as one of the judges is that several comic creators contacted me when the nominees were first announced and questioned the choices. It was noted in particular that (aside from one strip that ran in The Phoenix) there were no nominations for strips that feature in any of the remaining originated mainstream British comics such as The Dandy or 2000AD.

As someone who has promoted both "mainstream" and "independent" comics on downthetubes and elsewhere (and given the quality of work that was nominated, not only in terms of content but production values, such distinctions are by no means easy to define), I did ask about this at an early stage of the judging process.

I was told the philosophy of the Awards is to include any and all work being made by British creators, to commend the best and highlight them for a wider audience. There was no attempt to promote only "independent" comics or creators.

Suggestions for nomination was open to anyone who submitted their views on the BCA web site. The BCA Committee, comprising lecturer and artist Dan Berry, columnist and comics retailer Richard Bruton, Clark Burscough, BCA Founder Adam Cadwell, comics writer Matthew Sheret, artist and illustrator Vicky Stonebridge and ThoughtBubble founder Lisa Wood, looked at strips running in The Beano, The Dandy and 2000AD and looked for comics that stood as being some of the best work being produced in the last year.

"Jaime Smart's Desperate Dan was mentioned, as was the Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos story which got some votes from committee members," Adam Cadwell told me, "but in the end we decided that work being done in The Phoenix, online comics and some self published work stood out more and were the type of stories that could be enjoyed by anyone."

Opinions on creative work are by their very nature subjective but in my personal view, I hope that next year, British publishers large and small will again have (and take) the opportunity to send the committee their qualifying titles for consideration, as well as the BCA allowing for online nomination from visitors to the BCA web site.

• More info: http://britishcomicawards.com

Kayla Hillier and Oliver East on Panel Borders

Panel Borders: ...for travel's sake

In the last in a month of episodes of Panel Borders looking at depictions of travel in comic books and graphic novels, Alex Fitch talks to a pair of cartoonists whose small press and collected comics are all about travelling for the sake for it.

Oliver East discusses his Trains are... Mint trilogy of graphic novels, published by Blank Slate Books, which chronicle his walking along train lines from Manchester to Liverpool and across Germany, as well as his latest project Swear Down.

Also, Alex talks to Kayla Marie Hillier about her web / self published comic Galavant which depicted her travels from Toronto to Manchester and back again, via South London, in the Winter of 2009 / 2010 and is available in a collected edition from the author.

8pm Sunday 28th October 2012, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Panel Borders: Nick Abadzis on Hugo Tate

Panel Borders: Hugo Tate

Continuing Panel Borders' month of shows about the depiction of travel in comic books, Alex Fitch talks to the award winning cartoonist Nick Abadzis about the recent Blank Slate Books collection of his much loved strip Hugo Tate, originally serialised in Deadline magazine.
Alex and Nick discuss the autobiographic aspects of the serial, his experiences in the brief but influential wave of 'adult' British comics in the late 1980s and how the story reflects the difficulties of any Brit coming to terms with life in America.

8pm Sunday 14th October, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Creating Comics: Nick Abadzis

Born in Sweden to Greek and English parents, writer, artist and editorial consultant Nick Abadzis was brought up in Switzerland and England. He writes and draws comics and graphic novels for both adults and children and his stories have been published all over the world.

Since his early days at Marvel UK Nick, whose perhaps best-known graphic novel to date is Laika, the story of the first dog in space, has helped set up several best-selling and innovative children’s magazines, including most recently, The DFC for David Fickling Books.

His storytelling contribution, Cora’s Breakfast, was featured in The Guardian and his work has also appeared in various British publications such as The Times and The Independent on Sunday.

One of his earliest comics works was the hugely popular Hugo Tate, published in the ground-breaking 1980s comic magazine Deadline. Now, at last, British publisher Blank Slate Books have collected the strips into one gorgeous-looking new book, and I caught up with Nick to ask him about the project.

For the full interview with Nick, you'll have to grab a copy of STRIP Magazine Issue 5 from your nearest comic shop, on sale later this month.

DownTheTubes: Hugo Tate. What's it all about?

Nick Abadzis: It’s a rites-of-passage story about a young man who is, initially at least, represented as a stick man in a figurative world. He’s simultaneously an everyman and he changes and becomes more “real” as the story progresses – his story is not by any means universal in the way in which he experiences it, but hopefully it’s universally understandable.

DownTheTubes: It's a welcome collection that's a long time coming - how will it be pitched to people who haven't heard of it?

Nick: A road trip. The second part of it anyway. I’ve heard it described as “a road movie from Hell”!

DownTheTubes: Hugo Tate was one of Deadline's most popular strips - is that a period in your career you remember fondly?

Nick: Mostly, yes. There were some hard lessons to learn – such as, don’t ever sign a contract without reading it first. Tom Astor (Deadline’s funder) chained all of the early Deadline cartoonists to these draconian agreements that I spent a lot of time and most of the money I’d earned (which was a pittance, let me tell you) trying to extricate us all from, which is why there was a break between the first series of Hugo and the second.

Eventually we agreed terms but it was an experience that’s made me cagey about contracts and what rights you sign away ever since. I’m an advocate of creator’s rights in comics and I’d advise all young cartoonists to watch what they sign.

That said, the creative aspects of it were incredible – it really was an amazing opportunity to be given – to be allowed to develop your own comic characters via a regularly published forum with national distribution. I’m very grateful for it and although I think Tom could’ve been smarter in the way he developed his relationship with the magazine’s contributors, I thank Steve Dillon and Brett Ewins for getting me on board. My career might’ve been very different without their championing the likes of us snot-nosed brats.

It was a kind of a shambolic university of comics, very experimental and energetic with some incredibly inventive talent from the start. You had Steve and Brett around and other greats like Brendan McCarthy, Pete Milligan and Tom Frame who you could learn from if you paid attention, but also carte blanche to do your own thing. And I did.

DownTheTubes: Do you have a favourite Hugo Tate moment?

Nick: Do you have a favourite Hugo Tate moment? If you do, submit it here:
http://hugotate.tumblr.com/

DownheTubes: What one piece of advice you would give an aspiring comic creator?

Nick: Persevere. Never give up.

• Find out Nick's favourite Hugo - and his thoughts on Laika - in STRIP Mgazine Issue 5 on sale later this month in UK comic shops

• Hugo Tate is available now from all good book and comic shops. For more about Nick's work, find him online at www.nickabadzis.com; http://hugotate.tumblr.com/ and his regular blog: http://nickabadzis.my-expressions.com/; or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/NickAbadzis
 
• The Hugo Tate Facebook page is at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hugo-Tate/296276587062422?v=wall

British comic creators unite for charity in "Nelson"

Time for another plug for Blank Slate's Nelson project. The publishers have just announced announce the complete line-up for the book, which a graphic novel project that will see all profits going to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

Seeking to celebrate the incredible diversity of talent in British comics today, Editors Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix have united over 50 of the UK's best and brightest comic creators for Shelter's great cause in the mother of all collaborations: a complete, 250 page story of one woman's life from her birth in 1968 to the present day.

Mainstream comic sensations such as Duncan Fegredo and Sean Philips join forces with cult British creators including D'Israeli and Roger Langridge, working alongside celebrated literary comic authors like Posy Simmonds and up-and-coming alternative comics stars Luke Pearson and Jon McNaught, amongst many others.

"When Rob and Woodrow came to me with their idea for Nelson, straight away it seemed to me that it should be a charity project" states Kenny Penman, Publisher at Blank Slate. "The British comic scene is more vibrant than ever before, and the opportunity to unite this diverse group of creators to aid the greatly important work that Shelter does in these difficult economic times seemed to good to miss."

Nelson's official launch event will take place on the 22nd November 2011 at The Cartoon Museum in London, with readers able to buy a special advance copy of the book at Leeds' Thought Bubble Festival on the 19th and 20th November, where the majority of its artists will be signing copies for the public.

Currently available to order in the UK section of the September edition of Diamond Previews, Nelson will be appearing in the main US section in October.

The full creator line-up is as follows: Paul Grist, Rob Davis, Woodrow Phoenix, Ellen Lindner, Jamie Smart, Gary Northfield, Sarah McIntyre, Suzy Varty, Sean Longcroft, Warwick Johnson–Cadwell, Luke Pearson, Paul Harrison–Davies, Katie Green, Paul Peart–Smith, Glyn Dillon, I.N.J.Culbard, John Allison, Philip Bond,D’Israeli, Simone Lia, Darryl Cunningham, Jonathan Edwards, Ade Salmon, Kate Charlesworth, Warren Pleece, Kristyna Baczynski, HarveyJames, Rian Hughes, Sean Phillips & Pete Doree, Kate Brown, Simon Gane, Jon McNaught, Adam Cadwell, Faz Choudhury, JAKe, Jeremy Day, Dan McDaid, Roger Langridge, Will Morris, Dave Shelton, Carol Swain, Hunt Emerson, Duncan Fegredo, Philippa Rice, Josceline Fenton, Garen Ewing, Tom Humberstone , Dan Berry, Alice Duke, Posy Simmonds, Laura Howell, Andi Watson and Dave Taylor

• Nelson ISBN 978-1-906653-23-1 | 252 pages | 236 x 178mm softcover with flaps, full colour | £18.99 / $22.99


• Make sure to keep up to date with future announcements via the book's Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/NelsonGraphicNovel.

Blank Slate announces 'Nelson' graphic novel, firms up 2011 schedule

Nelson, a new collaborative graphic novel from Blank Slate Books will be launching this November at the Thought Bubble convention in Leeds, and features an awesome line-up of British comics talent (detailed below).

So, who is Nelson? Well, Nel Baker’s story starts in 1968 (the year of her birth) and takes us through to the present day, with each creator presenting a snapshot of one year of her life.

“I don’t know if anyone’s tried anything like this before," says Rob Davis (Doctor Who, Don Quixote) the anthology’s editor. "I just think it’s a great way to show what separates comic artists from other artists – we don’t just draw pictures, we tell stories!

"I wanted us to avoid the ‘pick-and-choose’ aspect of most anthologies and get everyone writing their own chapters, working together to tell one continuous story. So whether a creator is your favourite or someone whose work you’d never normally go near, they all become an essential read.”

Blank Slate to release complete 'Hugo Tate'

(via Nick Abadzis and Forbidden Planet International): I missed this great news last week but make no apologies for plugging now. Comic creator Nick Abadzis has announced Blank Slate Books will be publishing a collection of his hugely popular strip Hugo Tate, which first appeared in Deadline magazine alongside Tank Girl and other well known indie strips.

Hugo Tate ran in Deadline magazine from 1988 to 1994. Part of it was collected as Hugo Tate: O, America in 1993 and in 1994 this collection won a UK Comic Art Award for best graphic novel.

Click to read: Bread and Liver

"Over the years, I have been asked for this collection, many, many times," says Nick. "It’s taken a long time to get together, for which I apologise to all those patient readers and fans of Deadline out there. I’ve been working on it, on and off, for years, digitizing and restoring the artwork. (Note to self: never use zip-a-tone again. It shrinks with age.)

"But this is to let the faithful out there know that the Hugo Tate book really is on its way. It’s going to be published by Blank Slate, an imprint whose output I’ve been really enjoying in the past couple of years."

Scared Ground

It's hard to explain in a couple of sentences what Hugo Tate is about exactly, but he was a stick-man who, as he acquired experiences during the run of the strip, slowly evolved into a more figurative character. It's the sort of visual metaphor that could only work in comics.

Blank Slate has been putting out some great indie titles: most recently, Luchadoras by Peggy Adam, chosen as part of the 2007 Sélection Officielle at the Angouléme International Comics Festival; and Sleepyheads by Randall C. It's easy to see Hugo Tate alongside these and other company's many other titles - it's a perfect fit.

Miscellaneous

• Click the strip images in this story to view some of Nick's favourite pages from Hugo Tate - or just click here to browse them all.

• Blank Slate Books is at www.blankslatebooks.co.uk

Tube Surfing: Drinking, Drawing... and other stuff too!

• If you're in the area this Sunday, you could do worse than pop along to Manchester Comic Collective's (MCC) monthly Drink 'n' Draw. It kicks off at 4pm and is usually lots of fun (although I haven't made it down for a fair few months). From the MCC blog:

'[It's a] casual get together of people who like to draw and also drink. Anyone is welcome... Free entry, materials and snacks provided and 10% off at the bar.'

(This monthly event is usually held at Sandbar, but you better check their official site in case the venue has changed.)




The Shoot from Tony Lee on Vimeo


• The Shoot, a short film written by comics writer Tony Lee (Doctor Who, 2000AD, The Gloom), is now online. He'd like feedback, so go watch it and then... well, feed back...

• Indie comics news site  Bugpowder has just done a handy little round-up of activity on the Irish comics scene. Worth a look...

• Can someone please give Dan McDaid the cash to realise this 'Sherlock Holmes meets the Doctor' commision as a full strip?

• And finally, the Blank Slate Books website appears to have had a makeover. (Or maybe I didn't notice and it all happened ages ago.)