Image publishes US edition of Rian Hughes Yesterday's Tomorrows

Yesterday's Tomorrows, a collection of comics by "luminescent pop culture demon" Rian Hughes spanning over two decades of his career, is being re-published in the US by Image Comics in November.

Previously published by Knockabout Comics in the UK in 2007, the 264-page collection features two infamous and hard-to-find collaborations with Eisner Award winner Grant Morrison: Dan Dare, a post-modern classic that sets the aging and retired iconic British character Dare against a modern British landscape he no longer understands; and Really and Truly, a high-octane psychedelic road-trip torn from the pages of cult comic 2000AD.

Also included is one of Hughes’ first longform comic tales - The Science Service, also the first professional commission written by John Freeman back in the 1980s, created in duotone for Magic Strip; while Hughes explores an evocative noir palette replete with dramatic angular lighting for Raymond Chandler's Goldfish, adapted by It’s Superman author Tom DeHaven; and The Lighted Cities by acclaimed comics creator Chris Reynolds.

Rian is an award-winning graphic designer, illustrator, comic artist, logo designer and typographer. He studied graphic design at the London College of Printing before working for an advertising agency, i-D magazine and a series of record sleeve design companies. In 1994, he founded his own studio, Device, and has since worked with a wide range of international clients in publishing, advertising, music and fashion. He has also worked extensively for the British and American comic book industries, both as artist and designer. 

In addition to sketchbook pages, merchandise and rare strips Yesterday's Tomorrows features an introduction by comics guru Paul Gravett, who published Hughes’ very first strips in his seminal independent comics magazine Escape.

Rian also has a number of books about different aspects of 20th century design scheduled for release from Fiell Publishing Limited, either already published this year or due for publication soon. Out now is Lifestyle Illustration of the 60s (Amazon UK link), a survey of magazine artwork from the Swinging Sixties. Featuring over 1,000 gloriously inventive and stylistically diverse illustrations, it offers a fascinating insight into the extraordinary artistic talents of the illustrators featured, it also reveals the social aspirations of this unprecedented era of political optimism and sexual freedom.

Complementing this release is Lifestyle Illustration of the 50s (Amazon UK link), also due for release in November, an overview of the astonishing artistic skill of the leading lifestyle illustrators of the period, revealing the changing social aspirations of the post-war generation and their growing optimism for the future.

Out in October is Custom Lettering of the 40s and 50s (Amazon UK link) is a celebration of the stunning and stylistically varied headline lettering that predated modern computer type. Each a unique one-off, custom hand-drawn lettering had a stylistic freedom and creative energy unfettered by traditional typographic rules and regulations.

The handbook features over 4,500 examples of custom lettering - from urgent rough block capitals to sophisticated looping copperplate scripts, elegant fashion brush scripts and dynamic illustrative sans serifs, the extraordinary range of graphic styles is as exciting as it is stylistically diverse. It should appeal to typographers, graphic designers and, of course, retro culture fans, lettering aficionados and printed ephemera collectors.

• More information about Image Comics new US edition on the Image Comics web site

• Buy the Knockabout Comics edition from Amazon UK

• Rian Hughes official web site: www.devicefonts.co.uk 

• Fiell Publishing Limited 

Time for a Little Music...

Ace comics artist and painter Chris Reynolds, creator of Mauretania Comics, kindly sent me a copy of trombonist and composer/arranger Mike Hext's Mr OK, a new album for which Chris has provided the cover.

Mike came to prominence after winning the first ever BBC TV Young Musician Of The Year Competition in 1978 and has since led a versatile career as a trombonist, valve trombonist and composer/arranger, much in demand as a jazz and studio musician, and who also composed the soundtrack to the film Hunters of the Lost Sun back in 2003.

Now, I have to confess I'm not a huge jazz fan, so dropped the CD onto my player with some trepidation. I needn't have been so worried: it's a terrific, mellow piece of work, a tribute to the American valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Pleasant on the ear, if you're a fan of such music it's well worth tracking down, either from label Mainstem's web site (www.mainstem.co.uk) or via Mike's official site, where you can here the title track.

Produced by David Hays and recorded at Red Gable Studios, London, the album features a high quality line up including Martin Shaw on Trumpet/Flugel, Nick Rodwell on Alto Sax, Jim Rattigan on French Horn, Malcolm Edmonstone on Piano, Julian Jackson on Bass and Andrew Bain on Drums.

Chris also directed me to some of his terrific new paintings on his web site Metropoppyfield.com, a collection of stunning art from this talented 'Stuckist'. Below is just one of them, Ocean Mails, which sort of reminds me of those frontispieces you used to find in old British boys' annuals. Smashing stuff!

Comic Artist's Work on Show in Liverpool

Ground-breaking comic creator Chris Reynolds, creator of strips such as Moon Queen and Mauretania Comics, has been in touch to tell us that one of his paintings, of Brownsea Island (in Poole Harbour) has been chosen to be part of the Stuckists' Antidote to the Ghastly Turner Prize at the ViewTwo Gallery, Liverpool, from 6 - 29 November 2008. The exhibition is part of the Independent strand of the Liverpool Biennial Festival of Contemporary Visual Art.

The infamous phenomenon that is The Stuckists - an international art movement for contemporary figurative painting with ideas, described as "anti the pretensions of conceptual art or Anti-anti-art" - returns to Liverpool for the first time since their major show at the Walker Art Gallery for the 2004 Biennial, which proved hugely popular and very successful.

The Stuckist art group was founded in 1999 by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish, who has
since left, with 13 artists to promote “figurative painting with ideas” and oppose conceptual art.
There are now over 160 sister groups in 40 countries. The name comes from an insult by Tracey
Emin to Childish that he was “stuck”.

The Stuckists have gained considerable media attention for their demonstrations against the
Turner Prize, and also instigated a media scandal about the Tate’s purchase of its own trustees’
work. This led to a Charity Commission ruling that the Tate had been acting illegally for 50
years.

• Brownsea Island, the current location for BBC Autumnwatch with Bill Oddie and Kate Humble. is just one of many paintings by leading British Stuckists that form the exhibition and large (A1) prints of this painting are available in a limited edition of 100 from the Guildhall Gallery, Poole, UK, price £39, Tel: (01202) 673 715.

• More about the painting and Chris Reynolds via www.metropoppyfield.com

Creepy Curtain Crawlers!

Comic creator Chris Reynolds, the groundbreaking talent behind the classic Mauretania graphic novel, has just added a new Moon Queen adventure to the comics to mobile service ROK Comics.

Titled Curtain Crawlers, the spooky tale is different to the previous run of Moon Queen stories, which feature Chris' very own take on superheroes and superheroines, for a number of reasons.

"Because of their content, the previous Moon Queen stories all use ROK Comics' 'R' rating," Chris explains. "Curtain Crawlers is the first Moon Queen story I felt could take the 'U' rating without bowdlerising it into nothingness."

The story also markes the first Moon Queen story where Chris has taken 'as read' the previous body of stories as knowledge that, really, is required of the reader - so if you want to catch up with what has gone before your best bet is to subscribe to the WAP subscription service for just £3 for 30 days, and then you can read all the earlier Moon Queen stories on your mobile.

"I wanted a to go back to a story like my prose novels that's a bit more than just one, however interesting, incident from Moon Queen's life," says Chris of the haunting 24-episode tale. "In Curtain Crawlers, I wanted to write more of a novel-length type of thing – to cover that sort of ground - even if the final story isn't actually very long.

My inspiration for this is the amount of content they fit into the 45-minute episodes of post-Eccleston Doctor Who," he reveals. "I sometimes think some of these these zip by too quickly for me to get a proper grip on them, but that's where comics have a unique advantage shared with text novels - that you can take them at your own pace and re-read at will!"

There are more developments in this story, further expanding the Moon Queen mythos. "By now, I wanted to link the stories a bit with the world and the journey of Mauretania Comics," says Chris, "from which so far Moon Queen's been at arm's length. So Garnet Ross from 'Pure Holiday' makes a cameo appearance (at quite an important moment) and the themes and the concerns of the whole story are quite Mauretania-like, connecting with 'Pure Holiday' again in using audio recordings as an element of the plot.

"I've even re-used one of the imaginary locations from 'How To Do Your Own Dentistry' for the place where 'our' Moon Queen is held while the story unfolds."

Chris was one of the first creators to give ROK Comics a try when it comes to bringing comics to mobile and has some useful tips on developing new comics for the young medium.

"I found 'mobile storytelling' simple to get into because I nearly always draw strips using a uniform panel size anyway," he says, "and my scenes are generally quite short, so the translation to 'page-by-page' format is straightforward.

"The most recent thing I've learned, in correspondence with [ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman], is that it's best to have very brief episodes starting with a one-panel recap using the final panel of the previous episode."

At present, Moon Queen stories can only be found on mobile and on Chris' official web site MetroPoppyfield. While there are no plans for a print edition just yet, Marc Baines at Kingly Books, who, among other titles, also pulished The Dial by Chris and Voice of the Wilberforce by Ed Pinsent, is planning a new edition of the Penguin Mauretania.

• You can view all the comics on ROK Comics on your mobile by subscribing to the WAP service for a small monthly fee - $4 in the US, £3 in the UK, other countries also served. Simply visit this page on the ROK Comics site and choose the subscribe option. When you receive a WAP push message to your mobile, connect to the site using that link using your browser, bookmark it -- and you'll be subscribed to ROK Comics Mobile for the next month.

New Moon Queen Adventure on ROK Comics

Everyone loves superhero the Moon Queen - but she's blissfully unaware of it! Her best friend is the Bee - the only one who doesn't seem to want something from her. MQ's real name is Agnes Bale, she can fly and has super powers but she is far from invulnerable.

In Jelston's Lesson, the latest Moon Queen adventure to appear on comics on mobiule service ROK Comics, jealous Blink Bonny makes her life a misery!

Creator Chris Reynolds, who has been publishing Moon Queen on ROK Comics for a while now, created the classic graphic novel Mauretania first published by Penguin Books. His most famous character is Monitor, the strange, helmeted, spaceman aged between about eight and thirty, who had many strange and nostalgic adventures. Now Chris' latest character is the Moon Queen. She's sensitive like Monitor, but her adventures take place in a more colourful, sunny, upland world!

• Click here for a list of Moon Queen's adventures on ROK Comics (R rated)

• You can view them all the Moon Queen on your mobile by subscribing to ROK Comics' WAP service.

Simply choose a strip you like on the main ROK Comics site, then follow the download to mobile links and choose the subscribe option (or just subscribe right out the door). When you receive a WAP push message to your phone, connect to the site using that link using your mobile, bookmark it, and you'll be subscribed to ROK Comics Mobile for the next month.

This link is exclusive to your phone, so don't lose it!

Pauline Murray penetrates Mauretania celebrations

Legendary singer Pauline Murray of Pentration will read a chapter from Humfrey Jordan's 'Mauretania: Landfalls and Departures of Twenty-Five Years' to open the RMS Mauretania Maiden Voyage Centenary Exhibition in Newcastle.

The exhibit features paintings and comic art by Stuckist Painters and Mauretania Comics artists Paul Harvey and ROK Comics' Chris Reynolds, plus paintings by guest Stuckist Mike Tilley. It will also feature photographs and relics of the ship.

The Opening will be at Newcastle Arts Centre, 67 Westgate Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 1SG on Tuesday 18 September 2007 between 6.30-8.00pm. The Exhibition will continue until 29 September 2007..

Pauline Murray was lead singer in the 1977 punk band Penetration. They were signed to Virgin Records, released two highly acclaimed albums, many singles and toured extensively throughout Britain, Europe and the USA. After the band split in 1979 Pauline began a successful solo career and recorded the ground breaking Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls album with legendary Factory producer Martin Hannett. In 1984 she set up her own record label, Polestar, and released singles and an album as 'Pauline Murray and the Storm'. In 1990 she opened Polestar Studios, a rehearsal and recording facility in Newcastle. She is still writing, recording and performing with the reformed Penetration.

Mauretania Exhibitions and events announced

ROK Comics creator Chris Reynolds is one of several artists involved in events marking the centenary of the maiden voyage of the RMS Mauretania.

Chris has published several strips under his Mauretania Comics imprint.

An exhibition featuring comics and paintings by Newcastle Stuckist Painters and Mauretania Comics artists Paul Harvey and Chris Reynolds plus guest Stuckist Mike Tilley will run at the Newcastle Arts Centre between 18-29 September 2007. The Centenary Exhibtion Opening Night event takes place on Tuesday 18 September, between 6.30 - 8.00 pm.

On 16 November, there will be events in both Newcastle and New York to mark the centenary of the sailing, at the bar of Newcastle Arts Centre and at a venue in New York, with a centenary phone call between the venues. Paul Harvey and Chris Reynolds will be in Newcastle, while representatives of US Stuckist groups, joined by New York Stuckist Terry Marks and Connecticut Stuckist Tony (Baloney) Juliano will be in marking the event in the US.

The Mauretania was the longest-ever holder of the famous transatlantic speed record, the Blue Riband. Built in Newcastle, she sailed the line between Britain and the New World completely successfully for 25 years.

Further Information
• For more information on the Stuckism art movement visit: www.stuckism.com
• Mauretania Archives: www.tyneandweararchives.org.uk/mauretania/index.htm
• Building the Ship in 1906: www.amber-online.com/exhibitions/mauretania
• Newcastle Arts Centre Limited, 67 Westgate Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 1SG Telephone 0191 2615618