Comics Creators At Hi-Ex 2012: Part 2

Having taken a lot of photos of the various creators at the Hi-Ex comics convention, which took place at the Eden Court complex in Inverness last weekend, there was never going to be enough room in the main downthetubes review of the con to include all the images. Instead we present a selection of those images of the creators along with links to their websites, blogs and/or Facebook pages. They are in no particular order and the first part of this photo feature is here.

Artist Nigel Dobbyn has an eclectic selection of titles to his credit from The Beano's Billy The Cat to 2000AD via Thunderbirds and Transformers. The image he is showing here is entitled Primeval Priest and is available to buy from his website.

There are more details of Nigel Dobbyn's work on his website.

Glasgow's small press Team Girl Comic have four issues to their name as well as a selection of individual contributors' own titles and did a good trade, particularly on the Saturday. Shown here are editor Gillian Hatcher (left) with contributors Coleen Campbell (centre) and Clare Yvette (right).

There are more details of Team Girl Comic on their website and Facebook page.

French artist Michel Rodrigue is currently resident in Scotland and having been at the previous Hi-Ex was back this year on the Cinebook stand. His Cinebook titles are the two modern Clifton titles Jade and Black Moon which he was signing and sketching over the weekend. He is also the writer of the French series Sybil La Fee Cartable which is on its third book in France and the first book of which has just be translated into English by Papercutz as Sybil The Backpack Fairy and he was more than happy to sketch and sign copies of it as well.

There are more details of Michel Rodrigue on Lambiek.

There are more details of Sybil The Backpack Fairy on the Papercutz website and of Clifton the the Cinebook website.

From pink fairies to something rather darker and artist John Higgin's RazerJack, the death-bitch from the Twist Dimension. To promote RazerJack, John produces illustrations at each of the conventions that he attends and here is the image that he was working on on the Sunday at Hi-Ex.

There are more details of John Higgin's work on his website and of RazerJack on its Facebook page.

Write and artist Ian Sharman is also editor of Orang Utan Comics and AAM/Markosia as well as writer of Alpha Gods and Hero: 9-5. He took part in the Hi-Ex Pitching and Portfolio session on the Sunday. His latest title, as seen above, is Hypergirl.

There are more details of Ian Sharman's work on his blog and on the Orang Utan Comics website.

Perhaps the most unusual graphic novel available over the weekend was writer and animator Leslie MacKenzie's Gaelic title Cuir Stad Ak An Stoirm Shneashda which translates as Stop The Snow Storm. With art by Shona Shirley MacDonald, it uses the idea that the first peoples of Scotland were not from the south and Europe but from the north and the Arctic regions. As part of the publishing deal with the Gaelic Books Council the title will not be published in English for several years.

There are more details of Leslie MacKenzie's work on her website while Cuir Stad Ak An Stoirm Shneashda will be available from the Gaelic Books Council website.

A comic strip with killer STDs in it just sound like the sort of thing that should be in CLiNT magazine and the editorial team of CLiNT obviously thought so too. As can be seen above, artist and writer Monty Nero's Death Sentence started life as a small press comic but will get a new lease of life, and a lot more exposure, when it begins in CLiNT Vol 2 No 1 very soon.

There are more details of Monty Nero's work on his website and blog.

Artist Will Pickering worked on the Burke and Hare graphic novel published several years ago as well as contributing to a number of Glasgow based small press titles. He was also displaying Black Hearted Press' Gabriel title written by Jim Alexander.

There are more details of Will Pickering's work on his blog.

Londonderry's Uproar Comics came together through the city's 2D Comics Festival and its 2D Collective offshoot. They publish the Zombies Hi title which is an anthology of the main ongoing Zombies Hi story backed up with short zombie text stories and comic strip and has reached its fourth issue. Set after a zombie apocalypse within the defensive walls of the City of Derry, the comic is widely distributed within Northern Ireland. Artist Kevin Logue (left) drew attendees as zombies while writer Danny McLaughlin (centre) drummed up support and artist John Campbell (right) worked on pages for forthcoming issues.

There are more details of Zombies Hi on the Uproar Comics website.

Last and by no means least, especially since one of her titles is Eagle Award nominated this year as Best European Comic, is Irish writer Maura McHugh. Her two titles for Dublin's Atomic Diner Comics are the Eagle Award nominated 1920s mystery Jennifer Wilde and the supernatural Roisin Dubh as seen above.

There are more details of Maura McHugh's work on her website.

There are more details of Jennifer Wilde and Roisin Dubh on the Atomic Diner website.


The first part of Comics Creators At Hi-Ex is here.

The Hi-Ex website is here.

The downthetubes review of Hi-Ex 2012 is here.

In Review: Clifton - Black Moon

Colonel Sir Harold Wiberforce Clifton, British Secret Service (retired), returns to temporary active duty in Black Moon the (chronologically) second of Cinebook's publications of the new Clifton stories by writer Bob de Groot and artist Michel Rodrigue.

In the previous book Clifton met his glamorous sidekick Jade with whom he now has to infiltrate a religious sect in North Korea know as the Black Moon. The nephew of a senior British figure has apparently fallen under the influence of this sect and Clifton and Jade are tasked to bring him back to safety in Britain. Having literally bought their way into the money obsessed sect, they have to determine who out of all the hooded sect members their quarry is and how they are going to get him away for the sect's compound and out of the secretive country.

Originally published in 2004 as the 19th Clifton album Lune Noire, Black Moon continues de Groot's look at the British from the opposite side of the Channel. The most obvious digs at British sensibilities are the two British agents already undercover in North Korea, known as Fish and Chips. Their politeness and unflappability are rather taken to the extreme, while Clifton and Jade's target is described to them as "Tony's nephew". The young readers of the book will not get the reference but with Rodrigue drawing him as a caricature of a young Tony Blair, older readers will.

The other character I wonder about is Don, Clifton's boss, who resembles former international footballer and TV pundit Jimmy Greaves -- but maybe that is just a coincidence, despite Michel Rodrigue himself being a former international rugby player.

De Groot also combines references to North Korea's alleged nuclear bomb program with religious sects only interested in the wealthy or powerful, and adds in a villain who's lair would not look out of place in a James Bond film with its stylised doors and enormous indoor aquarium. Rodrigue's art runs the range from an accurate RAF Hercules transport aircraft to the humorous praying of the sect by hitting each other on the head with a book. He even has one fish in the aquarium fall in love with Jade.

As with the previous Clifton book, Black Moon is a tongue-in-cheek James Bond story for children, with Rodrigue's detailed artwork and de Groot's plotting and cheeky digs at Britons and the British way of life making the book readily enjoyable for adult readers as well.

There is one more de Groot/Rodrigue Clifton book still to be translated. Hopefully Cinebook will treat us to that one as well.

• There are more details of the English language Clifton books on the Cinebook website.

Hi-Ex Hell Trek!

How far would you go to read comics? Maybe a trip to the local shops?

Well, comics fan John Burdis has gone a few steps further than that and organised a marathon bus journey from the South of England to the Hi-Ex Comic Convention, which takes place in Eden Court Inverness on the 27th - 28th March.

"I was in the 2000AD Online Chatroom and mentioned the Hi-Ex! and how I would like to go. The problem would be the cost and the time taken. A drive from Maidstone to Stansted, flight to Inverness and taxi to hotel and then the return journey.

"One of the regulars on the forum suggested we should organise a minibus to travel up there. Later that night I pondered on this and decided why not, if enough people want to do it."

He got enough people, and the minibus - nicknamed the HiEx Hell-Trek (after a strip in 2000AD comic) will be winding its way towards Inverness, picking up comic fans on the way. And John, being an ex-soldier, is well prepared for the journey.

"I’ve had chocolate bar ‘rations’ and polo shirts emblazoned with the Hell Trek logo made for each of us, and one of the polo shirts will be entered into the HiEx charity auction on the weekend of the convention.’

But isn’t this a bit far to go to meet some comic artists?

"This event has had nothing but praise from writers, artists and fans alike," John explains. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to go - plus, some of my favourite creators will be here."

Guests include French artist Michel Rodrigue, who created the official mascot for the inaugural rugby World Cup in 1987 and worked on the Tin Tin magazine.

"This is where the differences are between comic and football fan are apparent," he adds. "They pay £40 plus to watch a match, see the stars from a distance and never meet them. They also buy all the tops and merchandise with no real thanks from the players. But when I go to an event like this it costs a lot less to get in, I meet and talk to all the artists and writers, I can even have art drawn for me for nothing, and at the end of the day can have a drink and more chat with the writers and artists. Now that is good value as far as I'm concerned."

HiEx is organised and run by artist Vicky Stonebridge and Futurequake editor and comic writer Richmond Clements. While the long term future of Hi-Ex is vulnerable (there is a strong demand for an event of this kind in Scotland and in the North), funding is a problem. For Hi-Ex 2010 the Highland Council have kindly stepped in with a grant to assist with outreach and other additional activities.

• More Info on HiEx at: www.hi-ex.co.uk


• Follow John Burdis and the Hell Trekkers on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JBurdis

In Review: Clifton - Jade

Colonel Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton, former RAF pilot, former British spy, current Scout leader and not a grumpy person, as he would rather grumpily tell you, first appeared in the Begian edition of Tintin magazine in 1959 with the same story appearing in the French edition of Tintin in 1960.

Created by Raymond Macherot, Clifton appeared in three stories in Tintin before Macherot jumped ship to Spirou magazine, leaving the Colonel behind in obscurity for the rest on the 1960s. The character was revived at the end of the Sixties and was written by Bob de Groot and illustrated by Philippe Liégeois (Turk) during the 1970s and the early 80s before Bernard Dumont (Bedu) took over first the art and then also the writing chores. The Bedu Cliftons ended in 1995 and the it would be 2003 before de Groot returned to the character with artist Michel Rodrigue. The first of these new Cliftons was entitled Jade.

Colonel Clifton lives in retirement from his life as a spy for Her Majesty's Secret Service in the town of Puddington where he is the local scout master. Based on map coordinates which were mysteriously left in his post, Clifton changes the location of his Scout troop's camp from Wales to Devon so that he can investigate. There, he is contacted by his old enemy Otto Kartoffeln while they are both unknowingly being watched by the British secret agent Jade. Kartoffeln's men attempt to kill Clifton but Jade rescues him on her motorbike. Leaving the scouts in Devon, the two travel to Scotland on the trail of Nazi gold in a sunken World War II U-boat.

With his open top 1950s MG sports car and WWII vintage CMP lorry, both lovingly detailed in Rodrigue's artwork, as well as his blond handlebar moustache, Clifton certain cuts an unusual figure - but then, this is Britain as the Europeans see us. de Groot has fun with our place names with the sleepy hamlet of Snooze-On-Pillow in 'Devonshire' while Scotland provides the setting for the village of Haggish and the town of Hapyness, no doubt somewhere along the River Ness if not near Loch Ness itself. Mind you it is not just British place names. Clifton's German enemy Otto Kartoffeln's surname is German for potatoes and Kartoffeln is a nickname used by Italians to refer to Germans much in the same way that the British would use the word Kraut (as in sauerkraut).

For all that it is mainly aimed at children this is a pretty violent tale. Clifton is shot at with guns, and even a rocket propelled grenade, hence the cover illustration, is almost blown up by a bomb and comes off worst in hand to hand combat with Jade herself. Yet it is all told at such a breathless pace that there is no time to dwell on just now many times Clifton is almost killed. This is very much a James Bond story for children with guns, explosions, different locations, different vehicles and a boo-hiss villain. It even finishes in a scene that is reminiscent of the final scenes of the Bond film Die Another Day that was out just before the book was published.

With de Groot's script being both fun and action packed and Rodrigue's art being as humorous or as accurate as the panel requires, Jade is a Clifton book that sits comfortably between the needs of children to have an exciting story and adults to have something a little more knowing. It certainly makes me want to read the other de Groot and Rodrigue Clifton book published by Cinebook, Black Moon.

There are more details of all the English language Clifton books at the Cinebook website.

There are more details of the original French Clifton series in Tintin magazine at BD Oubliees website (in French).

Considering how much of Jade is set in Scotland it seems very appropriate that Clifton artist Michel Rodrigue will be giving a free talk entitled "Drawing For Comics" at Blackwell's Bookshop on South Bridge in Edinburgh on Saturday 6 February 2010 and will also be appearing at the Hi-Ex comics convention in Inverness on 27 and 28 March 2010.


More details of his Edinburgh appearance are on the Cinebook website while details of Hi-Ex are on the convention website.