Hewlett, Blake, Simmonds at British Library event

The Lords of Flatbush by Jamie Hewlett

The British Library in London is offering comic fans the opportunity to join a remarkable panel of artists and experts including Quentin Blake, designer and comic artist Jamie Hewlett, satirical cartoonist Martin Rowson and graphic storyteller Posy Simmonds.

Each will select and explain a personal choice of favourite illustrations, drawn from different genres, cultures and styles.

Presented in association with House of Illustration, The event will be chaired by Rachel Cooke, columnist and features writer, The Observer.

This event is part of the British Library’s Spring Festival, a five day celebration of creativity, fashion and design.


Tickets for this event include free entry to LATE at the Library ILLUMINATE! a Celebration of Illustration in the Entrance Hall, running from 19.00 to 22.30

• The Art of Illustration: Friday 2 Mar 2012, 18.30 - 20.00, the British Library; £10 / £7.50 concessions - Book now

Eddie Campbell award nomination prompts Dapper John offer

As many readers here may already know, ace artist Eddie Campbell has been nominated to receive the Angouleme Festival's Essential Prize at this year's festival for his "Alec" work.

To celebrate, new digital publisher Panel Nine is selling Eddie Campbell's Dapper John graphic novel for the iPad for 50% off through the end of January --  to coincide with the festival. The app is normally £6.99 but is now  £2.99. ($9.99 down to $4.99)

Angouleme (http://bdangouleme.com/english/), the "Festival International de la Bande Dessinee" is Europe's largest and most prestigious comics festival and Angouleme's Essential Prize is given to artists for works that are considered, well, essential.


Other English language authors nominated for prizes at Angouleme include Dan Clowes, Craig Thompson and Joe Sacco..

Dapper John has received excellent reviews: here, we at DTT we think it's excellent app with great content - certainly one of he best presentations of comics on the iPad I’ve seen; while artist and writer David Hine describes it as “A really enjoyable collection" and highly recommends it.”

“More than just another comic strip. The definitive version of Eddie Campbell’s early work," said Dave Hornsby.

Cartoon Museum honours 'Her Maj'

London's Cartoon Museum will be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee with a humorous history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. 

 

Her Maj: 60 Years of Unofficial Portraits of the Queen (1 February – 8 April 2012) will offer a gallery of royal portraits – affectionate, teasing and at times downright unflattering – shows how Her Majesty’s appearance in cartoons has undergone a striking transformation over the course of her reign. 

 

Since the early 1900s it was generally accepted that The Monarch might be referred to in cartoons but almost never depicted, and this Royal taboo remained unbroken right into the 1950s. As the veteran cartoonist Wally Fawkes remembers, "At that time there was a much closer link between the Royal Family and God". 

 

Her Maj follows the Queen as she emerges from near invisibility into cartoons which respectfully echo her official image on coins, stamps and banknotes, often portraying her in profile or from behind. She is pictured in her robes of state, as Elizabeth I or Britannia, but also as ‘Liz’, an ‘ordinary housewife’ in headscarf and sensible shoes. 

 

The 1960s brought a greater emphasis on openness. For better or for worse, the Palace decided to allow the media behind the scenes in the 1969 TV documentary Royal Family. The film inspired cartoonists to imagine what life was really like ‘at home with the Windsors’ in royal residences ankle-deep with corgis. The ups and downs of family life, her husband’s infamous asides, the difficulties with her children and their spouses, problems with the press – all these provide a rich vein of material for cartoonists, as does the knotty question of the Monarchy and public money. 

 

Many of the works reflect the fact that the Queen embodies not only the Monarchy, but also the State. Her actions can convey an historic significance beyond that of any prime minister. Cartoons can register key moments in international relations, such as the visit by Emperor Hirohito to Buckingham Palace in 1971 or the Royal visit to Ireland in 2011.  She appears in cartoons more frequently during periods when the Commonwealth and the Union are under strain. 

These ‘unofficial’ portraits, mostly affectionate but sometimes critical, reveal the changing face of Elizabeth II as Sovereign, as symbol and as a wife and mother through her relationships with her family, her governments and her people over the last six decades. 

The exhibition includes 80 works by over thirty cartoonists including Steve Bell, Peter Brookes, Dave Brown, Michael Cummings, Fluck and Law, Stanley Franklin, Nicholas Garland, Carl Giles, Martin Honeysett, Nicola Jennings, John Jensen, Richard Jolley, MAC, Ken Pyne, Martin Rowson, E. H. Shepard, Ralph Steadman and Trog. 

- The Cartoon Museum is dedicated to collecting and displaying the best of British cartoons, comics and caricatures.Open: Tue-Sat, 10.30-17.30; Sun, 12.00-17.30. Admission: £5.50, £4, £3, Under-18s free. Reg. charity 327 978 Web: www.cartoonmuseum.org

2000AD Book Schedule announced

As it celebrates three and a half decades of some of the greatest comics of all time, 2000AD is unleashing a flurry of top-notch thrills in graphic novel form this year.The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic has lined up a sizzling schedule of new releases, collecting classics and new strips alike – with new formats and a celebration of amazing Judge Dredd artwork from the past 35 years!

February sees the first in the new line of stylish ‘Manga-style’ books reprinting classic tales from Judge Dredd in a fresh pocket-sized format. The perfect format for new readers, this new series breaks classic Judge Dredd stories out from the best-selling Case Files to open up the world of Dredd to new readers and fans at a low price point.

JUDGE DREDD: THE CURSED EARTH SAGA (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-08-5) collects the first Dredd ‘mega-epic,’ as the Lawman of the Future crosses the radioactive hell of the Cursed Earth, complete with mutants, monsters and crazed war robots, with a vaccine to save Mega-City Two from a deadly plague.

The second release in the series, JUDGE DREDD: THE DAY THE LAW DIED (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-09-2) arrives in May and features art by legends Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland as Dredd is forced to take on the tyrannical Judge Cal. And the third title, due in September, reprints the first appearance of Judge Dredd’s ultimate nemesis, Judge Death, in JUDGE DREDD: THE DARK JUDGES (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-45-0) by John Wagner, Brian Bolland and Brett Ewins.

In March, Dan Abnett and Richard Elson’s breakout post-apocalyptic series, Kingdom, returns with 144 full-colour pages of KINGDOM: CALL OF THE WILD (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-98-8). Genetically engineered dogsoldier, Gene the Hackman, and one of the last human beings realise they’ve wandered into the territory of a new pack … and into danger.

 The first critically-acclaimed Mega-City Undercover collection in 2008 was a runaway hit, and April will see MEGA-CITY UNDERCOVER 02: LIVING THE LOW LIFE (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-41-2). Writer Rob Williams (Iron Age, Daken) and artist D’Israeli (SVK, Scarlet Traces) return for more of the undercover judges who work in the crime-infested Low Life – the nastiest part of Judge Dredd’s Mega-City One – in action-packed, humour-filled stories.

Rebellion continue putting the law in order in May, with JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES 19 (£21.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-96-4) collecting the Dredd stories of three of the world’s biggest comic book writers: Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis and Mark Millar, including Morrison’s first Judge Dredd story, Inferno.

One of the biggest hits from 2000AD of the last year, the sarcastic, grumpy supernatural detective Absalom gets his first collection in June. ABSALOM: GHOSTS OF LONDON (£10.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9) by Gordon Rennie and Tiernen Trevallion sees the veteran Cockney copper may be dying of cancer, but that doesn’t stop him taking on demonic entities in modern London. A stylish mix of police procedural and occult forces, this collection will be fresh from the weekly comic!

 Pat Mills’ popular Celtic barbarian returns in SLÁINE: TREASURES OF BRITAIN (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-97-1) in June with art by Dermot Power and Steve Tappin. The follow-up to the best-selling Sláine: Lord of Misrule, this celebrated story has been unavailable for years and includes a new introduction by Mills.

Another of Mills’ enduring creations is collected in July. SAVAGE: THE GUV’NOR (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9) by Pat Mills and Patrick Goddard continues lorry driver Bill Savage’s fight against the forces now occupying Britain in this taut nourish epic about guerrilla warfare in a contemporary bombed-out London.

It was one of the most famous deaths in comics history, but what you think you know about mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha’s passing is wrong. July’s STRONTIUM DOG: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHNNY ALPHA (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-43-6) by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra sees the veteran writer revive one of the most beloved characters from 2000AD as the most famous Search/Destroy agent of them all spectacularly returns from the grave…

 In August, JUDGE DREDD RESTRICTED FILES 04 (£19.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-46-7) features writing by John Wagner and Mark Millar, with art from Bryan Talbot, Henry Flint and many more. Featuring rare thrills from 2000AD annuals and specials this best-selling series features never before collected material.

He’s the most startling new character to emerge from 2000AD in a decade – a murderous monosyllabic entity bent on revenge for his murdered race. SHAKARA: THE DESTROYER (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-38-2) collects the second half of Robbie Morrison and Henry Flint’s stunning series. Reality teeters on the edge of oblivion in this tale of monumental carnage and devastation, packed with incredible artwork from this breakaway talent.

 And in the same month the new Dredd film starring Karl Urban hits screens, September sees the first ever 2000AD collectable art book – 2000AD COVER ART FEATURING JUDGE DREDD (£34.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-44-3). Edited by 2000AD graphic novels editor Keith Richardson, this highly-collectable tome will celebrate 2000AD and Judge Dredd’s joint 35th anniversary with a compilation of the most stunning and innovative Judge Dredd-related covers, illustrated by some of the greatest talents in the industry – a must for 2000AD and Dredd fans!

The January to September 2000 AD graphic novel schedule in full: 

January:
AMPNEY CRUCIS INVESTIGATES – VILE BODIES (£11.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-94-0)

February:
JUDGE DREDD: THE CURSED EARTH SAGA (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-08-5)
JUDGE ANDERSON: THE PSI FILES 02 (£19.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-95-7

March:
KINGDOM: CALL OF THE WILD (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-98-8)

April:
MEGA-CITY UNDERCOVER 02: LIVING THE LOW LIFE (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-41-2)

May:
JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES 19 (£21.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-96-4)
JUDGE DREDD: THE DAY THE LAW DIED (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-09-2)

June:
 ABSALOM: GHOSTS OF LONDON (£10.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9)
SLÁINE: TREASURES OF BRITAIN (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-907992-97-1)

July:
SAVAGE: THE GUV’NOR (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-42-9)
STRONTIUM DOG: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHNNY ALPHA (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-43-6)

August:
JUDGE DREDD RESTRICTED FILES 04 (£19.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-46-7)
SHAKARA: THE DESTROYER (£14.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-38-2)

September:
2000 AD COVER ART FEATURING JUDGE DREDD (£34.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-44-3)
JUDGE DREDD: THE DARK JUDGES (£6.99 ISBN 978-1-781080-45-0)