Dandy 75: A Roundup Of What Is Happening

The 75th anniversary, and last print, edition of The Dandy comic will be published on Tuesday 4 December, the same day that the new on-line version will be launched. In the run-up to Tuesday here are a selection of Dandy events and stories -

The ABC Show returns to the (almost monthly) London Comic Mart tomorrow, Sunday 2 December, when creators Henry Davis, Hunt Emerson, Laura Howell, Gary Northfield, Nigel Parkinson and Lew Stringer will be on hand to sign Dandys while original artwork will be on display. The event runs from Noon to 4pm at the Royal National Hotel near London's Russel Square and entrance is free.
There are more details of the ABC Show on the London Comic mart website.

Also close to Russell Square is The Cartoon Museum which continues its Dandy 75th Birthday Exhibition with displays of original Dandy artwork. The exhibition continues until 24 December 2012.
There are more details at the Cartoon Museum website.

The National Library Of Scotland in Edinburgh also has a Dandy exhibition running as part of their ongoing Treasures series of displays and, like the Cartoon Museum, it also features original artwork from the DC Thomson archive. The NLS exhibition continues until 3 February 2013  and entrance is free.
There are more details including seasonal opening times on the National Library Of Scotland website.

Dundee University's UniVerse imprint have teamed up with DC Thomson to publish their 'Special Edition' of the Dandy's 1940s superhero character The Amazing Mr X. On the final inside page of the 76 page book is a cryptic image/advert with the words "The End?". It also has some curiously copyrighted text at the bottom along with a Twitter hashtag - something to keep an eye on perhaps.
Price and ordering details for The Amazing Mr X are available by e-mailing universecomic@gmail.com

The Birmingham Post has a feature on Dandy artist Charlie Grigson who drew Korky The Cat for two decades as well as contributing to The Beano, The Topper and Judy. Now 96 years young, Charlie Grigson has lost his short term memory to dementia but has written down his life story for his family, and his son Steve talks warmly of his father's love of his work.
The full feature is available on the Birmingham Post website.

Finally, for now, George Shiers over on the Wacky Comics blog has the details of what he has termed 'Digital Dandy' and we have previously called 'e-Dandy' that were sent with the subscriber copies of the current issue of The Dandy. This suggests that 'e-Dandy' will have a weekly format. We will all know the details on Tuesday.
There are more details of this on the Wacky Comics blog.


The last print issue of The Dandy, a 100 page special including a reprint of the first issue from 1937, goes on sale on Tuesday 4 December with a cover price of £3.99. 

Anyone concerned that they will not be able to find a copy of the issue, which has a print run of 50,000, can order it directly from the DC Thomson on-line shop. The on-line shop also has a special offer of a Dandy Collectors Pack of a copy of the last issue as well as a copy of the hardback book The Art And History Of The Dandy signed by the last two editors of the comic, Morris Heggie and Craig Graham.

Hudnall, Mayverik deliver 'Blue Cat' for Aces Weekly

This stunning promo piece by Val Mayerik is for a new strip, Blue Cat by James Hudnall, appearing in the next issue of the digital comic Aces Weekly (acesweekly.co.uk) this month (December).

In the story, Cindy Sparks is a 16 year old girl who gets into serious trouble and is soon haunted by the ghost of a mysterious cat. The cat leads her on a journey to solve a mystery through places within walking distance of her home that she never imagined were there. Places scary, mind blowing and certainly not safe.

James Hudnall burst onto the comics scene in 1986 with Espers, which Aces Weekly publisher and creator David Lloyd illustrated. He went on to produce many acclaimed comics for Marvel, DC, Image, Malibu, Viz such as The Psycho, Sinking, Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography, Streets, The Age of Heroes (now being re-published in colour STRIP Magazine, re-mastered by John Ridgway), and Devastator. Last year, his graphic novel Aftermath made its English language debut from Humanoids.

James is excited about digital comics having produced one in 2000 with Spanish artist Rafa Fonteriz which is the early version of Aftermath. It can be seen on his site thehud.com. In addition to Blue Cat, which he is producing for Aces Weekly, he's finishing his self published crime series 2 To the Chest for 2013.

Costa Award Nomination For Dave Shelton

When the shortlists for the Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Book Awards) were announced complete with their two graphic novels, Dotter Of Her Father's Eyes by Bryan and Mary Talbot and Days of the Bagnold Summer by Joff Winterhart, there was a flurry of activity on the various comics blogs over that good news. So much so that one other comics name barely got mentioned.

 

Artist and writer Dave Shelton, who writes and draws Good Dog, Bad Dog, for both The DFC and Phoenix has been shortlisted in the Children's Book category with his novel A Boy And A Bear In A Boat. 

Published by David Fickling Books, who also published the compilation of Good Dog, Bad Dog under The DFC Library imprint, A Boy And A Bear In A Boat is about a boy and a bear in, err, a boat. The pair get to know each other as the bear rows the boat and the boy investigates its contents. The unusual cover, illustrated by Dave who also provided all the black and white interior illustrations, shows the nautical map that the pair use on their journey. "This enchanting story has the feel of a classic children's tale," was how the Costa judges described the book.

 

In addition to being shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award, A Boy And A Bear On A Boat is also on the long list for both the Carnegie Medal for outstanding book for children and young people, and the Kate Greenaway Medal for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. Both medals are are voted on by CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

 

Our congratulations to Dave Shelton for making all these listings with his first novel and we wish him, the Drs Talbot, and Joff Winterhart, good luck for the announcement of the Costa Book Awards winners on Thursday 3 January 2013.

 

There are more details of Dave Shelton's work on his website.

 

There are more details of A Boy And A Bear In A Boat on the David Fickling Books website.

 

There are more details of all the nominees for the 2012 Costa Book Awards at the awards website.

Belfast Comics Fayre (Updated)

The “family fun day” event is run by Avalon Arts, a collective organising workshops, alternative and craft fairs and music performances. The site is a good one: Haymarket Arcade is located at the bottom of the central Royal Avenue, about five minutes walk from City Hall. The recently converted arcade has some resonance for comics readers. It was once the route taken through to the original site of The Talisman (now FPI Belfast), one of Northern Ireland’s first comics shops, as well as Impulse Comics in the late nineties. Impulse, currently known as The Stack, (Little Victoria Street), will be selling comics at the event, which features the opening of a week long comics art exhibition, signings, sketches, face-paintings, comics-related art stuffs, such as redecorated furniture, woollies and badges.

The Belfast Comics Fayre takes place on December 9th from 12-6pm, and is supported by The Black Panel. Set-up by Paddy Brown in 2010, The Black Panel presented sixty Irish comics to the public over sixty dates through local art market stalls. With city licensing laws clamping down on markets, The Panel is looking to work with retail outlets to establish multiple new venues. After the official re-launch at the Fayre, selections from the range will enjoy homes at both Haymarket Arcade, and The Stack in the months following.

 

Confirmed Guests are:

PADDY BROWN

In a hundred years, I reckon Paddy Brown will be remembered as one of Ireland's finest cartoonists. His Cattle Raid of Cooley (right) calls to the reader to glide around the pages and take in the detail, but to go when he says. The division of art/lettering to two different spectrums is going to take me some getting used to, but it's different. And Cattle Raid is a psuedo-sensory experience. He’ll be launching Issue 7 of his acclaimed adaptation of the Irish myth at the event.

ANDY LUKE

Hi, that’s me, so it is. I’ll be launching Kick!, a series of cheaply priced pocket humour strips  as well as selling my new Christmas card range, which includes Xmas Panto comic, The Last Noel. I’ll also be selling The Moods of Prime, a twenty-page colour mini-comic made during a fit of depression, about depression, empowerment, and imaginary Transformer friend,Optimus Prime. I’ll also be running The Magnificent Comic Book Factory, a workshop aimed at creating and publishing a new anthology on that day!

LIGHTNING STRIKE COMICS

Superheroes, crime drama, fantasy noir and steam-punk time travel. Straight outta Dublin, Lightning Strike published their first anthology in September, featuring over twenty creators. Largely a collection of new faces, it also features better known Irishmen like Richmond Clements, Rob Carey and Cormac Hughes. For more details including some really good art previews, check out their Facebook page.


Eoin McAuley (Editor-Publisher) 

Eoin McAuley is the producer of a genre-spanning beautifully coloured comics anthology. "Lightning Strike Presents" compiles some of Ireland's freshest yet fully realised comics talents. Eoin will be travelling from Dublin with two contributors with copies of Issue 1 for autographing and sketching, some exclusive sneak peak material from their upcoming issue #2, and the video game project they're working on with CRG.

Ciaran Marcantonio (Writer)

Ciaran Marcantonio is the writer of A Clockwork Universe for Lightning Strike, and an un-produced Highlander book with Dynamite Comics and the late Bill Panzer. Ciaran was noted as one of the most promising new faces on the Irish scene, during his recent interview with the 2d podcast.

Daryl Cox (Artist)

Joining Eoin and Ciaran on their trip to the North is Daryl Cox, artist on Monkey of Oz, a strip about a flying monkey set in L. Frank Baum's Oz mythology. Eoin will be present on the day to talk about his experiences with Lightning Strike, and comics in general.


Darrin O' Toole (Writer)

Darrin O'Toole is a writer from Dublin, Ireland. He has written "Tales from the Void" for DOT Comics, which was showcased to great acclaim at both D.I.C.E.  and Thoughtbubble in Leeds. Darrin was runner up for the Dundee Comics Prize and his most recent published work is 'The Amazing Mr. X" for DC Thomson, which also launched at Thoughtbubble. Upcoming releases include "Singularity" & "Bodyjocks" which are both in the Markosia published "British Showcase Anthology" ,"Earthruler", "Lady Babylon: An Occult Romance" as well as the science fiction novel "The Pantheon Bell".

There are also unconfirmed guests. Will they include 2000AD legend and Game of Thrones story-boarder Will Simpson, or neo-2000AD legend PJ Holden? Also rumoured are Atomic Diner authors Rob Curley and Stephen Downey (Jennifer Wilde) Their fellow creator on the forthcoming Noe the Savage Boy, Mal Coney, is local and may well make an appearance.

There’s also a great bar, The Hudson, on site. I rest my case.

• Avalon Arts Comics Fayre, Haymarket Arcade, off Royal Avenue, Belfast is on Sunday December 9th, and open to the public between 12-6pm, with comics art exhibition open for the following week. Admission is free and the Facebook event page is here.