When I was working out how to make a comic, I compiled a list of sites that were of use. This is a web page of them, on the off chance someone else finds them of use.

Been meaning to mention it for a while, Joanna Carey has been profiling illustrators in the Saturday review section. She's already filed on Quentin Blake , John Burningham and John Lawrence

Steve Bell reports back from the convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists in todays Guardian here.

Comica festival which kicked off at the ICA this weekend looks set to become an annual event. This weekend's WEBCOMICA talk discussed the possibilites of web comics and hypercomics and brought to the fore some sites well worth looking at. Groovers and shakers under discussion were (amongst others) Daniel Merlin Goodbrey best known for Sixgun, the intricate work of Demian.5 and new talent Paul Fryer who was present discussing his online series Crosswired.
Oh and there's still plenty more to catch this week that should interest the Luddites among us.

Finally, I've found my password! As you may already know, cyberCaption 2003 will be held on the 2nd and 3rd of August at the Oxford Union. As usual, there will be panels, workshops, the exhibition, and the bar and gardens :) This year we're being joined by Carla Speed McNeil, author of Finder, who'll be favouring us with her wisdom on self-publishing and creating your own cyber-scape.

And now to the point - we want your art! You might want to

• Contribute to the Picky Picky Game, an online game of comics consequences. Submit panels to shape the story! Will accept .png, .jpg, .bmp, .gif and probably several other image formats. All panels submitted will be on display at Cybercaption 2003.
• Send us a picture for the auction/programme booklet. This year we are especially interested in postcard-sized landscape format pure black and white pictures (so we can display them on antique Macs!)
• Create a Google Minicomic -- this year Caption's minicomic theme is Googlisms. Feed a plot point, question or statement into Google and make a comic from the best results. You'll probably need to experiment a bit to find a good search term but "this is a comic about" is a good place to start. You can find a guide to making minicomics here. All Google minicomics received will be on display at Cybercaption 2003.

We also want your money! Book your memberships now; £10 for waged, £5 for unwaged or Sunday only. This is also the time to let us know if you want a T-shirt; the design is yet to be decided on, but it's sure to be funky :)

As always, you can send all this to us at 18 Hawkins St, Oxford, OX4 1YD or, if it's electronic, mail it to us at caption2003@caption.org. You can also sign up to the announcements mailing list to keep up with all the latest news.

Looking forward to seeing you at CyberCaption 2003!

John Bagnall, who those with long memories may remember from Escape, Fast Fiction and various Harrier Comics, will be launching his new book Don't Tread On My Rosaries at the following ComICA Escape panel this coming Sunday. Lots of extracts and ordering information are available at Kingly Books. The gallery section looks interesting too.

Updated! It's coming, not been :)

Here's the updated press release for Comica:

ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH
Friday June 27th - Sunday July 6th.

‘The graphic novel is... not literary fiction's half-wit cousin but, more accurately, the mutant sister who can often do everything fiction can, and just as often, more.’ Dave Eggers, The New York Times Book Review

The ICA launches the first of a new annual 10-day festival featuring the most critically-acclaimed international comic book creators as well the very best of the next generation. The festival opens on Friday June 27th in the ICA bar with comic artists Charles Burns (Black Hole, Big Baby, Iggy Pop album cover), John Bagnall, Marc Baines, Ed Pinsent and Woodrow Phoenix DJing in the bar – comic image VJing by Exceeda. A chance to get to meet the talent in an informal environment.

The talks programme includes Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid in the World, Guardian First Book Award winner) in conversation with Alex Garland (The Beach) on July 1st, Joe Sacco (Palestine) on the 2nd and Charles Burns in conversation with Jonathan Ross on June 30th. Sophie Crumb (Ghost World film illustrations), daughter of comic giant Robert, and rising comic star in her own right, will talk about her work and demonstrate her love of tattooing on a willing member of the audience on July 4th. On Saturday 5th Frenchman Frederic Boilet, now resident in Tokyo, will discuss his elegant hybrid of European and Japanese sensibilities as manifested in his erotic autobiography that is being hailed as ‘la nouvelle manga’.

The hot new Japanese anime film Cowboy Bebop: The Movie will be showcased at the ICA, screening daily from June 27th onwards throughout July. With its story of deadly chemical warfare in modern cities, it strikes a particularly timely chord. Directed by Anime legend Watanabe, one of the directors of the new Animatrix films released in conjunction with The Matrix Reloaded. On July 6th there will be a surprise Comica film premier that illustrates the rich connection between films and comics.

On the 4th of July cult Outsider comic artist and musician Daniel Johnston, beloved of the likes of Kurt Cobain, Beck and Harmony Korine, will be performing material from his latest album in this alternative Independence Day celebration. Support DJing by Everett True of Careless Talk Costs Lives and Savage Pencil.

The OuBaPo: Potential Comics Exhibition at the ICA (opening June 27th) will launch the British branch of OuBaPo (Ouvroir de Bande Dessinée Potentielle or 'Workshop for the Potential of Comics'). A team of artists including Tom Gauld, Test-Tube Comics, Les Cartoonistes Dangereux, as well as guests, will experiment with the comic format in an evolving, wall-sized, multi-pathed artwork (online at www.oubapo.com). Plus a capsule exhibition exploring the history and legacy of American underground comics. Expect surprise big name contributors.
From the 25th June to the 6th July, the WebComica exhibition will run in the ICA Digital Studio. This work provides an insight into the many possibilities of the exciting new area of comics on the web, and proves to their paper cousins that webcomics have become a vibrant medium in their own right. This award-winning work displays an impressive range of tone and style. The Digital Studio will also host the OuBaPo: Potential Comics Exhibition Online throughout the Comica festival. On the 25th of June at 7pm new media artist and lecturer Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, curator of the WebComica exhibition, takes the audience on a tour of the selected material. On the 28th of June at 4pm in New Practices, New Comics, Paul Gravett, John Barber and John Dunning will discuss how new media tools are changing the form of comics.

On Sunday June 29th there will be an afternoon of Comica Conversations including: DIY Comics: Online vs Offline, a discussion by independent comics creators that straddle the small press and internet, including Tom Gauld (Move to the City, Time Out). Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan) and Mike Carey (Lucifer) discuss the part of British writers in revolutionising the comicbook form. In Alan Moore: An Extraordinary Gentleman artists Melinda Gebbie (Lost Girls), David Lloyd (V for Vendetta) and Oscar Zarate (A Small Killing) reveal the secrets of their collaborations with writer-magician Alan Moore. In The Great Escape Paul Gravett, co-editor of the seminal publication Escape magazine reunites contributing creators to hear about their latest output in print, music, film and animation.

Selection of Useful Web Addresses:

OuBaPo: www.oubapo.com
Chris Ware: www.fantagraphics.com/artist/acme
Joe Sacco: www.fantagraphics.com/artist/sacco
Charles Burns: www.fantagraphics.com/artist/burns/burns
Daniel Johnston: www.museumoflove.com/ www.hihowareyou.com
Tom Gauld: www.cabanonpress.com
Frederic Boilet www.boilet.net

Issued: 7/ 5/ 03

For more information contact the Box office on 0207 930 3647
www.ica.org.uk

Not sure what this Comica ICA exhibition final day "Top Secret Screening of a Hot New Comics Movie" is to be, but there's to be a Special Preview screening of 'Hunters of the Sun - A Mauretania Comics Film' included with the booking of Paul Gravett's "The Great Escape" talk on Sunday 29 June. (ICA box office: 020 7930 3647) Could it be that Monitor is back in town? (Ang Lee better watch his back!)

Years ago there was the Sisterson Project.
The completed pages are now collated here.
And those are just the completed pages I have received... Hopefully the project will now start to move again...

For instant jam on the Internet go see the picky project over at Caption.

Anyone know of any other JAM comics online?

Crisis is over.

Phil Elliot has started doing Pool Tales on www.serializer.net.

Seems the lad, Tom Hart may have been a Harrier & Fox fan...

The website for The Big Draw 2003 is online. I think the word they are scared to say is 'comics'....Shame really.

'I often wonder what might have been had I approached the strange car that evening...I mean, really - what could have been done with a nine year old girl??'

In 'A Delay In The Evil Registering', a one page strip new to LEAFLIT ONLINE, a woman revisits one of those universal near-misses from childhood...