Something happened eight years ago.

On the last night of a tour of European Cathedrals, a member of a school choir died.

100 lives were affected by his death. Some of them saw something that night in Paris, something they can’t remember or won’t remember. Some of them have wondered what happened, letting the idea of it grow vast in their heads. Some of them have just got on with their lives, as best they could.

None of them have sung since.

The Silent Choir is a hundred very short stories that show where the members of the choir have found themselves in the eight years since the accident. Through the stories we get a fragmented view of what happened that night, and see how the events have affected the people involved. We see connections between the people who have stayed in touch and those who no longer speak to each other. It’s about memories and aspirations and regrets. It’s a mystery. It’s a horror story. It’s a melodrama and a romance and a comedy.

It's The Silent Choir.

Completing on September the Second.

Today is the start of The Rainbow Orchid being serialised on
LiveJournal. This is a great chance to follow the story from the
beginning on a day-by-day basis - just add LJ user 'rainboworchid' to
your friends and you're away!

And what is The Rainbow Orchid? It is an adventure story set in the
1920s, inspired by the likes of H. Rider Haggard, Jules Verne and
Arthur Conan Doyle, with an artistic influence coloured by European
Bande Dessinée - Hergé, Edgar P. Jacobs, Yves Chaland and Floc'h etc.

Publishers have described it as "like Tintin, but more cerebral" and
"a proper story with a deep plot" (read some more comments here). It
has been read and admired by the likes of Bryan Talbot, Philip
Pullman, Patrick A. Dumas, Richard Starkings and about 6000 readers a
week from all over the world visiting the website (it reached a
million hits in March). It has even been translated into French.

Although it is being published on the web, it is not primarily a
webcomic. The question most often asked is 'when can I buy the book?'
- and that is the aim. The Rainbow Orchid has a literary and media
agent and has already been approached by several major book
publishers - it just needs to be completed!

But the main thing is to tell a good story. Start here.

Almost 4 months after the event, Modern Monstrosity boys Laurence and Oliver
have posted their photo comic report from the Bristol Convention 2007. Find
it HERE.
There's also an art blog and Caption report on the way as well. Keep
checking http://www.modernmonstrosity.moonfruit.com for updates!

Matt Badham wants your input!

Hi Bugpowder

I want small pressers to talk to me:

Hi All

I'm speaking at a comics and animation conference, The Aesthetics of Trash, already mentioned on Bugpowder. I'm going to be talking about British small press comics. I'd be really grateful if small pressers could give me some feedback about their small press work.

Some questions then:

What defines a small press comic?
How did you first get involved in the small press?
Why are you/were you involved in the small press?
Please tell me about a little about your work (feel free to attach samples when you reply).
What excites you about the small press in this country?
What depresses you about the small press in this country?
What are your feelings re: the Judge Dredd Megazine printing small press strips but not paying the creators?
Who are the unsung heroes of the small press?
Who are the (deservedly) sung heroes of the small press?

Feel free to kick these questions about/tell me what I should be asking/disabuse me of the assumptions inherant in my questions and basically give me your perspective. The more quotable the better. And feel free to forward this request to anyone who you think would be interested in giving me their thoughts/ideas.

Answers by email to mattbadham (at) hotmail.com

Cheers
Matthew Badham

Amazon list Jeffrey Brown's "Cat Getting Out of a Bag" in their Best Books of the Year So Far: Hidden Gems promotion

"The Aesthetics of Trash" : Reassessing Animation and the Comic

Manchester Metropolitan University

The prices for attendees not delivering papers at this two day conference at the end of the month is thirty pounds, including refreshments.

The event includes,
Form :
‘You’re stuck in a rut mate: Assessing the alliance between repetition, form and meaning within Link and Bunnage’s Modern Toss - Van Morris
Cartoons, Comics and Convergence Culture - Gareth Howell
From Myth to Irony in the Grail Quest: Parody and Adaptation in Rowson’s The Waste Land - Joan Ormrod
The European Graphic Novel from Töppfer to today - Paul Gravett
Managing solitude and self-awareness in the construction of Mike Mignola's 'Hellboy – Strange Places' " - Helen List

Ideology and Conflict
All Comics are political! Comics as cultural resistance: Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta - Maggi Gray
Propaganda and Animation - David Huxley
9/11 and superhero comics - Brian Clarke

Authorship and Industry
Crisis of Multiple Authors: Team Comics Against Auteurism - Alastair Hird
Wrestling with the Demons of Self Reflexivity: Animation and the Films of Jan Švankmajer - Mareike Sera

Between Comic,Cartoon & Critique: Frame analysis for animation process art - Paul Wells

Identities
Breaking Boundaries: National Identity and Japanese Animation - Caroline Ruddell
Secret Identities: Fan Discourses on Homosexuality in superhero comics - Gemma Corin and Gareth Schott
Jinty, Misty and Tammy: Female Identities and Socialisation in the 1970s wave of British Girls Comics - Jenni Scott
Jackie Chan: Relationship between cartoon and live action stardom - Daniel Hartwell
If you make a social revolution, do it for fun: The Bash St Kids meet the English Situationists. - Paul Sisterson
Frank Randle and the British humour comic - C.P. Lee

There may also be a contribution from Matthew Badham, "Fun not profits: How the British small press became the British Comics Industry", although that remains unconfirmed at this time. There will be keynote addresses by Roger Sabin and Bryan Talbot, and a plenary led by David Huxley discussing the question: What are the future directions for debate in comics and animation research?

Contact details and field information can be found near the Manchester Metropolitan's webpage on the event Very encouraging it looks too. Starts within a week !

The Birmingham International Comics Show (BICS) in partnership with Peters the Booksellers and TBK Magazine recently launched the National Comic Art Competition.

Kids (aged 9-13 and 14-16) have been invited to create their own characters to tell a two page comic story about how they would save the world. This can be a real threat like global warming or something outlandish like an alien invasion. There must be at least six panels on each page.

Full details on how to enter the competition can be found at the BICS 2007 website (www.thecomicsshow.co.uk) and in copies of TBK Magazine, available free in all good public libraries and schools in the UK and English-speaking schools overseas.

D'Israeli and Al Davison talk CAPTION.

Any More?

Martin Hand presents the unofficial HANDbook of the Marvel Universe

Comics Lifestyle.com has a new look on the way...

Bookmark this: http://indiereview.co.uk/. Doors open 16th September.

David Baillie's up to something....

Phil Barrett continues to update his blog with ridiculously charming comics work. (It's so disheartening!)

CAPTION - Final Reminder from Selina

Just a final reminder that Caption: Dreams & Nightmares takes place
at the East Oxford Community Centre, off Cowley Road, Oxford tomorrow
and Sunday.

Those of you who will be bringing comics to sell on the Caption table
can now speed the process up by downloading and filling in the forms
beforehand: http://www.caption.org/2007/table.html

For those of you who are local or arriving tonight there will be a
pre-Caption Meet in the Angel & Greyhound pub. Details here:
http://community.livejournal.com/caption/49487.html

There is also an updated timetable of events on the website:
http://www.caption.org/2007/programme.html

There has been some confusion regarding the Naked Artist panel - Bryan
Talbot is not attending Caption this year, but has kindly sent us
stories, images and books to be used in this panel.

We do have the wonderful Al Davison as our special guest and lots of
stars of the small press attending. Look forward to seeing lots of you
over the weekend!

CAPTION 2007 is almost upon us. Sadly, I can't go (but don't worry! lots of other nice people will be there.) If you are going, and want to submit a report to Bugpowder, contact us via the usual channels. Likewise, if you are debuting a comic at the event and want to promote it here, let us know!

Yesterday's Tomorrows: Rian Hughes Collected Comics is out, and it's gorgeous! Also available as a slipcased limited edition from Forbidden Planet International. It collects stories from the 2000ad stable (Dare and Really&Truly) plus more obscure independent early stuff.

Cartoonist and illustrator Sarah McIntyre has a nice website...

A CAPTION update from Selina Lock & Jay Eales ##UPDATED##
www.caption.org

Just to reassure everyone that the Cowley Road area of Oxford was unaffected by the floods, and so Caption will be going ahead as planned.

Tickets will be sold on the door: £10 for the weekend or £5 for a day

The website is currently being updated, but if you want to see a map of the area then check out the Caption2006 website and if you're still looking for accommodation see: http://community.livejournal.com/caption/49064.html

Below is the timetable for the weekend, and we hope to see lots of you there!

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
All weekend
(10.00 - 01.00 on Saturday 11th,
11.00 - 18.00 on Sunday 12th August 2007)

Saturday
10.00 Doors open
10.00 - 12.00 Mooching, buying comics, looking round & drawing on the art pads for those with the inclination.
12.00 Bar opens!
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch is readily available in Oxford's finest street of many restaurants along the Cowley Road.
13.00 - 15.00 Al Davison's Dream Comic Workshop
14.00 - 15.00 Living the Dream (with Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Douglas Noble and others)
15.00 - 16.00 Montgolfiers - Dreams & Nightmares in Comics
17.00 - 18.00 "Naked Artist" Nightmares (with live illustrations by Woodrow Phoenix and a chance to win one of 5 copies
of Bryan Talbot's brand new book, The Naked Artist)
18.30 - 20.00 Auction
20.00 Dinner Break
21.30 - 22.30 What's my Monstervation? Quiz with Tony Hitchman
01.00 Doors close

Sunday
11.00 Doors open
14.00 - 15.00 24 Minute Comic Dash (hosted by Karen Rubins)
15.00 - 16.00 Fulfilling Your Dreams Is A F*cking Nightmare - Oli Smith in discussion with a panel of small press victims.
15.00 - 17.00 Al Davison's Dream Comic Workshop
16.00 - 17.00 Caption - The Shape of Things To Come?
18.00 Doors close

The business guide to being a cartoonist... and some more handy advice.

It’s all set to be a big Summer for supersoap comic The O Men!

Issue 2.4 is out right now - in which the team take the fight to the terrorist organisation known as The Vultures - but not everything goes to plan...

Also out is Book One of Season Two, collecting the first three issues of the second season. The only surviving member of the first O Men team tries to forge a new team - and some familiar faces return. Introducing Asylum, Strange and The Though Police.

And coming your way in August is O Men 2.5, a special anthology issue, featuring the talents of nine independent creators as we learn the origin of Asylum. More on that soon...!

The O Men is created, written and drawn by Martin Eden and you can find more at the website, www.comix.org.uk/theomen, or just email: martrpeden@yahoo.co.uk. The comic is for mature readers.

Jonathan Cape, (a Graphic Novel publisher in the UK), in association with The Observer and Comica are searching for new graphic artist talent with the chance to be published in The Observer and to win £1000.

The Prize will be judged by industry experts along with the bestselling authors Nick Hornby and Posy Simmonds.