Entries posted to the BugPowder Weblog during 05 2008.
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Ahead of this weekend's No Bar Codes, David Baillie has been an interviewing maniac these past few days. He's spoken to Dan Lester, Francesca Cassavetti, and Bugpowder's own Andy Luke. He's talked to Ben Powis and Josceline Fenton too. But wait! He's also talked to Paul Rainey and Sean Azzopardi and
Oliver Lamden and Tom Humberstone as well. He must be knackerd.
The Bristol Comics Forum. has a new location, the upstairs room at The Stag and Hounds pub on Old Market Street every thursday from 7pm. If you live in Bristol and like comics why not come along?
There's a Manchester Comix Collective group as well, details here
Are you part of a social comics group? send us the details!
Word of the Malcy Duff launch party on Friday 30th, a few posts down.
Dan Lester is featured in a broad overview of the 24 hour comics phenomenon at WikiWorldBook.
Matthew Badham talks to Kenny Penman, of publishers Blank Slate
Those in the UK and Ireland can get a free copy of MameZine, a non-profit manga fanzine by request, sending an A5 SSAE to,
Rhoda Villegas, MAMEzine #X, 212 Lewisham High Street, Lewisham, London SE13 6JP.
John Welding contiunes Drawing the City at Wakefield Art Gallery "in all weather to capture the changing face of the city through both its buildings and its citizens". Including large scale drawings, "the exhibition features John's original sketchbooks and the work of a small number of other artists, who over the centuries, like John have been inspired by the city and its people."
More information and images can be found at http://johnwelding.blogspot.com
Martyn Warren has a new message on global warming at the Velcrow Cows Gallery
Creative Review on the upcoming book from Woodrow Pheonix, Rumble Stip
A preview of D'Israeli's new 2000AD strip
Paul Gravett's obituary of Steve Gerber
Bart Beaty at The Comics Reporter on Conversational Euro-Comics
This just in: In the spirit of the pubcon concept, I'll be hosting a panel forum on the future of Bugpowder.com at Lock 17 Camden on Saturday, sometime around midday.
It should be noted that the panel is being organised by Andrew Luke of Bugpowder and LUC and not by Oli Smith of LUC - "I have enough to do as it is!", says Oli. Indeed!
Cancelled: Due to illess
Malcy Duff writes...
On Friday (30th) I'll have a table at the CCA Book Fair. which is on from midday til 6pm at the CCA on Sauchiehall street (Glasgow). Please pop in if you have a few hours to spare and keep me company. Bring good and bad food.
Saturday (31st) is the first official day of my (small) exhibition in Prestonpans as part of the 3 Harbours Art Festival. It is living and creepin up the walls from 31st May through June 8th at the Potteries (which is also serving as the Box Office) on the high street across the road from the mighty Goth tavern.
I'll be there on Saturday and selling my comix at Prestonpandemonium at the Goth which is run by the equally mighty Barker family. Give them some support too if attending on the Saturday.
24 of the UK's lesser seen vibrant comicbooks reviewed in 28 hours in words, pictures and videos, across several websites by one man !
(including trs2)
Comic artist and entrepreneur D Z Greene has set up a website selling a selection of uk small press comics, plus t-shirts, music and other stuff, over at www.samu.co.uk
John Freeman writes,
"By now, I imagine you may have heard the sad news that British comics veteran Mike Western has passed away. If not, sorry to be the bearer of the news in such an anodyne fashion.
Steve Holland reported his death on Bear Alley earlier in the week and we’ve posted a couple of items on the downthetubes blog. This weekend, I plan to put together a tribute to Mike on downthetubes, similar to the one many people contributed to for Phil Gascoine last year. I’m hoping those of you that know Mike’s work or recall his many strips – The Wild Wonders, The Sarge, HMS Nightshade, to name but a few — will have time to send me a few words I can include on the pages.
Your memories of Mike or views on his work and contribution to British comics would be very welcome — they don’t need to be long, I know you’re all busy folk. Thanks in advance, and please feel free to pass this on to other creators.
Like comics? Live in London? Get down to The Centre For recent Drawing, right next to Highbury station, before 6 tomorrow (23rd), for the closing of the Diary Drawing show. It's got that Ruto Modan in it. She's famous. Read my report here. It's traveling to Northhampton.
why not go have a look at the flowfield unity daily web comic, and if you like it, there's a hand made collection available to buy.
shameless self promotion: the banal pig shop is online, plus new look blog in its new location.
also appalling nonsense.
Andrew Winter and Mick Trimble premiered their new book through
Moonface Press at the Bristol Expo. 552 pages priced 3.95, and limited
to 100 copies. Septic Isle its called. Well the press release
says, "In the '70s and '80s, Jacob Marley was MI5's most revered and
feared agent. But he turned his back on Queen and country to pursue a
more peaceful existence. Now, 15 years later and with his life
collapsing around him, Marley has returned to find that the world of
British espionage is more dangerous than ever before." Reveiwers may
wish to contact Andy about gettin hold of a review copy at andywinter1
(at) yahoo.com and theres more details I'm told at
James Nash has got a collection of diary comics available called "It's Nice to Have a friend Such as Yourself". You can find it at Gosh!, Dave's Comics and some shop called Platform Clothing in Brum. or email him at jamesnash61@hotmail.com
Here's what .Net Magazine thinks of Bugpowder, in an article on how to write good web copy. (Bottom entry, thanks to David McKeegan for the scan):
The Manchester Manga Exhibition makes the news at Matthew Badham's Overspill and Liam Palmer's Flickr set.
2000 AD used to have a really really shitty advertising department. May cause offense.
If you missed the Bristol Comics Expo, you could try to catch the Virtual version
Patrick Brown is a inspirational mini-comics artist from the 90s, now charting the ancient history of Ulster in "The Ulster Cycle". His new website address is http://paddybrown.co.uk Lots of cool comics on there, like Tamara Knight and Guilty As Charged.
Dan Piraro makes amusing gag illustrations at BizzarroBlog
Cora's Breakfast by Nick Abadiz can be downloaded from The Guardian website
Hope For The Future by Simon Perrins was a hell of a lot quicker than Spaced. And its back. New pages online every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Rob Jackson writes,
"My new comic 'Bog Wizards' is out now. I will be selling it at Bristol but if anyone would like a copy its £1.50 plus 30p postage.
Bog Wizards is a fantasy story starring anthropomorphic ducks in a tale of magic and intrigue. It comes with a tiny mini mini comic 'How To Read Bog Wizards' which explains the complicated semantics of this weighty tome.
24 pages, black and white A5, plus 14 page mini mini comic, www.robjacksoncomics.com"
Robs also reviewing comics at his new blog.
Hassan Otsmane of IndieReview writes to say theres new comics by Leonie O Moore and newcomer Shaun Spalding with a new bi-weekly webcomics column by Vicki Paull
Hassan also volunteers to review your webcomics. You can contact him at webcomics (at) indiereview (dot) co.uk
TRS2 this weekend may look busier than usual - its Comics 24 Hours Reviews Weekend !
Inside big boxes of mini-comics....Frazer Irving, Ralph Kidson, and more
**Edit** I got the date wrong! Apologies **
If you're around London Next weekend, you could pop along to No Barcodes.
Curious about the goings-on associated with the launch of the DFC, the new weekly children's comic?
Stephen Betts, proprietor of collaborative comix translation site Comix Influx, tells all about the launch party in a blog post here, complete with pictures.
Meanwhile, DFC contributor Sarah McIntyre gives as sense of the excitement on the creators' side here.
Fraternal Casanova artists Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá have a Google Homepage theme
Haven't seen it, but apparently Bugpowder gets a mention in .Net magazine this month. Anybody got a scan? (Thanks to Rachid for the tip)
Powwkipsie is online by Iain Laurie(Blackcape,WASTED,Accent Comics "Zombies",Accent Comics "Robots")
Knocky Smith has a strip called Un-bound on his blog.
Ed Syder is about to self publish his new free mini-comic "Ghost Galaxy". It's 14 pages, A5, black and white.
Interested ones should send a stamped, self addressed envelope to:
Ghost Galaxy, 5 Croton Street, Stockport, SK4 3BX
"Just popping you a quick line to say "Never Been", the giant comic strip that exhibited on the walls of Projekts MCR earlier this year is now online.
Check it out!
all the best
Stuart Kolakovic"
Andie Spencer has a webcomic - The Service
Finally an answer to the age old question: what if the legion of super-heroes were potatoes...? (or here)
Thomas Plaskitt of newthink books has a new book called "the meaning of life"
Poseur Ink are calling for submissions to "Side B: A Musical Anthology", the follow up to "Side A: The Music Lover's Graphic Novel."
Deadline: 30th November 2008.
Yes, like Karrie Fransman draws comics weekly.
Karries also organising a club night fundraiser on Thursday night for the work of her pal New Statesman Journalist Shiv Malik. More details on the Facebook group or on this site
My, the Bugblog inbox is packed to the gills right now. Unfortunately, I've been busy with real-world stuff, as have many of your blue-eyed Bug-some contributors, so the blog hasn't been kept as up-to-date as we might have wished.
Maybe you'd like that situation to change, and one way would be to volunteer yourself! By signing up, you get access to the famed bugblog inbox, and the ability to log in here and post news items. You'll be among the first to hear about cool stuff, and can even mention your own projects. Just one post per week from a few of you could make a world of difference to a news-starved small press reader, a sick dog, or a poorly child.
Many of you will be in Bristol right now, enjoying the air, and the Comics Expo. Do have fun, and let me know what I missed, it'll be the first one I've had to skip since I started turning up to these things. Look out for the Comics Village fete area. There'll be lots of small-press goodies throughout the expo, pick one of everything up. By winking at tableholders, and uttering the password 'Dan Fish said to say hello', you may win fun prizes!
"Al Davison's entertaining and powerful performance culminates in his struggle to overcome "disability", the prejudice that surrounds it, and his mission to end a cycle of astonishing events in his family's history. His story spans 100 years from the suffragette movement, death, war, imprisonment, love and attempted murder."
Scar Tissue is a free performance presented by The Hebert Art Gallery, as part of the Coventry Festival of Literature and Liberty. The show takes place Thursday 8th May 7.00pm - 9.00pm in the relaxed atmosphere of the Herbert Café, and is suitable for adults only. For more details contact Jack Shuttleworth, Community Events and Exhibitions Officer at The Herbert on 024 7678 5168 or jack.shuttleworth (at) coventry.gov.uk Or join the facebook group somewhere near to this hyperlink here.
Also on Thursday, an exhibit on of Cartoonist Diaries. Its curated by Sarah Lightman and taking apart hyperlinks I discover its at Centre for Recent Drawing, 2-4 Highbury Station Road LONDON N1 1SB. (Main page)
The opening night private view runs 7-9pm, and the festival goes on until the 23rd May, Wed-Fri 12-6pm. And if you miss that, its also playing Northampton on 6-7th June at Paraliterary Narratives: Reassessing the Graphic Novel. Names involved include: Paul Gravett, Gabrielle Bell, David Blandy, Oliver East, Alex Fox, Miriam Katin and loads others. http://www.c4rd.org.uk/C4RD/Current_Exhibition.html
The Bugpowder mailbox is very full. If you've sent us something about the upcoming Bristol festival or something else we've probably got it. We're just too damn busy !
