96 pages, Us Mainstream sized trade, Softcover
£8.00 (includes £2 UK Shipping) from http://littleterrorscomic.com/?page_id=211
Out of Print, Available stocks limited.
Collection of strips from March 2006 on, with new material
Little Terrors is the British reasonably well-known webcomic about a group of child mutants, zombies, vampires and monsters. Protected from the abhorrent deviance of the city-as-plague by virtue of their age as innocence, they team up to survive attacks by mad monks and crazy monster bears. This sounds like it could be fun, but I'm unhappy to report a lot of this collection of run just doesnt do it for me.
One page parts from a larger whole are the method of construction for many webcomics. This may work for some readers as I was reminded: storing up parts for a long read. However, for the beginner cartoonist as in this book (composed when Jon was about 19), theres a constant offputting disruption in flow. You can feel the coding in the gutters. In the first third, Many of the sequences seem contrived to shoehorn in the plot, the dialogue is quite awkward. The characters and scenario lack depth.
The web is the definitive challenge to punk's DIY brilliance. It contests it the claim by submission, opens the floodgates. Education and Journalism (and other sectors) are at risk from the untrained, the barely professional in with the salaried. Thats general observation and not meant to imply that Jon Scrivens' Little Terrors has been crafted without thought. The drawings appear to make decent use of CAD, panels are often clearly laid out, a good amount of background scenery. He also brings a panache to the crafting of odd and unusual characters, shaping like a wee Picasso. It remains however with webcomic conventions - a number of scenes even mirror 80s and 90s platform game backgrounds. The originals seem to have been coloured and then reprinted in black and white, which yes works okay.
The final 15 page chapter splits from the ongoing narrative to prologue and is easily my favourite. Theres closer evidence of Jon's storytelling prowess with sequenced dialogue and more of a visual straight forward playful mood. I'm hoping this is the way Little Terrors Book 2 goes. The book itself is 6x9 in. professionally packaged and the author is a quite likeable guy who may throw you in one of his postmodern free sketches. In addition he churns out newer improved material regularly and its worth following him on Twitter, for he s always trying new shit like Live Internet Drawing sessions!
A6, 20 pages, approx. £1 plus 50p for postage. Ordering details through www.fabtoons.com
Also for sale at Free Festivals in the Greater London area.
Francesca Cassavetti is a cartoonist who has been working on comics and illustrations for decades.
My first impressions of this are that the very light paper used in the printing shows through the other side. However, its an A6, and so with cut sheets I would have expected some ruffles aound the edges, not the tidy collation job I see here.
Seeing through the see-through, Francesca's distraction is the relationship with her son and the academic/social debate, physical expressions rendered through considering. She makes it look very simple, though not so that she doesn't examine the political aspects of the booklet. Having recently finished a degree course I was drawn to this, not just its Babylon 5-esque title. Francesca takes on that annoying voice in my head, prompting me to crack on, yet also realising the need for self-care and play in proper place. This is a wee booklet any offspring can relate to. Its best suited though to the parent's market. Its a sadness we don't have good distribution channels delivering empathic comics for parents to parents in this country. I bought my copy, and I'm going to pass it on to one. You could do that.
Bloc will probably be well noticed around festivals while stocks last.
Smith and Lambden both raise their game for this 52-page wordless piece which has all the characteristics of a European master such as a protege of Jean Giraud Moebius. Yes, those guys.
Smith, as a comics storyteller, has dwelled on delicate poetical musings of the teenager, with a young adult's cynicism. With Bloc, a piece written several years ago, we get all that but much more. It pre-empts in characteristic his status as a recent physics graduate and author on Dr. Who with a nameless figure wandering and pondering the landscape, sharing a seemingly psychic or physical field relationship with a cumulus of floating bricks. Internal ponderings wrapped within a narrative of dynamic things happening Play, exploration, philosophy all rise in a narrative that reminds me of Grant Morrisson's silent issue of X-Men. Perhaps its better. Theres a sense of genuine wonder that is massively genuinely endearing, and theres also some horrible, horrible shock. Not bad for a visual instruction only script.
Oliver Lambden too has his roots in semi-autobiography, although perhaps more leaning to stock superhero monomyth. What he does with Bloc is every bit as inspiring as Kirby or Simonson at Marvel, grand epic like Chris Webster, proportion and European influence. For the artist, theres a definite coming-of-age of the craftsman, of the artist who cares. Structure, symmetry, density, a fixed concentration devoted to the moment, his pokerfaced pen resonating Its almost tangible. Every accolade that I heaped upon Smith above is Lambden's in kind. I do believe hes showing off! I'd be willing to get a coffee table to place this book on it. Theres probably nothing quite like it, and its one of the best UK comics this year. Buy it!
I already insisted a girl on the bus looked over my arm while reading this. Buy this!
24 pages, A5 form, approx £1 plus postage
To order email schmurgen (dot) jonerhaffs (at) gmail.com or look out for it on the festival circuit as it appears to be well distributed.
Well, what is it? Schmurgen the character appears to be a Norwegian cartoonist in a Wrestler mask attempting to integrate himself into British culture, delivering the laughs with moments for questions on society, status and gender relations along the way. The art style is at times reminiscent of SPX Expo or underground figures like Chester Brown, or British cartoonist Francesca Cassavetti. It wouldn't really be comparable to say the stillness of Sean Azzopardi's longer form work. Theres a little use of greyscale and carbon black, though mostly its elegant waves and dynamic gestures. The subject matter is often juvenile toilet-focussed, though perhaps more Oink! than Viz Yet, theres something quite amicable beyond the decent cartooning that makes it a pleasurable fifteen to twenty minutes. Theres even an exclusive competition offer.
Considering the subject matter and the seemingly one-joke nature this is a half-decent first effort, if a little raggedy around some edges. If it is a first-timer. The booklet contains likeable walk-on parts by several British comics publishing cartoonists. We've already established its not Sean Azzopardi, perhaps. If I didnt know better I'd swear its Cassavetti (whose work is here)
Then again, Schmurgen is Schmurgen. Keep a look out for wrestling masks around Soho.