Stickleback Prototype Page 1

Original version of page one of Stickleback for 2000AD

Stickleback © 2006/7 Rebellion/2000AD
Created by Ian Edginton & Me.

Because I was playing with such a new technique on Stickleback, I did several tests before starting work on the strip proper. Panels 1 and 5 of this page were done as single images and pasted in later; the rest of the page was done in one go, but I decided I wasn't happy with the drawing and stroytelling in the main panel and panel 3. Since time was tight on the first episode, I drew the other nine pages and then went back to this afterwards - so if I'd run late, this would have been the page that saw print.

Lille Photos Finally Up!

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Halle Des Sucres, main venue for the Lille Comics Festival

Yes, I've finally got my photos posted, only two weeks late... I was going to write a super-duper convention report, but life has got in the way so I thought it best at least get the photos onto Flickr.
Thanks to everyone at Lille for your patience with my execrable French, and for your great hospitality I had a wonderful time (see below) - I hope it was worth your while, and that you'll think of doing it again next year.

Multiple choco-gasm as the result of a particularly good mousse au chocolat on the first night - photo by Francois.

Moi et Regine, la fille avec du "je ne sais quoi" - photo by the deeply understanding Dr. F.

Spiderman For 20p!

"Money is as necessary to the creative person as air" said Chris Foss, but coffee comes a close second, for me at least; I ain't never been one for mister grape or mister grain, but mistress coffee bean, she done got her rich, mellow claws into me good and deep, yessir.
One of the many delights of our furnished flat in Edinburgh was that one of said furnishings was a coffee machine, which (after the delightful Dr.F., of course) has become my New Bestest Friend. However, even though Dr. F.'s leave has been extended - we're here until July now - the prospect of a painful parting from my caffeinacious* buddy was still in the works at some point.

My New-Bestest Friend (back) with New New Bestest Friend (front)

Imagine my delight, then, when I spotted an almost-identical model for sale in a charity shop window for only a fiver! What was wrong with it, I wondered, to be let go so cheaply? On the other hand, for a fiver, how bad could it be?
So we went in and bought it, and following a thorough trying-out, the only thing I can find wrong with it is that one corner of the handle on the jug has got a bit melted at some point. Now I have one for when I get home. Bliss.

Only 10cm high, but still does some of what a spider can

Less practical but more fun was the discovery of a bin full of action figures, one of which was a 10cm-high Spiderman with an implausibly large number of points of articulation and little magnets in his hands and feet, so he'll do real Ditko poses while sticking to fridges and the like. I showed him to Dr. F., expecting her to point out, rightly, that we already have more than enough crap to cart back to Nottingham, but on discovering he only cost 20p, she egged me on to buy him instead.

So now the fridge has a new guardian, and I have yet another reason why I shore do love that Dr. F :-)

*I don't know is caffeinacious is a real word. Nor do I care.

Merry Christmas!!

Even this picture is from 2002... typical

Between deadlines and accounts Christmas has just snuck up on me this year... but I wanted to say thanks to everyone who's visited this blog and wish you all a merry Christmas, and apologise to all those I should have sent cards to and haven't... so here's a cutesy Christmas image and best wishes for the season.

Joseph Barbera Dies

Just had news that Joseph Barbera, the last survivor of the Hanna-Barbera animation partnership, died today aged 95.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera met while working at MGM's animation studio, and were instrumental in the development of Tom and Jerry; however, it was in developing a profitable model of animation for television that they really made their mark on the animation industry.

Fred and Wilma: At It Like Knives

Their first hit show was The Flintstones, a sitcom set in the stone age and inspired by the popular US show The Honeymooners. Two features made The Flintstones revolutionary; first, it was longer than the standard six-minute cartoon format, allowing more complex stories to be told, and secondly, it was aimed at the whole family, including adults. Fred and Wilma Flintstone were, in fact, the first cartoon characters to have a sex life, if only by implication; when the couple have a daughter (Pebbles), we get to see Wilma's pregnancy develop over several episodes.
Hanna-Barbera milked the Flintstones format with two other shows; The Jetsons, about an ordinary family in the future, and the less-well-remembered Wait Till Your Father Gets Home!, which was set in the then-present day of the 1960's, and which, with its real-life themes of the generation gap and cold-war paranoia, was in many ways a predecessor of recent shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy.

The Scooby Gang: Not At It Like Knives

Hanna and Barbera were able to develop longer shows for television by eschewing the highly detailed Disney style of drawing, and instead concentrated on adapting for television the simplified, more angular style developed by Friz Freling and Chuck Jones at Warner Brothers. They exploited other labour-saving tricks such as endlessly looping backrounds behind moving characters. This style was dismissed as "illustrated radio" by some critics, but it proved enormously popular with the public, yielding numerous hits including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat (also based on a live-action sitcom, this time Phil Silver's Sergeant Bilko) Scooby Doo and Wacky Races. Scooby Doo, which premiered in 1969, has gone to at least twelve series, spawned two live action films, numerous animated films and video games, not to mention a host of imitations including Funky Phantom and Goober and the Ghost Chasers. Phrases such as "Scooby Gang" and "Scooby Snack" have now pretty much entered the language.

Happy Birthday Dark Horse!

This is kind of belated, but when I passed through Nottingham on the way back from Lille I picked up some post from our house, which included the 20th anniversary pack from Dark Horse.

Enclosed was a chunk of birthday "cake" - actually more biscuit-like, I don't know if it was meant to be like that, or if it didn't take well to international travel - either way, it went down very pleasantly with my afternoon coffee the other day.

So happy birthday and thankee, nice Dark Horse people - I do like people who give me cake...

Chris Weston's Invasion of Normandy

Comics titan and all-round lovely man Chris Weston has published an extensive report on the Lille festival in his blog -

Chris Weston's Lille Report

Chris Weston's Blog Homepage

It has to be said, Chris went far beyond the call of duty at Lille, taking sketches away with him to complete over lunch (and leaving early to return to the venue). Over the weekend I did maybe half as much drawing as he did, and I thought my hands were going to drop off...

(left: Chris Weston at the Halle Des Sucres, Lille, on Saturday evening.)

Lille: Sketchees

As promised, the pictures I took of some of those who asked for sketches at Lille. Full size versions are available on Flickr:

Francis the Pirate Guy

Bat and Johan

Xavier and Fabrice

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggetty-Jig

Big Wheel au ville de Lille

Pour les Lecteurs Francophones; pardonnez moi, parce que cet article est très petit; je suis très occupé avec du travail et aussi mon ensemble de comptes (et les affaires des impots!!). Pour les gens que j'ai photographié, je poste les photographies sur le Blog , à bientôt.
(Merci, JB!)

Got back from Lille ready to catch up on Stickleback when I discovered there's been a muck-up with my accounts which is going to take several days to sort out. I've had to beg a deadline extension from Tharg-in-Residence Matt Smith, which the Mighty One has granted, but it does mean I can't in all conscience spend the time I'd like on a full report of the festival. More soon, I promise.

Suffice to say, Lille was astonishingly pretty, and though a little quiet, it was a good con; very much in the style of UK con, except with better coffee :-) I was kept occupied sketching the whole two days. Everyone was very friendly, and incredibly patient with my fragmentary and clumsy French.

Lille: elephants de l'Inde, circulation de Paris.

L'Halle des Sucres, the main venue for the Festival.

Off to Lille!

Stickleback © 2006 Rebellion/2000AD
Created by Ian Edginton & Me.

I'm away for the signing in Lille today, so I'm not sure how many posts I'll manage; between quaffing vin rouge, signing (and working on Stickleback part 7, honest Mr. Tharg), not many I suspect :-)

If you're able to come along, details of the festival are here.

Also, don't forget the big Birmingham do this weekend, where Ian will be signing copies of all our books, including Leviathan. As usual, if you buy a book direct from us, we include a signed bookplate.

Finally; I'm not sure when 2000AD Prog 2007 will be out, but just in case it's before I get back, that'll have the first episode of Stickleback (a ten-pager, too). I was hoping to put together a post about the artist whose work strongly influenced the new style I'm using for Stickleback, Alberto Breccia, but time hasn't permitted so far. There's a good overview of his career here, and here's a direct link to the entry on Perramus, the strip that was the main inspiration for the Stickleback "look."

Travelling Light

Thanks to all who came to the signing at Asylum in Aberdeen on Saturday - I hope I was okay with everyone, for some reason I'd come down with what felt like a hangover, despite not drinking the night before and going to bed early to make sure I'd be fresh for the day. Typical.

Particular apologies to Michael ("the Turtles guy") who got possibly the roughest Sandman sketch I've ever done.

Despite that, it was a great to catch up with everyone, and have a good "blether" - I was going to take some photos for the blog, but didn't get round to it - that will tell anyone who knows me how rough I was feeling :-)


Travelling light - front pack: clothing and cameras. Back pack: books for the signing. Small bag: bananas.

Aberdeen

No pix today 'cause I'm already in Aberdeen for the Asylum Christmas Party (today) and signing (tomorrow).

If you're going to the party, see you tonight, otherwise I'll be at Asylum from about ten o'clock tomorrow for the signing. We did, in the end, get copies of the Leviathan hardcover in, and though Ian couldn't make it, we do have bookplates signed by him.