Beano Annual 2014

It's scarcely warm enough to call it Spring, but already the 2014 annuals are announced and nearly ready to ship. There's the usual two, Dandy and Beano that I have a few pages in, and I recommend them to you. The Beano annual usually ends up in the bestsellers lists, and with this summer's imminent 75th anniversary high profile, this one will probably do the same.
Click here for an Amazon preview

Leeds in July

Dennis will be appearing (with me) at this summer's CBBC do in Leeds, if not for all three days, then at least some of it. Don't know all the details yet but I expect I'll be drawing something- yes, that seems likely-and you can find out more at: this BBC page

The Beano, on sale now!

This week's all-colour, all great Beano is on sale right now- but wait- what's happening to cause this fuss in Beanotown? Only one way to find out- walk, run, saunter, stroll, jog or otherwise perambulate down to your nearest stockist and grab one today. It's the funniest £2 there is.

Bye-Bye Eddie

Eddie Braben has died. Most people will know him as the writer of the 1970s 'Morecambe & Wise' shows, a task he relished but hated in equal measure. A naturally funny man, he first got a big break writing for Ken Dodd, who lived 100 yards away from him, and they both lived 200 yards from me. Ken's house was (and is) an old cottage at the roadside opposite the church, but Eddie's was a normal suburban villa- until you saw the colossal satellite dish on his roof- this was in 1972, twenty years before the modern ubiquitous dish- and, if the side window was open, the faux-leopardskin wallpaper of Eddie's writing room. We sometimes saw him hurrying out of his front door, black hair awry, papers in his teeth, putting on a coat and diving into a taxi. We learned later he was catching a train to London to rehearse a new Morecambe & Wise show. We never had the nerve to say hello, but the fact that such a well-known scriptwriter lived at the bottom of my street gave me some sort of idea that you could be a success and still work from home. Maybe it's true. Goodbye, Eddie, and thanks for the millions of laughs!

Worrisome Wilf

It's a brand-new project by my former Harry Hill comic strip scripting colleague, Séan Baldwin! Don't worry, I've got nothing to do with it! It looks great.
To become a backer or just find out more about it, have a look here
And above all, no worrying!

Very Important International Discussions

...took place in the Balkans on Friday, where a certain Beano colourist and an uncertain Beano cartoonist discussed the matter of Beano cartooning and colouring. No alcohol was consumed during this significant business conflab, which, as you can see, covered many topics and was entirely amenable, mostly productive and partially tax-deductable.

All Greek

Here's the view from my aircraft window, as we circle over Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. Just to left of centre of the picture, that little white dot in the triangular green area on the strand is the White Tower of Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. So this is where I'll be for the next few days, but don't worry, I'll be back soon, at the drawing board again, refreshed by the Greek food, wine and weather, not to mention the locals. 

Dennis has it Covered!

Recently I've drawn 3 Dennis the Menace stories which start on the cover of the Beano- granted, this is unusual. But the internet has been mildly in turmoil over this, with many asking "When was the last time a Dennis story started on the cover?" and some very silly answers have been given "last time was in 1998" I read somewhere. Ridiculous. I regularly drew such covers throughout 2006, 7 and 8. Here's just one of them, from 2007. I could have selected any one from about three dozen.

Dennis the Cyclist

Here's a poster we did a few months ago which has been published, but not in The Beano- as part of a cycling safety campaign Brake. Just thought I'd post it here for completeness.

 

Lichtenstein? No Thanks.

The latest issue of VIZ takes to task the memory of Roy Lichtenstein, the Pop "Artist" of the 1960s who became very wealthy and was much lauded through his incredible skill and talent in copying from others. The artworld prides itself on 'found objects', and in his case, he 'found' his 'inspiration' in the pages of ephemeral comic books and elevated the images into 'Art'. Except his talent for composition, line, lighting, perspective and colour was as suspect as his moral bankruptcy for appropriation with no mention of the real artistry involved- the draughtsmanship of the likes of Tony Abruzzo, John Severin, Bob Powell Mike Sekowsky, you name 'em.



The real 'genius' of Lichtenstein was in looking at his comic book collection so closely that he spotted this ad on the inside back cover and sent off for one.  It meant he could blow up any image to huge 'wall size' and trace around it. Which he did again and again, never as deftly or confidently or boldly as the original illustrator, but attempting to.




Art critics raved about his 'imagination', his 'foresight' his 'ability to take trash and make it Art' and his 'brilliant captions which both tell a story and hide the truth of his art'. Except he just copied those as well.

End of rant. Thankfully, anyone reading this or this will see that VIZ feels the same way about this charlatan that I do, that Dave Gibbons does, and that you might, too.





[ I 'borrowed' these images from 'Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein' (see it here) which did all the work for me here.
Oh the irony.
However, the invective is all mine].