Talk here about just about anything associated with British comics or story papers and the industry that does not fit in any other forum.
There are separate fora open to registered members for discussing specific comics, artists, websites etc.
stevezodiac wrote:In tonight's London Evening Standard there is an interview with Zoom Rockman the 12 year old boy who produces his own comic The Zoom. If you google "Evening Standard" and choose Life & Style its the second item. I can't do links. Marc Almond is the first item if you'r a fan.
I don't remember previously seeing mention of Her Majesty being a fan of his work. And a look at last year's hottest under 25s list shows a Brit Award winner and someone who sold an app to Google for millions. So making that Standard list places him in some seriously highly rated company.
Her Majesty being a fan of his work is newspaper talk. They still talk about Prince Charles being a 3 Degrees fan. They played for him at the Prince's Trust concert and someone asked if he liked them. He's not going to say "No. they were insufferably mediocre" is he? No, out of politeness he says they were "rather spiffing" and from that day on he is regarded as their biggest fan. The article in the Standard was over two pages with a very small box for each of the 25 and I didn't think it was worth mentioning. I didn't know he was currently working for the Beano as I don't really keep up with the title nowadays - especially after seeing the horrendous Roger The Dodger by Jamie.
stevezodiac wrote:Her Majesty being a fan of his work is newspaper talk. They still talk about Prince Charles being a 3 Degrees fan. They played for him at the Prince's Trust concert and someone asked if he liked them. He's not going to say "No. they were insufferably mediocre" is he? No, out of politeness he says they were "rather spiffing" and from that day on he is regarded as their biggest fan. The article in the Standard was over two pages with a very small box for each of the 25 and I didn't think it was worth mentioning. I didn't know he was currently working for the Beano as I don't really keep up with the title nowadays - especially after seeing the horrendous Roger The Dodger by Jamie.
I know a few people who have given up on The Beano since the abominable version of Roger started. It would be interesting to know if anyone has started buying it as a result of the change.
I have to admire Jamie for being able to produce a two page strip each week but I just do not like his style. I have dozens of ideas for gag cartoons but just cannot be bothered to sit and draw them. Thirty years ago i would sit for hours drawing comics but middle age seems to have taken away my confidence. Its a sort of artist's block. I've applied for a course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy through my GP as I have been rather depressed for a few years now and have lost all my get up and go (for want of a better phrase). Very unhappy at work at present as I am naturally a grafter but have to put up with colleagues who's mobile phones come before the job they are paid to do. I stormed out a few weeks back. What is it that people are looking at on their i-phones all through the day? My mobile is switched off during working hours. Its a culture I will never understand. If I could uninvent one thing it would be the poxy mobile phone - a curse.
stevezodiac wrote:I have to admire Jamie for being able to produce a two page strip each week but I just do not like his style. I have dozens of ideas for gag cartoons but just cannot be bothered to sit and draw them. Thirty years ago i would sit for hours drawing comics but middle age seems to have taken away my confidence. Its a sort of artist's block. I've applied for a course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy through my GP as I have been rather depressed for a few years now and have lost all my get up and go (for want of a better phrase).
Good luck, Steve. Courageous of you to be so open about it. Depression can suck the energy out of a person, so I hope you'll be on the mend soon.
Maybe try the Weekly News your Gag cartoons...or try something different...I tried cartooning for ages But found more opportunites drawng and painting animals!! So life can take you in different directions with surprising results...
Don't give up your dream...though it might be something different and just as good..
As I said I have about twenty gag cartoon ideas as rough sketches but can't bring myself to draw them proper. I think it was because I sent 14 to the Weekly News and they only used one - which makes you wonder why make the effort. I wish the Sun and Mirror would bring them back. The Mirror looked a bit different yesterday and indeed has had a bit of a revamp - much slicker looking.
I picked up the Times in a Tesco Metro yesterday and it was as light as a feather. Then picked up the Telegraph and could hardly lift it - some twerp had put all the Times sections in it as well as its own. I sorted out a copy of each and then noticed the Telegraph was only £1.20 although I knew it was £2 on Saturdays. It had the Friday edition wrapped around all the inserts. Luckily the Saturday edition was inside and I had a security guard sorting through the other copies and putting them together properly. I'm a perfectionist and couldn't leave the shop with all that disorder.
I have a good mate in work who feels the same way I do. He told me if I ever feel really down come and have a chat with him. He shares my sense of integrity and moral fibre. Its the little things that disturb me like young people diving into seats on the tube leaving middle aged blokes with dodgy knees like me standing up. Sometimes you see mothers with toddlers taking up three seats while others stand.
Not wishing to bore you all but the CBT questionnaire asked if there were any recent traumatic events that may have made me unhappy. Here goes:
I had a friend who I was mates with since the late sixties - we were like brothers and he helped me move into my flat three years ago but shortly after that I lost contact with him. I phoned, texted and e-mailed but there was no response - this carried on for three years. I thought of going to his flat but figured there must be a reason he has cut himself off from me and a personal call could be awkward. He was very much a ladies man and had no hesitation in approaching women in pubs and I looked up to him. Anyway in the spring of this year I googled his name and found a court case relating to him - he had been found to have downloaded obscene images of children. I couldn't believe what I was reading and was in shock. He was the last man on earth I would have suspected - he was a womaniser! He has two daughters and grandchildren. God knows how they must have taken the news - they worshipped their dad. Anyway that was a pretty traumatic event and obviously I no longer look up to him or want anything ever to do with him but it isn't easy just losing a friendship of over forty years.
stevezodiac wrote:Its the little things that disturb me ... Sometimes you see mothers with toddlers taking up three seats while others stand.
I hope you get through this bad period, Steve.
I don't think you should get disturbed, as people seem to (on trains and buses), or take it personally, by toddlers taking up seats. It's best for toddlers/little kids to stay seated on journeys for their safety, as their balance and grips aren't too good, the vehicles can jerk around and they can go flying if it suddenly stops; that's why parents prefer them not to risk standing. However, you might be suggesting that one could be moved onto the mother's lap, which is usually fair enough on a crowded tube.
stevezodiac wrote:Not wishing to bore you all but the CBT questionnaire asked if there were any recent traumatic events that may have made me unhappy. Here goes:
I had a friend who I was mates with since the late sixties - we were like brothers and he helped me move into my flat three years ago but shortly after that I lost contact with him. I phoned, texted and e-mailed but there was no response - this carried on for three years. I thought of going to his flat but figured there must be a reason he has cut himself off from me and a personal call could be awkward. He was very much a ladies man and had no hesitation in approaching women in pubs and I looked up to him. Anyway in the spring of this year I googled his name and found a court case relating to him - he had been found to have downloaded obscene images of children. I couldn't believe what I was reading and was in shock. He was the last man on earth I would have suspected - he was a womaniser! He has two daughters and grandchildren. God knows how they must have taken the news - they worshipped their dad. Anyway that was a pretty traumatic event and obviously I no longer look up to him or want anything ever to do with him but it isn't easy just losing a friendship of over forty years.
Wow, that's a hard one. I've sometimes wondered how I'd feel if someone I knew turned out to be like that. Would I try and distinguish between the memory of the person I knew and his current persona (which might be a recent development), or are the two inseparable? The closest I've come to it is to wonder if I'll ever be able to listen to 'Two Little Boys' again if ol' Rolfie (who I don't know, obviously) turns out to be guilty.
And more to the point what is his daughters' relationship with him if any? How do you switch off love for your own father?
By the way nobody speaks to anyone on the tube - British reserve. I don't mind standing actually but I don't like seeing young men sitting while old women are standing. There was a bloke on the tube on Friday wearing an overcoat and thick scarf knotted under his chin - the temperature was about 20 Celsius that day. I was in my shirtsleeves. Mad.
Quite apart from Rolf's comic strip in Playhour it's really disconcerting to see how many old girls' comics boasted articles on Jimmy Savile, Jonathan King and Gary Glitter.
As far as I'm concerned predatory child abusers like those last three deserve everything they get, but I must admit that I'm less sure about people who download stuff off the internet - however distasteful the rest of us might find it (and it's worth remembering that a prominent British comics fan was recently convicted of something similar).
I know people say that all these websites reflect acts of real abuse, but would that apply to pornographic comic strips for example? I can't help wondering how I'd feel if God or genetics had cursed me with paedophiliac urges (and I thank every kind of providence that they haven't!), but it seems to me that we're skating on very thin ice when we condemn others merely for their fantasies rather than their actions.
