[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-caption-2012":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I love going to \u003Ca href=\"http://caption.org/\">Caption comics festival\u003C/a>, it always helps me look at storytelling through new lenses...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_sarah_woodrow-787ec0fc90.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nComics has been such a big thing in the news this last week, with the demise of \u003Ci>The Dandy\u003C/i>. This morning I spotted a huge spread about girls' comics in Saturday's Guardian, by Jacqueline Rayner:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/18/jinty-misty-girls-comics-dandy\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/guardian_comics_18aug12b-3c27bdfbae.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nI was pleased to see \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk\">The Phoenix comic\u003C/a> get a good mention, saying it's 'still burning brightly'. And it is! You can read the article in \u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/18/jinty-misty-girls-comics-dandy\">\u003Ci>The Guardian\u003C/i> here\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/18/jinty-misty-girls-comics-dandy\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/guardian_comics_18aug12-efb86543b2.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAnd Caption was a perfect place to meet up with these key people who are carrying the torch for British comics. Here's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.neillcameron.com\">Neill Cameron\u003C/a>, creator of \u003Ci>Mo-Bot High\u003C/i> (and former Caption t-shirt designer) modeling the t-shirt I designed. Oh, and if you missed out, I think you can still \u003Ca href=\"\\r\nhttp://caption.org/2012/14-order-your-caption-2012-shirt\">order your Caption t-shirt here!\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_neill_tshirt-69da2900fb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nMy copy of \u003Ci>The Phoenix\u003C/i> had arrived last Friday with this corker of a ghost dinosaur pirate ship on the cover, designed by Neill. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/phoenix_neill_piratescover-cd26fe35f4.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nHere's Neill at Caption having a bromance moment with another Phoenix contributor, \u003Ca href=\"http://adammurphy.com/\">Adam Murphy\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_adam_neill-ecc24dec35.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAdam writes and draws \u003Ci>Corpse Talk\u003C/i> in \u003Ci>The Phoenix\u003C/i>, a strip in which he digs up people from history and interviews them, decomposed and all. Yup, that's Adam there with the spade. Adam and Neill both run fab (paid) comics workshops and are keen to inspire kids with comics, so do get in touch with them via their websites if you're interested in bringing them to your school. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/corpse_talk_adam-22f30bbda5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nCaption has a good line-up of speakers, here's a doodle I made of a panel called \u003Ci>Shedding Light on the Dark Art of Editing Comics\u003C/i>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_editingcomics-52e776fe0f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI wasn't the only one drawing! Here's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.tempolush.com/\">Richy K Chandler\u003C/a> with his sketchbook. ...Ah! As was Adam Murphy, you can see his sketches \u003Ca href=\"http://adammurphy.com/2012/08/caption-2012-writeup/\">here on his blog\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/richy_k_chandler-d99a0d7ac4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHa ha, I was listening so hard to this panel that I wasn't even paying attention to what I was drawing, and carefully penned 'Nicola' into Corinne's panel and 'Corinne' into Nicola's. Oops! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_myriad_pane-2b06713e56.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe best part of Caption is catching up with old friends. I actually met both \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/bridge\">Bridget Hannigan\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://darryl-cunningham.blogspot.co.uk/\">Darryl Cunningham\u003C/a> for the first time at my \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/118755.html\">first-ever Caption\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_bridge_darryl_sm-51f6e9378d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd it's lovely to see people I don't know as well but strike one as being very fabulous, such as \u003Cb>Verity Glass\u003C/b>, who was running the comics sales table and is the creator of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lulu.com/shop/verity-glass/fare-forward-travellers/paperback/product-20336107.html\">\u003Ci>Fare Forward, Travellers\u003C/i>\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_verity-d5b77b0558.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nA big thanks to the Caption organising team, including \u003Ca href=\"http://scribblehound.com/\">David O'Connell\u003C/a> (editor of biannual comic magazine \u003Ca href=\"http://inkpluspaper.com/\">\u003Ci>ink+PAPER\u003C/i>\u003C/a> and the Caption booklet with its \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse\">exquisite corpse\u003C/a> comic), \u003Ca href=\"http://jinty.livejournal.com/\">Jenni Scott\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/damiancugley\">Damian Cugley\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.panelborders.com/\">Alex Fitch\u003C/a> (he still has the picture I drew of him last year at Caption on his Panel Borders website!), \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/oxfordslacker\">Alex Williams\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.iamblazingheretic.blogspot.co.uk/\">PeeT! Clack\u003C/a>. Jenni has achieved Caption legend status by having a baby three days before the festival but still managing to send out festival-organising e-mails two hours after giving birth. A big thanks to former Caption planners \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/selinalock\">Selina Lock\u003C/a> (editor of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.factorfictionpress.co.uk/girly/girlybook.html#girlybook2\">\u003Ci>The Girly Comic\u003C/i>\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SignorFurioso\">Jay Eales\u003C/a> of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.factorfictionpress.co.uk/\">Factor Fiction\u003C/a> for then stepping in to help out. Caption's always looking for more responsible/dependable-type people to be on the organising team, so keep that in mind if you're looking for ways to get stuck into comics.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_jenni_baby-7a34f2f417.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI had a lovely journey to Oxford on Saturday, it felt like a real day out. Usually when you go to Oxford (or Cambridge), you see lots of bicycles when you arrive, but the bicycles started on our platform at Paddington. I think the bike park was a concession for the Olympics, but it'd be great if it could stick around.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/paddington_bicycles-72cf587200.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI love trains, the give me time to read. On \u003Cb>Wed, 26 Sept, 6:30pm I'm talking with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.oliverjeffers.com/\">Oliver Jeffers\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidalmond.com/\">David Almond\u003C/a> at an event at Waterstone's Piccadilly, about their new book, \u003Ci>The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas\u003C/i>\u003C/b>. I'm trying not to read it too fast because I'm enjoying the playful way Almond spins the tale, and it's beautifully illustrated. You can \u003Ca href=\"http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayDetailEvent.do?searchType=2&store=279|WATERSTONE%27S%20PICCADILLY&sFilter=2\">book tickets on the Waterstone's website here\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/boy_who_swam_with_piranhas-2a678a86ce.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWhen I got to Oxford, there were lots of pirates on the platform. And it was a very hot day and I though, hooray, they are dressed as pirates and I AM NOT! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_pirates-d1b3a843bd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOxford's beautiful, so I try to take a slightly different route to east Oxford each time I visit. Here's the \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldonian_Theatre\">Sheldonian Theatre\u003C/a>. Lots of tour groups on a summer weekend.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_sheldonian-e96bf0bc94.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the last time I was in Oxford, Philip Reeve and I popped into Waterstone's to pick up a Mr Gum book for his son, Sam, and we were pleased at how many good books we found in the children's section; they seem to have a like-minded buyer. And when I got downstairs, I could hear the shop floor worker giving very helpful and knowledgeable advice about their books to a customer, which was heartening. Here's a pretty one I picked up, \u003Ci>Alice in Wonderland\u003C/i>, a colour primer by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.wordmusings.com/index.html\">Jennifer Adams\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/waterstones_oxford-5a84d88355.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's the \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Sighs_%28Oxford%29\">Bridge of Sighs\u003C/a>. Where I sighed, as one does.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_bridge_of_signs-e46f2b12ca.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nGosh, the river was busy. Here's a view of punters from Magdelen Bridge (pronounced 'maudlin', that inexplicable thing the English do with place names). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_magdelene_bridge-0c1ee007ef.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd I was \u003Ci>almost\u003C/i> at Caption, but wouldn't you know, there's a vintage and ballgown shop at the top of Cowley Road called \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theballroomoxford.co.uk/index.htm\">The Ballroom Emporium\u003C/a>. And they had a lovely frock in just my size, for a very reasonable price. I took this snap, completely missing the fact I was photographing a sign that read 'no photography'. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oxford_vintage_dress-7e525360bb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nFor me, the best bit of Caption this year really was catching up with friends. I'm loving my work right now, but I'm painfully aware that there are so many people I really care about whom I haven't seen for months and months, or even written to them. So a chance to see quite a few of them together is a wonderful thing.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/caption12_sarah_bridge-ef9be9477b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOh, and I just had to add: while we were talking comics in Oxford, writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.stevecolebooks.co.uk/\">Steve Cole\u003C/a> was up at the \u003Cb>Edinburgh Book Festival\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/#!/search/?q=%23edbookfest&src=typd\">#edbookfest\u003C/a>) bringing comics into an event that had nothing to do with Spider-man, but who cares about that? He had a blast wearing his black Spidey suit for the first time, complete with kilt and sporan. Here's a photo from the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/GdnChildrensBks\">Guardian Children's Books team\u003C/a>, and a sketch I sent him when he was still gleefully planning out his costume. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/steve_spidey-d85be91e59.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWay to go, Steve! He also has some good quotations in the Guardian article I linked earlier: \\r\n\u003Ci>Steve Cole, author of the Astrosaurs series of kids' science fiction books, used to sneak a look at his elder sister's comics. \"They seemed to me like little windows into girls' lives and loves and interests,\" he recalls. \"Bunty, Jinty and, best of all, Misty. Misty was hardcore and scared the hell out of me: not just for all the ghosts, zombies and eerie beings that haunted its pages, but because its stories eschewed happy endings with a bitter relish. The heroines, or usually antiheroines, who populated its strips and text stories had only to betray the tiniest fault or foible and that was it – they would die horribly, or be disfigured, or be transported to an unholy realm of evil. Redemption came rarely to these unfortunate schoolgirls. 'Come, gather the sweets of the other side of midnight with your friend of the mists,' the floaty-white-dress-wearing vixen would suggest on her splash page at the front. 'I seek always the spine-tingling shudders of true nightmare.' Well, you couldn't deny she laid her weirdo cards on the table and, beguiled by her spooky glamour, I went with her gladly.\"\u003C/i>\\r\n...Ha ha! Fabulous.","2012-08-20T08:43:00.000Z","caption-2012",[],"caption 2012!",1776628724122]