[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-phoenix-issue-ben-a-little-more-vern-and-lettuce":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Yesterday a bunch of us made our way to Oxford to shower kisses on our long-time comics editor, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/bentoboxford\">Ben Sharpe\u003C/a>. Ben edited me when I wasn't even sure I could make weekly comics, through all my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/vern-lettuce-book/\">\u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i>\u003C/a> strips in \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DFC\">The DFC\u003C/a> comics magazine, and then did it again with its reincarnation, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/\">The Phoenix Comic\u003C/a>. He's moving on now, but he's done an amazing job. Yay, Ben! We love him so much that we even made a special half-size \u003Cb>Phoenix Issue Ben\u003C/b>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/phoenixben_katelil-a88a6ef75c.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://danse-macabre.nu/\">Kate Brown\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/autojoy\">@autojoy\u003C/a> (who creates \u003C/i>The Lost Boy\u003Ci> for The Phoenix) and \u003Ca href=\"http://lauraellenanderson.co.uk/\">Laura Ellen Anderson\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Lillustrator\">@Lillustrator\u003C/a> (\u003C/i>Evil Emperor Penguin\u003Ci>). Cover by \u003Ca href=\"http://fazchoudhury.blogspot.co.uk/\">Faz Choudhury\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/fazman\">@fazman\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nI hadn't drawn Vern and Lettuce for awhile, and I got a bit giddy doing that first panel of Vern drawing. So here's a peek at one page of Issue Ben. ...Aw, I'm awfully fond of those critters.  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/vernlettuce_ben1-3ea49043f9.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/vernlettuce_ben2-dc7f81755c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's lovely Ben and a detail of one of the pages drawn in Issue Ben by \u003Cb>John Aggs\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/johnaggs\">@johnaggs\u003C/a>, writer of \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/zarascrown/\">Zara's Crown\u003C/a>\u003C/i>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_ben_john_aggs-8bd8430987.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut wait, could you be one of the few people left in England who does not know what \u003Cb>The Phoenix Comic\u003C/b> is? Well, here is a little Christmas video the team have made (featuring \u003Cb>Neill Cameron\u003C/b>'s \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk\">Advent Santas\u003C/a>), and have a look at \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk\">The Phoenix Comic website\u003C/a>, where you can get amazing weekly comics (supposedly for kids aged 7 or 8 to 12, but The Phoenix has a lot of adult readers, too). \\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"2346\"/>\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more pics under the cut!-->\\r\nI don't want to give away too much of Phoenix Issue Ben in case its creators want to blog their own pages, but here's a little peek at a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.com/2012/07/24/garys-garden/\">\u003Ci>Gary's Garden\u003C/a>\u003C/i> strip by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.com\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gnorthfield\">@gnorthfield\u003C/a> (his finest hour, and I've blurred the last panel with is \u003Ci>a bit rude\u003C/i>) and another by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.simonelia.com/\">Simone Lia\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/simoneliadraws\">@simoneliadraws\u003C/a> of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/lucie/\">\u003Ci>Lucie\u003C/i>\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/phoenixben_garysimone-73f5079f4a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOn our way to get burritos, we stopped by \u003Cb>Oxford's Waterstones\u003C/b> to look at their specially painted Phoenix display, prominently featuring a dinosaur by Neill from his \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/pirates-of-pangaea/\">\u003Ci>Pirates of Pangaea\u003C/a>\u003C/i> strip with \u003Cb>Dan Hartwell\u003C/b> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CynicalMongoose\">@CynicalMongoose\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/waterstones_oxford_phoenix-905abeeda3.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://adammurphy.com/\">Adam Murphy\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Adam_T_Murphy\">@Adam_T_Murphy\u003C/a> of historical comic \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/corpse-talk/\"> \u003C/i>Corpse Talk\u003Ci>, Gary, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jamielittler.co.uk/\">Jamie Littler\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jamieillustrate\">@jamieillustrate\u003C/a> of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/cogg-and-sprokit-2/\">\u003C/i>Cogg & Sprokit\u003C/a>\u003Ci>, Laura, Dan\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nA big thanks to the fabulous Dave Shelton / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/DaveShelton\">@daveshelton\u003C/a> of \u003Ca href=\"https://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/gooddoggy/\">\u003Ci>Good Dog, Bad Dog\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, who came up with the idea for Phoenix Issue Ben, rallied everyone to make pages and got it printed. You're a star, Dave! Here he is in his special Editor Monkey hat. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dave_shelton_monkeyhat-f648da2079.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOh, but look! There is another wild and furry hat! Yes, that is \u003Ca href=\"http://www.fumboo.com/\">Jamie Smart\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jamiesmart\">@jamiesmart\u003C/a> of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/bunny-vs-monkey/\">\u003Ci>Bunny vs Monkey\u003C/a>\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/phoenixben_davejamie-4012bf03b1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWhile The Phoenix is very sad to see Ben leave, it's in very safe hands with its new head editor, \u003Cb>Will Fickling\u003C/b>. In fact, Will isn't new at all, he's been one of my editors way back since early \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i> days and he was incredibly helpful and suggested some good additions. (I think the phrase 'carbon hoofprint' was his idea entirely.) That's Will there, in the striped shirt on the right:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/phoenixben_crew-bede41a7a3.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.fumboo.com/\">Lorenzo Etherington\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EtheringtonBros\">@EtheringtonBros\u003C/a> of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/doogclues/\">\u003Ci>The Dangerous Adventures of Von Doogan\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, Adam, Jamie, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.fumboo.com/\">Bob Etherington\u003C/a> (also \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EtheringtonBros\">@EtheringtonBros\u003C/a>) and \u003Ci>Von Doogan\u003C/i>, \u003Cb>Tom Fickling\u003C/b>, Laura, Jamie, Will\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nYup, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.neillcameron.com/\">Neill Cameron\u003C/a> / \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/neillcameron\">@neillcameron\u003C/a> and Gary give Will a big thumbs up. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/phoenixben_neillgary-083c2d2dad.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo why am I bothering to link all these Twitter names? It's a bit silly, really, when you can follow the whole lot of 'em over on \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gnorthfield/the-phoenix-comic/members\">The Phoenix Comic Twitter list\u003C/a>. I'd suggest going right down the names and following them all. Click click click.\\r\n\\r\nOur Ben trip to Oxford from London turned out to be more of a long pilgrimage than we were expecting. FOUR HOURS to get to Oxford. Heh. At our point our train even went all the way back to Paddington Station. Apparently it's just as bad today; a fire in a rail-side shed caused all the fuss.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/paddington_xmas-0cfb02396e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut one of the good things was meeting our fellow passenger \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EatLikeKings\">Lisa Wallace\u003C/a>, who let me draw a picture of her. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/paddington_train_lisapic-f0b737aea2.jpg\">","2012-12-21T13:17:00.000Z","phoenix-issue-ben-a-little-more-vern-and-lettuce",[],"phoenix issue ben: a little more vern and lettuce",1776628724543]