It feels like everything is happening at once.
What’s really happening is that we’re about a month out from the UK publication of the Draw The Line book, so we’ve started publicising the two launch events: one actual, and then one virtual – which is nice because it means that even if you’re nowhere near London, you can still come to the online one.
I’m actually quite excited, not least by the fact that I seem to be able to just ask line-ups of incredible artists to appear on a panel with me, and every single one of them then says ‘yes’. The great thing about this strategy is that I get a better than front row seat to listen to the comic artists I most want to hear from.
So I’ll talk about the virtual one in a few days once the bumph is all out in public, and here are the details of the IRL event (Thurs March 10 at the Cartoon Museum in London) :
Did you know comics can change the world? Come and join us for the launch of Draw The Line from Street Noise Books. This ‘toolkit for activism’ suggests more than 100 ways to make the world a better place, each illustrated by a comic artist.
We’ll hear from Myfanwy Tristram, co-ordinator of this global project; Hannah Berry, ex Comics Laureate and creator of Livestock and Adamtine; Woodrow Phoenix, author of Rumblestrip and sequel Crash Course; Jaime Huxtable, artist on Such, Such Were the Joys; and Daniel Locke whose Out of Nothing creates a better understanding of the science that shapes our lives.
The panel will be in conversation with Alex Fitch of Resonance FM, and recorded for his show Panel Borders.
It’s in a smallish room, and covid restrictions mean that numbers are even more limited than usual, so numbers really are limited and I’d advise you not to delay buying your ticket if you’d like to attend.
Oh, and one more thing – the £10 ticket price includes a copy of the book, which is a tremendous bargain given that it’s less than the RRP. Hope to see you there!
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In other news, I’m still chipping away at Satin and Tat, still on the same double page spread as last week, which does (if I say so myself) look rather cheeringly excellent. As it’s a diversion all about vinyl and cassettes, I’ve been drawing album covers that I remember from my own eighties collection (from reference photos; my memory isn’t that good).
Also, mix tapes.
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Today, the local anarchist co-operatively-owned cafe/bookshop/social centre that’s right by my bus stop was open (as it sporadically is) and I popped in to buy a slice of vegan chocolate & hazelnut cake, and to browse their graphic novel shelves.
I came away with two amazing finds: Diary of a Miscreant by Isy Morgenmuffel (who, I was informed at the bar, was one of the centre’s co-founders), and The Ring by Tiitu Takalo (in the original Finnish but with a photocopied insert translating the dialogue).
Morgenmuffel would appear to have made a longer term commitment than I did to the kind of life I briefly lived when I first moved to Brighton in the early 90s: political action, co-operative living, crusties, hitch-hiking, anti-road protests, special brew and veganism. I found it quite nostalgic to read and look back on those times: but my favourite sequence is when she and her boyfriend travel overland by train and coach all the way from the UK to Korea, stopping off to stay in squats and hang out with anarchists along the way.
I think I’ve mentioned Takalo before as a creator I’m just in awe of. This is another superbly executed story with flawless illustrations. I’m not even remotely interested in boxing but I still lapped this up. Yup, still a hopeless fangirl.
Myfanwy Tristram 