Tove Trailer Tells the Tale of Moomin Creators Life

Tove Jansson was an artist but through her Moomin comics, which were published here in the 1950s in the Evening Standard, she gained international fame and prestige.  She led a pretty interesting life but there has never been a biopic, until now. The trailer for ‘Tove’ dropped and needless to say, I’m excited to see the film.

The blurb behind the trailer says:

In the midst of her artistic struggles and unconventional personal life, Tove Jansson found worldwide success from an unexpected side project: the creation of the beloved world of the Moomins. TOVE is a captivating drama about the creative energy of an iconic talent and her turbulent search for identity, desire and freedom.

The Sandman Coming to Audible

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman was a critically acclaimed original comic series which ran for 75 issues. Over the years it won 26 Eisner Awards, topped various ‘Best Comic Series’ lists and has been called the Shakespeare of comics. There have been many spin-offs, side projects and divergent series since the original run but the rumours of a movie or TV series have been swirling since time immemorial. However, until this is realised, those bods at Audible are releasing the series as audio books. Gaiman will be narrating but there is be an impressive cast list including James McAvoy, Michael Sheen, Taron Egerton (excellent as Moomin Troll in Moominvalley), Kat Dennings and Riz Ahmed.

I’ve already pre-ordered the first volume, which is going to cover the first 3 graphic novels, and can’t wait to enter the world of the Endless. The first volume drops on 15th July 2020.

RIP Steve Ditko

Steve Ditko was the legendary artist and creator behind many iconic comic characters including Spider Man, Dr. Strange, The Creeper, The Question,  Captain Atom, Mysterio, Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Kraven, Lizard, Electro and my favourite Squirrel Girl. He past away today and will be fondly remembered by many. His artwork is embedded in my mind as I loved the reprints of the original Spiderman run which I collected in the 80's.

To remember how much he changed the comic world watch the BBC4 documentary 'In Search of Steve Ditko.'

Tonbridge Comic-Con

I live in a small village in the Kent countryside but enjoy going into London once a month to get my comics as well as visit exhibitions and galleries. Having a young daughter and another baby on the way sometimes makes this difficult, so I was ecstatic to hear that Tonbridge is getting its own very own comic-con. The comic-con will be held at the Angel Centre on Sunday, September 24th 2017.

For those not in the know comic conventions see film, comic and tv show fans come together to meet and take photographs with special celebrity guests, take part in cosplay competitions and engage with their fandom through discussions and panels. 

I have booked two tickets, one for me and one for a friend and will report how the first Tonbridge comic-con goes but hopefully it is a success and takes off.

Tonbridge Comic-con

Mike Carey Signing in Orbital Comics, London

Mike Carey, writer of comic books, novels, and films, will be signing comics at Orbital Comics in London. For those who don't recognise the name Carey is the wonderfully talented author of works including Vertigo's Lucifer, Hellblazer issues 175 to 215 and most recently the highly literate The Unwritten. The event, which will run on Saturday 6th June from 6-7pm, will celebrate the release of the final collection of The Unwritten. Afterwards Carey will give a directors commentary on this final piece of work. So if you are free why not head down? I'll be there with a couple of The Unwritten and Hellblazer graphic novels.

The Cartoon Museum

The Cartoon Museum is a museum that specialises in British cartoons, animation, comic strips and caricatures. With a library of over 5000 books and 4,000 comics relating to the subject the collection is very extensive. Locate at 35 Little Russell Street, near the British Museum it is easily reachable from Holborn or Tottenham Court Road. The museum was opened in 2006 to preserve Britain's extensive cartoon past as much of the heritage is sold to private collectors abroad, never to be seen again.

Curator Anita O'Brien noted, "There has never been a cartoon museum [in Britain]... In spite of the very strong historical tradition here, there has always been a very strong ambivalence towards comic art."

In its mission statement, the museum declares it is "dedicated to preserving the best of British cartoons, caricatures, comics and animation, and to establishing a museum with a gallery, archives and innovative exhibitions to make the creativity of cartoon art past and present, accessible to all for the purposes of education, research and enjoyment."

I haven't visited the museum yet but hope to go next weekend as there is a special event called 'Comics, so what?' where many comics writers and animators will be present to give talks and do signings including Asia Alfasi, Hunt Emerson, Karrie Fransman, David Hine, David Lloyd, Steve Marchant and Posy Simmonds. Should be very interesting!

Every X-man Ever

The guys at IGN have done an amazing job of creating a timeline infographic of every X-man ever. As a fan of kinetic typography and After Effects this is a true marvel (pardon the pun). Check it out for yourself and see!

Jeff Smith Signing at Orbital Comics, London

Jeff Smith is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comic book series Bone. This series won many awards including ten Eisner Awards and eleven Harvey Awards.  Now you can meet him at Orbital Comics in London, on Monday 20th October 2014 from 5pm onwards. He will be signing comics and graphic novels and meeting his many many fans.

Several years ago I was lucky enough to meet Mr Smith and get him to draw and sign my one edition Bone Collection Graphic Novel in Forbidden Planet. Whilst he was drawing Bone and writing a personal message in my graphic novel, I told him how as a teacher I had many comics in my class to encourage disengaged pupils to be drawn into the fantastical worlds that the comic books offered. Mr Smith was very friendly and encouraging and said he agreed. After meeting him I checked further online and found that he had created many informative educational packs explaining how graphic novels could be used to promote reading. He has created a pack of resources similar to the ones book clubs have where deeper level understanding and discussion of a text was encouraged. With many reluctant readers this pack was invaluable and helped me develop my reciprocal reading approach in my class. This is all by the by but if you are free meet a genuinely friendly and wonderful man who does much to promote literacy across the world. I am in meeting until late unfortunately but I'll be there in spirit!