BELL TIME part 14

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BARRIERS: BIG BROWN EYES

The new Big Brown Eyes Collective anthology is out now. Edited by Emily, Freya, and Karis Viola Lambert, and alongside their own work, it also features Ross Billingham, Heather Chambers, Dave Crane, Lily Durel, Boo Hamilton-Frost, Rozi Hathaway, Liam 'Pais' Hill, Joe Latham, Jennifer Lynas, Hannah Opie, Bobbi Rae, Manuel Rodriguez, Nathaniel Spain, and Hel Vesper. The cover shown above is by Karis Viola.

I'm in there too. A wee preview:

Visit the Big Brown Eyes online shop here.

DUNDEE SHMUNDEE! #18

Here's my latest comic strip on the Tay Bridge disaster.

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PENGUIN PARADE

There have been many penguin statues dotted around Dundee over the summer, creating a trail you could follow around the town. The individual penguins were all designed and painted by different artists. This weekend they have been collected together at Slessor Gardens in order for folks to go see them all at once.

A good few of them were based on comics characters. Here they are...

'Bananaman' by Chris 'Creo' Alexander.

'Pen Broon' by Lee O'Brien.

'Pluguin' by Lesley D. McKenzie.

 Detail from 'Journalism' by Martin Hill.

In what seems a so obvious that it's brilliant idea, The Penguin from Batman, along with other villains...

'Gothamatryoshka' by Catherine J.Bell (front).

'Gothamatryoshka' by Catherine J.Bell (back).

You may see the large comic across the road behind some of these penguins. That's 'Adventures in Design' by Will Morris and David Mackenzie, which has been up throughout the building of the V&A, since 2015.

The penguins will be auctioned to the highest bidders this week, to raise money for Maggie's Dundee.

BELL TIME part 13

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SARARARARA

Olivia Hicks' new comic Sarararara is launching at this year's Thought Bubble.

As well as the main story written and drawn by Olivia, there are also guest spots from Robbie D. Kiernan, and Georgia and Will Battle.

I am in there too with a back-up strip called, "Number Three's the Charm!"

A wee preview:

Many thanks to Olivia for having me in her comic!

COMIC SCENE UK #2

The new edition of Comic Scene UK is out now.

I've written an article for it on my latest comic, Wow! Retracted.

The magazine is available now. For more details, visit their website here.

V&A OPENING WEEKEND

This is an exciting time in Dundee, as the V&A has its opening weekend.

Yesterday, a special edition of The Beano was unveiled, as part of the 3D festival in Slessor Gardens. The last panel of the comic is blank, inviting visitors to the "pop-up" Beano tent to complete it. This was also a Guinness World Records attempt - the largest finish the comic strip competition! It was open to all ages; as Mike Stirling of The Beano said on the day, the youngest was 2 years old, and the oldest was 80. One of these final panels will be chosen to be exhibited in the V&A building.

Photo from the @BeanoOfficial Twitter feed.

I was pleased to be in the tent alongside my Dundee Comics Creative Space colleagues Rebecca Horner and Catriona Laird. We gave encouragement and advice to the people taking part. It was a lot of fun and great to be involved in this new era for Dundee. The building is open to the general public starting Monday.

PS. It was also nice to catch up with my old chum Gary Robinson. I didn't know he was going to be there until he bounded out onstage acting as MC for the bands on stage. An excellent day all round!

BELL TIME part 12

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THAT COMIC SMELL 28: The Seeds (Ann Nocenti & David Aja)

The new episode of That Comic Smell is now online. We discuss Ann Nocenti, David Aja, and their new comic The Seeds.

Have a listen at iTunes, Soundcloud and YouTube.

From the web:
"*SPOILERS AHEAD*
“They buried us but they didn’t know we were SEEDS”
The exact statement that is on the back of the book for this incredible book and the folks here take a deep dive into what makes it a great first issue.
Welcome to That Comic Smell Podcast. David, Nando, Giuseppe, Mike and Tom get into “The Seeds” by Ann Nocenti and David Aja. They also explore briefly what creations are behind this team and how they came to be on a comics on the great Karen Berger’s line at Dark horse “Berger Books”
We also get a look into how extensive Nando’s research head can go when faced with something he loves.
This and all the usual comics chat on the only comics podcast to have actually been grown in a garden…
That Comic Smell!"

BELL TIME part 11

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To read from the beginning, go here.

BELL TIME part 10

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To read from the beginning, go here.