Mindless Ones

Comics creators, headsup!

For its fifth year, The Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize has just been announced, inviting UK residents to submit a four-page comic on any theme, with the winner receiving £1,000 (the runner-up £250) and getting their story published in The Observer Review and on the Guardian and Vintage websites. This prize has really galvanised the creative comics scene in this country, stimulating more people to try their hand at sequential art to express themselves. It has also led to several fresh British voices having their debut graphic novels published by Jonathan Cape.

Regular jury members Observer literary critic Rachel Cooke, Random House Creative Director Suzanne Dean, Cape publisher Dan Franklin, and Paul Gravett, Comica Festival director, are joined this year by the pioneer of UK graphic novels Bryan Talbot, of Luther Arkwright, Alice In Sunderland and Grandville fame, and David Nicholls, acclaimed author of One Day and a writer for film, television and theatre.

For more information visit the Comica website

Over on The Comics Journal website right now.

It’s the best of the bunch. You don’t know The Invisibles unless you know our Poodle.

Art dudes, our pal Ben over at the G-Moz fansite Deep Space Transmissions wants you!

Here’s Ben with the fax:

“You may (or may not) have noticed that I’ve been slowly slogging through Deep Space Transmissions trying to make it look prettier and easier to read. Its pretty slow going but I’m getting there. Now that the Universe B section has embraced readable line-spacing I thought it might be good to get some pictures on there.

Its great to read about all of these comics that only exist in some mixed-up parallel world where Grant Morrison wrote a Fathom movie (?!) but it’d be even better to see them… and that’s where YOU come in.

If any aspiring artists fancy getting their Cosmic Treadmill on and rustling up some Earth-2 covers, pin-ups or character designs for Grant Morrison comics that never were, now’s your chance! Just pick any entry on the Universe B pages and take a stab at drawing something for it. As its all ‘not for profit, just for fun’ there shouldn’t be (God willing) any copyright worries, and all I’m after is a scan of the art, (no originals thanks, unless its awesome) and your consent to host it here on the site. Other than that, no rules, no limits, do whatever you like. This could be your big break into the world of funny books!*

Just attach a scan of whatever you’ve drawn/painted/sculpted/interpretive danced to an email and send it on over to [email protected].

I’m not expecting a huge slew of responses so anything you do send will probably appear on the site. But spread the word around, let’s get a meme going on.. #universeb will do if you’re Twitter-minded. If a lot of stuff starts coming in I might even offer a prize… Something really good…”

A bit battered, spine ripped right off, but still – 44 years of existence, mine for a mere seventy-five pee.

Batman Annual 1967.

It’s all reprint, but the cover looks like original art commissioned in the UK – check the oddly Blyton-esque Robin, a schoolkid larking about like he’s in an infinitely cosy boys comic of the day, or an underage soldier, meat for the melodrama of a WWII book. Check Batman, smiley of face and cheeky of chin, with a prop-forward’s physique.

Let’s look at that again…

From the creator of TERMINUS and INSOMNIA

CINDY & BISCUIT no.1:

Cindy & Biscuit: A violence-prone, fearless little girl and her loyal best friend, who regularly save the world from disgusting aliens, tussle with giant werewolves and have adventures in outer-space.

Or do they?

24 pages of mayhem, angry little girls, loyal small dogs, aliens, werewolves, outer-space, loneliness and the endless horror of school.

(B+W, 24 pages)

£2.50 (+£1.50 p&p)

HEAD OVER TO THE ‘MILK THE CAT’ SHOP AND PURCHASE IT!

While you’re there, check out the SALE on Terminus!

Click below for sample pages…

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This podcast covers the second half of day one. The bulk of this is taken up with a recording of the Attack The Block panel featuring director, Joe Cornish. There’s also some on-the-floor reactions from Mindless Members, Illogical Volume and Botswana Beast. Apologies for any sound quality issues.

[audio:https://mindlessones.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/kapow-attack-the-block.mp3]
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bobsy: My own and only objection to how Batman Incorporated is proceeding, amidst so far a hat-trick of rapid high impact 21st century superhero comics, is the slight familiarity of the beats as the overarching story begins to emerge. Though it wasn’t to be expected, more refreshing and radical than those ominous bell-notes as the latest cosmic conspiracy begins to emerge from the murk would be a comic that stands entirely on its own, 22 or whatever pages of unencumbered violence and costumes, a purity of blank abstracted spectacle that doesn’t even pretend to that common fallacy: that a wider world exists beyond the totality of its stapled covers.

Minor quibble best dispensed with early. This was a fun issue, and in the so-far absence of Annotations Goddess Uzi Mary, la belle annotateur sans merci, a few pages in particular require a closer look.

Click to find out why three pages of BatMinc3 are better than six issues of Knight & Squire

The Beast Must Die has brought along a couple Frank “The Tank” Miller’s last Sin City works for us to look at.  Listen now as we discover the joys of Family Values and Hell and Back.

[audio:https://mindlessones.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mindlessonessincity.mp3]
Click to download