Neill's blog

Pirates of Pangaea FINALE! And MORE!

2013-05-20T10:43:00.002+01:00

Couple of EXCITING UPDATES!

First off, the current issue of The Phoenix marks the senses-shattering SEASON FINALE of Pirates of Pangaea: Escape From Razorbeak Mountain. Do they, in fact, Escape From Razorbeak Mountain? Pick up this issue or you'll NEVER KNOW!

Here is the cover (sans title etc):

And here is an interview Dan and I did with fine comics website The Beat, talking about the finale:
http://comicsbeat.com/the-phoenix-presents-neill-cameron-and-daniel-hartwell-on-the-pirates-of-pangaea/

AND here are some nice words from the marvellous Forbidden Planet blog about the issue:
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2013/the-phoenix-weekender-11/

Any concerned fans of Piratey Dinosaury shenanigans need not worry: we'll be back soon with our next story arc, Racers of Riverbed Run, which may actually be the Piratiest Dinosauriest Shenanigansiest one yet.

HEY ALSO Lauren Bennett of Random House publicity just tweeted a couple of photos that made me jump up and down with excitement:

DFC Library Paperback Editions! Which will be available in bookshops across the land this August 1st, I believe. They look fantastic - I love those comics and I'm really looking forward this chance to bring them to a whole new audience. COMMENCE EXCITEMENT!

Oxford Children's Comics Festival EXTRA!

2013-05-07T10:07:00.000+01:00

Yes, EXTRA! There were a few pics from the festival on Saturday that didn't really fit into my already-whopping blog post about How We Made a Really Rather Large Comic, so I thought I'd stick them up in a separate post! This is by no means a comprehensive report of the day's events - I was so busy for most of the day making the aforementioned Really Rather Large Comic that I didn't even make it into the festival proper, so there were loads of people I didn't get pics of and several I failed to even meet. But never mind! For a pretty comprehensive report, go read Sarah McIntyre's excellent round-up, and for just a fwe random bit and bobs I wanted to mention: READ THIS!

I ran a workshop in the morning and we had an absolutely brilliant time - lots of the kids there were enthusaistic students of Professor Panels and Art Monkey so we jumped in with Advanced Awesomeness Studies and ended up creating one of my favourite characters from a workshop to date: DORIS / MORRIS, a double-headed mutant dinnerlady who dreams of becoming a concert violinist.

After creating a whole (frankly INCREDIBLY EXCITING) adventure for mutant dinnerlady / man Doris and Morris (and their arch-nemesis Boris), a film crew from Meridian popped their heads in to the workshop and asked if we could just, you know, do the whole thing again. So you see here our Last Minute Bonus Extra Characters - Skeleton Dinnerlady Floris and her winged anthropomorphic clock sidekick Norris.

I think we were all going a bit strange by this point.

Here's Jordan Vigay (one of our Big-Ol'-Comics-Maikin' Team) selling his wares at his table in the Festival! I don't think Jordan has a website yet but it can only be a matter of time. Watch this space!

And here are some of Jordan's amazing comics. Three issues published since Dec 2012! One of which was made in THREE DAYS. This young man will go far.

I had to get a photo of this: the awesome INTERACTIVE COMICS CREATOR that Jordan had on his table. Apart from being genuinely hilarious, I just thought this was such a great idea. Apparently it was a big hit, with some kids coming back and playing with it over and over again throughout the day. Just genius.

Here's the brilliant illustrator and cartoonist Tom Plant, who was running a workshop in the afternoon and who I think took the prize in terms of dressing for the occasion. Seemed a lovely chap, too - nicest cartooning tyrannosaur you could hope to meet.

Here I am surveying our big comic! Oh I loved that thing so much.

Here's Phoenix editor Will Fickling... ENDORSING THE COMPETITION?

Here's Phoenix publisher and all round good egg David Fickling signing a young fan's copy of Issue Zero!

Okay, I think that's about it. Anyway, from my perspective the day was a brilliant success, and I've heard lovely reports since of young attendees who went home and just kept straight on making comics llike crazy fired-up comics-making machines. This, I think, qualifies pretty unreservedly as Mission Accomplished. Really hope we get to do it all again, bigger and better, next year! IF NOT SOONER.

How To Make (REALLY REALLY GIANT) Comics

2013-05-05T11:57:00.000+01:00

I was at the brilliant inaugural Oxford Children's Comics Festival - organised by those fine feathered fellows at The Phoenix - yesterday and, after doing a really fun workshop in the morning (which I'll blog about separately later), I spent most of the day overseeing and facilitating and generally helping out at a GIANT COMICS JAM, which ended up being just a hugely fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Let's see how it happened!

These are the giant portable walls provided by our magnificent hosts at The Story Museum! My first job in the morning was to draw panels on these and turn them into AWESOME GIANT COMICS PAGES!

Here's Simon Swift artist Zak Simmonds-Hurn being drafted in to help finish panelling up the pages after I had to dash off to do my workshop. Look at him go, without the aid of a stepladder or anything.

And so it began! I drew the first panel, setting the scene for our tale with an idea suggested by a young Phoenix fan named Tom who'd been in my workshop. Pirate School! Carrrrrn't go wrong with that.

And the first brave artist I roped in to taking a turn drawing a panel was the aforementionedly brilliant Zak Simmonds-Hurn! For health and safety reasons I thought it was probably best if only grown-up comics creators - and in particular, nice ones who I deemed unlikely to sue me in the event of being crushed under an oversized comics page - did the top tier of panels.

And here's Zak at work, being watched by an adoring crowd while they munch on their Plixx and Tyrannosaurus-flavoured pizzas from The Secret Pizza Society! Which looked amazing and which sold out before I managed to get one NOT THAT I AM BITTER.

And there's Zak's panel complete! Setting up our story with an INTRIGUING MYSTERY!

With the stepladder safely stowed away, I was very keen for some of the young festivalgoers to start joining in! I was really keen for the Giant Comics Jam to be a mix of Professional Cartoonists and budding junior artists, and first to step up was young Phoenix reader Benedict! Who, I later learned, was the very chap who suggested the whole idea of having a Children's Comics Festival in Oxford in the first place! To which, given what a brilliant day I for one had, I can only say a hearty GOOD IDEA THERE, BENEDICT.

Next up was Rob Deas - creator of the fantastic Troy Trailblazer, which I understand is returning soon to the Phoenix for a whopping epic-sized new run!

Panel 5! And next up was young festivalgoer Alice - who I have to say, threw an action-packed exciting turn into the story just when it needed one with the revelation that "THEY'RE ATTACKING! ACTION STATIONS!" But WHO was attacking...?

That was up to Nico here to decide! And in a nice pull-the-camera-back long shot he established that it was in fact THE NAVY and that a BIG EXCITING BATTLE was about to take place!

And with a big exciting Pirates vs Navy battle to draw - and a really REALLY giant panel to fill it with, who should happen along but the wonderful Sarah McIntyre - illustrator of amongst many other marvellous things, the new picture book SUPERKID which officially launched yesterday!

Here's Sarah bringing herself up to speed on the Story So Far and weighing her artistic options.

(And here, for your reading pleasure, IS the Story So far...)

McIntyre dives in! I have to say, I gave Sarah one of the toughest jobs of the whole thing, with a lot of space to fill and potentially a lot of Stuff going on in it. I felt reasonably sure she'd be up to it.

And so indeed it proved. Just amazing, and hugely fun for all of us there to watch Sarah at work on this big canvas, just grabbing the pen and going for it and drawing a legitimately brilliant giant panel of comics in about 10 seconds flat.

What can I say, she's rather enormously talented.

I helped draw the ships.

Speaking of people who are rather enormously talented, here's Jordan Vigay - who we met at the Phoenix table back at Thought Bubble last year and who has since published several issues of his own fantastic comic, The Red Crow! And again, I will blog more about that a bit later!

Here's Jordan getting started! Pirate / Mermaid tensions are running high and the Navy are on the horizon. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT IN THIS ALREADY TENSE SITUATION?

A Dirty Great Bomb, that's what!

I find it hard to express how much I love the sudden appearance of a dirty great bomb, with "DIRTY GREAT BOMB" written on the side.

Now THAT, my friends, is cartooning.

Here's Jordan with his finished panel, receiving a much-deserved round of applause!

And next up was Action Comics Artist Jamie Littler, creator of the wonderful Cogg & Sprokit in the Phoenix - and some other rather-exciting new things coming up in the future. Shown here hanging precariously off the side of a rather wobbly stepladder in order to throw in one little extra background gag involving a crab, such is his DEDICATION to making awesome comics.

And next at the plate was young comics superstar Zoom Rockman! Like Jordan, Zoom had his own table at the festival, selling copies of his own self-published comic The Zoom! Zoom's an incredibly talented young man, and I can't tell you how great it was to see these guys at the festival - not just there as punters, but active participants, making their own brilliant comics and putting them out into the world.

Sorry, I'm starting to sound evangelical. But when I was their age I drew comics that were read by my Mum and my little brother, so I think what Zoom and Jordan are doing is just phenomenal, and I can't wait to see what they do next.

Here's a wider shot of Zoom at work! But how would he manage to continue a story in which all the principal characters had apparently just been blown up by a DIRTY GREAT BOMB?

By introducing some VIKINGS! Of course. That's Comics 101, guys. And next up to follow on the story was another great Phoenix artist, Laura Ellen Anderson - creator of the nefarious Evil Emperor Penguin! (one of my son Logan's particular favourites, I have to say. He is a PENGUIN WHO IS EVIL, come on.)

Working on the next panel was our first parent-child collaboration, with the young artist Nora seen here in creative talks with her Mum Adeline.

And here's Nora at work. And man, Nora busted out some ACTION! Icebergs calving! Giant tidal waves! A crab sliding down an ice-slide and going 'WEE!"

CLIMACTIC STUFF.

Here's Adeline and Nora with their finished panel, and again, getting a pleasingly massive round of applause from the spectators.

And who was left to pick up pieces of a giant apocalyptic iceberg explosion? Luckily for all of us, Matt Baxter, who managed singlehandedly with his contribution to bring years of Pirate-Viking enmity to a peaceable solution.

One panel left! And a completely insane story involving a diverse cast of bizarre characters to try and bring to some kind of satisfactory conclusion. Time to call Adam Murphy - illustrator, comics educator and creator of the entirely brilliant Corpse Talk in the Phoenix.

I very much like this shot of Adam pondering what on Earth to draw and stroking his chin in true artistly fashion.

And he's off! A crowd gathers, unable to quite believe that he's going to actually pull this off.

A crowd that includes a man dressed as a dinosaur.

(That's actually the illustrator Tom Plant, who was at the festival running a workshop on Making Monsters. And dressed for the occasion!)

And he's only gone and done it! Tying it all back to the start, getting every single character in and ending on an amusing joke about crabs. THAT, you guys, is why Adam Murphy makes the big bucks.

Here's one of me standing next to the finished comic! Like I made it or something.

EGOMANIAC.

And here for your reading enjoyment is the complete strip! Photos nicked from Sarah's excellent write-up of the festival, over on her blog!

Huge thanks to everyone who took part - I genuinely had no idea if it was going to even remotely work, and you guys all made it super fun! Let's all do it again soon!

EDIT: Here's a couple of extra bonus photos! First, here for the sake of completeness is a shot of me drawing my bit, courtesy of Zak! Cheers dude!

And HERE for sake of rarity and just because I really like it is a picture Sarah took of me and Di.

Together! In the same place and everything! Shortly after prompting actual SHRIEKS with a Public Display of Affection that completely freaked Sarah out because she didn't realise Di was Di but thought she was the pizza lady.

Possibly you had to be there.

Art Monkey Club: Activity Sheets!

2013-03-24T10:21:00.001Z

Here is this week's Art Monkey Club activity sheet! Click on it for bigness and then download / print / draw all over it and colour in at your leisure! Um, sorry it's a little late. Look, it's been a bit of a week. Hopefully should all be up-to-date and uploaded over on the Phoenix's How To Make (Awesome) Comics page very soon!

Here's last month's one too, to make up for it.

Don't forget to check out the Art Monkey page on the Phoenix site for loads more activity sheets and teaching resources and FUN STUFFS! (Just scroll down past the santas. Um. We should probably tidy that up a bit.)

Hey, Kids, Comics Festival!

2013-03-21T16:13:00.000Z

Comics! For kids! Drawing! That kind of thing!

Put May 4th in your diaries! For it is the day for the first ever Oxford Children's Comics Festival! (I'm not sure if that is the actual, official name - there may be an 'International' or something in there, but you get the gist.) Anyway, it promises to be a ton of fun! Oxford's entirely brilliant Story Museum will be filled out between the hours of 11am and 4pm with some of the best all-ages awesomeness-tastic comics and creators you could hope to spend a Saturday with. Who will be there? The Phoenix! 2000AD! (the family-friendlier wing thereof). LOAf Magazine! The DFC Library! And a whole bunch of brilliant cartoonists, writers and illustrators doing workshops and other creative funtime activities To Be Confirmed.

I'll be there, anyway. Come and say hello!

Oh and hey it is Free Comic Book Day also! So I dare say there will be some FREE COMICS or other available.*

* Hey, if worst comes to worst I'll bring some of mine along.

More details and an official announcement should be rapidly forthcoming on the Phoenix website, I daresay, but in the meantime if you're a creator of kids' comics and you'd like to be involved - well, for now, holla at me on twitter and I'll put you in touch with the relevant parties?

FUN TIMES you guys! Let's make this a happening happening.

Pirates of Pangaea / Art Monkey SPECIAL EXTRA NONSENSICAL EDITION!

2013-02-18T10:01:00.001Z

The Phoenix Issue Ben cover - by the frankly wonderful Faz Choudhury

Back before Christmas a bunch of us who work on The Phoenix put together a special issue of the comic as a leaving present for our editor, Ben Sharpe. It was all the idea / fault of the magnificent Dave Shelton (he of Good Dog, Bad Dog and A Boy and a Bear in a Boat fame), and - well, it was a completely ridiculous and impractical if not outright impossible idea, so naturally we all decided to do it immediately.

Anyway, I just saw Richard Bruton post a few extracts from it over on the marvellous Forbidden Planet blog (brilliant to hear that our old pal Molly got hold of a copy), and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to post my bits here. So here they are.

DISCLAIMER for young or sensitive / readers: there's not outright swearing or naughtiness, but... well, let's say the following episodes are.... "non-canonical"?

First, a bonus episode of Pirates of Pangaea that presents a nightmarish vision of the strip's future without Ben's steady hand on the tiller:

Please note: the first person to say "hey, I much prefer that style, you should always draw it like that" gets a SLAP IN THE CHOPS.

And then a special How To Make (Awesome) Comics that finally let me give Ben A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE AND SEE HOW HE LIKES IT HUH

You can see some of the other contents of the issue over on the Forbidden Planet blog, or in posts from m'colleagues Sarah McIntyre and Gary Northfield. My nonsense here was utterly and completely outclassed by some wonderful contributions from my fellow Phoenixers, and I think the lengths everyone went to are the best possible indication you could ask for of, well, of how awesome Ben was as an editor.

And that is MORE than enough sincerity for this blog. Hey, while I'm here: I posted a bunch of photos from a recent(ish) comics workshop up on twitter, and then thought I'd try putting them all together on Storify. So go and see the Ballad Of Bouncy Jim and get the closest thing to the Live Neill Doing A Comics Workshop Experience. (You will just have to imagine lots of kids shouting and me laughing at my own jokes). Enjoy! Enjoy and LEARN.

iPirates and iDinosaurs

2013-01-06T15:19:00.000Z

Gosh, has it really been a year?

Well, it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the launch of the Phoenix and the start of Pirates of Pangaea, and... no wait a minute, it doesn't seem like yesterday, it seems like an entire year ago. Because it was! Yes, here we are at the beginning of The Phoenix: Year Two, with this week's issue #53 heralding not only the return of Sophie, Kelsey and Cornflower in m'colleague Dan and I's latest piratey dinosaury magnum opus, Escape From Razorbeak Mountain, but also - and possibly even more excitingly - the launch of a brand new iPad edition of the comic!

I've been looking forward to this for ages, and I'm super excited to see it all go live. Distribution and geography are obviously huge challenges for a small company like the Phoenix, and I'm really optimistic that the iPad edition will allow lots of new readers, all over the world, who'd previously been unable to get access to the comic (without fairly herculean efforts / dedication / substantial shipping fees, anyway) to join in the fun. It helps that the Phoenix app - developed by Panel Nine and available through Apple's Newsstand - really is a great digital comics-reading experience. It's as smooth and intuitive as you could hope, easily standing up against something like ComiXology's interface but I'd argue even better, due to some of the top-level navigation features (index / ability to 'favourite' strips) which work wonderfully in the context of a children's anthology comic.

The index page. Screenshots via Comics Alliance because, um, I have no idea how to take screenshots on my iPad.

Also, the 'Something Cool' pop-up bonus content, designed specifically for the app, allows for story recaps / character profiles / development art, and all kinds of cool extra bits n' bobs you'll see popping up as the weeks and months progress. Then there's the little touches, like the fact the editorial pages have all been designed / reformatted to suit the iPad edition, and the fact that web, e-mail and twitter links etc. work direct from the app. You can now e-mail Adam Murphy your suggestions for what corpse he should dig up next, or have a quick go on Professor Panels' Awesome-o-Tron, direct from reading the comic! It's all indicative of the level of care and attention to detail that are being put into it, by both the guys at Phoenix HQ and over at Panel Nine, and it really makes the difference.

Why yes that IS something cool, I agree.

It's pretty good, is my point. If you've got an iPad, go download the app. It is free and you get a free comic to read, what's to lose? And also, the app is launching with what I can frankly only describe as an INSANELY good one-week launch offer, whereby you can get SIX MONTHS - yes, SIX ENTIRE MONTHS of the weekly comic for just £9.99. That'll take you through the entire 5-month epic run of Pirates of Pangaea book 2, for example, and out into whatever lies beyond. As well as giving you approximately 425,780 pages of other awesome comics to read.

It's a pretty good deal, is my point. Anyway, initial reaction to the app seems to be really positive - here are some write-ups from Comics Alliance, Paul Gravett, Down the Tubes, George Shiers - and on launch day the app made it straight to #1 on the Children's Magazines chart on iTunes.

The adventure begins! Again.

Anyway, I hope people give it a try. I think it's a great thing, but I'm really glad that it exists as an alternative / supplement to the print edition, rather than replacing it. (My son prefers the physical comic, and I'm not sure anything can ever quite replicate the joy of getting that brilliantly hefty, colourful envelope thudding through the postbox every Friday.) Regardless, whichever way you choose to read, I hope you enjoy our new run of pirates. A few people have asked whether Book 1 is also available digitally, and while this is a 'not yet' (you can track down print copies of back issues but that's about it currently), Dan and I have worked pretty hard to make this a very clean start to the new adventure. There are a couple of kids and they have a dinosaur and, pretty much, that's all you need to know to get started. Much fun awaits. Hop to it!

The Best Comics of 2012! A DEFINITIVE LIST.

2012-12-30T15:17:00.000Z

I meant to write one of these ‘Best-of-the-year’ posts for the Forbidden Planet International blog but completely failed to get it together in time to do so. Anyway, it is still 2012 (just) so I thought I’d post mine here: sticking to the same format as the FPI posts (which you can read here): my 3 favourite comics from the last 12 months...

1: TIE! BUNNY VS MONKEY by Jamie Smart / GARY’S GARDEN by Gary Northfield

Having spent many weeks attempting to decide which of these was my favourite, I eventually decided I couldn’t, so we have a tie. I love both of these strips for similar reasons – that they are very, very funny, and wildly imaginative, and that my son loves them and I love reading them to him. Each also has a special claim in its favour that kind of balance each other out: BvM has achieved the highly admirable feat of being amazing every single week in 2012. And in the other corner, Gary’s Garden produced amongst its many riches the single best page of comics I saw all year.* So that is why it’s a tie!

*I don't have it to hand, sorry. It was the one with the pond and the tadpoles. If you saw it, you know which one I mean.

2: CORPSE TALK by Adam Murphy

Yeah, yeah, another Phoenix strip, I know. But if you can show me another comic out there that is – week in, week out - as funny, clever, inventive, silly, gross, imaginative, fascinating, and beautiful as Adam’s work on Corpse Talk... well then I will be very grateful to you for introducing me to such a wonder.

3: THE NAO OF BROWN by Glyn Dillon

I don’t feel like I need to say much about this one, as I assume it is on everyone else in the universe and their dog’s Best Of 2012 lists already. An absolutely glorious achievement, one of my favourite comics I’ve read in ages, by probably my favourite comics artist in the world. Yeah, it’s a bit good.

HONOURABLE MENTION: pretty much everything else in the Phoenix. I utterly love that comic. Not sure if I mentioned that.

I think if this was an FPI post I’d have to come up with lists of my favourite movies, and TV shows, and books and such, too. But really, who has time to watch movies or TV or read books? We went to see Looper, that was quite enjoyable. Ooh, Catfish, I liked that. Um... Doctor Who? Cheers? I watched quite a lot of Masterchef?

I would also then be called upon to give you a quick plug for what you can expect to see from me in 2013 but hey, this is my blog, I talk about that stuff all the time. More Pirates of Pangaea! Coming Soon! Coming, in fact, NEXT WEEK!

And that right there is why I have had so little time to write these sort of blog posts. But while I am here and in a ‘reflecting on the Best of 2012’ mood, let me just say how delighted I was to see Pirates of Pangaea and the Phoenix pop up on just such a list – and from no less august a journal than the mighty Comics Alliance! Given what an undertaking it is for a reader outside the UK to even get hold of the Phoenix, it really is appreciated. And hey! We are mere weeks - no, days - away from international access to the Phoenix getting a whole, whole lot easier. Brace yourselves, 2013 is going to be fun...

Santafest 2012 round-up, plus SINGING

2012-12-21T11:27:00.005Z

I've been a bit slack at posting my daily Santa drawings here on the blog, so here is a bumper omnibus round-up of Santas 13-20!

Check out the full set (and all the names of the Santa-suggesters) over on the Art Monkey page on the Phoenix site!

I thought taking requests from Phoenix readers would be an interesting exercise, and was really just hoping it would throw up some New Things For Me To Draw - something that, after drawing several years worth of Santas, was actually becoming a little challenging. Anyway, I think I can safely say this objective has been MET. Met with bells on.

Anyway, a further delightful surprise was supplied by those fine folks at the Phoenix who took some of the Santas and applied some cutting-edge animation techniques and high-end musical production, and produced... THIS.

It is very silly but it did make me laugh. (And also my son absolutely loves it - I think he probably accounts for half it's views in YouTube single-handed.)

Only a few Santas left till Christmas! I think I have just one spot left open, so if you or any young Phoenix fans in your family have any ideas for Santas you'd like to see, get 'em in fast to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

The Pirates of Pangaea: Escape From Razorbeak Mountain

2012-12-20T08:22:00.000Z

Starting on 5th January 2013 in issue 53 (I think) of The Phoenix is the second FRANKLY EPIC run of m'colleague Dan Hartwell and I's Pirates-and-Dinosaurs-and-Pirates-RIDING-Dinosaurs adventure tale, The Pirates of Pangaea. It's another big one. OH MAN is it a big one.

Here are a couple of not-too-spoilery choice panels of the inked artwork, to give you a taste.

Such fun stuff coming up. To make sure you don't miss out on a single teeny tiny pterosaur, why not rush out and subscribe to the Phoenix? Go on. This Christmas, give the gift of PIRATES RIDING DINOSAURS.

Advent Monkey, day 12: Junk Food Santa!

2012-12-12T16:12:00.001Z

Behind Door Number 12 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Junk Food Santa! Suggested by Phoenix reader, Roisin McAuliffe!

Dammit, why are all these Santas making me HUNGRY?

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Advent Monkey, day 11: SQUID SANTA!

2012-12-11T16:38:00.000Z

Behind Door Number 11 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Squid Santa! Suggested by Phoenix reader, graffiti knitter and noted squid afficionado Lauren O'Farrell!

Mmmmm, Calamari.

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

How To Make (Awesome) Comics COMPETITION!

2012-12-11T12:20:00.000Z

This week's How To Make (Awesome) Comics strip in the Phoenix - which by kind permission I have reproduced in its entirety here - features the start of a brand-new and very exciting Create-a-Comic COMPETITION!

It's kind of the wrapping-up of a year's worth of Professor Panels and Art Monkey's lessons, and I thought it would be nice to go out in style by encouraging the comics' readers to pull it all together and have a go at making their own panelologist publications! The rules are very simple - comics should be at least 4 pages long, and have a title, and THAT'S ABOUT IT. Go nuts! The closing date is the 15th January 2013, so there's plenty of time to plan and make and create - maybe as a little project over the Christmas holidays?

M'colleague Sarah McIntyre wrote a great blog post the other day for librarians about getting started with kids' comics, and mentioned some of the many benefits that comics - reading them and making them - give to children. I'd strongly recommend reading her post; it's something I couldn't agree with more, and this competition is part of my ongoing bid to help get every child in the country busily making their own comics.

Pick up this week's Phoenix or head over to the website for all the details (scroll down past all the Santas), and for loads of page templates and activity sheets and all kinds of FUN STUFF to get you started. And I hope to see MANY FINE COMICS in January!

(A final note: if this week's strip is the 'last lesson of term', then the next couple of weeks see us closing out 2012 with the comics equivalent of Bringing In Games. Much fun stuff coming up!)

Advent Monkey, day 10: Chocolate Santa!

2012-12-10T10:24:00.000Z

Behind Door Number 10 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Chocolate Santa! Suggested by Phoenix reader Emily (age 9)!

Mmmmm, Chocolate Santa.

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Advent Monkey, day 9: Spinosaurus Santa!

2012-12-10T10:14:00.002Z

Behind Door Number 9 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Spinosaurus Santa! Suggested by Phoenix reader Freddie Walker!

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Advent Monkey, day 8: Banana Banana Santa and his Bananas Bananas Bananas

2012-12-10T10:09:00.001Z

Behind Door Number 8 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Banana Banana Santa (and his Bananas Bananas Bananas)! Suggested by - well, by several people in fact, including Phoenix readers and pals James Christie, Jez Higgins and Craig Naples! Thanks all!

(Here he is without his Santa hat on, in case you have no idea what this is all referring to.)

By the way, while I'm here: just in case anyone thinks I have been corrupted by the filthy lucre of Big (well, medium-sized) Comics, I just wanted to make clear that this year's ridiculous Santafest is, as in previous years, done simply out of the spirit of the season and because I like drawing Santas. I just thought that this year I could sort of tie it in with the Phoenix - well, as my Christmas present to them, really. It's a publication and a readership that have made 2012 pretty much the best year of my creative career to date, and I just wanted to do something to say thanks.

Okay, awkard moment of genuineness over! Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Advent Monkey, Day 7: Ballet Santa

2012-12-10T10:00:00.002Z

Behind Door Number 7 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Ballet Santa! Suggested by Phoenix reader and comics superbrain Jenni Scott!

(I was particularly happy to draw this one because, as we have learned this year, it turns out I quite like ballet.)

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Advent Monkey, day 6: Hot Dog Santa

2012-12-10T09:55:00.002Z

Behind Door Number 6 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Hot Dog Santa! Suggested by my own dear nephew, Phoenix reader and budding comics artist Lex Cameron!

(Keen-eyed readers will spot a copyright-infringing guest appearance from The Pilot, star of James Turner's brilliant Star Cat, which I hope James will forgive as Lex is a big fan and, well, I just thought it woudl be funny really.)

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Advent Monkey, day 5: WRESTLER SANTA

2012-12-10T09:48:00.002Z

Behind Door Number 5 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Wrestler Santa! Suggested by Phoenix reader and noted Santa afficionado Chris Sims!

(To be precise, Chris' request was for Macho Man Randy Savage Santa, but - well, frankly, I wasn't sure I could type those words into the Phoenix twitter account.)

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Advent Monkey, day 4: Jelly Santa

2012-12-10T09:43:00.001Z

Behind Door Number 4 on Art Monkey's Advent Calendar, it's... Jelly Santa! Suggested by Phoenix reader Luke Reid!

Check out Art Monkey's page on the Phoenix website for all the Santas so far, and to get started drawing your own! And please keep the Santa Suggestions coming, to: artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk

Santas Santas Santas! Also, Santas.

2012-12-03T11:56:00.001Z

Yes, it's that time of year again! The time when for some reason, despite having way too much work to do already, I decide to draw a different Santa every day and post it on the internet! (For new followers: seriously, every year. 2008, 2009, 2010... I took a year off in 2011 and look, apparently now the world is going to end. Sorry about that.) Actually, this year's is going to be a little different - rather than drawing them myself I will merely be facilitating the event for my colleague Art Monkey, famed sketching simian star of the fabulous Phoenix Comic. Every day he'll be drawing a different Santa, based where possible on suggestions from readers of that august periodical. So if you - or any young Phoenix fans in your family - have any Santas you would particularly like to see, email them to artmonkey@thephoenixcomic.co.uk (I hope he doesn't mind me giving out his address like that). Or, you know what, just tell me and I'll make sure I pass them on next time I see him.

Here we are on the 3rd so we are 3 SANTAS IN ALREADY. Day 1 was Sheep Santa (suggested by Gemma Collins):

And then on day two we had THIS funky fellow:

Hippy Santa! Suggested by Gemma Stephens. And today's entry was (my favourite so far): VALKYRIE SANTA, who you met at the top of this post - suggested by Phoenix fan Holly (daughter of @miss_sb on twitter).

More tomorrow - and indeed every day until Christmas! Follow the Phoenix on Twitter to see 'em as they appear. And I will try and collate them here. (I'll just check with Art Monkey that that's okay.)

AND as if that wasn't enough early-seeming festive cheer: I spent Thursday evening and then much of Saturday this week at the Oxford city branch of Waterstones, where my Phoenix colleagues Kate Brown, Paul Duffield and I were helping put together a funky window display.

Paul and Kate finishing up the logo!

Santa Cornflower! Having her feet tickled by Bob.

Paul Duffield, touching up a T-Rex.

The window painting was a lot of fun - it took a bit longer than originally planned but I genuinely loved the results, it just looks brilliant and hoepfully will entice lots of curious punters inside to buy comics and gift boxes. Seriously, if you live in Oxford, drag your kids down to Waterstones childrens section to check out the Phoenix Nest that's currently on display. It is RATHER MAGNIFICENT.

If you look closely at that image you'll see they're not only selling the weekly comic, they also have a stock of the rather excellent new Phoenix Gift Boxes. Each contains a brilliant little mini-comic, some badges and stickers and postcards and stuff, and- most important - a 5-issue gift subscription to the Phoenix! "BEST PRESENT EVER!" the box cries out, and frankly I rather agree.

If you are thinking of christmas gifts for any children or comics fans or indeed just persons of taste, discernement and awesomeness in your lives: Phoenix Gift Boxes! And hey, if you get them now, your subscription'll kick in in time for you to catch the start of...

...and let me tell you, you will not be wanting to miss THAT.

BALLET COMICS

2012-11-26T09:49:00.000Z

This week's issue of The Phoenix features the story 'Emilie's Turn', written by me and drawn by Kate Brown. You can see the cover above. Please consider this me asking you nicely to PLEASE GO BUY A COPY. Look, I'll make it easy for you, I'll even tell you how and where to get a copy, and everything.

It's a bit of a departure for me - apart from anything else, it's pretty much my first attempt at writing a script for another artist to draw. And I have to say, if you're going to do this, you could do a lot worse than collaborating with Kate Brown, unquestionably one of the most talented comics creators currently working in this country. It has been an amazing and rather wonderful experience for me - I just write down what happens and then, as if by magic, these amazing pages of beautiful artwork appear! Crazy. Seriously, I could get used to this "being a writer" lark.

Anyway, I'm trying to do whatever I can to bang the drum and blow the horns and let people know about the comic, because - well, (a) because I'm really proud of it, but also (b) because I don't want to be having any conversations a month from now where you're all like "oh what, you did a ballet comic? That sounds really cool, I wish I'd heard about it." If you remember a couple of months back I wrote a couple of blog posts on the subject of old Girls' Comics / YA comics, etc - well, anyway, this strip is my best attempt to encapsulate what I was trying to say with all that. Please go and read it. Please go and tell all your friends to read it. Please make it a massive success so that every publisher in the world suddenly starts falling over themselves to make more ballet comics.

And look, without getting into the whole gendering argument: what it comes down to for me is this. We - the comics industry in general, the Phoenix in particular and me personally - tend to do quite a lot for those girls and boys who like stories about exciting adventure and outlandish fantasy and raucous comedy. It seems to me we could do more for those boys and girls who maybe want to read stories about the real world, and ballet, and having a bit of a cry.

Look, here is a lovely review of it already, and everything. See? Now please go buy it.

And if you already did: a massive, genuine, heartfelt: thank you. I hope you enjoyed it.

What Happens at Thought Bubble

2012-11-25T16:58:00.000Z

I spent last weekend at the brilliant Thought Bubble festival in Leeds and - well, as I say, it was rather brilliant. I'd like to reel off a great long post filled with photos of all the cool and lovely people I met, but I won't because (a) I'm terrible at managing to take photos at these things, and (b) to be honest, I barely made it away from the family area / drawing enclosure where I was helping out the Phoenix comic all weekend, and where I was being kept RATHER BUSY. And so, I shall tell you a bit about the various fun things we were doing there!

FUN THING 1: over the whole weekend we were running a competition where we got young (and indeed, old) conventiongoers and Phoenix fans to have a go at designing their own creatures to go in our ZOO OF AWESOMENESS.

L-R: me and my fellow Zookeepers of Awesomeness Gary Northfield (who was showing of some pages of his new book Teenytinysaurs, which looks *incredible*, and Dave Shelton (who was diligently managing not to spill the beans that his wonderful book A Boy and a Bear in a Boat had just been shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards.) And who are, simply, two of the most brilliant people I know. Photo courtesy of Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet

A bunch of crackpot creature-creators hard at work while I discuss the finer points of Jetpack Giraffe xenobiology with the Phoenix's Liz Payton. Photo by Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet

The WHEEL OF AWESOMES, designed and built by the very talented Jo Bowes for The Phoenix. Photo courtesy of Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet

Many participants chose to use the wheel (above) to get started coming up with ideas, and it was a brilliant thing to have around. There was one little girl aged 3 whose drawing skills were still basically at the 'squiggles' stage but who fell totally in love with that wheel and kept dragging her cosplaying Mum back over to the Phoenix tables every half hour or so to have another quick 20 or 30 spins. It was highly adorable. And that's something so nice about Thought Bubble - it's organisers do seem really commited to the idea that their comics show - like the medium of comics itself - should be FOR EVERYONE, from mature academics to cosplaying teenagers to 3-year-olds who just want to have some fun spinning a brightly coloured wheel.

Needless to say, I applaud this principle.

Anyway, it was hugely fun and I think the competition itself was pretty successful, in that we ran out of entry sheets (and indeed room on the wall to pin them up) by about 10:30am on the Sunday. It was really brilliant to see the sheer flood of creativity and insane ideas pouring out of all these young comics fans. Me and Gary have already picked the winners and indeed I have already drawn the strip in which they are brought to life and meet Professor Panels and Art Monkey and... well, I don't want to spoil anything. I think it's going to be appearing in the last Phoenix of 2012 (issue 52? I suppose?) and it really should be a bit special. Eyes peeled!

Anyway, FUN THING 2: DRAW-OFF!

On the Saturday, a whole bunch of my fellow Phoenix artists were participating in LIVE COMPETITIVE DRAWING CHALLENGES! I'm using caps locks to try and capture some sense of how stressful this was. Stressful but, of course, brilliant fun, and it seemed to go over very well with the crowds that gathered to watch each bout.

"We who are about to draw ridiculous stuff salute you." - some of the brave challengers. L-R: "Dangerous" Dave Shelton, Adam "the Animal" Murphy, Rob "the" Deas-"troyer" and Alexander "The Assassin" Matthews. Photo by Gary "Gouger" Northfield

A tense moment from the fiercely-fought first-round fixture between Alex Matthews and myself, in which we are attampting to draw Giant Butterfly-Tamers. The result was too close to call and went to a FRANKLY CONTROVERSIAL judges' decision. Photo courtesy of Craig Naples.

Oh yeaaaaaaaah. Photo courtesy of Ross Fraser, The Phoenix

After the first round, my fellow contestants Gary Northfield and John Aggs attempted to psyche me out, pointing out how utterly preposterous and lame it would be for us all if I won, seeing as the prize was an inflatable physical model of the Art Monkey Top Banana award - an award which I, um, designed. But look, I never win anything. I GOT A BANANA AND I AM KEEPING IT.

Ahem.

FUN THING 3: Comics Workshops! After the SHEER INTENSITY of the Draw-Off the day before, we chilled things out a bit for the Sunday and took turns running quick, informal comics workshops in the drawing area. I did a session on How To Draw (Awesome) Robots, and it was a lot of fun - and again, huge thanks to the Thought Bubble organisers for giving us the space to do this kind of thing. I dropped some Advanced Scientific Knowledge, and some Awesome Robots were drawn! I don't think I've ever seen my Principle of Robotification ("stick some missiles on it...") quite so enthusastically taken on board.

Me, droppin' some knowledge. Photo courtesy of Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet.

A participant's-eye-view of the workshop! This photo is courtesy of Jennie Rigg, who wrote this great blog post about the experience of taking her daughter Holly to her first comics convention.

This seems an opportune moment to thank all the Thought Bubble organisers Lisa Wood and Clark Burscough and all the brilliant volunteers who helped the event run so smoothly, and also to thank the team from The Phoenix - everybody, but particularly Liz Payton and Ross Fraser who worked incredibly hard to make the weekend a success and who made the competitions, the draw-off and the workshops so fun and easy from my point of view. And the Phoenix Feather Hunt! I completely forgot about that whole thing.

From Team Phoenix: marketing manager Ross Fraser and incoming Big Cheese Editor Man, Will Fickling. Photo courtesy of Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet

When I finally escaped over to the Main Hall sometime on the Sunday afternoon, lots of the people I spoke to over there said they'd been hearing great things about the Phoenix and that things like the Feather Hunt had made a real sense of buzz about it, so kudos to those guys. Hopefully we managed to spread the word and convert some new Phoenixers. If you missed 'em, check out the shiny new Phoenix Gift Boxes - they really do look cool and would make a brilliant Christmas present. HINT, HINT.

FUN THING 4: Lovely people! The great thing about Thought Bubble, and indeed comics conventions in general, is the chance to meet up and spend time with one's fellow comics people. Because, and I've mentioned this before, they really are the loveliest people. Over the weekend I got to spend lots of time with my Phoenix muckers Gary, Dave and Adam in particular, and it was an absolute pleasure. Also, on the Sunday morning I shared a taxi with Kate Beaton and Scott Campbell, and they both seemed genuinely lovely too, and I tried not to completely lose my cool and just gibber unintelligibly about how much I love Ms Beaton's work. (So, so much.) And just, in general it was a pleasure to meet up with old friends and meet new people - way too many to list here and I'd feel terrified of forgetting anyone, but special mention goes to how nice it was to see my old pals Simon Perrins and Andrew Livesay of Hope For The Future / Flying Monkey Comics again.

Look, ANOTHER lovely person - the brilliant, incredibly talented Matt Baxter! Photo courtesy of Gary Northfield.

OH and to the nice lady who seemed so delighted with my Kitten Reading Kierkegaard christmas card that I couldn't help but draw her a quick sketch of a Toucan Reading Foucault.

I came home excited and reenergised and just brimming with love for comics, and for comics people. And to arbitrarily pick one thing to sum up so much, Foucault Toucan is basically why.

On Comics and Literacy

2012-11-23T10:20:00.003Z

I'm just blogging this because I keep having conversations about comics and literacy, and I wanted to have this up somewhere I could easily point to it. It's a quote that was forwarded on to me by Caro Fickling of The Phoenix, who knows rather a lot about such things, and it makes several great points far better than I could ever hope to. So here you go:

The 21st century is a visual world with a visual culture, but also requires high levels of reading competency. Comics, as sequential art, are a pictorial representation of a narrative. Comic art combines printed words and pictures in a unique way. Many literacy skills are required, including the ability to understand a sequence of events, to interpret the characters’ nonverbal gestures, to discern the story’s plot and to make inferences.

- International Federation of Library Associations paper at their 2009 Conference.

Phoenixy Thought Bubbly ZOO of AWESOMENESS!

2012-11-14T12:46:00.001Z

Yes, this weekend I'll be up in Leeds at the fantastic Thought Bubble comics festival, where I'll basically be hanging out in the Phoenix Family Area drawing stuff and teaching kids to draw stuff and, y'know, stuff. Or, to give it it's official title, being a Zookeeper of Awesomeness with my Comics Bro, the amazing Gary Northfield! We'll be running a contest all weekend for kids to design their own bizarre and outlandish comics creatures, with the best and bizarrest getting to appear IN the Phoenix in a TOP SECRET but HIGHLY EXCITING comics crossover spectacular! I have SAID TOO MUCH ALREADY!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! We will also be having a titanically tumultuous DRAW-OFF over the course of the day on the Saturday, with a bunch of Phoenix artists competing LIVE for your entertainment in a drawing battle... TO THE DEATH!!!*

* not strictly true!

MEET THE CONTENDERS:

Adam “The Exhumer” Murphy

Adam will be looking to bring his particular brand of ghoulish glee with him as he vies to win Top Banana for Thought Bubble 2012. This examiner of the expired, interrogator of the interred and creator of the brilliant Corpse Talk, Adam will be ready to bring the wrath of the undead with him and to use his drawing dexterity to make his competitors stark grave- ing mad!

Gary “Shrubbery Supremo” Northfield
Gary comes to Thought Bubble 2012 to ‘till it like it is’. The creator behind the fabulous Gary’s Garden, Gary will be bringing his own brand of angry insect art to the competition … but beware Gary will be treating his ‘anenomes’ like his Garden … Weed ‘em and reap!

Alex “The Merciless” Matthews
His ancient heroes may be Useleus but he certainly isn’t … Alex “The Merciless” Matthews will be looking to bring the strength of Hercules, the wrath of Zeus and the might of the Minotaur to Thought Bubble 2012. Along with Will Dawbarn, Alex is behind the stunning adventures of Useleus, the hapless hero of Ancient Greece … but don’t let this fool you, for like an ancient Greek sea monster, if you are against Alex, you better get Kraken!

Neill “the prehistoric powerhouse” Cameron

Demon of dinosaurs, paragon of pirates and brilliant buccaneer, Neill “the prehistoric powerhouse” Cameron is coming to Thought Bubble 2012 to offer his competitors more buckle than they can swash! Along with Daniel Hartwell, Neill is behind the stunning Pirates of Pangaea, and not only that but he is a very close personal friend to the one and only Professor Panels from How To Make Awesome Comics! With a wealth of comic creating talent behind Neill, people often ask “Why are his comics so good” there is only one answer … they just arrgghh.

Rob “The Astro-Assassin” Deas
Expect great things as Rob puts his bid in to win the Top Banana award. Rob is behind the excellent alien archaeologist, Troy Trailblazer. Packed with sci-fi thrills, starbound spills and strange alien beasties Rob is no stranger to comics danger. Fellow competitors be on your guard, if the astro-assassin beats you, you’d better be ready to Apollo – gise!

Dave “The Detective” Shelton
Don’t be fooled; Dave wants to be named Top Banana at Thought Bubble 2012 and he means business! As the creator of the amazing crime capers of Good Dog Bad Dog, Dave’s canine creations could have his opponents wondering if he is guilty of War mongreling!

Matt “The Story Stallion” Baxter
The Phoenix editorial team will have their paws and trotter crossed for Matt as he enters the comic creation ring for Thought Bubble 2012. Documentor of the thrills and spills of Phoenix HQ life, Matt threatens to bring a level of comic creation that could be unrivalled. But just in case he doesn’t Chops has taught him the necessary moves to win. Prepare yourselves for high flying porky kung fu when Matt pulls out … the pork chop!

Come along to The Phoenix stand to shout your support & to find out who will be crowned The Phoenix’s Top Banana of Thought Bubble 2012!

Do come along and say hello if you're around! We'll be in Royal Armouries Hall, and you should be able to find us fairly easily by following the sounds of comics-battling zookeeping nonsense! Or look up the details on the Thought Bubble website, I guess.

ALSO: I will have with me a limited stock of Mo-Bot Highs (which I will be sketching in), Christmas Cards, and Banana Banana Banana prints and if you fancied buying any of them, well that would HELP A BROTHER OUT.

See you there!