Tozo: the LiveJournal

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10:55 am - Jean “Moebius” Giraud

I’ve had a few moments of epiphany in comics, and one of them was when I discovered the artist Moebius, who died at the weekend. There’s never been anyone with his vision; I’ve sometimes (whimsically) even thought his art was evidence that there was extra-terrestrial life, as his imagination was never earth-bound and far out of reach of anyone on this planet.

If anyone says “there’s no such thing as a new idea”, tell them: look at the work of Moebius.

11:55 am - 227-229

11:03 am - Paper Science 7

I should have posted about this a while ago: Paper Science 7 is out now, and I’m delighted to have been asked back to contribute a comic for it. I love the newsprint format for comics and PS has been a particularly impressive example. I talk a bit more about it in a short interview with editor Matt Sheret that was published on the Forbidden Planet blog, and there are further interviews with contributors Marc Ellerby, Josceline Fenton, Philippa Rice and His Majesty the King of Things.

All the editions of Paper Science can be bought from here, or at good comic shops. Very much recommended.

11:29 am - Large calamari to go, please…

I haven’t updated here in ages… um, happy New Year?

The above pic was an updated version of a squid-monster-attacks-city scene I drew several years ago but which has always been popular seller as a print at comic conventions. I’ve been giving my portfolio an upgrade (a work-in-progress, as these things tend to be) so I decided to redraw it using the style that I’ve developed since the original was created. You can’t go wrong with squid monsters.

What else am I up to? Here’s the current “to do” list (in no particular order):

• pitching a children’s chapter book I’ve written to various publishers;


• pitching a whole bunch of other ideas to my agent for other books. I’ll be posting sketches and what-not here;


• continue working on a book collaboration with Sarah McIntyre which has been bumping around for a while;


• assisting the aforementioned Ms McIntyre in the curation of a kids’ comics festival as part of Pop Up! With Sarah at the helm, I’m sure it will be amazing. Keep the weekend of the 30th May free! Sarah blogs about it here;


• editing the next issue of ink+PAPER. It’s due out in June and has an absolutely amazing line-up. There are still some issues of #1 for sale here.


• working on the committee for Caption, the Oxford comics festival. This year it will take place on the weekend of the 21st July;


• working on a comic collaboration with Tanya Meditzky. I love Tanya’s sense of humour – check out her work in the Comix Reader and the Strumpet;


• a strip for a new anthology by the industrious gents of Accent UK;


• I’ve been thinking about setting up an online archive for people to donate their out-of-print/retired minicomics and zines, allowing them to be downloaded for free. I’m getting some costs/ideas together for that;


• finishing off the first arc of my webcomic Tozo and collecting it into a single bumper printed edition. I’m probably going to take a year off Tozo after that – it’s been five years and I think I’d benefit from a break;


• collecting my Queen Mum comics into… um, a collection;


• resurrecting a half-finished children’s novel and completing it;


• re-jigging this website;


• doing more portfolio stuff;


• and blogging about everything in more detail than this!

Plus redecorate the flat, redesign the garden, etc, etczzzzzzzzzzzzz. That will do for now, perhaps?

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