Broadchurch - brand new video from the Socks

If I'm not mistaken, the Socks have taken this long to make their first new comedy video of 2015. Well, they hope you like it. They've done Broadchurch, in particular series 2. Do please enjoy it, and RT or otherwise spread the word if you please.

This follows the theme of their new crime show, the title of which we haven't announced yet, but we're releasing the Top 10 rejected titles here on the blog.  We've already seen Brighton Sock, The 39 Insteps, Good Smellas, Lock Sock and Two Smoking Barrels, Chinatoon and The Big Slipper.  We've had lots of great fan suggestions on Facebook, Twitter and summed up here on the blog.

Keep the guesses coming and enjoy the videos.

Coming soon, announcement of the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's new show for 2015. Stay tuned....

Socks Crime Reject No 5 - The Big Slipper

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's brand new show, for the Edinburgh Fringe 2015 (and then the world) is on the subject of crime, thrillers, murder mysteries, spies and more crime. But what to call it? They have finally chosen a title, but not before they'd rejected ten good runners up. What were those you ask?

Rejected title Number 5 - The Big Slipper. (We didn't say these were all great titles. That's largely why they're the rejects. Bear with us, better to come)



We've already seen Brighton Sock, The 39 Insteps, Good Smellas, Lock Sock and Two Smoking Barrels and Chinatoon. And you'll find dozens of fan suggestions here from Facebook, one of which hits the nail on the head, but we're not telling you which.

And how's this for a stellar suggestion? Only Britain's top crime writer suggesting a title for us! And here are some more titles that are close but no cigar:

Dino Goldie ‏@dinogoldie Prime Suspender, A snitch in crime saves time, Cheesy blinders, Wollandar, Dixons of Sock Green? 

Simon Beckett ‏@LordSiBorg The Sockford Files 

Matthew Rees ‏@reesmf A Sock in Scarlet, Socks and Crosses, A Sock in the Night, The Maltese Sock, Enter The Sock (and all the other Saint titles)

Craig Naples ‏@crgn M&S Confidential?

So what title have the Socks chosen? Stay tuned...

Signed Michael Bentine Potty Encyclopedia on eBay

I don't often put things on eBay, but if they all turned as big a profit as this book I could be tempted to do it more often.

Last weekend when Heather and I were away at a dinner party near Reading, we stayed over in Aldermaston then went into High Wycombe on the Sunday. Which is where I found, in a charity bookshop, a signed copy of Michael Bentine's Potty Encyclopedia, from 1985.

I was a Potty Time fan as a kid, but had long grown out of it by the time this book came out, and I bought it purely because of the signature inside and the thought that it might be worth more than the 99p I paid for it. And, as it turns out, it was. And, for the record, it's quite a fun silly read too, full of the sort of gags I rather make my living out of with the Socks.

At time of writing it's going for a little over thirty quid. Stay tuned for gripping updates.

Socks Crime Reject bonus - Lock Sock & Two Smoking Barrels

In the course of coming up with the title for their new crime-based show, the Scottish Falsetto Socks rejected many titles, 10 of which we're running down every day in this blog. We're inviting your suggestions for titles we may have rejected and, even though this one wasn't on our list, it's proven to be the most suggested fan title, even being suggested by Ian Rankin himself. So we felt we had to honour it with an illustration.

We've already seen Brighton Sock, The 39 Insteps, Good Smellas, and Chinatoon.  Your suggestions can be found on Facebook, Twitter and summed up here on the blog. Keep guessing folks.

Socks Crime Rejected title 4 - Chinatoon

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's brand new show, for the Edinburgh Fringe 2015 (and then the world) is on the subject of crime, thrillers, murder mysteries, spies and more crime. But what to call it? They've chosen a title, but not before they'd rejected ten good runners up. What were those you ask?

Rejected title Number 4 - Chinatoon.

(See also Brighton Sock, The 39 Insteps, Good Smellas - and dozens of fan suggestions here on Facebook, one of which hits the nail on the head, but we're not telling you which).



Meanwhile on Twitter, amongst a good few contributions, we've had our most star-studded suggestion so far. Only Ian Rankin, no less!

Ian Rankin ‏@Beathhigh Sock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels?

...although that had earlier come from  

Matthew Rees ‏@reesmf  Lock, Sock and Two Smoking Barrels?   

and  

Scott Tucker ‏@s77tux  Hmm… in that case, how about "Lock, Sock & Two Smoking Barrels"?!

Roland Moore ‏@RolandMooreTV Prime Sockspet?

Craig Naples ‏@crgn Dial S for Socks? Pump Friction? 21 Jump Feet?

Shaun Clarkson ‏@ShaunJClarkson  Shersock Holmes?

Scott Tucker ‏@s77tux  The Usual Sockspects?

Keep guessing folks, it's fun.

So what title have they chosen? Stay tuned...

Miracle Banana - Slight Return

I am indebted to Bananaman writer Cavan Scott for alerting me to, and indeed carrying out, this small homage to one of my characters. He's only been and gone and snuck Miracle Banana into this week's Bananaman story, drawn as always by Wayne Thompson.

In his own homage to Mr Benn, which goes on to spoof Iron Man and the superhero genre, we see not only Miracle Banana's costume (itself a parody of Miracle Man / Marvel Man, as introduced in the strip last year) but also John Geering and Steve Bright's original "black face" Bananaman costume from 1980 and Bat Banana, about whom I must read more.

Can you spot the tell-tale clue that I was an uncredited inker on this Ghost Rider 2099 spread?

The inclusion of background gags has long been one of my favourite features of comics, and something that artists have done since long before I grew up reading Leo Baxendale strips (which were full of them - see anything from When The Bell Rings and Wham to The Swots & The Blots and Willie The Kid). My two favourite background scribblers as a teenager were Harry North, in his On The Buses and Doctor At Large strips in Look-In, and Terry Austin, the Marvel superhero inker who began his career sneaking his name into the background of pages ostensibly inked by Dick Giordano who he was assisting (look out for the name Austin on trucks and shopfronts in the Superman v Spider-Man Treasury Edition from 1976, and lots of hidden pictures of Popeye).

Long may the subtle background gag continue. and long may I continue to be one. (I was referring to my cameo in the Wedding strip last year, and nothing else!)

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing Bananaman in The Beano, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. View the new promo video here.

Socks Crime Rejected title 3 - GoodSmellas

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's brand new show, for the Edinburgh Fringe 2015 (and then the world) is on the subject of crime, thrillers, murder mysteries, spies and more crime. But what to call it? They have finally chosen a title, but not before they'd rejected ten good runners up. What were those you ask?

Rejected title Number 3 - GoodSmellas.



(See also Brighton Sock and The 39 Insteps). And there have been some fantastic suggestions on Facebook:

Jason Manly The Maltese Sock? Farewell My Socky? The Shoe-sual Suspects? 10 Little Socks? I, The Sock? 12 Angry Socks?
 
 Lewis Cook I think its the Sockford Files

Peter Crocker Reservoir Socks. Darned & Dangerous. CSI:Crap Sock Investigators. Dixon of Sock Green. Z-Socks. The Sockford Files. The Minging Detective. NYPD Socks. Walking the Dead. Sockly Sockly Taskforce.

Tim Read Toe-tal Recall; The Hurt Socker;

Tim Read Or how about - The Sockth Sense?

Peter Clack Inspector Moss-Stitch....

Tim Read Socks - Degrees of Separation ?
  
Alan Woollcombe Free Socky? That Darned Cat? No Country For Old Socks? Some Like It Knitted? Goodknittas? Lock, Sock and Two Smoking Barrels? Bonnie and Crosspatterned? The Day The Wool Caught Fire?

Graham Exton Everything You Wanted to Know About Socks (But Were Afraid to Ask) ... crime.

Tim Bateman Oh, any novel or story by Cornell Woolrich.

Alan Woollcombe The Ladyknittters. Or Knit Knit Bang Bang.
    
Jason Manly The Sock Who Loved Me? Socks on a Train? Sockal Attraction? From Russia with Socks? Murder on the Sock Express? They Do it with Socks?

Tim Read Sockholm Syndrome - OK, you've had enough now 

So what title have they chosen? Stay tuned...

NB: Someone, in the posts above, has hit the nail on the head. But who...?