Top 10 Comics in Comics - No 10 Arthur Askey

In anticipation of the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's long-awaited second comic book "Goes To Hollywood" - buy it now for Christmas (NB that link will work as soon as the comic's ready) - we're looking at the Top Ten comics based on comedians. And at number 10 we find...



How's about that playmates? Courtesy of OopNorth on Youtube, we have an animated version of a strip from a 1954 Radio Fun starring Arthur Askey, number ten in our rundown.

As Lew Stringer tells in his excellent Crikey blog, Big Hearted Arthur appeared in Radio Fun weekly from 1938, being promoted to the front cover by issue 18. He remained a comic strip star, here and also in Chips and Knockout, until Radio Fun amalgamated with Buster in 1961. Radio Fun turned the stars of the day into comic strips, with no official endorsement in most cases, with cover stars including Jewel & Warris, Arthur Askey & Stinker Murdoch, and Norman Wisdom. Stars as diverse as Petula Clark, Jimmy Edwards and Bernard Bresslaw had their own weekly strips.





No 10 - Arthur Askey
No 9 - J******? R**?
No 8 - K*? D**?
No 7 - S*****? C*****?
No 6 - R*? V****?
No 5 - B***? C******?
No 4 - L****? & H***?
No 3 - H***? H**?
No 2 - T*? G*****?
No 1 - ?

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Goes To Hollywood is their second comic book, an 80 page bonanza of comic strip adaptations of some of their best sketches including Star Wars, Casablanca, Robin Hood, A Christmas Carol and many more. As soon as it's ready, click here to order a copy. Their first comic book, Sock, featuring Halloween, Torchwool, Life On Mars, Primarkeval and Romeo & Juliet is still available in print and on Kindle.



SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Oct 5 - Farnham Maltings
Oct 11 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre
Nov 17 - Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester
Nov 30 - Christmas Special, Camden Head, London
Dec 6 - Christmas Special, Ring O'Bells, Bath

Socks Comic 2 on the way - a teaser

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's second comic book - The Socks Go To Hollywood - nudges closer to completion. 80 pages of artwork are drawn and scanned, now they just need completing and printing, and we could have it in the hands of some happy Socks fans in good time for Christmas. Here's a tasty teaser of one almost-complete page from The Western strip...



The new comic book contains the comic strip adaptations of ten of the Socks favourite comic strips including Star Wars, James Bond, Casablanca, Robin Hood and A Christmas Carol. Watch this space for progress reports. It's looking good.



SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Sept 21 - Sacrebleu Cabaret, Streatham
Sept 22 4pm - Nottingham Comedy Festival
Oct 5 - Farnham Maltings
Oct 11 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre
Nov 17 - Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester
Nov 30 - Christmas Special, Camden Head, London
Dec 6 - Christmas Special, Ring O'Bells, Bath

Socks Christmas Special - London Nov 30th

Great news, the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre have added a second Christmas Special show to their itinerary - at The Camden Head, Camden, London on Saturday November 30th. (This is in addition to the already-announced Christmas Special in Bath on Friday December 6th). Both shows will feature some of their finest seasonal material, which rarely gets the chance to be seen live, and undoubtedly some new treats and the best of their recent shows. Here is the no-expense-spared new Christmas promo photo.



Tickets are already on sale for the one-off treat at The Camden Head, and if plans work out, we might add more Christmas Specials if we possibly can, stay tuned.



SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Sept 21 - Sacrebleu Cabaret, Streatham
Sept 22 4pm - Nottingham Comedy Festival
Oct 5 - Farnham Maltings
Oct 11 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre
Nov 17 - Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester
Nov 30 - Christmas Special, Camden Head, London
Dec 6 - Christmas Special, Ring O'Bells, Bath

Socks Christmas Special - Dec 6 Bath

Thanks to the marvellous Nick Steel of the esteemed Bath Comedy Festival, the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre will be performing a Christmas Special on Friday December 6th in Bath. This will feature some of their finest seasonal material, which rarely gets the chance to be seen live, and undoubtedly some new treats and the best of their recent shows. Here is the no-expense-spared new Christmas promo photo.



Tickets are already on sale for the one-off treat at The Ring O'Bells in Bath (home to the Socks' 5-star reviewed Comedy Festival show back in April) and if plans work out, there might be Christmas Special shows taking place elsewhere in the country, stay tuned.



SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

July 31 - Aug 25 - Gilded Balloon, 10.15pm, Edinburgh Fringe
Sept 4 - Belfast Black Box
Sept 5 - Derry Waterside
Sept 21 - Sacrebleu Cabaret, Streatham
Sept 22 4pm - Nottingham Comedy Festival
Oct 5 - Farnham Maltings
Oct 11 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre
Nov 30 - Christmas Special, Camden Head, London
Dec 6 - Christmas Special, Ring O'Bells, Bath

Comic strip Christmas cards - I do those

As you probably know, I've been writing and drawing comic strips for the last (gulp) 25 years, for everyone from Marvel comics and Doctor Who to The Beano. At the humbler, but more approachable, end of the scale, I also produce Christmas cards for corporate clients. If you'd like me to do the same for you, get your orders in by the end of October and you could be in luck. Here are some I made earlier...






Contact Kev F Sutherland, comic genius, for a quote at by email or on 01275 872111 / 07931810858. And, as always, my services as a comic strip creator, historian, consultant and teacher remain at your disposal.

Beano art going to a good cause

When doing my Comic Art Masterclasses I like, if there's time, to fill the flipchart with a nice big drawing, if only it prove that I can. Here's the one I produced at one of my recent classes at Beanotown at the Southbank Centre (don't look for it, it's not there any more):



My Desperate Dan's come out a bit angry hasn't he? (I don't draw him as often as the rest, but it was a treat to resurrect the characters I've put into some of my favourite stories, including my version of Roger The Dodger, who I've always seen as the archetypal entrepreneur, and my Bash St Kids who include, as per Leo Baxendale's original line-up, the be-quiffed and leather-jacketed Elvis).

And I'm delighted to report that this flipchart page has gone to a good cause. Courtesy of one of the parents who was in attendance at the event, this page will be auctioned at a forthcoming event for the family support charity Home-Start Richmond. Glad it's gone to a good home.

As ever, my Comic Art Masterclass is available to come to your school, library, art centre or group, wherever you may be (in the coming months I'm going to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, all from my starting point near Bristol, so distance doesn't appear to be an object). By the end of a morning or afternoon, everyone in the class goes away with a comic containing a strip by each of them and an individual caricature by me, and they're learned how to do everything I do for a living so they can grow up, leave school and steal my job. Get in touch to find out more. Tweet @KevFComicArtist, find me on Facebook, or why not try emailing me? Details at comicfestival.co.uk

The Dog Did It - comics by kids in Edinburgh masterclasses Aug 2013

Diary of a jobbing.. whatever it is I do.

(Thanks to Marie Baer at the BBC for these photos, of which there are more on Facebook, of the Socks performing in the BBC's pink tent at Edinburgh)

It's a fair indication of my level of busy-ness that I've hardly written a blog post this month. Sometimes I'll have time to kill (or think, maybe that's a better way of putting it), and sometimes I'll have spleen I want to vent (though even this year in Edinburgh I had fewer reasons to get on my soapbox than in previous years).

This month I've been busy, doing a little bit of pretty much everything on my CV, which is delightful.



Most excitingly, I've been working for The Beano for the first time in ages. Back at the peak of my Beano output, it was making up about a third of my income, but a couple of editors ago they changed what they were using, and my style of long stories disappeared for a while. Then back in July I was brought in to do comic art masterclasses at Beanotown, of which I did a couple more last weekend, and I've been representing The Beano doing caricatures in Dr Martens stores and, yesterday, in The Entertainer toy shop in Kingston. And now I'm back in the comic itself, writing last week my first Bananaman scripts, and this past week my first Biffo The Bears. I've not got a drawing commission yet, but let's see how things go.

I have completed one drawing commission this month, producing all the illustration for the second volume of Laurence Smith's business book Strategies, which is a treat to do, And I've pencilled and half-inked the 12 pictures that will make up the Socks' 2014 calendar, which is going to look great again, you'll be pleased.

The comic art classes have started their new season, with two days in Beanotown followed by two days at Monks Abbey In Lincoln; and the Socks have got back into their stride with two shows in Belfast and Derry followed by comedy show slots at The Mill at Rode and, last night (after a day at The Entertainer in Kingston) at Bryanston School in Blandford Forum in Dorset.

And though that's left a few days in my studio, it's meant the last 10 days has so far been characterised by travel. Allow me to measure the mileage between Clevedon and Belfast, Derry, The South Bank, Kibworth, Lincoln, Rode, Kingston, Blandford Forum and home... nope, can't be arsed.

Coming up, the Socks play Braintree (if, and keep this to yourself, if we sell enough tickets by Monday, stay tuned) then Nottingham then the world's our oyster.



SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Sept 21 - Braintree Arts Theatre
Sept 22 4pm - Nottingham Comedy Festival
Oct 5 - Farnham Maltings
Oct 11 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre