My comic strip review of 2014

And here, in its illustrated glory, is my comic strip review of 2014, which I present now for your pleasure.



It's always a challenge to produce one of these before the year is out, I think it sums up the year quite nicely. Should anyone be interested, here are my similarly styled reviews of...

2013
2012
2011
2010

-->

	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
School days	120	97	82	124	109
Flights (return)	14	18	12	23	?
Socks shows	71	76	110	64	?
Caric gigs	8	20	8	13	?
Nights away	79	74	123	?	?
Socks vids	37	55	81	36	?

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. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something.

My Top 10 Bananaman stories of 2014

In 2014 I had more stuff published in The Beano than for the last five years, and loved it. As well as my Pansy Potter strips, which I wrote and drew, and my occasional scripts for Dennis The Menace, Little Plum and Biffo The Bear, my favourite work has been my Bananaman stories, all drawn by the brilliant Wayne Thompson (who I finally got to meet in September). With each published story comes a small tale, usually of the material that hit the cutting room floor or some hidden detail you might not at first spot, so here are my ten favourites. (Click on the images to take you to the page with more details on that strip).

10 - Teddy Bear.

I wrote a record number of bear puns for this strip. Even I'm proud of them. Issi Noho hit the cutting room floor. I bet I'm the only one who'd have got it if it hadn't.

9 - Orson Welles War Of The Worlds. 

Featuring Spa-Foon of the Squa-Trontians (see below), my War Or The Worlds script was edited down so that Orson Welles and his radio theatre characters hit the cutting room floor. That the end result was still excellent without them is a testament to Wayne.

8 - Wedding Dress.

I like this one, if only because I make a cameo in person, Wayne depicting me as a wedding caricaturist (a job which I genuinely do, available for parties, very competitive rates, do please get in touch).

7 - Dr Octopus and Dr Strange.

No point pretending that's not who they are, cos it very clearly is. It changed a lot in the dialogue editing (pretty well every bubble is different from the words I wrote, including the names) but it's fun, if only to see my name hanging off Doctor Strange's pants. I used to work on Doctor Strange for Marvel in the late 90s, so that's why I had to get him in there.

6 - The Armed Robber.

Or, as any comics historian will recognise, Plastic Man. That likeness was Wayne's doing, I have to say, this being one of the rare instances of me delivering a typed script rather than a biro layout version. Contains my favourite line of the year - "Unexpected Item In Your Face!"

5 - The Bell Of Doom.

Featuring a cameo by Ken Reid's Jonah, and in-joke references to EC Comics horror stories, The Bell Of Doom was the first of my scripts to be drawn "old style", when Wayne was made to drop his own unique animation style of cartoon action figures and, instead, to "ghost" the style of the 1980s Bananaman strip, as drawn by John Geering. I felt the stories lost a lot of visual appeal once this happened, but I have found that schoolkids prefer this old-school look, so what do I know? I think this story has the most satisfying plot of this year's batch.

4 - Vom Monster. 

My first, my biggest, and one of my best, Vom Monster is a four pager running in the 2015 annual. And sadly, given that it's the one that readers will have in their collections for years to come, it doesn't have my name on it. (I also wrote the Smoothie and Dilemma Bananaman strips in the annual, fact fans)

3 - Robot Archie.

Obviously he's not supposed to be Robot Archie, he's supposed to be Apple Man in a robot body, but I know it's Robot Archie, you know it's Robot Archie, and it was at the heart of the 6 page romance story I wrote, spread across three issues, featuring the bizarre love triangle of a Kiwi Fruit, a Banana, and an Apple-based trio of superheroes, so it's way up there in my favourites of the year.

2 - Spa-Foon of the Squa-Trontians. 



Starring in a number of my Bananaman stories is an alien leader and his crew who, unfortunately, look a bit like the aliens in the Simpsons, which was down to my laziness as much as anything. I was so busy giving them personalities, I forgot to design them. For their last couple of appearances Wayne was made to redesign them, for that very Simpson-like reason. They were the stars of a couple of episodes in which Eric didn't change into Bananaman at any point in the strip, which I find very satisfying when I manage to pull it off. Creepy Pasta and Annihilation (originally Genocide) are my two favourites.

1 - Miracle Banana.

A satire on Miracle Man and Captain Marvel, it features Captain Banana from the 1940s, and his team of Super Lawyers, and ends with a spoof of Todd McFarlane. I'm not expecting any child who read it to get any of those references, but I'm chuffed that they made it in there. Miracle Banana returned in my Cole Porter filled superhero pub story, of which I am also inordinately proud, revealing his alter ego of Billy Batson, for good satirical measure.

So those are my favourites from this year's Bananaman scripts that saw publication, though a special mention should go to BM vs Thor and BM meets Stephen Hawking, which never saw print. And there a couple more sitting gathering dust here which you might get to see in the new year, if you're very lucky. Do stay tuned.



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. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something.

Socks Fringe Interview - found online

Well here's a lost treat I'd forgotten about from earlier this year. The Socks, and myself, were interviewed by Paul Levy of Fringe Interview and ended up having a 25 minute chat about all matters theatrical and comedic. I failed to find this at the time, then once Edinburgh was over, forgot to look for it. So here it is, in its entirety.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Conan Returns

Buried for nearly a decade, a Cimmerian warrior from the mists of time has been unearthed and brought to the surface. Rescued from the hidden depths he emerges to face again the world that shunned him. This Christmas - Conan Returns.

In the summer of 1978, aged 16, I painted a mural on my bedroom wall, in Kibworth in Leicestershire. It is a picture of Conan the Barbarian, from a drawing by Barry Smith in the legendary Marvel comic series that he worked on from 1970 to 72, and that I read in black and white reprint comics. For a year or more it was purely a black and white line drawing on my bedroom wall until, unwisely, I tried adding colour using translucent inks which, luckily, have faded over the years. The black lines, in blackboard paint, have survived intact.


8mm time lapse footage from 1978 of me painting the Conan mural

Not long after drawing the Conan mural, I left for art college and, apart from a short stint four years later, this was no longer my bedroom for another more than an overnight stay or a Christmas visit (I've slept here for a week at a time, since, when doing the Leicester Comedy Festival. That would be the longest). And Conan stayed up there, to the amusement of friends and visitors over the decades. There are two other murals that survive in the house, a painting based on a 1920s Vogue cover in the downstairs bathroom, and Persephone, based on an art nouveau statuette, in the back bedroom (though her legs are now covered by a radiator, that wasn't there originally).

Then came my nieces, Shona followed by Kirsty, and when they would come to visit with their mum, my sister, this would be their bedroom. It only takes one traumatic incident of waking up, aged two, to see that scary looking face staring down at you, to make everyone realise that a picture of a naked man with an axe ranks high among the least appropriate thing to have on the wall of a small child's bedroom.

So it was that, about nine years ago, Conan got covered up. Sheets of art paper have been drawing-pinned over him, augmented with posters and kids paintings, ever since.

Until, on Christmas Day 2014, with Shona, Kirsty and family in tow, they decided that, at 13 and 11 respectively, they were old enough to sleep in that room as it used to look. So down came the paper and out came the long haired hero of Hyperborea.

And, reader, I can report that, the following morning, there had been no nightmares. Phew.

The family unveil Conan, December 25th 2014

Mum's Christmas Party

I've been to a marvellous party.... I couldn't have liked it more. (You'll have to see Noel Coward for the rest of the lyrics)

Mum threw a party on Christmas Eve and it was quite the event. It's definitely the biggest party the house has seen since Dad died (Christmas 2010), before which Mum and Dad were the legendary party throwers of the village.

 

It may, indeed, be the biggest houseful the place has had since the heyday of their Hogmanays, which were my introduction into party throwing, and a benchmark which I've tried to reach ever since. The Sutherland Hogmanay admitted no guests until midnight, the first of whom had to bring a lump of coal and a bottle of whisky, after which everyone else rolled up and the house would accommodate up to 80 people, and the party would go on till 6 or 7 in the morning. (I learned this week that they would mostly be coming directly from the Golf Club's Christmas do, which would turn them out at midnight, so my first experience of a grown up party was in fact an After Party).

This Christmas Eve party, by contrast, was an afternoon event, arranged to accommodate our guests and Mum's. And in practice hers far exceeded ours, we being only able to lay claim to three people and a baby (Remy & Liz brought 7 week old Isaac, while Alan was the only member of the Seaman clan able to make it over). The party was originally our idea, but Mum embraced it and made it her own, inviting friends and neighbours galore. It really was a treat to be part of.

Jude, Doug and the kids arrived as the party was in mid swing, and it was perfectly times to wind down in time for tea and for us settling into a Christmas Eve night with the family. And beyond that there's really not much to report, other than I'm so pleased my childhood home's officially a party house again, and that I hope this'll be repeated in the not too distant future. (More photos to be found on Facebook).

Keyhole Kate: Safecracker - an unseen exclusive

Earlier this year I had a stab at writing Keyhole Kate for The Beano. On balance they were probably looking for something a bit, er, well not like this. I liked it.

See also: Biffo The Bear - Rise Of The Machines
Bananaman vs Stephen Hawking
Pansy Notter
Bananaman vs Thor



Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing Pansy Potter in The Beano, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something. 

Comics by schoolkids - the best of the year

That's right Dennis, you give us a drumroll as we have a look at a tiny selection of the comics I've produced with kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses in 2014.

I have done an astounding 120 days working in schools, libraries and art centres delivering my Comic Art Masterclasses to kids, and occasionally families. Usually I do two classes in a day, working with up to 30 pupils at a time, by the end of which they go away with an A5 photocopied comic containing a strip by every single one of them and an individual caricature by me, and they've learned how easy it is to write and draw comics for fun. Increasingly I'm finding my class begins with them learning what a comic is (fewer and fewer pupils have ever seen or read a comic in their life).

So, of the 240-odd comics that have churned out of photocopiers across the country this year, which have been of note? Let's start at the beginning of the year.

Floating Cactus Of Doom. This selection includes examples of me working at Carrongrange, a school in Falkirk for pupils which special needs, with actual grown up art students in Cardiff, and with my usual range of primary and early secondary school kids, from Devon to Birmingham. The year's excessive travel started as it meant to go on. FCOD itself was then used by schools in Cumbria as a story-writing challenge, the winners of which got me for a visit later in the year.

We Was Chased By The Moon. Among this selection we see a rare cover full of Beano characters. The first half of the year saw me writing and drawing more for The Beano than I had done for some years, with my weekly Bananaman scripts being some of the favourite stuff I've done in ages. Here I've captured Jamie Smart's Roger The Dodger, which was easily my favourite strip in the comic. So naturally he got sacked a month later.

The Curse Of The Singing Go Compare Man. Contender for title of the year there, and in the same montage we see a rare example of me drawing Bananaman on a cover. I was very  full of my Bananaman stories at this time and was determined the kids would remember them too. Whether they did I will never know. Also around this time we had the Bob & Dave's Adventures collection.

The Marshmallow That Suffocated A Bee and The Search For Ghandibraham Lincoln, two pretty memorable titles from an impressive selection. Cannibal Woman was suggested by pupils in Glasgow, enabling me to dig out the "I cannibalieve it" gag first heard in Lobey Dosser's newspaper strip in the late 1940s.

Psycho Bunnies and Pizza - the French comics. I spent a week in April teaching English speaking kids in Colomiers, near Toulouse, how to draw comics. Despite being in the home of the bandes dessinees - where the art centre has a whole floor devoted to them - these kids were no more familiar with the art form than their contemporaries back home. But I soon clued them in, and they produced some good ones. With a preponderence of junk food references, as you can see. Also at this time we had collections including The Twerking Geek, and the inexplicable PLFghiilOZX YJAKmmrh SPJEAC.

OMG It's A Unicorn and Sam's The Man Who Killed Crazy Dozy Then Changed Into A Cow. The latter wins the prize for longest title of the year (I can imagine a psychedelic album from 1969 with that title) and the rest of the batch is pretty zeitgeisty. We see Pansy Potter, who I'd just started drawing for The Beano, and Keyhole Kate, who I'd written but had rejected. Miley Cyrus, hamsters and unicorns being amongst the most popular things with kids these days. See also Soggy Chicken Riding On The Back Of A Dead Pig.

Gorgeous Granny & The Gruesome Grape sees quite the range of ideas kids will surprise you with. Marshmallows are popular, you might have noticed. Old mens' trousers falling down, thankfully less so. Also at this time: Sushimi Tastes Like Books, and Dubbel Trubbel.

Help! My Mum Is A Cyclops is part of a nifty selection, from the posh year 7 boys who came up with Banterbury Tales (is there a word more middle class and laddish than "banter"?) to Macka Packa Boo Boo, a title guaranteed to get a laugh when shown to any primary school class anywhere anytime. See also O! Poopy Poopy Dippy Doo!

Captain Cute Does A Boom Boom. Another title guaranteed to get a laugh from the kids, from a collection where I've tried to vary the artwork slightly. More success with the snake than the alpaca I'd say. Also at this time: Black Exorcist.

Never Touch Another Girl's Weave. These comics are from older and more urban kids than most of my classes, and they demonstrate a lot of things year 8s and 9s come up with. We'll have rejected a lot of LOLs and YOLOs, and I Don't Knows and Your Mums, to come up with these. Action Man Gets Some Action? Sigh. Also at this time: Pick Up This Comic Or I Will Bomb Your House and Mum There's A Zombie Apocalypse (worth checking out for one of this year's more glaring spelling mistakes).

Ow! A Cobra Bit My Bum. The autumn term began with some crowd pleasers. At time of writing I have still not seen Frozen, so had no idea who "Oluv" was supposed to be when it was suggested (it's Olaf, I believe). Also at this time, Elvis Ate My Homework, and Mr Smarty Pants.

Giant Flaming Rainbow Beaver and the unforgettable Bort Hat Chubuw Iteus, the latter being a thing that happens with Year 3 classes: the poor kid has done his or her best to write down the idea in their head, and it uses words they have no idea how to spell. In instances like this, the pupil will never, but never, recognise their handwriting or be able to tell you what they meant to write. And, invariably, the rest of the class find this random suggestion to be the funniest thing ever. Also at this time we have Machine Gun Monkey.

When Cheesestrings Rule The World and the rest are the fruits of a week at just one primary school in Thackley near Bradford. All human life is here, from this year's most popular kids TV show, Adventure Time, via a year 3's undecipherable suggestion - But Simson Resi Dasey Uck Ever A Invincible Ha Ha Ha - to two comics name-dropping their teachers, which is sweet. Also at this time: How To Train Your Pumpkin (featuring Renee Zellweger losing her face).

Adventures Of The World That Nobody Thought Was Real. From my first visit to Dublin this year, we have a Minecraft themed comic (MC is the enemy of comics, being made entirely out of simple rectangles which, when they're not moving, don't look like anything on earth. But somehow we made it work), to the first drugs reference of the year (it was originally Tupac Has An E), and the title that nearly started a fight (it was initially The Adventures Of Lee & Charli, before I tweaked it to steer it clear of cyber bullying. Yes they were year 8s and 9s, how could you tell?). Also at this time, the much more innocent Faththth.

Suddenly Pineapples. As the year has progressed, I've had all the more fun adding a touch of colour to these covers. The kids are only taking home a black and white item, but I've found it easy and restful to just slap a bit of something on to liven them up at the end of a week. If I remember to email these back to the school, all the better.

Captain Irish and 6 Nuns Fight A Fiery Inferno - the Ireland collection. Quite possibly my favourite montage of the year, covering every cliche from unicorns to "yer mam", with originality galore, and the chance for me to lavish more detail on the covers, stuck as I was in various hotels from Dungarvan to Naas for a week.

Fancy Girls Loving Boys, a delightful selection, mostly from the valleys of South Wales. I've been pleased with the quality of cover design I've been able to rattle off, given the few minutes available to me during a class. So it's always frustrating when I end up with one I wish I could start again because it just isn't working. Eg I'm Not Bossy I Just have Better Ideas.

Killer Clown. The final collection of the year, and one of my favourite covers. I've also managed to squeeze in a drawing of Samson, who I've adapted as a short strip for Bible Society this year. I also love the title The Story Of Story Story Story Story, which is the sort of genius idea only kids can come up with. I look forward to them coming up with even more in 2015. And, you never know, I might come up with a few myself.



Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing Pansy Potter, Bananaman, Biffo The Bear et al in The Beano, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something.  

My Top 10 TV Shows of 2014

(above) A TV set in an Ibis hotel, this year. That would be the worst TV picture of the year. Now what's the best?

As I've noted many times before, I watch a lot of telly. And I don't think I should be ashamed of it. I always have done and, for as long as it's out there, I hope I'll continue to.

2014 was the year when we got a Tivo box for our  Virgin Media cable which meant, on the plus side, we can watch Youtube clips on the big screen (pairing the laptop, or the phone, to Youtube and lining up clips is a fun revelation and has enabled Hev and I to enjoy things together that I'd formerly been watching on my own). These have included whole episodes of old TV series - most notably Colin's Sandwich from 1988, which stands the test of time so well it very nearly made this year's Top Ten.

The downside of the Tivo box, apart from the cost, is that the TV Choice menu is a lot harder to navigate, with an alphabetical listing which is next to useless compared to its predecessor, and all BBC shows coming via iPlayer, which buffers something rotten. Some shows have been impossible to watch because of the buffering. We've also lost, or been dissauded from looking for, the previously excellent On Demand "We Are Watching" collection which has, in recent years, led to us discovering The Booth At The End and Party Down, as well as box sets of such classics as The Thick Of It and Doctor Who. If hidden gems like that are still out there, Virgin have managed to hide them better than ever thanks to their hamfisted design. Boo.

So, on the actual telly, what were my favourites of 2014? Well, there's an awful lot to chose from. Bubbling Under the top ten. Honourable mentions go to:

Only Connect (always good, though now it's on BBC2, what is poor old BBC4 left with?)
Mad Men (we remain faithful, but this series has continued to go off the boil)
The Walking Dead (see Mad Men)
Alias Smith & Jones (from 1972, and neither of us had seen it since, until ITV4 started running it at teatime. Great fun)
Our Zoo (if only because it's become a pet phrase in our house. The result of a misunderstanding, "our zoo?" now means "how are you?" Oh we laughed so much the first time. Shut up.)
The Daily Show (we never miss an episode, it remains the best satire of the 21st century)
Bad Education (final series was very good)
Wonderful (showing the BBC can still do biopics)
Sherlock (which I include because I happened to see an episode on French TV and was delighted to see all the captions and floating text are translated as well as the show being dubbed. A well made bit of international telly sales)
The Mindy Project (see Mad Men. Some good episodes, but most patchy. And why so many men in the cast?)
The Office (sad to see it go, but the final season Jumped The Shark throughout. A miserable end to a great show)
Remember Me (a good ghost story with a puzzling ending)
W1A (cool, not a problem, yeah, so that's all good)
Grayson Perry - Who Are You (most memorable arts programme of the year, lots of which stayed with you)
The Apprentice (a very watchable year. "It's a world as big as our oyster!")
My Mad Fat Diary (series 2 as good as series 1)

The Top Ten (or, very cheatily, a Top 16)

10 = The Missing / Line Of Duty / Happy Valley

The three best (British) crime stories (that we watched). Happy Valley went on an episode too long, Line Of Duty had a rubbish ending, but all three were gripping, and full of excellent writing, strong acting, and original direction. The Missing's twist endings (eg "they're on a luxury yacht" and "the creepy man in the playground in Russia") caught me out big time, and the car chase in the middle episode was the best TV car chase I can remember seeing. I still don't know how it was done.



9 = Top Of The Pops 1979 / It Was Alright in the 1970s

We're watching my teenage years replayed before my eyes. And, when it's not full of truly dreadful music like Lena Martell and The Dooleys (and there was a lot of that about), and when they're not missing episodes out because of Savile and DLT (and how long will we continue showing Cliff episodes I wonder?), this has been such an exciting reminder of some of the favourte music of my life. The Police, Boomtown Rats, Elvis Costello, Gary Numan, M, Quantum Jump, Madness, Thin Lizzy, Squeeze, The Specials, XTC, Blondie, and so many novelty records, one hit wonders and forgotten gems it really is a treat. Oh and Channel 4 did two programmes that were the cringiest viewing of the year. A good reminder that now is actually better than then, despite the whole "being old" thing.

8 = Cilla / Lost Innocence Of Christopher Jeffries

ITV has taken over the role of chief biopic producer, which used to be BBC4's job, and these two were the best. Christopher Jeffries was played by Jason Watkins channeling Paul Foot and competes for BAFTA winning actor of the year with Sheridan Smith, whose Cilla was an uncanny lookalike, and an astonishing soundalike. There's an album. The writing of both of these avoided the usual biopic cliches, with LIOCJ underplaying all sensationalism to great effect, and Cilla concentrating on the stories of Bobby Willis and Brian Epstein as much as on Cilla herself. It painted a convincing picture of a 1962 that contrasted markedly with the present, both in the look and feel of the place, and also peoples expectations.  In many ways, these two plays together tell the story of how Britain has changed in the last 50 years.

7 = Friday Night Dinner / Rev / Moone Boy

A very good year for comedy, with these standing out from an impressive crowd. Rev's final episodes are right up there with Blackadder for crossing the divide between funny and profound. Moone Boy remains the best comedy to come from Ireland this century. And Friday Night Dinner is a sitcom you can watch over and over again, as we do. This year's most quotable show, from "Nice bit of squirrel" to "Hello Bambinos".

6  Inside Number 9

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's first three episodes of this series were astoundingly good comedy writing.  Unpredictable, perfectly executed, and eminently rewatchable, they are a masterclass of comedy writing, thriller writing, and just plain original writing. They deserve every prize that, you just know, someone else will get instead. (See also Psychoville and League Of Gentlemen, excellent and robbed every time).



5  Brooklyn Nine Nine

When this won all the American TV awards last year I was wary of it, expecting something cheesy and downmarket. And what did we get? Only the best written and best performed fastest moving US sitcom since The Office was good. Best casting for years.

4  Doctor Who

Not only have we just enjoyed the most consistent and impressive new series of Doctor Who since 2008, rehabilitating Steven Moffat in so many peoples eyes (after the indulgent mess that the recent series had been), but the show has been scattered around various other channels, and I even got to see some lost episodes for the first time. Unlike last year when, with the 50th anniversary, I felt a bit force-fed my Doctor Who, this year I feel like I've discovered it for myself. I've enjoyed The Enemy Of The World on DVD, Battlefield on Drama, Pyramids Of Mars on Horror, The Crimson Horror on BBC3 and Paul McGann stories on Radio4Extra. But best of all has been the new stuff. (My favourites? Mummy On The Orient Express, Black Water/Death In Heaven and Flatline. Listen was just OK).

3  Fargo

Unlike the other cop dramas, who've started intense and gripping, this was in danger of feeling a little loose and possibly losing our attention when it began. But once it kicked in, and Billy Bob Thornton's character became as engrossing and mysterious as he became, we ended up with a serial unlike anything else. Best shootout in a snowstorm? Best role given to Martin Freeman this year? Storyline most full of Biblical references and arcane subtexts? Fargo had them all. Excellent.



2  Breaking Bad (series 4 & 5)

This time last year we had managed to watch three series of Breaking Bad in a month, and finished watching the lot by February. And even though series 5 wasn't quite as good as its predecessor, and even though AMC milked every last penny by spreading series 5 over two discs in an underhand and exploitative manner, Breaking Bad casts a shadow over every TV series we watched after it. We started rewatching the whole thing after we'd finished it, because we were experiencing withdrawal symptoms (though got too busy for such nonsense after a few episodes). BB remains the most addictive TV show I can remember ever seeing. In a few years I'll enjoy watching the whole lot again.

1  Plebs

Our favourite show. There may be only 6 episodes, but every one is a gem and rewards further viewings. Binnie's Song is sung regularly in our house, and it's not unusual to greet each other with a "Salve Grumio" and an "Alright Landlord". If only every comedy could be as good as this.

For the record, here are my Telly Faves from 2013, 2011 and 2009 (I miss out even years, I have no idea why)

UPDATE: This list was assembled too early to include some of the great TV that's been on over the Christmas period, otherwise That Day We Sang and The Wrong Mans 2 would have been in with a shout.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing Pansy Potter, Bananaman, Biffo The Bear et al in The Beano, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something.