Commander Nappies - new comics by kids

Two days of classes in the libraries of Bexleyheath, Sidcup, Welling and Erith, followed by a day at a special school in Coventry has thrown up a wonderful selection of comics by kids. It's half term, so a diverse bunch of groups were brought together by Bexley Libraries, full houses every one.

At Bexleyheath Library they came up with Rocco, the frog who's not a frog but a rock, and in Sidcup we got a rare example of a kid writing their name backwards. When I'm asking them to come up with names, this is one of the suggestions I make, but it hardly ever makes it through the knockout process. It is then, of course, impossible to think what to draw on the cover. Let's just say some titles are more inspiring than others.

Welling library's kids came up with a fun title that gave me an excuse to commemorate this week's big culturally iconic talking point, namely Sam Smith's costume from this weekend's Brits. Only a couple of the kids were even aware of Smith's outfit, but it was fun to draw. The drawing of Liz Truss was a mish mash of ideas from them all, resulting in a pretty naff cover.

Exhall Grange is a special school in Coventry, teaching kids with a wide variety of special educational needs. And, to demonstrate either how well I rise to a challenge or how badly they'd misunderstood the description of my workshop, two kids were brought into the class with white sticks. Yes, in the morning group (which had 30 kids in) and the afternoon group (which was only 6 strong) I had two kids who had, in one case, no sight whatsoever. One had partial sight. Both enjoyed the sound of the class, and the lad with partial sight produced some good work, though what he could see of me and the flipchart I couldn't ascerttain. The second pupil, with no sight, worked on special paper that created a raised surface, so her TA was able to draw things for her to feel. She contributed marvellously to all the verbal parts of the class, the subtitle "Fufnisasso" being one of the many fun words she creates, to the entertainment of all the group.

Mr Robinson, by the way, is a teacher whose trousers genuinely did split recently, and has become school legend. The kids described him to me for the drawing. And it is to their credit that, though they mentioned his glasses and his grey hair, none was impolite enough to mention the reason his pants had split is because he is a man of the fuller figure.

The celebrities these 6 groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were King Charles (debut appearance), The Queen (still hanging in there), Ant McPartlin (who always gets suggested as "Ant & Dec" before I ask them to select just one of them), the Mona Lisa (most impressive and original choice of the week), Billie Eilish and, looking like the most popular choice of this year so far, Michael Jackson.

My Books and where to get them:

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy 
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Lulu

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy 

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 - Amazon -  Lulu  - Etsy 
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon
Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon - Lulu  - Etsy 
Punk Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 
60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon  - Lulu  - Etsy 

Scottish Pop Star Colouring - Amazon

NB: Etsy editions are signed and posted by me, and generally cheaper