My blog in a book

I don't know if this is meta, or infinite regression, or just incestuous, but above you can see a photo of this blog, in a book. Thanks to Blurb and BookSmart I've been able to slurp the contents of my 2013 blog posts into a 270 page colour book. And, if I do it again next year, there'll be a book containing a blog containing this photo of the book of the previous year's blog.

I've included most of my blog posts, excluding any that were just listings for forthcoming shows (indeed the most time-consuming part of the editing was cutting out all the gig-listings at the foot of every Socks post, and the html hyperlinks that came with them), plus I've included the posts from My 1970s Diary which I uploaded for a few months last year then lost interest in.

It looks great, and I did it because of an inherent fear that anything on the internet could just disappear overnight and I'd never know where it went - as happened last year with my Mr Site website, which had a vast proportion of its capacity arbitrarily slashed by Mr Site with no warning, ooh I'm still angry about it. So a book seems more tangible, and not something that can be remotely wiped out. Obviously I can still leave it on a train or get it nicked, but even then there's the chance of reprinting it as it's all on file.

Indeed if anyone out there should want a copy (and why anyone would want a copy of anyone else's diary I can't imagine, but you try telling that to Bridget Jones and Adrian Mole) it costs £24 and you can buy it (and see the first 15 pages) here. (Though eagle-eyed readers will have spotted that you could just look at the whole year's blog here on the blog, for free). I foresee a roaring trade.

What the flip - flipcharts from my classes

Given the chance to set up before on of my Comic Art Masterclasses, I like to get a drawing done on the flipchart. It's fun when the kids watch me drawing, especially primary school pupils in whose eyes you attain godlike status just by being able to copy a picture of Batman from a comic.  Though of course I get a lot more done if I arrive before the kids do and can get an uninterrupted 15 minutes. As you can see above, I use reference from lots of comics because, frankly, they'll only be so impressed by a version of Wolverine, Wonder Woman et al in my style alone. Best of all they're left with something to stick on the wall. Did I mention one such flipchart page raised over £500 for charity last month?

More comics from pupils in Chorley, Newcastle Under Lyme, Borehamwood and Henley, in Dartford and Henley, in Cardiff, Falkirk, Birmingham and rural Devon. You'll find many more if you scour this blog.

Bob & Dave's Adventures - new comics by kids

 More new comics by pupils and students in my Comic Art Masterclasses, with groups ranging from year 3s in Norley in Cheshire to 16 year olds in Borehamwood Library, via year 8s in Newcastle Under Lyme, and primary school kids of various ages in Henley on Thames. The colours, by the way, are added after the fact. They all go home with a black and white photocopied comic containing a strip by every single one of them, and an individual caricature by me. Above you can see their covers, the titles of which they come up with between them, and the caricatures of some of their delightful little faces.

Asked to suggest a celebrity for my demonstration strip, they suggested Miley Cyrus, Nicky Minaj, Declan Donnelly, Michelle Keegan, Harry Hill, Joey Essex, and Beyonce.

The psychology of kids and how it changes as they grow is a fascinating thing to observe. On these covers I keep a record of which school they're in, and you can probably tell at a glance which titles were dreamt up by primary school kids (for Bob & Dave's Adventures I even used a couple of year 4 girls' logo and character designs) and which is by the older ones. Margareth, from Margareth's Laugh Of Horror, was the youth worker in charge of a group if 16 year olds in Borehamwood, and it is most common for older students titles to be reality based and less fanciful (I have my work cut out eliminating titles with real-sounding names in that are, in effect, cyber-bullying).

And the group who ended up with the title I Hate Everyone, ran the gamut of Year 8 cliche titles, with one suggesting "I Don't Know", another coming up with "?". The only Year 8 cliche title missing was "Your Mum".

Would you like me to come to your school, library, art centre or wherever to teach my far-famed Comic Art Masterclass? Then do please get in touch. I'm on Facebook, Twitter, email, and at the link below. Glad to be of service.



More comics from pupils in Dartford & Henley, in Hertfordshire & Weston Super Mare, in Cardiff, Falkirk, Birmingham and rural Devon. You'll find many more if you scour this blog.

Bananaman Annihilation in this week's Beano

This week's Bananaman strip is another stonker, written by me and drawn by Wayne Thompson, here's a tiny glimpse.

Sadly, just as the scripts are starting to get good, my credit has disappeared from it, though it does appear in the credit box at the front of the comic (which makes it a little harder to impress schoolkids with, but by golly I shall continue to try).

This was an interesting Bananaman script as it was originally rejected, until I went through and changed every word but none of the story. Below you can see how it was originally going to read. Thinking it through, Genocide is maybe not a very Beano word.

 

Spa-Foon, nebbish of the Squa-Trontians has been appearing in a few of my Bananaman stories and I hope to develop him further. Sadly the latest Spa-Foon story, set on the moon, got spiked. For what it's worth the big gag was that on the moon no-one can hear any sound, so everyone was fighting everyone else and no-one knew they were there. Trust me it was hilarious (and will probably wind up as a self-published Hot Rod Cow story one day. Nothing goes to waste if I can help it).

Scottish Falsetto Socks fans might recognise the format of this 'mistaken words' routine, which the boys have done a variation of in every show since 2008. Here's the original.

Bananaman meets Stephen Hawking

You couldn't make it up. Though, paradoxically, I am paid to do exactly that. I may have to write this story later today...

Thanks to my Mum for spotting this one in the local paper.

Nine men dressed as Bananaman grabbed a unique memento from a stag do - a photo with Prof Stephen Hawking.

The group were on a night out in Cambridge on Saturday ahead of the wedding of Chris Hallam, 29, from Lingwood in Norfolk, and his fiancee Kizzy Davis, 34.
Mr Hallam said Prof Hawking, author of A Brief History of Time, was happy to join in with the "random" photo.
"It was the cleverest man on the planet with nine men dressed as Bananaman."
Mr Hallam said Prof Hawking had a "really big smile on his face" when the group asked him if he wanted to join them for a drink, but they went their separate ways.
He said each of the group had dressed as Bananaman, a character who appeared in comics and on television in the 1980s, for "no real reason, just to stand out".

Curse of the Singing Go Compare Man - new comics by kids

More comics here, produced by kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses in Dartford in Kent and a pair of primary schools near Henley. Their ages raneg from 6th formers to year 3, and every one a work of genius.

Their Celebs On The Worm suggestions (which I must explain in more detail some time) were David Tennant, James Franco, Harry Styles, Jim Carrey, Joey Essex and Stan Lee. The David Tennant suggestion gave rise to an impromptu impersonation by me that so impressed a lad out of year 8 that he asked me to do it again into his iPhone and now has a recording of me saying "Hello, I'm David Tennant, Jacob is the best at everything, signed me." Ask me anytime, my David Tennant is yours.

If you want me to come to your school and work my Comic Art Masterclass magic, do please get in touch. And if you're voting in the Beano's poll for the favourite strip, the name you're looking for is Bananaman.



More comics from pupils in Chorley, Newcastle Under Lyme, Borehamwood and Henley, in Hertfordshire and Weston Super Mare, in Cardiff, Falkirk, Birmingham and rural Devon. You'll find many more if you scour this blog.

March in the Socks calendar - Tracy Emin

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's 2014 calendar is on the theme of modern art and March's page sees the boys taking on everyone's favourite YBA on whose merits no-one is divided, Tracey Emin.

The calendar is on sale through Lulu.com at a devilishly reasonable price and is a joy to see and a marvel to treasure.

To see all 12 entries, plus the front cover, click and look at the free preview of the calendar. And you can see 2012 and 2013's calendar (cult icons and sci-fi respectively) on the website.



The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!
Mar 15 - Largs Barrfields Pavilion
Mar 20, 21 - Dram, Glasgow
Mar 22 - Spread Eagle, Croydon
Mar 29 - Kings Lynn Arts Centre
Apr 3 - Adam Smith Theatre Kirkcaldy
Apr 12 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
May 9 - Exeter Barnfield
May 14 - Camden Head, London
May 17 - Brighton Komedia
May 23 - Keighley Exchange
May 31 - Aylesbury Limelight
June 6 - Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone
June 7 - Butlins, Bognor
June 11 - Camden Head, London 
June 19 - Phoenix Arts, Bordon Hants
June 20 - Derby Assembly Rooms
June 21 - Halifax Square Chapel
June 22 - Derby (family show) 
July 4 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
July 9 - Bedford Fringe 
July 11 - Beverley Puppet Festival 
July 13 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm
July 17 - Larmer Tree Festival, Wilts
July 18 - Leeds Carriageworks
July 19 - Cradley Heath Comedy Festival
July 22 - Comedy Den Cardiff
July 23 - Taurus Manchester
July 30 - Aug 25 Gilded Balloon, 10.30pm - Edinburgh Fringe 2014