Archive for the ‘Comics’ Category
Review: British Comics, a cultural history (from the Sunday Telegraph)
November 17th, 2011
Beano, Dandy, Topper, Beezer; Bunty, Judy, Jackie; Roy of the Rovers,Commando. If that delicious string of titles hasn’t warmed the cockles of your heart, then either you did not grow up in the UK or your parents kept you wrapped in a paper bag.
Comics were – and still are – an integral part of our nation’s childhood and, increasingly, adulthood. In British Comics: A Cultural History, Professor James Chapman sets out to explore this “valuable but neglected source of social history” and discover what comics tell us about ourselves.
Traditionally, British comics have received nothing like the approbation of their French and American cousins. While France, Chapman tells us, subsidises her comics industry “to the tune of €4.5million a year”, and while the Americans regard their comics as “a vibrant form of mass popular culture, comparable to motion pictures”, we British traditionally see them as disposable at best, childish at worst.
Indeed, Chapman points out, we even passed legislation against them. The 1955 Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publication) Act forbade the creation of any children’s book that “consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures” and portrays “incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature”. Only two people have been prosecuted so far (none since 1970), but the law remains on the statute books. Continue reading on the Telegraph website
#JWSNEWSFLASH: Public Library “Worse Than Bedlam” Says Strung-Out Writer
August 5th, 2011
In an unforeseen development, Jake Wallis Simons (32), a writer, came to the conclusion that his local public library is completely unfit to work in. “It was worse than Bedlam,” he said. “There were people grunting, howling, talking loudly and (most annoyingly of all) playing loud music on their iPods. The whole place felt like being inside the skull of a giant with tinnitus.”
The word “Bedlam,” meaning “uproar and confusion,” derives from the Bethlem Royal Hospital, an NHS psychiatric hospital which has historically been synonymous with the inhumane treatment of lunatics (and was evocatively depicted by William Hogarth in his painting A Rake’s Progress, first published in 1735).
According to a historian called Steve, eighteenth century Bethlem inmates were forced to endure constant torture. This included being forced to browse through shelf upon shelf of trashy, dull and pulpish fiction in search of a decent novel, which only occurred only once every 350 books; trying to borrow books via a mechanised withdrawal process, which relied on scanning devices which rarely worked; being invaded without warning by gangs of marauding drunks and ASBO-toting teenagers; and having rumours constantly circulated that the institution itself would be closed down, leaving the lunatics with nowhere to go. All of this is strongly reminiscent of the public library system of today.
“Given the circumstances,” said Steve, “it is not surprising that the atmosphere in the modern library is one of constant uproar and disturbance. Our latest guidelines advise those in search of a quiet and scholarly environment to stay away.”
Last night, Simons admitted that he had been negligent in not consulting these guidelines thoroughly. “I had had a quick glance through the booklet,” he said, “but the section entitled What To Do If You Really Want Peace And Quiet completely escaped my attention. For this I admit full responsibility. I only realised that the atmosphere was not conducive when I started to go a bit mad myself. That was when I realised I should have consulted the NHS Health And Safety Guidelines For Risk-Free Public Library Use as well.”
Simons has now decided to return to his habit of working in cafés. “It’s bound to be quieter,” he said, “and a better working environment. If you’re after an atmosphere of peace, tranquillity and concord, the public library is simply not the place.”
“Still,” he added, “they’ll soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.”
William Hogarth, raised from the dead by way of séance, declined to comment.
Graphic short story
October 24th, 2010
This one’s called “Dadness.” It’s a story about, well, Dadness. Read the whole thing here.
