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Oo, what's all that rustling and buzzing in the garden? It's a whole cast of characters from Gary Northfield's new comic book, GARY'S GARDEN, published by David Fickling Books and out today!



We at the Fleece Station studio are super-proud of Gary, who's been working so hard to make his amazing weekly comic strips for The Phoenix Comic. And now he's packaged up a whole bunch of them into a beautiful volume.



I love Gary's Garden so much. The little conversations between the insects make me laugh. It's masterfully drawn with such expressive, energetic line and a welcoming colour palette that pulls you right into the garden. Oh, and extra bonus, Gary even has a few cameos in it!




Our studio mate Elissa Elwick and I are wearing floral shrubbery on our heads to celebrate.



Check it out, who couldn't love all these cute animals running round having adventures? This book will be incredibly versatile, as it's kid-friendly but also appeals to grownups; perfect for any library collection, from primary school to adult. And it makes a great all-ages gift for any of your friends who love gardening, nature, or bugs. ...Say, you get your friend/partner/parent some boringly domestic thing for their birthday, such as gardening gloves or a spade. Why not stick a copy of Gary's Garden into the prezzie to dress it up and make it fun?



This panel made me smile, because it reminds me of working when no one's in the studio: I often think of jokes with no one to share them with. That's the great thing about having Gary and Elissa around, we can try out the funny bits in our books on each other, and generally muck around. So much better than when I used to work alone at home.



Gary's stuck with me at the studio since we set it up five years ago and he's the best-ever person to work alongside. He works incredibly hard on his books and his strips for The Phoenix and other publications, but then he'll take little breaks to have a laugh; we have a good rhythm and I've even come to love the same music.



You can see on the contents page how the book's broken down into little bite-size stories. Perfect for the reluctant reader, who might find a couple pages a real achievement. And hey look, it's dedicated to Ben Sharpe, our lovely editor from DFC and early Phoenix Comic days. (We once made him a whole personalised version of The Phoenix.)



And special surprise... you haven't missed the Gary's Garden launch party! The book comes out today, but Gary's celebrating on Thurs, 4 September at the lovely Bookseller Crow bookshop in Crystal Palace, south London. We had his Teenytinysaurs book launch there and it was ace. Do come along! If you want a reminder or to ask questions, you can sign up to the event Facebook page here.



And don't just take my word for it that Gary's Garden is amazing, check out this review by Richard Bruton on the Forbidden Planet International blog!



And you can buy Gary's Garden right here, from the Phoenix Comic shop.



The other exciting books out today are How to Make Awesome Comics by Neill Cameron and Long Gone Don by the Etherington Brothers! But I haven't yet seen copies of them, so stay posted... Read the rest of this post

Publisher of The Phoenix Comic, David Fickling, has written about his fabulous weekly comic in today's Telegraph. Have a read!


Featuring covers by Patrice Aggs, Lorenzo Etherington, Jamie Smart

And my studio mate Gary Northfield (@gnorthfield) has compiled a list of all The Phoenix creators who are on Twitter. Go follow 'em! (And yes, many of them do lots of other top-notch books and workshops; send them an exploratory tweet!) :)



And, of course, there's The Phoenix on Twitter: @PhoenixComicUK



I just spoke with Caro Fickling, who says that if every state primary school in Britain takes out just one subscription to The Phoenix (25,000 primary schools, and that's not even counting libraries and private schools), they could start up a whole new comics title. They'd love to first aim it at younger children than The Phoenix targets, and then create a third title aimed at older teenagers. More amazing comics for everyone! Let's spread the word. Librarians, teachers, don't miss out!

More and more librarians are discovering this to be SO TRUE:



One of the reasons we need well-trained librarians is to help kids find the right comics for them! Comics are an obvious choice for any library: kids will snatch them up and devour them, even those who would never normally pick up a book. But I remember as a kid, not liking superhero comics. And when I ran out of Archie comics and newspaper comics to read, I didn't know what else was out there. A lot of people think comics is a genre (they might lump them together as funnies, or superhero stories) but it wasn't until I was an grownup that I realised there could be comics about absolutely anything; it's a medium, just like books or television or plays. I can find cowboy comics, romantic comics, murder mystery comics, comics about art theory, recipe comics, science comics, political comics, you name it.


One of the comics in the spotlight today is The Dandy, which is transitioning from the print version to a digital-only version tonight at midnight. The amazing Jamie Smart designed the last cover for the print comic, and blogged about his experiences at The Dandy here.



Jamie's optimistic about the future of comics, and I am, too! And one of the reasons is because of another comic that's only run for 47 issues so far, but has some of the best quality comics I've ever seen in a weekly magazine. But I'm not sure so many librarians know about this yet; a friend was speaking to a room full of librarians in Devon and asked if anyone had heard of The Phoenix Comic...

...and not a single librarian raised a hand.

WHAT...???!!

LIBRARIANS, PLEASE LISTEN UP! There's a fabulous new comic out, and it's called The Phoenix!


Matilda Johnson, publisher David Fickling, designer Matt Baxter, writer Dan Hartwell launching The Phoenix at Oxford's Story Museum

And guess what? One of the most regular contributors is that same Jamie Smart who draws Desperate Dan for The Dandy and in this one, he draws the wildly exciting Bunny vs Monkey, which is not to be missed! Here's a little peek at his strip:



I've only had a four-page comic in one issue, this one I made with Philip Reeve. We had loads of fun experimenting with it! Philip usually writes, but we wrote it together, he drew it, and I coloured it. You'll get surprises like this from loads of Britain's top writers and illustrators! Names you might recognise from The Phoenix and its earlier incarnation, The DFC, include Chris Riddell, Philip Pullman, Adam Brockbank (who designed monsters in the Harry Potter films), Garen Ewing (of The Rainbow Orchid)and Dave Shelton (A Boy and a Bear in a Boat).



Here's my fab studio mate Gary Northfield's regular Phoenix strip, Gary's Garden, full of madcap animal adventures.



Wouldn't you like to have a weekly comics magazine in your library? It's 32 pages of full-colour comics, aimed at kids (and adults) aged eight and older. It's a mix of self-contained strips and ongoing stories. But what if you only want complete, self-contained stories in one cover? Well, then you have the books of collected strips, The DFC Library! Full-length books, chock-full of amazing comics. Here's one of my favourites, Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner:



It's SO FUNNY!


But the DFC Library books are not all funny! Mezolith by Adam Brockbank and Ben Haggarty is quite dark and spooky. Something for everyone. Here's Baggage by the marvelous Etherington Brothers. Have you ever Bob and Lorenzo Etherington do a workshop? They're incredible.



In fact, almost all The Phoenix creators do workshops! How about bringing them into your school? You can either look them up directly on their websites and e-mail them, or contact The Phoenix to ask them to put you in touch. Yes, you will need to pay them, as you would any visiting author, but you'll get your money's worth, I am absolutely certain of this.


Adam Murphy, Kate Brown, Jamie Littler, Jamie Smart, me, Neill Cameron, John Aggs, Lorenzo Etherington, Gary Northfield

Neill Cameron (creator of DFC Library book Mo-bot High runs a frequent strip in The Phoenix, How to Make AWESOME Comics. Which highlights one of the truly awesome things about comics: when kids read them, they almost always want to make them, too!



Here are just a few of the awesome things about kids making comics:

* Appreciation: Kids who makes their own reading material will care more about other things out there that are waiting to be read. Think about it. Someone who puts a lot of effort into cooking will take more interest in a fine meal at a restaurant, sussing out which herbs were used, trying to second-guess the sauce ingredients. Its' the same with comics; a kid who makes comics will study other people's comics to get ideas. They're learn how stories work, page layouts, sentence structures, pacing, characterisation, etc.

* Skill building: If kids (or adults) are having a hard time with either writing or drawing, they can use the other skill to compensate in the story, pulling along the skill that's weaker. If they can't draw something, they can write it; if they can't write it, they can draw it. And by, doing this, it will help improve both skills. And by stealth, it teaches lots of other skills, too: design, typography, entrepreneurship, even geometry, in the way a page is broken up into segments.



* Cultural accessibility: Kids don't need to speak English to make comics in the classroom; there are incredible wordless comics out there, such as Shaun Tan's The Arrival and Bob Graham's How to Heal a Broken Wing. So if you have kids in your school who don't speak English, they can get stuck into making comics right away, and sound effects (BAM! BOP! ARRRR! Mmm...) are a great place to start learning basic sounds and letters.

* Active participation: Sometimes the so-called 'reluctant readers' are reluctant because they don't like passively listening to stuff being fed to them. They want to do it THEMSELVES. Maybe be a bit silly. And comics enable them to do just that; take control and MAKE the comics.

* Inclusivity: Comics appeal to all ages and cross the reading gender gap. (That said, generally I find that it's difficult to run comic workshops for children under the age of 8. But they can do great character development workshops, getting them ready to make comics when they're a bit older and can put together a story better.)

... And that's just the start of a list that could go on for pages and pages (let me know if you want me to blog more about this!).



So that's my tip for the day, go subscribe to The Phoenix Comic, or at least have a good look at their website. Please tell everyone about it! The Phoenix doesn't have a massive publicity department, and they're putting most of their budget into making the comics top-notch. So let's spread the word, so we get more awesome comics like theses.



And also have a browse of the DFC Library, really high quality comic books that will make your library shine.



For people who are thinking about getting themselves or friends a subscription for Christmas, you can buy a special Phoenix Gift Box:



Neill Cameron has blogged about them here. I don't have a financial stake in The Phoenix succeeding, I just love it, and really, really want it to gallop forward. It needs your support and for people to know about it! You can follow The Phoenix on Twitter at @PhoenixComicUK. There's also a digital version of The Phoenix coming soon, which will make it accessible more globally, so keep an eye on their website and Twitter feed!

If you want to read more of my musings about the futures I envision for comics, I've suggested that every school could have its own comics festival and put out a plea for a database reviews of kid-friendly comics, linked up with a database of its creators. The discussions continue... Read the rest of this post

The big day finally came, and it was AWESOME! The Comics Big-Top of Awesome totally rocked London's Pop Up Festival and kids and adults alike were pumping character drawings and comics out of that pavilion.



Here was our amazing team: Neill Cameron, Nana Li, me, Gary Northfield, Jamie Littler, Jamie Smart and David O'Connell. (You can see the books they make if you click here.) When Pop Up Director Dylan Calder offered me the chance to curate one of the festival venues and do anything I wanted, it could have been daunting, but it wasn't, because I knew I could get my awesome comics friends to come along and help me run it. And most of them do a lot of comics festivals and events, so they know how to work with kids and get them excited and eager to make up their own stories. Being able to draw and tell stories, combined with a sense of humour means this stuff comes pretty naturally to them.



And the day DID run amazingly well! All the creators had a good idea of which kids needed guidance making their comics, and sat alongside them, drawing and chatting with them. And besides the comics making that went all on day, we had a solid programme of awesome events!



David O'Connell shot footage of one round of the COMICS BATTLE, a fiercely fought drawing duel: Gary Northfield vs Jamie Littler!



It was fun coming home and seeing the tweets:



When Dave, Stuart and I arrived in the morning, the incredibly talented and dedicated art student team from Central Saint Martins had been working hard until site closing time the night before and the place looked AMAZING!




They'd worked with me on a layout for the venue, and as for decorating it, Neill Cameron and I came up with the idea of making it a comics circus theme, fellow Pop Up curator Candy Gourlay suggested the idea of the Story Wheels, and I asked them to make it bright and fit in as many animal characters as possible. And I was absolutely thrilled at what they came up with! (You can see more photos of the team - Isa Caruncho, Chiahui Liao and Maddy Rita Faye - on my last blog post here.)



Our team was actually bigger than the seven adult comics artists, we had four more people on board, selling comics they'd made and drawing portraits: Frankie, Katie, Staizie and Zoom Rockman. It was one of the first times the three girls from Winchester House School had sold their comics, and they were making a comics diary of their trip to London with their art teacher, fab printmaker Tobias Till. Zoom, age 11, has been making and selling comics for several years, and I heard that he'd even been flown out to Korea to talk about comics there! The guy doesn't let being young stop him, which is the height of awesomeness.

I can hardly take it, too much comics goodness!!! :D It's like the DFC, but new and improved and no adverts, and wow, isn't that a wonderful envelope?! Presenting... The Phoenix Comic!



A subscription to this weekly magazine would make an absolutely perfect Christmas gift for anyone, say, age 8 to age 99 (although possibly a bit older, I don't want to be ageist). And anyone who wants to support GOOD COMICS BEING MADE RIGHT NOW IN BRITAIN, this is your moment! DO IT. (I did it and shelled out, I'm not getting a free subscription. Although a friend and I do have plans to contribute... more on that later.)



You can even learn how to make comics yourself! Here's a peek at a guide by the fab Neill Cameron, who draws robots and dinosaurs like a dream... oh, and did I mention that he also leads stellar comics workshops? As do many of the Phoenix contributors? (Hint, hint, teachers/librarians/festival coordinators/booksellers, etc)

But first... here's a picture I drew yesterday in Oxford with Mo-Bot High creator Neill Cameron and David O'Connell! Click here if you'd like a slightly larger version for you or someone you know to colour in. (See if you can guess who drew which part!)



Dave and I went up to Oxford for another meeting with our publisher David Fickling about the picture book we're co-writing and co-illustrating. But before our meeting, we stopped by the new offices of the Phoenix Comic, set to launch in six months. (I was so curious!) Here's Dave at the front door:





The Phoenix Comic blazes the same amazing comics trail as the earlier DFC magazine, with much of the same editorial team, but this time set up as its own business and a three-year guaranteed run. Here I am with Ben Sharpe, my lovely editor who worked with me on Vern and Lettuce. He gave me wonderful amounts of freedom with the weekly strip, mostly just giving me encouragement and telling me to go ahead with it. I really miss working with Ben, and I'm so glad he's back!





You can tell The Phoenix just moved in, here's what you see at a series of front doors:





Ben showed us some amazing comics stuff, but we have to keep it under wraps, just for now. But you can see him hard at work at his desk. (Spot the Mo-bot High sticker on his Mac...)



The Phoenix are looking for high-quality comics! Do you make them? Have a look at the submission guidelines here.



After a cup of tea and rather lovely biscuits with Ben, we waved goodbye and went two doors down the road to the David Fickling Books office, where we had our meeting. Here's a little painting in the front hall that someone's done of the logo:



And fabulous Tilda Johnson, the first person you see when you walk in and the person who tells David off when he's been e-mailing too long or needs to go to a meeting. She's loads of fun and super organised.



Here's Dave at the big table in the middle of the office with David Fickling and our new editor, Kirsten Amstrong (who's taken over from Hannah Featherstone, who just had a baby. Which is something that happens