Colouring books on pop stars and pop culture, edited by Only Pop Fans, adn written & drawn by Kev F Sutherland (of Beano, Marvel & Shakespeare fame)
Psycho From My Toilet - a week's worth of comics created with kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses from Oxon & Beckenham
I'm taking bookings into 2025 if you'd like your school pupils subjected to this nonsense!
https://kevfcomicart.blogspot.com/2024/06/psycho-from-my-toilet-comics-by-kids.html
Big question: How do you reach people in regional pockets of the country for live events?
I've got a whole load of Comic Art Masterclasses coming up over the summer, and the sales of tickets to kids vary so widely. For example I had a sellout at the weekend in Clevedon LitFest, with a waiting list even, but the classes coming up at Ashbourne in Derbyshire have only sold a dozen tickets (out of a possible 60).
I fear the programme for book festivals reaches a certain sort of audience, ie middle aged book readers, but they're not reaching parents with kids.
So, who's got a genius marketing trick that I'm missing here? I'm all over Twitter, with posts that get seen by 100 out of my 2500 followers, none of whom are likely to be in the area I'm targeting. I do the same with Facebook, with probably even less effect.
Where is the magic bullet? Anyone?
Is any of my contacts or colleagues a member of the School Librarians Association? I can't join the group, obviously, but I'm aware they pass on details about my Kev F's Comic Art Masterclass and plug me to each other, and I'm not really able to thank them (or indeed to plug there myself).
So, if you are a member, could you tell them I'm grateful for everyone who's said nice things to another librarian, and remind them I'm still coming to schools if they want me.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/105388612878501
A couple of my books like you've never seen them before - in colour!
I've coloured a few pages from Findlay Macbeth and Midsummer NIght's Dream Team to make into greeting cards, which should be on sale at my next live events, all going well. Enjoy this sneak preview
Comic Art Masterclasses coming up, open to the public:
Beaminster May 29: https://www.beaminsterfestival.com/fringe-workshops-schools-community/kev-f-sutherland-comic-art-masterclass/
Clevedon June 8: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/clevedon/st-johns-hall/childrens-comic-art-masterclass/2024-06-08/09:30/t-pqxxgzp
Ludlow June 16: https://ludlowassemblyrooms.co.uk/event/kev-f-sutherlands-comic-masterclass/
Macclesfield June 22: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/comic-art-masterclass-with-kev-f-sutherland-macc-pow-ages-7-tickets-862286079877
Ashbourne June 29: https://ashbournefestival.org/events%202024/kev-fs-comic-art-masterclass/
Baldock July 13: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/booking/select/RdiEJKhzXNnT
Frome July 14: https://fromefestival.co.uk/
Northern Ireland July 23 - 27
More dates and links to be announced, stay tuned
Super duper mega bargain alert!
My Richard The Third graphic novel is on Amazon for just £4.97! That is cheaper than you can get them from me.
Nab em now, Shakespeare loving Dog Man & Bunny Vs Monkey fans!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Third-Shakespeare-Graphic-Novels/dp/1838082441
The Zest Fest & Desmond Benjamin Of Skibidi Toilet Overflowing - today's comics produced with kids at in my
Tomorrow: Carnforth
Stranger Things are Breaking Bad on Wednesday in Twin Peaks say Doctor Who's Prisoner's X Files, as a Buffy Red Dwarf & their Sopranos meet The Bear and Bob Ross in the Thunderbirds Star Trek Twilight Zone for Ghostwatch, according to Only Connect's copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - in the new Cult TV Colouring Book, which I have just published.
Stranger Things are Breaking Bad on Wednesday in Twin Peaks say Doctor Who's Prisoner's X Files, as a Buffy Red Dwarf & their Sopranos meet The Bear and Bob Ross in the Thunderbirds Star Trek Twilight Zone for Ghostwatch, according to Only Connect's copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Ther...
Stranger Things are Breaking Bad on Wednesday in Twin Peaks say Doctor Who's Prisoner's X Files, as a Buffy Red Dwarf & their Sopranos meet The Bear and Bob Ross in the Thunderbirds Star Trek Twilight Zone for Ghostwatch, according to Only Connect's copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - in the new Cult TV Colouring Book, which I have just published.
It's on sale now on Lulu for only £9.99. Buy it here now: https://www.lulu.com/shop/kev-f-sutherland-and-kev-sutherland/cult-tv-colouring-book/paperback/product-v8kzkjq.html
There's also a M**h Lab Oompa Loompa in here.
Stranger Things are Breaking Bad on Wednesday in Twin Peaks say Doctor Who's Prisoner's X Files, as a Buffy Red Dwarf & their Sopranos meet The Bear and Bob Ross in the Thunderbirds Star Trek Twilight Zone for Ghostwatch, according to Only Connect's copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Ther...
Today I had fun adding a good old fashioned Asterix fight scene to the book I'm drawing, and ruddy good fun it was too.
Hey everyone, guess where I'll be at the end of September? Will you be there too?
www.comicartfestival.com
Announcing a brand new Pop Star Colouring Book - The Cult TV Colouring Book.
20 brand new images of your favourite cult television shows, with accompanying articles with fascinating facts about the shows. Now you can have fun colouring full pages images of (brace yourselves):
Star Trek, The X Files, Twin Peaks, Wednesday, The Bear, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Thunderbirds, Steed & Mrs Peel in The Avengers, The Twilight Zone, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, The Prisoner, Stranger Things, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, and some left field suggestions including Ghostwatch, Bob Ross, and the M**h Lab Oompa Loompa.
Available now from Lulu (and soon it be on Amazon), yours for only £9.99 - be the first of the gang to get yours.
https://www.lulu.com/shop/kev-f-sutherland-and-kev-sutherland/cult-tv-colouring-book/paperback/product-v8kzkjq.html
Just did that trip to the Post Office that reminded me I need to raise my postage prices on Etsy. Hadn't given them a thought.
So I just posted a book to the Netherlands, it cost me £6.55 and I'd only charged the client a fiver postage. And domestic postage for a book is now £2.50, and I was still only charging £2.25.
Come to Uncle Kev for lessons in how to lose money in ways you never even thought of.
And today's big question is: what's appropriate for kids? In the photo above you can see, from the top, the trailer for the new Marvel movie Deadpool & Wolverine; then a comic of the same name, which is one of the batch that I'm currently taking into classrooms when I teach my Comic Art Masterclass; and at the bottom right a comic strip entitled Deadpool Finds A Machen (sic) Gun, written and drawn by a Year 4 pupil at a school this week.
If you've not seen the Deadpool & Wolverine movie trailer yet, one thing that is most outstanding about it is its use of strong language. Although they only, it says here, drop the f-bomb six times in the trailer, it seems like more, and it also feels grossly gratuitous. Like a nine year old has been given a free rein to use sweary words for the first time and runs down the hall shouting them at everyone they pass. Or when a foreign exchange student learns them and uses them inappropriately in every sentence.
It makes you nostalgic for the days when Eddie Murphy would make the headlines for using over a hundred in a movie (I think it was his stand up movie Raw back in 1987 that made the news at the time). But even then none would make it into the trailer. And if Deadpool and Wolverine were to continue the rate of effing and jeffing they manage in the trailer - 6 f-words in 2.5 minutes - then they'd easily beat Eddie Murphy's tame 223. (They would, as if it matters, get 213 f-words into a 90 minute movie at that rate. But since their movie is bound to be nearer two hours, that'd give them 288 f-words. NB, I am fully aware they won't be doing that.)
My question is : should I now be bringing Deadpool & Wolverine comics into a class of 8 year olds? The comic is pretty safe reading. The images are borderline strong, I mean they wouldn't pass the Comics Code Authority rating of my childhood, but there's no x-***ed language, no nudity, and although people get shot up and cut up, they all turn out to be androids and there's no blood. (I tell a lie, there's one scene where someone has made a totem pole out of body parts. Oh god, I've been taking this into primary schools!) (And I now spot that, in tiny letters on the front cover by the bar code, it sayss "Parental Advisory". Oh god!!)
The thing is, the pupil who drew that strip - and he is not alone among the kids I teach - was already more than familiar with Deadpool. And indeed he's a character I'm asked how to draw more than most others, and usually by primary school kids, so under the age of 11.
So, if I am (from now on) banning Wolverine and Deadpool comics from the selection I bring in and show to children, what else should I be editing out? Is it appropriate for me to be regularly drawing Harley Quinn on the flipchart at the start of the class, as in the example below, when she already stars in an age-inappropriate adult cartoon on TV, and is about to be played by Lady Gaga in a very dark and undoubtedly R-rated version in Joker Folie A Deux?
In short, where are the boundaries, and how is anyone supposed to know them?
Once, long ago, it was pretty easy. Fifty years ago, when I was growing up, stories about superheroes in spandex fighting villains were self-evidently nonsense for children, and were marketed and branded accordingly. All US comics had to carry the Comics Code badge and have no content that was unsuitable for an 8 year old to read, and the British equivalents followed a similar unofficial code. Since the 1980s we've had comics for, so-called, grown-ups; since the 90s we've had the f-word in mainstream comics published by, first, DC, and then Marvel; and this century it's been a relative free for all.
But my job is, variously, writing and drawing comics for kids, and teaching comics to kids. I want them to understand and enjoy this artform, and I'd like to introduce them to the widest range of content as I can. But I clearly have to draw a line, in places where I previously didn't have to.
I can show them "safe" Wolverine, and tell them his history and his place in Marvel comics lore. But I then have to say "stop - out of bounds" when it gets to the most recent movie and the latest comic version, which is on the shelf in our WH Smiths between a Simpsons comic and Commando Picture Library.
The movie then begs the question of how we prevent out kids being exposed to language we don't want them to hear, and a movie environment that normalises it and makes it attractive to use, in the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kids like to complete the set, they like to watch everything in the collection. So an obsessive 11 year old, who's devoured every Marvel movie from Iron Man to, god help them, the third Ant Man thing, will simply have to watch Wolverine & Deadpool. And, knowing Marvel, they won't be able to follow the plot of the next movie that comes out if they haven't watched it.
It's an f-bombing minefield. Am I alone in my concerns?
The blog of this post: http://kevfcomicart.blogspot.com/2024/04/deadpool-wolverine-and-school-whats.html
Awooga! Awooga! Shakespeare BARGAIN ALERT!
My Richard The Third is currently on Amazon for just £4.78
That is cheaper than you can get it from me, so I'd get in there if I were you, pronto!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1838082441
I'm not sure how keen Amazon are for anyone to buy my Eurovision Colouring Book. On the plus side, they've knocked a quid off the price. On the minus side, look at the bottom right hand corner of this picture.
"Usually dispatched within 3 to 7 months" - "FREE Prime delivery 29 May - 13 October, 2024"
Don't hold your breath waiting, kids. (You can get it on Etsy, it's cheaper and you get it next week)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eurovision-Pop-Star-Colouring-Book/dp/B0BSMTZTDN
Yes, I'm at it again. And guess what, it's not cos I can make money from this (cos I make pennies), it's cos it's fun! It's therapeutic! I've been working real hard with classes, and I'll get back to the proper graphic novels very soon (I have three I'm halfway through). But right now, a Cult TV Colouring Book is, well I guess it's the closest I come to having a hobby.
Any Cult TV shows you think need including?
You know when you have a brilliant idea in the shower, then google it later and find you've been beaten to it?
You'll be devastated to learn my M**h Lab Oompa Loompa Wonka Experience Colouring Book won't be happening.
Yes, I was genuinely considering it.
La ganga de hoy - No Oficial Eurovisión Libro para colorear de estrellas del pop: edición en Español: Todos los países, todos los ganadores
Sólo £2.37
(Lamentablemente en España cuesta €14)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1447787714
My Angry Whale Nan Goes To The Gym To Look At Fit Men - yesterday's comics created with kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses at Leigh Academy Dartford
Next week: Glasgow, Chelsea, Camberley, Leighton Buzzard & Exeter - yes it's Week!
Who else sells books on Etsy? On the plus side I get a few orders every month. On the negative side, colouring books are way more popular than graphic novels here. Anyone else use it for their books or comics?
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KevFComicArtist
Who remembered the Radio Times commemorated Superman's 50th birthday in 1988 with a Dave Gibbons cover & two page strip? Well, I've just found it in a box and it's gone up on that eBay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296238283449
Today's super duper mega bonus on Amazon - Richard The Third paperback is only £5.31
I have no idea a) how long this will last, or b) whether I still get paid for these.
Get em while they're hot
Richard The Third (Shakespeare Graphic Novels)
So who else is going to be at the Torquay comic con tomorrow?
I’ve got fresh pages of 1990s Marvel art by Bucky and me, along with my fab fab books. See you there.
Torquay Comic Con and Gaming festival takes place at the Riviera Centre
Today's unmissable bargain from Amazon: my Eurovision Colouring Book Volume 2 on sale for just £2.53!
One caveat: it is the Spanish language edition.
¿es eso un problema?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oficial-Eurovisi%C3%B3n-Libro-colorear-estrellas/dp/1447787714
Marking the sad demise of the artist John Burns, here is an excellent panel of his, cut out and stuck in my diary from December 1976, accompanying my review of that year.
On the penultimate day of 1976 I looked back at the year, and amazingly found something worth writing about. January was all exams, Feb...
Just a quick reminder that, if you want the Unofficial Eurovision Colouring Books, you can still get them in time for Christmas.
Volume 1 (Favourites) is on Etsy (UK): https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1146162876
- or on Lulu (International): https://www.lulu.com/shop/kev-sutherland/unofficial-eurovision-colouring-book-volume-1/paperback/product-y2q7mg.html
Volume 2 (Every single winner) is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unofficial-Eurovision-Colouring-Book-original/dp/1470948907
- or on Lulu: https://www.lulu.com/shop/kev-sutherland/unofficial-eurovision-colouring-book-volume-2-all-the-winners/paperback/product-9pve67.html
Happy Colouring!
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