Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Recommended Reading

If you're going to ICE 20016 this Saturday (the International Comic Expo in Birmingham on 10th September) here are two original British graphic novels I thoroughly recommend. I'll be giving both books a full review each soon but for now here's a quick plug so you'll know what to look out for.

Elsie Harris Picture Palace is Jessica Martin's debut graphic novel, published by Miwk. Beginning in 1936 it tells the story of Elsie Harris, who starts out as a waitress before happenstance and her own self drive propels her to work in movie production. It's an engaging tale and elsie is a likeable character. The story itself feels like a classic movie biopic and Jessica Martin has clearly done plenty of research to capture the detail and attitudes of the times. Wonderful stuff, and I'll review it in more detail in a later blog post. 

Jessica will be exhibiting at ICE 2016 so you'll be able to purchase a copy of her book there. She will also have some new prints for sale, and her previous comics It Girl and Vivacity. If you're unable to attend the convention, the items are available from Jessica's online shop here:
http://www.artymisspublishing.com/new-products/

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Another exhibitor at ICE will be Joe Matthews, who will be promoting his superb new book, a comics adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. There have been comics adaptations of Dickens' story before of course but each artist interprets it uniquely. This is a very impressive book, and the best work of Joe's long career in my opinion. While Joe provides the excellent comic art, the story is told in rhyme by Dave McCluskey. A perfect Christmas present, so drop by Joe's table on Saturday and buy a copy. (It also features some guest art in the back by top artists such as Nigel Parkinson, Ron Tiner, Phil Elliott, and Hunt Emerson.)

As I said, I'll be reviewing these graphic novels in more detail later, but I hope this has whetted your appetite. They really are great books and fine additions to anyone's bookcase.

1 comment:

  1. I bought It Girl & Viva City off Jessica Martin at the Brum event in April and I wasn't disappointed. Excellent storytelling throughout and very interesting indeed, well worth picking up a copy if you're a fan of good comics!

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