Oops

Um, I seem to have lost my own copy of Spandex - the one I intended to keep for reference. I hope I haven't given it to someone or sent it to someone by mistake! If I did, just let me know - it's a bit ripped up and there's a gold star on the cover!! D'oh!

First Gay Superteam?

I just wanted to address some recent internet comments about Spandex. Now my Spandex guys are always up for a ‘backlash’ (ooer) but I just wanted to set a few things straight (so to speak). There have been lots of interweb write-ups about the comic, and the press release I sent out claims it is ‘The First Gay Superhero Comic’ (which should really be ‘Superteam’), and this is being disputed and commented on. Okay yes, it is a bold claim and let’s face it guys, we’re all on the same page here – the point of a headline on a press release like that is to grab people’s attention and get publicity.
Yes there have been gay superheroes in the past, but have any of them really set the world on fire? Look at the limp-fest that was Northstar (who, in Alpha Flight Issue 50, was supposed to reveal he had HIV, but the Editors wimped out and decided to make him a ‘fairy’ instead. Yes, a fairy.) His coming-out was barely noticeable in that famous Alpha Flight issue and ever since then it’s been pretty much ignored – even when he got his own series.
There have probably been some indie gay superteam comics, but I don’t know them.
So really, I hope people can get past the ‘first superhero comic’ thing – it’s just a headline to attract attention – and besides – I really don’t think there has been a gay superteam. And if there has, well, let’s call it the first gay superteam comic set in the UK. And if that fails, Brighton. And if that fails, well let’s call it ‘the first gay superhero comic created by Martin Eden’.
I hope people can just focus on the actual comic itself, which introduces a whole bunch of cool new characters and a slice-of-life storytelling style which you don’t really see much of these days. It’s a load of fun, it’s there to be enjoyed and I’d love people to come along for the ride (so to speak)!
P.S. I’m going to try to resist reading people’s comments on internet articles – people can say some pretty horrible things, I think!

Spandex pics

Some stuff from issue one! Check out www.spandexcomic.com to find out how to get a copy!

Something from the weekend

Inspired by pics of Michael Caine and Alicia Keys!

James Jean and Tara McPherson

I've been to quite a few comic 'do's over the last couple of years (check out the events on www.paulgravett.com, so many cool things going on) but tonight I went to a really cool one - no waffle, really informative and entertaining...
It was basically talks by James Jean and Tara McPherson on their work. Now I'm a massive fan of James Jean, so I was very excited about that. James came on second, so first up was Tara. She's a cool pretty rock chick person who seems to draw the same girls over and over again, but in a very appealing stylish way. Very 'now' and a bit 'emo'. She was lovely (altho considering we only had a limited time in the room I could have lived without her fiddling about with her mobile and playing a couple of short movies on how she hangs paintings for a show).
James was incredible - I mean, like Adrian Tomine, I thought he would be a recluse, but he was very funny and engaging ('I slept my way to the top', 'this painting is quite soft and luscious like my hair'). So James talked us thru some of his work and how he got into the biz and a few anecdotes (a recent XMen painting earned him a five-figure sum...) and he also intimated that he's moved away from comics and into his surreal paintings.
What fascinated me, was how these guys just do their own thing and do incredibly well out of it. They both openly admitted that they can't be bothered drawing comics! They just like doing portraits.
So anyway, great stuff, very inspiring. Gonna do some drawing now.

Selling Spandex

I thought I’d do a little con report – following Sunday’s Comiket small press con at the ICA.
It was the first show I’d done in a couple of years. I used to really enjoy them when I was doing The O Men, but after 10 years, and 35 issues, it was getting hard to keep everything in print, plus people are less likely to 'get on board' as the numbers increase (however much I try to make O Men accessible), so I ‘retired’!
I’d been going to shows in the meantime as a punter, and was getting really inspired each time, so I’m glad I finally got back into the ‘scene’ to launch Spandex.
I was actually only there on Sunday for a couple of hours, due to a clash, but it was really worth going. I met some really nice people, and shared a table with Mr Paul Rainey, who is very entertaining company. Spandex seemed to go down well, and I was happy to sell some copies – and actually gave some freebies away to people who had no money on them. Bad ‘business sense’, I guess, but I’d rather someone actually read it than leave it to fester unread on a coffee table (or bin). I was a little embarrassed when some kids started to come up and look thru my stuff – it’s very adult!!
On a whim, I also took a few O Men copies, and they went down well too – and it was nice to meet people who had really been into O Men (and I mean really into it!!!). It actually made me want to do some more O Men comics sooner than I’d planned... I’ve actually kind of shelved O Men away in a part of my brain, to an extent where I can’t remember much about it! A guy at the con was talking about an old storyline, and I actually couldn’t rememeber it! That’s quite sad...
My favourite moment though was when I was leaving (ha ha carry on reading) and I put some Spandex fliers on the table near the entrance – and while I was packing my bag, a lady went straight up to the table and grabbed one straight away – it seems to be attracting people at least!
I bought some nice wares too. I was very pleased to get my hands on the final two parts of Necessary Monsters, and I checked out Howard Hardiman’s comics (very intense, but impressive), plus I got my hands on Solistic Pop, which is a gorgeous collection. Shame I wasn’t there longer so I could have met more people and bought more stuff.
The only downside was the venue – dark, windowless, hot, crowded – I felt like we’d all been rounded up and were about to be exterminated or something... Death to the small press!!
But anyway, thanks to Paul Gravett for organising this show, and also for adding ‘the launch of Spandex’ as one of the highlights on the program flier – what an honour!!

The X-Factor – my two-pence

Well what a shocker! In case you didn’t know, the ratings/headline-grabbing X-Factor ‘twins’ (who can’t sing or dance but are fairly entertaining) were in the ‘bottom two’ with ultra-talented Welsh girl Lucie last night...
The decision came down to Simon Cowell who has said he has hated the twins all along – and he effectively decided to get rid of Lucie from the competition.
I need to get some stuff off my chest!
First of all, all the people saying ‘but this is a singing competition’ - well yeah, it’s about talent, but it’s all about the X-Factor. Are Robbie Williams and Madonna excellent singers? No they’re not. Pop is about more than singing, it’s about presence and charisma too.
And now onto Simon Cowell. I like the guy, he speaks the truth, but he did expose himself as a lying hypocrite last night – he effectively sacrificed a talented young girl’s career just for ratings. Seeing her crumble into tears on stage was very sad and disturbing.
But for a few weeks now, Simon has started to grate on me, because his nasty words have a real weight behind them. He’s like a bully – and when he (falsely) criticises someone (purely to swing the audience against them), the audience will take note and start to believe what he says. His words hold a lot of weight.
And for him to say ‘I’m basing this decision purely on the sing-offs’ was utter rubbish. Lucie sang her heart out, while Jedward jumped about like two desperate men who knew it was their last performance. Plus Simon was apparently talking to the Producers just before he made his decision...
So I think the show crossed a line last night - putting the audience’s wishes behind those of the ratings. The Jedward 'joke;, as much as I like them, has worn thin and I’m bored of them now. But how Simon can happily show himself to be a liar, a hypocrite and a deeply uncaring ‘human’ being, is absolutely beyond me...