An Autumn Triad

I had a great time at the Warsaw Independent Bookfair this past weekend—it was probably my favourite of the non-comics-specific shows at which I've exhibited over the years. It was my first time tabling copies of The Many Not the Few, which seemed to go over well. (I've finally added the book to my Shop—I'll be dispatching orders from the end of the month.) Thanks to everyone who stopped by—you were some very cool people.

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A post shared by Robert Brown (@pygmyking) on Sep 7, 2019 at 2:14am PDT

My next show will be the International Festival of Comics & Games (MFKiG) in Łódź, which will be taking place on 27–29 September. I've visited the event once as a punter, and enjoyed it—so I'm looking forward to exhibiting there for the first time. (I still haven't explored the city very much, and the comics festival coincides with the city's Light Move Festival, so I'm hoping to make a little holiday of it, too.)

© International Festival of Comics and Games

And then, to round off a trio of Central European shows, I'll be exhibiting at the FRAME Festival in Prague (2–3 November). I've not been to the festival before, so I'm curious to find out what it's like—and it's always nice to be in the Czech capital. (I guess I've had a break from UK shows this year—but I'll probably be about for one or two in 2020. We'll see.)

© No Ordinary Heroes / Centrala

In other news, I'm in the process of finally finishing up the second edition of Killjoy #2—which I started working on way back in the summer of 2017 (but set aside to make The Many Not the Few). I've ended up making more amendments to the artwork than I originally intended—hence the continued delay in its release—but I think it's looking a lot better for it. I'll also be adding an additional story, 'The Tooth Fairy & Me'. I'm hoping to have copies with me in Łódź—and in Prague, too.

Late Spring; Launching

Hello again! I'm delighted to announce the release, this week, of The Many Not the Few: An Illustrated History of Britain Shaped by the People, a new history comic written by Sean Michael Wilson and drawn by yours truly, with a foreword by Jeremy Corbyn. It's an episodic history of people's uprisings and labour movements in Britain from the fourteenth century to the present day, across ten chapters and five-score pages of comics.

On Monday 29th May, we had a lovely launch for the book at the UK Houses of Parliament (!!), during a birthday bash celebrating the 120th anniversary of the founding of the General Federation of Trade Unions (co-publishers, alongside New Internationalist, under their Workable Books imprint). There were some excellent talks on the history of GFTU, and a special appearance by Corbyn, who have a rousing speech – and bought four copies of the book!

Too eager to pose.
Photo by Corinne Pearlman (Myriad)

He thought the Brexit talks were as tedious as it gets... and then he met me.
Photo by Corinne Pearlman (Myriad)

This project has been in development since late 2016, and it's occupied a lot of my time and attention for these last couple-and-a-bit years (hence my online quietude). So, after such a long gestation, I'm excited for you all to see it. I'll be offering (signed/sketched-in) copies for sale soon enough, but if you're eager to buy it now, you can get it from online shops such as New Internationalist's Ethical Shop and Hive.co.uk, or hop on down to your friendly neighbourhood comic shop, like Page 45. Watch this space for news about an ebook edition.

(I'll also be offering original art sales in due course. Feel free to get in touch with enquiries and/or to bagsy any pages you particularly like.)

Page one – and so, it begins...