MERRY CHRISTMAS!

JOHN H. WATSON, M.D.

(The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero)

Here's a rough of Dr. Watson for one of the pages I'm working on right at this very moment for Hound of the Baskervilles. Thought I'd take a quick snap shot and post it here.

The wet proofs for a handful of test pages arrived yesterday morning from the printers so I could see how the color would print and I'm rather pleased and excited.

Now then. About Dr. John H. Watson:

IN the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy's country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties.

The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.

- (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of JOHN H. WATSON, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department), A Study in Scarlet.

The beauty of what you've read above is, as I see it, what's there to be read between the lines. Doyle was superb at marrying fact with fiction, in order to make the fiction all the more plausible. In the introduction to Doyle's 'The Maracot Deep' John Dickinson Carr wrote:

'No small part of our author's genius was his ability to tell a story so persuasively that it sounded like a narration of fact.'

And it's that no small part of his genius that brings me to Dr. Watson and the Battle of Maiwand. Whilst many may know of Watson through Nigel Bruce's portrayal of a bumbling baffoon, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle portrayed Holmes' chronicler, Dr. John H. Watson as a capable and brave man - a 'whetstone' for Holmes' mind.

The bravery of the English soldiers that fought in the Battle of Maiwand was noted by an Afghanistan officer. The British had lost and were down to 11 men.

"These men charged from the shelter of a garden and died with their faces to the enemy, fighting to the death. So fierce was their charge, and so brave their actions, no Afghan dared to approach to cut them down. So, standing in the open, back to back, firing steadily, every shot counting, surrounded by thousands, these British soldiers died. It was not until the last man was shot down that the Afghans dared to advance on them. The behaviour of those last eleven was the wonder of all who saw it".

Now, given that Watson survived he clearly wouldn't have been one of the final eleven (if we marry fact with fiction for a moment as Doyle suggests) but another matter cements his courage and devotion to my mind.

In 'A Study in Scarlet' (re: above) it states that Watson was shot in the shoulder (wounded by a Jezail bullet), and its this wound that had him pulled out of active service. In 'The Sign of Four' (another of the books we're adapting), he makes reference to a war wound in his leg.

'I made no remark, however, but sat nursing my wounded leg. I had a Jezail bullet through it some time before, and, though it did not prevent me from walking, it ached wearily at every change of the weather.'

Which was it, the shoulder or the leg? That's something that's sometimes been a matter of debate. Well, if our Watson served at the battle of Maiwand and if the description given by the Afghanistan officer is anything to go by then the answer's quite simple as I see it. It was both. Not only that, but Watson was already significantly wounded before he took the bullet in the shoulder which retired him from the battlefield for good. Had he, even wounded, tried desperately to save lives in the chaos that was the battlefield of the Maiwand? Watson was a courageous and devoted man and yet he himself is quick to note the devotion and courage of another! In factual context, Watson was truly an exceptional fellow.

2000AD PROG 2009 - SCROTNIG 100-PAGE CHRISTMAS MEGA-SPECIAL

Prog 2009 is on sale today! And in it you will find the Stickleback Christmas Special I spoke of back in November. The story is called 'T'was the Fight before Christmas' which is by strange coincidence the same title given to the Sinister Dexter story Stickleback co-creator and original artist D'israeli debued with ten years ago as a colorist. For those following the references slipped into these stories, Fishpaste is not the only one I managed to sneak in.

THE LION AND THE SKULL

New plate up on WKRR? A little different to what I normally do. Not long now before the strip comes to an end and a new Round Robin starts for 2009.

OLIVER POSTGATE

Just heard this morning that Oliver Postgate passed away peacefully aged 83. He created some of the best loved television for children, including the Clangers, Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and Noggin the Nog. He's certainly been an enormous inspiration to me. Let's not think the world a gloomier place for not having Mister Postgate in it anymore, rather it's a better place for Mister Postgate having been in it at all. The memories he leaves behind for generations of children are filled with Soup Dragons and small green locomotives and for that all I have left to say is thank you Oliver Postgate. Thank you.

HOLMES FROM THUMBNAILS TO INKS

The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero

STICKLEBACK CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Stickleback © 2008 Rebellion Developments/2000AD
Stickleback created by Ian Edginton & D'Israeli.
Drawn by me.

The cat is well and truly out of the bag so I may as well show you a sneak peek from the story I've drawn for the 2000AD Christmas special (Prog 2009) which I mentioned back in September. It's a festive Stickleback story written by Ian Edginton. Stickleback is usually drawn by D'Israeli who's artwork for the series is three things; absolutely gorgeous, distinctly Stickleback and a blooming hard act to follow.

Many thanks to Ian, D'Israeli and Tharg for this opportunity. I had a blast doing it.

PATERSON JOSEPH THE NEW ... POTENTIALLY THE NEW DOCTOR WHO?

This is Phillip Rhys, who play Al Sadiq in the new series 'Survivors' who reels off the cast list and says "Paterson Joseph who's gonna be the n.... potentially the new Doctor Who". See what you make of this:

Thanks to Col for the heads up.

TALK TALK (UPDATED)

I went down to London Town on Sunday to talk to Paul Gravett in front of lots of people at the ICA about Dorian and a little bit about Holmes, the first two pages of which you can see projected on the screen in the background of this picture. That's me on the left, that's Paul Gravett in the middle and that's Ian Edginton on the right.

In other news, here's a review of The Picture of Dorian Gray from The Bookseller.

(click to enlarge)

(UPDATE): And there's also these splendid words:

"Films and graphic novels have a lot in common – indeed I could have used much of this as my storyboards. It's terrific to see Wilde's work in this form and it's a great way to reach a wider audience. The visuals are bold and striking and the text very skillfully abridged."

- Oliver Parker, director of 'The Importance of Being Earnest', 'An Ideal Husband' and the forthcoming 'Dorian Gray'.

THE VIOLINST

The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero

BAF'08 STORYBOARD WORKSHOP CANCELLED

I arrived in Bradford just before midnight last night to find there was a problem with reservations and that I didn't have a room at the hotel I was supposed to be staying at. Unfortunately there were no vacancies in any of the other hotels in the whole of Bradford. So I had to get back in my car and drive all the way home again, not getting back till 3am. So, unfortunately due to these unforeseen circumstances the workshop I'd spent so much time preparing for had to, regretably, be canceled. My apologies to anyone who was hoping to attend.

MORE FROM THE PSYCHOHORIZON

My new plate for WKRR? is up. Please go check it out.

LIVE FROM THE PSYCHO HORIZON, FROM THE ABSOLUTE NOW

This is apparently what Harrison Ford said about George Lucas' script for Star Wars.

Ah, the Psychohorizon, finally. An infinite corridor of time, space and the mind. Lots of pseudo psychoanalysis like Transference Sickness. Transference itself is a phenomenon found in psychoanalysis but has very little to do with void virgins.

As correctly observed by Rob Davis in the comments section for this plate, this is a Poirot moment. Perhaps a game of motives and alibis is about to begin? We shall see.

Don't know why but I decided this page was all about fours. There's four panels, four sentences and each sentence is four words long.

ET CETERA

My work on the 2000AD Christmas special is done and I'm looking forward to seeing it in print. I've also got another 3 pager for something else that popped up towards the tail end of last week that needs to be done before the end of this month. More on that as and when I can spill beans.

And now for something completely different. Here's a letter I found addressed to me which mildly amused me.

Now, picture this. The young Master Culbard, to whom the above letter was addressed (I still have the envelope the letter arrived in and no it doesn't have a stamp on it, it has a royal stamp, but not an actual postage stamp with the Queens head on it), was at that time a little boy reading The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows and The Lion and the Witch in the Wardrobe (the three main books of my childhood at that time) and listening to Mozart, Holst and Wagner (I really wasn't fond of 'pop' music). Some might say a precocious child. Others might say disturbing. And others might say - oh never mind them, they're not important anyway. But I digress. Imagine, if you will, my delight at such a wonderfully naive and innocent age upon reading the following:

"The Prince and Princess of Wales have asked me -"

They specifically asked. They said, "Henrietta dearest, do be a chum and write to that dear fellow and thank him for us would you. It was awfully kind of him to write to us and to spare a moments thought for us given how frightfully busy he is with all this and all that." Or at least that's likely the way I would have seen it aged nine.

"Their Royal Highnesses were most touched by the good wishes you have expressed"

What the heck did I write that gave merit to a letter from Buckingham blooming Palace?

I can only imagine it may have gone something like this:

DAVID TENNANT QUITS DOCTOR WHO

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!!! David Tennant has just announced that he's leaving Doctor Who after the next four specials which will be broadcast over the coming year.

Rumor has it that Paterson Joseph is to step into the 11th Doctor's shoes, 3-1 according to the BBC against four unlikely ones. Joseph can be seen here playing the Marquis de Carabas in Neverwhere:

And lastly, Russell Tovey was apparently RTD's tip to replace Tennant seen here playing the werewolf in the BBC pilot drama, Being Human (created and written by Doctor Who writer, Toby Whithouse - this show's getting a full series apparently):

HOUND INKS

The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero

WKRR? MWIP!

These are the last two pages of WKRR? I've appeared on. Thought I'd show the full pages as Dave Taylor's gone to all the effort and done a lovely job of sticking the pages together. You can see all the full pages of the strip shown in sequential order over here.

BACK FROM BIRMINGHAM

Got back from the Birmingham International Comic Show late on Saturday night. What a hoot!

Got to meet up with the lovely folk from SelfMadeHero again, signed some books for some incredibly nice people who were all saying incredibly nice things. And the first copy of Dorian Gray that I signed was for Mark Buckingham and his wife Irma. I also finally met Sean Phillips and got up to speed with Criminal and managed to get a copy of Seven psychos. Oh, and I got a comp copy of The Girly Comic (from marvelous Jay and Selina at Factor Fiction) which has 'War Canary' in it in full color! And I hooked up again with my dear chums Dave Taylor and Colin Fawcett with whom I ate food and drank wine (we actually got a free lunch).

In other news I'm going to be making more appearances in November. I've off to Bradford to run a workshop at the Bradford Animation Festival on Thursday the 13th of November (at 10:30 in the morning for two hours):

Storyboarding, alongside character design and scriptwriting, is one of the key stages of producing a quality animation. In this two hour workshop, Ian Culbard (animation filmmaker with experience in directing commercials, television, and short films) offers an insight into the skills involved in producing effective storyboards.

That same week I'm dashing off to London to appear on a panel. Over at Paul Gravett's site there's info on a panel I'm going to be on:

Turning Classics Into Comics
Shakespeare, Brontë, Wilde and Dickens are getting visual makeovers as comics. How does prose transfer to panels? What is lost, and found, in translation? Richard Appignanesi and Ian Edgington talk with their visualisers Mustashrik, Chie Kutsuwada and Ian Culbard, and John M Burns and Mike Collins discuss their versions of Jane Eyre and A Christmas Carol. Plus signings.
Supported by Classical Comics, SelfMadeHero & Letraset
Tickets: Each talk - £6, £5 concs, £4 members
Tickets: All three of today's talks - £15, £12 concs, £9 members
Where: Nash & Brandon Rooms, ICA
When: Sunday, 16 November, 6pm to 7.30pm

So November's going to be quite a busy and exciting month for me.

TOK

Snuck this one in late last night. Poor Bronx. I was listening to AC/DC's 'Back in Black' when I started inking. The last panel was drawn to AC/DC's Thunderstruck. I've no idea why I was listening to AC/DC at the time. I don't usually. But it certainly got me in the mood and thankfully spurred me on to finish this panel quite quickly.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

The Hound of the Baskervilles © 2008 SelfMadeHero

Work is well and truly underway on The Hound of the Baskervilles and momentum's picking up (we're a month in now). Here's an early idea for the cover (this won't be the final cover but you do get to see Holmes here, and an early Watson (Watson's nose is a little different now). We're shaking off the bumbling buffoonery of Nigel Bruce and the deerstalker and the Calabash of Paget and Gillette respectively.