Cracking Toast, Kermit!

I received some copies of Science Fiction Classics in the mail this week, which I take as a sign that it's now available. My contribution to the anthology is a Professor Challenger story called The Disintegration Machine (adapted by Rod Lott from the story by Arthur Conan Doyle). It's the first time they've attempted full colour, and right fancy it is too.

Here's a little curiosity from the vaults. Many moons ago I was asked to do a couple of sample pages for a Wallace and Gromit comic. The gig ended up going to another artist, but I was always quite pleased with the pages I came up with. So here they are. Mmm... bit of Wensleydale. Lovely.



Apart from that, my work life at the moment more or less revolves around the Muppet Show comics, which doesn't leave much room for other projects I can make exciting announcements about. I can recommend a few podcasts I listen to when I'm inking, when I need to feed some interesting content into my brain so I don't become a total vegetable: there's Art and Story, which is about the creative process as it specifically relates to comics; Big Illustration Party Time, which is more of the same but from an illustrator's point-of-view; Seqalab, the podcast of the Savannah College of Art and Design, always fun; Indie Spinner Rack, which probably needs no introduction; Webcomics Weekly, which hardly relates to what I do at all but which I find really entertaining; and a bunch of Radio 4 podcasts, including The News Quiz, Start the Week, A Point of View, The Today Programme and In Our Time. I've been meaning to plug those shows for a while now, so there we go.

Please Me, Tease Me

Running a bit behind this week, so this entry is a get-in, get-out-as-fast-as-I-can one. Here's a teaser image from an upcoming Mugwhump story for something called the Act-i-Vate Primer, which is pretty much what the title says it is - a print introduction to the work of various Act-i-Vate cartoonists. One for the Mugwhump fans who might be getting itchy during the hiatus. My story consists of six densely-packed (twelve-panel) pages showing events before the current strip began.

I got an e-mail this morning informing me that The Muppet Show Comic Book #1 is going for some larcenous price on Amazon right now. Please wait for the book collection, folks! The whole collectors' market is a cesspool of poisonous idiocy and I would encourage people not to spend stupid amounts of money on something you'll be able to pick up in book form in a couple of months. I don't draw these things to be put in bags and ignored. They're there to be read. Sorry to get all cross and irritable, but really.

Krazy, Daisy

The Small Press Expo is over and went very well, despite a few teething problems - my drawing workshop was cancelled at the last minute due to a room being double-booked - but it had a good vibe and sales were healthy. Looking forward to the next one, especially if it can be joined to the main Bristol show a bit more seamlessly. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and thanks to Mal Smith and her colleagues for all their hard work.

There's a radio interview with me (which was conducted at the UK Web and Mini-Comix Thing a month or so back) up online now, part of Resonance FM's "Strip" feature. You can listen to it here.

This week's picture is kind of a commission, although I was paid in books rather than cash - Ulrich Merkl is one of the editors of Sunday Press's frankly wonderful Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend collection, which he sent me a copy of in exchange for a Krazy Kat drawing. I finally forced myself to stop drawing pigs in wigs for five minutes and get the thing done, so here it is. The flow is a bit wonky between panels 4 and 5, alas - I couldn't make that work and still keep the design, so the design ended up winning.

A Hasty and Ill-Mannered Update

Couple of things I should mention that won't wait: The Fin Fang Four Returns, a collection of Fin Fang Four short stories which have previously appeared on Marvel Digital, hit the stores today. This has only just come to my attention. The nearest date I had until now was "sometime this year". So there's that.

The other thing is that it turns out I will have a table for the Saturday-only Small Press Expo (the indy show affiliated with this year's Bristol Comics Expo), which is good news, as I get to flog my wares and still wander around on Sunday in a happy fog looking for old issues of Kamandi. Best of both worlds! So look out for me at Table 3 at the Mercure Holland House, between Renegade Arts Entertainment and Al Davison.

(From the map I have here it looks like my table is in the Orchard Suite, whatever that is - it looks like you have to walk past the entrance to the Orchard Suite to get to the bar. Mmm... bar.)

Conventional

Conventions are upon us! This weekend I'll be a guest at the Bristol Comic Expo and its sister event, the Small Press Expo, at which I'll be doing a workshop for the under-12s (which I've yet to prepare -- eek!) and signing and sketching. This will be the first show I've been to for many a long year where I'm not an exhibitor, so I won't have a table for a change -- so check the schedule if you want to track me down (at this writing no official timetable is on the website, but there should be something at the actual event).

And, continuing our convention theme, this week's illustration is one I did for Heroes Con's convention booklet. The original art for this will be auctioned there to help defray the expense of hauling my arse out there in the first place.

Got a look this week at the beautiful artwork Jeff Parker is doing for my incredibly stupid Uncanny X-Men: First Class two-pager. It's the gorgeousest!

Last but not least, there's a short interview with me at ToughPigs.com on all things related to The Muppet Show Comic #2, which critics are already calling "not as good as #1".

Aaand... relax.

You may notice this week that Mugwhump the Great is taking a short break. I'm planning on not making it longer than a couple of months -- I value the strip highly as my only non-corporate outlet at the moment -- but a break was necessary before I completely burn out and forget what my kids look like. Once I've caught up with my Muppets schedule a bit, I'll be jumping right back in there with both boots. In the meantime I'll continue posting new content of some description here at the Hotel Fred, even if it's just a bunch of old sketches, and continue with the weekly blog posts. Got to keep you coming back, now, don't I?

Couple of bits of news, though: first, Slave Labor is going to be publishing the third Strange Eggs anthology at long last. Chris Reilly and I did a short story in there, the title of which I'm not going to reveal as it will spoil the whole thing, but it involves a character called Hal Monty, sleazy thespian and general slimeball, who was a hoot to work on. Also, there's a short interview with me at Wonderchroma on Muppet things. End of plugorama.

Back to Indie Island

This week, the delightful Dustin Harbin followed up last year's casual invitation to attend this year's Heroes Con in June with a rather more definite and heartfelt one, so after some quick investigation of air fares I've accepted, and will be attending with bells on. Boom! Studios, the publishers of my current work on the Muppet Show comic, will be there as well, so I daresay I'll be putting some faces to names at last. I went last year and had a great time, and I'm looking forward to this one immensely.


Here's an illo I did for Nemi Magazine in Norway - the text was about a missing Munch painting which was eventually discovered in the possession of a sleeping passenger on a train. I love drawing that creepy screaming bastard.

Scrape Those Barrels!

Weary after a long week, I'm at a loss for any new and exciting things to share, so I thought I'd dig up another oldie for you. This was done for the sheer joy of it, a few months after I'd seen Chris Ware's work for the first time (as if you couldn't tell). I thought maybe I'd found a way to meld my Python influences and my comics influences into some new third thing that was neither, but at the same time both at once. In hindsight it looks like what it is, a vaguely amusing page by someone who wasn't quite sure what he was doing. Still, I remain fond.


I'll be taking a short break from Mugwhump the Great in a couple of weeks - mainly because I'm burned out from overwork and I need to get things sorted out before I jump back into it. Chapter Two will conclude soon, so that will be a good place to stop for a month or two. I'm not sure what, if anything, will appear here in its place - I'd like to do something, as long as it's really easy or already lying around. I'll put me thinkin' head on.

Cow Secrets

This past week has seen me in my bed, sweating, shivering and farting, as my body finally gives up after several months of overwork. So my schedule is one hell of a mess and I'm scrambling to catch up a little right now. Quickly, then: there's a mini-interview with me at ToughPigs.com about Muppet Show related stuff...


I can't remember what the above page was done for now - although I do have a vague memory of the title being inspired by the old "Herd of Cows" crosstalk act (you know: "Herd of cows?" "Of course I've heard of cows." "No, no, a cow herd." "What did it hear?" etc. ) This was when I was still in my "let's make up a lot of disjointed panels and hope they hang together as a story" mode as a writer, which some might argue I still am. Personally, I think I've progressed to disjointed pages now.

Sorry if your Muppet Show #1 review isn't in the sidebar of the hotelfred.com front page - I was going to link to them all, but the sheer volume of the damn things got a bit out of hand. I'll probably try to work up a review links page soon, with one elegant link in the sidebar there to keep it tidy. Or I might just leave things the way they are and go back to bed, sweating, shivering and farting my way to a better tomorrow.

What just happened?

What a strange, strange week it's been. First thing to say is thank you -- thank you to everybody who said kind things about Muppet Show #1 online or in person, thank you to everyone who bought it or read it or just gave it a chance. (I'm especially gratified by the thumbs-up from ToughPigs.com who, as the name implies, I was expecting to be a tough crowd.) And thank you to Mark Waid for getting to the heart of the matter in his inimitable style.


The page above is one of the ones I did for the late, lamented Disney Adventures magazine, which was never published. It seems to me I ought either to have some Muppet content on my website or a link to a place where you can find some, so this will have to do for now until I figure out what I'm doing.

I had the privilege of recording an interview for the wonderful podcast for freelance illustrators and cartoonists, Big Illustration Party Time, on Sunday night. It's a great show for those in the ink-wrangling field, and very entertaining for those who aren't -- highly recommended. (And check out the work of hosts Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble while you're there!)

But the highlight of my week was the great UK Web and Mini-Comix Thing, my favourite UK show by some distance. No dealers, no costumes, just cartoonists promoting their own comics, like it should be. Mmm... comics. Smoke one today.

Gimme an "M"!

The first issue of The Muppet Show should be out on Wednesday - there's a preview at Comic Book Resources for those who can't wait. I saw a PDF version of the finished book last week and I'm very happy with how it's come out -- let's see if anyone else agrees... Below is a frame from the pencils to issue #3, the Gonzo issue. (Just to give you something to look forward to -- or to avoid, according to personal preference.)


If all goes smoothly, I should have a minicomic version of the first chapter of Mugwhump the Great available at The UK Web and Mini-Comix Thing this weekend. (I still need to do a bit of work on it, but it's getting there.) If you're in London (or willing to make the journey), please stop by and say hello -- I'll be there all day sketching, selling comics and artwork and generally making an appalling nuisance of myself as usual.

Brown Thing

Been a while since I've posted any Horrible Histories illustrations, so here's one from the vaults which I don't actually remember drawing. I rather like the penwork on this one, although in hindsight I don't think I quite captured the Martin Brown look as much as I probably thought I had at the time.


Counting down the days now until the Web and Mini-Comix Thing. And indeed until Muppet Show #1, which will be within a couple of days of one another. Currently drawing issue #3, writing issue #5 and wondering what the world outside looks like...

A Box of Frogs

I love the expression "mad as a box of frogs". No idea where I first heard it, but whoever came up with it - well done.


Here's the cover to Zoot #6 from years gone by, photoshopped to remove the text, for reasons which escape me now - I think I just wanted to see if I could do it. On reflection I thought it might make a good cover to the hypothetical Zoot collection I floated last week (thanks to both of you who thought that was a good idea, by the way). Especially since I don't have a spare day to do a new one. Not saying it's going to happen tomorrow or anything, but it's another piece of the jigsaw falling into place.

Oh, Yoko!

Turned in the script for my X-Men story this week. Well, I say X-Men story -- what it is is, for all intents and purposes, a roll call for the never-quite-actually-formed Legion of Substitute Mutants. All good clean fun, which is why I'm going to have to think of another character to replace Holland's mutant hero, Dykefinger.


Here's a strip written by my brother Andrew for our long-forgotten comic, Zoot!, based on a never-used idea for a film conceived by Yoko Ono, in which every character experiences time at a different speed simultaneously. This was in my "I Don't Know What I'm Doing" phase of painted colour, where I'd basically fix everything with coloured pencils after I'd botched them in watercolour. Circa 1992 I think.

I've been thinking lately that I should sort out some kind of Best of the Rest Zoot! collection, a companion volume to Zoot Suite (Zoot Brut? Zoot Cheroot?), maybe on a print-on-demand basis -- I can't see any real publisher taking a gamble on something so relentlessly anti-commercial in these troubled times. Tell you what, I'll keep you posted. Might be one for the Bristol show in May, if I can get my junk together.

When Worlds Collide

It's been a while since I posted one of my illustrations for Inside Soap magazine, so here's one I did this week with a vague connection to my current comics work. The scenario was suggested by the editor and I'm pretty sure he's not aware that I'm doing Muppets and vaudeville puppetry elsewhere, so this is a complete coincidence. But it felt nice to think that all my work had a kind of thematic coherence for a brief moment.


Always with the puppets, Langridge. You want to get out more.

Oh, yes - while I think of it, it looks like the first of my Captain America short stories is out now, in Marvel Adventures: Super-Heroes #8. Lead story scripted by Scott Gray, backup scripted by me, all beautifully drawn by Craig Rousseau. Further installments to appear at three-month intervals, so I think that makes the next one issue #11. Anyway, cover reproduced below for your convenience.


Coming up in the next installment: PRODOK! How's that for a teaser?

Rehearsal Time is Over!

As I write this, the first issue of the Muppet Show comic is getting ready to go to the printers. This week I've been doing a few last-minute art fixes after Disney finally got back with comments - nothing too drastic, they seem pretty happy for the most part. They wanted Animal's hair a bit shaggier, that's about it. So shaggier it shall be.


Nick Mag's Nickelodeon Comic #33 (February 2009 issue) arrived in the post this week with a "Back to the Barnyard" story I drew, so I guess that's out around now. Oh, and Cthulhu Tales #11 as well. I have very mixed feelings about how I can work for months with nothing coming out, then everything hits the stands in a three-week period... it makes me look like a very lazy man with an occasional amphetamine habit.

The Ultimate Answer

This week I turn 42. When I was 22, my then-flatmate was turning 20 at around the same time, so we threw a 42nd birthday party. (So I've done this before, you see.) Anyway, one of the presents I received that year was this strip by Dylan Horrocks. I guess this is my last good reason to share it, so here it is.


I've been asked to write two pages for an X-Men title. I know next to nothing about the X-Men -- haven't even seen the movies. Ha ha! So of course I said yes immediately. But probably the highlight of my comics week was being befriended on Friendface by Fred Hembeck. When I was ten I wanted to be Fred Hembeck. And now he's my Friendface friend. I've arrived!

Mangled Manga

Not quite a week old: there's yet another Newsarama interview, this one focussing on the Muppet Show comic, over here.


Almost finished with these old Disney mastheads now; just a couple more left. I was asked to do this one in a Manga style, except I can't do a Manga style to save my life -- so what you get is more or less 100% Langridge with a few big eyes grafted on top of it. Sorry, Manga fans.

Bristol and Death

Here's an illustration I did recently for a book called Machine of Death, co-edited by David Malki! (who does the very funny strip Wondermark). The piece it's illustrating is called "Prison Knife Fight", written by the brilliant Shaenon K. Garrity.


Newsy news: it looks like I'm going to be a guest at the upcoming Bristol Comics Expo on May 9th and 10th. Normally I go the whole hog and exhibit as a small press publisher, but this year it looks like I missed the booking window, so I thought, why not see if I can blag my way in as a guest for once? And, in an interesting development, there's something called the Small Press Expo (not to be confused with the identically-named American show in Bethesda, MD) happening in connection with it this year, so I'll be involved with that as well, doing children's workshops and a bit of sketching and what-have-you. So that's all worked out rather nicely.

Here be Beasts!

The magnificent new BEASTS! book, BEASTS! II, arrived in the mail this week. It's absolutely beautiful - a beautiful object containing beautiful things. I did Spring-Heeled Jack for the book, as seen here:


The original artwork for this piece, as well as many, many more by the other contributors, is on display at Giant Robot in San Francisco right now - well worth checking out if you're in the area.

Finished inking Muppet Show #1 last night, just in the nick of time. Now I've got to start #2. How dare they put these things out once a month!