Comic Cuts - 11 October 2019

We've had a very nice week of walks, thanks to Mel having a few days off from work. I've tried to keep up a steady stream of uploads to Ebay, including the first couple of batches of The Comics Journal, which I have been trying to sort through for a couple of weeks. There are so many brilliant interviews and features that I have been loath to let them go. But needs must and any attempt to downsize (and earn a bit of money along the way) must include some treasures.

It's always nicer to have someone to walk and chat with, so we've been wandering around town a couple of times a day, once down the hill towards the quay and alternating it with wanderings around the various roads and crescents and avenues that form the inland half of town. Wivenhoe was primarily known for boat building and fishing in the first half of the 20th century and the town was built around those two industries, with working class families living in smaller, terraced houses closer to the factories, while the managers and owners lived a little further out. There is one main road through the whole town, but you can easily spot where the workforce ended and the management began: it's where the High Street ends and The Avenue begins—bearing in mind that this is the same road.

I'm hoping that the extra walks will kick-start a bit of weight loss. I've had quite a good year, having lost just over half a stone, but I could do with losing quite a bit more as I'm still a long way from being classified as just "overweight". Or I somehow need to grow taller so I'm the right height for my weight.

The photo above was taken on Monday looking through the flood barrier; just a moody, early morning view of the River Colne. You can tell autumn is here.

I have just received a copy of Picturing Tom Brown by Robert J. Kirkpatrick, whose name should need no introduction to regular readers of Bear Alley. An 83-page softcover book, it pretty much does what the title implies, reproducing dozens of covers, dust jackets and interior illustrations from an astonishing range of different published versions of Thomas Hughes's classic schoolboy novel, Tom Brown's Schooldays.

The number of different publishers and printings is astonishing. The book has never been out of print since its first appearance from Macmillan & Co. in April 1857. It had sold 11,000 copies by January 1858, by which time it had been pirated by an American publisher, Tickner & Fields (there were no copyright laws at that time), who also published the first illustrated edition in 1860; Macmillan produced their first illustrated edition in 1868 [dated 1869].

Over the next century almost every major publisher has produced an edition of the book, some lavishly illustrated, others not so but still with attractive dust jacket and frontispiece illustrations. The best of these have been gathered in Kirkpatrick's book which contains 400 illustrations in colour and black & white, plus 126 pictorial and decorative covers and dustjackets. It is quite amazing to see how many different ways one single scene can be brought to life by the many talented artists on display, including (but not limited to) H. M. Brock, Gordon Browne, Paul Hardy, Harold Copping, T. Heath Robinson and S. van Abbe.

You can get a copy via Amazon.

After the break, we find out if My Life Is Murder is worth staying up for. There may be spoilers, so if that's something you detest, jump to the end of the column.

My Life Is Murder is a gentle-paced Australian mystery drama series starring Lucy Lawless as Alexa Crowe, a retired police officer, although the show generally follows a pattern that has her one-time boss, DI Kieran Hussey (Bernard Curry) bring a cold case or seemingly insoluble recent murder to her attention.

Once involved, Alexa is a dogged investigator, following clues with the aid of her computer and tech gal, Madison (Ebony Vaulans), who wants to learn the business of detecting but, for the most part, has only the grudging respect of Alexa who treats her as a reluctant, unpaid research assistant whenever she needs information or something hacked.

Alexa Crowe can be charming, but that is not her default setting. Rather, she goes through life in a state of mild annoyance at life's frustrations—her sourdough maker won't work properly; she has been adopted by a cat she doesn't at first want; she has problems sleeping but ignores the recommendations of her doctor—which causes her to rub up the wrong way those she meets in the course of her work. Friends let it slide, even if they are allergic to cats, but suspects can react badly or violently.

For all her faults, Alexa is an appealing character, her lack of social filter giving the show a humorous edge to it. Although it deals with murder—a woman fallen from the 19th floor of a building; a man is shot dead in a motel room locked on the inside; a businessman dies while out cycling; a hit and run accident has more behind it than just drink; a teacher at Alexa's school dies in odd circumstances—these are not the gory, gritty serial killings of modern television, but a more suburban fare.

The closest comparison I can think of is Ben Miller-era Death in Paradise, which has the same mystery-of-the-week format. Move the whole thing to Melbourne, Australia, and you'll have some idea of whether it's the kind of thing you'd like. If the answer is Yes, you can find it on Alibi.