Comic Cuts — 26 August 2022

I have to make this super quick this week as I spent the day trying to finish off an article that took a lot longer than expected ... and is still not finished. I also had some artwork that I wanted to have finished, but I managed 5/6ths of the total before being forced to give up and quickly write these words.

Why all the hurry? To give me a chance to have a long weekend. I have family visiting tomorrow and it's a bank holiday on Monday. What are the chances? Not good. I think I'm going to be doing a bit of work on Saturday and I'll have the house to myself for most of Sunday, so it looks like I'll be playing catch-up.

I probably only have myself to blame. I spent a couple of hours looking at computer kit trying to figure out what might be best for me. It has been suggested that, rather than getting a PC, I get a laptop and a docking station, which I'm very tempted by as it means I can move between my office (which has no insulation and is probably going to be freezing cold this winter) and the living room (which will probably be warmer and will certainly retain the heat better). We're waiting on the announcement about the energy price cap, due Friday. If it's too much, I might not even be able to afford any new kit.

No further news on the next book from Bear Alley. I'm hoping to start copy-editing the text  but haven't got very far yet; mind you, I'm not expecting it to take too long—the bit that will take the time will be sorting out pictures and designing the book. Hopefully all will be done this side of Christmas. I'm also thinking of what I call a Christmas project, which in the past has been the Gwyn Evans Hercules books and, last year, the Andrew Forrester books. Generally they're books that I don't have financial expectations of but that's outweighed by the desire to have copies of the book(s) on my shelf. I don't have anything planned, but I will say that something has recently landed in my lap that might fit the bill.

Right, that's me done for the night. I will leave you with this bizarre book cover image. Unbelievably, this is drawn by Robert McGinnis, the brilliant American paperback cover artist, whose work I usually admire. But this? The perspective is all wrong, and you can't tell me that it's a trick of perspective as nothing else (look, for instance, at the wall) is warped or out of proportion.

I remember the fuss that was made about Barbie and her unnatural proportions, and American comic books are a minefield of misshapen women. But I'm surprised that McGinnis could get this so wrong. Here's the original cover, just to show I haven't manipulated it in any way.

Unless, of course, the publisher said "Robert, we want a leggy blonde on the cover, but she's got to have the proportions of a flamingo. Don't ask why. No... not in a lake... put her on a wall at twilight. And she's lost her blouse. And her shoes. But not her gun. Oh, and we need it by Thursday, so don't bother about getting a model in. I'm sure everything will be just fine..."