Who's Who in the CBU 2008

Name: Regie Rigby

Regie is a strange, almost ethereal creature. Who can plumb the hidden mysteries of his dark and murky past - a past which contains a terrible secret. A secret that taught him that with great power comes great responsibility, that criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot and just who exactly knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

By day, he assumes the appearance of a mild mannered teacher, bringing the joy of literature and the English Language to classes of enthralled and enthusiastic students. But by night?

By night he goes home and writes lesson plans. Sorry. That's as interesting as he gets. Really.

The rumours about rooftop struggles with underworld uberfiends, the gossip about the hidden cave filled with hi-tec equipment and the suggestion that his car might be fitted with turbo lasers are all nonsense.

When he's not teaching he reads comics. Sometimes he combines the two activities. When he's not doing that he's either playing computer games or asleep.

Vicars, Schools, and Exploding Computers

By Regie Rigby

Hello again my foolish friends, from a slightly smouldering FoolCentral. My ancient PC has finally given up the ghost, and blown out every single fuse, the power supply and just about everything else, leaving me posting on my newly aquired School provided Laptop. Thank goodness I teach in a “Technology College” where such things are provided, otherwise I’d be stuck with no access to the internet, which surely must be regarded as “geek death”.

Still I’m here, and no later than usual, so let’s get on with the show!

Exploding computers aside (and it was a rather impressive flash…) it has been a rather good week this week, at least in part due to the wonderful people at Markosia. It was, after all, Markosia’s Harry Markos and Sam Salmon who introduced me to the ex-copper, ex-vicar and current writing sensation that is G.P. Taylor while he was on their stand at Bristol back in May.

He was there signing copies of his books, and copies the comic adaptation of his novel Shadowmancer, which as you will already know is published by Markosia (and it is a damn fine adaptation too). He’s an unassuming man with a flair for conversation and when the conversation turned to my “day job” as an English Teacher he was happy to agree to visiting my school and giving a talk about writing.

Well, on Monday, that’s exactly what he did. Holding a group of 11-14 year olds quite literally spellbound for over an hour, and then moving on to what might be the hardest audience an ex-Vicar could ever have to face – a group of 16 – 18 year old RE Students. I missed that talk, but by all accounts, they were eating out of his hand.

I’m not surprised really. Taylor knows how to catch attention, and he’s a real master story-teller – something demonstrated by the success of his books. I’m not sure that he’s outsold Potter yet, but he can’t be that far off. It wasn’t the fact that I managed to get a complete set of autographed books that was the most exciting thing about the visit though. Nor was the chance to listen to his master class on how a story should be constructed – fabulous as that was.

No, the most exciting thing about the day was the chance to get a look at a proof copy of G.P. Taylor’s next project, The Tizzle Sisters and Erik. Taylor’s books are generally published by the publishing giant Faber and Faber, but The Tizzle Sisters and Erik will be different. In fact, The Tizzle Sisters and Erik will be quite unlike anything we’ve seen before.

It’s going to be published by Markosia, and won’t be a “conventional” novel. Markosia are billing this work as a “Manga Novella”, and the narrative will be presented through a mix of conventional prose and comic strip. Now, I could quibble with the term “Manga Novella”, since to me the term “Manga” suggest a particular style, and the visuals provided by Dan Boultwood (he of The Gloom) are most certainly not done in that style. I won’t quibble though, because I suspect the term is being used because it’s a word conventional booksellers know and can relate to. It is important with thins like this to remember that the word “comics” is not regarded as positive by everyone. Besides, the term “Comic Novella” would have been confusing.

Oh, and before you say it, yes, I know that the idea of mixing prose and comic strip in the same narrative isn’t new – writers like Neil Gaiman and Terry Moore have been doing it for years. But The Tizzle Sisters and Erik is different. It’s a question of approach as much as anything, the way the comics (scripted by Tony Lee, continuing the relationship with Taylor forged on the Shadowmancer adaptation) are blended with the prose is almost seamless, and I’d be very interested to know how the decision about what will be prose and what won’t was made.

It’s a concept that is unlike anything I’ve seen in a “mainstream” bookshop, and given my reaction to it, and more importantly the reactions of the kids (who are the target market here, after all) I fully expect it to take the world by storm. I certainly hope so, because to be frank, Markosia deserves to have a much higher profile than it does. Last week I said that to have reached the point they’re at in the very short time they’ve been around is impressive – and it is.

But given the quality and variety of their product they could, even should have gotten even further. What’s holding them back? Well, as I said last week (sorry to keep repeating myself, but what can I tell you, I’m right) they suffer in part from “next big thing” syndrome. After Com.X and AP Comics, people are so used to “the next big thing” going belly up leaving a trail of never to be completed stories in their wake, they tend not to bother when the next next big thing comes along.

This syndrome also makes it easier for people to believe any negative hype that gets bandied about – even when it’s unfounded. Not all Markosia books are on a monthly schedule, for example. It’s not all that surprising therefore when such titles don’t come out every month – they were never supposed to. However, as a result of this “failure” to get these books out every month I’ve heard people say that Markosia has “Scheduling Problems”.

Nonsense.

Oh, I’m sure that there are books that haven’t come out when they should’ve – but so does everybody. How many books from Marvel and DC get held up? I haven’t worked out the figures (I have a life, but if anyone fancies putting it to the test I’d be interested to hear) but my perception is that Markosia has less of a scheduling problem than the big two. (I mean, can we say “Civil War”?)

Besides, even if such “problems” existed, Markosia is putting out books that are worth waiting for. Just to go back to Shadowmancer for a second, I’ve already told you how good I think the comics adaptation is. Tony Lee has done a fantastic job on the script, and the art, though cartoony in nature is every bit as expressive as G.P. Taylor’s original writing.

It would be wrong to say that the comic is better or worse than the original novel, because prose and comics are very different – there are things you can do in each medium that you can’t do in the other, and the adaptation reflects that. It helps that the source material is as good as it is, but Tony Lee’s script is also excellent – using the unique visual properties that comics posses to great effect. The pacing is good, the dialogue is good, it just works.

Tony Lee’s other work for Markosia is also worth a look. I could tell you all about Midnight kiss, but I won’t, because I want to a bit of a thing about that in a couple of weeks. Instead, I’ll tell you about Starship Troopers. I rather like the movies, although I confess I’ve never read the books. Lee gives us the spirit of the movie, but doesn’t allow it to restrict his writing.

The end result reminds me very much of the sort of Aliens books that Dark Horse was putting out a while ago. This is “hard” SF, we’re dealing with space ships and aliens here, but at the same time we’re given characters we can relate to. These are people with real lives, real stories, caught up in a war they couldn’t possibly understand, just doing the best they can.

It’s a wonderful piece of work, and you really, really should be reading it. And you know what? That’s just the start. Be here next week for the final part of this Markosia Trilogy. There’ll be conflict, strife, and a raft of superb comics into the bargain.

See you then, with all that, and news of the 2000AD T-Shirt contest. Full details of that can be found in the previous three columns – and as I type, you still have a day or so to get your entries in!

A quick note of thanks – G.P. Taylor wasn’t the only visitor to my school this week. Darren of Destination Venus, my local comics store, was there too, bringing comics to the library, and the kids therein. There aren’t any comics shops in the area around my school, and the presence of “Venus on Tour” was very much appreciated.

Thanks mate.