Nick's adventures of Tintin and Snowy

[imomus]

When I was at my mother's house in Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago I discovered this old spoof I'd done of Tintin (click the thumbnail to see the full-scale version). I must've been about 15 when I drew it.

"A parody of Mark's favourite books", says the note on the side -- a reference to the family's firm opinion that my brother Mark (now head of the English department at University of East Anglia) was a philistine who read nothing but Tintin and Asterix. It's not clear whether I drew this Tintin strip to please or tease Mark -- possibly a bit of both. Other strips preserved in the family archives detail the adventures of the jowly Lord James, Private Eye and Handsome Man, modeled on Lord Peter Wimsey.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

There's nothing philistine about reading Tintin, it's great modernist art. Mark 1, Nick 0.

[mrobot.livejournal.com]

haha tintin's last lines are pretty good

[(Anonymous)]

lovely!

[scythrop.livejournal.com]

Young Nick wrote "favorite" but in your transcription you have added a "u"; do English-speaking teenagers everywhere pine for alternative spellings?

[thegooseking.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure Nick wrote that, or if he did, it was later - the handwriting is very different.

But certainly, as not a teenager but a pre-teen in Glasgow, I was enamoured (not enamored) with American spellings.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

We lived in Montreal, Canada in 1975 and came back to Scotland in 1976. So I was vacillating between two orthographies at this point. I also changed handwriting styles a lot, because I copied other people's.

[scythrop.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think I still do that with handwriting to this day. I read 17th through 20th century handwriting regularly at work, but almost never write longhand myself. I guess I fill out a check or two a month for bills that can't be paid online, make some lists, but it's always a bit of an ordeal. Swash caps are hinted at. Penmanship: it's a dying art. (One that I was never good at.)

[meeni-milk.livejournal.com]

Absolutley brilliant! i loved it! you were a good drawer with a keen eye at 15! i remember doing similar things too.
UEA is my second choice for university, to study english! small world eh?

i love the last line...hehe

[telephoneface.livejournal.com]

Yes, wonderful! With this and the rabbit....I think you should showcase more of your drawings in the future. I like the color palette here, reminds me of Nemo in Slumberland!

I remember making faux comics and thinking it was so strange, the first time I did it, because there are all these rules that comics follow that you never really think about when you read them. You start drawing these boxes and suddenly all these creative choices pop up that weren't there when you were drawing on your own!

Tintin

[(Anonymous)]

Momus, I have noticed over the years how quite a few people have compared you with Stephen Tintin Duffy. I wondered if this is something you are aware of/would like to comment on.

Particularly your image, less so the music, though you were both on Creation and have both written idiosyncratic songs for beautiful Japanese women singers. Stephen D. for Sandii of Sandii & the Sunsetz.

When you were both younger, you did look quite similar, with the same pout and hairdos. You were both born in the same year, and you cite the same childhood pop and literary influences.

Musically, you both are really good at writing a catchy tune in combination with intelligent lyrics. My own POV is that the difference is that Stephen Duffy's work is usually more overtly romantic and nostalgic wheras you seem to be obsessed with what's happening now, or is about to happen, and the future.

I did read once that you met him with Brix Smith in Camden, or is that a myth?

Anyway, I am genuinely interested to hear your views on this pop nexus!

Re: Tintin

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I answered this yesterday (http://imomus.livejournal.com/390994.html?thread=15311954#t15311954), or whenever you last posted it.

The Death of a Childhood

[kumakouji.livejournal.com]

[Mrs. Currie enters the children's bedroom to speak with her son Mark]

Mrs. Currie: Really Mark... comic books again? I distinctly remember instructing the maid to dispose of those.

Mark: You did what?!

Mrs. Currie: That woman, what are we paying her for? Your father's convinced she been at the liquor cabinet... first the port, next the silverware...

Mark: How could you even think of throwing my things away!? And they're not comics, they're graphic novels!

Mrs. Currie: They're entirely frivolous, that's what they are, Mark. Your father and I are not paying thousands of pounds a year in tuition fees so you can waste your days on this nonsense.

Mark: You don't understand me mother, you never understood me.

Mrs. Currie: You're being hysterical Mark, you know your father doesn't like it when you get like this. Why can't you be more like your brother? I saw him in the study only this morning with a copy of Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire...

Re: The Death of a Childhood

[imomus.livejournal.com]

A drawing room comedy and a choreographed animation of three Snowies en pointe? You never cease to amaze, Kuma!

[(Anonymous)]

The quality of your illustration here is at least on par with the London art school grads featured in PingMag a couple months ago.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. And did you notice the subliminal profile of Ho Chi Minh I inserted in frame 7?

[(Anonymous)]

Aw, it's fab, and nicely executed - great frame blocking! I like the lettering a lot, too. Can we see the Wimsey one? Is there hot monocle action?

[pulled-up.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Maybe it wasn't Pok biting you the other day, maybe it was just someone in a Pok suit out to smear his good name!

[count-vronsky.livejournal.com]

I'm going to blow this up large and then sleep underneath it, like a blanket. Frame 5 Snowy is just the best.

[ohayo-sakura.livejournal.com]

this is most excellent. :)

[fishwithissues.livejournal.com]

more please!

[obliterati.livejournal.com]

I was actually looking for an excuse to make some comic references. I thought you'd appreciate this one.

Nick Currie, meet Nick Fury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Fury):







Definitely one of the good guys.