Spleenal

So, here's the thing, what do you do when someone sends you a comic which is both beautifully drawn and very funny but at the same time about as lacking in political correctness as you can get. That's Spleenal, Nigel Auchterlounie's fantastic, totally misanthropic comics creation. At first I wondered about it, too many years of reading the Guardian obviously oversensitising me to some of Spleenal's more endearing moments - like the constant use of bitch when referring to womenfolk, general obsession with sex or rampant obnoxiousness. More I thought about it though I realised how much I enjoyed the cartooning and manic energy of it all. Then Isobel, our translator and editor, read it and laughed her socks off. Right, deal done then, we'll publish that. So in February the first Spleenal book will roll into stores - just in time to be a Valentine's Day present like no other. It's going to be quite a big book - I'd guess around 140 pages - and will feature two previous stories that Nigel has shown in episodic form on his blog plus a 40 to 50 page, all new, story which sub divides into Young Spleenal, Teenage Spleenal and Student Spleenal and acts as a sort of commentary and link for the other stories. In which you see baby Spleenal, very Old Spleenal and more. A whole lot of Spleenal. It's going to be colour and I'm currently trying to convince Nigel to expand this cover rough so it will turn into an all bells and whistles wraparound.


Nigel has been around the UK comics scene for a good few years now and I reckon that Spleenal sees him finding his true voice. He already has an established fan base for his work via his blog and we hope this first book will find many more readers and this will be just the first of many Spleenal books to come. Every company needs a cartoonist who pushes the boundaries a bit, a Johnny Ryan or an Ivan Brunetti for instance. We think Nigel is that man for BSB. Look for more info on Spleenal nearer to release or via Nigel's blog.

Translating Slaapkoppen

Randall C's mesmerising Slaapkoppen - which will be called Sleepyheads - is making it's way through the translation stage. I thought you might like to see the low-tech and probably completely wrong way I go about this. First we have the translation, which has been done by Wim Lockfeer of Ephemerist fame. Wim luckily also writes for the Forbidden Planet blog regularly - so we know him and he knows us - which is handy as it allows an interaction between us that I don't think we would necessarily get with an unknown translator. He works on translations for a living so he was always the man for the job.

Once I have Wim's words I need to be able to read them with a visual context as I find it almost impossible to get a true feel for how the words and pictures work together unless they are being read as a real comic. Given that we aren't doing the actual lettering on the book - because author Randall C. is doing it himself - we don't have digital files where we can make continual running changes, I've had to make my own 'comic' version in true Blue Peter fashion. It entails many bottles of Tipex and a copy of the original language book. I've gone through the book removing all the non english text and handwriting the translated text in its place. Now I've got something close to what the finished book would be like if there were no more changes to the text, which I then scan to see if some of the wording should perhaps have a different way of saying things, perhaps a more casual english. Once I've stopped fiddling with it with Wim then Randall will have the final say on how the words are presented. It's all actually quite fun, except when you get up still holding a Tipex bottle you've forgotten to put the lid back on and splash it all over yourself, and having the book reveal itself as you write the words into blank bubbles is a fascinating thing. No doubt at some point someone will give me a clip round the ear and show me the proper way to do something like this but, for now, back to the whiteout.

By the way, the book is wonderful, it has a lovely, lazy, dreamlike feel which draws you into the majesty of the art. I'm sure a good number of english speakers are going to adore this when we publish it, well, I hope so.