Darryl Cunningham Investigates

Bozo and Boggs

2012-01-19T19:59:00.002+03:00

A page from a strip I'm redrawing which I originally did in black and white, back in the 90s.

A Review and a Panel

2012-01-16T18:06:00.000+03:00

Here's a link to a review of Psychiatric Tales on Comics On The Ration. And below is a panel from The Fist. A strip which will debut on activatecomix.com next month.

Science Story Stats

2012-01-05T18:48:00.000+03:00

The stats for my blog, clearly show just how popular the various chapters of Science Tales have been, with the Evolution chapter a clear winner, with 259, 263 page views, and it's still getting a respectable 200 hits a day. Although Psychiatric Tales sold well enough, the chapters of that book I placed on my blog barely feature compared to Science Tales. Even if you subtract all the hostile traffic Science Tales has generated, there's still a huge level of potential interest for this book.

It shows, I think, that the comic strip medium has a huge audience waiting out there beyond the tiny bubble of fandom. Readers coming to my blog to read these chapters were not the usual comic book crowd. They were drawn to to read these comics because of the subject, not because of the medium. Many noters commented that they didn't usually read comics at all. Teachers wrote to me, wishing they had individual chapters printed out so they could hand them around the classroom.

The book will be out in the UK in April and It'll be interesting to see whether these stats convert into sales. I think they will.

I didn't sit down and think "I wonder what subjects will really capture a lot of attention?" I wrote these strips because I felt passionately about the subjects. I strongly urge comic book community, especially those working in the so-called mainstream, to think about what they feel passionately about. There's no area that comics can't cover: music, sports, movies, politics. All are fair game as subjects, and if you're passionate about it, then there's a good chance huge numbers of other people will be as well.

So get to it.

Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-25T15:33:00.000+03:00

Nelson themed Christmas card that I didn't send out to nearly enough people.

A full review of this excellent British anthology of cartoon talant, and my small part in it, can be read HERE.

New Work

2011-12-20T16:20:00.001+03:00

New work from me coming in 2012. A page from The Fist, which should give you a clue where I'm going with this story. Extreme violence ahoy. And below that a page from the types of dementia chapter of Psychiatric Tales 2

The Fist

2011-12-08T17:55:00.000+03:00

New work from me which will probably debut on Act-i-vate.com next year.

More Psychiatric Tales 2

2011-12-06T00:02:00.002+03:00

Another page from the Types of Dementia chapter of Psychiatric Tales 2. This one page from the section looking at Lewy Bodies desease.

Psychiatric Tales 2 Artwork

2011-12-02T17:58:00.004+03:00

A page and a bit of artwork from the Types of Dementia chapter of Psychiatric Tales 2. These are redrawn pages. I don't usually go back and rework strips, but in this case, I felt that the chapter had got into something of a muddle and wasn't visually interesting enough, so I was obliged to redo all but one page. Tiresome, but I feel much better for it.

The book should be out next autumn.

Uncle Bob Adventures Cover

2011-11-28T22:06:00.001+03:00

Possible cover from Uncle Bob Adventures. Lettering by Jonathan Edwards. Out April 2012.

Thoughtbubble and Nelson

2011-11-21T18:25:00.002+03:00

Last week was an extremely busy one. On Monday I was invited to do a talk at York University's sociological society. This went well. A young very receptive audience. I got a day out in York and sold a few books too. Thanks to Will Patterson for the invite.

On Thursday I was the keynote speaker at the Graphic Medicine conference at the Leeds City Art Gallery. I was somewhat nervous about this on the days leading up to it, but of course it was fine. The talk went down well with the crowd, with only one person being negative about it, when I was roundly criticised by a mental health nurse there, for, as he put it, exploiting the mentally ill. He thought the book harked back to the days of old Bedlam when "inmates" were viewed for entertainment by the general public. I easily dealt with his criticisms and was backed by the rest of the audience. The guy was red-faced with anger. He left early to get a train.

That's the first time anyone has been negative in public with me over the book. I was quite surprised. I'm expecting a lot of flack for Science Tales, but I didn't expect any for PT. Go figure.

Then, over the weekend, it was time once more for the annual Thought Bubble comic book convention in Leeds. A huge whirl of an event that gets bigger every year. Both my publishers, Blank Slate books and Myriad Editions had tables. It seemed like nearly everybody I knew connected with the comic book industry was there. I couldn't walk five yards without bumping into someone familiar. Good to see so many friends at once. Well done to the ThoughtBubble organisers for doing such a staggeringly good job. I had an amazing couple of days.

The big event at ThoughtBubble, for me, was the launch of the huge British comics anthology Nelson. A very impressive and handsome looking volume, containing 54 British based cartoonists, including me. Each chapter written by a different cartoonist. My thoughts in advance of seeing a copy were that such an experimental concept, one story written in an exquisite corpse style, couldn't possibly work as a whole and that it would be bitty at best. How wrong I was. The book works as a powerful, heartfelt story about the strange randomness of life, the ebb and flow of friendships, and the importance of identity. No single author could have written the fractured pattern of Nel's life without it seeming contrived, but here the multiple voices and art styles give it a sense of reality, and of a life actually lived, as if Nel was a real person who could actually step out of the pages at the end of the book and greet you in person. No bigger compliment can be given to a work of fiction than that.

Nelson Panels

2011-11-16T12:53:00.002+03:00

A couple of panels from my chapter of the huge British comics anthology known as Nelson..

Comiket Video

2011-11-08T14:45:00.001+03:00

A video from last year’s Drawing Parade, recorded at the November 2010 Comica Comiket. After the excellent Roger Langridge, you'll see me talking about my comic strip work and doing a bit of drawing.

Comica Comiket drawing parade part 3 from Claude TC on Vimeo.

Extended Uncle Bob and Death

2011-11-07T18:43:00.001+03:00

An exended version of that Uncle Bob and Death drawing.

Nelson

2011-11-02T17:03:00.000+03:00

I've a chapter in this book.

Nelson is a 250-page collaboration between 54 of the UK’s most exciting comic creators. It is an unprecedented experiment to create one complete story – a collective graphic novel.

London, 1968. A daughter is born to Jim and Rita Baker. Her name is Nel. This is her story, told in yearly snapshots. Each chapter records the events of a single day, weaving one continuous ribbon of pictures and text that takes us on a 43- year journey from Nel Baker’s birth to 2011.
Based on an original idea by Rob Davis and co-edited by Davis and Woodrow Phoenix, Nelson celebrates the incredible diversity of talent in British comics today. Creators known for their editorial and national newspaper strips unite with those from humour comics such as the Beano, The Dandy, and MAD Magazine joining a wealth of talent from children’s books, indie publishing and webcomics, with the science fiction and superhero worlds of 2000AD, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse.

Part exquisite corpse and part relay race, Nelson spans decades of British history and a myriad of stylistic approaches in telling the story of one woman’s life by 54 creators, in 54 episodes, detailing 54 days. The result is a surprising and compellingly readable book that is sad, funny, moving, poignant, ridiculous, heartfelt, and real. This is a story like none you have seen before.

Now available to buy.

Unce Bob and Death

2011-10-29T19:52:00.001+03:00

Uncle Bob plays chess with the Grim Reaper himself.

Uncle Bob Adventures Drawing

2011-10-27T13:25:00.001+03:00

Various characters from the all-ages book from me, Uncle Bob Adventures, out spring 2012. Blank Slate publications.

A Few Thoughts About The UK Economy

2011-10-25T15:30:00.002+03:00

We don't have left-wing parties in the UK. What we have instead are three right-wing parties, one of which has a radical ultra-right arm, who are obsessed with free-market monetarist policies beyond the point of common sense. Their ideals are profoundly undemocratic and utterly opposed to liberal values. They believe in a Darwinian world where the strong have every right to dominate and exploit the weak. They are militantly capitalistic and against the common good. They put strength above morality and despise the common man. There is no society in their philosophy, just a collection of individuals competing against one another.

You might think that David Cameron's coalition is right-wing, but to to hard-right in the conservative party, poor Dave is seen as a feeble wet: an appeaser to the spineless liberal-democrat section of the coalition. If it was up to the hard Tory right, Britain would be suffering a far more brutal austerity programme than we're seeing now. And as it is, things are bad enough.

I'm not against capitalism. Capitalism has given us the technological world we live in, without which, our lives would be shorter and harder. What I'm against is an unrestrained capitalism that benefits a tiny elite group at the expense of everybody else.

Britain's economy has barely grown since the austerity measures began. We have the highest level of unemployment in fifteen years. The government has slashed public-sector jobs, putting more than 100, 000 people out of work. These deficit-reduction policies have failed to revive the business confidence that was supposed to encourage private-sector hiring. No effort has been made to stimulate growth by spending, because this runs counter to the right's myth that all government spending is wasteful and harmful.

This is blundering idiocy. Any fool can see that these policies are driving the country into the ground, but our glorious leaders are so wrapped up in their dogma, that they'd rather destroy the economy for a generation, than admit they're wrong.

Dementia Page 6

2011-10-12T21:04:00.002+03:00

A page from the Types of Dementia chapter of Psychiatric Tales 2.

This just in. The first volume of Psychiatric Tales has been included in Paul Gravett's 1001 Comic You Must Read Before You Die. This would be a terrific read even if my book wasn't featured.

Stan's Piano

2011-10-09T15:42:00.003+03:00

It's nice to be able to do something completely un-serious for a change.

2011-10-03T16:36:00.000+03:00

Possible cover for Science Tales. More details here.

Psychiatric Tales 2

2011-10-01T10:31:00.001+03:00

A page from the Types Of Dementia chapter of Psychiatric Tales 2.

Science Denial

2011-09-22T02:57:00.000+03:00

Last chapter of Science Tales. The summing-up chapter. This is the beta version, so feel free to add comments and corrections.

A Few References

Article on how big business twists science fro its own ends. When science is hidden behind a smokescreen.

On media. Science and truth have been cast aside by our desire for controversy.

'Mbeki Aids denial 'caused 300,000 deaths'.

All about Continental drift.

Sense About Science PDF about peer-review and the scientific process..

Super-Sam and John Of The Night

2011-09-05T02:29:00.004+03:00

A few pages featuring Super-Sam and John Of The Night. A strip which originally ran on the Forbidden Planet blog. There are two long stories featuring these characters: The Mystery of the Seven Faces (which includes the pages you see here), and The Streets of San Diablo (which ran on Activate.com). I'm still looking for a publisher for these stories if anyone is interested? One day I hope to do a third story in this series: The Throne of God.

Three Favorite Photos

2011-08-30T18:27:00.000+03:00

Denial Page

2011-08-26T18:56:00.000+03:00

First page of what will be the final chapter of my Science Tales book.

Chiropractic

2011-08-19T14:32:00.003+03:00

Here is the beta version of my strip on chiropractic therapy. It's a little rough and will need proofreading from those of you with eyes sharper than mine. All comments welcome. This is, of course, a chapter of my upcoming Science Tales book, which will be out from Myriad Editions next year. Each chapter of the book will come complete with references and acknowledgements, including this one.

Health

2011-08-17T12:47:00.000+03:00

The old people's residential home, where I work two days a week, is under severe pressure from the squeeze on funding, caused by the government's cuts. It's one of a dwindling number of homes run by the council in this area. Many council run homes have been shut down already and more are planned to be closed as the government's cuts bite deep.

This particular home has had to shed staff already to save money, which has increased pressure on the remaining people who work there in what is an extremely demanding job to begin with. Working with elderly people who are all in various states of dementia is not an easy task. It is work that tests you both physically and mentally. Many of the residents are unable to feed themselves and therefore have to be assisted. This feeding process takes time and patience. Time, which I fear, is not always available to staff when there are not enough people around to do the work. These days office staff and management, and even the cleaners are having to chip in and help at meal times.

The knock-on effect of the added pressure of an overworked care staff has had a disastrous result. Currently there are six members of staff off sick. An unheard of number to be ill simultaneously. Do I think that these people are ill because they're overworked and exhausted? You bet I do.

I'm lucky, because I'm agency staff, and therefore get to pick and choose when I work and how many shifts I do. But the regular staff don't have this option. Care-workers get paid not much above the minimum wage. That's how much both residents and workers are valued in this society.

The government are desperate, of course, to ultimately shove all health care into the private sector. A state run health care sector is anathema to the free-market fundamentalists who are currently in power. They degrade public health sector deliberately so they can point to its failings and have the excuse to shut it down.

This would be all well and good if we could trust private health care to be run in our interests, but it won't be. The disastrous US model of private health insurance is not something we in the UK should be moving towards. As imperfect as the NHS is in this country, it does at the very least put patient care first, and not profit.

A Moderate Success

2011-08-11T13:54:00.003+03:00

History is moving forward at breakneck speed. We live in tumultuous times. The Euro crisis, the US debt crisis, the News International phone hacking scandal, the Arab spring, the UK riots, and an impending second financial crash.

Meanwhile, I'm having an excellent year. I've been to New York where I had a meeting with a publisher in the Flatiron Building, I spoke about my work, along with other cartoonists, at the Latitude music festival in front of hundreds of people, and I was interviewed on radio four's All In The Mind programme (which caused Psychiatric Tales to be a best seller on Amazon).

Assuming society hasn't completely broken down, and we don't find our selves living in bands of roving cannibals, I will have two further books out next year: Uncle Bob Adventures, (from Blank Slate), and Science Tales (from Myriad Editions).

Not bad for someone who, only a few years ago, was unemployed, on the verge of homelessness, had crippling debts, and was suicidal. At the time I could see no way out. Yet somehow I've blundered on to create this new and very interesting life. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but it has happened anyway.

I'm very grateful to all the people who supported through that time. Thanks everyone.

Here's a little stop-motion piece I made, using a set of Russian dolls.

London Riots

2011-08-09T14:46:00.003+03:00

People say there aren't any political dimensions to these riots, but it's worth noting that we only have civil unrest in the UK when the Tories are in power. A reaction, I think, from the bottom of society to the Tories more callous and authoritarian approach to government. And if you think that by writing this, that I'm in support of people who burn down local businesses, then you're quite wrong.

The big difference between Labour and the Tories is that the current government are monetarist fundamentalists with no social or moral responsibility. The severe cuts, which have been like nothing in modern times, have thrust the knife deep into the poorest and most vulnerable in society. I work on the front line in health with elderly people, who suffer dementia, where we've had staff cuts beyond the point where it's safe. I see things first hand. So don't tell me the last government was as bad as this one.

I've seen a few calls for the military to get involved in the rioting. How is that supposed to help? Any time soldiers are used in civil disturbances, it usually ends with unarmed civilians being shot. Soldiers aren't trained for this kind of work. This isn't Syria. Is this really what we should be aspiring to? Be careful what you wish for.

How about creating an economy with jobs, and making it easy and cheap to get an education, instead. It worked well enough in the past. Any long-term solution to society's problems that doesn't involve stopping the financial sector sucking the life out of the rest of us, doesn't interest me.

Update On Science Tales

2011-08-07T15:17:00.001+03:00

I'm working on the last third of my strip on chiropractic therapy. Hoping to have this beta version online in the coming week. I'm steeling myself for the inevitable hate mail I'm going to receive as a result. Of course, I'm very aware of the Simon Singh case, and because of this, I'm checking and rechecking my facts. Having said that, I doubt very much the chiropractic profession will be embarking on any other lawsuits soon, after the colossal bill they were stuck with after that court case failed.

Had the strange irony this week of having my own book recommend to me by Amazon. Another irony, developed slight back pain while working on my chiropractic strip. Nothing to do with moving and handling. I'd been sitting with my back to the open window during the hot weather, and the ever so slight breeze caused a crick in my back. How feeble my body is these days.

I'm still on course to hit my late September deadline with Science Tales, for publication in the spring, 2012. After the chiropractic chapter is finished I'll be starting work on the final, and summing up chapter, which will be about the science denial movement generally.

The full list of chapters are thus: electroconvulsive therapy, the Andrew Wakefield MMR scandal, homeopathy, the supposed NASA Moon hoax, climate change, evolution, chiropractic therapy, and science denial.

Joker

2011-08-03T17:19:00.000+03:00

My version of The Joker.

Test Animation

2011-07-19T21:13:00.002+03:00

Having recently bought an iPad, I've been experimenting with animation software. Here's a test piece I did, which I finished off on the train back from London.

Uncle Bob Adventures Cover

2011-07-02T19:51:00.000+03:00

I received a ridiculous amount of attention for my evolution strip. I was featured on Drawn, Comics Reporter, The Beat, Scott McCloud's Blog, and you name it. The strip received more than a hundred-thousand views in three days. So I expect my upcoming Science Stories book to do very well.

Cover for Uncle Bob Adventures, which will be out from Blank Slate towards the end of the year.

Evolution

2011-06-21T19:11:00.002+03:00

Here then is the beta version of my strip about evolution. This is a chapter of the book Science Stories which will be out from Myriad Editions next spring. I'm sure there'll be mistakes here, so do feel free to point them out, so that I can make the necessary changes. Thank you.

Nelson

2011-06-15T00:15:00.001+03:00

Here's a link to a big project that I'm involved. in. Nelson.

Interview

2011-05-26T14:45:00.001+03:00

The interview I did on the BBC's Radio Four mental health programme All In The Mind went very well indeed. and you can listen to it here. Where it'll be available for a few days. It'll also be available through the Beeb's Medical Matters podcast (iTunes).

Psychiatric Tales got a huge boost in sales from the interview, ending up the number one selling graphic novel on Amazon UK, and inside the top 200 books being sold.

All In The Mind

2011-05-24T00:21:00.002+03:00

Did an interview today about Psychiatric Tales for BBC Radio Four's All In The Mind programme. This went well and will be broadcast both tomorrow ,Tuesday 24th, and Wednesday 25th. And if you miss that, it'llbe on the Beeb iPlayer and be part of the Beeb's Medical Matters podcast at the end of the week (which you can get through iTunes).

Murderer's Eyes

2011-05-09T18:14:00.000+03:00

First story for what will eventually be a second volume of Psychiatric Tales.

Three Avengers

2011-04-25T13:28:00.003+03:00

Uncle Bob At The Earth's Core

2011-04-18T22:06:00.003+03:00

The redrawn Uncle Bob At The Earth's Core. Part of a collection of Uncle Bob tales that will be coming out from Blank Slate later this year. Might need a little prooffreading. Thanks.

Uncle Bob With Gun

2011-03-30T22:45:00.001+03:00

On The Inkstuds Podcast

2011-03-25T22:18:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone! You can now listen to me speak on this podcast. The four music tracks were chosen by me. I sound right Yorkshire, I do.

Online Shop

2011-03-17T16:22:00.002+02:00

I've a poster for sale in my new online shop.

Email From a Reader

2011-03-16T14:53:00.006+02:00

Here's a very nice email I received from a reader.

"I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your book. It was so encouraging to read a book from the staff's point of view. I picked it up thinking it was from a patients point of view and was I pleasantly surprised. I worked for many years in psychiatric hospitals and now I work with police officers and we go see patients in the field in response to other officers calls. Most of the time we take them to the hospital. I have shared your book with all the officers and nurses I work with. I really think the officers have gained some insight into patients behaviors and will be less judgmental and fearful. I especially think your self disclosure was meaningful as well. It was to me. I am going to get some copies of your book and share it with other teams as well. Thank you again for your wonderful book. If you ever come to Los Angeles, please let me know, if you like, and we could take you on a ride along with the police."

While you're here, you may want to check out Uncle Bob On Skull Island, which has begun its serialisation on the Act-i-vate webcomic site.

Mouse Town

2011-03-07T16:51:00.002+02:00

Quite an old piece. I don't do cross hatching anymore, and this is mostly because it looks poor on a computer screen.

Great Big Red Town

2011-03-07T13:54:00.000+02:00

Uncle Bob Goes West

2011-02-24T12:47:00.004+02:00

Uncle Bob's Jungle Adventure

2011-02-14T21:45:00.002+02:00

The redrawn Uncle Bob's Jungle Adventure. Many of the stories in Uncle Bob Adventures were drawn years ago and as a result, in my opinion, don't look as good as the most recent chapters. So I've felt compelled to go back and redraw these strips in order to bring the artwork up to scratch. Frustrating and time consuming, but necessary, because otherwise I would be able to look at the book when it's finally published.

Also why not check out an interview I did for Comics Reporter, which you can read here.

Uncle Bob and the Phantom

2011-02-03T17:29:00.000+02:00

The redrawn version of Uncle Bob and the Phantom. There were problems with both the story and the art of the original version. It had to fit in with the rest of the stories in the book, which meant that I didn't have much option but to redraw it. Luckily it was only eight pages. Drawing never takes me long. It's the writing I find time consuming.

Temporary Covers

2011-02-01T18:12:00.000+02:00

Kenny at Blank Slate asked me to come up with some temporary covers, just for publicity purposes, in advance of these titles being finished. I wouldn't imagine we'll settle on these images. They're just a starting point. Uncle Bob Adventures will be out in the summer. Psychiatric Tales Two will be out at the end of this year.

Comics Journal Review and Laydeez do Comics

2011-01-29T12:48:00.000+02:00

Good review of Psychiatric Tales at The Comics Journal.

I was at the Laydeez Do Comics event in London this past Monday, and you can read all about that here.

Kong versus dinosaur fight from Uncle Bob on Skull Island.

Kong

2011-01-19T13:09:00.000+02:00

From Uncle Bob on Skull Island. Jonas Nussbaum, the shipwrecked German sailor, meets Kong.

Uncle Bob And The Martian Invasion

2011-01-14T11:34:00.002+02:00

Uncle Bob and the Martian Invasion is a chapter of the book Uncle Bob Adventures, which will be out from Blank Slate later this year.

Review in Publisher's Weekly

2011-01-10T20:47:00.001+02:00

A fantastic review of Psychiatric Tales in the 1/10 Publishers Weekly:

“Speaking with compassion and clarity, Cunningham tells of his own struggles with severe anxiety and depression, creating a valuable tool for both those within the mental health profession and casual readers who may know someone with mental illness.”

Psychiatric Tales: Eleven Graphic Stories About Mental Illness
Darryl Cunningham, Bloomsbury, $15 (160p) ISBN 978-1-60819-278-6
In this debut book, Cunningham tells his reader right away that he has a message to impart. Having worked for years as a health care assistant in a hospital's psychiatric ward, he states his intent to counter the stigma surrounding mental illness and to represent the patients who suffer from "this most mysterious group of illnesses." The down and dirty truth about what it takes to care for dementia patients, the acts that self-harming patients are capable of, and the conundrum of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia all make for powerful, informative, and sometimes difficult reading. Cunningham's message, that "a mental illness is a brain disease just as a stroke or a brain tumor is a brain disease," is delivered in direct, no-nonsense language, while black and white drawings convey the hectic life of the disordered mind. Cunningham frequently speaks directly to sufferers, telling them that their symptoms are not their fault, that there are ways of dealing with them and simply that "you can survive." Speaking with compassion and clarity, Cunningham tells of his own struggles with severe anxiety and depression. creating a valuable tool for both those within the mental health profession and casual readers who may know someone with mental illness. (Feb.)

Two Uncle Bob Pages

2010-12-30T17:22:00.000+02:00

Two pages from Uncle Bob Adventures. First a page from Uncle Bob And The Phantom, and then a page from Uncle Bob On Skull Island.

Christmas Card Design 2010

2010-12-20T15:02:00.001+02:00

You may want to check out an interview with me on the The Comics Bureau.

Here's a Christmas card I've designed.

Climate Change

2010-12-13T03:21:00.019+02:00

I intend to come back to this strip and rewrite some of the first half, in order to make the science clearer. I'm sure there will be a few spelling errors and suchlike. Feel free to point them out, but keep in mind that I've been staring at many of these pages for weeks, to the point where even the word 'and' looks funny to me. I shall be adding on references to this strip over the coming few days. Thanks to Albert the Knowledge Penguin for his help.

Note: added Jan 2012. A slightly different version of this strip will appear in my book Science Tales, out from Myriad Editions in April this year. This is a book of comic strip essays on controversial science subjects that include: chiropractic, evolution, the so-called Moon-landing hoax, the MMR/Andrew Wakefield vaxination scandal, and homeopathy. Read all about it here.

A few references. More will be posted shortly.

Superb New Yorker piece about the Koch Brothers and their involvement with the far right.

That Proceedings of the National Academy of Science paper, which I mention in the strip, on the numbers of climate researchers who believe that science points to the truth of man made climate change, compared to those researchers who don't.

Excellent book that does what it says on the tin. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway.

NASA's climate change evidence page.

Wikipeadia entry on the the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Scott Mandia's research into the media's deplorable Climategate coverage.

Kirkus Reviews

2010-11-30T14:07:00.003+02:00

Bloomsbury sent me the review of Psychiatric Tales from Kirkus Reviews. My first US review.

An illustrated primer on mental illness that builds to personal revelation. Despite the title, most of these chapters are not traditional tales with narrative and characters. They are, instead, explorations of various psychiatric illnesses common in the wards where Cunningham worked as a health-care assistant. In his book-length debut, the author, who created the Web comics Super Sam and John-of-the-Night and The Streets of San Diablo draws on his experience with patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder and other illnesses. Despite the darkness of much of the material—as reflected in the black-and-white drawings, polarities that the illustrator exploits to creative effect—the prevailing tone is one of compassion. As Cunningham explains in the introduction, this is “intended to be a stigma busting book…needed because fear and ignorance of mental illness remains widespread in society.” Most of the text is similarly straightforward, but the art is more revelatory, as it illuminates brain patterns, brain disease and psychological conditions. Yet there are flashes of deadpan humor as well, particularly in the chapter titled “Anti-Social Personality Disorder,” in which the author relates how a condition that sometimes results in criminal behavior shares traits that society generally considers normal: “Selfishness, lack of empathy, superficiality, and manipulativeness…are highly valued in the worlds of business, politics, the law, and academia.” In the chapter titled “People With Mental Illness Enrich Our Lives,” the author focuses on a variety of luminaries—from Winston Churchill and Judy Garland to Nick Drake and Brian Wilson—who have struggled with mental conditions. “How I Lived Again” provides testimony on how the artist’s own mental illness led to his interest in the subject (as well as his employment in the field) and how his art proved crucial in his recovery. The illustrations are compelling throughout, but the narrative is more powerful when it is more personal and specific.

My Talk at the London Print Studio

2010-11-10T21:22:00.002+02:00

On Saturday I did a talk with the cartoonist known as Brick at the London Print Studio, Harrow Road, where the That's Novel exhibition is currently running. We were there to discuss the role comics can play in depicting mental illness. Brick has a graphic novel out from Knockabout called Depresso, which is about his long struggle with depression. The talk ended up being fractious and not a little tense. We were both coming from quite different ends of the mental health debate. I'm not saying the situation blew up into a row or anything. It didn't. But there was an underlying tension which made me uncomfortable. None of this made it any less enjoyable for the small audience who attended. They responded well. I got very good feedback from the event.

Apart from Paul Gravett , the Comika organiser, also in the audience was Knockabout publisher Tony Bennet and esteemed cartoonist Hunt Emerson.

I still haven't finished reading Depresso. Paul Gravett gave me a copy to read the night before (homework, he called it) and I was still reading it on the tube on the way there. Actually, just this afternoon I got a letter from Brick, saying how he enjoyed the talk and how lovely it was to meet me. He enclosed one of his Stamp Out Stigma comics, Once a Wino-Junky, which depicts the severe prejudice those with addictions often (mostly) suffer. It's extremely good with a nice blue tint over the artwork. Very direct and to the point.

I hung around after the talk for the next event, which was an interview with Charlie Adlard, who is the artist on the comic book The Walking Dead. This has become the most successful cable TV series ever after a mere two weeks, and has already been renewed for a further season. I hadn't read the comic book, but I'd enjoyed the first episode of the series. Charlie's stark black and white artwork really suits the subject. I can admire it, even though it's not my kind of thing.

Finally I helped Tony Bennet carry some boxes of Walking Dead back to his car, avoiding the busy traffic. I was careful. Being run over carrying a box of The Walking Dead would be just too ironic, I thought, and it would be all that people then remembered me for.

The London Psychiatry Conference

2010-11-09T14:06:00.001+02:00

Had a long, but enjoyable week in London. I went down for many events, first up was the London Psychiatry Conference, where I was on a panel with Phillipa Perry, author of Couch Fiction, and Ian Williams of the Graphic Medicine website. We'd done this before, of course, at the Graphic Medicine conference earlier in the year. The Psychiatry Conference is an event that takes place every year for psychiatry trainees in London. It's as much as a social event where trainees from all over the city can meet up, as it is anything else.

The Cumberland Hotel near Marble Arch was the venue. I suffered comedy buffoonery of the highest order in getting there. I wasn't sure where this hotel was in London, so I used my iphone map GPS system to tell me and this turned out to be something of a mistake. It kept pointing me towards an area where there was postal sorting office near Oxford St. After walking up and down side streets in a futile effort to find the place, I asked at a nearby hotel. They told me that the software had been directing me to a post office box used by the Cumberland Hotel. The staff at this hotel where I found myself, told me that they often had people walking in asking the whereabouts of the American Embassy, having made the same mistake. There are clearly a few bugs in the system still. I had then to take a taxi down to Marble Arch in order to get to the conference in time.

As it turned out everything had been delayed anyway, and the event hadn't even started yet, due to a bomb scare on the street outside the hotel. Plus, there was a tube strike that day, and because of this, Marble Arch tube station was shut.

There were hundreds of people milling about in the vastness of the hotel. Somehow I still managed to locate Phillipa and Ian (the only people I knew there). The event kicked off in the big conference hall where Ruby Wax was doing a show. The connection here is that Ruby Wax has a MSc in Psychotherapy. Her show was basically a comedy monologue, with musical accompaniment, detailing her spiral into depression and subsequent recovery. It was good, but I thought she was funnier in her intro to the performance, than in the performance itself. The improvised stuff was better than the practised performance of her show. I don't think the music added very much either.

It could be that I'd have found it much more enjoyable if I hadn't been suffering from a migraine that morning. I was shifting in my seat uncomfortably throughout Wax's show. Luckily, Ian Williams, who is a doctor, had in his bag some very effective painkillers, and this did the trick. It's nice to have your own personal physician with you. I felt like Elvis.

We did one talk in the morning and then a repeat performance in the afternoon. We talked about our books and how the comic strip form is so suited to relating personal experience and getting complex information across. This went down well with both audiences. I sold every copy of Psychiatric Tales I had with me. Thanks to Stephen Ginn for the invite.

2010-10-25T14:10:00.005+03:00

I was in London briefly overnight on Thursday for the opening of the That's Novel: Comics Off The Page gallery exhibition. Go see it at the London Print Studio on Harrow Road. Pages from Psychiatric Tales are on display along with a ton of other cartoonists' good work. Paul Gravett writes about the event here. Look closely at the photo in his article and you'll see me in the middle of the pic. That tall guy wearing glasses.

There is a staggeringly good review of Psychiatric Tales on the Page 45 shop website. I didn't know I'd garnered comic book of the month there.

More Uncle Bob

2010-10-20T14:02:00.000+03:00

Four panels from Uncle Bob and the Martian Invasion.

Uncle Bob And The Frankenstein Monster

2010-10-04T13:03:00.002+03:00

Latest chapter of Uncle Bob Adventures. I'm now around half way through the book which will be out from Blank Slate next year. Feel free to point out any errors. Thank you.

A Little Update, With Dream.

2010-09-22T15:42:00.000+03:00

Been very busy putting the finishing touches to the US version of Psychiatric Tales (out from Bloomsbury in February). This edition will have a new introduction and a different cover. I found this work to be very hard going. I've had to retype all the text, so that the lettering is now on a separate photoshop layer from the artwork. This will make it easier to make any further changes without having to alter the artwork beneath. In future I'll be doing all my comic book work this way. I wish I'd done it that way from the beginning. You live and learn.

I've also been working on the Uncle Bob Adventures book (out from Blank Slate next year). A collection of stories featuring the 150 year old Bob and his fantastic life. Currently I'm near the end of the Uncle Bob And The Frankenstein Monster chapter.

In a recent dream, I found myself in a old spit and sawdust tavern. Dark and crowded. A Spanish man sat at one table playing poker with two gypsy women. They were using oversized cards. On the floorboards near the Spaniard's feet was a luger pistol. A forth hand was being dealt to a place at the table where there was an empty stool. I was told, or somehow just knew, that the Spaniard believed that Death himself was sitting on the apparently empty stool. Death was his personal protector, he said to a woman nearby. At one point, during the evening, I realised that I was sitting at a table adjoining the card players, and that the empty stool was at my back. I moved away, fearing death's grip on my shoulder.

The US Edition of Psychiatric Tales

2010-08-19T18:33:00.001+03:00

News. The US edition of Psychiatric Tales is prominantly displayed on page 34 of the new Bloomsbury's Winter catalogue. Here's what the US version of the cover looks like.

Also, two interviews with me are now online. One is at Avoid The Future, and the other is at Frontier Psychiatrist.

A Summery of Recent Events

2010-08-07T18:19:00.000+03:00

It's been a very good year, so far. Perhaps my best ever. Psychiatric Tales was finally published after years of effort. All hail the internet for getting me to the attention of publishers. It's now out in the UK from the small but perfectly formed UK publishing house, Blank Slate, and will be published by the giganto-sized publishing house, Bloomsbury, in the US early next year.

The book is selling well. It's certainly attracting a lot of attention. I was interviewed for the Big Issue back in Feb (far better than selling the Big Issue). Did a live radio interview on a Scottish arts show. Was invited to take part in the Graphic Medicine conference at the University of London. This latter event looked at the ways that the comic strip format could be used in the study and delivery of health care. Which sounds dry, but it was a very enjoyable event.

Last week I was in Oxford as a guest of Caption (Oxford's annual comic's convention). In three weeks (Monday 23rd of August) I'll be doing a talk at the Laydeez Do Comics meeting at the Rag Factory in Brick Lane, London. The day before that I'll be attending the Comica Comiket Independent Comic Fayre, at the Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park, London.

Oh yes, Psychiatric Tales was also Graphic Novel of the month in the Observer, and this week will be reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement. So it's all rumbling along very well. It's amazing how quickly I've started taking all this for granted.

Also this year I've started putting on the internet chapters of the latest book I've been working on, called: Science Stories. These chapters have whipped up a storm of controversy, as they've tackled such divisive subjects as the MMR Vaccine Scandal, Homeopathy, and NASA's supposed Moon Landing hoax. The comments I've received about these strips have been mostly positive, but I have had my fair share of hate mail. So it goes. Here's a typical example from Anon.

"It is morons like you that cause even lower level idiots to attempt to think with bad information. I am so glad I don't know you or your friends."

This stuff doesn't bother me though. It's to be expected.

On the negative side, despite all this success, I'm still very poor. Although now years in the past, the consequences of being ill and having to leave the nursing course I was doing, are still with me. I ran up huge debts at that time (I was in such despair that I didn't care what happened). So the little money I do make is usually sucked up in charges by the vampire bank, leaving me feebly dry.

This will of course change in time. I presume that Psychiatric Tales and the books I'm working on now will generate money at some point in the future. But I'm not there yet. Which is why donations are still gratefully received. Thanks all.

Darryl at Caption

2010-07-29T02:51:00.000+03:00

As I may have said previously, in my day job I do care work with the elderly. It's agency work, which means I get sent all over the place to cover, when nursing or residential homes are short staffed. Summer is good to me, because it's the holiday season, and this means I'm getting plenty of shifts (days and nights). However, this also means that I've not had much time to do any comic book work recently (none actually). I'm tired from the long shifts and just want to flop down when I get home from work. This will change soon though, as I launch myself back into the four-colour world.

This weekend I'll be a Caption in Oxford. Where I'll be interviewed by the delightful Sarah McIntyre.

And now as promised ages ago, here are the main references I used to write the Moon Hoax strip.

Wikipedia. Moon landing conspiracy theories.

Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog. Fox TV and the Apollo Moon Hoax.

Nasa Science. The Great Moon Hoax.

The Guardian. Those hoax myths debunked.

FOX GOES TO THE MOON, BUT NASA NEVER DID. THE NO-MOONIES CULT STRIKES By Michael Shermer.

Moon Base Clavius. Photo Analysis Page.

NASA. Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon.

MythBusters Episode 104: NASA Moon Landing. 2008 Season. NASA Moon Landing.

The Moon Hoax

2010-07-20T14:56:00.000+03:00

Today is the 41st anniversary of the first moon landing. So I completed this strip just in time. Feel free to point out any errors and I'll correct them over the next couple of days. References will be in the next entry.

Feel free to donate money so that I can do further comic strip work like this. Even a small amount will help. Thanks.

Homeopathy References

2010-07-01T03:19:00.000+03:00

The reason, of course, that the homeopathy strip has upset so many people, is that when writing negatively about such a subject, you are inevitably tramping on people's deeply held beliefs. Such criticism can seem like a personal attack. I don't think for a minute that a comic strip on homeopathy is going to change the mind's of people who are really invested in it. That's not going to happen. Only some event in their own experience will do that (maybe). The strip is primarily aimed at readers who only have a vague knowledge of the subject, and think perhaps that there must be something to the practice, as why otherwise would the British National Health service divert funds to it, and why would so many celebrities, politicians, journalists, members of the royal family, etc, believe in it?

The strip has done extraordinarily well, having had over 30 thousand views in the first two days. By far the single most successful strip I've ever had online.

Thanks to all the many people who took the time to email me and leave me notes. Far too many for me to ever get back to. A special thanks to those who have sent me links.

My next science strip will be on the subject of the supposed Moon Hoax.

References for the homeopathy strip.

Wikipedia entry on Homeopathy

What is Homeopathy. The Society Of Homeopaths.

Homeopathy: What's The Harm by Simon Singh.

Homeopaths 'endangering lives' by offering malaria remedies, Alok Jha, science correspondent, The Guardian, Friday 14 July 2006

The Lancet – “Benefits and risks of homoeopathy by Ben Goldacre.

Death By Homeopathy. Steven Novella, Neurologica Blog.

Homeopathy pdf, Sense About Science.

Statement on homeopathic remedies for malaria, Health Protection Agency.

Learn From This Tragedy, Andrew Bolt of the  Herald Sun on the death of Penelope Dingle.

Coroner questions why Dr Peter Dingle didn't confront homeopath, Chris Robinson From: PerthNow

Homeopathy

2010-06-28T17:57:00.000+03:00

A 19 page strip about homeopathy. My follow up story-strip to the one I did on the MMR vaccine scare, and another chapter of my ongoing book about science. This is, in effect, the beta version of the strip. There will, I'm sure, be mistakes dotted throughout that I haven't spotted. So do feel free to point out any errors. The references will be in the next entry.

All About The Graphic Medicine Conference

2010-06-20T15:59:00.000+03:00

Had a fabulous time in London, attending the Graphic Medicine Conference at the university of London. I'm still digesting the experience which was something of a whirl. I've not attended one of these academic events before, so for me it was something quite different. Nothing like the comics events I usually attend.

I have this stereotyped image in my mind of professors wearing tweed jackets while smoking pipes. The people there were nothing like this. I talked for a while with this young woman, who turned out to be a professor of European Intellectual history at an American university. I thought she was just some girl. Which doesn't say much for me.

The event was well attended. There were about seventy-five delegates there, from all over the world. Quite a lot of people from Canada. The main thrust of the conference was to explore the medical narrative in graphic novels and comics. Sounds a bit dry and surely there's only a tiny area to explore? Not so. In recent years there's been a small explosion of medical-themed graphic novels. A few of the creators of these books were at the event. Brian Fies, talking about his book Mom's Cancer: A Family's Experience In Comics. Also attending was Philippa Perry, author of Couch Fiction, a graphic novel about psychotherapy. And, of course, I was there with Psychiatric Tales.

There was also a focus on using illustrations and comics in the education of those working in medicine, as well as its usefulness in therapy for patients. I was particularly interested in one talk, by MK Czerwiec, in which she discussed using illustrations to break down the barriers between professional caregivers and their patients. It's still sometimes hard for doctors, nurses, etc, to properly see the point of view of their patients. This is partly due to the professional detachment such working people are obliged to have and the emotional defence necessary in these professions. Put on the white coat and you're immediately detached from the rest of humanity due to the higher status you've just achieved and the powerful stresses of the work. In MK Czerwiec's talk she discussed asking care-givers to draw both the experience of a particular illness from the point of view of the professional and the patient. The division in the content of these illustrations was very clear. The emotional and empathetic content was almost entirely lacking when the care-givers took the professional stance, but it remained a powerful element in the drawings when the group took the patient's role.

It was mostly very interesting, although I didn't get to see every presentation, due to the parallel programming that had to go on in order to fit everything into one day. From my point of view it was a great success. I sold every copy of Psychiatric Tales I had (and could have sold many more). I did well on the panel discussion with Brian Fies and Philippa Perry (chaired by Paul Gravett). The whole event was quite a blast and there was free wine at the end of the day. What could be better than that?

Thanks to Paul Gravett, Peter Stanbury, and Ian Williams.

Uncle Bob And The Vampire

2010-06-16T11:12:00.001+03:00

A chapter from the Uncle Bob book which will be coming out from Blank Slate next
year.

Graphic Medicine

2010-06-09T18:06:00.000+03:00

Things are going well here at Darryl HQ. I'm working a lot of nights this week, and so can't do much in the way of drawing. But when I do have the time, I'm working on two strips. A strip about homeopathy and an Uncle Bob strip for Uncle Bob Adventures (out from Blank Slate next year). The US edition of Psychiatric Tales in on course to be published from Bloomsbury in January (I've just given the OK for their redesign of the cover). Next week I'll be attending the Graphic Medicine Conference in London, speaking on a panel with Paul Gravett and Phillipa Perry. I'll be in London for three days.

Two frames from Uncle Bob And The Vampire.

Uncle Bob (Two Versions Of The Same Page)

2010-05-23T15:12:00.000+03:00

I'm currently redrawing an Uncle Bob strip, for the Blank Slate collection of Uncle Bob Adventures, which will be out next year.

Here's the first page of the redrawn strip, while below it you can see a page from the original version, drawn in 90s.

Compare and contrast.

Intro Page

2010-05-21T12:17:00.000+03:00

A page from the introduction to the American edition of Psychiatric Tales, which will be out next year from Bloomsbury.

MMR Vaccination References

2010-05-19T14:40:00.000+03:00

References for the The Facts In The Case Of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, A Graphic Story By Darryl Cunningham. The main webpages I used to research this topic. I looked at many more, but the one's listed here were the most informative.

Ben Goldacre. The media’s MMR hoax.

The MMR-autism fraud. An investigation by Brian Deer.

David Gorski. The Fall of Andrew Wakefield.

Andrew Wakefield. From Wikipedia.

Profile: BBC on Dr Andrew Wakefield.

Brian Deer Dateline documentary.

The Facts In The Case Of Dr. Andrew Wakefield

2010-05-18T16:55:00.000+03:00

A fifteen page story about the MMR vaccination controversy. As ever, I'm sure a few spelling errors have slipped past me. Feel free to point any out so I can correct them.

I did a ton of research on this piece. When I've got an extra minute, I'm going to add on a list of references, with links.

Now! Let's have a heated debate!

Extra bit: I've now placed a donation button on the left of this page. So if you appreciate my work and would like to help
me do more, please consider sending me a small donation. Thank you.

The reference links for the strip are in the next blog entry.

Interview

2010-05-11T12:52:00.000+03:00

Matthew Badham interviews me on his fine Blog.

Four Frames

2010-05-06T14:29:00.001+03:00

Four frames from a strip I'm working on about the MMR vaccine controversy. This story will be as much about scepticism and the importance of critical thinking as much as it will be about the Wakefield debacle.

Psychiatric Tales Kicks Ass

2010-05-04T19:09:00.000+03:00

Psychiatric Tales has begun its life well. I'm informed that it's the top selling graphic novel on the Forbidden Planet site, outperforming Kick Ass. For those who have bought the book, feel free to write a review of PT and post it on the Forbidden Planet site or Amazon (or both). Buy it here from Forbidden Planet

We're still on course for a US edition to come out in early 2011. I can announce that my next book for Blank Slate will be Uncle Bob Adventures. An all ages book.

Psychiatric Tales: Out At Last

2010-04-29T14:34:00.000+03:00

At long last my graphic novel Psychiatric Tales has been published.

Psychiatric Tales is a book that attempts to demythologise mental illness. Forget what you've seen in movies or on TV. This book shows what the experience of mental illness actually is for both patients and the staff who treat them.

Media representations of people who suffer mental illness tend to be appalling. We live in an age where racism and sexism is considered unacceptable. Yet the mentally ill are still considered fair game for ridicule and are subject to the worst kind of prejudice. I had an e-mail recently from a young man who intended to buy two copies of the book when it came out. One for his mother, and one for his step-father. He wanted to show his family that the bipolar disorder he'd been diagnosed with, was a real illness, and that he needed their understanding not hostility.

We still live in a world, sadly, where depression is seen as weakness of character, and psychosis (such as hearing voices) is considered proof of dangerousness. Even the psychiatric nursing profession itself suffers prejudice. I've worked with many general nurses who considered psychiatric nurses not to be real nurses at all.

I'm hoping that Psychiatric Tales will be a real stigma-busting book. An empowering book for those who suffer the illnesses described, and a insight into a much-misunderstood world, for those who know little of the subject.

Buy it here from Forbidden Planet

San Diablo (Again)

2010-04-27T15:41:00.000+03:00

New pages of my webcomic The Streets Of San Diablo are now up at Activate.com.

More Tea Vicar?

2010-04-17T09:44:00.000+03:00

Off to London this morning for my birthday weekend. I'll be attending the Fleece Station Studio bash along with many of my comic chums.

Dalek vicar. Exterminating for Jesus.

All Star Superhero

2010-04-15T22:31:00.000+03:00

I'm miffed because my wacom drawing tablet has broken. It's a real pain. I can't draw on the computer without it.

In other news, Psychiatric Tales is going through the process of binding, and hopefully, I'll get my first copies the weekend after next. It's been such a long wait. I was hoping to have them in time for my birthday on Sunday, but alas, it's not to be. The bulk will ship from Poland on Monday 26th and should arrive two days after. So I've been told anyway.

Superman. A companion piece to my Batman one page strip.

Man Of The Bat

2010-04-13T15:04:00.000+03:00

If in doubt, draw batman. More a piece of design rather than an actual story strip.

Not Dreaming

2010-04-12T11:08:00.000+03:00

I did actually have a dream like this.

Tiny Dalek

2010-04-09T16:01:00.000+03:00

I'm told by Blank Slate that Psychiatric Tales has now been printed, and that copies should be arriving within the next ten days. Watch this space for details of how to buy a copy.

Here's a tiny Dalek drawing for no reason other than I felt like it.

Gorilla And Children

2010-04-03T22:19:00.000+03:00

Old pic from me in a style that I don't do anymore. Not quite sure how I would attempt this now.

Winston Churchill Quote About Pigs

2010-04-03T15:41:00.000+03:00

I believe that Winston owned pigs, so he knew what he was talking about.

Groucho's Big Insult

2010-04-02T05:47:00.000+03:00

An incident I read about in a biography of the great man.

George Bernard Shaw Makes A Joke

2010-03-30T16:53:00.000+03:00

A true story, apparently.

London Weekend

2010-03-30T06:37:00.001+03:00

Enjoyed my weekend in London, although it was extremely expensive. Sorry I didn't have copies of Psychiatric Tales for the UK and Webcomic Thing event. However I'm told by Kenny at Blank Slate that the book should be back from the printers around the 13th of April. So not long now.

Here's a few pics I took while in London.

Tube train.

Taxi And Quentin Blake Artwork. King's Cross.

Euston Road

Gosh Comic Shop sign.

Green shadows. Great Square, British Museum.

Empty shop.

Hotel corridor.

Bloomsbury

2010-03-26T03:13:00.001+02:00

It's strange for me to think that I've now got an editor at Bloomsbury in New York. It's also very odd that I'm already taking the situation totally for granted. I think that this is due largely to the fact that it's taken me so long to get any success in publishing. People who know me well will be aware that I've been struggling for years (decades) to get to this point. As a result of this long, and often painful struggle, I've found that no matter what success I have, I'm still impatient for things to develop further. I don't know where this hunger has come from. I've never been particularly ambitious before. Perhaps it's always been there, waiting to be released?

My Bloomsbury editor rang me Thursday afternoon and we had a long chat about the US release of Psychiatric Tales (Feb 2011). She was extremely enthusiastic about my work. I was surprised to hear from her that she was a comic fan, having read and been addicted to Chris Claremont's X-Men comics when she was younger. Then moving on to Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and Vertigo stuff.

I was hoping that Blank Slate's edition of Psychiatric Tales would be out in time for The UK Web And Mini-Comix Thing this week in London (UKwebcomixThing), but it isn't. I'll be there at the event anyway. I hope to see some of you around.

Painting And Publishing

2010-03-10T14:00:00.001+02:00

The good news is that Psychiatric Tales is finally going to print this week.

The bad news is that the process will take about three weeks, which means I'll just miss out on having copies for the UK Web and Mini Comix Thing on the 27th of March: UKwebcomixThing. Anyone want to buy a table off me, as without the book, I probably don't need it?

The good news is that Bloomsbury have moved forward the US edition of Psychiatric Tales to Feb 2011. Which is nice.

The warmer weather has inspired me to start painting again. Here's the first of the new batch of paintings. For sale if you're interested.

Painting under construction.

That BBC Radio Link (Hear My Voice)

2010-03-04T16:00:00.001+02:00

That interview I did for BBC Scotland's Radio Cafe is now online. Libyan cartoonist Asia Alfasi also features. The comix bit is at the end of the show.

I had to take the train over to Leeds to be in the studio there. The other guest, Asia Alfasi, was in a Birmingham studio. The interviewer was in Edinburgh. I'm pleased that the producer thought it went well. I still can't listen to my own voice though. This link is only up for a week. So catch it while you can.

Darryl On The BBC

2010-03-02T15:11:00.001+02:00

Having done the electroconvulsive therapy story, I'm now wondering whether a second Psychiatric Tales book is a good idea. I don't think I have enough in me for another mental health book, and I'm keen to explore other ideas. Vaguely I'm thinking of doing a book of science related story-strips with a strong sceptic stance. I'm not at all sure. But I think I should just go where the muse takes me, rather than tie myself down to a particular area. It will have some Psychiatric Tales in it, whatever. Let's just see what develops. It's much more fun that way.

Tomorrow I'll be on BBC Radio Scotland's The Radio Cafe, talking about Psychiatric Tales and comic book storytelling in general. It's live, so I hope I don't say bum or anything.

Here's two recent pages of The Streets Of San Diablo from the Activate site.

Electroconvulsive Therapy

2010-02-24T06:32:00.001+02:00

Here then is the completed 11 page story strip on ECT.

Podcast

2010-02-19T16:35:00.001+02:00

Okay, some stuff. I'm still working on my storystrip about electroconvulsive therapy, and this should be finished soon and be online for you to read next week. Around ten pages in full colour.

I recently did an interview for Alex Fitch's show on Resonance FM about my comic work, and this is available now as a podcast: http://tinyurl.com/yao78vk

In June I'll be on a panel with Paul Gravett and others at the graphic medicine symposium at the University Of London: http://preview.tinyurl.com/ykyrwso

That is all.

January Summery

2010-02-01T17:39:00.001+02:00

I don't have the time to update this diary like I was once able to. The main reason being, of course, is that I'm concentrating my time on drawing comics instead. This is the way it should be, I think. However, I thought I'd at least set myself the task of doing a monthly update. A brief summery of events which I'll write up at the end of every month.

Here's January. Snow, snow, snow, as we all know. Fun for a while and then a tiresome endurance test.

I'm continuing to do agency work, mostly at a local care home, with occasional shifts thrown in at the hospital (surgical wards). Hard work. I limit myself to a maximum of three shifts a week (because I can). Mostly two. It's not bringing me in much money, but I don't need a lot because I'm holed up here at my parent's house for the duration. And, of course, I can spend time drawing up stories and working on various art projects which will make me money down the line (somewhere).

The publication of Psychiatric Tales from Blank Slate is due quite soon. Bloomsbury will be publishing a US edition in 2011 (which seems like a long way off, I know). An interview with me, done by the excellent Matthew Badam, has just appeared in the Big Issue. A full transcript of this interview will be appearing on Matthew's blog later this week. The book itself will be launched at the UK And Webcomic Thing at the end of March (London). Please come and meet me there: UK And Webcomic Thing

I've had some difficulty with volume two of Psychiatric Tales. I did a few pages, but have put the whole project away for the time being. I think I'm just exhausted with this subject and need a longer break before going back to it. It's not that there aren't plenty of other subjects to tackle, so much as I feel that from an illustration point of view, I've used up my bag of tricks and need to develop new approaches. In the mean time I'm working on the last third of the Activate webcomic strip The Streets Of San Diablo. I've now reached page 67.

See the two new pages of The Streets Of San Diablo. See a rain of arrows and big red cannons with feet. Up now at that fine web-comic collective Activate

Tony Blair Strip

2010-01-29T20:24:00.000+02:00