Comic Timing at Harrods

Harrods is hosting Comic Timing, an exhibition of original British comic art encompassing a comprehensive slice through the British comic scene, from early Dennis the Menace and Oor Willie through to the likes of Watchmen and Viz.

The show features artwork from comics as diverse as Jackie, Commando and 2000AD and by artists including Jamie Hewlett, Raymond Briggs and Posy Simmonds.

Bloghorn understands you'll be able to find drawing and story-telling from the following:

Watchmen, Judge Dredd, The Bash Street Kids, Dennis The Menace (1950s) Korky The Kat (1930s), Oor Wullie (1940s), Batman: The Killing Joke, V For Vendetta, From Hell, Tamara Drewe, Petra Etcetera, Commando, Finbar Saunders And His Double Entendres, Tank Girl, Tale Of One Bad Rat, Mauretania, Captain Britain, Phonogram, Breakfast After Noon, Slaine, Robusters, Summer Of Love, Four Feet From A Rat, Rhapsody Of Love, All Star Superman, The Filth, Hellblazer, Nellyphant, Face Ache, Jackie, Commando, Gentleman Jim, Look-In, Cherubs, Judge Death, Jack Staff, Books Of Magic, Superfly, Goddess, Wired World, and Charley’s War.

The Harrods website, sadly, lacks any information about the exhibition – although it does manage to mention a talk by V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd on September 29 at the Harrods Theatre.

Comic Timing is located at Harrods [map], 87-135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7XL, in the Lower Ground Floor and is directly down the stairs from Door Five, by the Knightsbridge Tube exit. It runs until October 31 and is free!

Further details are here

The PCO: British cartoon talent

Cartoon Exhibition: The Beano in Dundee

Amid the coverage of the London launch of the Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash last week at the Cartoon Museum, we should mention that there's a parallel exhibition in the Beano and Dandy's home town of Dundee. The exhibition is being held at the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee until the 20th September, Monday to Friday 9.30-20.30, Sat 9.30-12.00, and best of all, it's free to enter!

More details at the University of Dundee's website. Not being able to attend ourselves, Bloghorn would be keen to hear any reports from the exhibition.

Getting back to the London event, ITN sent a reporter along to cover the event last week, and here's their report.

Thanks to Lew Stringer for his Blimey! It's another blog about comics for the above links.

UPDATED:
PCO member Steve Bright, who worked for the comics for more than twenty years, asks us to point out that ITN have made a clanger in their copy. The current editor of The Beano is Alan Digby, not Rigby. Independent Television News, what can you say ... thanks for pointing that out Steve.

It's British cartoon talent

Cartoon exhibition: Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash

Click the above image to enlarge it, and see how many characters you can name

The Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash exhibition opens today at the Cartoon Museum in London.

PCOer Royston Robertson writes: I attended the preview of the show last night and can report that, as you would expect, it's great fun.

For the cartoonist geeks among us it's a chance to peer up close at original artwork drawn by some of the much-loved masters of comic art, such as Ken Reid and Dudley Watkins.

But there's plenty for the younger comic readers too, including activities and quizzes. Can you name all nine Bash Street Kids?

The exhibition spans eight decades and takes in all the Beano and Dandy characters you'd expect to see, from the iconic figureheads of Dennis the Menace and Desperate Dan to much-loved characters from the past such as Brassneck, Winker Watson and Pansy Potter (The Strongman's Daughter, of course).

A highlight for me was the wartime strip showing Lord Snooty taking on Adolf Hitler. Der Führer is unhappy that the Beano is keeping the British nation cheerful and vows to get rid of it. But Snooty and his pals have other ideas. A classic.

I'll certainly be returning with my kids, and I suggest that anyone with a love of British comics puts it on their must-see list for the summer and autumn. The exhibition runs until November 2.

The museum is running Beano and Dandy events for children throughout August, including family fun days, cartooning masterclass sessions, and chances to meet Beano artists. For more, visit the Cartoon Museum website.

The PCO: British cartoon talent

Cartoon exhibition: Beano and Dandy

While we're busy marking 60 years of the NHS this week, let's not forget that another much-cherished British institution has a significant birthday approaching.

On July 30, The Beano will be 70 years old. London's Cartoon Museum will be holding a major Beano and Dandy exhibition to celebrate. It will run until November 2 and will feature Dennis the Menace, the Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx, Lord Snooty, and all the gang. More on this nearer the time.

The Cartoon Museum

The PCO: British cartoon talent

Cartoonists 2008 exhibition

Cartoon by Peter Brookes of The Times

An exhibition entitled Cartoonists 2008 opens at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London on April 8 and runs until May 3.

It is the gallery’s second annual show devoted to the art of British cartooning, following on from its successful You Havin’ a Laugh? exhibition last year.

The show features cartoonists from publications such as The Times, The Sunday Times, Private Eye, The Spectator, Daily Express, London Evening Standard, the Telegraph and The Economist, and includes PCO members Andy Davey, John Jensen, Royston Robertson, Kipper Williams, and Mike Williams.

Original artwork is on sale, at prices ranging from £50 to £5,000.

The gallery, at 8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James’s, London, is open from 10am-5.30pm, Monday to Saturday. Tel 020-7839 7551, email gallery@chrisbeetles.com or visit the website.

British cartoon talent

Cartoon exhibition: Dave Follows

As well as the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival, April also brings with it a long-awaited exhibition celebrating the life and work of the late Dave Follows. It takes place at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, from April 19 – June 29.

Dave, who died in 2003, left a significant legacy of artwork that spans three decades. His work appeared in newspapers, comics, and magazines all over the world, including the Sunday Times supplement Funday Times (weekly for 15 years), more than 20 local newspapers, such as the North Staffordshire Evening Sentinel (daily for 20 years), and Buster comic.

Dave lived in Stafford all his life. He had a special soft spot for the Potteries and its people. His daily cartoon strip May un Mar Lady, written in Potteries dialect, first appeared on July 8, 1985, in the Sentinel and was a local institution for nearly 20 years.

The exhibition, May un Mar Lady: Three Decades of Cartooning by Dave Follows, includes a huge selection of Dave’s original cartoons, a reconstruction of his work area, life-size cartoon figures, a May un Mar Lady pilot animation, and a preview screening of a documentary exploring the Potteries dialect in the context of Dave’s cartoons by the Stoke-On-Trent based film production company Inspired Film And Video.

British cartoon talent

Cartoon exhibition: Dave Follows

The family of the late Dave Follows has organised an exhibition to celebrate the cartoonist’s work and legacy at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, from April 19 – June 29.

Dave, who died in 2003, left a significant legacy of artwork that spans three decades. His work appeared in newspapers, comics, and magazines all over the world, including the Sunday Times supplement Funday Times (weekly for 15 years), more than 20 local newspapers, such as the North Staffordshire Evening Sentinel (daily for 20 years), and Buster comic.

Dave lived in Stafford all his life. He had a special soft spot for the Potteries and its people. His daily cartoon strip May un Mar Lady, written in Potteries dialect, first appeared on July 8, 1985, in the Sentinel and was a local institution for nearly 20 years.

The exhibition, May un Mar Lady: Three Decades of Cartooning by Dave Follows, includes a huge selection of Dave’s original cartoons, a reconstruction of his work area, life-size cartoon figures, a May un Mar Lady pilot animation, and a preview screening of a documentary exploring the Potteries dialect in the context of Dave’s cartoons by the Stoke-On-Trent based film production company Inspired Film And Video.

British cartoon talent

Cartoon exhibition: Robert Dighton

An exhibition entitled Robert Dighton: Georgian Caricaturist, Actor and Thief is at The Cartoon Museum in London from January 23 to April 20.


Dighton (1751-1814) was a colourful character who for a time combined a career as an actor in the West End with that of artist and printseller, producing caricatures of the London celebrities of the day.

This exhibition of 80 of his original caricatures of celebrities and nonentities, the rich and the poor, provides an insight into the life of Georgian London. They range from Bill Richmond the famous black boxer, sportsman, innkeeper and promoter, to Martha Gunn who supplied bathing machines and prostitutes to the upper classes on their visits to fashionable Brighton. Dighton also drew the tailors, actors, academics and down-at-heel types who could be found on any street.

At the turn of the century he achieved notoriety for stealing and selling prints which he had quietly stolen from the British Museum.

The exhibition will also include some examples by his sons and grandsons who carried on the tradition of caricature.

The museum is at at 35 Little Russell Street, London WC1A 2HH and is open Tue-Sat, 10.30am-5.30pm, Sun 12pm-5.30. Admission £4/ £3. Free to Students and under 18s.

British cartoon talent