A huge thanks to everyone who braved the rainy morning to come along, I really appreciate it. And another big thanks to library staff Sue Young, who put in all the effort to get it organised, and Sophie Worthington, who looked after me so well all morning.

Also today, the Forbidden Planet International blog put up a piece about the process I go through to make a page of The Rainbow Orchid - all my secrets revealed! You can have a look at it right here.

After trying to fit too much comics conversation into too short a time, Ellie and I went to Bella Italia on George Street for a late dinner, then got back onto the now-clear motorway, and home.

* Sarah McIntyre is holding two of her fabulous Comics Jam Sessions at the Cartoon Museum in London next Thursday (12 August) - see here for more details. And don't forget that I'm doing my own Adventure Comics Workshop at East Grinstead Library on Tuesday (10 August - details here).

Top row (l-r): Joel Meadows' new Tripwire magazine (no.54) is out now and it's absolutely packed full of great reading - visit the website to learn more and you can order a copy there too. This issue also includes a short interview with me; the latest Cinebook release from Leo is Betelgeuse vol 3: The Other - I think this is a fantastic series and I snap these up as soon as they're released, though this is the last in the current saga; NBM's latest Dungeon release is Twilight vol 3: The New Centurions - one of my favourite series (as I mentioned in Forbidden Planet International's recent Bastille Day piece).

Second row (l-r): Mw by Osamu Tezuka - I'm only a little way into this 582-page manga but am pretty gripped already; Fantagraphics recently translated Tardi's stunning and harrowing It Was the War of the Trenches; Alex Milway's new book, part-comic, part-prose, Operation Robot Storm - chock-full of Yetis!

Third row (l-r): Black Blizzard by Yoshihiro Tatsumi - I bought this after reading the author's autobiographical A Drifting Life, this is an early work and fairly crude by today's standards, but still an excellent (if unsurprising) read; Darryl Cunningham's brilliant Psychiatric Tales - highly original, wonderfully drawn, educational (though not at all preachy) - a very readeable and important comic - I think everyone should get themselves a copy (and it's published by the marvellous Blank Slate Books); Wilson by Daniel Clowes - bought after seeing Clowes and Chris Ware at the Brighton Corn Exchange a few weeks ago, a darkly enjoyable read if a little monotone - good though!

The story is written by two new-comers to the art of comics, but you wouldn't know it as it's a clearly told tale, and not overburdened with narration as some comics by pure wordsmiths are prone to. There are a couple of rather unlikely moments (the secret code that relies on a published work of fiction and the floor plan to a piece of 14th century architecture is a great idea but would seem impossible to match in reality), but they are far outweighed by the many moments of fun and excitement that move the story along at a perfect pace.

The relationship between the bohemian aunt and the flat-footed policeman reminded me of the romantic comedies of the period, perhaps played by the likes of Cary Grant and Paulette Goddard or Katharine Hepburn.

The cartooning, by a graduate of the New York School of Visual Arts, is lively and clear in both line and storytelling, and has hints of the European school of Hergé, Floc'h and Yves Chaland, with the two children often reminding me of Hergé's Jo and Zette in character, though the setting and atmosphere is very definitely American (indeed Evelyn's own comic is rendered in a fitting 1940s pulp comic style). All in all, it's another great book from First Second.

Cartoon County were also involved in my trip down to Brighton on Tuesday (25th May) to see Paul Gravett talk to Dan Clowes and Chris Ware at the Corn Exchange, as we were supposed to have dinner with them after the event. Alas, train trouble from London meant it all started 45 minutes late, and with a huge queue for signings afterwards, dinner had to be abandoned as they rushed for the last train back to the city.

The talk itself was very interesting. Clowes and Ware were obviously a little tired after the journey down, not to mention their London appearances the previous day after coming straight from Denmark over the weekend. Being the angst-ridden authors they are, it was sometimes difficult to get a lot out of them, but Paul did a great job of making it look effortless and as the talk went on they opened up a lot more. At the end there were questions from the audience, the best one coming from Fraser Geesin who simply asked "are you happy?". Ware, the more introvert of the two, did reveal he was ("Yay!" replied Fraser), but didn't like to crow about it too much in the face of people who had to 'go to work for a living'.

Again the evening was spent in the company of terrific comics people including Tim Pilcher and Karen Rubins, and it was a lovely surprise to bump into Patrice Aggs and her husband, Chris. I was also very pleased to meet Britten and Brülightly author, Hannah Berry, as well as some of the Cartoon County regulars I'd met on my last visit. You can see Tim's report over on the Bleeding Cool site.

On Thursday night I went to the second Comica Social Club with Ellie (who now has a membership badge too - I'll have her actually making comics soon!). This time we were able to sit inside the Festival Hall which turned out to be a pretty decent venue as various comics people spilled out around a couple of central sofas. A list of people met and chatted to would be a bit much (I've done too much of that in this post already!), but I did get to compare plane-route maps with the brilliant Alex Milway, who's first Mythical 9th Division book is out in about a week's time. Had a lovely dinner with Ellie afterwards, then got the train home, ending up rather late to bed, but comic-batteries somewhat re-energized.

Sunday 30 May 9am, The Ritzy - Philippa Perry: Couch Fiction

Sunday 30 May 2.30pm, Imagination Station - Andi Watson: Glister

Monday 31 May 5.30pm, The Ritzy - Ben Haggarty: Tales from the World of Mezolith

Tuesday 1 June 1pm, The Ritzy - Tim Quinn: Nostalgic & Hilarious Afternoon of Comic Book History

Wednesday 2 June 1pm, The Ritzy - Sally Kindberg & Tracey Turner: The Comic Strip History of Space

Thursday 3 June 4pm, The Ritzy - Martin Rowson: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Friday 4 June 2.30pm, Oxfam Studio - Ian Edginton & Ian Culbard: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Saturday 5 June 1pm, Oxfam Studio - Garen Ewing: The Adventures of Julius Chancer - The Rainbow Orchid

Saturday 5 June 5.30pm, The Ritzy - Paul Gravett with Gerald Scarfe, Brian Griffiths and Simon Grant - Rude Britannia Comic Art

One of the longest-running has been Les McClaine's Jonny Crossbones. At one point it was to be published by Dark Horse, but it became a victim of recessiony cost-cutting and lost its place. But it's beautifully drawn and a super mystery story to boot, so I'm sure it will see print at some point. Les has been pretty busy recently so it's been a while since it updated, but there's plenty to see online in the meantime.

I've enthused about David O'Connell's Tozo plenty of times here, and there's good reason for that - it's a superb strip! It's a romantically-hued science-fiction tale, a bit art deco, a bit steam-punky, and a lovely world to get immersed in. Book three has just come out in print form.

Ellie Connelly is an adventuress of the late-Victorian era, and she's currently involved in the hunt for the legendary Energy Vortex, thanks to her creator, the fantastic Indigo Kelleigh. This is great historical adventure with a hefty twist of the supernatural thrown into the mix. Stirring and absorbing stuff!

A couple of new British-based webcomics have surfaced in the past few months, and both are worth mentioning here too. Michael Ewing (no relation) has been providing us with the antics of Hugo & Co. since last August. Each new instalment turns up the mystery and keeps you riveted, a very enjoyable read. And I also heard from Mike Dutton who impressed me greatly with his work on The Zander Adventure. I love the pastoral setting which lends one to think something of the atmosphere found in Asterix or the Smurfs, and on top of that the characters and dialogue provide some excellent chucklesome moments - I look forward to reading more!

One thing about making comics in the fairly rigid format of a classic Franco-Belgian album is that it forces you to keep a strong narrative going. It's not easy, and there is less opportunity to rely on a number of the shortcuts comic authors sometimes use. The progression of the story has to be kept clear and logical. It's a real discipline, but often results in a comic that keeps good sequential storytelling to the fore.

If you know of any more comics in the clear line style, or in the family of classic Franco-Belgian adventure tales, do leave a comment and a link!

I can also heartily recommend Alex's recent Panel Borders interview, which helped me to while away the hours whilst ruling out several pages of Rainbow Orchid layouts. And keep listening, because it's followed by a really good interview with John Harris Dunning, author of the marvellous Salem Brownstone.

On a personal note, FPI have been very supportive of The Rainbow Orchid and, in fact, if you look at the blog's contributors, I'm privileged with generosity from all. Joe Gordon, captain of the ship, has regularly featured RO news and tidbits; Richard Bruton positively reviewed volume one; Matthew Badham conducted something of a 'master' interview, while Pádraig Ó Méalóid did a spot-on book-focussed interview; and Wim Lockefeer made my day with the following comment on his own blog, The Ephemerist:

"As a Belgian, and therefore assuming that I have anything to say in things ligne claire (which I don't), I think this is one of the best comics to step in Tintin's footsteps, along with Dirk Stallaert's Nino and Peter Van Dongen's Rampokan..."

I've been waiting for ages to quote that somewhere! One contributor who we don't see so often (hopefully it's the success of Blank Slate Books that has kept him away), but whose rare posts are always insightful, is Kenny Penman, and I'll leave you with the Forbidden Planet International advert he commissioned from me in 2007 (click it to see a larger version).

You can see the FPI birthday post here. Thanks for all the great reading, Joe and team. Here's to the next five...

And finally, a little mention of a superb comic I just read, A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. It's an autobiographical tale that focuses on the author's journey from manga fan to manga professional, coming of age in the 1950s golden era of Japanese comics. It's one of those books where I just had to keep reading 'one more chapter' - and ended up reading several late into the night. Highly recommended, especially if you make comics or love manga.

The second great thing is the impending publication by Blank Slate Books of Darryl Cunningham's Psychiatric Tales, compounded by the marvellous fact that Bloomsbury will be publishing it in the States. As I was reading parts of this book on Darryl's blog I remember thinking 'crikey, this could do really well', and I think it's going to. I've always thought that about Darryl's work - ever since reading his Uncle Bob adventures in Alchemist, and especially when reading his more recent Super Sam tales on the Forbidden Planet blog - I loved that so much that I sent it to Ben and David at The DFC and said they should be publishing him.

Both these stories are excellent news for British comics, and I'm really pleased to see two such talented writing-drawing comic creators get wider exposure for their work.

The bad part of this post is the news that legendary French comic creator Jacques Martin died in Switzwerland yesterday (21 January). He wasn't very widely known in the UK, (as far as I'm aware, only two of his Alix books were translated into English in the early seventies) but was a titan of Franco-Belgian comics, having worked as an assistant to Hergé and then going on to have his own work published in Tintin Magazine. While Alix was his biggest success, I was more drawn to the Lefranc books, though my lack of any recognisable French meant I had to make do with a very rudimentary comprehension of the stories - though that was good enough for me as the best I could get. I don't know if any of Martin's works are within the sights of Cinebook, but it would be wonderful if a wider acceptance of bande dessinée beyond Tintin and Asterix opened the door to that opportunity.

Woody Allen: "I have a very realistic view of myself. Some people think it's too much or even fake humility when I say I haven't made a great movie. When I dramatise my observations of life, they say it's cynicism. But in neither case is it either. I'm telling the truth. I don't see myself as an artist. I see myself as a working filmmaker who chose to go the route of working all the time rather than making my films into some special red carpet event every three years. I'm not cynical and I'm far from an artist. I'm a lucky working stiff."

It's not exactly what I was talking about yesterday, but it nicely follows the theme. And highlighting a problem with talking about this kind of thing, we're using the word 'artist' in a different way. Actually that might bring me back to Travesties, where Tristan Tzara says "Doing the things by which is meant Art is no longer considered the proper concern of the artist. In fact it is frowned upon. Nowadays an artist is someone who makes art mean the things he does. A man may be an artist by exhibiting his hindquarters."

That's enough of the quotes!

For a while now I've felt slightly inadequate among the artist bloggers community, guilty even, that I'm not providing daily sketches, little odd one-off strips and funny drawings. These are the things, after all, that that can really build your readership - cute or funny work that gets linked to and loved (by me, for one). I've tried to, every now and then, and almost always failed. In a similar vein, I am not in the habit of keeping a sketchbook and putting my life and all I observe into it. I look at my fellow pensmiths with benign jealousy at their glorious jottings full of characters and observations. "Keep a sketch book with you at all times!" the text books say. But it's just not me. I wish it was, because if I was that committed I'd be a far better draughtsman - and I'd like to be that.

Pages from my sketchbook - I take ages to fill them up, and when I have to sketch my figures are impatiently rendered and minimally functional, but quite lively.

It seems terrible to admit it, but I love not drawing. Drawing is terribly hard work. I only draw when I absolutely have to, and I only have the patience to draw exactly what I need to do to complete my own work. This is key, I think. I've never been a very good collaborator and have seldom indulged in making comics with others. Indeed it was the realisation that I didn't enjoy the commercial aspect of drawing comics (from someone else's script) that led me to create The Rainbow Orchid - if I was going to be drawing a comic strip (all that hard work!) then I'd want it to be stuffed full of all the things I loved - it would be tailored just for me.

I think I used to love drawing as a kid, but then we all do. I guess I carried on because I didn't want to lose that escapism - and though I didn't necessarily have talent, I probably did have some ability in the discipline (or maybe I had some talent, but not the ability - I'm never sure which way round it is). My school reports, where art was concerned, were generally lukewarm. I liked drawing, but could never get to grips with painting or any of the more arty disciplines (sculpture, ceramics, etc.). I wasn't interested. In my final exams, taking art at O-Level, I got a distinctly average 'C', and when I eventually applied to a couple of art colleges, I got refused at both. As it happened I lucked into a place at the second one after someone else dropped out - just because I happened to be there on the day as I was signing up for a part-time graphics course. I didn't last long though - I dropped out myself after six months of patchy attendance, not enjoying the arty stuff as I thought I should.

I'm very aware of my limitations as an artist, not only in ability (or talent, or whatever) but also as far as passion goes. Passion! That's what you're supposed to have, isn't it? I've known this for a while, but hadn't wanted to admit it publicly - what would my artist colleagues say! But actually, coming to terms with this has helped me to understand the kind of artist that I am, rather than the kind I am not.

This is not a negative or angsty post - not at all. I know I'm not a great original artist, but I do, after all, have a talent. It's where my drawing skills and my story-telling skills and my comic-making skills meet, and it's unique to me. I'm master of none of these disciplines separately, but I'm quite good in all of them, and they come together to produce something I'm very proud of, and that I do have a passion for. Enough passion that I will sit and do the hard work of drawing. Enough, even, that I'll get lost in that drawing and forget that I don't enjoy it, and find myself actually enjoying it.

Lucky bastard!