The artist at work
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Garen's love of drawing and writing goes back to when he was very young, and had to spend a lot of time in hospital, so his mum supplied him with plenty of comics to read, and pencils and blank paper to draw with, and he's been making comics ever since! Other jobs have included working at a mushroom farm (he's a qualified fork-lift truck driver), an airport hotel, a computer software company and doing loads and loads of illustrations for various books and magazines. He's been the editor of a local entertainments guide (5D) and a comic strip anthology (Cosmorama). He's adapted Shakespeare's The Tempest into a comic and is the writer and artist behind The Rainbow Orchid. He's an expert on the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1878-1880, he's half Scottish, one-sixteenth Romany Gypsy and plays bass guitar and does karate (though not at the same time).
Click here for a more detailed biography and influences and inspirations...
Click here for interviews and features...
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| If you like your comics full of mystery and adventure and you love the worlds of H. Rider Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, Edgar P. Jacobs and Hergé, then you'll want to read The Rainbow Orchid.
Set in the 1920s, it is a tale of the search for a mythical flower last mentioned by the ancient Greek philosopher and botanist, Theophrastus.
But why does the orchid also feature on a stone slab that may tell of a forgotten Vedic legend? Who was the mysterious stranger who brought one to a remote village in the Hindu Kush, populated by those who are said to be descended from Alexander the Great? And why does Urkaz Grope want the legendary Trembling Sword of Tybalt Stone at all costs?
The Rainbow Orchid is traditional adventure at its best. Strong and simple storytelling with attractive and cinematic artwork, it enjoys a varied international readership of all ages and both sexes.
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| A brief history... |
| The Rainbow Orchid was originally started in 1997, but the only sign of it was a three-page preview that appeared in Cherokee Comics' Imagineers magazine. It wasn't until 2002 that it got going properly, and the series saw publication in BAM!, with the first part printed there over the next year or so. Eventually these strips were published in a black and white collected edition in order to guage public reaction, and it quickly sold out at London's Winterfest, the Bristol Comics Festival (where it was also nominated for two National Comic Awards), and through internet sales. The last copy was sold on ebay for £79, with some frantic last-minute bidding. In 2006 the story started receiving interest from publishers, and in the Spring of 2008 The Rainbow Orchid was picked up by Egmont UK. See the publication checklist. |
| FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions |
| The Rainbow Orchid Part One was released to the comic-reading public at the London Comics Festival in Bloomsbury. A large number of copies were sold to enthusiastic comic strip admirers and it also gave people the opportunity to ask any questions they had. As a number of these questions popped up more than once, this FAQ is presented to help provide the answers to them. If you want to know the answer to a question that isn't here, then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
How long is The Rainbow Orchid?
The story is being made available in three parts, each about 40 pages long.
When is volume two coming out?
Volume two will be available July 2010. Volume three will follow in early 2011. Volume one was released in August 2009. All are published by Egmont UK.
What age group is The Rainbow Orchid aimed at?
The only audience I've had in mind all along has been me, and I was in my late twenties when I started writing Orchid, and have continued it on and off, whenever able, throughout my thirties. Having said that, it is totally 'kid friendly' - there's no extreme violence, sex or nudity. The plot has quite a few levels to it, and there is the occassional wordy scene. I'd have loved it when I was 8, and when I was 12, and it's right up my alley as I write this in my late thirties. I get emails from 11 year olds saying they love it, and from 40-somethings saying they love it. I hear from a very pleasing mixture of both male and female readers.
Will there be more Julius Chancer adventures after The Rainbow Orchid ?
I hope so. I have many story ideas bouncing around, and if The Rainbow Orchid is a success, then I would certainly like to continue his adventures. The next one already exists as series of rough notes and a title, and takes place almost entirely in Britain.
It reminds me of Tintin!
I wanted to invoke the atmosphere found in European adventure albums such as Hergé's 'Tintin', Edgar P. Jacobs' 'Blake & Mortimer' and Yves Chaland's 'Freddy Lombard' to name just a few. Most British readers cite Tintin because not many other ligne claire comics have made it over from France and Belgium, but it is an entire school of comic strip storytelling with many creators working in the style, just like Manga often has a certain look to it, or the recent popularity of an 'animation' or Disney style in comics. The Rainbow Orchid has also been compared stylistically to Floc'h's 'Trilogie Anglaise' or Jacob's 'La Marque Jaune'. The better you know Tintin, the more apparent the differences, but I don't refute the similarities - it was a conscious desicion. Related blog entries here and here.
click the image to see examples of strips in the ligne clair school of comics
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