Received a response from Boots today, regarding the previous post:

"I have spoken to some of my colleagues regarding this and we believe that if a [sic] item has been copyrighted then a certificate or some kind of paper work would have been given to you to show this. To save any further inconvenience in the future if you take this with you next time you visit the store I'm sure this would sort the problem out. It also might be worth speak [sic] to the store manager to see if you can make them aware of this, as they may be able to make arrangements for you about the copyrighted work."

So as the owner of the copyrighted work, I have to give myself a certificate of authentication to prove that the work is, indeed, mine. I'm going to make a jolly nice certificate, complete with wax seal and ribbon. Not really.

Today I went to Boots to pick up a couple of 10 x 7 prints that Ellie had dropped off on CD last week. While I was in the queue (with my brother), the lady at the front tried to get a family portrait copied. Obviously a studio print, the staff member said she couldn't do any copies as the photo was copyright, and I started talking to my brother about how many people get turned away, disappointed, completely unaware that their family photos actually belong to the photographer or their studio, and that's where they need to order extra (generally expensive) prints from.

When I got to the front of the queue I said I was there to pick up two 10 x 7 prints, under my wife's name. The staff member returned saying "sorry, we could only do one as the other image was copyright." I was trying to remember what the images were as I paid and we left the shop, and halfway home I had to admit - one of the images was a wedding photo by a local photographer. But then I remembered what the other one was, I was experimenting with a blow-up Rainbow Orchid panel, and suddenly wondered if they thought that was the copyrighted image. I opened the envelope, and sure enough, they'd printed the copyrighted wedding photo and refused to print my own artwork.

I returned to the shop, not to complain, not at all annoyed, and said I appreciated them protecting my copyright of the image, and wondering if there was a way I could get my prints done, and prove I was the copyright owner. The senior member of staff I was passed onto was obviously a bit flummoxed, and eventually told me just to tell them the image was my own, but looking slightly doubtful that this was a very satisfactory answer, because I may not be telling the truth - how are they to know? A good point. I've written to Boots to see if they have anything to say on the subject; it's all very amusing, but an interesting predicament too.

Part two to this story here...

John Freeman (of Down the Tubes) has interviewed me for his column at Comic World News.

Klare lijn International is a great BD blog (in French) dedicated to ligne clair comics and includes an entry on Rainbow Orchid.

New work website is now up - probably still needs a bit of tweaking, but now I need a bit of sleeping!

I am very pleased to announce that The Rainbow Orchid is now represented by A. P. Watt, literary, film and television agents.

A. P. Watt have been around since 1875 and have a varied client list including Quentin Blake, Boris Johnson, Zadie Smith, Philip Pullman, Richard E. Grant and also the estates of Rudyard Kipling and H. G. Wells (among others). This is great news for the comic, and another step on the way to the completed book seeing publication. I'm very grateful for their interest and support.

Although I am not Scottish, my father and his side of the family all came from the Highlands, and the family were in Dundee from the 1870s (in fact some of my Camerons even lived in a Glebe Street (Glasgow), also the name of the Broons' home address). My gran often talked about Oor Wullie and The Broons, and I was quite young when I bought my first Oor Wullie book in a second-hand bookshop. He's been a long-time favourite, and on March 8th 2006 he celebrated his 70th birthday.

Wullie in 1936 and in 1968 by Dudley D. Watkins

Had a nice day in London yesterday with my brother, who has a week off work (and on Tuesday we visited a couple of second-hand bookshops in Worthing). The main reason I was going was for a meeting at the end of the day, but our main trip was to the Tate Britain to see the Gothic Nighmares exhibition (closes 1st May 2006), focusing on the work of Fuesli, well-supported by Blake (my main interest) and some others, including a surprising number of James Gillray cartoons. I highly recommend the exhibition; it's not too big, every piece is interesting, and it's well laid-out. Attendance was good, but not crowded so you could spend as long as you wanted in front of the pieces, and not get in anyone's way (or have others in your way). There were some really nice clear-line drawings (18th century) from an artist whose name I don't recall... I'll find out.

The Good and Evil Angels by William Blake

I also visited the new(ish) Forbidden Planet, and though I hadn't intended to buy anything I found Trondheim's 'The Hoodoodad', which I have been after for a while, in their sale section, so bought it.

The meeting at the end of the day was good. It was with the literary, film and television agent AP Watt, and they will now represent my comic strip, The Rainbow Orchid, which is excellent news. They have been around since 1875 and have a varied client list including Quentin Blake, Boris Johnson, Zadie Smith, Philip Pullman, Richard E. Grant and also Rudyard Kipling and H. G. Wells.

One thousand years ago, or thereabouts, some of my ancestors left India and spent 500 years crossing Europe, and reached England roughly in the 1500s, where they were known as 'Little Egyptians', soon shortened to Gyptians, then Gypsies (and some were hanged for it, too). I remember my mum making vague references to her dark hair coming from a "true Romany" strain of the family, but I only learned its truth about five years ago when I started researching my family history for myself.

My ancestors in this line stopped travelling and settled in about the 1860s, and most of the facts about them had been forgotten by the time I started looking into it, but I wrote an article about what I did discover and it has just appeared in the latest issue of the excellent Romany Routes, the magazine of the Romany & Traveller Family History Society (Vol. 7 No. 6, Mar 2006). It's a much more detailed version of a brief online piece I wrote here.

I will not be updating the online version of The Rainbow Orchid for a little while. The main reason for this is that I am taking some time to concentrate more fully on the writing. The important thing to know is that this is not prolonging the process, it's work that needs to be done anyway. I'm just coming to the half-way point in the story, and while the plot is well worked out, including the ending, I need to make absolutely sure all my strands are going to tie up properly (and readers will be aware there are a number of strands to this story, some of which have only been hinted at). To be confident in the drawing, I need to be confident in the script, especially from this moment on.

I like the fact that I have created quite a rich plot with Rainbow Orchid, and I really need to be careful that it does not get confusing in the telling. Part one threw several balls up in the air. I want to make sure I catch them all neatly. I don't find writing the easiest process, so for that reason I work harder on it. I don't think a day has gone by in the last four years when I haven't been turning over some aspect of the story in my mind, and how I can tell that aspect in pictures.

Now, don't think this is a statement that precedes a long silence and then a comic that never appears as I lose interest. It is partly due to increased interest in the comic that I have to make sure of my writing more carefully now. The first 7 episodes of Rainbow Orchid will remain online and I am also going to continue with the colouring, and I will post the updated strips as they're finished. Shane Chebsey recently called The Rainbow Orchid (book two) "the most eagerly awaited comic in the UK at the moment", and while that's a rather over-generous statement, I am aware some of you have been very patient for a long time. I hugely appreciate every reader I have. I know comics aren't the most important thing in the world, but this one's very important to me. I will now be working harder on The Rainbow Orchid, and it will definitely appear, and it won't be years away. I'm very wary of giving time-promises, but I hope this writing period won't be more than two or three months. The plot is there, I just need to tighten the details properly. There are some bits in part three I can't wait to draw!

I don't want to get too rambly, but I will just add that you can sign up as a registered reader at the website, and if you subscribe to the very infrequent newsletter, you can make sure you'll be kept up to date, though of course this blog will also keep you informed.