This blog began in 1997 as a single news page called Nucelus. In 2005, during a long wait to move into a new house, I decided to learn some php and MySQL and write my own blogging system, which became inkyBlog and which now powers this, my own Webbledegook blog.
Thank you to my brother, Murray Ewing, for help with some of the more challenging aspects!
Top row (l-r): Fiends of the Eastern Front by Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra - I was reading 2000AD at the time this was serialised, but I don't remember it! I'm not generally a big fan of vampires, but the WW2 setting attracted me. The Little Prince adaptation by Joann Sfar - yet to read, but it looks nice. A Distant Neighbourhood, vol. 1 by Jiro Taniguchi - beautiful manga.
Second row (l-r): Ozu: His Life and Films by Donald Richie - I've been getting into Ozu more and more since seeing Tokyo Story at the NFT earlier this year and my DVD pile of his films is growing. The Purple Smurfs by Peyo - I loved the Smurf albums as a youngster so it's nice to have them reissued, albeit in smaller editions (and I could do without the horrible film bumf on the cover). Lords of Death and Life by Jonathon Dalton - a lovely book by one of the best independent creators working in Canada today, Jonathan puts a huge amount of thought and work into his comics, and it shows in his well-researched and well-told stories.
Third row (l-r): There's No Time Like The Present 13 - Paul Rainey completed his excellent down-to-earth-SF-soap-opera earlier this year, a must read of British independent comics. Spandex 3 by Martin Eden - Martin draws the sexiest people in comics with a sublime, intelligent line, terrific stuff. Necessary Monsters by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Sean Azzopardi - I find Sean's art in this book genuinely chilling, another great UK independent comic.
Fourth row (l-r): Sgt. Mike Battle by Graham Pearce - still working through this huge tome, but have comics ever been so much mad fun? Starting Point 1979-1996 - essays by Hayao Miyazaki - I've had this for over a year now and keep it by my bed for constant dipping in and out of. Inspirational. Grandville Mon Amour by Bryan Talbot - I put this on my Christmas wishlist so had to wait to read it. Now I have, and it's brilliant - as expected.
Fifth row (l-r): Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne - I've been curious as to whether creationism has any valid arguments that could deflate Darwinism and have found nothing at all credible (I'll keep an eye out). Evolution, on the other hand, has oodles going for it - the world really is a marvel when you start to look at it with an open and rational mind. Find Chaffy by Jamie Smart - excellent children's book by the UK's premiere comic cartoonist, splendid stuff. Mo-bot High by Neill Cameron - I love all the DFC Library books, but I think this one just inches in as my favourite. I really hope there'll be a volume 2.