Mermaids in Comics 3 – Sailor Twain, or, The Mermaid in the Hudson

We LOVE First Second books! First Second is a US publisher of graphic novels. Julie has a huge collection of American and translated European works from its catalogue. So we were delighted to discover that Sailor Twain Or The Mermaid in the Hudson has just been released and as the title tells you—it features a mermaid.

We haven't read it because it was released just last week, but it was reviewed on the ICv2 website. Here's part of the review:

In Sailor Twain, Siegel introduces readers to late-nineteenth century New York, specifically the culture and life of the Hudson River. Siegel deserves commendation as Sailor Twain is more than a modern and affectionate experiment in or homage to genre fiction--instead, Sailor Twain finds common ground in the serialized nature of nineteenth-century literature, the horror and atmosphere of Edgar Allan Poe combined with the intrigue of Arthur Conan Doyle, and the comedic sensibilities of travelling stage performances that later formed the basis for vaudeville as well as early silent cinema and newspaper comics. Told in retrospection through a conversation between Captain Twain and a mysterious, unknown woman named Miss Camomille, the story traverses the Gilded Age and Civil War eras aboard the Lorelei, along the shore, and below the Hudson River itself. With a cast resembling a ship of lost souls, Siegel has crafted an original and innovative supernatural and romantic tale involving the disappearance of passengers coinciding with the arrival of a wounded mermaid named South.

You can spot the mermaid in the video from the 0.39sec mark. Looks like this is one for our Christmas list... to give to each other, of course.

Elf~Fin Leaks and Peeks 30

A perturbed Hyfus... Anxious or not, we're loving the muscles, Jozef!

Movie Mermaids 5 – Hugo

Okay, we don't want to lead you down the garden path and tell you that this movie – set in Paris in 1931 – features definitive underwater mermaids. But we can tell you that there is a mermaid sighting in the silent movie sound stage scene where Neptune and his sea maid entourage appear. If you check out the trailer, you'll be able to see what we mean at the 1 min: 53 second mark. If you watch the movie, you'll be able to see the scene at around the three quarters mark. Mermaids or not, we highly recommend this magical Academy Award-winning film.

Photos 2 – OzCon 5 (BMP Classic and Mermaid)

We thought you might get a kick out of these nostalgic photos, which we just dug up —that's Julie with Bruce Love (our previous BMP Classic business partner and co-writer of WaveDancers and Dart), and Jozef with the long cascading hair. Jozef had just bought a fashion mannequin, which we dressed up as a mermaid. If we had had a big budget we would have made her a beautiful black sequinned costume but we really liked the colours of her tail and head-dress.  She was a HUGE hit and lots of people came and posed next to her and took lots of pretty pics, which proves the point that mermaids are universally loved, especially hot ones like this one. Her fin is quite spectacular!

GRAPHIC 2012 Launch – Festival of Firsts

We're going on record to say that we're great fans of the annual GRAPHIC event—a weekend of graphic storytelling, animation and music that is held at the Sydney Opera House. We've attended multiple sessions over the last two years and had a fabulous time, so we were pretty pleased to receive an invitation to attend the launch last night where we got an insider's view of what's coming up in November.

GRAPHIC celebrates and often fuses the three different art forms. One example in this year's lineup is "Dr Seuss Meets Elefant Traks" (Sun 11 Nov)—a collective of 25 performers that will musically support the whimsical imagery from Dr Seuss's surreal universe. Another is "Radio with Pictures" (Sun 11 Nov) which is part radio, part comic strip and a whole lot of live performance. Oz illustrators Matt Taylor, Biddy Maroney, Matt Huynh, Leigh Rigozzi and more are featured in this session. Several of these artists appeared in last year's Oz comics panel and did sensational presentations so this is one session that's on our radar.

The major animation headliner is Pixar Animation Studios. which will feature in a "Behind the Screens" session (Sat 10 Nov) that will be held in the concert hall. Another favourite of ours and a must see on our schedule is "Animal Logic's History of Computer Animation" (Sun 11 Nov).

In the comics department, we've got "Peter Bagge's Hate! & Other Neat Stuff" (Sun 11 Nov). This year, GRAPHIC will give gaming its place in the sun.  This will come in the form of "The Good Game: Roffle Cup Live" (Sun 11 Nov), which is a quiz show similar to ABC's "Spicks and Specks" except that it focuses on computer games. In addition, the comics making workshop held during the previous two years will be replaced by a "Gaming Workshop: Gaming Level Design" (Sat 10 Nov).

We also have it on good authority that there will be some additional panel sessions, which have not been scheduled yet.

Once again, curators Jordan Verzar and Ben Marshall have done a great job planning this years lineup, which is not only original but bound to be inspirational.

CLICK HERE if you want to check out the program. Tickets go on sale on Monday 17 September 2012.  Make sure you get in early because they sell out fast.

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Maybe it should be called "Shark Riders" rather than "Elf~Fin" or maybe not... Jayshu is up to silly shenanigans at Spax's promptings. Oh, and in Elf~Threaal, they're called "sharps" not "sharks". From left to right, that's Jayshu, Razbi and Spax. More pretty pics coming soon. More importantly, Jozef is counting down the pages he has left to paint so  Issue #1 is getting close to being finished.

My Elf~Fin Birthday

Last month was my birthday and I received a delightful surprise from Perth in Western Australia in the form of a lovely hand-coloured birthday card from my friend Maddy who is all of five years old. I'm told that Dad pencilled the lines of the characters but Maddy did all the colouring in. What I clearly adored was Maddy's take on Razbi and Jayshu from the first issue of Elf~Fin. Jozef loves it as well. I am very touched that Maddy has been inspired by the original artwork, came up with the idea of putting it on a personal one-of-a-kind birthday card for me and I think the execution of her vision is truly amazing. I think she is an up-and-coming artist we need to keep an eye out, and who knows, maybe in a few years she'll be working in mermaid comics as well.