Tom Humberstone, Bears, & a New Poetry Comic
Hullo there!
The bear icon on my profile was drawn by Tom Humberstone, my long-time poetry comics collaborator. He drew it for the cover of my first poetry collection BEAR. I forced him to do a million redraws so the bear’s expression was suitably haunted, so much so that I suspect this ended up as a portrait of the harangued artist:
He nailed it though. Great bear, right? And he came back for more, drawing this for my second collection LOW:
Great crow, right? Specifically, an urban crow. Not one of those poetry crows you see out in the fields, eating corn in a sonnet.
My bear drama aside, Tom and I have worked together really well for years, making poetry comics of all different shapes and sizes. His most recent book SUZANNE just came out (not a poetry comic — it’s about the jazz age goddess of tennis Suzanne Lenglen), and it’s a great example of why I love his art. It always has such clean lines, and such softness and warmth — even when he’s drawing an intense tennis match, or an ominous bird for a book about grief.
In 2015 we edited a book together called OVER THE LINE: AN INTRODUCTION TO POETRY COMICS. More on that another time, but I bring it up here to stress how much faith we have in this poetry comics thing. Alan Moore agrees! Which is very nice. Here’s what he wrote for the book:
“This is that spine-tingling moment when two attractive and sophisticated forms, both admired for their rhythm and sense of timing, eye each other across the cultural dance floor. In Over The Line, at once an insightful introduction and a comprehensive showcase for the emerging phenomenon of Poetry Comics, Chrissy Williams and Tom Humberstone provide the best possible venue for what looks like being a breathtaking tango. I really can’t recommend this venture highly enough, and I’d advise you mark your card immediately.”
And if you’re wondering what poetry comics is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Sequential art, but written as or inspired by poetry, meaning it doesn’t have the same narrative propulsion that usually drives comics. (Of course, you can have narrative poems too, just not on our watch.)
And... we’re making a new one! It’s called INTRODUCTION TO CHARTS, and it grew out of one of the longer poems in LOW, which in turn started as a commission for a live participatory event. I’ve really enjoyed adapting this text across different mediums: live event, text, and sequential image.
It’s our most ambitious poetry comic yet. Many of our collaborations have just been one or two pages, but this will be a full pamphlet-lengthed 28 pages. And it’s an interesting challenge, poetry-comics-wise, in terms of balancing the work of the visual sequence with the pace and atmosphere of poetry. Not to mention the odd haunted bear.
It’ll be out later this autumn, and here’s a little tease for you — a totally out of context bear with a piece of Battenberg:
More on CHARTS at a future date, but I'm really excited about how it’s going.
A couple of quick things before I go:
The Poetry School is running a sale on two workshops I’m running for them this autumn. More on these next week, but if you fancy spending a day talking and writing about either ALIENS or DIE HARD, look here for 50% off.
Tom is running a Substack in October, with a free daily illustrated horror film recommendation from him. You can sign up for it here.
A new organisation has been formed to advocate for the cultural impact of comics, in order to secure better funding, support and broader recognition for comics overall. It’s called The Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC, pronounced ‘seasick’) and you can find out more and sign up for updates on their website.
Thank you so much for reading. This. For reading this.
Chrissy