Mr. Amperduke and a Little Crass
Feb 28th, 2008 by Donagh
This is well overdue but still, better late….
Bob Byrne of clamnuts fame has just launched his comic book Mister Amperduke - actually it was back on Valentine’s Day, but as I said better late…
It’s about how a mini-city of small lego people survive when their benign creator, a tic-tac dispensing granddad with tiny rabbit ears, who has spent many of the nights of his well-deserved retirement creating the beautiful buildings, houses and ring roads in his cellar, is suddenly hospitalised after tripping over the cables of his irascible visiting grandson’s nintendo.
The problem is that the mendacious grandson has found the mini city and after discovering a vicious claw-nosed creature during an enforced spell out in the garden decides to introduce the hungry fella to the streets and thoroughfares of the micro-city. Needless to say the quiet comfortable life of the lego people is torn asunder as the creature discovers that when he crushes the lego people in his vice-like jaw he’s able to crack their plastic casing and get at their easily digestible biological goo…
So, they have no choice. They have to fight back….
Here’s the trailer:
There are no words or dialogue to tell you the story - only pictures. On the cover it says that its a new mode of visual storytelling. Bob has drawn 2000 panels which took him four years to complete, so this is the culmination of a lot of effort.
I don’t buy comics or graphic novels, but after asking Bob to help with Irish Left Review he sent me info on the launch so I bought the book. Its a bit of a treat getting a comic in the post as most of the books I buy are chock full of big, difficult words it was really enjoyable scanning the panels. It’s very funny too.
Anyway, Bob is up for an Eagle Award, which seems to be some comics awards thing in the UK. You can nominate him for the FAVOURITE COMIC ARTIST/WRITER category by going here. You can nominate some of his cartoon scribbling mates too. Check out clamnuts for details.
And now a little music.
In one of Nialler9’s podcasts a while back himself and Aoife featured songs that they’d gleaned from Yanksizzler, a music podcast that chucks out obscure and classic songs on a twice-monthly basis. For one reason or another the podcast stopped just after I subscribed, but its back and I’m linking to it here, because its outstanding.
The playlist is as follows:
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Mac Group - Liverpool [19??] Compilation: The Dakar Sound Vol. 2
Jeffrey Lewis - I Ain’t Thick It’s Just A Trick [2007] Album: 12 Crass Songs
Pylon - Precaution [1980] Album: Gyrate…Plus!
Modeselektor - Happy Birthday [2007] Album: Happy Birthday
El Perro Del Mar - Glory to the World [2008] Album: From The Valley To The Stars
James Brown - It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World [1966] King Records 7″ Rereleased: All Time Greatest Hits
Elton Motello - Jet Boy Jet Girl [1977] 7″ Vogue Single Album: Victim of Time [1980]
Springer & The Barons - Don’t Play That Song [19??] Compilation: Vintage Spouge, Vol. 2 Out of Print
Kid Koala - Moon River (live) Recorded live March 29th, 2003 The Knitting Factory, NYC.
DJ Shadow / Cut Chemist - untitled hidden track [2007] Album: The Hard Sell. Original is Out of Print.
Ivor Cutler - Spreadeagled / Slut [1993] John Peel Session Nov. 16th, 1993.
Thunderous Olympian - Web 2.0 [2007] Compilation: KJHK Farm Fresh Sounds Winter 2007
Krampfhaft - Secret Handshake [2008] Compilation: No Time To Waste
DaFruzler - People Want More Grindcore…[2008] Compilation: No Time To Waste
Mammoth Life - At Once [2007] Album: Kaleidoscopic Art Pop
Sons & Daughters - The Bell [2008] Album: This Gift
Wareika Hill Sounds - Joseph C [2007] Album: S/T
Hank Williams - Ramblin’ Man [1951] Album: The Best Of…
Moby Dick - The opening prose… [1948] Decca 10″ Moby Dick
