FUTURE FARM STORIES

This book often has price deals!

After a spoken introduction to “Future Farm Stories” by “the farmer's wife,” where she stands before us and explains the subtle emotional difference between farmed land and wild land, the first story in this book, “More Power,” begins.

“More Power” is about a farmer who gradually comes to sense a strange presence hidden somewhere in his fields. We see him at work with his friendly colleagues and his modern machinery, we see the minor disasters and triumphs of his life. Years on the farm pass, but all the while, in the farmer's mind, a feeling grows that there is something hidden there, on his farm, something secret. This sense almost becomes a friendly presence until he ultimately realises that he might work his farm forever but still never know the source of the feeling.

I have a similar feeling about certain places I have known. Years have gone by and I am no closer to knowing what those feelings are all about either, and I explain my position in this tale.

#farmers #comics #landscape #mysticism

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

NEW POSTERS ARE IN!

Brand new images from the world of Mauretania Comics

The exciting new posters are: the cover from the book “Torus,” the famous image where we are monitoring Monitor, the lorry that drives across the mountain in “We're Early,” “Beware the Egg” from the old tale, then a T-shirt design based on “Sunbuit,” “Monitor” stares at you, as does “Rational Control.” Susan “would rather be anywhere,” and a pilot flies above a busy railway station.

#mauretaniacomics #chrisreynolds #posters #tshirts

https://10-chris-reynolds.pixels.com/art

Images: views of the exciting new posters.

 

THE OTHER “GOLDEN AGE”

If you enjoy the short stories which appear at the centre of “The New World” book of Chris Reynolds comics, published by New York Review Comics, you'll come across a strange little story called “The Golden Age”.

This is where, as that book's editor, Seth, points out, rationality beats out the force of intuition and young Robert's teacher, Mr Ranger, stops him from pursuing an important dream. Seth particularly liked this story and, even before “The New World” came about, included it in his 2005 Appreciation of Mauretania Comics in The Comics Journal, pointing out certain aspects of the plot which interested him, comparing the features he'd found there to other stories, particularly the Penguin Books' long “Mauretania” story about Susan Black, where he explained that he saw another clash between rationality and intuition, but this time with a different result.

That “Golden Age” story, like most of the others in Seth's “The New World” originally appeared in an issue of Mauretania Comics in the late 1980s.

But it was only part of the “Golden Age” sequence. There were many more “Golden Age” stories which appeared in the original run of Mauretania Comics.

These missing stories are now available as part of “Grand Old Tales from the World of Mauretania”.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

#chrisreynolds #mauretaniacomics #comics #graphicnovels

Image: Robert and Catherine among the ruins of their city.

 

 THE HISTORY OF “GRAND OLD TALES FROM THE WORLD OF MAURETANIA”

The main story from “Grand Old Tales”, “The Golden Age”, was originally serialised in issues of the original run of “Mauretania Comics” in the late 1980's. At that time I thought it was overlong and would take forever to finish, and so we printed the later episodes at a reduced size, four pages to fit on one normal page. This at least enabled me to bring the story to an end reasonably quickly. I thought that this was OK as I didn't think anyone particularly liked the story but I wanted to bring it to a conclusion.

To my surprise, I later heard that for several readers, it was their favourite thing, so much so that Marc Baines, editor and published at Glasgow's Kingly Books insisted on including “The Golden Age” in his 2005 “The Dial and Other Stories” collection of Mauretania Comics strips, so this became the first prestigious full-size representation of the tale. When the Kingly edition had sold out, a Lulu Press edition had slightly different contents but still included “The Golden Age”. But then the story did not appear in New York Review Comics' “The New World” edited by Seth for reasons of space.

And so it appears as part of “Grand Old Tales From the World of Mauretania”.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

#comics #architecture #ruins

Image: Robert crashes to the ground in a comic panel.

WHY GRAND OLD TALES?

“Grand Old Tales From the World of Mauretania” was inspired by Matteo Gaspari of the Hamelin Cultural Association of Bologna. Matteo had masterminded the Italian edition of “The New World” but thought that Seth (Editor of the original New York Review Comics TNW) had left out some important stories. As a result of this thinking, Matteo published these extra stories as”L'Età d'oro” to coincide with the Tunué (Italy) TNW launch in Bologna in 2019 under his “Banana Oil” imprint. The stories were out in the world again.

I was honoured to meet Matteo that year, and his infectious enthusiasm encouraged me. Our taxi ride to Bologna railway station was particularly hilarious! Covid then took some of the wind out of my sails but the idea of these extra stories lived on.

There had been no English language version of these tales since Glasgow's Kingly Books included them in “The Dial and Other Stories” in 2005, now long out of print, and it seemed a shame to just leave these stories lying in the drawer for English readers.

So here they are for you as “Grand Old Tales From the World of Mauretania.”

#comics #graphicnovels #architecture

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

 MONITOR AND ROBERT PLAY IN THE SKY

Grand Old Tales from the World of Mauretania

Monitor and Robert play a dangerous game of catapults atop the abandoned industrial buildings.

Following a cryptic message delivered through his door, Monitor makes his way through the deserted city to a rendezvous where he joins his friend Robert atop the city's abandoned warehouses.

In a more innocent time, before the destruction of their city, Monitor and Robert dare a dangerous game of catapults, seemingly among the clouds, their youthful powers at play in the sky, high among the roofs of these derelict industrial buildings. (Someone could get hurt.)

Where is the little blind girl who loves them so much? What is the story behind her dolls? What about the catapults – surely so dangerous when fired at one another? Do Monitor and Robert appreciate the dangers of this carefree play?

Before the age of responsibility or care, where will their enthralling game of cat and mouse lead?

A stray shot plummets to the earth – a cry – who is it down there?

Could this be the end of their childhood innocence?

#comics #graphicnovels #chrisreynolds #mauretaniacomics

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

Image: Robert and Catherine boil a kettle among the ruins of their city.

TEA IN THE RUINED CITY

Grand Old Tales from the World of Mauretania

After the destruction of the city, rolled flat by machines, before its architectural rebuilding, Robert and his headmistress, Catherine, drink tea among the ruins.
Is this a disaster, or just reality? Reality making a friendly effort by bending and twisting its shape – to help Robert and Catherine – to achieve their hopeless dreams?
Is it necessary that they must deal with the monstrous Cwiss? Must they suffer the complacent whims of Mr. Ranger?
And what of the innocents – the other people caught up in this madness? Are they just droplets in the River of Time?
Will we really see the race between the two headmistresses, the huge golden arch, the underground spiral staircase, and the gleaming "copper" policeman?
Is it necessary that Catherine must die and lie forever buried in the ruins?
Who hit the little blind girl? What inspired Mr. Ranger to take up his career?
(It must be stressed that none of this turned out to be a dream.)

#comics #graphicnovels #ruinedcity #mauretaniacomics
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

MR. RANGER SEES HIS FUTURE

It's a fine spring morning. The mountains have that blue haze that seems so mysterious and inviting.

Mr. Ranger arrives from among the hills above the village, his mind full of grand religious visions. He is looking for a plan for his life to be revealed to him by God. Today seems an auspicious day. Just based on how he feels, he randomly selects, using his personality quirks and pretensions, to become a Teacher in the village below him. He is satisfied with his choice. He is self-satisfied with his choice.

After being successful in his selection of a career, Mr. Ranger will pollute the lives of others, those he fails to understand, and those he tries to fit into his limited understanding of the world.

Parents seem to like him though. There is never any trouble in any of his classes and the children are always quiet and subdued when they return home.

At an impressionable stage of your life, would you like to be taught by this man?

From “Grand Old Tales from the World of Mauretania.”

#comics #graphicnovels #religiousnutters

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

The Face of Evil?

Meet Cwiss, from “The Golden Age”, part of the book “Grand Old Tales from the World of Mauretania”

At first glance - an appearance of childhood innocence - the oval face, the freckles, the golden hair...

But then we notice the impudent turned-up nose, the sardonic smile...

Is this a friend to be trusted?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grand-Old-Tales-World-Mauretania/dp/B0B46SDLXG

Grand Old Tales from the World of Mauretania

Young Robert lives in a dream of marrying the headmistress of his school, but the dream turns into nightmare when they meet Cwiss, a dreadful incubus with other plans.

These stories originally appeared in various issues of Mauretania Comics between 1985 and 1992. They were included in 'The Dial and Other Stories' (Kingly Books, 2004, Lulu, 2006) and were published in Italian translation as 'L'età d'oro' by Banana Oil Books to coincide with the BilBOlbul comics festival in 2019.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B46SDLXG

New Cover Design for our “Seefestung2” comic!

It was time to replace the green “Snowman” cover with something a little more atmospheric. This is the new design for “Seefestung2”.

#Comicstreifen #mauretaniacomics

 

CINEMA DETECTIVES EXPERIENCE

Life with the Cinema Detectives continues beyond their adventures in “The New World”

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cinema-Detectives-Golden-Chris-Reynolds-ebook/dp/B0B84ZV5KC

 The classic rainbow photograph of the cover of "The New World". 

Photo taken by Chez Blundy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chez-blundy-969160166/

#photographer #chezblundy #books #graphicnovels

 

The mysterious Prince Umsween

WHO is Prince Umsween? How did he come to live in the Royal Court? His Book of Trains. His Christmas Dreams... WHO is Prince Umsween?

 

Superbly designed by Félicité Landrivon, here is the French version of Mauretania Comics. Félicité had used bold, blue images as section breaks and circled vignettes as story breaks. The book also has an essay by Ed Pinsent about the British Small Press in the 1980s
#chrisreynolds #mauretaniacomics #graphicnovels #comics

https://felicite.land/

 “You wouldn't be nicking anyone else's images; you'd be using your own.”

The shade of Roy Lichtenstein hangs over any art based on comics, but when my friend Pieter Gyr said I must create some big images based on my comic panels, I had to agree. I ordered some colourised prints of some of the panels to see how they would look enlarged. The result was quite pleasing.

From there it was a short step to using these prints as a basis for wall art, T-shirts, mugs, and the whole caboodle.

I considered which images to use. I could choose freely without treading on the toes of Irv Novick. Did I have a “Whaam!” or a “Drowning Girl”?

Well, I had a big, panoramic full-colour spread of a railway station seen from a plane which had always been a popular image.

Then an image of Susan's ennui as she begins her new job at the Reynal Import/Export Company in “The New World”.

Next, something sinister from Rational Control, the alien police force in the same book.

Monitor, of course, had to be included, in a similar frame.

My colleague John Parke, at the Salon of Infinite Possibilities, suggested using the semi-abstract design of the sun from the story, “Sunbuit” as an image, so that became one of the set.

And the cover of “Beware The Egg” has always been a striking sunset image.

The sun yet again from the Haiku-style story, “In and Out of The Sun”, with the ever-popular scene from inside the car as it drives across the mountain.

Then, another image of Monitor, where we are watching him, as he himself watches, looking from a window.

And finally, the striking cover image of detective Rosa Pleck from the book, “Torus”, which was planned to contain all the stories overlooked by Seth from “The New World” (but ended up with different contents entirely.)

So, did Roy get any money from sales of T-shirts?

#chrisreynolds #mauretaniacomics #comics #graphicnovels

https://10-chris-reynolds.pixels.com/art

 

New T-Shirt design using "distressed" version of artwork from the Spanish version of Mauretania Comics, "Este era el lugar".artwork - from teemill