| mighty world of marble hill park |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|03:13 pm] |
a few pics from saturday, 27/06/2009...
man vs nature
the above two pics remind me a bit of this scene from x-men no.140
& steve's final resting place...
( click on any of the pics to see 'em at a bigger size on my flickr page )
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| reminder: the scattering of steve's ashes - saturday 27th june |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|03:39 pm] |
plse see below for fiona jerome's reminder message about saturday's celebration of steve's life & works - hope to see you there for many happy memories of our dear ole pal...!
"Dear Friend of Steve
I just wanted to remind you that the scattering of the ashes and a few other things will be taking place next Saturday, 27 June 2009.
We're meeting up on the steps of the Orleans House Gallery at the bottom of Marble Hill Park in Richmond, and setting off to do the deed at 1pm sharp.
Orleans House Gallery
Riverside,
Twickenham,
TW1 3DJ.
Telephone: 020 8831 6000
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=516843&y=173340&z=0&sv=TW1+3DJ&st=2&pc=TW1+3DJ&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf
Everyone's welcome, and there's no dress code. Please feel free to remind your friends if I've missed someone off.
See you on Saturday!
Fi x"
the above pic = a terrific self-portrait steve did for mighty matt brooker - used here without permission but w/great affection: somehow it seemed appropriate... - for the full story behind the drawing see it at matt's flickr page here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glasseye/2300231154/
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| scattering steve's ashes... |
[May. 1st, 2009|05:59 pm] |
from fiona jerome - & posted here with her approval...
Dear Friends of Steve
There's going to be a gathering for scattering Steve's ashes on 27 June 2009 (just after what would have been his birthday), in South London. It will be by the steps at the Orleans House Gallery at the bottom of Marble Hill Park in Richmond. Please gather outside the gallery main entrance.
Orleans House Gallery
Riverside,
Twickenham,
TW1 3DJ.
Telephone: 020 8831 6000
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=516843&y=173340&z=0&sv=TW1+3DJ&st=2&pc=TW1+3DJ&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf
The scattering will happen at 1pm sharp so we suggest you aim to get to the main entrance by 12.45, the great Steemol tradition of lateness not withstanding (and I know, I am not one to talk)!
The gallery has a coffee shop for any early arrivals to refresh themselves, and afterwards I suspect there'll be a desire to visit a local hostelry - I'm assured there are several within a few minutes walk and we have local Nick Abadzis to guide us.
Dig out all your favourite Steve stories, and I hope to see you there - and please feel free to pass on the details to anyone you think would want to be there.
Fi x
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| photos of Steve |
[Apr. 21st, 2009|07:04 pm] |
Here are some photos of Steve sent to me recently by his sister, Melanie (who kindly also supplied one of his scarves and a drawing pen as keepsakes). There's no notation as to when and where these photos were taken. They look fairly recent (i.e. 1990s or later) Can anyone tell me?
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| Steve Obit |
[Apr. 5th, 2009|01:32 pm] |
Jonathan Clements's brief obituary of Steve, titled 'Bestimost', which had originally been published in issue no.45 of Neo magazine, has been reprinted in Jon's book of essays Schoolgirl Milky Crisis: Adventures in the Anime and Manga Trade. Jon specifically recalls Steve's excellent work colouring the Street Fighter II manga for Manga Mania magazine. |
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| The old fish-shop joke |
[Mar. 27th, 2009|08:05 pm] |
Here's another of my favorite jokes told by Steve. Actually he told it to me and my wife, Kim, during our 1995 visit to the UK--the first of two she and I have made together and the first time she saw Steve. (I had introduced them by phone a couple of years earlier and she immediately appreciated his sense of humor.)
The day he told us this joke we were at my mother's house in Bedford, having just met him off the train from London and walked with him the short distance from the Bedford railway station to the house. (He stayed with his parents during this visit and in the next few days, Steve and Kim and I did some "sightseeing" in Bedford, where I grew up --and first met Steve -- but where I not been since 1987.)
Anyway, here's the joke, to the best of my recollection. Likely you've heard it (like all jokes it's all over the Internet now--some versions set it in a fish-and-chip shop) but I present it here as an example of the type of "Steve Whitaker joke" I have often retold:
Lady walks into a fish shop. "Cod, please," she says.
"Sorry, Ma'am," says the shopkeeper. "We're out of cod today. How about some mackerel? Plaice? Trout? Bass? Snapper is on special..."
"Cod, please."
"Lady, we ain't got no cod. Please stop asking. Or come back on Thursday."
She leaves.
Twenty minutes later, she returns and says, "Cod, please."
Fishmonger yells "NO COD!!! GO AWAY."
She leaves but returns in half an hour. "Cod, please," she says.
The fishmonger, exasperated, goes to his blackboard and writes "SALMON."
"Let me ask you something that may help you," he says. "If I erase the "L" from this word, how is it pronounced?"
"Why, the same way," she says. "Sah-mon."
"Very good" he says. "And if I erase one "D" from this next word, 'HADDOCK,' how is that pronounced?"
"Why, the same way--ha-dock."
"And how," says the fishmonger, "would you pronounce it if I erased the 'F' from 'COD'?"
The lady looks puzzled. "There is no F in cod," she says.
"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!!!!" |
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| 22nd february 2009 |
[Feb. 25th, 2009|01:59 pm] |
better late than never dept: just a few words about sunday...
twas luvly to wander round twickenham & show jenni & katie steve's ole flat ( the site of many happy gatherings & boozeups in the late 1980s & early 90s ) - unfortunately i stupidly accidentally deleted the photos i took but happily matt took some goob 'uns of the exterior of 25a king street
& equally luvly to see everyone in the eel pie ( katie's first trip to the pub aged 13 days old ) - & to walk by the river & to reminisce abt steve - as i wrote in our card to his dad: we will NEVER forget steve - & we will always keep many happy & funny memories abt him close to us ( - i wish he could've got to meet katie tho... )
( above: liz, gerard, matt, nigel, terry, tony & lynn walking back from the river steps towards the barmy arms - it wasn't as cold as it looks in this pic )
& here are the rest of my pics of the day ( - somewhat miraculously i managed not to delete 'em all )
http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldofagwu/sets/72157614261717717/
not sure if i was ever in the eel pie with steve - but we definitely went to the barmy arms once or twice ( - tho we mostly drank in his flat if i recall gorrectly )
thanks very much to nick & fiona for organising this day out - i think it'd be very fitting if it became an annual tradition, with all friends of ole steve welcome...
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| Twickenham Meet-up |
[Feb. 23rd, 2009|01:09 am] |
Lovely to see everyone today - despite the melancholy, it was uplifting to see everyone again, especially in old haunts with such happy associations.
The train to Vauxhall was packed but the trip up the Victoria line was quick and smooth, so we got to St. Pancras (and Terry to King's Cross) with plenty of time to spare. Enough time, in fact, to buy Nutella crepes for the trip home, so all was right in the end. The train back to Nottingham was the usual Sunday-slow job, nearly 3 hours for a normally 90-minute trip, but I had my laptop with me so at least there was plenty of time for photo-sorting - as a result I've already got my photos up on Flickr. .
Thanks again to everyone for signing the card for Steve's dad.
All D'Best!
Matt
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 22nd, 2009|03:32 pm] |
This post may be wholly inadequate, but I felt that someone should put something here to mark the anniversary of Steve's passing.
Below is yet another page from a 1970s letter I've excerpted here before--this one featuring two of my characters.
I always appreciated Steve's willingness--even enthusiasm--to help me out with my projects, including his superior renderings of superheroes I had attempted to make comic books about. Some of them, in retrospect, were almost throwaway characters, but Steve treated them all with respect even when in humor mode. As others have pointed out repeatedly, sharing--of advice, his artistic talent, his views and most of all his friendship--was extremely important to him.
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| " crystal hearts gonna break you down " |
[Feb. 1st, 2009|08:57 am] |
thing sketch by steve, done for jenni cole at caption 2001
( - plse click thru to flickr to see it at a bigger size )
the "theme" of caption that year was romance, i think - for some reason this drawing made me think of nyc hearts & flowers by sonic youth ( - as well as THINGs that make you go mmm by the c & c music factory ) - & seeing 'em at the shepherds bush empire w/steve, andrew & gerard in july 2000...
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| Early Spring No.12 |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|12:15 pm] |
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the long delay, but here are scans from Early Spring #12.
The accompanying text probably says it all about Steve's mood at
the time.
I suspect that the cover was meant to be in colour.
The first page is the introduction to Early Spring, including a
Man-Elf picture by Steve.
This is the last of the Early Springs that I have which contains
work by Steve, therefore if anyone has any other issues / pages,
could they post them here please ?
Cheers,
Mike.
In case anyone wonders, the original page was at a slant, rather than user error on my part.
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| Superbia |
[Jan. 4th, 2009|10:38 pm] |
From Matt Brooker (admin Steve's account):
After much delay I've finally started posting some of last year's scans onto Steve's Flickr account. Can anyone help with details on the following - an old project called Superbia, featuring a girl with a big nose and some sort of implant in her forehead. Steve did mention it to me a couple of times, but if anyone can help out with names of characters or any other details, I'd be really grateful.
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| 1977 card |
[Dec. 19th, 2008|06:45 pm] |
Because it's the season, I suppose:
Here's a handmade, one-of-a-kind 1976/77 Christmas card from Steve (dated -- not atypically --Jan. 11.) It features my character Mighty Man.
The "cow gum" reference uttered by MM on the inside picture is due to the fact that Steve had cut out the figure and glued him in place with rubber cement. (Earlier this year ol' MM fell off, but I stuck him back on with some tape temporarily. My bottle of rubber cement has also dried up, I discovered just now, and I have to buy some more.)
This was among the (much appreciated) mailings I got from Steve during the three years I was in the Army, stationed in Kansas. |
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| The ol' nightcap joke |
[Nov. 28th, 2008|06:29 pm] |
This is another example of Steve drawing one of my gag-cartoon ideas: in this case, a (better-drawn) non-seasonal riff on a (still-unsold) Christmas joke:
Steve took the nightcap theme out of the Santa context in these two versions of his own drawing. He told me he thought he'd ruined it with the shading, but I think it looks quite nice; sort of early New Yorker.
In case it's hard to read on the scans, his version of the caption is: "When you invited me up for a nightcap, this wasn't what I had in mind..."
These provide yet another look at Steve's versatility in drawing styles. |
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| SW artwork for UKCAC supplement zines, 1989-92 |
[Nov. 19th, 2008|09:52 pm] |
the supplement was an anthology zine created by tony lee for ukcac 1989 & four subsequent gonventions - it was edited & gompiled by tony most of the time - but also by the entire gomic showcase staff of the day ( particularly andrew "stick" stickland, john mcsweeney & tim pilcher ) - & it was mostly sold by drunken fools in the ukcac bar ( & at one glascac ), where the artwork was auctioned off on the sunday afternoon of the gonvention ( with other choice items such as two tins of italian plumb tomatoes )
steve gontributed to all five issues ( - plse click on the images to see 'em properly )
"grimsby & a potato" - from supplement no.1, ukcac 1989
*****
"heavy lego & sad raindrops" - from supplement no.2, glascac 1990
*****
SW characters with henry james dialogue - from supplement no.3, ukcac 1990
*****
"gail's marriage a la mode" - from supplement no.4, ukcac 1991
*****
shane - from supplement no.4, ukcac 1991
*****
gail - from supplement no.5 ( "the last supplement" ), ukcac 1992
*******
& that's yr lot - thank you
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| A Jellytown jelly joke |
[Oct. 12th, 2008|08:24 pm] |
In 1997, Kim and I had been hooked up with this dadburned, newfangled time-waster called e-mail for maybe a year or so. In December of that year--about five months before the last time we saw him in person -- we received some e-mails from Steve that consisted of personal chat plus updates from his then-burgeoning Web-wanderings in the realm of comics. (I was just a tad envious that he had corresponded with, among others, Jerry Bails, a key figure in U.S. comics fandom.) These writings, which likely many of you recall, included history and reviews.
Some were under the heading "Steve's Comics Stirrer."
But sometimes he'd throw in a random anecdote or joke just for fun. Here is one such story, typical of the pun-punchline type I loved to hear from him. If you've heard it before (highly possible in this Internet age, 11 years on) my apologies. Does anyone know its source? Steve was a master punster, of course, but he also delighted in passing along jokes he had heard or read.
"There were two men trudging through the desert. They needed water desperately. Just then, to their utter amazement, they saw an aggregation of tents and tables set up right there at the foot of their dune.
Rushing down the sand slope, they shambled up to the first stall. 'Water, give us water -- we've been in the desert for days.' The man at the stall shook his head, pointing mutely to his wares -- a collection of bowls with a splodgy mass of green jelly, sponge cake and custard with rainbow sprinkles.
The parched pair rushed to the next table and gasped out their need for water again, but this stall, too, had nothing more than dishes of jelly -- red this time -- and custard on offer.
The third stall was the same, only the jelly was purple. The fourth offered the same fare but with whipped cream and chocolates on top. The men were getting increasingly panicky as no one offered them any water.
And that's the way it was--none of the traders had water, they just silently indicated their varicoloured jellies accompanied by innumerable kinds of cake and custards topped with all manner of decorative innovations from cream rosettes dotted with walnuts to flaked coconut.
The two desperate travellers went from one side of the place to the other. No luck. No water. So they left the whole sorry, frightening affair and clambered up the next dune to continue their search.
Later that same day, through parched lips, one man managed to say, 'Wouldn't you agree that marketplace was really strange?'
The other nodded his head mournfully. 'Yesss...It was a Trifle Bazaar.' " |
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| infinity no.9 |
[Sep. 17th, 2008|10:05 am] |
cross posted ( w/slightly different wording ) from my LJ - apologies for the duplication: 23 years in the making, the latest issue of russell willis's fanzine INFINITY features covers by steve - i don't think the back would scan all that well but here's the front
- the zine is "respectfully dedicated to the memory of steve whitaker"
other gontributors include julie hollings, pete scott, peter campbell, simon russell, ivo stejn, graeme bassett, gavin burrows, frank plowright, ross gowin, andrew moreton, phil elliott & eddie campbell
( if anyone wants a gopy, i'll be giving 'em out at "comic friends reunited" on 11th october - priority will be given to gontributors & "friends of infinity" from ye olden days - but there should be a goob few spares for other interested parties )
there's a bit more info on infinity in my LJ post
http://worldofagwu.livejournal.com/51600.html
& you can find a flyer for "comics friends reunited" here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldofagwu/2766958503/
- thank you...!
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jellytown
chipper
