01 Jul 2012 02:55:28
I hope it doesn't sound too pompous if I say that of all the things I've done in the course of my work, helping to get the Cape/Observer/Comica graphic short story prize up and running is perhaps the one of which I'm most proud. The standard of entries is always amazingly high. The winners – and even a runner-up, in the case of Joff Winterhart, whose brilliant Days of the Bagnold Summer has just been published – often go on to land a publishing deal, or a newspaper strip. Best of all, during the last five years, the prize has helped to raise awareness of the possibilities of graphic stories. Stumbling on an exquisitely drawn strip over four pages in the Observer New Review has made even a few doubters see that, at their best, comics offer all the satisfactions of a traditional novel, with the huge bonus that they are a good deal more succinct and, sometimes, vastly more original.
As well as the regular band of judges (Dan Franklin, the publisher of Jonathan Cape; Suzanne Dean, Random House's creative director; Paul Gravett, director of the Comica festival, and yours truly), this year we will be joined by Charlie Higson, late of The Fast Show and the author of the Young Bond novels, and Hannah Berry, whose ravishing graphic novel, Britten & Brülightly came out in 2008. What are we after? Oh, only the best comic ever. But for inspiration, you could do worse than look at Shorties, a free eComic filled with some favourite entries from 2005-2011. If you think you could turn out something as good, or even better, then you're the person we're looking for.
