Stephen Holland runs Page 45, a comic shop in Nottingham, England, with Mark Simpson and Tom Rosin. He has a monthly column in Comics International, and appears perennially as a small Japanese Maple in West Bridgford.
Who is... Alan Donald?
In his dreams Alan Donald is a multi-award winning writer of comic books, animation, theme park shows and rides, children’s books, novels, television, internet animation and more.
In real life Alan writes this column, which has been described as more than a lifestyle than a weekly column. He used to write SBC's All The Rage.
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." - George W. Bush
Quite, thank you, George.
Those of you who’ve read me of old will remember what a fan of the “First American President appointed by the Supreme Court” I am. As such I will start each of these columns with a classic Bush quote. Feel free to email me your favourites.
Rant
I haven’t really got much to grumble about with the comicbook industry at the moment. Mainly ‘cause I’m skint and haven’t been able to get anything from my slot at Automattics recently. I suppose I could rant about the price of comics but let’s face it that has been done to death recently; doesn’t make it any less of a problem just makes it dull reading.
I suppose I could bring you up to speed on my life recently but would that ruin the ending for the “Story of a Pipe Dream”? I’ll risk it.
I’m a teacher now, full blown secondary education science teacher. Yet another educator on SBC. I’m also a Town Councillor which sounds far more impressive than it is. I could talk about teaching but that is really Regie’s bag and he is too nice a guy to step on the toes of. Mind you I teach a different subject. Yeah, he can let me know if I step into his area too far.
English must a cool subject to teach. With a good department head who lets you teach in your own way it must be fantastic. You get to enthuse kids about literature, you can get them reading your favourite books and do comparative essays (look at the similarities and differences between V for Vendetta and 1984 – how are they influenced by the periods in which they were written etc etc etc). You can ask the question our dear and lovely Craig keeps on asking “Is the Watchmen actually any good?” (I think yes, he thinks no [Ed’s note – not entirely true. Alan thinks “yes”, I think “maybe, just not as good as it’s made out to be”). Admittedly children don’t read…anything…ever, which could prove to be a problem I suppose.
What I’m trying to say is that (at least in theory) Regie has it easy in the dual role of educator and comics’ advocate. As a science teacher what the hell can I do? It ain’t easy you know ‘cause aside from anything else I’ve got to remain cool too.
The solution? 3 weeks into my first teaching job (yep I started early, got the coursework in a month or so before it was due, blagged an early finish from the relevant people (heck, all that was left to do was be present at school for a few more weeks and as I’m teaching anyway…)) and I’ve done what I can to raise the profile a little. Let’s see:
a) Heroclix on display and a Heroclix club set up.
b) Amongst all the science posters on the wall I’ve got a McFarlane Spider-Man, a Ross Superman, a generic JLA, a Miller Batman and a few other comicbook posters I’ve forgotten.
c) I use comicbook characters in my teaching (i.e. when teaching gravity I mention about Superman first only being able to leap tall buildings and that he could do that because he came from a higher gravity planet).
d) Action figures, just a few to start with until I’m sure that they are safe. A Daredevil with his church window base hung on the side of my whiteboard, a Kingdom Come Batman, a mini Spider-man and an awesome Judge Dredd figure.
e) On the outside of my lab door I put up a Science Fact of the Week, a Science Question of the Week and… a Comicbook Fact of the Week. Each week has a new fact surrounded by appropriate images. The first was about Detective Comics #27, what it cost then and now and why it is important. The second was about Wonder Woman, what her lasso does, who her creator was and what else he created. The third was about Wolverine, his powers and where he first appeared. This week’s fact is about Judge Dredd and 2000AD.
f) Oh and of course there are the ties but there you go.
Small things but they add up and of course whenever the pupils ask where they can buy Heroclix I always point out that Automattics is just down the road (and hey, they could buy some comicbooks while they’re there too).
I have big plans for the next academic year aside from trying to actually get through my probationary period (as should actually be consuming all of my attention) I will be pushing for every development opportunity and gaining experience everywhere I can. As it stands I’ve already managed to take on the ICT co-ordinators position (unpaid for now dammit but good on the CV and it means I’ll get all the new hardware and software first (whoo-hoo as Homer Simpson would say)), secure a year 7 tutor group (the new year joining the school – a coup for new teachers, it is the way it should be but never is) and do lots of other stuff that would bore non-teachers. Big plans… sorry.
I’m not sure where to go with this but I plan on bringing comic books in even more. I don’t think a comic club would work but I could get them to make their own comic!? Worth a shot. First thing I want to do is to try and get funding for Kev F Sutherland to come in and do his fantastic comic book education presentation. Literacy is such a problem that all teachers are encouraged to do something about it in UK schools (US too I believe).
The next thing I’d like to do is to get some comic book pros in. At least 3 or 4 artists and writers have told me they’d happily come into my school and do workshops, talks or whatever. It’ll cost the school a train fare (and it’ll cost me a couple of pints) but it’ll be worth it. I’m not talking any old pros here I’m talking top people. Think about it. These are professional artists, professional writers. These are people who make their living from this stuff. Even if the kids get nothing else from it they’d be able to see that it is possible to be an artist or writer.
Not the remit of a science teacher? Perhaps not but I’m ambitious and teachers have a wider role in the school beyond their subject area. When I had a shop a signing could literally bring hundreds of kids flocking to the store to get a picture drawn by a pro (getting them to come back was the trick) so I think the thing will go down well.
I’ll let you know how it goes and if I begin to sound like Regie-lite let me know and I’ll move onto something else. As for the column in 2 weeks time… I’ve no idea what it’ll be about… I’ll let you know.
Interviews
One thing I do know that’ll have some interviews coming up. I’ve got a nice one from Terry Moore I did for Red Eye magazine but I’ve got to get that off my old, dead laptop.
Games
Some of you guys know all the best places games around online but this occasional section here will be for those who don’t (so if you’d like to help those unfortunates too them email me some links).
Sent to me by a female friend who laughed with glee. Throwing rocks at boys. Does exactly what it says on the tin.
Batman
Gary Oldman IS Jim Gordon! If an actor of that calibre has been cast it ain’t going to be to turn on the Bat-signal and tut as he looks at his watch. Me-thinks we may have a good film coming.
Scribe and Awkward Fascination
A couple of offerings from David Baillie that I picked up at the UK Comic book Festival.
Picked up literally as the lovely Mr Baillie (I assume he is lovely, not met the bloke you understand but you’ll see why I think he must be lovely) left bloody great piles of these comicbooks lying about all over the place… BARGAIN!!!
What is it all about?
Scribe is the story of a supervillain turned writer. A simple, short tale that whilst not packed with twists and turns was interesting enough to engage me from the beginning to the end. Unlike many freebie comics I’ve read Baillie’s art is consistent from start to finish and clear enough that it didn’t detract from my reading of the comicbook.
Awkward Fascination is a collection of different strips from Baillie and they allow him to show off his skills as a writer in a variety of story styles. Again the artwork is functional.
That sounds so nasty – functional artwork. I can’t draw for toffee so I always feel odd commenting on someone else’s work. Baillie keeps his art simple and straightforward which is a great piece of advice for anyone planning on using the local photocopy shop as quite often fantastic and incredibly detailed work gets into the readers’ hands as nothing more than black smudges.
Enough of the art. I can’t really say too much about it. It is the writing I’d like to focus on. Baillie has an easy and natural writing style that comes through effortlessly throughout all the different stories.
Both of these comics are worth getting hold of as I very much feel we have the early work here of a talent to watch for the future. David Baillie with a great and sympathetic artist would be something I’d pay to read.
That’s about it for this time. This is an occasional column that will change with time. I’ll feature comic book reviews (especially if you send me freebies!), interviews and other assorted bits and bobs but most of all I’ll try to keep it light hearted.
