Strange Weather Lately

Last updated
Strange Weather Lately comics and graphic novels
StrangeweatherlatelyVolume1.jpg
Date1996 to 1999
Main characters Martin Nitram
SeriesStrange Weather Lately
Publisher Metaphrog
Creative team
Writers metaphrog, John Chalmers
Artists metaphrog, Sandra Marrs
Original publication
Published in1996 to 1999
Language English

Strange Weather Lately is the title of a series of comics created and released between 1996 and 1999 by the Glasgow-based Franco-Scottish duo Metaphrog .

Comics creative work in which pictures and text convey information such as narratives

Comics is a medium used to express ideas by images, often combined with text or other visual information. Comics frequently takes the form of juxtaposed sequences of panels of images. Often textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia indicate dialogue, narration, sound effects, or other information. Size and arrangement of panels contribute to narrative pacing. Cartooning and similar forms of illustration are the most common image-making means in comics; fumetti is a form which uses photographic images. Common forms of comics include comic strips, editorial and gag cartoons, and comic books. Since the late 20th century, bound volumes such as graphic novels, comic albums, and tankōbon have become increasingly common, while online webcomics have proliferated in the 21st century.

Metaphrog graphic novelist team

Metaphrog are graphic novelists Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, best known for making the Louis series of comics.

Contents

The very first issue was entitled Strange Weather Lately - Martin Nitram #1 and comprised a series of short comic stories along with a hand-numbered print, released in 1996. It was followed by a longer story, beginning in Strange Weather Lately #2 and continuing in a series of ten cult comics published bimonthly until 1999 when the collected story was released in two graphic novels. Metaphrog used creative marketing to promote the releases of their books and comics, creating Strange Weather Lately cans of beans and tea bags as well as posters, bookmarks and flyers.

The Sunday Herald in Glasgow described Strange Weather Lately as "the existential adventures of Martin Nitram, an unpaid theatre worker engaged in an attempt to mount a cursed play, The Crimes Of Tarquin J Swaffe."

Strange Weather Lately was the first ever graphic novel to appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Graphic novel book with primarily comics contents

A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel" normally refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly and includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. It is distinguished from the term "comic book", which is generally used for comics periodicals.

Edinburgh International Book Festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place in the last three weeks of August every year in Charlotte Square in the centre of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. Billed as The largest festival of its kind in the world, the festival hosts a concentrated flurry of cultural and political talks and debates, along with its well-established children's events programme.

Metaphrog have gone on to produce the popular and critically acclaimed Louis (graphic novel) series.

Sources

Related Research Articles

Will Eisner American cartoonist

William Erwin Eisner was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series The Spirit (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized the term "graphic novel" with the publication of his book A Contract with God. He was an early contributor to formal comics studies with his book Comics and Sequential Art (1985). The Eisner Award was named in his honor, and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. Many notable cartoonists publish their work through Fantagraphics, including Jessica Abel, Peter Bagge, Ivan Brunetti, Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, Mary Fleener, Roberta Gregory, Joe Sacco, Chris Ware, and the Hernandez brothers.

<i>The Comics Journal</i> magazine from the United States

The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing reviews of the products of the mainstream comics industry, the magazine promotes the view that comics are a fine art meriting broader cultural respect, and thus should be evaluated with higher critical standards.

Chris Ware American artist

Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware, is an American cartoonist known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novels Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (2000) and Building Stories (2012). His works explore themes of social isolation, emotional torment and depression. He tends to use a vivid color palette and realistic, meticulous detail. His lettering and images are often elaborate and sometimes evoke the ragtime era or another early 20th-century American design style.

James Kochalka cartoonist

James Kochalka is an American comic book artist and writer, and rock musician. His comics are noted for their blending of the real and the surreal. Largely autobiographical, Kochalka's cartoon expression of the world around him includes such real-life characters as his wife, children, cat, friends and colleagues, but always filtered through his own observations and flights of whimsy. In March 2011 he was declared the cartoonist laureate of Vermont, serving a term of three years.

David Mazzucchelli artist

David John Mazzucchelli is an American comics artist and writer, known for his work on seminal superhero comic book storylines Daredevil: Born Again and Batman: Year One, as well as for graphic novels in other genres, such as Asterios Polyp and City of Glass: The Graphic Novel. He is also an instructor who teaches comic book storytelling at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

IDW Publishing US comic publisher

IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recognized as the fifth-largest comic book publisher in the United States, behind Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image Comics. The company is perhaps best known for its licensed comic book adaptations of movies, television shows, and cartoons.

Howard Chaykin American comic book artist and writer

Howard Victor Chaykin is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin’s influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker.

Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was one of the first to offer royalties and creator ownership of rights, and the first comics company to publish trading cards.

Bob Fingerman is an American comic book writer/artist born in Queens, New York, who is best known for his comic series Minimum Wage.

Dean Haspiel American comic book writer and artist

Dean Edmund Haspiel is an American comic book artist. He is known for his collaborations with writer Harvey Pekar on his American Splendor series as well as the graphic novel The Quitter. He has been nominated for numerous Eisner Awards, and won a 2010 Emmy Award for TV design work.

Tom Gauld Scottish cartoonist

Tom Gauld is a Scottish cartoonist and illustrator. His style reflects his self-professed fondness of "deadpan comedy, flat dialogue, things happening offstage and impressive characters". Others note that his work "combines pathos with the farcical" and exhibits "a casual reduction of visual keys into a more rudimentary drawing style"

<i>Louis</i> (comics) graphic novel series

Louis is a graphic novel series created by metaphrog, the Franco-Scottish duo Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers.

<i>Strange Weather Lately</i> (album) comic by Metaphrog

Strange Weather Lately is the first album by Scottish guitar-pop fourpiece Astrid. The title originated from the comics and graphic novel series Strange Weather Lately (1996-1999) by the creative duo Metaphrog, aka Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers.

<i>Minimum Wage</i> (comics) book by Bob Fingerman

Minimum Wage is the name of a number of comic book series and original graphic novels by Bob Fingerman. The stories follow the life of Rob Hoffman, a young comics artist in New York City in the mid-1990s.

<i>The Official Marvel Graphic Novel Collection</i>

The Official Marvel Graphic Novel Collection is a fortnightly partwork magazine published by Hachette Partworks. The series is a collection of special edition hardback graphic novel, collecting all the parts in a story-arc for one of Marvel's best known superheroes, often a fan-favourite or "important" story from Marvel comics lore.

Javier Rodríguez is a Spanish comic book artist working primarily as a colourist for the American market. Among his most notable works are Batgirl: Year One, Daredevil and The Amazing Spider-Man.

References