Jon McNaught event for his book Hors Scène (Off Stage) at La Belle Adventure, Edinburgh
The heavy rain marked the slow end of summer, but a cosy crowd filled one venue in Leith Walk to celebrate comics. La Belle Adventure in Edinburgh’s Leith Walk specialises in bringing the thriving French comics scene to British readers. The shop is filled with a curated selection of the best Bande Dessinée from top French publishers as well as some works in English and from the local comics scene.
The guys at La Belle Adventure are doing a great job promoting local comics authors with regular book launches, talks and exhibitions. They even hosted their own con this summer – the Auld Alliance Comics Festival – which I sadly missed. On this occasion Jon McNaught was the guest and there was also an exhibition of his work to view.
Jon provides a good example of where comics are in Britain as compared to France. A British author, now resident in Edinburgh, he regularly illustrates the cover of the London Review of Books. He was originally published by No Brow in the UK – notably with books like Kingdom – but his books in English are now all out of print. He is now published by French publisher Dargaud.
He explained to those gathered to meet him that there is a larger audience in France and that French publishers can offer a more diverse range of genres and, crucially, pay more – enough so that Jon could work full time on his book and not just at weekends. There is certainly no shortage of talent in British comics but what a shame that one of our most talented authors cannot more easily publish his books in his native language.
Jon also provided a fascinating explanation of his process from notes and sketches with multiple alternative panel layouts to inking and colouring. His process of using a few Pantone spot colours rather that the typical CMYK inks to provide a consistent palette with a strong evocation of mood was especially interesting and informative. John also spoke of his love of printmaking and how much he enjoyed using the Riso machines at the nearby Out of the Blue arts venue.
Jon’s latest book Hors Scène (Off Stage) is a beautifully illustrated work. It moves with a calm patience to evoke the long afternoons of the early teenage years – the classrooms and parks, the growing impatience with parents and the awkward transition away from childhood. The focus is a school production set in the world of Narnia, maybe not coincidentally as the heroes of C.S Lewis’ work enter a wardrobe and are thrust into a perilous adult world that is full of magic and temptation.
The book is a wonderful object in itself and the colouring technique mentioned above produces stunning results giving the book that dreamlike twilight feel of autumns and winters as evenings grow darker. The light and the city environment is central to the book as our teenage protagonists slouch around parks and stare out of the windows of buses. Character expressions are simple, even minimal – we all know that this is no barrier to displaying emotion (just pick up any Peanuts book) – but it is the wider world around them that serves to convey feeling.
Drop by La Belle Adventure to pick up some of Jon’s books or find them online. Who knows, in future years we might host our own version of Angoulême right here in Scotland!
Daredevils and Warriors 