Merrie England Cartoon Strip
A fresh strip in every post from the English cartoonist in France and something free at the very end!
Here’s strip number 1 to get this started. I’ll be posting at least one of these each time I come here to Substack. That should be about once a week, I suspect. Maybe more, if I like it..
Merrie England is my own creation and was originally intended to be offered to the printed media but as we know, that sector is creaking alarmingly through lack of advertising revenue and issue sales, so isn’t exactly running around looking for cartoons to lavish money on in these online-dominated days.
I’ve always been a huge fan of character-led cartoon strips. The trick with them is to keep riffing on certain themes and to ensure that there is some kind of payoff or punchline at the end of each one. They don’t have to have you howling with laughter but they do have to be engaging enough to attract a decent number of adherents who will grow to know and appreciate each character.
As you can imagine, I’m hoping that you will give this a try yourself. Let it run for a few episodes, so that you can get a feel for the characters and storylines. If you like it, stick around and send me some comments. I’ll welcome that above all.
The strip features Brother Ralph, a senior monk, Abbot Pardieu, the spiritual and de facto leader of the brotherhood, and of course, a goodly number of other brethren. But there is also the witch, Esme Gat-Tooth, the abbott’s sworn enemy and nemesis, who will appear shortly; the Reeve, who is called Christopher (in homage to the late Superman actor) along with a growing cast of supporting characters, all of whom will exhibit characteristics of fourteenth century belief, superstition and values.
My greatest influences in the cartoon world come at least in part from the strips I saw in the newspapers that my father brought home when I was a boy in London. “The Perishers” was a great favourite, as was “Andy Capp” and the canine hero “Fred Bassett”. But far above these and highest in my personal firmament of cartoons is the incomparable “Asterix the Gaul”. My mother bought me the very first Asterix album when I was ten years old and it was love at first sight. The drawings, the action, the terrible puns and the hilarious names of the characters; all of it inspired great joy and affection and if truth be told, is very probably the reason that I now live here in France. It’s just marvellous to be in the home country of my favourite cartoon creation.
I have a friend who runs a local newspaper group in north London and a few months ago, when he was visiting us here in our little town, we came to an agreement that if he could simply find a sponsor for the strip (Merrie England, brought to you by Dan’s Used Car Sales!), we would split the revenue. That way, he’d get some income that he wouldn’t otherwise have and I would get a few pounds to keep my red wine addiction well-supported. Or just maybe, we’d get very rich. So, guess what happened, or rather, what didn’t..
In times past, he would have approached his most effective and red-blooded advertising salesperson, the one with the staring eyes, the biggest debts and the constant aggressive rictus, and say something like, “There you go! Get on the phone and make yourself some real money. You’re bound to have some contacts who’ll love this idea! Find a sponsor for this brilliant cartoon strip, book ‘em up for the whole year and then you can get that new car you’ve been talking about!”
Well, that’s how it would have worked when salivating, semi-alcoholic salespeople stalked the earth like brutish, foul-breathed dinosaurs in the days when I sold advertising space. (I’ll come back to that period at some point later…)
But today, it’s more a question of sending out a couple of hundred speculative emails asking - ever so politely - if anyone has a bit of change down the back of the sofa cushion for a worthy cause . And of course, those emails will hardly ever be read, will they?
Needless to say, nobody has stepped forward flourishing their credit card, elbowing the competition aside. Not one.
Undaunted, I come here to Substack with grandiose plans, unnaturally bright eyes and a whole heart full of expectation that some of you will like the idea of a continuing cartoon strip set in 14th century England and a bit of light-hearted chat from my hearth here in the depths of the French countryside.
An intoxicating brew? Not yet, as it’s too early in the day! I’ve barely finished my incredibly aromatic and powerful coffee, and I’m still dusting the crumbs of the morning croissant from my vest. I mean, shirt, of course!
Later, as you will imagine, I shall don the ceremonial black beret, reach for the dusty bottle in the wine rack, cut the foil, draw the cork and then sip my way through the evening, munching on goat’s cheese and baguette! That will be after I have done a bit more drawing, of course!
I have one last little offering for you here, though, completely free, gratis, gratuit and for nothing.
This is an introduction to my YouTube drawing channel, in which I will take you by the hand and instruct you in the ways of cartoon drawing. I hope you enjoy what you find! And I promise that there’s no charge whatsoever!
And as you can imagine, I’ll be delighted if you’ll subscribe so that we can keep up a jolly dialogue and keep each other company.
Just a click down below will do it!
And you can share this with your friends so that we can all be in it together!