Metaphrog

Cover to Louis - Dreams Never Die.

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

History

Marrs is originally from France, where she studied art. Chalmers is from the west of Scotland and has a scientific background with a PhD in Micromachining. They live in Glasgow. In general, Marrs draws the comics while Chalmers writes the scripts. They started their first comic together, Strange Weather Lately, in 1995. 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." They then moved on to the Louis (graphic novel) series, which includes Louis - Red Letter Day, Louis - Lying To Clive, Louis - The Clown's Last Words and Louis - Dreams Never Die.

Louis is, according to The Herald, "the thoughtful, sensitive, baby-faced protagonist of their cult-hit comic books. He's a lovely little thing - pudgy arms, round tummy, two hug-me eyes popping out of his smooth egg-shell head. Children love him, and you just know he could sell in his millions. Easy."(Wild,September 18, 2004, "Punks of publishing; Their comic books have become cult hits". The Herald (Glasgow), p. 3. ). The Washington Times wrote of The Clown's Last Words, "the bizarre storytellers chronicle the complicated adventures of a Caillou-looking character, and readers should expect more surreal shenanigans than they can shake a brick of Cheddar at. ... This bulbous-headed Gumby for the 21st century should appeal to the most unassuming of children and cynical of adults."(Szadkowski, August 17, 2002, "Books that give color to mankind's darker side". The Washington Times, p. B2.)

In 2003 Metaphrog were part of a collection of 80 artists from three continents to express their "visions and thoughts on the oft forgotten aspects War" for the book Warburger published by Stripburger. Metaphrog have also published Louis - Red Letter Day as a webcomic on serializer.

Their latest book, Louis - Dreams Never Die, was released in 2004 in association with the UK based label Fat Cat Records. For this, Hey (from Berlin) and múm (from Iceland) wrote two music tracks inspired by the Louis books, and metaphrog made a special short animation. The result was a multimedia project with a graphic novel and cd/blue vinyl 7".

In 2009, Metaphrog were commissioned by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies to adapt a poem by Edwin Morgan (poet) in comic form. On National Poetry Day, 35000 copies of The First Men on Mercury comic adaptation were distributed to all Glasgow Secondary Schools.

Their new graphic novel, Louis - Night Salad, was released in October 2010.^{[dated info]}

Bibliography

Graphic novels

• Strange Weather Lately:
  • Vol. One (1998)
  • Vol. Two (1999)
• Louis:
  • Red Letter Day (2000)
  • Lying to Clive (2001)
  • The Clown's Last Words (2002)
  • Dreams Never Die (2004)
  • Night Salad (2010)

Comics

• Strange Weather Lately #1 - #10 (1996–1999)
• The Maze Part One and Part Two (1997)
• Vermin (1999)

Short stories

• 9/11 Emergency Relief, Alternative Press (US - 2002)
• Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman, Abiogenesis Press (UK - 2003)
• Warburger, Stripburger (Slovenia - 2003)
• SPX Anthology (US - 2003)
• Autobiographix, Dark Horse (US - 2003), Ediciones Glenat (Spain - 2005) and Kappa Edizioni (Italy - 2005)
• Variant (Winter 2004)
• The Big Issue in Scotland (Xmas Special 2005)
• Variant cover art + illustrated story (Winter 2006)

Webcomics

• Louis: Red Letter Day, on serializer(2003–2004)

Animation

• Louis - Dreams Never Die (2004)

Awards

Louis - The Clown's Last Words was nominated for an Ignatz Award, while Louis - Red Letter Day was nominated for the 2001 Ignatz Award for "Promising New Talent" and the 2000 Eisner Awards for "Best Title for a Younger Audience" and "Best Graphic Album - New".

See also

Children's literature portal

• List of magazines published in Scotland

References

• Beadie, Brian (May 23, 1999). "Comically graphic tales from the Glasgow underground". The Sunday Herald, p. 7.
• Burchill, Julie (August 23, 2003). "Weekend: THE GRAPHIC TRUTH". The Guardian , Guardian Weekend Pages, Pg. 5.
• Mann, Natasha (November 20, 1999). "Who to Watch: Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers". The Scotsman, p. 5.
• Szadkowski, Joseph (August 17, 2002). "Books that give color to mankind's darker side". The Washington Times, p. B2.
• Wild, Abigail (September 18, 2004). "Punks of publishing; Their comic books have become cult hits". The Herald (Glasgow), p. 3.
• Paul Gravett, Graphic Novels, Stories to change your life, Aurum
• Steven Withrow and Alexander Danner (2007), Character Design for Graphic Novels, Focal Press/Rotovision (ISBN 0240809025)

External links

• Official metaphrog website.
• metaphrog blog.
• Louis animation on YouTube.