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St. Swithin's Day

Krug

07:52 / 08.12.03

Since Onipress brought this back into print, I bought this one a couple of years ago without a clue how this was one of Grant's best comics. Thinking of a way to turn a friend to comics, I decided to buy a copy for him and mail it to him since Catcher in the Rye is his favourite book.
As much as I love Catcher in the Rye, I really prefer St. Swithin's Day to it.
I found the Trident original printing and was shocked to see that it was in...
LIVING COLOUR! I had no idea. I sat down and reread it but I'm not sure which one I like better.

Was I the only one who was unaware that the original comic was printed in colour? What was up Oni's arse anyway that they printed it in b&w?

And is it just me who thinks that Grant was inspired by Robyn Hitchcock's song "I often dream of trains"?

I really love that song.

Jack Denfeld

08:07 / 08.12.03

What's St Swithin's Day?

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

09:00 / 08.12.03

I had no idea it was colour.

St Swithins day is a comic by Grant Morrison and Paul Grist about a troubled teenager that decides to assassinate Margaret Thatcher. Apparently, much of it was taken from the 19 year old Grant's diaries.

Krug

09:03 / 08.12.03

St. Swithin's Day is a Grant Morrison comic drawn by Paul Grist, which was published in the late 80s originally by Trident. I think Trident went tits up back in the 90s. Onipress brought it back into print a few years ago. As I understand it, it's semiautobiographical.

Plot? A young man arrives in London to kill the British Prime Minister. But it's not really a political story. It's a very depressing and moving depiction of loneliness and desperation.

The narration is stirring and poetic and is said to have been taken from Grant's own diaries when he was a teenager. The comic never overplays the heartbreak that swims through every panel and it's geniunely affecting. I read it when I was 19 and it was one of the few comics that have made me cry.

Grant hasn't done anything like this since and I really wish he would because it's arguably better written than everything else he's done.

Don't say you'll take a look at it, just go and buy the damn thing!

Chubby P

09:08 / 08.12.03

I got my copy for 10p!

houdini

18:22 / 08.12.03

The polaroids that hold us together
Will surely fade away,
Like the love that we spoke of, "forever",
On St Swithin's Day....

(Billy Bragg).

This is a great comic. Simple. To the point. Gets the job done. Great sense of pacing. Lovely use of Grist's art.

I wrote a review of this for the local newspaper (The Ithaca Times) during my hyperspeed-brief period as a comics reviewer.

Ah well.

SavageFistsOfFengshui

16:39 / 11.12.03

St Swithin's Day originally appeared in lack and white in Trident, before being collected in a single comic in colour, so Oni has arguably just restored the strip to its original state.