There was an excellent place in London for those who appreciate comic book culture to gather. It was called Orbital Comics, and it was so cool that in 2016 it won an Eisner Award.
I first discovered Orbital Comics in the basement of a small tattoo shop in London’s Old Compton Street. I instantly recognized the manager, Karl Asa, because he’d previously been working in the Book and Comic Exchange in Notting Hill, which was a regular haunt of mine. It wasn’t long before they changed the venue to Charing Cross Road, and then finally to their best location ever in Great Newport Street, WC2. This was once The Photographer’s Gallery, a place I knew well as a member, and because it was a much larger location, it meant they could still keep a part of the space operational as a gallery.
Karl was a terrific manager and had a knack for employing the most knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and friendly staff. He also had some great ideas for making it thrive as not only a comic store, but a place for like-minded people to hang out, attend evening events, and daytime book signings.
I was on hand to record many of the events, and even exhibited there myself, so I thought I’d share some of these on Secret Oranges, the first being the Life Drawing Masterclass with the legendary Doug Sneyd, of Playboy magazine fame, and the equally legendary Manko, who would model for him on the night. I was very sad to discover that Doug passed away at the end of January this year, so this post can serve as a tribute to his legacy.
The event took place on Friday, November 16th 2012, and was completely sold out. There was also a follow-up on Friday, November 23rd, billed as: Orbital Comics and Comica Festival present the master of classic good girl art, Doug Sneyd, and artist/curator Jason Atomic, in conversation with Chris Thompson. By this point Doug had been working for Playboy for five decades and had some interesting tales to tell.
Copies of Doug’s book The Art of Doug Sneyd published by Dark Horse Comics were available on the night, along with original art, sketches and prints. Above is one of Doug's original Playboy illustrations that he brought along.
The concentration and the silence as everybody sketched Manko, their resplendent subject, made for a very relaxed and pleasant evening with Orbital Comics being superb hosts as usual.
Born Canadian, Sneyd initially worked as a commercial and portrait artist in Montreal and Toronto and contributed to newspapers such as The Toronto Star. In 1963, he went to Chicago to show his portfolio to the editors of Playboy, hoping to get some illustration work, but he was asked to do gag cartoons instead. Sneyd objected at first but changed his mind upon learning how well-paid cartoonists were. He drew more than 450 cartoons for the magazine until 2016.
Doug took some time out to chat to the artists in attendance. Rian Hughes can be seen on the left. I asked Rian if I could share one of his sketches from that night, so here it is (right). He also sent me a very cool set of sketches of Manko from another Orbital life drawing class called Catsuits & Rayguns. I’ll share those another time.
And… it’s a wrap!
Just to finish up, I’ll share some of the outtakes from our Masterclass flyer photo session. These were taken in the 2012 high-rise domain of Manko and Jason Atomic. It’s nigh on impossible to take a bad shot of Manko; she really is incredible!
The Art of Doug Sneyd, published by Dark Horse Comics, is available but is steadily going up in price.
And for more Manko...
RIP Orbital. I spent a happy ten odd years in London and that was somewhere I dropped in to every time I went central. Attended a couple of the life drawing sessions there (cramped, but worth it for the vibe). The gallery was my favourite bit – I saw some world class art (much of it I wish I'd bought as it was peanuts at the time) that would just be impossible to find on walls anywhere else, being mostly from artists studios and private collections. Of course it couldn't last, but at the time I thought it would be there forever. Now I think back, the fact that they could sustain a completely separate room and staff member for indie books kind of blows my mind. Sadly I don't think we'll see its like again (and at time of writing we just lost Mega City to FP. Thank goodness for Gosh, long may it thrive!)
Interesting article Steve...
Thanks for sharing bud 👍