Metaphrog are

graphic novelists A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, best known for making the ''

Louis Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

'' series of comics.

History

Marrs is originally from France, where she studied Arts and Letters. Chalmers is from the west of Scotland and has a scientific background with a PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering in Micromachining. Together they live in Glasgow. In general, Marrs draws the comics while Chalmers writes the scripts. They started their first comic together, ''

Strange Weather Lately Strange Weather Lately is the title of a series of comics created and released between 1996 and 1999 by the Glasgow-based Franco-Scottish duo ''Metaphrog''. The very first issue was entitled Strange Weather Lately - Martin Nitram #1 and compris ...

'', in 1995. ''

The Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a cent ...

'' 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." (Beadie, Brian (23 May 1999). "Comically graphic tales from the Glasgow underground". The Sunday Herald, p. 7.) The Strange Weather Lately comics ran for 10 issues until 1999, and were then collected into two graphic novels. They then moved on to the ''

Louis (graphic novel) ''Louis'' is a graphic novel series created by metaphrog, the Franco-Scottish duo Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers. Series overview Louis is an unasumming worker who lives in Hamlet with his companion FC (short for Formulaic Companion), his pet mec ...

'' series, which includes ''Louis - Red Letter Day'', ''Louis - Lying To Clive'', ''Louis - The Clown's Last Words'', ''Louis - Dreams Never Die'' and ''Louis - Night Salad''. In 2011, they redrew and repainted ''Louis - Red Letter Day'' and this new version was published in hardback. ''Louis - Red Letter Day'' and ''Louis - Lying to Clive'' were also each published as a

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be ...

serializer Serializer.net was a webcomic subscription service and artist collective published by Joey Manley and edited by Tom Hart and Eric Millikin that existed from 2002 to 2013. Designed to showcase artistic alternative webcomics using the unique natu ...

. 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 in 2003. Metaphrog teamed up with the UK based record label

Fat Cat Records FatCat Records is an English independent record label based in Brighton. The label's output reaches into many styles including experimental rock, electronica, psychedelic folk, contemporary classical music, contemporary classical, noise music, ...

in 2004 to create Louis - Dreams Never Die. For this, musicians hey (from Berlin) and

múm Múm (stylized in lowercase) () is an Icelandic indietronica band whose music is characterized by soft vocals, electronic glitch beats and effects, and a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments. History The band was formed in 1 ...

(from Iceland) reworked a music track inspired by the Louis books, and Metaphrog made a short animation. The result was a multimedia project with a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

and cd/blue vinyl 7". They have been commissioned to work on several projects, including an adaptation of the poem The First Men on Mercury by ''

Edwin Morgan (poet) Edwin George Morgan (27 April 1920 – 17 August 2010)

'' in comic form. On National Poetry Day 2009, 35000 copies of the pamphlet published by the ''

Association for Scottish Literary Studies The Association for Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) is a Scottish educational charity, founded in 1970 to promote and support the teaching, study and writing of Scottish literature. Its founding members included the Scottish literary scholar Ma ...

''were distributed to all Glasgow Secondary Schools. Other commissioned works include: ''Skint!'' for the

Scottish Book Trust Scottish Book Trust is a national charity based in Edinburgh, Scotland promoting literature, reading and writing in Scotland. Scottish Book Trust works with and for a range of audiences, including babies and parents (through the Bookbug program ...

in 2010 and, in revised form, in 2014; The Photographs for Glasgow Life and Time to Shine: graphic novel for

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The or ...

in 2013. Their work has been exhibited at The British Library, The London Print Studio, The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, The National Library of Scotland, Scotland House in Brussels and Dundee University. The duo travel extensively across the country to promote the medium of comics, visiting schools, libraries, museums, festivals, sharing their experience of making comics. They have given talks at

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is locate ...

school,

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

, and visited international school in Europe. In 2015 Papercutz published The Red Shoes and Other Tales a collection of graphic fairy tales adapted from ''

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consist ...

'' along with The Glass Case an original short story. This collection was followed by an adaptation of ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

'' in 2017. Metaphrog are Patrons of Reading 2013-2017 at Northfield Academy in Aberdeen and were Writers in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2015. They are the winners of The Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards Best Visual Artist 2016.

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 (Fat Cat Records, 2004) ** Night Salad (2010) ** Red Letter Day new edition (2011) * The Red Shoes and Other Tales (Papercutz, 2015) * The Little Mermaid (Papercutz, 2017)

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) * New Writing Scotland 30 (2012)

Webcomics

*''Louis: Red Letter Day'', on

(2003–2004) *''Louis: Lying to Clive'', on

(2006-2007)

Animation

*''Louis - Dreams Never Die'' (2004)

Awards

* 2000:

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

nominations, "Best Title for a Younger Audience", "Best Graphic Album - New", ''Louis - Red Letter Day'' * 2001: Ignatz Award nomination, "Promising New Talent", ''Louis - Red Letter Day'' * 2011:

nomination, "Best Coloring", ''Louis - Night Salad'' * 2011: Highly Commended for the Scottish Children's Book Awards * 2011: Shortlisted for the Leeds Graphic Novel Awards * 2011: Long listed for the YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens * 2016: Winners of The Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards Best Visual Artist

References

* Beadie, Brian (23 May 1999). "Comically graphic tales from the Glasgow underground". ''The Sunday Herald'', p. 7. * Teddy Jamieson (16 April 2017)"'Stories will be our salvation: Glasgwegian cartoonists Metaphrog on the art of story and the story of their art" http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/visual/15227210._Stories_will_be_our_salvation___Glasgwegian_cartoonists_Metaphrog_on_the_art_of_story_and_the_story_of_their_art/ * Burchill, Julie (23 August 2003). " THE GRAPHIC TRUTH". ''The Guardian ''https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/aug/23/weekend.julieburchill
Mann, Natasha (20 November 1999). "Who to Watch: Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers". ''The Scotsman'', p. 5.
* Szadkowski, Joseph (17 August 2002). "Books that give color to mankind's darker side". ''The Washington Times'', p. B2. * Wild, Abigail (18 September 2004). "Punks of publishing; Their comic books have become cult hits". ''The Herald (Glasgow)'', p. 3. * The Bookseller (18 July 2016) Graphic novel-writing pair crowned Sunday Herald's best visual artists http://www.thebookseller.com/news/graphic-novels-surge-metaphrog-crowned-sunday-heralds-best-visual-artists-353891 * Paul Gravett, Graphic Novels, Stories to change your life, Aurum * Steven Withrow and Alexander Danner (2007), ''Character Design for Graphic Novels'',

Focal Press Focal Press is a publisher of creative and applied media books and it is an imprint of Routledge/Taylor & Francis. Company history The firm was founded in London in 1938 by Andor Kraszna-Krausz, a Hungarian photographer who migrated to Englan ...

/Rotovision ()

External links

Official metaphrog website

metaphrog blog

Sources

Stories will be our salvation: Glasgwegian cartoonists Metaphrog on the art of story and the story of their art
''

'', Teddy Jamieson, 16 April 2017
THE GRAPHIC TRUTH
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', Julie Burchill, 23 August 2003
Who to Watch: Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pa ...

'', Natasha Mann, 20 November 1999 * "Books that give color to mankind's darker side", ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'', Joseph Szadkowski, 17 August 2002 *
Outlander star Sam Heughan and Game of Thrones actor Kate Dickie on red carpet at inaugural Sunday Herald Culture Awards
'' The Herald'', Judith Duffy, 10 July 2016
The Metaphrog Interview
''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

'', Gavin Lees, 28 September 2011
Graphic novel-writing pair crowned Sunday Herald's best visual artists
''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

'', 13 July 2016 *
Metaphrog on graphic novels and the creative process
''

'', 12 November 2014
Catching up with Metaphrog
''

'', 28 October 2015
Favourite book festival moments: Metaphrog
''

'', 28 August 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Metaphrog, John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs British graphic novelists French comics artists Scottish comics artists British female comics artists Female comics writers Living people 1965 births 1973 births Scottish comics writers Art duos Writing duos