Fringe tips for Jack Lothian....

Mad Cyril's son

It's always nice when Jack Lothian off Laptop Guy turns up in the office. Apart from having another writer in the room, Jack is usually good for fashion tips, and online personality quizzes.

Sadly, he'll have gone off by the time the Fringe starts - he's a busy guy - but if he were around, I bet these five shows would be right up his ally.

THE MARVELLOUS MECHANICAL MESMERIST

sees Cornwall based actors with disabilities in an Edinburgh Festival Fringe World-Wide Premiere of a new hilarious play with
hypnotised people from the audience playing supporting roles this August.

It's steam-punk influenced, which ought to suit a man who is working on an episode of Dr Who. The bloke off Holby City is playing a mesmerist who is trying to get rich quick, plus he is going to hypnotist the audience. Mayhem beckons...

Edith in the Dark

Playwright Philip Meeks weaves Nesbit’s own life drama alongside her resolutely domestic terror shorts, imbuing her refined words with a little of her own inner darkness and humour.

It's about a writer who had a bad experience as a child. Not saying that is Jack, but I know how writers are both intrigued by the biographies of other writers, but also like to enjoy other writers' anguish. It's a horror show.

The Solid Life of Sugar Water

The world première of an unsettling story of love and loss - breaking down barriers, challenging preconceptions and boldly placing deaf and disabled artists centre stage.

Jack did some episodes of Shameless, and so did Jack Thorn, the playwright of Solid Life. So they are kind of like ink brothers, and they share a name.

Allie
15-year-old Allie is a young, pimple-popping Edinburgh lass who collects wooden animal figurines and likes to chase bad boys. When she meets the silver-tongued gangsterBobby Warren, a girl’s wet dream turns into a woman’s bloodstained nightmare. After years of being caught in Bobby’s twisted spider web Allie is all grown up and is now out to wreak vengeance on the man who stole her dreams.

When Jack did an episode of Ashes to Ashes, it had a gangster storyline. He also did one for No Offence, which is about Manchester coppers. He must like a bit of crime - in art, anyway.

Society of Strange
An hour of portmanteau horror inspired by groundbreaking writers such as - HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Neil Gaiman, Mary Shelly, Stephen King, MR James, Thomas Ligotti, and many others.

Dark horror all round. Besides, I sent him the press release of this by mistake and he was intrigued. 

Laptop Guy Day

Having begun life as a compilation of short stories, Laptop Guy is heading for the big leagues. With the grand launch happening as part of the GFF - featuring a rare appearance of Jack Lothian, writer of Laptop Guy and some other stuff that is quite popular on TV (Skins, Ashes to Ashes, Spooks et c) - and the third issue promised in the next few months, Laptop Guy follows Royal Descent as part of Black Hearted Press campaign to demonstrate that Scotland's Got Comics.

Despite his modest origins, Laptop Guy  is an increasingly sophisticated magazine. Lothian's skill as a screenwriter is especially evident in issue two: the cunning use of titles evokes television, and the cliffhanger ending has an elegant ambiguity. While the central narrative concerns the conflict between beleaguered artist and his computer nemesis, the support characters are given space to develop. A comprehensive reality is sketched out around the fantastic plot, evoking the painful comedy of Curb Your Enthusiasm as the artist discovers that Laptop Guy is more than just an idea he had on a bad day.

As with many of the best comics, there is a sense that Laptop Guy could only be told through panels and speech bubbles: the surreal horror of the central episode works because of the lightness of the illustration and the precision of the character's expression. A clear use of colour - the cover's rich blue hints at how the mood within is created through the hues and tones - and a traditional, exact panel scheme ensures that the story-telling is coherent.

The story itself loops around a nice meta-concept, slipping in the gaps but poking at the oppressive presence of technology, the problems of low wages fighting high aspirations and the prejudice faced by a man who just wants to draw. There's enough satire on the comic-biz to amuse the fans, without ever losing sight of a more general audience... Lothian structures the story like a sitcom, moving from drama to comedy and then banging the two together for the darker sequences.

Happy Birthday Dear Black Heart...

Although they have been sitting behind me in the CCA for mere months, Black Hearted Press are firm Vile Favourites, and are celebrating their fourth birthday. Coinciding with the official launch of Laptop Guy (issue one comes out in February, swiftly followed by issue two and three is slated for an April release, allow fans of dystopian comedy to get a monthly fix of computer-headed doppelganger fun), BHP have arranged an exhibition in Cocktails and Burgers (opposite their office on Sauchiehall Street...).

Apart from being a rare chance to see Sha Nazir and Jack Lothian in the same room (artist and writer of Laptop Guy, respectively, and sometime rumoured to be a single person, a bit like the Bi-Beast out of Hulk), BHP have arranged a plethora of artists, whom I shall now google for further details.

Dave Alexander

David Braysher

Chris Connelly

Thomas Crielly 

James Devlin

Paul Hempstead

John Howard

Morag Kewell

Jason Mathis

Sha Nazir

Will Pickering

Brian Rankin

Alex Ronald & Neil Slorance

In a more innocent time (1973), the Bi-Beast was acceptable as a name for a villain. He fought the Hulk and was designed by Herbe Trimpe (not quite Jack Kirby, but he has that muscular dynamism that made Kirby so distinctive).

However, he is not the creator of Laptop Guy. 

Jack Lothian is a film and television writer. His television credits range from Ashes to Ashes, Doc Martin and Outcasts to the new E4 ‘Beaver Falls' and Teachers, which earned him nominations for Best Writer at the BAFTAs and Best Young Writer at the Broadcast Awards.

He is currently the lead writer on Sky1 HD's upcoming drama Sinbad. This is his first year on Skins. Jack was nominated for a Best Newcomer BAFTA for his first feature film, Late Night Shopping, which won the CICAE Prize at the Berlin Film Festival.

Sha Nazir has worked in the arts and creative industry for over 15 years, running his own graphic and web design company, his clients have included the BBC, STV, Virgin and ESPN. 

A practising freelance artist and educator, Sha has created diverse range a works from Theatre set design to animation and design projects. He recently wrote and designed ‘The Amazing Mr Mackintosh’ and is working on new titles for Black Hearted Press and co producing the Glasgow Comic Con.





Other Black Hearted Press operatives are available...

Mark Boyle - Operations & Marketing Director

Mark has been a comic lover since an early age and a true follower of fantasy fiction. A passionate music lover Mark is sometimes known as DJ Muppet - a stalwart in the Glasgow and Scottish rock scene he has been part of many major music events up and down the UK and is currently using his creative digital talents in a number of projects including The Man Card Army application for Android and iOS and other application through Anubis Labs.

John Farman 
- Writer, Editor & Publisher


John has worked across a diverse range of media, including events for the SECC and Theatre productions.

He’s sold plays to BAFTA nominated ‘Mandragora Productions’, and had School of the Damned optioned to be made into a motion picture.

He is currently working on adapting scripts for comics as well as developing and building upon the School of the Damned and is the co producer of the Glasgow Comic Con. He also upset the Daily Mail with his Royal Descent mini-series.