Tag Join the Army
FOOTBALL WAR
I did a version of these new British Army recruitment ads back in 2010 for my anti-army recruitment comic Join the Army. The UK is the only country in Europe and NATO that still recruits 16 year old children into…
RARE BOOKS/MANUSCRIPTS
Due to a clerical error of some kind, three of my ‘books’ have been acquired by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. Get in the historical record you little bastards! If you’d like them for your own self you can order here.
BLOODY SUNDAY
Extended Bayuex Tapestry: Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was a massacre on 30th January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland, when British soldiers from the Parachute Regiment shot 26 unarmed civilians during a civil rights protest march. 14 people died, 7 of them teenagers. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers, and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. Other protesters were injured by shrapnel, rubber bullets or batons, and two were run down by army vehicles. The initial tribunal into the killings was a whitewash and exonerated the soldiers of any wrongdoing, claiming the protesters had been armed. Decades later the Saville Inquiry (no relation) found the killings had been unjustified and unjustifiable. As of 2020 only one soldier (Soldier F) is to face charges for the massacre. Prints of this are available.
PAT MILLS: THE POLITICS OF 2000AD
I was lucky enough to meet Pat Mills at Glasgow Comic Con (founder of 2000AD & writer of Charley’s War, Judge Dredd etc) and was surprised and honoured to find out he likes my work. Here he is giving a great talk recently (starts: 2:49) about the politics of comics & 2000AD and at the end gives a hearty plug for both Join the Army and the Action Man: Battlefield Casualties films which I made with director Price James, et al.
NEW FURY
The Daily Mail is FURIOUS that JEREMY CORBYN didn’t come round my house and stop me drawing this anti-army recruitment comic back in 2013, the same comic that has the full SUPPORT of VETERANS for Peace UK. Even worse, I wrote SICK TWEETS about how Corbyn is GOOD in the PAST WEEK. Scientific proof, if science were even real, that CORBYN HATES TROOPS. The Sun got hold of it too. I’ve posted a screen grab below as well as the text from the Mail article if you’d rather not give them ad revenue. Daily Mail commenters occasionally put the hatred to one side to marvel instead at the nature of time and existence.
TABLOID FURY
On Sunday I had a stall of my work at Momentum’s The World Transformed arts and politics festival at The Black-E in Liverpool. Some of my anti-army recruitment work was on display: ‘Join the Army‘ and my ‘Make Stuff Dead‘ mugs along with flyers for Action Man: Battlefield Casualties. This work is supported and endorsed by 100s of veterans, but why would the right-wing press let that get in the way of an opportunity to smear Jeremy Corbyn?My favourite part of the whole thing was Tory MP Johnny Mercer calling me a “Britain hating anarchist who knows the value for nothing” in The Sun’s online article. The story was originally posted by Guido Fawkes and picked up by the Daily Mail who went fully haywire and claimed the stall was actually at the Labour party conference. But the journamislm required to find out that wasn’t the case would have detracted from the DISGUSTED OUTRAGE. It was also strange to see the press such as The Times claim soldiers were deeply offended by my ‘Make Stuff Dead’ mugs while my twitter feed was full of soldiers asking me where they could buy one. (Here, in case you were wondering) Today Veterans for Peace UK have released a statement about the press reaction to this work. It is a powerful and eleoquent refutation of the media’s use of soldiers for political ends. You can read the full thing on their website. Here’s an excerpt: VETERANS BACK “SICK TOYS” “Let us be clear. The superb ‘Army, Be The Meat’ project and the ‘Action Man: Battlefield Casualties‘ films, which were launched 18 months ago, are nothing to do with Labour or Momentum.The credit belongs to the artist who conceived and created it and, spiritually, to the hundreds of veterans who endorsed it. This work […]
ACTION MAN: BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES ON SKY NEWS
Just uploaded this clip from last year when Action Man: Battlefield Casualties was on Sky News with Veterans for Peace UK members Kieran Devlin and Ben Griffin eloquently putting the case for why the UK should raise the age of recruitment to 18, while the Ministry of Defence fielded the former head of the army Richard Dannatt to counter our vile and unpatriotic accusations.
ACTION MAN EXHIBITION
Action Man: Battlefield Casualties exhibition on this weekend for Armed Forces Day, at Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, London (Map). Open 12-8pm. Includes the toys themselves, dioramas and a screening of the film. Closes 2nd July. www.battlefieldcasualties.co.uk #ActionMan
ACTION MAN: BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES
Three short films made in collaboration with Veterans for Peace UK to draw attention to Britain’s policy of recruiting 16 and 17 year olds into the armed forces and targeting children with recruitment propaganda. The Action Man: Battlefield Casualties film I wrote for Veterans for Peace UK, directed by Price James (Agile Films) and featuring Matt Berry was released in June 2015. It directed viewers to a purpose-built website battlefieldcasualties.co.uk which contained all the facts about child recruitment in the British armed forces and details about our MP letter writing campaign to try and end it. TABLE OF CONTENTS Action Man poster and postcards available. The films are based on the below fake toys I made while drawing Join the Army, an anti-army recruitment comic. The toys were included as a poster in the “Deluxe” edition. JOIN THE ARMY LINK
ARMY MUGS
My new ‘MAKE STUFF DEAD’ / ‘BE THE MEAT’ mugs are just £10 and come with an unsettlingly colourful presentation box. Get them here. #BeTheMeat
JOIN THE ARMY REPRINT
I recently had my ‘Join the Army‘ comic reprinted and it looks even better than the first run. I’ve uploaded the Iraq Bayeux Tapestry for those who haven’t yet seen it, which covers the outside of the comic. The book (costs: £7/£10) available to buy direct here. 10% of every sale goes to Veterans for Peace UK. Speaking of which, I was at the Veterans for Peace UK Annual Conference on Saturday and they had a panel of former IRA volunteers and ex-British Army soldiers talking about their previous work trying to kill each other and their current work with each other combating sectarianism and healing divisions in Northern Ireland. This is what a peace process looks like. It was powerful stuff. The VfP UK conference just gets better every year, I seriously recommend you come to the public event next November if you’re at all interested in this type of thing. I’ve been working with Veterans for Peace UK and the director Price James on an upcoming short film based on my Action Man: Battlefield Casualties. It’s going to be something else. I can’t wait. #Army #Military
JOIN THE ARMY
My anti-army recruitment comic ‘Join the Army‘ has now SOLD OUT. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy! I’ve been working with Veterans for Peace UK and director Price James on a series of short films based on the Action Man: Battlefield Casualties poster which came with the deluxe edition of the book. We’re going to start production soon and they should be online by the summer. They’re going to make you feel sick. #BeTheMeat #Military
V&A MUSEUM
My ‘Join the Army’ comic is about to go into the V&A permanent collection. Mental. There’s still some copies left! #BeTheMeat #ActionMan
FOOTBALL
Repost of an old image from my comic ‘Join the Army‘. Also available as a print. #BeTheMeat
JOIN THE ARMY EXHIBITION
This Saturday (29th March) from 6pm I’m putting on an exhibition in my soon-to-be-demolished home. You’re more than welcome. It’s simply going to be almost everything I’ve made over the last four years. I’m making hundreds of wine too. Here’s the FB event. But in case you’re allergic to Facebook the address is simply: 1-15 Leswin Place, Flat C, London N16 7NJ. Please feel free to spread the word!
BAYEUX ATROCITIES
Bayeux tapestry style depictions of British military atrocities. The outside of my comic ‘Join the Army‘ features a 1.5m Bayeux tapestry style version of the Iraq war, but I wanted to expand on this idea for the launch exhibition, so I made these smaller ‘tapestries’ about other UK military atrocities, (Bloody Sunday and the sinking of the Belgrano). I’m thinking about expanding the series back further, covering historical massacres committed on behalf of the empire worldwide. They’re available as prints. #BeTheMeat #Military #Empire
LOST
Been putting these up around the place. #Terrorism #Empire #Military
DRONE WARS
To celebrate the UK’s burgeoning military drone program I designed a logo for all the loyal and dedicated robots out there destroying humans on our behalf. Inevitably I also put it on a t-shirt, which you can get from the EU store or N. America store. The image also features in a piece about drone/robot warfare in the deluxe edition of Join the Army. #BeTheMeat #Military #Robots
STUFF
This is the front cover of the mini-comic that’s going to come with the deluxe edition of ‘Join the Army‘. The actual copies of the comic arrived this week too which is a relief. The launch exhibition will be from the 25th to the 27th Oct, more details here, if you want to come to the private view, drop me an email. #BeTheMeat #Military
ROYAL MARINES OBSTACLE TRAINING COURSE
The Royal Marines obstacle training course is the toughest obstacle course on the planet. Very few make it past the sack race stage. This is from the mini-comic that comes with the deluxe edition of Join the Army. You can pre-order it here. #Military #BeTheMeat
JOIN THE ARMY LAUNCH EXHIBITION
So the good news is I found a printer that wasn’t offended by the comic and it’s currently being made into a real thing right now. This is after it was rejected by another two separate printing companies for the same reason. As for the actual launch I’ve had to put it back to the 24th October but there will be an exhibition showing work from the comic in London, check the Facebook event for details. You can also pre-order the comic here. I’ve been in contact with a few ex-servicemen who have been (surprisingly?) enthusiastic about the book. Joe Glenton, (first British soldier to refuse to return to Afghanistan) and Ben Griffin, (ex-SAS resigned from service in Iraq after witnessing war crimes, and who now runs Veterans for Peace UK), have both expressed their support for the project and have been helping me promote it. It’s reassuring to know that the comic isn’t just a case of me ignorantly heckling from my ivory tower, and it makes sense to people who have actually been in the middle of it. If you have a bit of time I fully recommend you watch Joe being interviewed on BBC’s HardTalk and Ben addressing the Oxford Union as to why he would not fight for Queen & country. Actually brilliant. And there’s now a website for the comic! www.bethemeat.co.uk If you’re interested in that type of thing, I’m also selling army themed mugs over at my online shop. #BeTheMeat #Military
MILITARY GRAVEYARD WALLPAPER
I made some wallpaper! Buy here. Limited to 100 rolls. #BeTheMeat #Military
PATRIOTIC PRINTER PROBLEM
The printers have refused to print my anti-army comic “having seen the content of your artwork”. This leaves me in a bit of a situation as they were the only printers I’ve been able to find who can print and fold an A5 20 page concertina booklet. I’m currently looking at French printers, as they’re less likely to refuse a job on the grounds that it insults the British Army. It is of course utterly maddening that a printer would refuse to print something they disagree with politically, but obviously I understand that legally and commercially they have right to decline whichever job they like. I do think however that this incident says something about the way people regard the army as an almost holy institution and therefore what I’m doing as a kind of blasphemy. For now I’ve decided to put back the launch of the comic until the 26th of September. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort something soon even if I have to fold each comic by hand. If you happen to know a large format printer that might be able to help me on this please email me: darren@spellingmistakescostlives.com or leave a message in the comments. Thanks. #Military #BeTheMeat
ANTI-ARMY RECRUITMENT COMIC
Short strip from my anti-army recruitment comic which has 8 days left on Kickstarter. Below is a detail of the Iraq war Bayeux Tapestry which will be on the back of the book. (Don’t) Join the Army #BeTheMeat #Military
KICKSTARTER
I finally finished the anti-army recruitment comic I’ve been working on for the last few months! The only problem now is I need some cash tokens to get it printed, so the internet told me to do one of them Kickstarters, and I did. And now I have done it. Really what I’m asking people to do is pre-order a copy before it exists and then I will spend that money on printing it into existence. It is a very back to front process but I think I understand what is going on. Anyway, here is the campaign page. Please spread the word to friends and pets. It costs £5 + p&p for a physical version and a bit more if you want something more. Thank! #BeTheMeat #Military
BE THE MEAT
Here’s something from an army recruitment leaflet I’ve been working on which you should be able to own in real life in a few weeks time. #BeTheMeat #Military
SHINY SHINY MEDALS
UPDATE: included in my Join the Army comic.
