The view from above

This one's a bit odd, as it's one of the few times I chose to draw Smith from an angle other than straight on. Here, to give the illusion of Smith travelling downhill on a snowboard, rather than mucking about with a frozen solid skateboard on level ground, I've chosen a God's eye view. For a collection of bizarre viewpoints, frequently used in the same strip to great effect, check out Rose is Rose, which is what happens when the Family Circle enters the cubist zone.

Evel Kinevel

Originally published 4 June 2010

Evel Kinevel would have managed this, but he never had Smudge to counted with. One for all those of you who like to collect my cartoons with continuous backgrounds.

Unicycle

Originally published 2 June 2010

I've been repeating what is essentially the same joke for the last few days, but upping the ludicrousness each time. This is as far as it goes - though I suppose I could have added one with Jones on a penny farthing…

Zwish

First published 31 May 2010

There was a short period at the beginning of the century when you would see grown adults zooming about the pavements on micro wheeled scooters. Places with a large nerd populations like San Francisco and Shoreditch used to be infested with them. Eventually they fed through to the general populaces, and got used a few times until it was obvious they were useless for getting over hills or kerbs and could be stopped by something as simple s a pine cone. Then they were relegated to the backs of garden sheds or dusty corners of balconies (where ours resides) until they were discovered by curious Siamese cats…

Competition

First published 28 May 2010

Talking point for today. Is it necessary to be best at what you do, or just to be as good as you can be? And if you do turn out to be one of those lucky people who has a talent for something, do you have to be such a knob about it?

Triumph

First published 26 May 2010

This is was based on my first experience of rollerblades. The elation when I realised i could roll around on a flat surface without falling over. The despair when I realised that nowhere in the real world was actually flat.

Skateboard

First published 24 May 2010

The next two month's worth of strips were written in the Java Loft, Clovis, NM, during the Christmas holidays. It's a comfortable place, with wifi, comfortable sofas and a great line in gingerbread Chai. It's also a great place to work with no distractions. I don't get to go there very often, but a disproportionately large number of strips get written here - usually a set of summer strips written over the Christmas period. This year I'll be there for Thanksgiving, ands I aim to get a lot of this spring's strips written there.

For the record, no I can't balance on a skateboard either. But I'm a big fan of rollerblades.

“And finally...”

Those are usually the words that introduce the last item in the news broadcast - the skateboarding duck or ‘panda that can’t get a stiffy’ section. And I daresay those news items, designed to reassure you that after a half hour of war, insurrection, terrorism and incompetence that the world is fundamentally OK, inspired the skateboard sequence last year, and this reprise this year.

That and the fact that despite being a fat waddly 40 something I love skating.

Not skateboards. They only really appeared in the late 70s in Britain and I was a bit too old for them; they were the kind of thing irritating younger brothers would go for. Instead, I always fancied the idea of rollerskating and never did anything about it, until about five years ago.

I know - most people have a mid-life crisis by buying a sports car or a Harley. I got rollerblades instead.

They’re not as scary as you’d think, especially if you start off by taking lessons. I learned during the weekends with Citiskate at a sports centre in central London, and then moved on to evening lessons on tarmac in the deserted and painfully trendy Spitalfields market. And now, when the weather is OK, and I’m not rehearsing a show (broken limbs ruin your dancing ability I find) I love to go skating along the seafront in Bexhill or Eastbourne. Not Hastings - the surface there is dreadful.

If ever you’re on the prom at a seaside town in Sussex and there’s someone who looks like a cross between the Michelin Man and an urban warrior careering towards you, get out of the way. I’m not completely in control.