Dan Hancox and I were invited by Sheffield’s literary festival Off The Shelf to give a talk about My Fellow Americans on October 26.

As Dan wrote on his blog:

“It’s 20-odd months since Tom Humberstone and I hitched our way through sub-zero temperatures to see prospective Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama speak at a rally in the snow-caked fringes of Iowa City. Fuck it was cold that day. Few thought it would be possible on 3 January 2008, the day of the Iowa Caucus, but yesterday President Obama addressed the UN about his vision of a multilateral American future, about leaving the Bush era behind, and everyone nodded. Of course he said that; we knew he was going to say that. It’s funny how quickly extraordinary events become normalised. The New Statesman’s myopic, Clinton-obsessed US editor decided (from the comfort of his desk, naturally) Obama was finished within a week of the Iowa rally. Ha.”

We had no copies left to sell, nor did we have any business cards or, in fact, anything to promote our work. In a way, that seemed to be for the best. Equal parts shambolic and noble. The My Fellow Americans way.

It was a great weekend. Many thanks to the organisers and everyone who helped out on the day. There were many moments where Dan and I felt we were getting a chance to relive the My Fellow Americans trip – for which we were grateful. Sitting around in bars, re-reading the book and discussing anecdotes ahead of the talk… there was something very enjoyable about it all.

Of course, we were a little anxious when it came to do the talk. But it went extremely well. The hour flew by. People seemed genuinely interested in our journey. And they laughed in the right places. An hour-long Q&A followed in which we offered as much political insight as we could, and then we headed to the bar to relax before our journey home the next day.

A new experience for the both of us, but one I can see us happy to try again at some point. In the meantime I need to get started on making My Fellow Americans available to download as a pdf. The kindle and e-book readers are the way to go at this point I think.

Due to our nerves, we didn’t think to get any photos from the weekend so I’ve chosen to throw a few from the trip itself on here.

Meanwhile, Matthew Sheret has reprinted one of the blogs with some accompanying illustrations in his mini-anthology Paper Science – which you can pick up here.

There’s also an interview with Dan here – with some of his thoughts about My Fellow Americans and grass-roots reportage.

Last night, Dan and I were interviewed about the My Fellow Americans book on Rhod Sharp’s ‘Up All Night‘ on BBC Five Live. The evening saw Obama secure his nomination as the democratic Presidential candidate, and also marked six months since the Iowa caucus, the first major event on the primary calendar.

The interview went well enough. However, through no fault of his own, Rhod had little knowledge of our book which led to us being asked more general questions about the election rather than anything specific about our trip and the grass-roots reporting.

Still, if you’re interested in hearing us blather on about the US election, or would just like to hear me stumble over my words and spend what feels like an eternity feeling around blindly for the right phrase – listen again to the show here. We’re interviewed about 3hrs 7mins in.

Download or listen to the mp3 of our interview here.

A quick reminder to those of you who haven’t already put it in your diary…

The My Fellow Americans book launch is tomorrow (Wednesday May 28th). Held at The Cross Kings, 126 York Way, Kings Cross, London N1 0AX (gmap). Doors open at 7pm (until 12am). Free entry all night.

Here’s the cover artwork for the book:

Four fantastic bands are playing on the night: Left With Pictures, Beacons, Plug, and Le Tetsuo. DJ sets from Nik Void and Word The Cat. Click on the links to hear their music on their myspace pages.

The first 50 copies of the book sold will come in a specially hand-printed envelope featuring this image:

All the original artwork and illustrations from the blog will be displayed and available to buy. I’ll also have a few copies of my comics there.

Here’s an American themed playlist to get you in the mood.

Hope to see you all there!

For those of you who followed the My Fellow Americans blog…

Dan Hancox and I are pleased to present My Fellow Americans, the book of the blog, and the first book published about the election, which will be available to buy for the first time on Wednesday 28 May at our launch party in The Cross Kings in (you guessed it) King’s Cross:

My Fellow Americans Book Launch
Wednesday 28th May from 7pm
The Cross Kings, 126 York Way, Kings Cross, London
Free entry
Live music from: Le Tetsuo, Plug, Beacons, Left With pictures
DJs: Nik Void, Word The Cat

Here’s the flyer I designed for the night:

Click here for a pdf of the flyer.

Click here for a pdf of the press release.

The book will be available to buy online from here and the My Fellow Americans blog after the launch party. Selected stores in the UK will also distribute the limited edition first printing but if you would like to pre-order and reserve a copy please contact us at press@myfellowamericans2008.com.

Yet more images from the road…

The seven week roadtrip around the USA following the Presidential primary campaigns is over and it was a great success. Lots of material for my forthcoming graphic novel on the subject and the blog (which I trust you were all reading!) had a lot of support and interest – including favourable mentions in the Guardian Guide, and the Times, Telegraph, and Iain dale blogs.

Here, for your perusal, are the first batch of images I produced for the blog while on the road. More news about the blog and My Fellow Americans related events soon.

It’s been a little quiet on this website of late, and I’m afraid it will continue to be for the next couple of months. The reason? Research and preparation for my next comic.

From December 30th, a friend and I will be travelling across America until mid-February. Following and reporting on the Presidential primary season’s crucial first few weeks. Our travels will be documented on our blog – www.myfellowamericans2008.com (the site just launched last Friday) – for which I will be supplying the images. So while it may appear quiet here, it will still be possible to see my latest work on this new blog. I’ll try to update this website as often as I can but I can’t promise anything.

This is the pitch

The 2008 US Presidential Election is happening in the abstract. Tightly controlled media campaigns and ad strategies (all fully scored and tested), polling reports and bewildering statistics, competing financial contributions, a few pallid televised debates, and suddenly it’ll all be over. But we aren’t interested in the abstract. We are ‘politics fans’ from London, England, and we’re looking for the meat on America’s political bones – even if we have to find that meat in a freezing cold cattle barn in Iowa.