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Why I draw comics in general and comics on Pelagia noctiluca in particular
Idraw comics, also known as graphic storytelling, also known as sequential art, also known as the ninth art,1 also known as low culture. The English-speaking world came a fair bit later to the party than the Francophones, but today this genre is being taken seriously as never before.2
Killer jellyfish rock Rio is the second in my Killer jellyfish series,3 which humbly follows in the satirical tradition of Jonathan Swift and Rake's progress by Hogarth, viewed by some as 'the father of the modern cartoon - and the modern comic, too'.4
Before I drew comics, I made other kinds of art. In 2007, I made an installation of a two-metre-long whale and was reading a lot about the oceans. This article caught my eye:
A second pack comprising millions of juvenile mauve stinger jellyfish has been spotted off the coast of Scotland, less than a week after an overwhelming attack by Pelagia noctiluca killed 100,000 salmon at a Northern Ireland fish farm.5
The more I read, the more surreal it became: headlines like 'Jellyfish take on US warship' 6 , 'Spineless attacks...