The Sorrowful Putto of Prague

The somewhat melancholy adventures of The Sorrowful Putto of Prague
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Farewell, Farewell, You Daughters of Prague – New additions to a sorrowful comic book soundtrack

Regular readers of The Sorrowful Putto of Prague will be familiar with the soundtrack that accompanies this comic’s melancholy wandering through the city on the Vltava.

I’ve been lucky enough to have some exceptionally talented musicians contribute to this project over the years, most notably Roger O’Donnell of The Cure. I’m very excited to reveal that as we count down to the publication of the Czech hardback edition of The Sorrowful Putto of Prague this Spring, a very special Czech artist will be adding to our canon of music on this site. More details to follow shortly.

Today I’m proud to unveil a track that I’ve co-written with good friend and former bandmate Adam Howells. Part of a new musical collaboration project ‘And Even After This We Still Won’t Have Any More Hope’, the track is named ‘Farewell, Farewell, You Daughters of Prague’.

The pair of us actually began working on a version of this tune back in 2003 in Dublin. So, it’s taken us a rather long while to arrive here.

Recording demo for new track for @theputto graphic novel soundtrack at www.theputto.com. Part of the 'And Even After All This We Still Won't Have Any More Hope' project. #lespaul #bosspedals #guitar #music #comics #Czech #theputto #Marshall #amplifiers #hudba

A post shared by James Stafford (@jpstafford) on Jan 1, 2017 at 7:38am PST

Farewell, Farewell was recorded by Adam based on a shockingly low quality demo provided by myself (using my dismal laptop’s internal microphone and utilising the most basic of free recording software). Adam took my initial premise, ignored the multi tracked heavy breathing that cut through the recording (due to me having to sit almost on top of the laptop to record the demo) and worked his not inconsiderable magic.

We’ve had a great few months bouncing ideas back and forth over the interweb as we shaped the final version we now present on the website, Bandcamp (available to buy) and our YouTube channel.

Special thanks to Al Hughes for mixing and Petr Onufer for the ambient Žižkov street sounds. Please make sure to follow our YouTube channel as we’ll be adding plenty of new content in the coming months.

└ Tags: ambient, comic books, Comics, Czech, hudba, music, post rock, Prague, Praha, soundtrack, soundtracks, The Cure

The Guardian of Prague makes an appearance in The Guardian’s comic reviews

It’s always pleasant to see The Sorrowful Putto of Prague get a little publicity, but even more so when that trumpet of support blares out from one of your favourite publications.

Last month the Putto was featured in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, part of its Comic and Graphic novel section.

 

My comic The Sorrowful Putto of Prague (@sorrowfulputtoprague) gets a review in @guardian today. Amazing to be mentioned alongside likes of #2000ad and #imagecomics #art #graphicnovel #books #writing #Prague #Czech #reading

A post shared by James Stafford (@jpstafford) on Feb 18, 2017 at 2:52am PST

Humbly sitting alongside reviews of giants like 2000AD and a new title from Image Comics, The Sorrowful Putto of Prague got a plug from the Guardian’s Graeme Virtue in both the print (yay!) and online editions.

Thanks to Graeme for the mention and to all those who have visited the Putto or shown an interest in the comic since the review was published.

Meanwhile, we are closing in on publication date for The Sorrowful Putto of Prague in the Czech Republic. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for news on this, some new musical projects and artist interviews.

The Sorrowful Putto of Prague in a Skoda car with Pomuk - comics

The Sorrowful Putto of Prague in a Skoda car with Pomuk.

└ Tags: 2000AD, comic reviews, Comics, Czech Republic, folklore, Graeme Virtue, Guardian, James Stafford, Judge Dredd, Prague, Praha, webcomics, writing

2017 promises to be a positively ‘sorrowful’ year for this comic

 

These are very exciting times for The Sorrowful Putto of Prague. Firstly, 2017 will see the first print edition of the comic hit bookstores. As previously mentioned, a Czech edition (Truchlivý amoret pražský) will be released this year by hugely respected Prague based publishers Argo.

I’ve spent the past couple of months finalising the design of the book with the hugely talented art team at Argo. The book was originally pencilled in for late 2016, but we decided to hold off to get the book looking exactly as we wanted.

The Czech logo for The Sorrowful Putto of Prague comic and graphic novel

The Czech logo for The Sorrowful Putto of Prague

I can assure you it will be well worth the wait. Argo are famous for the quality of their book designs and the Putto promises to live up to their high standards. We’ll confirm the print date shortly and hopefully have plenty of previews of the book for people to take a look at.

More sorrowful music

Over the years the online soundtrack to The Putto has gotten lots of positive attention, most notably when The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell kindly provided a superb companion piece to our ‘Disintegratio’ chapter.

 

Play that Fender Jazzmaster, Xavier! From the Sorrowful Putto of Prague comic.

Play that Fender Jazzmaster, Xavier!

To mark our Czech language publication, 2017 will see more music added to the project. In the coming weeks we should be able to announce the first of the new tracks.

The first piece even involves yours truly dusting down his old Les Paul, Takemine, Marshall(ova) amp and motley collection of Boss pedals to lay the writing foundation for the first new track. More news to follow.

Recording demo for new track for @theputto graphic novel soundtrack at www.theputto.com. Part of the 'And Even After All This We Still Won't Have Any More Hope' project. #lespaul #bosspedals #guitar #music #comics #Czech #theputto #Marshall #amplifiers #hudba

A post shared by James Stafford (@jpstafford) on Jan 1, 2017 at 7:38am PST

Spreading the word

We had some fantastic write ups for The Putto in 2016. We were especially thrilled with a wonderful review from British comic veteran (and a man who wrote many great stories I read in my childhood) John Freeman on his excellent Down The Tubes website.

Fingers crossed that 2017 will see even more positive noise bouncing around. We are hoping to press ahead with other print publication plans, most notably trying to secure an English language publisher. As soon as we have any news we’ll be sure to post.

02 - RUSALKA - ENGLISH ORIGINAL - JPEG FORMATbMeanwhile, thanks to all of you who have supported the title to date, it’s massively appreciated.

If you aren’t already, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Any help in spreading the word across those channels is always much appreciated.

02 NO TEXT Print - The Faithful Witness
Here’s to a ‘sorrowful’ 2017.

 

└ Tags: argo, art, books, Comic, comic art, Comics, Czech Republic, graphic novels, guitars, music, publishing, Putto, The Cure, webcomics, writing
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Preview of ‘Rusalka Rises’ – a print only Putto story

This winter, The Sorrowful Putto of Prague will be published in print form in the Czech Republic by Argo. The first published edition of our work will contain several stories not online and exclusive to the print edition.

The Sorrowful Putto of Prague : Rusalka at the Opera in Prague (comics)

One such tale is ‘Rusalka Rises (and partakes in a rare and dramatic outing to the opera)’. In the coming weeks we will be posting a short preview of the first third of this tale, based on the Czech legend of Rusalka and made famous globally via Antonín Dvořák’s opera.

TheSorrowfulPuttoOfPragueRusalkacrop04

The incredible art in this preview is by Lenka Šimečková of The Republic! (All hail The Republic!)

As these exquisite images show, it’s going to be quite the visual treat.

Skoda in Prague, Czech Republic

Lenka was the genius behind our ‘The Eyes of Mother Prague’ preview from last year (which will also be in the Czech print edition).

Prague in peril! Wonderful view of Charles Bridge in comic form.

We’ll be publishing the preview over the coming weeks and you can start to read by clicking here. We hope you enjoy and please, if you do, spread the word.

Here’s a more than suitable piece of music to go along with your reading, dear reader.

└ Tags: Comic, Comics, Czech, Czech Republic, dovrak, music, national theatre, Opera, Prague, Praha, Theatre, webcomic, webcomics, writing

All aboard the good, swift ship Argo

Late last year I was proud to announce that the acclaimed Czech publishing house Argo was planning to publish The Sorrowful Putto of Prague in print form in 2016.

Last week that was confirmed with the signing of the contract in a wonderful Bistro in Letna, Prague. Among a fiercely assembled pack of polka dot shirt wearing gang members (quite an experience), ink was spilled, dried and formalised.

 

Watch out for the Polka Dot gang!

Pivo, cacti, Ghostbusters and contracts in Letna.

 

Argo has an outstanding reputation in the Czech market and I’m thrilled to be having them turn an online project into the print project I always dreamt of.

The Žižkov based booklovers have a hugely impressive catalogue of literature to their name – ranging from the best of ‘local’ authors to world-class translation of international literature. Genuine lovers of books and everything about them, Argo has rightly won plenty of awards for the design and style of its publications.

 

Argo's latest graphic novel

Argo’s latest graphic novel

 

Argo’s latest graphic novel release encapsulates that quality – a stunning biography of Czech sporting legend Emil Zátopek illustrated by Jaromír 99 and written by Jan Novák.

The first edition of The Putto should be on shelves in all good Czech bookshops by the winter.

I took the chance to celebrate into the Prague night with a pilgrimage to the statue that inspired the comic’s distinct logo. And pizza. There always has to be Prague pizza.

Here be places of fate

Contract, logo inspiration and pizza (already eaten)

 

The ink is dry, now onwards to Bohemian glory! (But beware the Polka Dot Shirt Gang that roam The Republic!)

By Lenka Šimečková

By Lenka Šimečková

└ Tags: argo, art, Comic, Comics, Czech, graphic novel, Komiks, Prague, Praha, publishing, webcomic, writing, writng
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Followeth us:

Chapters

  • Rusalka Rises (PREVIEW)  (7)
  • The Gratitude of My City  (6)
  • The Head of St. Adalbert  (7)
  • The Faithful Witness  (3)
  • Disintegratio  (9)
  • The Hanging Man of Mala Strana  (7)
  • The Mournful Music of Miss Svelta  (6)
  • The Famous Golem Speaks (Briefly)  (7)
  • The Perils of Travelling in a Hired Horseless Carriage  (6)

Recent musings

  • ‘The Melancholy Moon of Mala Strana Has Departed Suddenly’ – New music available
  • New music track, inspired by our Rusalka comic, now online
  • The Sorrowful Putto of Prague now in good Czech bookshops throughout The Republic
  • The Sorrowful Putto of Prague on Czech TV as book launch looms in Prague
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