The cover of Mr Rose

Rolling like thunder under the covers

Hello October friends!

Thought Bubble, my favourite UK comics convention, is coming round again this November 11-12th. Since I first started going eight years ago, it’s been a deadline in the diary to get things finished by. This year it’s been the spur for me to finally colour and print the instagram comic I drew in 2021, The Temptation of Mr Rose. It’s about a young man who goes to do the accounts at a remote abbey inhabited (ha ha!) by five nuns, and was inspired by a rewatch of Black Narcissus the night before.

The cover was the final thing I did, and I wanted a look that suggested slightly trashy melodrama… I thought of the covers of the Virginia Andrews books I read in the early 90s, along with Black Narcissus and the great monk romp, The Name of the Rose.

I loved Virginia Andrews’ books as a teenager. It may be rude to call a book trashy, but wow are Virginia Andrews books TRASHY!! I reread Flowers in the Attic recently, and time has not improved it. I give it zero petals out of ten.

There’s a flower theme here - coincidence?? Or something sinister about FLOWERS??

I would normally have characters on the front cover, but since this is such a mature, erotically-charged book for older readers (HA HA!) I went for a subtler vibe, and the characters appear on the back instead.

Here is the final:

Making the title bigger gives the cover an ominous and Biblical feel, I think. I considered blood dripping from the letters but you just have to rein it in sometimes. The back cover is calmer and more informative…

This marks my second full-length comic with nuns as main characters. I don’t know why - I didn’t have a religious upbringing and have had no meaningful contact with any nuns. There are so many good stories with nuns and monks in them - Nuns on the Run, Sister Act, The Sound of Music, Black Narcissus, The Name of the Rose, the first Shardlake… I have to love the tension between a devotional and secluded life, and the desire to live large and out loud! OR I just love drawing holy vestments.

I’m hoping to have it printed by early November, and will post some pictures and links here when I do!