Huzzah. Kate Beaton has a new book out. Step Aside, Pops (Jonathan Cape, £12.99) is full of cartoons about historical, literary and comic book figures. It will make you laugh, make you want to reread Wuthering Heights just so you get all the jokes and generally make you a happier, more rounded, more fulfilled person. In short, we think it’s pretty good. So much so that we asked Ms Beaton if she’d answer some questions for us. And the good news is she said yes.
Complete this sentence. Kate Beaton is …?
A cartoonist? I hope so anyway, that is why we are gathered here today (dearly beloved).
What do you want to tell us about your new book Step Aside, Pops?
It's a collection of work that picks up where Hark, A Vagrant let off! Pops plays with format and subject matter a bit more.
It is a gloriously bookish book. You have so much fun messing about in other people’s stories. What would you say if you met, say, Emily Bronte?
I would probably just ask her to show me around the moors. I have been to their hometown, Haworth! It was adorable and I drank some amazing hot cider. I bet Emily would enjoy a nice cup of hot cider.
“The past is more interesting than the future.” Discuss.
I don't think it is more interesting, but at least we can read about it. Take that, future!
What was the first comic strip you loved and why?
It was Foxtrot, by Bill Amend. I liked it because the teenage sister, Paige, was really funny. She would have amazing dream sequences! I remember considering the fact that she was older than me, which is a bizarre thing to remember as a fact about a character, because Paige is 14. But in my mind, she is always older than me.
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