Ancient Lore

If you’re in London this week, I’m at the Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead today until Sunday, showing with Kittoe Contemporary on Stand F2 - do come and say hello!

It is also, round about now, a hearty two years since I began publishing The Ancients on Substack, and over three since they first popped into my head! In honour of that, I thought I’d share the first ever Ancients comic I made.

I was writing in a notebook on the last day of February 2023, angsting over the happiness and wellbeing of my daughters; specifically their reluctance to take mine and their mother’s advice on what might help them (specifically specifically, a graphic novel we thought they might find completely inspirational, which none of them has read to this day). As I wrote, I caught a glimpse of my position in all this - the merry roundabout of intergenerational handwringing - and I recalled reading somewhere some complaints about the youth by Ancient Greeks (not, in fact, a quote from antiquity, it turns out):

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

A rough version of this first comic flowed seamlessly on from my ruminating. You’ll notice they’re slightly different in style and attire, and their relationships with one another have developed a bit. That all happened quite quickly after this - the crones appeared in the second ever comic, and they all took up their position on the high planes, gazing down at the youth.

Three years on, where things go from here I’m not sure; but I find it immensely rewarding sharing these comics with you all, and I appreciate all the comments and likes, and messages friends send me when a particular comic resonates. So thank you - and an extra special thank you to my handful of paying subscribers. Do share this and other Ancients comics with your friends.