The Adventures of Cheery Littlebottom

Welcome to www.cheerycomic.co.uk Here you will find the weekly Discworld comic strips starring the Watch's own Cheery Littlebottom. You can also take a look at quotes from the Watch books, biographies of Watchmen and some other stuff - use the links in the bar on the left to have a look around. Enjoy! Poppy Featured link: Discworld Convention 2006
News and Updates
29 Oct 06	latest cartoon
22 Oct 06	latest cartoon
15 Oct 06	latest cartoon
8 Oct 06	latest cartoon
1 Oct 06	latest cartoon
24 Sep 06	latest cartoon
17 Sep 06	latest cartoon
10 Sep 06	latest cartoon
3 Sep 06	latest cartoon
23 Aug 06	latest cartoon I'm going on holiday tomorrow (yay!) so here's Sunday's cartoon a little early.
20 Aug 06	latest cartoon
20 Aug 06	Johnny and the Bomb DVD entry on Amazon Amazon now has a page for the TV adaptation of Johnny and the Bomb which was on UK television a few months ago and is now being released on Region 2 DVD. The release date is given as 4 September 2006 and the special features include an interview with Terry Pratchett.
17 Aug 06	More Pratchett TV adaptations possible, reports The Stage The Hogfather TV movie could be ther first of several Discworld TV dramas, according to UK entertainment industry newspaper The Stage. In this article, it reports that the Hogfather producers have optioned the rights on at least two more of Pratchett's novels, one of which is The Colour of Magic. Personally I wouldn't have named The Colour of Magic as a good candidate for filming, but I'd be interested to see it happen!
14 Aug 06	*Illustrated Hogfather* screenplay** Yet another interesting find on Amazon.co.uk - a book entitled Terry Pratchett's Hogfather: The Illustrated Screenplay is due to be published on 2 November. It is billed as 'a sumptuously illustrated tie-in volume to the first ever live-action/CGI Discworld film' and the front cover shows Death walking along a snowy street towards what looks like the Tower of Art, with a tinsel-draped scythe over his shoulder [Update on 20 Aug 06 - the image has now changed to a very mean-looking Death wearing a Hogfather hood]. The blurb reads: "Hogswatchnight is fast approaching, and the Hogfather (that jolly fat man who delivers presents to the kiddies) is missing. But it's vital that all the presents are delivered, otherwise the sun won't rise tomorrow. However, there is another supernatural entity who can be everywhere at once and, most importantly, knows where everybody lives. And Death reckons that with a false beard and a few cushions, it might just work. And while Death is busy working out the mysteries of climbing down chimneys and drinking sherry, it's up to Susan to track down the real Hogfather. It's a dark time of the year. There are monsters afoot. And some of them look just like us. HO HO HO. You'd better watch out ... Terry Pratchett's bestseller, adapted and directed by Vadim Jean, is a two-part live-action/CGI film starring David Jason, to be premiered on Sky One in December 2006." It's definitely going on my Hogswatch wishlist.
13 Aug 06	*Photo of Terry in the Hogfather* TV adaptation** Take a look at this Amazon page to see a picture of Terry Pratchett playing the Toymaker in the Hogfather TV movie adaptation. The image is gracing the front of the Hogfather Discworld Calendar 2007 which, judging by its name and the front cover, will feature a series of stills from the movie. Finding that has made my day!
13 Aug 06	*The Unseen University Cut-Out Book* As mentioned back in February, The Unseen University Cut-Out Book is due to be published in October. It now has a fairly detailed page on Amazon.co.uk, including an image of the front cover. According to the blurb, the book allows you to construct all seven UU buildings out of paper, using only 'simple tools, patience and a good pot of glue'. It includes a foreword by Terry Pratchett.
13 Aug 06	latest cartoon
6 Aug 06	latest cartoon
30 Jul 06	latest cartoon
24 Jul 06	latest cartoon
16 Jul 06	latest cartoon
16 Jul 06	Wintersmith UK tour dates Terry will be visiting bookshops around the UK in September and October, giving talks and doing signings of Wintersmith. The dates are: Thu 28 Sep - "Terry in conversation with..." at the Institute of Education, London (entry by ticket only) Fri 29 Sep - "Terry in conversation with..." at the Dancehouse, Manchester (entry by ticket only) Sat 30 Sep - Signing at Borders Buchanan Street, Glasgow Mon 2 Oct - Signing at Ottakar's, Bromsgrove Wed 4 Oct - Signing at WHSmith, Exeter See Paul Kidby's news page for more details, bookshop addresses and how to apply for tickets.
9 Jul 06	latest cartoon
2 Jul 06	latest cartoon
25 Jun 06	latest cartoon
18 Jun 06	latest cartoon
11 Jun 06	latest cartoon
9 Jun 06	Wintersmith book proof on eBay Some lucky eBay bidder will get their hands on a signed proof copy of Wintersmith in the next few days. The uncorrected proof of the next Tiffany Aching/Wee Free Men novel was donated by Terry and is being auctioned off here to raise money for the Chalke Valley Playschool in Wiltshire, UK. At the time of writing, bidding has reached Ł123. This bit of news came from Paul Kidby's news page, where you can also see a photo of Terry with the actor playing Teatime in the Hogfather TV adaptation.
4 Jun 06	latest cartoon
4 Jun 06	The Librarian as a positive role model There's a "readers' questions" section in Wednesday's Times 2 supplement in The Times. In reply to a reader who complains that librarians are unsympathetically portrayed in the media, Claire Bott of London wrote: "Being a science fiction fan, I immediately thought of two very different characters [...]: Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Librarian from Terry Pratchett's books. [...] The Librarian of the Unseen University may be an orang-utan, but he's often more wised-up than most of the humans around him, and frequently takes an active part in saving the world, or at least the city, from danger of one kind or another." As the Librarian himself would say: Ook!
28 May 06	latest cartoon
28 May 06	Cheerycake It was my birthday this weekend, so my boyfriend made me this lovely chocolate espresso cake - with a picture of Cheery's face iced onto it!
28 May 06	*Full Hogfather* cast list** You can see a full cast list for the TV movie adaptation of Hogfather here on Paul Kidby's site.
21 May 06	latest cartoon
21 May 06	*More Hogfather* filming pictures** You can take a sneaky peek at Unseen University on Paul Kidby's news page where he's posted some more photos from the filming of the Hogfather TV adaptation.
14 May 06	latest cartoon
11 May 06	Pratchett parallels It turns out "ye gods!" has been used before in a comic strip with some spooky similarities to the work of Mr Pratchett. Sarah in New Zealand emailed with the following information: "Regarding the expression ‘ye gods!’, my first exposure to it was through the New Zealand comic strip Footrot Flats in the early 1980s. The main utterer of ‘ye gods!’ was the protagonist the Dog, a sheepdog with a number of imaginary secret identities, among them a heroic wolf known as the Grey Ghost of the Forest. Clearly he and Gaspode have a lot in common – that, and they have both uttered the line ‘Woof bloody woof.’ The strip also featured a remarkably Greeboesque tomcat called Horse, and a faintly Lancrastian rural setting (featuring people called things like Wal Footrot)." You can read more about Footrot Flats on Wikipedia or at this unofficial fan site.
10 May 06	Ye gods! again Well, "ye gods!" seems to be quite a common expression after all. Tim has emailed to say that it crops up in a lot of books. A bit of googling indicates that it originated in the 17th century (see the World Wide Words website).
10 May 06	Hogfather filming updates More of the cast list for the Hogfather TV movie is given on the DWcon news section: in addition to David Jason as Albert and Ian Richardson as the voice of Death, the adaptation will star Joss Ackland as Mustrum Ridcully, Marc Warren as Teatime, David Warner as Lord Downey and Nigel Planer as Sideney. Terry Pratchett will be making a cameo appearance, probably as a shopkeeper or customer in the shop where young Albert sees the wooden rocking horse. Incidentally, is it me or is Nigel Planer (age = 53) a little old to be playing a student wizard? There's an intriguing posting board on imdb.com under its Hogfather entry. The board titled "shooting diary" features two posters who claim to be the director and the special effects guy (girl?). It's impossible to tell if it's genuine or not but if so, it could be interesting to keep an eye on. Many thanks to David for the link.
7 May 06	latest cartoon
7 May 06	Ye gods! I was reading Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie and came across the following line of dialogue: 'Damn the girl! I believe she really means it. She wants a man to be reliable. Reliable - ye gods!' I never realised before that 'ye gods!' was an actual expression and not just something Vimes says a lot in the multiple-deitied Discworld.
30 Apr 06	latest cartoon
24 Apr 06	latest cartoon
20 Apr 06	Hogfather filming pictures Take a look at Paul Kidby's Discworld news page for photos from the first day of filming for the Hogfather TV adaptation!
16 Apr 06	latest cartoon
12 Apr 06	Wintersmith cover art Check out the Nac Mac Feegle emerging menacingly from the snow on the cover of Wintersmith here on Amazon. As usual, the cover art has been created by the excellent Paul Kidby. You can also see the Amazon entry for the book and read the blurb here. Many thanks to Adam for the link.
10 Apr 06	latest cartoon
2 Apr 06	latest cartoon
26 Mar 06	latest cartoon
19 Mar 06	latest cartoon
12 Mar 06	latest cartoon
5 Mar 06	latest cartoon
26 Feb 06	latest cartoon
19 Feb 06	latest cartoon
12 Feb 06	latest cartoon
9 Feb 06	Hogfather heading to Sky One Death will be stalking onto UK television screens this December when Sky One screens a four-hour, two-part adaptation of Hogfather. The UK satellite channel annouced yesterday that David Jason - best known as Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses - will take on the role of Albert in the Ł6m adaptation. It will be shown in two parts over Christmas. Death will be played by a 6ft 7in Dutchman, although his voice will be supplied by Ian Richardson. Terry is reportedly heavily involved with the adaptation, which is being shot in Romania. Yippee! Read more about it at The Independent. Many thanks to Adam for the link.
8 Feb 06	Wintersmith info on Amazon Amazon.co.uk now has the following blurb up for Wintersmith, the next Tiffany Aching / Wee Free Men book: Tiffany Aching is a trainee witch - now working for the seriously scary Miss Treason. But when Tiffany witnesses the Dark Dance - the crossover from summer to winter - she does what none has ever done before and leaps into the dance, into the oldest story there ever is, and draws the attention of the wintersmith himself... As Tiffany-shaped snowflakes hammer down on the land, can Tiffany deal with the consequences of her actions? Even with the help of Granny Weatherwax and the Nac Mac Feegle - the fightin', thievin' pictsies who are prepared to lay down their lives for their 'big wee hag'... Many thanks to Adam for the information. (Incidentally, I can discover no more about the Sky One project (see news item of 7 Feb) at the time of writing. I'll keep you posted!)
7 Feb 06	Discworld on Sky One? Could Sky One be commissioning a new Discworld programme? The news section of paulkidby.com currently boasts an image of an invitation from the UK satellite TV channel Sky One to a "breakfast briefing" for an "exclusive new drama project for 2006". The briefing is tomorrow so with luck we won't be in suspense for very long!
5 Feb 06	latest cartoon
2 Feb 06	Build your own university Head over to this page on Amazon.co.uk and you'll find The Unseen University Cut Out Book. According to the blurb, the book is aimed at adults and allows you to build a detailed model of the UU out of paper. It is due to be published on 1 October 2006. And while I was eyeing up that interesting morsel of information, I noticed that you can now see the front cover design of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office Handbook 2007 here - showing a golden-suited Moist von Lipwig emerging from a crest featuring the first half of the Post Office logo, "Neither rain nor snow nor glom of nit". Many thanks to Adam for the link.
29 Jan 06	latest cartoon
29 Jan 06	Three years and counting! A bit of a milestone for the site this week: three years since the first cartoon was put online! They grow up so fast wipes tear from eye.
22 Jan 06	latest cartoon
22 Jan 06	The Wee Free Men movie A movie version of The Wee Free Men is in the pipeline. Several news sources including scifi.com, paulkidby.com and comingsoon.net have reported that Spider-Man director Sam Raimi will take on the challenge of directing the adaptation of the first Tiffany Aching book.
20 Jan 06	Next Discworld novel title revealed The news section on Paul Kidby's site has revealed that Terry is putting the final touches to Wintersmith (the next Tiffany Aching / Wee Free Men book) and has settled on the name of the next adult Discworld book: Making Money. It will feature Moist von Lipwig of Going Postal fame. Many thanks to Veet for the link.
15 Jan 06	latest cartoon
8 Jan 06	latest cartoon
1 Jan 06	latest cartoon Happy new year to everyone visiting the site!
25 Dec 05	latest cartoon Happy Hogswatch, everyone!
18 Dec 05	latest cartoon
11 Dec 05	latest cartoon
5 Dec 05	latest cartoon
27 Nov 05	latest cartoon latest cartoon latest cartoon After nearly three years of posting regular cartoons, I missed a week for the first time last weekend. So this week we have three cartoons - this week's, last week's, and one extra by way of apology.
14 Nov 05	latest cartoon I've now completely given up on ukonline. I would categorically not recommend them to anyone. Let's hope the new supplier will be less useless in getting my connection up and running. Continuing apologies for the lateness of the cartoons.
7 Nov 05	latest cartoon I still have no internet connection and am getting very cross with ukonline who are completely hopeless. Apologies if anyone has emailed me as I am not able to check my email account at the moment.
30 Oct 05	latest cartoon
25 Oct 05	latest cartoon I still have no internet connection at home, so sorry for the lateness of this week's cartoon. And here's a tip: if you want broadband, do NOT go with ukonline. They are rubbish!
17 Oct 05	latest cartoon
10 Oct 05	latest cartoon Sorry for the lateness of this week's cartoon. I am still having some internet connection issues which I hope will be sorted out soon.
3 Oct 05	latest cartoon
3 Oct 05	Thud! and Where's My Cow? out now in the UK! In fact, I came across them on Wednesday - and very good they are too. Thud! is the type of top-notch Vimes-centred murder mystery/adventure with political overtones that Terry does so well - see Jingo, The Fifth Elephant and Night Watch - with plenty of very funny bits which threatened to make me laugh out loud on the bus. Lots of nice scenes and character detail for various Watchmen (including Cheery, hooray!) and fun looks at Vimes playing the family man with Lady Sybil and Young Sam. Where's my Cow? takes about two minutes to read but you can spend a good deal longer looking at the pictures. Melvyn Grant, the illustrator, uses three artwork styles of varying degrees of gritty realism to distinguish nicely between the main story and the two stories Vimes reads to his son. His take on Vimes is interesting and convincing: Terry wrote in The Art of Discworld that he imagines Vimes as a younger Peter Postlethwaite, and I suspect Melvyn has taken this into account in his depiction. There is also some nice merging of the Discworld and the Roundworld: the book Vimes reads to his son is shown with the same cover (and author name!) as its Roundworld namesake, and Vimes has a portrait on his wall of Terry in the black-hat-and-silver-tipped-cane pose used with the 'about the author' blurb at the back of the UK hardback copies of The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky.