Cartoonist Paul Rainey has been announced as the winner of this year’s Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica graphic short story prize. Rainey came first place for his comic strip “Similar to But Not,” which tells the story of a prematurely bald teenager who, while going to the pub for his first pint, has a chance encounter with Madonna.
The judges (consisting of Jonathan Cape’s graphic novel publisher Dan Franklin; Vintage Books creative director Suzanne Dean; the Comica festival’s Paul Gravett; The Observer‘s Rachel Cooke; cartoonist Steven Appleby; and novelist Neel Mukherjee) stated they were “struck by how many of [this year]’s stories we read were about loneliness, isolation and grief. But perhaps this was one reason why Rainey’s story was our unanimous winner: as well as being beautifully drawn, it made us laugh out loud.”
Rainey, who’s entered the contest every year since 2007, said “It recalls an intense daydream I had when I was 17. I’d seen Madonna on Top of the Pops [in 1985, when the story is set], and I wondered how I could possibly get to know her. This, believe it or not, seemed to be the only feasible idea I could come up with: that we’d meet in the pub, when no one else was around.” He commented, “I didn’t draw Madonna as well as I might have, so it’s open for the reader to think: oh, she’s just someone who only looks like Madonna.”
The runner-up was Ellie Durkin, whose “The Worm” the judges said “riffs pleasingly and daffily on the idea that people often come to resemble their pets.” You can read more from Rainey, and his comic strip, here and here, and “The Worm” here.
