Tom Gauld

ALT Title: "The Haters" Panel 1. Two round characters sit in a cinema. Yellow blob "I hate this!" Red Blob "Me too!" Panel 2. They have left the cinema Red blob "I hated every minute of that film! It was nothing like the book!" Panel 3. "Did you like the book?" asks Yellow. Red replies "I hated it!" then asks "You?" Panel 4. Yellow blob "I've not read it. I hated the film purely on its own merits." Panel 5. Red blob "I'll lend you my copy." Yello blob"That's very kind." Panel 6. Caption: "Later" Yellow, reading the book "I hate this!" Red (happily) "I knew you would!!"

ALT Two hooded figures with lamps approach a moonlit, isolated cottage. A woman answers the door. We have come for the child, says the hooded figure So soon? she asks It is time, says the hooded figure. The woman is distraught. We should never have got him a library card! What is done cannot be undone, says the hooded figure We couldn’t see the harm! We just wanted him to enjoy reading! For most, it ends there, says the hooded figure, turning away and walking into the wilderness Oh lord, What have I done! says the woman, the child walks past her and out into the darkness with them. Do not cry mother. I am a writer now.

ALT Title: Who is Haunting The Library of Forbidden Tomes? Image: five panels showing characters in a gothic library 22% - tormented souls, frozen between life and death (a ghost reading a book) 4% - dank, fetid horrors from the icy depths below (a black slug like creature with a single eyestalk reading a book) 15% - cold, lifeless bones possessed by a corrupt sorcery (a skeleton reading a book) 11% - frigid and malevolent ectoplasmic vapours (a shapeless apparition reading a book) 48% - regular readers happy to away from the heatwave (A mother, small child and toddler in buggy, all reading books)

ALT Title: Clip Art > Science > Failure > Cute Image: A series of science-related items (glassware, robots, fires, scientists) with smiley faces labelled this: fire_small.jpg graph_error.jpg cracked_glassware.jpg sad_at_desk.jpg fire_medium.jpg broken_robot.jpg disproved_theory.jpg fire_huge.jpg sad_on_floor toxic_cloud.jpg rejected_paper.jpg

ALT 1. The entomology department notice board a sign reads “Employee of the moth: Claire” (Claire is spelled with an i) 2. Clare and a colleague are scientists wearing lab coats, they look at the board. He says “Congrats, But I think they made a typo.” “Damn, do they did.” Says Clare 3. Clare in the office, seen from outside “Sorry to bother you boss, but my name is spelled wrong on the poster” 4. Her boss is a human-sized moth in a lab coat sitting behind a desk “Apologies Clare, I’ll get that fixed.” (Clare is spelled either no i)

ALT Panel 1 Image: a man sits on a sunlonger reading a book Caption: His body may be lounging contentedly by the pool of a Sicilian villa in the warmth of the afternoon sun... Panel 2 Caption 1: But, as on every holiday, the military history dad's mind is far away... Image: close up of the man who is reading Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor Caption: On some blasted steppe, amongst brave, doomed comrades on yet another gruelling campaign. Panel 3 Caption: Awestruck by the dreadful power of mechanised warfare, he is lost to all but the most urgent missives. Image:The sun has sunk a little in the sky. "Would you like another Aperol, darling?" his wife calls from the villa. He replies "Yes please!"

ALT Image: In a childrens library, a small boy contentedly reads a small picture book, while an angry-looking small girl storms past, carrying a very heavy book. Caption: Unfortunately for Charlotte, the adjudication committee decides that, for the purposes of the under-nines summer reading challenge, the six volumes of proust's 'in search of lost time' is considered to be one single narrative, whereas each of Roger hargreaves' mister men' books is a distinct work, thereby awarding the library's 'top reader' sticker to her brother Toby.

ALT Panel one: a climber reaches the top of a towering cliff. There, among the clouds, a serene figure with a long beard, wearing a robe, sits crosslegged on the bare rock. He is "The Great Wise One of the Mountain" Panels two, three and four: sitting serenely crosslegged on successively lower clifftops we see the Assistant Wise One of the Mountain, The Post-Doc Research Fellow of the Mountain and a group of PhD Students of the Mountain

ALT Two stick figures walk beside a lake, one asks "Do you ever worry that we are living in the reflection rather than the reality?" They are reflected, upside-down, in the lake. The reflection of the second figure replies with an upside-down speech bubble reading "Sometimes".

ALT A wobbly drawing in a notebook showing a building with commas, periods, asterisks etc blowing out of the window. "Window left open at punctuation factory" is written above.

ALT Panel 1 Caption: With the windows open in the summer heat, a breeze blows through the punctuation factory, scattering newly-minted marks across the countryside. Image: a small factory with windows open and punctuation marks coming out Panel 2 Caption: Confused locals find their conversations peppered with unexpected pauses and unwanted emphasis. Image: Two people talking as punctuation marks float around them One says This, is “very odd” The other replies …(Indeed)* Panel 3 Caption: Naturalists note that the effect is not limited to human communication. Image: A duck on a pond surrounded by punctuation marks says Qu’ack? Panel 4 Caption: Fortunately, a cloud of exclamation points drift into a district council meeting which proceeds with unusual efficiency Image: Councillors talk in a cloud of exclamation points Something must be done!! ! Close the windows! !! Install air conditioning! !! Immediately!!! !

ALT Panel 1 Caption: With the windows open in the summer heat, a breeze blows through the punctuation factory, scattering newly-minted marks across the countryside. Image: a small factory with windows open and punctuation marks coming out Panel 2 Caption: Confused locals find their conversations peppered with unexpected pauses and unwanted emphasis. Image: Two people talking as punctuation marks float around them One says This, is “very odd” The other replies …(Indeed)* Panel 3 Caption: Naturalists note that the effect is not limited to human communication. Image: A duck on a pond surrounded by punctuation marks says Qu’ack? Panel 4 Caption: Fortunately, a cloud of exclamation points drift into a district council meeting which proceeds with unusual efficiency Image: Councillors talk in a cloud of exclamation points Something must be done!! ! Close the windows! !! Install air conditioning! !! Immediately!!! !