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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
Blank Slate Celebrate Five New British Books at Gosh!
Posted: August 8, 2013
You can wait for ages and then five come along at once! Five amazing new hardback graphic novels by five brilliant British talents are launching at this Blank Slate Books party this Friday at Gosh! in London’s Soho from 7-9pm. It’s a hot night for hot comics!
Article: Interview with Julie Tait on Lakes Comic Art Festival
Posted: August 6, 2013
Britain is buzzing with comics festivals and conventions up and down the land and throughout the year. Across the spectrum of scale and longevity, Oxford’s determinedly human-scale small press weekend Caption is the longest one still running, while the MCM Expos can draw humungous hordes of fans, though not necessarily of comics. The term ‘Comicon’ has become rather debased lately worldwide, sidelining comics and standing more for fantasy and genre movies, TV, games and pop culture in general. Other festivals like Thought Bubble in Leeds and Comica in London, both bouncing back this autumn, put the emphasis firmly on the richness of comics.
Despite the non-appearances of the third Mark Millar-endorsed Kapow! in London and Scotland’s local heroes Hi-Ex in Inverness, this year is buzzier than ever, what with newcomers Nerd Fest in Nottingham and 22 Panels in Falmouth and the Edinburgh Book Festival running a big comics programme Stripped. But the most exciting premier must be the Lakes International Comic Art Festival over the weekend of October 18th to 20th (poster above by Bryan Talbot), which looks set to make the lovely Cumbrian town of Kendal world-famous for more than just the glorious Lake District scenery and scrummy Mint Cake! Its first edition is audaciously ambitious and its director Julie Tait brims over with vivacity and vision. Amidst all the planning and organising, she kindly found time to respond to a few questions. Read the rest of this interview here…
Wu Wei Launch Party at Gosh!
Posted: August 2, 2013
Creator-publisher Mike Medaglia is launching his anthology of spiritual comics, Wu Wei, tonight at Gosh!, 1 Berwick Street, Soho, London W1F 0DR from 7pm. Glyn Dillon of The Nao of Brown fame has designed the cover (above). Mike explains: “‘Wu Wei’ is a Taoist term meaning non-action. To practice Wu Wei is to act in a natural way and reveal one’s own nature.” The anthology offers 100 pages for £6 of funny and inspirational stories, illustrations, poetry, an abstract comic, origami comic and the final panel is a pull out concertina. If you can’t be there tonight, you can order online here.
Article: PG Previews October 2013
Posted: July 27, 2013
OK, I know I have a tendency to over-enthuse, sorry about that. I so often rave about how much great graphic literature is coming out each month, but you’ll see that this October is pretty impressive, with new works by such sequential champions as Neil Gaiman & J.H. Williams III, delving into The Sandman‘s secret origins, Joe Sacco and Anders Nilsen, both trying their hand at lengthy, fold-out accordion-format narrative friezes, Peter Bagge doing a biography, and, most eagerly anticipated by me and many, the energising, ecstatic electricity of Paul Pope’s teen demi-god Battling Boy (above). I’m also buzzing that Sfar’s Pascin and Julie Maroh’s Blue Angel are getting translated from French, not to overlook some choice manga from the avant garde to a Viking saga. And the debut books are especially striking this month from North American and British creators. From the UK, Katie Green’s Lighter Than My Shadow and Isabel Greenberg’s The Encyclopedia of Early Earth will stand as two of this year’s greatest graphic novel experiences, not just within their national scene but as truly outstanding achievements in world-class comics. Lots of people say we’re living in a ‘Golden Age’ of comics right now, but what do we call it when that Age keeps getting better, braver and bolder, and that Gold keeps shining brighter and brighter? Prepare to be dazzled! Read the rest of my PG Previews for October 2013 here…
It’s A Mind Thing: Junior Tomlin’s Drawing Course!
Posted: July 26, 2013
The brilliant illustrator Junior Tomlin, hailed as ‘The Salvador Dalí of Rave’, believes “anyone can draw” and offers to “dispel the myths and drawing stoppages you have built up that stop you from drawing and creating art.” His six-week course runs on Wednesday evenings, 6.30-9.30pm, from July 31st to August 21st at the West London Art Factory in London at £25 per session. “If it can be seen, it can be drawn.” More details below or at the website.
Arts & Society Forum London Discuss Graphic Novels!
Posted: July 26, 2013
The next Arts and Society Forum will discuss graphic novels from 7pm on Monday July 29 at Room G24, Ground Floor, Foster Court, Malet Place, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, introduced by Bernie Whelan. It’s not normally a public event, but anyone especially interested in coming should please email Niall Crowley in advance on nialldcrowley[at]gmail.com to enquire about attending. Here’s their summary of what they will be discussing:
“The recent phenomenal growth of graphic novels – a veritable tsunami – would indicate that the genre is here to stay. Academics argue this attests to fundamental changes: first, an increasingly visual orientation due to the internet and second, the increasing interpenetration of popular culture and high culture. Unlike the trajectory some see film as having taken – beginning as either representations of reality (news) or fantasy (art) and then degenerating towards fast, cheap entertainment which ‘has steadily undermined the standards people once had both for cinema as art and for cinema as popular entertainment’ (Sontag) – comics began as fast, cheap entertainment and are now seen by some as an increasingly significant art form – the graphic novel. Are comics developing as an art form we should take seriously or is the elevation of comics to graphic novels part of a more general abandonment of standards in the arts?”
Article: Frames of Mind - Graphic Medicine
Posted: July 21, 2013
Ian Williams, the doctor-turned-graphic novelist who pioneered the field of Graphic Medicine, very kindly invited me to give the Opening Keynote address at the first ever conference on comics and medicine in London in 2010. Since then, it’s been an honour and privilege to be invited back to subsequent conferences in Chicago in 2011 and Toronto in 2012. This year, the Conference reconvened in Brighton with special guest speakers David B. and Nicola Streeten, and once again I was the opening act or ‘warm-up man’, giving my overview of some of the highlights I have found in graphic medicine, past, present and future. Read the rest of my Article and hear the full audio and see images and clips here…
Article: The 9th Art Award
Posted: July 18, 2013
Graphic Scotland has announced that submissions are now open for the inaugural 9th Art Award for Graphic Literature. The 9th Art Award will choose the best work of graphic literature originally written and published in English between May 2012 and July 2013, from anywhere in the world.
I am delighted to join acclaimed arts critic and writer Hannah McGill, Freight Books publisher Adrian Searle and Costa award-winning co-author of Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, Mary Talbot, in judging the prize this year. A casting vote will be given to Graphic Scotland chair John McShane in the event of a tie. The award will be presented during an event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August as part of their Stripped programme for their 30th Anniversary on comics and graphic novels. Read more about The 9th Art Award here…
Barbican Comic Forum: New Graphic Novel Reading Group!
Posted: July 17, 2013
Tomorrow Thursday, July 18th is the grand launching of the free monthly Barbican Comic Forum, run by Joel, ‘Your Friendly Neighbourhood Librarian’ and one of the creators of the Islington Comic Forum. This is a new, fun and informal book group dedicated to the understanding and enjoyment of the multifaceted medium of comic books and graphic novels. Come and make friends, converse, get recommendations on cool and stimulating titles and choose from a selection of hand-picked books to borrow and take home. From novices to fanatics: open to all.
For those thinking of going: it’s 6pm to 7pm in the Barbican Centre’s Children’s Library on Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. Joel adds, “If you’ve never been - the Barbican is a fantastic place to visit and it’s comic book / graphic novel collection is totally fantastic. And - well - basically - you owe it to yourself to get down there and check it out.” Check out their Facebook page for more details and future dates.
Article: PG Previews September 2013
Posted: July 12, 2013
Here are my latest PG Tips for your panelogical enlightenment, ranging widely and wildly from politics to fairytales, from Venn diagrams to spirituality, from the history of Pompeii to China’s Boxer Rebellion, from little boys lost to an abandoned polar bear, from the legalities of superheroics to a century and a half of Japanese comics. If I had to pick one solo highlight of September 2013, it would have to be The Black Project by Gareth Brookes (cover above from Myriad Editions), a landmark, once read, not easily forgotten. At times, you won’t quite believe what you are reading and seeing, all executed in embroidery and lincouts, four years in the making. Exquisite, excruciating and exceptional. Read the rest of my Previews here…
