Panel Borders: European Female Voices

Starting a month of shows looking at the work of female comic creators, Alex Fitch talks to German scratch board artist Line Hoven, and Belgian cartoonist Judith Vanistendael about their family drama graphic novels Love looks away published by Blank Slate Books and When David lost his voice, published by Self Made Hero. Hoven discusses her meticulous technique used to render the biography of three generations of her family, including a member of the Hitler Youth, while Vanistendael explores how her various graphic novels have each used a different artistic style, depending on the subject matter she is bringing to the page, in this case about a grandfather who reconnects with his family when diagnosed with throat cancer. Recorded at the British Library exhibition ‘Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK’. Originally broadcast 2nd June 2014 on Resonance 104.4 FM

For more info and a variety of different formats you can stream or download, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org

Links: Line Hoven’s website
Judith Vanistendael’s blog
Info about Comics Unmasked at the British Library
Listen to Paul Gravett’s interview with Judith Vanistendael about her previous book Dance by the light of the Moon
Listen to Robin Warren’s interview with Kid Koala about his scratchboard comic Space Cadet

Recommended events:

Comic book events at Stoke Newington Literary Festival

Cartoonist and comedienne Josie Long interviews Mark Kermode

Gala Opening Evening featuring Mark Kermode and an Arts Emergency showcase, hosted by one of our favourite comedians, Josie Long. Arts Emergency take to the stage at 7pm with performances by Joe Dunthorne (Submarine, Wild Abandon), Nikesh Shukla (Meatspace, Coconut Unlimited), Schmoovy and more. After an interval, at around 8:15pm, Mark will talk about his brilliant new book Hatchet Job: Hate Critics, Love Movies.

£10. Time – 19.00, Friday 4th June. Venue – Stoke Newington Town Hall
More info: www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com/snlf_events/mark-kermode

Living and Loving in London: Oscar Zarate and Ilya

Broadcast journalist Alex Fitch talks to cartoonists Oscar Zarate and Ilya about their London set graphic novels The Park and Room for Love.

£6. Time – 14.30, Saturday. Venue – Stoke Newington Library Gallery
www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com/snlf_events/living-and-loving-in-london-oscar-zarate-and-ilya

Urban Sketching with James Hobbes

Join the ever-growing international urban sketching movement and see Stoke Newington in a new light, discovering overlooked corners of the neighbourhood with James Hobbs, the author of the newly published Sketch Your World.

FREE. Time – 12.00 , Sunday. Venue – Stoke Newington Town Hall
www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com/snlf_events/urban-sketching

Book tickets and view the full programme of talks and workshops at www.stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com

ELCAF 2014

East London Comic Art Festival takes place at the Pickle Factory, 13-14 The Oval, London E2 9DT
Saturday 14th June 2014

Guests include Chris Ware, Anouk Ricard, Jesse Moynihan, Anne Simon, Mattias Adolfsson, Takayo Akiyama and Seth, with exhibiros including NoBrow, SelfMadeHero, Myriad Editions, Great Beast, It’s Nice That and many more.

Alex Fitch will be in conversation with Anne Simon about her collaborations with psychoanalyst Corinne Maier on two graphic biographies on Marx and Freud, plus other comics illustrations and children’s books at 2.30pm

Also Takayo Fukiyama’s Strange Worlds exhibition will be accompanying ELCAF at The Bishopsgate Building, London EC2M 3UG, from 27th May – 27th June

More info at http://www.elcaf.co.uk

Comic Book events at Medway Fuse Festival

Comic Cuts

Squarecube Artisans will be creating eight-foot high cut out characters from comic books and illustrations.

5.30pm, Friday 13th June, Great Lines Heritage Park

Bryan Talbot presents a range of comic artwork from his collection

Comic artist Bryan Talbot presents a range of comic artwork from his collection including original pieces from Dotter of her Fathers Eyes, Alice in Sunderland and Heart of Empire. The exhibition also featuring work from Joe Decie, Iam Williams and Mark Barnes.

11am – 5pm, Friday 13th June, Rochester Art Gallery

Drop-in Cartoon and Comic workshops with Gary Northfield

Stop-by and try your hand at drawing your own characters and comic strips beneath at the Mobile Library Bus, which will be packed with amazing comics, graphic novels and manga books.

All day, Saturday 14th June, Military Road, Chatham, ME4 4JG

Comic Creation Corner

Learn amazing drawing techniques and create your own incredible characters and comic strips with professional artists Gary Northfield and Alex Milway. Enter your finished artwork into a pop up exhibition and browse or borrow some awesome comics, graphic novels and manga books from the Children’s Mobile Library Bus. Suitable for all ages. Young children must be accompanied by an adult.

All day, Sunday 15th June, Rochester Castle Gardens

Fuse Festival of Comics

Celebrate the opening of the exhibition A Thousand Words exhibition featuring art by Bryan Talbot with a whole day of comic art activity. Come along and find out about comic art and illustration, enjoy drawing activities and meet some of the exhibiting artists. Open to all. Including a special Drawing Dads activity especially for Father’s Day too.

10am – 5pm, Princes Hall at the Corn Exchange, Rochester

More info about Fuse Festival at fusefestival.org.uk

Recent Electric Sheep Magazine comics

The latest issue continues a seasonal look at the work of Walerian Borowczyk with a comic book board game by Tony Hitchman:

and new comics by Dan Lester – on Roger Corman’s The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (!) and Lee Christien on Derke Jarman’s Jubilee, which was the website’s 50th film review comic strip. Find more info about the history of Electric Sheep comics here…