Continuing children’s book month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to two creators of atypical titles for kids, which are being published by Walker Books. John Dunning is the writer of Salem Brownstone: All along the watchtowers, a Graphic Album in the European format which combines his script in the style of American horror writers H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe with Nikhil Singh’s elegant artwork, reminiscent of Victorian illustrators such as Aubrey Beardsley. Salem Brownstone was originally serialised in the small press anthology Sturgeon White Moss and Alex talks to John about the process of creating this unusual title.
Alex Milway is the author of The Mousehunter trilogy of pirate novels for young adults and in his new series of books – The Mythical 9th Division – which tell the tales of a trio of crimefighting Yetis who work for the British government, he is pioneering a new kind of storytelling in which every chapter of the books segues from sequential art into more traditional text. The two Alexs talk about the first of the Yeti books – Operation Robot Storm – which is being released in June and how comics can be used as another device to get kids into reading.

Panels from Operation Robot Storm (c) Alex Milway and Salem Brownstone (c) Nikhil Singh and John Dunning

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

Links: Alex Milway – profile and info about Operation Robot Storm on Walker Books’ website
The Mousehunter website / blog
Old Hokey’s Whimsical tales blog

John Dunning – Interview with John & Nikhil on www.paulgravett.com
Info on Salem Brownstone and John Dunning on Walker Books’ website
Forbidden Planet International review
Interview with Nikhil about his Visa traumas at caribbeanbookblog.wordpress.com

Other recommended shows:

Collected Comics Library podcast

The podcast: Collected Comics Library, has been a weekly staple for almost 5 years now, Chris Marshall blogs and podcasts about Collected Editions and reprints.

Last month saw Chris do a special four part series on the career of Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, covering his time working for Marvel in the 50s and 60s, his tenure at DC and return to Charlton Comics in the 70s and 80s, his return to Marvel and Independant work from the 80s to the end of his career, plus Chris chats to Craig Yoe about his book The Art of Ditko.

The Collected Comics Library also has its own iPhone app which is well worth downloading if you’re a fan of the show

CCL Podcast #256-259 – The Career of Steve Ditko

Seqalab Express – Savannah College of Art and Design’s comics podcast

Students of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s SEQuential Art course interview comics creators and professionals to see what makes them tick. In the latest episode Jarrett and Kevin sit down with Wook-Jin (Hunter) Clark and discuss his new book from SCAD friendly publisher Oni Press.

Seqalab Express: Wook-Jin Clark

Starting Children’s Books month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to two artists who have inadvertently found themselves making comics for younger audiences. Joe List is a graphic designer and animator who, with his first collection of comic strips inspired by Saturday morning cartoons – Freak Leap – has compiled a whimsical series of adventures starring pirates, monsters and giant robots with spindly legs suitable for all ages. Paul Collicutt is a children’s book illustrator who has previously been engaged in fully pained artwork for traditional picture books but now, as the creator of a series of Robot City Adventures, is telling tales of a Retro Sci-Fi future where robot Private Detectives and coastguards mix with humans and sea monsters alike.

Pages from Freak Leap by Joe List and Robot City Adventures by Paul Collicutt

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

Links: Joe List – website / flickr site
Freak Leap website
Annotated Weekender blog

Paul Collicutt – Info on Robot City Adventures from Templar Publishing
Info on Paul’s books at librarything.com
Paul’s contact details at illustrator.org.uk
Interview at mindlessones.com

Recommended events:

Lost Treasures of the Black Heart

Josie Long’s monthly comedy night at the Black Heart Pub in Camden features an eclectic mix of comedians intructing the audience about esoteric trivia and facts you never knew you needed to know! Alongside this fol-de-rol is the paper magnificence of the We are words + pictures stall selling their four colour treats, comics and merchandise…

8pm, Tuesday 9th March, The Black Heart, 2 Greenland Place, Camden, London NW1 0AP

Concluding webcomics month on the show, Alex Fitch catches up with artist Sean Azzopardi and writer Daniel Merlin Goodbrey as the first series of their epic webcomic Necessary Monsters comes to its conclusion after a total of 125 pages serialised over two years. The series mixes a ‘black ops’ style spy thriller with the tropes of modern horror films and bizarre characters with ultra violence to maximum effect. Alex talks to Daniel and Sean about the progression of the strip, the various ways it’s been published and their collaborations with another webcomics creator – Douglas Noble – on a zombie western (The Rule of Death) and surrealistic thriller (Sightings of Wallace Sendek) respectively.

Cowboy 13 does his thing in the start of the three page epilogue to volume one of Necessary Monsters by Sean Azzopardi and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey

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

Links: Read Necessary Monsters online from page one, with more info about the cast of characters here
Reviews of chapters one and two and three and four on the Forbidden Planet International blog
Read an illustrated article on the construction of a page of the strip at www.comicmonsters.com

Sean’s website – www.phatcatz.org.uk
Daniel’s website – www.e-merl.com

Listen to Alex’s 2008 interviews with Sean and Daniel

Recommended events:

Five years of the Forbidden Planet International blog

The Forbidden Planet International blog celebrates its 5th birthday today and is an invaluable source of comics book and genre film news and reviews and a great friend of this blog. If you’ve never visited it before – and why not, it’s the 31st most influential blog in the UK according to Cision – now’s as good a time as any, with the latest post seeing the blog writers choosing their favourite authors and other recent posts include animation by Dylan Mercer, a review of Norwegian graphic novelist Jason’s latest book, info on Grant Morrison and Stephen Fry’s TV project and much, much more.

Web: www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog
RSS feed: www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/feed/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/fpinternational

ABC Warriors signing

Saturday 27th February, 1pm meet Pat Mills and Clint Langley signing ‘ABC Warriors: Volgan War Vol.2′

Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JR

Drawn Out and Painted Pink, an exhibition of cartoons by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton

Throughout February 2010 The Drill Hall will be hosting and housing Drawn Out & Painted Pink, a cartoon exhibition by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton documenting LGBT history from the 1970s to now.

“Like the best foreign correspondents (only funnier) their cartoons and comic strips have painted a devastatingly accurate self-portrait of LGBT life in the UK… They’ve got us bang to rights in the ways we were, the ways we are and the ways we could be. These are social documents of the highest order.”
Ellen Galford

The Drill Hall, Bloomsbury, West End, London WC1E 7EX

Continuing our month long look at webcomics, Alex Fitch talks to two writer artists whose work started off telling fantastical tales, took a detour via stories set in Hell and its environs and are now doing work with a greater autobiographical element. Darryl Cunningham is the creator of the humourous superhero strip Super Sam and John by Night, whose sequel to that strip tells tales of the inferno, The Streets of San Diablo and more recently to critical acclaim has started rendering experiences from his day job in Psychiatric Tales; Jon Scrivens is the creator of Little Terrors, a popular strip that tells the tale of a friendly zombie who is trying to connect with his old friends, who have also turned into a variety of monsters, in the wake of an outbreak of the living dead. and Jon is just about to start on a new strip, When’s Graham, which mixes collegiate humour with a touch of time travel…

Excerpts from Little Terrors by Jon Scrivens and Psychiatric Tales by Darryl Cunningham

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

Links: Jon Scrivens – Comic: www.littleterrorscomic.com
Website: www.jonscrivens.com
Review of Sherlock Holmes by Jon at theatrehopper.com
Myspace page: www.myspace.com/zombie_soundtrack

Darryl Cunningham – Website: www.darryl-cunningham.blogspot.com
Super Sam and John-of-the-Night: interview and archive at forbiddenplanet.co.uk
The Streets of San Diablo: http://act-i-vate.com/75.comic

Info about the 2010 Web and Mini Comix Thing
Info about Blank Slate Books

Recommended events:

LAYDEEZ DO COMICS

The monthly meeting for female fans of comics and fans of women who make comics!

Next meeting: Monday 22 Febrary 2010, 6.30-8.30pm
Venue: The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

Guest Speaker: Kiriko Kubo, cartoonist, animation director and writer, creator of ‘Cynical Hysterie Hour’ and ‘Hime Mama’ (‘Princess mother-in-law)

Book for Discussion: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Full details: www.laydeezdocomics.com

Comic book signings

Thursday 25th February, 6pm, Andy Diggle and Jock will be signing ‘The Losers’ - a great Graphic Novel just about to become a great movie.

Saturday 27th February, 1pm meet Pat Mills and Clint Langley signing ‘ABC Warriors: Volgan War Vol.2′

Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JR

Drawn Out and Painted Pink, an exhibition of cartoons by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton

Throughout February 2010 The Drill Hall will be hosting and housing Drawn Out & Painted Pink, a cartoon exhibition by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton documenting LGBT history from the 1970s to now.

“Like the best foreign correspondents (only funnier) their cartoons and comic strips have painted a devastatingly accurate self-portrait of LGBT life in the UK… They’ve got us bang to rights in the ways we were, the ways we are and the ways we could be. These are social documents of the highest order.”
Ellen Galford

The Drill Hall, Bloomsbury, West End, London WC1E 7EX

Continuing this month’s look at webcomics, Dickon Harris speaks to a couple of creators of very different online strips at the Movies Comics and Manga expo in London’s Docklands. Liz Lunney creates a variety of humourous and cute animal strips under the anthology title ‘Online Comic Sushi’ which she has also printed in collections such as ‘Bears in your Face / The Man with Tetris on his Chin’ and ‘I Love Dinosaurs and they Love Me’ which led to her inclusion in the American Indie publisher Top Shelf’s collection of online comics, Top Shelf 2.0.
David O’Connell also makes family friendly comics in the form of his ongoing web strip ‘Tozo: The Public Servant’, a European ‘Clear line’ style comic reminiscent of Hergé, which tells the tale of a police inspector on the island city of Nova Venezia, who has been ordered to investigate the murder of Luco Lello, an employee of the Financial Exchange. His investigations include the mysterious but troublesome Spider Empire and the Ombra Society, led by the sinister Lady Magdalene, who travel by airship and Tozo is always accompanied by his sidekick, the mecha-golem ‘Klikker’!

Excerpts from Depressed Cat by Lizz Lunney and Tozo by David O Connell

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

Links: Lizz Lunney – Website: www.lizzlizz.com
Blog: lizzlizz.blogspot.com
Pages at Top Shelf 2.0
Interview at threadless.com

David O’Connell – Website: http://www.tozocomic.com
Livejournal page: tozocomic.livejournal.com
Read Tozo: The Public Servant from the first page
Interview with David conducted by Garen Ewing
Listen to previews interviews about Clair Ligne comics conducted by Alex Fitch and Dickon Harris

Recommended events:

Arthur Ransom Exhibition at Orbital comics

14 January- 28 February

Orbital Comics is pleased to present British comics legend, Arthur Ranson’s, premiere exhibition, showing art spanning throughout his prolific career from 2000AD and beyond and depictions of beloved characters such as Judge Anderson, PSI and Button Man…
8 Gt Newport Street
London WC2H 7JA
More info: www.orbitalcomics.com

Drawn Out and Painted Pink, an exhibition of cartoons by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton

Throughout February 2010 The Drill Hall will be hosting and housing Drawn Out & Painted Pink, a cartoon exhibition by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton documenting LGBT history from the 1970s to now.

“Like the best foreign correspondents (only funnier) their cartoons and comic strips have painted a devastatingly accurate self-portrait of LGBT life in the UK… They’ve got us bang to rights in the ways we were, the ways we are and the ways we could be. These are social documents of the highest order.”
Ellen Galford

The Drill Hall, Bloomsbury, West End, London WC1E 7EX

Originally broadcast 04/02/10 as an episode of Strip! Resonance 104.4 FM

Starting web comics month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to three members of the Canadian webcomics collective ‘Transmission X’ in an interview recorded during last year’s Comica festival after their signing at Orbital Comics. Cameron Stewart is best known for his work on Grant Morrison’s Seaguy and Batman and Robin, but has also been responsible for a online crime comic called Sin Titulo which between its first instalment in 2007 and its 89th page last autumn won the 2009 Joe Shuster Award for Best Webcomic. Also on the Transmission X site are a collection of other terrific strips in a variety of genres including Kukuburi and Butter Nut Squash by the prolific Ramón Pérez and The Abominable Charles Christopher by Karl Kershl. While they were on the London leg of their European tour, Alex caught up with Cameron, Ramón and Karl and talked about working in a variety of genres on the web, how this contrasts with their superhero comics for more famous publishers and the experience of updating web comics on a regular basis.

Various Transmission X webcomics by Ramón Pérez, Karl Kershl and Cameron Stewart

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

Links: Transmission X homepage
Transmission X youtube channel

Cameron Stewart – Sin Titulo webcomic
Cameron’s blog

Ramón Pérez – Kukuburi and Butter Nut Squash webcomics
Ramón’s blog

Karl Kershl – The Abominable Charles Christopher and North Sea Epoch webcomics
Karl’s blog

Recommended events:

Arthur Ransom Exhibition at Orbital comics

14 January- 14 February

Orbital Comics is pleased to present British comics legend, Arthur Ranson’s, premiere exhibition, showing art spanning throughout his prolific career from 2000AD and beyond and depictions of beloved characters such as Judge Anderson, PSI and Button Man…
8 Gt Newport Street
London WC2H 7JA
More info: www.orbitalcomics.com

Drawn Out and Painted Pink, an exhibition of cartoons by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton

Throughout February 2010 The Drill Hall will be hosting and housing Drawn Out & Painted Pink, a cartoon exhibition by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton documenting LGBT history from the 1970s to now.

“Like the best foreign correspondents (only funnier) their cartoons and comic strips have painted a devastatingly accurate self-portrait of LGBT life in the UK… They’ve got us bang to rights in the ways we were, the ways we are and the ways we could be. These are social documents of the highest order.”
Ellen Galford

The Drill Hall, Bloomsbury, West End, London WC1E 7EX

Concluding our month long look at ‘Masculinity in American comics’, Alex Fitch talks to Brian Andersen about his self published indie comics So Super Duper, Sex and the Superhero and Unabashedly Billie… Alex and Brian chat about representations of gay characters in superhero comics, making the transition between web and print publishing and becoming a publisher of other people’s comics to help the proliferation of LGBT titles on the shelves.

Panel from page 158 of So Super Duper by Brian Andersen, contained in issue 8 of the comic

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

Links: Brian’s website – sosuperduper.com
Read So Super Duper online at newsarama.com
Brian’s profile at www.prismcomics.org

Listen to Alex’s month on gay comics creators from December 2008 and interviews with Pam Harrison, Zan Christensen, Patty Jeres

Recommended events:

Dante’s Inferno Premiere

Sci-Fi London are delighted to present the UK premiere of the brand new animated movie DANTE’S INFERNO which has been produced to coincide with the Electronic Arts game.

Crusader Dante returns home to discover that his beloved Beatrice has been murdered, and her soul dragged into Hell. Refusing to give her up, he steals Death’s scythe and chases after her… into the Inferno.

Featuring the voice talents of Mark Hamill, Victoria Tennant and Vanessa Branch, the movie is Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery!

There is a goody bag for all those attending! Book by calling 020 7451 9944 or www.apollocinemas.com Doors open 7pm and the screening starts at 7.30. Tickets are £13.00 and £9.00 concs. – If you quote “SCI-FI-LONDON” you can qualify for a 10% discount on each ticket!!!

7.30pm, Tuesday 2nd February, Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street, London

Ian Rakoff Lecture on 20th Century Comic Strips at the V & A

Former writer of cult TV show The Prisoner and the primary source of The Rakoff collection at the V and A, Ian Rakoff is giving a free talk about 20th Century Comic Strips at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London on February 3rd 2010. Ian will be discussing the impact comic strips such as Little Orphan Annie had on popular culture and the shaping of the American identity over the last 120 years.

FREE, 1.15pm, February 3rd 2010, The Sackler Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
More info at www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events

Drawn Out and Painted Pink, an exhibition of cartoons by Kate Charlesworth & David Shenton

Throughout February 2010 The Drill Hall will be hosting and housing Drawn Out & Painted Pink, a cartoon exhibition by Kate Charlesworth and David Shenton documenting LGBT history from the 1970s to now.

“Like the best foreign correspondents (only funnier) their cartoons and comic strips have painted a devastatingly accurate self-portrait of LGBT life in the UK… They’ve got us bang to rights in the ways we were, the ways we are and the ways we could be. These are social documents of the highest order.”
Ellen Galford

The Drill Hall, Bloomsbury, West End, London WC1E 7EX

Continuing our month long look at ‘Masculinity in American comics’, Alex Fitch talks to Ian Rakoff, a volunteer lecturer in sequential art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, who is primarily responsible for the museum’s acquisition of nearly 20,000 comics in their library. In advance of Ian’s lecture on February 3rd* – ‘The Creation of the American identity through 20th Century comic strips’ – Alex and Ian talk about the latter’s lifetime interest in comics from being inspired by Captain Marvel as a child to buying rare 1930s comics as an adult off a stall in Cambridge Circus in the 1960s and issues such as the depiction of race and cultural stereotypes in comics and comic strips in the last century.

Triptych with scenes from the Apocalypse by Master Bertram, Germany circa 1380. Photo by Richard Comline, taken in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

More info at www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events
*FREE, 1.15pm, February 3rd 2010, The Sackler Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

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

Continuing our month looking at depictions of masculinity in American comics, Alex Fitch talks to veteran artist Howard Chaykin about his career from collaborating with masters of Science Fiction literature in the 1970s – such as Michael Moorcock and Fritz Leiber – to producing creator owned titles in the 80s and 90s such as American Flagg! and American Century and his most recent work drawing iconic Marvel characters such as Wolverine and Blade plus writing the origin of John McClane in Die Hard Year One.

Panel from American Flagg! by Howard Chaykin

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

Links: Interview with Howard Chaykin in The Independent about American Flagg!
Pages on Howard at Wikipedia and lambiek.net
Online gallery of Howard’s work at art4comics.com
Read the first ten pages of Die Hard Year One at comicbookresources.com

Recommended events

Comixmas exhibition

ComiXmas: When Worlds Collide is an exhibition of fantastic images from contemporary comic books and graphic novels, featuring work by the best contemporary comic book artists, along with images from past great masters of the genre. On display in the exhibition are prints reproduced at a strikingly larger scale by artists such as Osamu Tezuka, one of the fathers of Japanese manga and anime; Hergé, the Belgian creator of Tintin; Woodrow Phoenix, creator of the award winning Rumble Strip; Andrzej Klimowski, illustrator of The Master & Margarita; Reinhard Kleist, illustrator of Johnny Cash: I See A Darkness; From Hell creators Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, and many other artists. This free exhibition runs from 11 December 2009 to 6 February 2010 at the LondonPrintStudio Gallery, 425 Harrow Road, London.

Additionally, Paul Gravett will be hosting a free panel discussion How A Comic Is Made at the LondonPrintStudio on Thursday 21 January 2010, where you can discover the secrets behind writing and drawing comics, graphic novels and manga, revealed by creators featured in the ComiXmas Exhibition: Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal (Master and Margarita), Nana Li (Twelfth Night), Pat Mills (Nemesis, Slaine, Requiem) and Woodrow Phoenix (Rumble Strip). Followed by book signings and reception.

More info at www.londonprintstudio.org.uk

Tales of Diversity launch

The Eastside Educational Trust in Hackney has produced a sequential art anthology called ‘Tales of Diversity’ as part of their project ‘Graphic Truths’ as a way of engaging young people with comic book creation, to tell stories that are personal to them.
The anthology is being launched with an accompanying exhibtion at The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ on January 16th, with tutors and creators from Eastside Trust in attendance.

January 16th, 2010, The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

Click here to visit The Stroke Association website

More info here…

In the first of this month’s shows about the portrayal of masculinity in American comics, Alex Fitch talks to writer Fred Van Lente about penning the adventures of undead superheroes in Marvel Zombies, bringing to light the exciting adventures of Action Philosophers from Aristotle to Derrida and co-writing tales of the Incredible Hercules which depict the travails of the Classical demi-god on modern day Earth and beyond. The interview was recorded at Gosh! comics in Great Russell Street, London following a signing by the writer…

Alex Fitch and Fred Van Lente in Gosh! comics, London

Originally broadcast 07/01/10 as an episode of Strip! on Resonance 104.4 FM

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

Links: Fred’s website
Download The Silencers and Action Philosphers for your iPhone
Read an interview with Fred about the complete Action Philosophers collection

Recommended events

Special Exam screening with crew Q&A

The new British Sci-Fi thriller Exam is released in cinemas tomorrow and there’s a special screening on Sunday 10th of Jan at the Odeon Cinema, Panton Street, London with a Q & A by director Stuart Hazeldene, editor Mark Talbot Butler and composer Matthew Cracknel, hosted by producer Chris Jones (author of The Guerrilla Filmmakers Handbook).
For more info and to buy tickets, please vist Chris’ blog / read a review of the film at Sci-Fi London

Sunday January 10th, 2.15pm, Odeon Cinema, Panton Street, London

Suspiria at Shortwave

Sasquatch Cinema is a monthly film night held at the new Shortwave cinema in 10 Bermondsey Square, London, SE1 3UN (Tel: 0207 357 6845); nearest tube Borough (Northern line) / Tower Hill (DLR)…

We will be showing an eclectic range of films including cult classics and rarities you may not have seen before. Our next film is Suspiria (1977, 18 cert.) 94m, Director: Dario Argento

A brand new high definition transfer of Dario Argento’s horror classic Suspiria. Suspiria is Argento’s undisputed masterpiece of Grand Guignol horror, hitting new peaks of terror through its stunning photography (courtesy of Luciano Tovoli), eye-popping production design and terrifying atmosphere of dread and death.

Friday 15th January 11pm, Shortwave cinema, 10 Bermondsey Square, London, SE1 3UN

The cinema has a bar, and you can even bring your drinks in and watch the film!
The entry fee is £6.00. (£5 cons) Tickets can be bought in advance by phoning 0207 357 6845. Tickets will also be sold on the night on a first come – first served basis. Email: gabzucc [at] yahoo.com for more info.

Comixmas exhibition

ComiXmas: When Worlds Collide is an exhibition of fantastic images from contemporary comic books and graphic novels, featuring work by the best contemporary comic book artists, along with images from past great masters of the genre. On display in the exhibition are prints reproduced at a strikingly larger scale by artists such as Osamu Tezuka, one of the fathers of Japanese manga and anime; Hergé, the Belgian creator of Tintin; Woodrow Phoenix, creator of the award winning Rumble Strip; Andrzej Klimowski, illustrator of The Master & Margarita; Reinhard Kleist, illustrator of Johnny Cash: I See A Darkness; From Hell creators Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, and many other artists. This free exhibition runs from 11 December 2009 to 6 February 2010 at the LondonPrintStudio Gallery, 425 Harrow Road, London.

Additionally, Paul Gravett will be hosting a free panel discussion How A Comic Is Made at the LondonPrintStudio on Thursday 21 January 2010, where you can discover the secrets behind writing and drawing comics, graphic novels and manga, revealed by creators featured in the ComiXmas Exhibition: Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal (Master and Margarita), Nana Li (Twelfth Night), Pat Mills (Nemesis, Slaine, Requiem) and Woodrow Phoenix (Rumble Strip). Followed by book signings and reception.

More info at www.londonprintstudio.org.uk

Tales of Diversity launch

The Eastside Educational Trust in Hackney has produced a sequential art anthology called ‘Tales of Diversity’ as part of their project ‘Graphic Truths’ as a way of engaging young people with comic book creation, to tell stories that are personal to them.
The anthology is being launched with an accompanying exhibtion at The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ on January 16th, with tutors and creators from Eastside Trust in attendance.

January 16th, 2010, The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ

Click here to visit The Stroke Association website

More info here…