Comics Day
Sunday 22 June 2008
LOCATION - New Teaching Block, Hawkhill, University of Dundee
COST - £10 for the full day or £5 per half day
Entertaining and informative talks on the world of comics for all ages
1.00pmDr Christopher Murray, Welcome
Chris Murray graduated from Dundee University in 2004 with a PhD in English Literature. His thesis was on the relationship between superhero comics and propaganda within the context of critical and cultural theory. He is also published on the comics of Grant Morrison, DC Thomson, and small press comics. He sits on the Committee of the Scottish Word and Image Group (SWIG) and teaches English and Film Studies at Dundee University. He has also lectured on comics at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and has presented papers at several international
conferences.
1.20pmRoger Sabin, How Comics Work
Roger Sabin is a cultural critic, and Senior Lecturer at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, London. He is the author of several books, including Adult Comics: An Introduction (Routledge) and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels (Phaidon). He reviews graphic novels for the national press. His talk will examine how comics work as an artform and how readers interact with the comics page.
2.00pm
Jim Glen, An Illustrated Talk by one of the artists of The Beano and The Dandy
Having worked for D.C. Thomson for forty years Jim Glen has drawn the most popular and beloved DCT characters, including Dennis the Menace, Biffo the Bear, Lord Snooty and a host of others. His illustrated talk is designed to be an accessible and entertaining insight into the style of D.C. Thomson’s comics.
2.30pmlLYA, Manga, Manhua and Comics - a look at what’s happening and where we’re going next
ILYA is a professional comic book creator (writer and artist). Since 1987 his work has appeared internationally, published by Marvel, DC and Dark Horse in the USA, Kodansha in Japan and by numerous independent companies worldwide. In 2005 he created The Manga Drawing Kit for Thunder Bay Press. Other bookwork includes: Countdown and Time Warp, two collections of his award-winning graphic novel series The End of the Century Club; A Bowl of Rice, for Amnesty International; It’s Dark in London, a noir anthology from Serpent’s Tail; and Skidmarks, a charming kitchen-sink drama series. ILYA also designs and tutors workshops and courses on the art of comics and manga for
colleges, galleries, libraries, schools and prisons, across the UK
as well as abroad.
3.00pm
Break/Book Signing
3.45pmMetaphrog, The making of the Louis graphic novels
Glasgow based graphic novelists metaphrog (Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers) have been working together for over a decade. Creators of the critically acclaimed Louis series, they have received several prestigious Eisner and Ignatz award nominations, support from the Scottish Arts Council, and have collaborated with celebrated musicians hey and múm and the renowned FatCat record label. They are currently working on a new book, Louis - Night
Salad.Metaphrog will be be talking about the creative process
and their collaborative work on the Louis graphic novels
and animation.
Graphic novelists metaphrog (Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers) have been working together for over a decade. Creators of the critically acclaimed Louis series, they have received several prestigious Eisner and Ignatz award nominations, support from the Scottish Arts Council, and have collaborated with celebrated musicians hey and múm and the renowned FatCat record label. They are currently working on a new book, Louis - Night Salad.
4.15pmPaul Gravett, Every Shade of Noir: The cream of crime comics
Acknowledged by The Times as "the greatest living historian of the comics and graphic novel form in this country", Paul Gravett is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster about international comics and director of the Comica festival at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. In 2008, he curated “Manhua! China Comics Now”, the first exhibition of contemporary Chinese comics in the UK, part of the China Now festival. His latest books with Peter Stanbury are The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics (Robinson) and the forthcoming Incredibly Strange Comics (Aurum). www.paulgravett.com.
Paul’s talk will focus on the lurid, uncensored "true" crime comics
that first ignited the post-War media panic, public burnings and
Senate hearings about America's multi-million-dollar comic book
industry. Paul Gravett traces the genre's graphic roots and
renaissance, from the original newspaper strips written by Dashiell
Hammett and Mickey Spillane to Frank Miller, Alan Moore and other
Modern graphic novel geniuses.
4.45pm
Break/Book Signing
5.30pmMain speaker - Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot has produced underground and alternative comics, notably Brainstorm!, and UK and American science fiction and superhero stories such as Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, Teknophage, The Nazz and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. He¹s worked on DC Vertigo titles including Hellblazer, Sandman, The Dreaming and Fables and has written and drawn the graphic novels for which he is best known: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Heart of Empire, The Tale of One Bad Rat and Alice in Sunderland. Last year his first prose book, The Naked Artist, was published by Moonstone and a collection of his book and magazine illustrations, The Art
of Bryan Talbot, by NBM. His latest graphic novel is Cherubs!,
a supernatural comedy-adventure, drawn by Mark Stafford and
published this March by Desperado.
6.15pm
Roundtable discussion/Questiontime
7.00pm
End
