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Comica Festival
WELCOME
I hope you will join me and enjoy exploring the worlds of comics, graphic novels and manga at the annual Comica Festival and other special Comica events held throughout the year.Paul Gravett, Comica Director
COMICA NEWS
Comica & Laydeez Do Comics Present: Trina Robbins
Posted: August 31, 2010
For the first time, Comica Festival and Laydeez Do Comics are thrilled to be teaming up to invite to London the important comic artist and writer, from the seminal underground comix of the Seventies to such icons as Wonder Woman, Barbie, Powerpuff Girls and her own GoGirl!, lecturer, curator and America’s foremost comics ‘herstorian’, Trina Robbins. She is coming over to present a paper at the academic conference Motherhoods, Markets and Consumption at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford on Monday 13 September and has kindly agreed to visit London for this special extra event on Tuesday 21 September.
Ms. Robbins will present a lively and provocative illustrated lecture entitled: HERE ARE THE GREAT WOMEN COMIC ARTISTS, in which she introduces a whole slew of brilliant and talented women cartoonists from the early 20th century who are not included in histories and major exhibits by men, and explains why. Among others, she will be speaking about Nell Brinkley, the proto-feminist whose sumptuous portrayals of women inspired Mae West’s screen persona, as collected in the acclaimed deluxe edition from Fantagraphics, The Brinkley Girls. Her earlier biography of Brinkley was reviewed by Comica Festival director Paul Gravett here. She has also just written the introduction to Fantagraphics’ first edition of Moto Hagio’s historic shojo or girls’ manga entitled A Drunken Dream & Other Stories.
Doors open at 6.30pm and Trina Robbins will be speaking from 7pm. Following this, there will be an informal discussion and Q&A session and conclude by 9.30pm after a book signing and refreshments. The evening will be held at the regular venue for Laydeez Do Comics, The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London E1 5LJ. For directions: Nearest Tube: Aldgate East. Follow the exit which directs you to the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Turn LEFT out of the tube into Whitechapel High Street. Take the first left into Osborne Street and carry straight on into Brick Lane. Take the fourth turning on the right into Heneage Street and The Rag Factory is a little way up, on the right.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear and meet a pre-eminent figure in contemporary American comic books, graphic novels and comics studies. To help cover costs, there will be a modest charge of £5 for a ticket, which you can pay on the door on the night. As we expect a lot of interest and places are limited, you can reserve your tickets by emailing Nicola Streeten at : .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Sarah Lightman and Nicola Streeten from Laydeez Do Comics and Paul Gravett from Comica Festival look forward to welcoming you on Tuesday 21 September for a truly memorable evening.
Comica 2010 Festival opens with Free Exhibition, Symposium & Comiket
Posted: August 29, 2010
Here’s the first news about this year’s exciting edition of Comica, the London International Comics Festival, back for its 7th annual season. A major new element will be a three-month exhibition curated by Comica director Paul Gravett entitled ‘That’s Novel : Graphic Novels Now’ which will celebrate current innovations in the comics medium in Britain and internationally, both on and off the page. This evolving show will be held at The London Print Studio Gallery and tap into their amazing printing facilities, from etching and lithography to silkscreening and the latest digital methods, to offer invited artists the chance to work on special new works and in media they may never have tried before. Admission to the exhibition will be free and a variety of talks, panels, workshops, masterclasses and more will also be taking place at the Gallery.
To kick off Comica 2010, the festival is collaborating with The School of Arts at Birkbeck, University of London, in association with the British journals Studies in Comics, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and European Comic Art, to hold a one-day Comica Symposium on Friday 5 November in a 180-seater conference room shown below. Entitled ‘Transitions’, this will promote multi-disciplinary research of comics and graphic novels, manga, bande dessinée, webcomics and other forms of sequential art.
Rather than being restricted by a specific theme, the aim of the symposium is to highlight research from postgraduate research students and early career lecturers bringing together different perspectives and methodologies, whether cultural, historical, or formal, thereby mapping new trends and providing a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge. Dr. Roger Sabin, Reader in Popular Culture at Central St. Martins and author of Adult Comics and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, will introduce the event and respond to the panel papers. Following the papers and response, there will be a roundtable discussion from artists/scholars who will reflect on the links between the two practices. Work will be on display throughout the event. Organised with Tony Venezia, the day will conclude with a wine reception. Details of how to register and participate will follow soon. And best of all, the whole event is free!
And Sunday 7 November brings the next Comica Comiket Independent Comics Fair, teaming up with the popular, long-running National Collectors Marketplace at the Royal National Hotel, Russell Square, and taking over the (Warren) Ellis Room from 12-5pm. A limited number of exhibitor tables will be available at affordable prices and there will be several special events and surprise guests throughout the afternoon. The public are admitted free. Booking arrangements for tables will be announced shortly, along with much more of the Comica 2010 Festival programme. Meanwhile, put these dates in your diary now and tell all your friends!
Hypercomics: Next Event, Online Artists’ Talks, Reviews & Interactive Microsite!
Posted: August 24, 2010
Last Sunday’s Comica Comiket at the Hypercomics exhibition at the Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park was a wonderful occasion, bringing together self-publishers and independent presses and connecting them to the public. Highlights included two artists’ talks now posted onto YouTube, one by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey (Part 1 & Part 2), the other by Dave McKean (Part 1 & Part 2), and the first demonstration of the iPad applications developed by Redrawn from the works by Dant, Goodbrey, McKean & Pleece. The Hypercomics programme of events continues this Thursday 26 August with a screening of Richard Linklater’s innovative adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s ‘A Scanner Darkly’. Hypercomics exhibition officer Nick Kaplony will be introducing this at 6.30pm at Clapham Picture House.
A bit further ahead, on 15 September, as part of the SW11 Literary Festival, Hypercomics Curator Paul Gravett explains how comics are broadening their content and appeal and developing into 21st century graphic literature, both on the printed page and in digital media, in an illustrated lecture entitled More Than Words Can Say: The Future is Graphic. Tickets cost £4 and the exhibition is opening specially in the evening from 6.30pm, with the talk starting at 7pm.
Hypercomics has been previewed and reviewed in several reports viewable online including Design Week, Creative Review, Dazed Digital and Mindless Ones. Also now up on the web is a brand-new microsite www.hypercomics.info which offers you the chance to contribute to expanding aspects of the Hypercomics exhibition online. Adam Dant invites you to illustrate the front cover or interior illustrations to one of his strange corpo-geographical books. Daniel Merlin Goodbrey asks you to step inside his Archivist’s dream and imagine what he sees waiting for him from the top of a tower of filing cabinets. Can you visualise the headspace of one of Dave McKean‘s characters and are they Victim, Witness or Perpetrator? Or how about your own character expressing themselves with a speech bubble containing an image instead of words, the way Marvo the Magic Bunny does in Warren Pleece‘s Montague Terrace? Send in your pictures by emailing them to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and you too can be part of Hypercomics!
Comica Comiket: List of Exhibitors This Sunday!
Posted: August 17, 2010
Thanks for the fantastic support! Even with an extra-large marquee, the stall space for the first Summer Comica Comiket Independent Comics Fair has been snapped up rapidly. Don’t miss this amazing gathering this coming 22 August Sunday from 12-6pm at the Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park. Admission is free and you can combine it with a visit to the dazzling four-floor Hypercomics exhibition, and partake of a programme of artists’ gallery talks by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey and Dave McKean, signings, workshops all afternoon with the lovely folks from We Are Words + Pictures, and a scrumptious BBQ. The fancy giant tent on the Pump House Piaza will be brimming with small pressers, self-publishers, graphic novel publishers, artist collectives, webtoonists and others, including our brilliant sponsors Gosh! Comics. Here’s an A to Z listing of all the exhibitors taking part with their links so you can check out what they do and then buy direct, post-free and maybe get a personalised signed copy. Any exhibitor missing or who wants to add their website link, please send in your details. Make a day of it and also visit the Summer Funfair. See you there for a wonderful Summer Sunday in the Park!
Hypercomics Workshop and Movie Screening!
Posted: August 15, 2010
The Pump House Gallery in London’s idyllic Battersea Park is devoting its four floors to the exhibition curated by Paul Gravett entitled Hypercomics: The Shapes of Comics to Come until 26 September and there’s a whole programme of related activities coming up, both there and in other local venues.
First up on Monday 16 August is the free afternoon workshop Crash! Whamm! Ouch! Pow! for 17-25 year olds. Take inspiration from the famous Batman and Robin ‘POW!’ and create your own 3D sculpture of the comic strip. Led by artist Martin Russell, this process-based workshop will drive its participants to interpret and explore the specific language of comic books. This will involve exploring motifs, colours and text typically used in comics, and plaster-casting your own hand to create your own unique art-work. This workshop is run in collaboration with Futureversity. To book visit the Futureversity website.
Then on Tuesday 17 August at 6.30pm Paul Gravett will be introducing the first Hypercomics screening at Clapham Picture House of the animated movie Persepolis, adapted and co-directed by Iranian-born artist Marjane Satrapi and based on her remarkable graphic memoir. An expressionistic animation stunningly drawn in black and white, Persepolis (2007) is a touching coming-of-age story about an intelligent, outspoken girl growing up during the Iranian revolution. Dedicated to the people of Iran, Persepolis is a moving, universally appealing story of one woman’s struggle against oppression that deservedly shared the jury prize at Cannes in 2007. Co-directors: Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud. For details and booking visit the Clapham Picture House website.
Competition: Win A Pair of Tickets to Scott Pilgrim Preview in Birmingham!
Posted: August 11, 2010
Win a pair of tickets to a preview screening of Grolsch & LWLies Presents Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on August 19, one of the most highly anticipated films of the year from Britain’s brightest young director, Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) at the Electric Cinema, Birmingham at 7.30pm. Simply send in your name and email address here by 12noon Monday August 16 and the first name picked out from these entries will win the tickets. The film will screen simultaneously in all the film club partner cinemas around the UK - six days before it goes on general release at the Clapham Picturehouse in London. Grolsch has teamed up with award-winning film magazine Little White Lies to launch a brand new, free-to-attend ongoing nationwide film club, Grolsch & LWLies Presents, which will be coming to eight venues across the UK from this summer. The partnership is about celebrating taste, artistry, craftsmanship and originality in the best new movies.
Terms and Conditions: Only open to UK residents aged 18 years or over. Excluding employees of Electric Cinema, Birmingham or of Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Ltd., their families, agents and agencies and anyone else professionally connected with this promotion. The Prizes: a pair of free tickets to the entrant’s specified screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. No cash or other alternative in part or full will be offered in lieu of the specified prizes. Tickets are not transferable. By entering participants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by the rules. All entry instructions form part of these Terms and Conditions. The promoter reserves the right to amend, alter or terminate this promotion at any time due to circumstances beyond its control. The promoter’s decision is binding in all matters. It is not the intention of the promoter to use this promotion in any way to encourage excessive consumption of alcohol. These rules are governed by English & Scottish law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English & Scottish Courts. Promoter: Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Limited, 137 High Street, Burton-on-Trent, DE14 1JZ.
Comica Argentina: Now Showing in Santander, Spain
Posted: July 24, 2010
The Comica Argentina exhibition, curated by Paul Gravett and Sylvia Libedinsky, is now on untill 31 July at the Del Sol St. Art Gallery in Santander, Spain, the first time a comic art has been shown there in a private art gallery. There are some classy shots of the show on the Del Sol St. web site (just click through ‘English’ and ‘current exhibitions’) and here’s some local media coverage (in Spanish).
Comica Comiket: Bigger Marquee, More Tables!
Posted: July 23, 2010
With space filling up fast for the first Summer Comica Comiket, The Pump House Gallery has expanded the marquee size to 30 feet x 60 feet to make extra tables available for independent comics publishers to offer their wares. Don’t delay booking your selling stand for as little as £12 for one third of a six-foot table, by using the downloadable application form at the end of the news story below. Looking forward to seeing lots of you at Comica Comiket - it’s going to be ‘in-tents’ (sorry!).
Comica Comiket: Independent Comics Summer Fair
Posted: July 17, 2010
Independent publishers, small presses, zinesters and self-publishers are gathering under a marquee for the first ever summertime Comica Comiket Fair in Battersea Park, London as part of the Hypercomics Exhibition at the Pump House Gallery and kindly sponsored by the wonderful Gosh! Comics.
Come and discover the dazzling range of comics big and small on offer and meet the artists and creatives behind them. Exhibitors should include graphic novel outfits Blank Slate and Accent UK, innovative groups Nobrow, Solipsistic Pop & Aben Maler, zine collective Alternative Press, Phonogram team Kieron Gillen & James McElvie, and solo creators like Paul Rainey and Timothy Winchester.
And you could be showing off your wares there too, as the last few selling tables get snapped up: just download an application form and we’ll do our best to get you your share of space. Throughout the day there will also be live events, workshops, Hypercomics artist tours, with admission and all events totally free. And to top it off, a scrumptious barbecue too! Come rain or shine, it’s going to be an unmissable Hypercomics time!
Where: PumpHouse Gallery, Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ
When: Sunday, August 22, 2010 - 12pm to 6pm
Stall Booking: Download an application form - deadline 1 August 2010.
Hypercomics: The Shapes Of Comics To Come
Posted: July 5, 2010
The Pump House, Battersea Park, London
This summer, from August 12th to September 26th, exhibiting on each of the four floors of the recently refurbished Pump House Gallery in London’s Battersea Park, Adam Dant, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, Dave McKean and Warren Pleece will explode the narratives in their work from the printed page into the gallery space and beyond.
Curated by leading comics expert Paul Gravett, the Hypercomics exhibition responds to the function, history and architecture of the Pump House Gallery, using the building’s unusual architecture to weave a story whose outcome depends upon how visitors interact and move through the space. This episodic experience of navigating through the structure of the gallery, takes on the principle of expanding the narrative potential of the comic in relation to its environment, and applying it in a real (as well as virtual) setting.
Dave McKean: Gold Egg Head
‘A hypercomic can be thought of as a webcomic with a multi-cursal narrative structure. In a hypercomic the choices made by the reader may influence the sequence of events, the outcome of events or the point of view through which events are seen… it’s that element of reader choice and interaction that makes a hypercomic a hypercomic.’
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey: The Archivist
Artist Adam Dant depicts a narrative autopsy of the city as he charts the passage of Doctor London through the digestive tract (and other organs) of the capital, in an all-encompassing trompe l’oeil wall drawing. Daniel Merlin Goodbrey creates an alternate history for the gallery as an archive for infamous glam-rock dictator Hieronymus Pop and charts a day in the life of its lone archivist. Visitors to the gallery will inhabit the characters of Dave McKean‘s story of childhood betrayal, watching events unfold from the perspectives of the protagonists. Interacting with Warren Pleece‘s animated installation, the audience will be able to pry into the lives of the dysfunctional tenants he has created for his work set in the apartment block Montague Terrace.
Warren Pleece: Montague Terrace
Accompanying this exhibition will be a programme of screenings, talks, workshops and events, including a special Summer Comica Comiket: Independent Comics Fayre, sponsored by Gosh! Comics and housed inside a marquee near the Pump House Gallery, on Sunday August 22nd. Publishers interested in attending should contact Nick Kaplony: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Further details of this and other Hypercomics events will follow shortly.
