COMICA NEWS

Comica ‘09: Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption

Posted: September 5, 2009

A selection of the world’s most compelling graphic novelists and comic artists are to collaborate with experimental youth initiative Ctrl.Alt.Shift, to create a limited edition comic book Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption which aims to highlight corruption as both the cause of poverty and a barrier to overcoming it.

Comprising original work from leading comic artists, satirists and creative figures from around the world including USA, South Africa, India, Sweden, Serbia and the UK, Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption will engage and challenge the issues of social injustice in a bid to politicise a new generation of activists through the medium of popular comic culture.

VV Brown, Dan Goldman, Aleksandar Zograf, Bryan Talbot, Pat Mills, Asia Alfasi and Dylan Horrocks are a few of the high profile individuals who will create original bespoke comic strips inspired by stories of corruption. The finished comic will be 96 pages long and made up of more than 20 unique illustrated tales. Edited by Paul Gravett (Comica Director), John Dunning and Emma Pettit, Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption will be available to buy for £4.99 online at Ctrl.Alt.Shift and all good comic retailers from November. Profits from the comic book will go to Ctrl.Alt.Shift.

Contributing artists to Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption include:
Adele Austin & Woodrow Phoenix (UK)
Aleksandar Zograf (Serbia)
Asia Alfasi (Libya / UK)
Ben Dickson & Warren Pleece (UK)
Bryan Talbot (UK)
Cole Johnson (USA)
Dan Goldman (USA)
Daniel Merlin Goodbrey (UK) - online comic only
Dave McKean (UK)
Dylan Horrocks (New Zealand)
Elettra Stamboulis & Gianluca Costantini (Italy)
Ferry Gouw (UK)
Floodworks (Ethan Ede / Adam Rosenlund) (USA)
Fredrik Stromberg & Jan Bielecki (Sweden)
Jason Masters (South Africa)
Josue Menjivar (El Salvador / Canada)
Laura Oldfield Ford (UK) - cover
Lee O’Connor & Pat Mills (UK)
Lightspeed Champion & Luke Pearson (UK)
Patrick Dean (USA)
Paul O’Connell & Marcus Bleasdale (UK)
Sean Michael Wilson & Michiru Morikawa (Japan / UK)
Vishwajyoti Ghosh (India)
VV Brown, David Allain & Emma Price (UK)

Look out for sneak previews of these comics plus commentaries and interviews with these and further contributors in the run-up to publication.

An exhibition of Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption will be held at the Lazarides Gallery in Soho, London, from 6 to 30 November. The exhibition will take a retrospective look at how comics have been employed throughout history to debate and highlight political issues and will include content from previously unseen archives as well as highlights from the Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption comic.

The exhibition will also feature a collaborative piece of work by acclaimed musician and writer Dev Hynes aka Lightspeed Champion and the winner of the Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption Competition. Shortlisted entrants will be given Lightspeed Champion’s comic script as inspiration and asked to create a visual adaptation of the story to be included in the exhibition and the comic book.