Safari Festival returns to London this weekend

By John Freeman on August 18, 2015

The Safari Festival, organised by Breakdown Press, is back this weekend, taking place at Studio 2, the Shoreditch gallery space of London-based creative agency, Protein.

The Festival is a one-day celebration of the new wave of alternative and art comics from the UK and beyond and is co-hosted by The Treasure Fleet (a Berlin-based collective of four independent comic publishers, Édition Biografiktion, My Own Press, Salmiak and Ulama) and kuš (an international comics anthology from Latvia). It’s an opportunity for a curated group of cartoonists and publishers to exhibit and sell their artwork, prints and, primarily, comics, and for attendees to experience the best of UK comics’ avant-garde.

The artists exhibiting have been selected for their innovative, fearless, diverse approaches to making comics; approaches to cartooning that Safari intends to champion.

This year’s exhibitors include: The Anti Ghost Studio (Babak Ganjei, Rob Flowers, Tim Stevens), Arts Emergency, Belly Kids, Breakdown Press (Shaky Kane, Joe Kessler, Antoine Cossé, Richard Short, Zoë Taylor), Brigid Deacon, Calm & Collected Studio, Comic Book Slumber Party (Becca Tobin, Wai Wai Pang), Comics Workbook (Will Tempest, Liam Cobb, Tom Kemp), Crumb Cabin, Decadence Comics (Lando, Stathis Tsemberlidis), DIY Space for London, Donya Todd, Eleni Kalorkoti, Emix Regulus, Esther McManus, Eyeball Comix, Famicon Express (Leon Sadler, Stefan Sadler, Jonathan Chandler), Faye Coral Johnson, Good Press, Grace Wilson, Grafik, Isaac Lenkiewicz, Jack Teagle, James Jarvis, Jazz Dad Books, Joseph P Kelly, Kus! (Marie Jacotey), Landfill Editions, Laura Callaghan, Marijpol, Matt Swan, Mike Redmond, Mothership, Nous Vous, One Beat Zines, Otto Press, Panda Gordo, Retrofit Comics, Simon Moreton, Sina Sparrow, Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, Takayo Aikyama, Treasure Fleet (Aisha Franz, Sharmila Banerjee), Will Sweeney.

The Safari pre-party will be held at Gosh! London on Friday 21st August from 7.00pm ’til 9.00pm (see news story).

• The Safari Festival, 11.00am to 6.00pm, 22nd August 2015, Protein, 31 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EY | Web: safarifestival.tumblr.com | Follow the Festival on Twitter @safarifestival | E-mail: info@safari-festival.com

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.