Kendal Church celebrates the power of comics during Festival

By John Freeman on October 13, 2013

Just like many European festivals, the Lakes International Comic Art Festival is doing its best not just to attract comic fans to Kendal next weekend (18th – 20th October), but also to involve the local community in the event. So far, along with longer-running exhibitions of comic art, this has also included shops featuring comic art in their window displays and the town’s knitting community preparing some ‘guerilla knitting’ antics to brighten up the streets with comic-inspired woollen promotions.

Now, a local church has announced it is to join in the inaugural event with a special Sunday Service on Sunday October 20th at Kendal Unitarian Chapel that will celebrate the power of comics during first

Join cartoonist John Pickering, working with writer Mike Oram, as he opens his cosmic comic to look at the power of humour and that the pen is always mightier than the sword.

Whether it’s The Gospel According to Peanuts or The Zen of Ben, cartoons have been, and are, affirmations of human creative freedom that have crossed faith and cultural boundaries. John will be joining the dots and drawing some lines of thought to the Far Side of spirituality and the omnipresent Cartooniverse that surrounds us.

The Chapel says all are most welcome to join in this unique exploration into creative space! If you have a comic, cartoon or annual that you like, do take it along – if not, just bring yourself.

• For the full Festival programme visit www.comicartfestival.com

• Check out John and Mike’s comic Ben’s World at www.bens-world.co.uk

• Mike has a site for his UFO experiences at www.inotherdimensions.com and his songs can be heard at: www.reverbnation.com/mikeoram

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.