Lyndon White, creator of the amazing graphic novels Candles and Antarctic, has created a new comic After the Fire, created specifically for Barrow Library that explores the history of the Cumbrian town.
The project is part of Our Freedom: Then and Now, part of a £2 million national creative programme marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two. Supported by UK Government through Arts Council England, the initiative will see 60 arts centres and libraries across the UK present community-led projects exploring the legacy of VE Day and VJ Day.
In total, the national programme will feature 80 creative commissions: 60 community-led works as part of the Our Freedom: Then and Now campaign and 20 additional museum-based projects. Together, these 80 projects mark 80 years since the end of World War Two in their local communities.
After the Fire is a coming of age story set during a time of war, which takes place during the Barrow Blitz. Two siblings, Ted and Muriel, are separated as Ted stays to work in the Docks and Muriel leaves every night to take safety in Sowerby Woods.
Barrow-in-Furness was one of the most successful shipbuilding centres in Europe, the main reason it became a target for attack during the war. The Barrow Blitz is the name given to the Luftwaffe bombings of the town, which took place primarily during April and May 1941, although the earliest Luftwaffe bombing occurred in September 1940. The Vickers shipyard and engineering works were the main target for bombing, alongside Barrow’s steelworks, which were formerly the largest in the world.
Lyndon White is an international selling artist, writer, letterer and designer. Combining monsters and magic, his work, much of it brought to his myriad fans through a large number of Kickstarter campaigns, is highly acclaimed and described as “beautifully haunting”, especially his best-sellers Antarctica, Candles, Sparks and the Fallen Star and the Reanimator Incorporated series.
His work has been published by Image Comics, Top Cow Productions, Titan Comics and Blue Fox Comics and he also shares his experiences teaching Sequential Arts at Salford University. A sought-after collaborator, Lyndon’s design talents are diverse, working among clients such as: Twitch, Savvy Games, Historic Royal Palaces and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival.
The After the Fire comic will be launched as part of an event, Our Freedom: Then and Now Exhibition and Comic Book Launch at Barrow Library, which is located at the heart of an area that was bombed during air raids in the Barrow Blitz, on Saturday 8th November.
The exhibition will include a heritage display developed in partnership with Cumbria Archives and Barrow Archive Centre and their volunteers, showing archive material including photographs, diaries, letters and drawings that depict Barrow during World War Two and VE and VJ Day.
This free and interactive event will showcase Lyndon’s comic and will include a live draw-along jam and poetry performance. There will also be a display of young people’s artworks and blackout poems that have been created during creative engagement workshops.
Those attending will see Barrow Library transformed into a space of shared memory and imagination, where stories of freedom, past and present, come to life.
“I’m looking forward to sharing more over the next couple of weeks as we explore the history of Barrow-in-Furness,” says Lyndon.
• Our Freedom: Then and Now Exhibition and Comic Book Launch 1.00 – 4.00pm Saturday 8th November 2025, Barrow Library, Ramsden Square, Barrow-in-Furness LA14 1LL
• Lyndon White is online at lyndonwhite.com | Facebook | Instagram | X
• Find out more about Our Freedom: Then and Now
• Signal Media: Barrow Blitz Timeline
• Barrow Dock Museum : Barrow Blitz
• Cumbria Archive Service: Cumbria At War – 1939-1945 (PDF)
• Barrow In Furness ‘Blitz’ 1941: by BBC Cumbria Volunteer Story Gatherers
• The Barrow Blitz by Bryn Trescatheric
This book provides a fascinating history of Barrow-in-Furness during World War Two, and is illustrated throughout with several black and white photographs….
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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.
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