Panel Borders: The Death of the Artist

By John Freeman on May 7, 2015

Karrie Fransman. Montage created by Karrie Fransman

Starting a month of shows about comics and graphic novels which occupy the middle ground between ‘mainstream’ titles and independent publishing on Britain’s only regularly broadcast comics radio show, guest presenter Tim Pilcher talks to artist Karrie Fransman today, about her latest graphic novel, the excellent Death of the Artist published back in March by Jonathan Cape, which depicts a fateful weekend where five university friends’ hedonistic party leads to tragedy.

Tim and Karrie also discuss her first graphic novel The House that Groaned, her comic for the Red Cross – ‘Over Under Sideways Down’ – and the nature of the collaborators involved in her most recent work.

The interview was recorded at the Graphic Brighton festival earlier this month.

Death of the Artist – Promo Video from Jarbrain on Vimeo.

Karrie is a graphic novelist and comic creator. Her comics strips and graphic stories have been published in The Guardian, The Times, Time Out, The Telegraph, The New Statesman, The Young Vic, Psychologies Magazine, The Arts Council Create Magazine and for The British Red Cross. Her graphic novel, The House That Groaned, was published by Penguin Random House’s Square Peg. It received praise from film director Nicolas Roeg and was chosen as Graphic Novel of the Month in The Observer. She developed an award winning comic, ‘Over, Under, Sideways, Down’ about an Iranian teenage refugee, for The British Red Cross. Her new graphic novel Death of the Artist will be published by Jonathan Cape and has been awarded a grant from the Arts Council England.

She has spoken and run workshops for The Guardian Masterclasses, TEDx, Central Saint Martins, The Hay Festival, The British Council, The Big Draw, House of Illustration, Institut Francais, London College of Communications, ARVON, The Free Word Centre, Scottish PEN, Latitude Festival, The Institute of Contemporary Arts and The British Library, and presented her work in Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Russia, Bangladesh, Croatia, Corsica, Finland, Lebanon and France.

• Panel Borders: The Death of the Artist airs at 11.00am Thursday 7th May, repeated 7.00am Saturday 9th May 2015, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

<br /> • Karrie Fransman – Official Site: www.karriefransman.com | You can also follow her on Twitter @KarrieFransman or on Facebook

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.