Steve Bell in Liverpool

By John Freeman on May 8, 2009

Steve Bell, probably Britain’s most recognisable political cartoonist, joins Writing on the Wall festival in Liverpool next week, to explore this year’s theme: The Outsider.

Steve’s original strip Maggie’s Farm appeared in Time Out and City Limits magazines from 1979 through to 1987. Since 1981. he’s written and drawn the If… strip in The Guardian, for whom he has produced cartoons with high penguin content ever since the Falklands crisis of 1982.

It was Bell who created the memorable ‘underpants’ image of John Major, of Tony Blair with Margaret Thatcher’s rogue eyeball, and depicted George W Bush as a malevolent chimp. Mixing surreal visuals with hilarious dialogue, Bell’s cartoons have won him wide acclaim and a host of awards.

• Steve Bell: The Outsider is at 7.30pm on Friday 15th May at The Rodewald Suite, Philharmonic Hall, Hope Street, L1 9BP. Tickets £8.00/£5.00 available form the Philharmonic Hall Box office Tel: 0151 709 378. for on line booking visit www.liverpoolphil.com

(With thanks to Chris Williams for spotting this)

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.