As part of the UK Being Human festival of the humanities, Liverpool John Moores University Library Services are hosting a fun event in Liverpool Central Library from 11.00am to 3.00pm on Saturday 21st November.
LJMU students are running a number of different activities using the University’s Femorabilia collection of girls’ comics and magazines for inspiration and will be on the top floor of the Library and visitors can drop in at any time.
A 1979 issue of Jinty
Library Services will take a selection of girls comics to display, and hope that people will be able to share their memories of reading titles like Bunty, Judy and Jackie. Drama students will appear in character to tell stories like “The Four Marys”.
The team behind Mouse to Minx, who sell official Bunty-inspired merchandise, will be on hand for the day.
Also at the event is academic and girls comics expert Dr. Mel Gibson of Northumbria University, a specialist in picture books, the study of childhood, comics and girl’s story papers. She’ll be on hand to tell people more about the history of girls’ comics and their readers.
Visitors will be able to dress up and have their photographs taken, write and draw their own stories, and find out about the value of any comics they still have.
No booking is required for this free event, just get along and join in. It is suitable for all ages and there will be activities for children.
The University’s Femorabilia Collection is a response to concerns about preserving the ephemera of popular fiction. Its origins lie in a relationship with the scholarly interests of the Association for Research in Popular Fictions, which held many of its conferences and study days at Liverpool John Moores University between 1996 and 2008.
The core of the collection was acquired by Dr Mel Gibson and was used as a teaching collection by students on the Media and Cultural Studies programme for seminar work on popular culture and narrative media.
Jackie Magazine
Additions such as the war time publication of Picturegoer have contributed to other research informed teaching on the programme.
The collection, now housed in Special Collections & Archives at Liverpool John Moores University actively seeks examples of women’s and girls’ magazines to expand the range and scope of material available to students, staff and external researchers.
ARPF believes that such a collection should be available to allow researchers and students to challenge historical accounts of magazines which carried serial fiction. Access to such primary sources will also allow them to understand, apply and develop concepts and ideas such as the “reading career” of women readers who, during the twentieth century, made their way through age stratified fiction from adventure to romance.
• Information about Liverpool Central Library and directions to William Brown Street are available here
• For more information about the Femorabilia collection, contact LJMU Library Services
• Follow the event via the Femorabilia collection official Twitter @FemorabiliaLJMU
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.
Categories: British Comics, Comics Studies, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
Related Articles
-
Cambridge University hosts major academic Comic Conference, “Better Living Through Comics”, next month
-
Creating Comics: Online The Guardian Masterclass with Kieron Gillen takes place next month
-
Learning with Comics and World War One stories
-
Upcoming online Falklands War Conference includes panel on Argentinian and British Comics with Paul Gravett, Calum Laird