After last year’s successful season to mark its 20th anniversary, COMICA London Comics Festival returns for 2024 to The Century Club on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue, for three very special panel discussions this April and May.
This programme reflects the diversity of dynamism of British comics now and is organised in association with VIP Brands, with signing sessions supported again by Gosh Comics.
They Shoot Comics Don’t They: Three British Page-to-Screen Successes
7.00p Tuesday 16th April 2024 | Book your tickets here
With Luke Pearson, Posy Simmonds and Peter Hogan in conversation with Ivanka Hahnenberger of VIP Brands
With Luke Pearson, Posy Simmonds and Peter Hogan, in conversation with Ivanka Hahnenberger of VIP Brands
What really happens when graphic novels make the transition from page to screen? Ivanka Hahnenberger invites three British creatives to share their experiences of originating popular comics, which have gone on to become hit television series and films.
Luke Pearson’s first Hilda graphic novel, Hildafolk, was released in 2010 and reissued in 2013 as Hilda and the Troll. The award-winning series now comprises six books which have found a place in the hearts of readers all around the world. Between 2018 and 2023 the books were adapted into a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Netflix series directed by Andy Coyle, with Hilda voiced by Bella Ramsey. This November, Hilda will return in the first of a brand-new comic series for younger readers, Hilda and Twig: Hide from the Rain.
Since 2012 writer Peter Hogan and artist Steve Parkhouse have been collaborating on their down-to-earth science-fiction comic, Resident Alien US publisher Dark Horse. In 2021, the Syfy channel premiered a live-action television version, the third season concluding the on-screen story this April.
Posy Simmonds is a press cartoonist, long associated with The Guardian, a children’s book author and graphic novelist. Her first book for kids, Fred, was animated as Famous Fred and nominated for an Oscar. Her graphic novels Gemma Bovery and Tamara Drewe were adapted into movies, both starring Gemma Arterton, directed by Anne Fontaine and Stephen Frears.
All participants will be signing their books after the discussion.
Comica Presents “Tomorrow’s Voices Today – Diversity & Representation in UK Comics”
6.30pm, Saturday 27th April 2024
The Century Club, 61-63 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6LQ
• Order your tickets here
With Colleen Douglas, Shangomola Edunjobi, Shazleen Khan and Shanti Rai, in conversation with Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph
Bobby Joseph, writer, publisher and the first UK Comics Laureate of colour, invites four up-and-coming creators from the Black and Asian community to discuss their work and the challenges that people of diversity face in the industry. Follow Bobby Joseph on X @comics_laureate @skankmagazine | Instagram: @bobbyjosephcomics | BlueSky
Colleen Douglas is a comics writer and/or editor for Ahoy, Amigo, Caliber, Rosarium, Second Sight and others. She is Collection Editor on the history-making SHOOK! Vol. 2, a horror anthology by Black Women, and writer of the graphic novel Silk Cotton, due for release from Rosarium Publishing this August.
Shangomola Edunjobi won the Embassy of Japan, London’s Manga Jiman Competition in 2017 and the Silver Award in Japan’s International Manga Awards in 2018. He was Curator of Tone for The British Museum’s ‘Manga’ exhibition in 2019 and head illustrator for the Science Museum’s Technicians Gallery in 2023.
Shazleen Khan has been self-publishing comics since 2011, including their award-winning webcomic Buuza!!. Khan has also illustrated the graphic novel Saving Sunshine written by Saadia Faruqi (2023, First Second) and the forthcoming My First Monster, written by Cecil Castellucci.
Shanti Rai’s debut graphic novel was the acclaimed Sennen from Avery Hill Publishing. She is a Bengali/British illustrator and graphic novelist from London, creating comics and fantasy worlds since 1994.
All participants will be signing their books after the discussion.
Comica Presents: “Nothing Like The First Time: Making and Publishing Your Graphic Novel Debut”
7.00pm Friday 3rd May 2024
The Century Club, 61-63 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6LQ | Book your tickets here
With Carol Adlam, Denise Dorrance and Leo Fox, in conversation with Woodrow Phoenix
It seems lots of people in the UK have a graphic novel in them. As proof, no less than 185 people entered this year’s First Graphic Novel Award. So why are comics their medium of choice? How do you decide what subjects you share and what approach you take? And how do you grapple with realising your first book-length comic from idea to publication? Woodrow Phoenix, graphic novelist of Rumble Strip, She Lives, Donny Digits and others and also a tutor in comics, talks with three cartoonists about their experiences of creating their brilliant solo debuts.
Carol Adlam is a World Illustration Award winner with a PhD in Russian. The Russian Detective (Jonathan Cape) is her stunning reimagining of a nineteenth-century crime thriller from the world of Dostoevsky. Meet Charlie Fox, stunt journalist, magician, liar and thief, who returns to her hometown of Nowheregrad to investigate the murder of Elena Ruslanova, daughter of a fabulously wealthy glass manufacturer.
Denise Dorrance is an American-born illustrator based in London, whose satirical ‘It’s All About Mimi’ cartoons ran in The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine. In the recently-published Polar Vortex (New River), she tells her poignant, stirring graphic memoir – both heartbreaking and darkly funny – about traveling home to care for her ageing mother who is suffering from dementia.
Leo Fox is an artist and cartoonist from London, where he is studying at The Slade School of Fine Art and makes work about transness and magic. His graphic novels include My Body Unspooling (Silver Sprocket), due out in May, in which Lucille and his body are constantly at odds and it’s time to ask God for a divorce, and the tale of Lucille, who realises it’s time to leave behind both home and mother on Girl Island and begin the journey to Boy Island (Silver Sprocket, August 2024).
All participants will be signing their books after the discussion.
The Century opened to wide acclaim for the millennium as a unique members’ club in the heart of London’s theatreland. Today, it is a bastion of tranquillity and inspiration, the perfect place to work, rest, and play.
The Century Club is at 61-63 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6LQ | Web: centuryclub.co.uk
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: downthetubes News
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