This month, Europe Comics will be travelling to London with various events scheduled all across the capital featuring a host of comic creators, including Pat Mills, Chris Riddell, Sarah McIntyre, Mike Medaglia and Posy Simmonds.
Working in association with Comica London, they’ll be participating in the London Book Fair (Graphic Novel Bar, 2B15) as well as London Book & Screen Week, and they’ll also have some very exciting events running in association with Institut Français du Royaume-Uni and House of Illustration.
Here are the event details…
Florence Cestac
Comix Creatrix: Posy Simmonds meets Florence Cestac
7.00pm Tuesday 12th April at House of Illustration
Two leading lights of graphic novels from Britain and France reflect on their contrasting careers in comics from the 70s to today. An award-winning cartoonist and pioneering publisher of bandes dessinées, Florence Cestac is the only woman to win the Angoulême Festival’s Grand Prix in over forty years.
Posy Simmonds
A past Grand Prix nominee herself, Posy Simmonds is much loved for her Guardian strips, notably Gemma Bovery and Tamara Drewe, both adapted into films.
• Tickets include entry to Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics exhibition, and are available here
• EuroVisions: Comics Cordiale panel hosted by Paul Gravett
7.00pm Wednesday 13th April at Insitut Français
Panel speakers: Florence Cestac, Pat Mills, Sylvain Runberg, Marcial Toledano and Vanna Vinci
Comics, strips, bandes dessinées, tebeos and fumetti – they are all part of the truly international, transnational medium of graphic narratives. But what makes these European traditions, markets and creative scenes so diverse and distinctive? Five leading contemporary writers and artists from Belgium, Britain, France, Italy and Spain air their differences in a lively discussion about today’s comics cultures of Europe hosted by Paul Gravett.
Leah Moore
• How is Digital Transforming the Comics Medium and Market? A panel hosted by Paul Gravett
4.00pm Wednesday 13th April at the LBF Interactive Theatre
Accelerating technology is radically changing how comics are read, sold and made. What is happening now that the medium is no longer confined by the printed page and is unleashed on the ‘infinite canvas’ of the Internet? A talk with Leah Moore (Electricomics), Russell Willis (Sequential) and Nicolas Lebedel (Izneo).
Pat Mills
• The Graphic Galaxy: Pat Mills and Sylvain Runberg explore Science Fiction in Comics
1.00pm Thursday 14th April at LBF Interactive Theatre
Years before Star Wars or Blade Runner, comics were visualising much of the iconic imagery of modern science fiction. Two of the genre’s most innovative writers – Pat Mills, founder of Britain’s weekly 2000AD, and Sylvain Runberg, Franco-Belgian author of Orbital and Darwin’s Diaries – share their ideas and insights about building worlds and imagining futures. Hosted by historian and curator Paul Gravett.
Comic creators Sarah McIntyre and Phillip Reeve
• Sketchbook Social
7.00pm Thursday 14th April at Café 1001, London Book & Screen Week
A fun, fast-paced interactive evening of drawing and doodling. Hosted by WaterstonesChildren’s Laureate and Observer political cartoonist Chris Riddell, aka The Masked Doodler. Joining him are illustrators Vanna Vinci from Italy, award-winning illustrator and founder of the Pictures Mean Business campaign Sarah McIntyre, Mike Medaglia who draws comics about zen and modern life for The Huffington Post, and Martial Toledano from Spain – as well as a few surprise guests on the night! Tickets available here.
Europe Comics began as an idea of Franco-Belgian comics agent Mediatoon Licensing. Three years (and a lot of work) later, it evolved into a 13-partner pan-European alliance, supported by the European Commission and held together by the desire to spread the European graphic novel heritage around the world.
The ambitious 13 have set themselves three main targets. First, the creation of a collective digital imprint, replicating European comics variety, richness and originality, in English and digital format, distributed through global and local e-tailers. The Europe Comics catalogue is meant for both, the final reader and the foreign publisher interested in licensing in English or other languages. Second, the international exposure of European authors, through author tours and events across Europe and the US. And last but not least, the steady shaping of a European comics online directory, providing readers and professionals with wide-ranging information such as history of European comics, global calendar of comics events, academic studies, market overviews and more.
• Europe Comics Live in London: 13th and 13th April 2016 Web: www.europecomics.com/london
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
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.
Categories: British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
Jimmy Broxton’s new comic, Fully Loaded, selling fast, Free Comic Book Day signing announced 
“Celebrating the Graphic Novel” event announced by publisher Faber 
TECHNOFREAK creator John Charles art exhibited in Guildford 
More Comic Book Creators added to Birmingham’s High Vis Comic Con in June