The Curio @ Common Ground Bookshop in Oxford is to host a special event celebrating the life and work of American comic creator Jack Kirby on Sunday 17th August 2025.
The event, organised by the team behind the Occultz: Oxford Comic, Cult and Zine Fair (returning 6th September) and the monthly Oxford, Comic, Cult & Zine Fair Social, includes a presentation on Jack Kirby, his story and the street-level utopianism that inspired him. It’s being given by special guest Ben Saunders, Professor of Comics and Cartoons at the University of Oregon, and editor/curator of Penguin Classics Marvel Collection book series.
Joining Ben in conversation will be Occultz’s very own artistic aces Owen Michael Johnson and Jason Atomic – an assembly with enough knowledge and skill to make the Avengers blush!
Fantastic Four? X-Men? Black Panther? The Incredible Hulk? The Mighty Thor? The invincible Iron Man? Silver Surfer? If any of those ring a bell, you already know Jack Kirby’s era-defining work!
UTOPIA, INK celebrates the art, life and legacy of one of pop culture’s most trailblazing, and under appreciated, artists, Jack Kirby, King of Comics.
As well as shining a light on a true visionary of comics, UTOPIA, INK will offer audience members the chance to unlock their own cosmic creativity, with a unique Jack Kirby-inspired art workshop… not to mention plenty of opportunity for Q&A and passionate discussion around all things comic culture!
Kick-ass comics! Sublime superheroes! Avid anti-fascism! Trauma transformed! All hail!
Ben Saunders specialises in the poetry and drama of the English Renaissance and the history of British and American comics and cartoons. There’s a great video here with Ben, outlining why he started offering a course in comics at the University of Oregon.
His first book, Desiring Donne, explored the intersection of spirituality and sexuality in the poetry of John Donne alongside larger questions of literary theory and hermeneutics. It was shortlisted by Choice magazine as an “Outstanding Academic Title” of 2006 and selected as a Finalist for the Oregon Book Award that same year, and continues to be cited in contemporary scholarship on early modern literature and sexuality.
His second book, Do The Gods Wear Capes?, focused on modern American superhero comics – arguing that superhero fantasies tell us a great deal about about our conceptions of the human, the post-human, and the divine. It’s been widely cited in academic contexts and mainstream journalism, a “groundbreaking” chapter on bondage imagery in Wonder Woman comics is often singled out for particular praise. He has also published a number of scholarly articles on a variety of topics, from the plays of Shakespeare to the Peanuts comics of Charles Schulz, and co-edited a collection of essays on popular music, Rock Over The Edge, with Roger Beebe and Denise Fulbrook.
In addition, Ben is Series Editor for the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection, launched in 2022 (as we reported here) a multi-volume set of books presenting key stories from the Marvel Comics archive in a scholarly context for the first time – with detailed introductions, critical analyses, and other supplementary materials. The first three volumes of the series were selected among the “month’s best paperbacks” by The Guardian and reviewed positively in The Atlantic, The Independent, The A.V. Club, and Rolling Stone, as well as numerous comics-news websites.
Six books have been published in the series so far, spotlighting The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, the Fantastic Four and The X-Men. (AmazonUK Affiliate Links)
Twice nominated for the British Comic Award for Raygun Roads (2013) and Beast Wagon (2015), Owen Michael Johnson’s semi-autobiographical debut graphic novel, Reel Love was published in 2018. His latest book, The Mirage, was published last year, described by Andy Oliver over at Broken Frontier as “serving up an unlikely melange of narrative styles – part noir, part heist movie, part violent comedy.”
From London to Tokyo, New York or Berlin, Jason Atomic, a well known face in London’s underground ‘freak’ subculture scene, is a familiar face in a variety of subcultures. He’s Editor-in-chief of Satanic Mojo Comix, inspired by the continuing influence on pop culture of the occult revivals of 1960s/70s/80s and was founder of London’s quarterly Satanic Flea Market in 2015.
Despite a background in comix he discovered real life to be more interesting than fiction and began a documenting the freak icons of the underground art, music and club scenes in his colourful energetic paintings and sketchbooks.
• UTOPIA, INK Explosive Empathy, Freedom and Power in the Comic Art of Jack Kirby | Door time: 6.45pm | Start time: 7.00pm Sunday 17th August, 2025, Curio @ Common Ground, 37-38 Little Clarendon Street, Oxford OX1 2HU | Suitable for 14 and over | Get your tickets here
• Oxford Comics, Cult & Zine Fair 2025 10.00 – 4.30pm Saturday 6th September 2025 The Bullingdon, 162 Crowley Road, Oxford OX4 1UE
Oxford’s independent art and craft fair – specialising in self published and vintage comics, fanzines, underground comix, cult collectibles and art.
• OCCULTZ: The Oxford Comic, Cult and Zine Fair Social
7.00pm – Last Tuesday of every month, The Star, 21 Rectory Road, Oxford | Instagram
The regular OCCULTZ social at @starpuboxford. if you’re a local creative, a comic artist, writer, zine creator, underground cartoonist, crafter or just plain curious please feel free to join the team. They’re open for networking, brainstorming, collaboration and conversation. Feel free to show bring examples of your work we’re excited to share and explore talents and opportunities. Hosted by Owen Michael Johnson and Jason Atomic
- About the Author
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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: Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Other Worlds
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