The University of Leeds is the location for a special comics seminar next week with comic creator Gareth Brookes, chaired by Dr Miriam Kent.
Gareth Brookes is a graphic novelist, print maker, textile artist, small press publisher, teacher, event organiser and researcher who graduated from the RCA in 2003. He makes experimental graphic novels and handmade comics utilising unusual materials, such as embroidery, pressed flowers and fire. He won the First Graphic Novel Prize in 2012, and his graphic novels, The Black Project and A Thousand Coloured Castles were published by Myriad Editions, and The Dancing Plague published by SelfMadeHero.
Gareth’s teaching experience includes being a tutor in Foundation Studies at City & Guilds of London Art School for six years, and a visiting lecturer in Illustration at the University of Lincoln. He organised the South London Comics and Zine Fair in 2017-18. Currently a AHRC Techne funded PhD candidate at UAL researching materiality and metaphor in comics, he recently submitted a thesis exploring the role of materiality in the embodied experience of making and reading comics.
The title of the seminar, hosted by the Visual Media and Communication Research Group – “Comics, Embodied Trace and Haptic Encounter, from Artifact of Reproduction to Algorithmic Outcome” – is a bit of a mouthful, but Gareth is always an engaging speaker, so if you’re interested in the study of comics and the future of the medium as AI is being used by some instead of human creators, this should be interesting event.
The event appears to be free, and there is no booking requirement. The Visual Media and Communication research group, it’s academic team comprising Dr Helen Kim and Dr Miriam Kent, the author of Women in Marvel Films, is interested in the dominant role of the visual in communication and media culture, in raising questions about the role of the visual in everyday life.
“Comics involve the body in performances that are simultaneously haptic and tactile, imaginative and material,” Gareth outlines. “This seminar considers how indexes of materials and embodiment are translated through photographic, digital and machine learning technologies into embodied encounters sited on the surfaces of visual narratives.
“Through a consideration of a variety of comics, including examples from my practice in which I utilise materials such as crayons, embroidery and pyrography, I will argue that imaginative tactile engagement with material surface represents an under-considered register through which comics communicate. I will consider the future of this register at a moment when AI image generation technology renders these indexical encounters ontologically ambiguous.”
• Comics, Embodied Trace and Haptic Encounter, from Artifact of Reproduction to Algorithmic Outcome 3.45pm, Wednesday 13th November 2025, Clothworkers Building North, G.12, Leeds University | Event details here – although on university campus, attendance welcome. The event appears to be free and there is no booking requirement
• Gareth Brookes is online at gbrookes.com
- About the Author
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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: Comics, Comics Education News, Comics Studies, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
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