Fumettomania Factory, based in Messina, Italy, have just announced plans for a special celebration of Doctor Who in its 60th year, and are seeking comic art and illustrations for an online “Special” exhibition later in the year.
The cultural organisation, active locally, nationally, internationally and online, which has previously partnered with British comics events and organisations to promote the Ninth Art, plan to join celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Doctor Who television series with their fourth project of 2023 – a web-published “Special Presentation” of contributed art, dedicated to The Doctor.
It’s not the first time they’ve honoured the show – ten years ago, the enthusiastic team ran a 50 Years with Doctor Who project, which featured work by a wide range of artists, including Edoardo Colonnelli, Luigi Iannelli, and Onofrio Orlando.
Last week, Fabio Ciaramaglia, who has curated some of Fumettomania Factory’s previous Specials – a rich study on Dragon Age, published in 2022, and, this year, an ongoing Special devoted to Lara Croft, Tomb Raider – announced this new project from his all-Italian point of view, and outlined the association’s plans, which may include a small, physical exhibition of some of the art submitted in Messina, in November.
Compared with Star Trek and Gerry Anderson series such as UFO, Italy has come late to Doctor Who. Some episodes of the original series were broadcast between 1980 and 1981 on RAI, but Fabio feels that, perhaps, the quintessential “Englishness” of the early stories left viewers bewildered, despite a lot of love for things British in the country, especially Sixties culture, like The Beatles.
That’s changed in recent years, Fabio noting how the new series has taken off in terms of gaining Italian fans since it first began to be broadcast on RAI4 in 2011, and is now gaining more, thanks to featuring in Disney+ there. Several comics events in recent years have included a Doctor Who element, and cosplay inspired by the show is increasingly popular.
This week, Fumettomania published a second introduction to the Special project written by me, by John Freeman, in my capacity as former editor of Doctor Who Magazine and occasional strip writer, currently publisher of downthetubes and editor of Star Trek Explorer, offering my personal take on the character.
Both articles have been published in English and Italian.
I’m always curious to see how our British SF characters are interpreted abroad, and I’m hoping this will prove a fascinating online exhibition when it launches. If you’d like to take part in this Special Doctor Who art project, all the submission details are featured below.
“If there are a large number of contributions, as we hope,” says Mario Benenati, founder and cultural coordinator of the cultural association, “we will explore the possibility of exhibiting the original works in an exhibition in our city that we will hold in November.”
• Check out articles relating to this Special project here on the Fumettomania Factory website
FUMETTOMANIA FACTORY CELEBRATES “DOCTOR WHO 60 YEARS” – SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Each artist can send Fumettomania Factory a single illustration, or can create a short comic of a maximum length of four pages, with the theme “Doctor Who and his television adventures”.
All techniques are accepted: pencils, ink, watercolor, oil, acrylic, etc.
The format of your work must be A4 or A3.
Each participating artist within the dates indicated should be sent by email/ WeTransfer / Dropbox link etc, to this email: info@fumettomaniafactory.net; with any covering e-mail including the illustration or comic story file in JPG format at 600 dpi; the title and a caption for the work; details of the size of the art; details of he means or technique used in the work.
This online Special of Fumettomania will end on 30th March 2024, with an initial deadline of 30th August 2023, and a final cut off deadline of 30th November 2023.
All the works, as they are delivered, will be published on the Fumettomania Factory website.
For further information, creators are invited to write to Mario Benenati by email: info@fumettomaniafactory.net | Or by post to Fumettomania Factory APS – C/O Mario Benenati, Vicolo Basilicò , 6
98051, Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (Messina) – Italy
Please note, this project has no official connection with the BBC or the producers of Doctor Who
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: Comic Art, Comics, Creating Comics, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions, Other Worlds, Television