As we previously reported, this weekend’s London Film and Comic Con has a huge roster of comic creators attending its show at Olympia this weekend – and they have a number of great comic-related talks, too, some definitely of interest to anyone interested in creating comics for a living.
Lew Stringer. Photo: Paul Goodenough
Among them are “Working in Humour Comics” at 10.45 on Saturday 27th July, where veteran cartoonist Lew Stringer will be giving a freewheeling discussion about life in humour comics, how it’s changed over the years, advice on breaking in and more.
He’s flying solo on this one, but with his experience in the business, it’s bound to be interesting and well worth getting to if you’re an aspiring comics creator.
On Sunday 28th July, at 4.00pm, Lew, Jess Bradley (Beano, The Phoenix), Kate Brown (Spider Moon, Wicked + The Divine, Young Avengers), Grant Perkins (Doctor Who, WWE) and Titan Comics Senior Editor and creator of Psycho Gran David Leach will be taking part in a panel, “Creating Worlds for Children“, talking about their work in kids’ comics and their thoughts on the industry, again definitely a panel for aspiring creators and worth sticking around for.
Although these talks are free, seating is limited, and seating is issued on a first come first served basis. Gold Pass Holders will be given priority access to the talk hall in order to take advantage of their priority seating, however once the talk has started you will be expected to take the closest available seat with no priority given. Free Talks are approximately 30 minutes long, with 15 minute gaps to change over audiences.
Jess Bradley
Jess Bradley is an illustrator and comic artist from Bristol, currently writing and drawing “Squid Bits” for The Phoenix and writing for The Beano, as well as designing greetings cards, t-shirts and a ton of other arty things.
She also self-publishes her own comics including Tiny Overlord, a collection of cartoons about being a new mother.
Kate Brown
Artist Kate Brown has made her name for herself with a variety of critically acclaimed books including “Spider Moon” for The DFC / Random House, several stories for The Phoenix including “The Lost Boy”, “Emilie’s Turn”, “Tamsin And The Deep” / “The Dark” / “The Days”, and star turns on comics like Young Avengers for Marvel and The Wicked + The Divine for Image.
David Leach
Currently an Editor for Titan Publishing, David Leach’s career as a cartoonist, writer and editor spans over 30 years, starting as the ‘ghost artist’ of Henry’s Cat.
Among many others, he’s worked for IPC, Marvel UK, Marvel US, BBC Worldwide, Panini, Egmont, Tundra, and Fleetway. His work has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun and Private Eye as well as Whizzer & Chips, Gas, Brain Damage, UT, Moose Kid, Casper and also within the pages of 1980s cult comics, TOXIC! and OINK!, where he created “Psycho Gran” and “The Dinner Ladies From Hell”. In addition to this, David co-wrote and drew The Toxic Crusaders for Marvel.
In his role as editor for Titan Comics, he works on a variety of titles including The Blacklist, Anno Dracula, Hammer’s The Mummy, Captain Kronos, Lenore, Fighting American, Dan Dare, Wallace & Gromit and Adventure Time. He’s also edited collections of vintage comic strips including Betty Boop, Mandrake The Magician, Flash Gordon, Jane and Roy of the Rovers.
In 2014 Dead Universe Comics published the first two issues of David Leach Conquers The Universe, David’s autobiographical comic and in 2016 they published the first issue of Psycho Gran vs… a new four-issue mini-series featuring Psycho Gran fighting various movie and comic book characters. Outside of comics, in 2013 David co-won Channel Four’s Come Dine With Me.
Grant Perkins
Margate’s own Grant Perkins is a comic book artist who has worked for 2000AD, Titan comics Penguins of Madagascar, Doctor Who and many more.
He wrote and drew Doctor Who’s “Strax and the Time Shark” and is currently working for WWE Kids Magazine where he creates a monthly comic, and working on his hilarious “Dwayne Hickenbottom” mini-series as a comic book sequel to his novels of the same name.
Combat Colin N. 4 is on sale at London Film and Comic Con
Lew Stringer began his career in comics in 1983, creating humour strips for Marvel UK titles such as The Daredevils, Spider-Man, and The Transformers. He swiftly expanded his portfolio to freelance for IPC and other companies on OINK!, Buster, VIZ, and many other publications for a range of age groups. His most popular characters include Brickman, Combat Colin, Tom Thug, Pete And His Pimple, Robo-Capers and many more.
Over the last three decades, Lew has created strips both as a writer and artist for numerous mainstream publications in the UK as well as occasionally generating his own self-published comics, including Combat Colin – and a fourth issue on sale this weekend from Lew’s table.
• London Film and Comic Con, Friday 26th – Sunday 28th July, London Olympia – | Web:londonfilmandcomiccon.com | Tickets available here | Full Schedule here on the event forum – although be warned, it;s not in a very user friendly format!
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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: British Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
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