On the Margins: Comics, Gender, Identity & Subversion is an upcoming two-day conference about comics at Ulster University in Northern Ireland in May, “Exploring Why Comics Matter”. BEANO artist Nigel Parkinson is among the speakers, addressing the success of DC Thomson’s surviving humour weekly.
Other comic creators taking part include artist and writer John Farrelly, writer Mark McCann, and Andrew Pope, editor of Local Colour Comics,
This two-day event will focus on exploring the intersections of comics, gender, identity, and subversion, bringing together academics, artists, writers, and industry professionals to discuss how comics shape and reflect cultural narratives.
Organised by Bob Curran, Sector 13 publisher Peter Duncan, Victoria McCollum and Andrew Sneddon, the first day of this free conference will consist of the presentation of academic papers on comics, while the second will deal with practitioners from Northern Ireland, focusing on small press comics from the province.
The panels will cover diverse themes, addressing comics through lenses of gender, identity, history, and subversion, offer a mix of scholarly analysis and professional discussions, networking opportunities with writers, artists, and editors engaging with aspiring comic creators, and include a display of comics and artwork.
The Sector 13 team will also be producing a special issue of Splank! for the event in the ‘Summer Special’ format they used for the recently-released Whapp!, consisting mainly of non-academic articles on comics.
• On the Margins: Comics, Gender, Identity & Subversion Friday 2nd – Saturday 3rd May 2025, Ulster University Cromore Road Coleraine BT52 1SA | Full Programme Here | Free, but Booking Requested via EventBrite
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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: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
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