One of the most successful original graphic novels of 2007 was the Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped. This was created for the One Book One Edinburgh reading campaign in Scotland’s capital in February 2007. The graphic novel, in which Grant used as much of Stevenson’s original language as possible, was also published in modern English, Lowland Scots as Kidnappit, and Scots Gaelic as Fo Bhruid, thereby predating the similarly styled Classical Comics literary titles.
The
Down The Tubes report on the 2007
Kidnapped graphic novel is
here.
The success of the reading campaign in Edinburgh in
2007, and of the graphic novel in the wider world, inevitably lead to a follow up for
2008. This year we can look forward to Grant and Kennedy’s version of
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which is, of course, set in Edinburgh.
A new version of the full text novel with an introduction by crime writer Ian Rankin, as well as the new graphic novel version, will be launched on Thursday 21 February at a special event at the Jekyll and Hyde pub in Edinburgh’s New Town followed the next day by 10000 copies of the full novel version given away free to Edinburgh’s citizens.
Both versions of the book will also be available for the wider world to buy through the normal outlets and again there will be four different text versions. Unlike last year with Kidnapped, this year’s new version of the full original text novel will also feature a cover and interior illustrations by Cam Kennedy.
To tie in with the release of the new graphic novel, Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy will be attending the
Book Launch and on Saturday 23 February they will be at the
National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh for a talk on the creation of the book.
These appearances are in addition to Alan Grant’s
Edinburgh Lecture on Tuesday 29 January and both Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy’s attendance at the
Hi-Ex Comics Convention in Inverness on the weekend of 2-3 February.
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.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Categories: British Comics - Graphic Novels, Events