Comics. Food. Artists. Recipes. For Orbital Comics next thematic exhibition, the brilliant London comic store has gathered a bunch of food-loving cartoonists and illustrators and asked them what they really enjoy cooking these days.

Their answers will be up on the Orbital Gallery walls throughout June, as a glorious exhibition of illustrated recipes.

Just one of Sally Anne-Hickman’s Inktober 2015 artworks published online – a What If? comic spoof “What If Ginger Baker was a Bonafide Ginger Baker?”

German Word of the Day – Rhabarber by Wilm Lindenblatt

The exhibition will feature works by Sarah Becan; Matt Boyce; Gemma Correll; EdieOP; Lucy Eldridge, an illustrator who clearly appreciates good food, if her Twitter is anything to go by and even has a Biscuit Print for sale); Robin Ha, creator of the soon-to-be published Cook Korean, out in July from Ten Speed Press – a combination of cookbook and graphic novel that’s the ideal introduction to cooking Korean cuisine at home); Julian Hanshaw, who recently designed a poster for the Pho Vietnamese restaurant chain); artist and official London Underground busker Sally-Anne Hickman, whose 2015 Inktober artworks included the What If? comic spoof “What If Ginger Baker was a Bonafide Ginger Baker”; Amber Hsu, also creator of the drama The Match Girl, a short monologue piece commissioned for “The Break” – a new drama collaboration between BBC Three, BBC Taster, and the BBC WritersRoom; Graham Johnson; Elizabeth Jordan, Spanish foodie and architect Rosana Laiz, who has created some wonderful recipe prints; Lizz Lunney, Rob Mackinder, Marianne Moldskred,  Jessica Penfold, who has this great idea for jazzing up a mundane day involving ice cream and Coke; illustrator Felicita Sala, whose work includes food-related art; Paul Shinn, creator of March of the Penguins, comic strips about the trials and tribulations of two penguins alone in an icy wasteland; Nick Soucek, who recently released the comic Age of Anthropocene: The Age of Man, a story of man-made landscapes; Wilm Lindenblatt, whose handy “German Word of the Day” cartoons include the potentially useful tip that Rhubarb is “Rhabarber”; Ben Wiseman; and Cliodhna Ztoical, who created the The Comics Foodpedia, a 52-page comic with Japanese artist Tsuyoshi Ogawa as part of Lingua Comica 3, a comic book residency run by the Asia Europe Foundation, and Food World, its accoridion book accompaniment. She also created The Art of Cake Diving, which started life as a 24-hour comic attempt in 2007. and was then reworked and published as a hand printed silkscreened book.

If all that makes you hungry, then join the club. It all reminds me of the time I once contributed a recipe to an anthology for Cornish Pasties (I wish I still had a copy). But the final publication’s best recipe came from the late, great comics editor Martin Skidmore: “Get some money. Go to the Fish and Chip Shop. Eat the fish and chips.” Priceless.

• Comics in the Kitchen opens on Saturday 4th June and the ship will be hosting a Private View/ Opening Night on Friday 3rd June 3rd from 7.00pm onwards.

• Orbital Comics: www.orbitalcomics.com | Find Orbital Comics on Facebook | Follow Orbital Comics on Twitter @orbitalcomics | Instagram | tumblr

John Freeman

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. Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Explorer (previously known as Star Trek 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: downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions

Tags: Amber Hsu, Ben Wiseman, Biscuits, Cliodhna Ztoical, Comics in the Kitchen, downthetubes News, EdieOP, Elizabeth Jordan, Exhibitions, Felicita Sala, Gemma Correll, Graham Johnson, Jessica Penfold, Julian Hanshaw, Lizz Lunney, Lucy Eldridge, Marianne Moldskred, Matt Boyce, Nick Soucek, Orbital Comics, Paul Shinn, Rob Mackinder, Robin Ha, Rosana Laiz, Sally-Anne Hickman, Sarah Becan, Wilm Lindenblatt