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Oxford Comics Network announces new season of free webinars

By John Freeman on April 12, 2024

Oxford Comics Network and Lakes International Comic Art Festival Partnership

Oxford Comics Network, in partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, has announced a new season of Tuesday online lectures curated by Peter Kessler exploring various aspects of The Ninth Art.

All the events are free, hosted online, and include both a lecture and opportunities for questions and discussion.

James Parker - Comic Buyer, Product Developer and Pop Culture Expert

Tuesday 7th May 5.00pm UK time: James Parker: Navigating Pop Culture Retail: A Discussion of Comics and Trends | Book your ticket here

Comics industry buyer and trend-spotter James Parker opens up the world of comics as a business. James has been in comics retail for over twenty years and is one of the most respected figures in his field – and he’s also a great speaker.

Tuesday 28th May 5.00pm UK time: Dr Carol Adlam: Author, Artist and Academic | Book your ticket here

Dr Carol Adlam is Associate Professor in the Nottingham School of Art & Design. She is a writer and artist specialising in narrative and book illustration, and her most recent graphic novel, The Russian Detective (2024) was described by The Observer as “exquisite”, “so deeply atmospheric and so inordinately beautiful”.

Tuesday 4th June 5.00pm UK time: Emmy Waldman: Filial Lines – Comic Form and Family Bonds in the work of Art Spiegelman and Alison Bechdel | Book your ticket here

Emmy Waldman PhD is Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature at Virginia Tech.

Her work examines the links between Alison Bechdel and Art Spiegelman’s innovative approaches to comic form and their lineage, both family and artistic/literary.

Alison Bechdel has been a careful archivist of her own life and kept a journal since she was ten. Since 1983 she has been chronicling the lives of various characters in the fictionalised Dykes to Watch Out For strip, “one of the preeminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period” (Ms.). The strip is syndicated in 50 alternative newspapers, translated into multiple languages, and collected into a book series with a quarter of a million copies in print. Utne magazine has listed DTWOF as “one of the greatest hits of the twentieth century.”

Art Spiegelman has been a contributing editor and artist for The New Yorker since 1992. His drawings and prints have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Maus, and a Guggenheim fellowship. It was also nominated for the National Book Critics Award. He lives in New York.

Developing out from TORCH, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, the Oxford Comics Network has three aims: to promote and celebrate the academic study of comics, furthering the acceptance of the medium as a valid art form that merits analysis at the highest level; to attract new readers and thinkers to the field by opening the network to all, and sharing the joy of reading and studying comics; and to forge and deepen links with organisations and individuals working on comics at an academic, industry and enthusiast level across the globe.

• For more details and to register head to ticketsource.co.uk/oxford-comics-network

• Find out more about the Oxford Comics Network at torch.ox.ac.uk/comics

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. 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.