Panel Borders: Art and Anarchy in the British Library

By John Freeman on July 14, 2014

Brand new Jamie Hewlett design for Comics Unmasked at the British Library. © Jamie Hewlett 2014

Continuing a month of episodes looking at the connections between comics and literature on Britain’s only regular comics radio show Panel Borders, Alex Fitch talks to Adrian Edwards, co-curator of the exhibition Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK which is on display at the British Library until 19th August, in a Q and A recorded at Cartoon County in Brighton.

Adrian discusses how he helped put together the exhibition – which looks at over one hundred years of British comics – with co-curators Paul Gravett and John Dunning, the marketing of the show and some of the more controversial items on display in the library from Aleister Crowley’s Tarot Cards to examples of comic book erotica.

• Panel Borders: Art and Anarchy in the British Library airs at 4.30pm Monday 14th July, repeated 11.00am Thursday 17th July on Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

About the Author
Latest Posts

John Freeman

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.