“Comics are not funny any more. Well most of them are not,” says Peter Stanbury in a plug on his web site for Comics Art from Tate Publishing, by Paul Gravett and him — as designer.
Officially due for release on 7th November, it looks likely that advance copies of this new book will be on sale later this month at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal – and it’s well worth a look, having been seen an advance version myself.
“The book that sets out to change the way we look at comics and graphic novels,” says Peter. “They are every bit a as sophisticated as the Fine Arts, plus their added dimension of emotional expression through story-telling.”
A big hardback with a cover by Joost Swarte, Comics Art contains many notable British artists of the last few years as well – including Woodrow Phoenix, Gareth Brookes, Katie Green and others.
As well as running an amazing and regularly updated web site on comics, Paul, who has been the director of Comica, London’s premier international comics festival, since 2003, has been a champion of the comic form for decades He’s a regular speaker at comic events and a curator of exhibitions of comics art and author of several other books on the subject, including Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics, and Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life.
Paul is just one of many great guest at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival from 18th – 20th October, where he’ll be in discussion with Joe Sacco, Posy Simmonds, Bryan Talbot, writer Rachel Cooke from The Observer and Jonathan Cape publisher Dan Franklin among others.
• Buy Comics Art by Paul Gravett from amazon.co.uk
• Comics Art is also being published in the US by Yale Press in February 2014
Tate Links
• Tate Shop: http://www.tate.org.uk/shop
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tateshop
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/tateshop
- About the Author
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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.
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