SelfMadeHero talks adaptations at the Institut Francais

By John Freeman on May 17, 2013

A panel from SelfMadeHero’s The Man Who Laughs – art by Mark Stafford

The world of adaption is the focus of a SelfMadeHero panel discussion at this year’s BD & Comics Passion event at the Institut Français, London on 2nd June.

What are the difficulties involved with turning a classic book into a graphic novel? Three top writers and artists reveal magical process they adopt towards a trio of very different stories.

Artist Mark Stafford tackles Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs, a satirical tale of 18th century Britain that also inspired the creation of The Joker; INJ Culbard takes on the challenge of H.P Lovecraft’s gothic tales including his latest volume, The Shadow Out of Time, and writer David Zane Mairowitz explores the Kaftaesque world with adaptations of The Trial and soon-to-be-released The Castle. The event is chaired by Resonance FM’s graphic novel expert, Alex Fitch.

SelfMadeHero has championed many graphic novel creators in the French language. These include David B (Black Paths, Best of Enemies), Margaux Motin (But I Really Wanted To be An Anthropologist), Jérémie Dres (We Won’t See Auschwitz) and Frederik Peeters (Pachyderme, Sandcastle and the recently acquired Aâma series). Full details can be found at: www.selfmadehero.com

• From Classic to Graphic panel discussion – Sunday 2nd June Time: 3.30-4.30pm. The BD & Comics Passion runs 30 May – 2 June at Institut Français, London. Full details: www.bdandcomicspassion.co.uk

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.