Shrewsbury Comic Art Trail launches in July

By John Freeman on June 13, 2021

The Shrewsbury Comic Art Trail organised by the Comics Salopia Festival and Shrewsbury Town Council in partnership with Shropshire Council, Shrewsbury BID, and The Big Town Plan has been awarded £14,500 of lottery funding from the Arts Council of England.

The funding will go towards the commissioning and production of nine giant-sized pieces of comic art that will be unveiled on the Saturday 24th July 2021, created by some of the most renowned comic artists in the world.

These include Shrewsbury born artist, Charlie Adlard, known for his as the artist and co-creator on the world famous The Walking Dead comics and exclusive DC Comics artist, Mike Perkins, who has recently moved back to Shrewsbury from America.

Other amazing artists contributing include Manga artist, Sonia Leong, and legendary Beano and Toxic artist, Lew Stringer.

The sites include historical and cultural landmarks such as The Dingle, Theatre Severn, and Shrewsbury Town Library, where inspiring talks and workshops will be hosted by some of the comic artists.

The nine panels will combine to tell a story, which was written by Judge Dredd creator, John Wagner, who is also a local Shropshire resident.

“I am so excited to start telling you all about this huge project,” enthuses comic creator Shane Chebsey, part of the Comics Salopia team.

“Shrewsbury is such a beautiful town, and if you love art you now have a great excuse to book a weekend away to enjoy the sights.”

• Find out more about the Shrewsbury Comic Trail by joining the related Facebook group

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.