V&A Dundee webcomics project launched

By John Freeman on December 7, 2019

V&A Dundee is currently publishing a number of webcomics by a group of up and coming creators encompassing a range of genres.

Published across the museum’s digital channels, they have been created by University of Dundee’s Masters in Comics and Graphic Novels students. Several have already been published and each student’s work will be released in four instalments over four weeks, one after the other.

V&A Dundee worked closely with mentors Phillip Vaughan and Christopher Murray to brief the students and worked with them over a few months, acting as a client and feeding back on their progress.

The whole class was commissioned to produce work and the project acted as a live brief for their Comics Production module.

“We are excited to have been able to work in this way with our local students,” says the V&A, “and provide them with the experience of working on a project, as well as payment for their webcomics.”

“They’re bold, exciting, varied and we can’t wait to share each one with you in turn.”

“Journ-ee: A day exploring Dundee” by Amy Galloway is influenced by Dundee’s rich history, with a focus on its famous landmarks combined with cute videogame details.

“Metamorphosis” by Rayne Zaayman-Gallant, which explores sensitive mental health issues, including suicide, is about young love, mental illness and how two people deal with their mental health in different ways.

The violence, along with the story and artwork in “The Man the Earth Spat Back” by Vincent Bell-Robertson is a nod to Looney Tunes and similar cartoons, while Tony Holdsworth delivers a ghost story in space in “How We Met“.

On a routine repair, astronauts on a space station discover that the root of a problem is a ghost. NASA never trained them for this!

Andrew Sztehlo‘s web comic is “La Quinta Del Sordo: Goya and the Black Paintings“. Goya created the greatest testaments to his artistic genius: the bleak, disturbing, horrifying murals known as the Black Paintings. Why did Goya create them? And what exactly are they trying to say?

Last but not least, Drimmolo (Emma Canziani) delivers “Ocean Liners“, inspired by the V&A Dundee exhibition of the same name.

“When I entered the Ocean Liners exhibition at V&A Dundee, I didn’t really know what to expect,” she says. “I like boats, I like the roaring twenties… the Great Gatsby is kinda neat.

“But when I entered the exhibition, the details overwhelmed me, and I suddenly felt a breeze that smelled of sea salt. You could hear laughter as everyone on deck enjoyed themselves by the pool, parading in their newest daring fashions.”

• Check the web comics home page here on the V&A Dundee web site

• V&A Dundee is at 1 Riverside Esplanade, Dundee DD1 4EZ | Open Daily: 10.00 – 17.00 | Web: www.vam.ac.uk/dundee

With thanks to Iesorno Zines for the heads up

About the Author
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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.