24 May 2007

Biff! Bam! Crikey!!! - Opening of comics exhibition

Photo opportunity - Friday May 25th, 5.45 pm,
Lamb Gallery, University of Dundee Tower Building.

A new exhibition at the University of Dundee - staged to coincide with the Biff! Bam! Crikey!!! comics conference - gives an insight into the creation of a modern comic while also looking back to the earliest days of Dundee’s proud comic history.

The `Biff! Bam! Crikey!!! - Comics as Art, Entertainment and Design’ conference takes place over Friday May 25th and Saturday May 26th, and has attracted international interest. The accompanying exhibition, which will run until June 2nd, offers a colourful insight into how comics are created.

The main focus of the exhibition, staged by the University’s Museum Services, is `See New Worlds’, a new comic about Dundee specially commissioned for the Six Cities Design Festival. Three Dundee-based artists - Lyall Bruce, Victoria Baker and Stuart Fallon - have created the comic, and the exhibition charts its development through design, sketches and proofs.

Also on show is original artwork by celebrated cartoonist Hunt Emerson, who now works on `The Beano’ as well as many publications of his own. Glasgow-based comic creators Metaphrog, whose `Louis’ books have been internationally praised, are also displaying some of their work.

The exhibition also features a selection of classic comics and original artwork, including a look at some of Dundee’s earliest cartoonists who helped establish the city’s proud reputation as one of the world’s great centres for publishing comics.

The Biff! Bam! Crikey!!! conference will celebrate the history of comics in Dundee - home to the D.C. Thomson comic empire - but will also explore wider themes, including the intersection of British and American comics, topical and controversial comics, comics as literature and/or art, defining comics, and comics and other media, notably computer games.

"Comics are an important and vital part of popular culture, shaping the early reading experiences of many children, as well as commanding an increasing number of adult readers," said conference organiser Dr Chris Murray, of the English Programme at the University of Dundee.

"With the effect they have on our culture and the standard of work that is being produced in the comic industry - both in design and in writing - they fully deserve very serious consideration. The best comics stand as excellent literature and brilliant design."

Leading comics historians Paul Gravett and Roger Sabin will present talks on the origins and importance of comics in Britain, while other sessions will explore the contribution of DC Thomson, the work of contemporary British comics writers and artists, and the interactions between comics and other media (film, computer games, etc). Other presentations will tackle political issues in comics, as well as the role of comics as design and entertainment.

To accompany the conference and exhibition there will be a reading by Alan Bissett from his novel The Incredible Adam Spark. Forbidden Planet will also be setting up a comic stall at the University for the duration of the conference.

The conference is open to anyone with an interest in comics and is free.

For further details on the conference programme see http://www.dundee.ac.uk/english/news/2007/biffbam.htm

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk