14 May 2008

Comic conference for Dundee

Dundee, the home of comic culture, will host its second international comic conference on 22nd June 2008 as part of the Dundee Literary Festival.

Dundee will be celebrated as a world leader in comics, with its history inextricably linked with the DC Thomson empire that includes The Beano, The Dandy, and Bunty for Girls, but will also examine wider issues in the comic world such as how the medium of comics works, and the growing popularity of Japanese style comics (Manga) and Chinese comics (Manhua).

The conference will include talks from world leading comic experts such as Roger Sabin on How Comics Work and Paul Gravett, who The Times has called the greatest British comic historian, who will be discussing crime comics. Other participants include ILYA, a professional comic book creator who is heavily influenced by Manga, and who since 1987 has had work published internationally by Marvel, DC and Dark Horse in the USA and Kodansha in Japan. Dundee based artist Jim Glen will be giving an illustrated talk on his career in comics, as will Metaphrog (John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs), who created the award winning ‘Louis’ comics. Acclaimed comics creator Bryan Talbot will be headlining the event, talking about his work past and present, including Alice in Sunderland.

Dr Christopher Murray from the University of Dundee’s English programme has put the conference together. He says, "Comics are a wonderful form of literary and artistic expression. They are fun for all ages, a unique artform, and Dundee is a city with a long and proud history of comics production. As we approach the 70th birthday of The Beano in August this year the Second Dundee Literary Festival will celebrate with a special Comics Day which will feature talks by prominent comics artists and writers, and comics historians such as Roger Sabin and Paul Gravett. Everyone is welcome to this event. Come and speak to artist and writer Bryan Talbot, Glasgow based duo Metaphrog, Ilya, a London based Manga artist and writer, and Jim Glen, an artist at DC Thomson with forty years experience drawing favourites such as Dennis the Menace and Lord Snooty. Comics Day will give everyone, young and not so young alike, an opportunity to learn a lot more about the amazing world of comics!"

Tickets are priced just £5 for half an afternoon or £10 for the whole afternoon.

For more details and times of events, go to www.dundeeliteraryfest.org.

For media enquiries contact:
Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk