New Comics and Graphic Novels set to launch at this year's Lakes International Comic Art Festival

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival tales place this weekend in Kendal (13th - 15th October 2017). Along with its free Family Zone, comic creator talks, signings, exhibitions, illustration portfolio reviews, Finnish Village (and sauna!) there are a number of new comics and graphic novels getting their launch at the hugely-popular annual event.

Among them are Grandville: Force Majeure by Festival Patron Bryan Talbot (published by Jonathan Cape), Graphic Science by Darryl Cunningham (Myriad Editions); and the Festival's very own tribute to comics legend Will Eisner to mark his centenary, the Spirit Centenary Newspaper.

Grandville: Force Majeure launches at the Festival just as news breaks that the rights option for a proposed Grandville TV series have been bought by Euston Films, the graphic novels adapted by Doctor Who and New Tricks writer Julian Simpson.

Festival partner Page 45, the award-winning Nottingham-based comic shop, will be offering all three new titles in the Georgian Room of the Comixology-sponsored Comics Clock Tower, where Festival Patron Emma Vieceli will be signing her brand-new Young Adult LGBT graphic novel BREAKS (co-created with Malin Ryden) on both Saturday and Sunday morning.

Dozens of comic creators will be selling new independently-created comics, artwork and more, throughout the weekend in the Clock Tower, including Marc Jackson, who's new comic Here Comes Cat Stevens! was commissioned by LICAF; and Australian comic artist Bruce Mutard, who brings his new work Post Traumatic with him, along with a number of other antipodean creators as part of a Caravan of Comics.

Look out, also, for the annual Festival anthology edited by Dan Berry, assembling comic stories created during the Festival's Cartoon Cafe Challenge sponsored by Wacom over the weekend and printed within 24 hours of creation!

The Spirit Centenary Newspaper features a cover by Becky Cloonan and work by Brendan McCarthy, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, Graham Dury and Simon Thorp, Chris Samnee, John M Burns, Sergio Aragonés, Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo, Seth, Jason Latour, Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch, and Michael Cho.

The project, the brainchild of comics academic John McShane, was realised with support from IDW Publishing and Kitchen Sink Press publisher Denis Kitchen. Proceeds from sales will go to LICAF’s Creators’ Development Fund.

"I don't know how real editors do it, but curating this project has been well worth the wait," says Sean Phillips, who edited the newspaper. "All the creators involved have more than surpassed my expectations to produce a great tribute to Will Eisner's The Spirit.

"Creators include some of my favourite artists and writers and the hard part was deciding who to ask. Luckily everyone said yes, including my absolute favourite, John M Burns. Sorry to everyone else, but having John draw a page for this is one of the highlights of my career. All the pages are great, but this one was a real thrill!

"My thanks to everyone involved with fitting this project into their busy schedules, even if some people's definition of the word 'deadline' is more elastic than mine..."

Celebrating Will Eisner's work, the Festival also ran a Revealing the Spirit of the Lakes competition, the winners to be announced at the weekend. Students across the globe were invited to celebrate the incredible creative comic art legacy of Will Eisner and his iconic vigilante – The Spirit - by imagining a vigilante hero or heroine for the Lake District.

The top five entries will go display in the Warehouse Café at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, until 5th November, alongside The Spirit of Eisner exhibition.

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns for its fifth year to Kendal, Cumbria this weekend, from 13th to 15th October 2017. Celebrating comic art from across the world, the weekend festival takes over the town of Kendal, on the edge of the Lake District.

The festival brings the biggest names in comic art to Cumbria with over 70 special guests from across the comic world. This year, artists, creators and writers from Japan, the US, Canada, Australia, Finland, as well as European comic creators will take part in the festival.

• The full programme of events is now live on the Festival web site, along with details about its new Weekend Pass

• Buy your tickets for the fifth Lakes International Comic Art Festival here

• Web www.comicartfestival.com | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube| Podcast | View the Festival Programme on Issuu | Download the Programme (PDF)

•& Download the Comics Festival app from iTunes here (requires iOS 10.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch)

• Read the Page 45 guide to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival

New York Comic Con 2017: Day Two

Tony Esmond reports from New York Comic Con... lucky man!

Day Two at the New York Comic Con 2017 opened early as I realised that I can actually see the Javits Center from my hotel room. I headed down for breakfast with the normal cronies and spotted a possible love connection between one of them and the steroid swallowing waitress (I shall take the secret to my grave!!!)

I headed down without Mr Harrower today (he's off doing some art stuff in Harlem) and lined up again. I've been really impressed with both the security here and the speed they get you pushed through onto the site. All the staff so far have been friendly and professional.

The Shadow with art by Giovanni Timpano published by Dynamite Comics

I headed straight to Giovanni Timpano's table and had a chat with him about his Shadow/Batman series. He showed me some of the inked pages and they look superb. I've been a fan of this guy's work for a long time. It was great to see him and his art up close. Definitely an artist to watch out for.

Find out more about him at www.giovannitimpano.blogspot.it or follow him on Twitter @GioTimpano

On the left, Mr Brent Schoonover and on the right, the Mighty Siuntres

During the weekend I also got to catch up with Wordballoon's John Siuntres. This is a podcast that I have been listening to for a bonkers amount of years and I always try and search John out and thank him for what he does. I highly recommend having a try. It is, in the main, an interview show with some of the best in the industry.

I managed to introduce John to Christian Wildgoose and we chatted about a possible  Wordballoon/Awesome Comics Podcast crossover event!

Check it out on iTunes or follow the podcast on Twitter @johnwordballoon

It was also great catching up with old pal Sarah Woolley. I bought her book Charlotte and the Quiet Place, written by Deborah Sosin, a couple of years ago for a friend's kids and they absolutely loved it!

We chatted about her newly released art in Bitch Planet: Triple Feature. Search her out online and buy some of her work. Top stuff. If you are at the convention, then head over to Booth L-10 in Artists Alley.

You can find her online at www.sarawoolley.com or follow her on Twitter @SaritaJeanine

With the change in layout after the knocking down of the building that used to be a home for Artists Alley I've noticed that things, events or signings seem to be cropping up in all the nooks and crannies of the Javitts. The DC/Vertigo booth is down on the ground floor at the far end. It's got a small signing/queueing area and a small exhibition of the Justice League movie costumes.

It seemed a little out of the way and out of place somehow. Jim Lee was sat on his own at a table (and you don't see that often). Later in the day, David Finch looked a tiny bit lonely?

The United Kingdom was, as always, out in force at the NYCC. The Titan Comics booth was looking spiffy and after spending a couple of minutes only at the 2000AD booth, I began to suspect that there may be a few sore heads from the previous night's larking about. That's a tradition I am proud to say continues.

I also bagged myself a copy of the Steve Dillon Memorial Charity Sketchbook (for sale for $10 at the 2000AD booth) that is being sold to raise money for the Hero Initiative. As previously reported on downthetubes, it boasts a heartbreaking image of Steve himself by Bill Sienkiewicz and contains art from a who's who of talent on interiors.

You can buy a copy or donate to this worthy cause at www.heroinitiative.org. It will also be on sale at the MCM London convention on 27th – 29th October.

Garth Ennis tribute to Steve Dillon is here on downthetubes.

I closed the day out with a panel - and it was a cracker. Run by IDW, it was split into two parts. The first dealt with the new Shelly Bond spearheaded Black Crown imprint and featured spotlights on some great books. It was brilliant to see Peter Milligan (who will be at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival next weekend) taking centre stage and talking about his upcoming series Kid Lobotomy. Then Shelly introduced some pages from Punks Not Dead with art by the mighty Martin Simmonds - I can't wait to see what comes from this company that is shaping up to be the new Vertigo!

There's more about the Black Crown imprint here on the IDW web site, and they have posted their Black Crown ashcan here (note the various "adult content" warnings if you decide to view this direct on Issuu).

Then we heard about the new quarterly comics/magazine hybrid, Full Bleed, that has been killing it on Kickstarter. Bob Fingerman chatted about his water coloured portraits of scurrilous politicians with real passion and humour. I can't wait to get my hands on this new series.

You can find the Kickstarter for it here.

Titan Comics stand at the con

For those Original Art junkies, here's a selection of the pages I leafed through today....

If only I had a bigger bank account!!!

I also captured Batgirl meeting her artist at Christian Wildgoose's table in the afternoon.

I'm not at the con tomorrow as the Saturday is like ramming your head into a rugby scrum for ten hours, so I'll probably just post photos of me in a robe on my Never Iron Anything blog at the day spa for the report tomorrow...

Many thanks for reading.

Dulwich Picture Gallery to host first major British exhibition devoted to Tove Jansson

Hot on the heels of the Moomin-related activities at this year's Lakes International Comic Art Festival, there's an exhibition of the work of their creator Tove Jansson at Dulwich Picture Gallery, which starts on Wednesday 25th October 2017 and runs until 28th January 2018.

One of the most celebrated illustrators of the 20th century, Tove Jansson is known internationally as creator of the Moomin characters and books, a phenomenon which continues to stretch across generations. Her wider outputs of graphic illustration and painting, however, are relatively unseen outside her home country of Finland.

150 works, including a selection of self-portraits and paintings never seen before in the UK will reintroduce Jansson as an artist of exceptional breadth and talent, and provide an insightful overview of the key stages of her prolific career. 

Ultimately, Jansson’s most enduring desire was to be an artist and this exhibition will reveal the unwavering passion that kept her working and exhibiting as an accomplished fine artist alongside her career in graphic illustration.

Tove Marika Jansson was born in 1914 in Helsinki to the graphic artist, Signe Hammarsten and the sculptor Viktor Jansson. She grew up with her two brothers Per Olov and Lars in an ambitious artistic family, living and breathing art. The open-minded, bohemian atmosphere encouraged the talented young Jansson to search for her own artistic expression, which produced striking results with intuitive certainty from an early age.

In the midst of the mass bombings of Helsinki in 1944, Jansson managed to get an attic studio in the centre of the Helsinki. The studio became her cherished home, a source of power and a haven, where she created her most renowned paintings and texts. It was there that Jansson finished her first story featuring Moomintroll.

The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945) was the first volume in the series that was to become the most prominent and best-known part of Jansson’s career as an artist. 

As a writer, Jansson did not want the stunning success of Moomins to limit her freedom either. After Moominvalley in November (1970), it was time for something new.

In 1968, she had published the childhood description Sculptor’s Daughter for adult readers, but it was the acclaimed collection The Listener (1971) that showcased her as a short story writer for the first time.

Jansson’s studio in Helsinki was dedicated for work, but since her childhood, she had fallen in love with the sea and archipelago (a love reflected in the Lakes Festival's exhibition, Tales from the Nordic Archipelago, which continues at Kendal Museum until 2nd November).

She spent many summers on the tiny island of Klovharu in the Gulf of Finland. There and in her frequent travels abroad, she was accompanied by her life partner Tuulikki Pietilä, graphic artist and professor.

• Tove Jansson (1914 - 2001) 25th October  2017 - 28th January 2018 Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, Southwark SE21 7AD | Exhibition Information and related events | Buy tickets

• Official Moomin web site: www.moomin.com

• Tove Jansson books on Amazon.co.uk

New York Comic Con 2017: Day One

Tony Esmond reports from across the Atlantic on his first day at New York Comic Con 2017...

(Day One - mandatory haul photo)

Last night was a doozy. I met up with Marc Laming, Amri and Adrian Hashimi (check out www.adrianhashimi.com for some of the best art you'll see), the Mighty Harrower and Mr Bob Fingerman. The aim was to have drinks with some buddies and stay up as late as humanly possible. I ended up drinking at a bar with Bob until late and stumbling back to my room.

Bob Fingerman is the kind of guy that it's a privilege to know. His book Minimum Wage remains one of my favourite ever comics and he is always funny and thoughtful. He's got an IDW panel at 6.45pm on Friday at the NYCC. Head down. Find more about this creator at www.bobfingerman.com or on Twitter @fingerbo

I now have a small yet perky hangover!



I got to the venue about an hour and a half early - just about early enough to sail through the metal detectors and line up in the hall, which was long and packed - but everyone was in good spirits and friendly. It was good to hear much talking about comics as we waited.

Myself and Mr Harrower examined the day's events whilst in the huge line. (See above photos for an interesting reaction). For the first time ever, NYCC staff took pity on us and they let everyone in around fifteen minutes early. The main floor and lobby was already a rugby scrum. I don't have a clue where all these people could have come from!

We made for artists alley which was still calm(ish). I heard talk that it was taking exhibitors a good hour to get in themselves and subsequently quite a few of the desks were empty.

We talked our way around the aisles and met up again with Mr Laming and Christian Wildgoose, as well as Brent Schoonover and Brian Vander.

Brent Schoonover from Captain Marvel - left - and Marc Laming from Star Wars and X-Men Gold on the right. I actially challenge you to find better comissions in the hall this year as I watched both of them kick it out of the park all day!

Christian Wildgoose from DC's Batgirl on the left and Brian Vander from Reckless Heroes' Operation Boom on the right. This table is known widely as 'Party Central'

In my wanders, I got to have a good chat with Russ Braun about his and Garth Ennis's new Aftershock Comics series Jimmy's Bastards. I bought some signed copies and his new sketchbook. This is a cracking series and full of the humour that runs on from these creators run on The Boys.

Bumped into the three 11 O'clock comics Podcast guys and shot the proverbial!

Sarah Graley

I caught up with UK creator Sarah Graley who was experiencing her first NYCC and was heading off to take part in a couple of panels. The artist on 'Kim Reaper and Rick and Morty can be found at www.sarahgraley.bigcartel.com or on Twitter @sarahgraleyart



A few circles of Artists Alley and I braved the main floor and ought a handful of back issues and then made for the Valiant booth. I got to chat to possibly the most positive man in comics, Dinesh Shamdasani. We talked about all their stable of books. My only complaint is that I own pretty much everything on their stall!

If you want to get on the Valiant bandwagon I would highly recommend Divinity and The Valiant as entry level drugs! Great stories, well considered action heroes, class writers and artists.

One of the best things about wandering the sales floor on the slightly less busy Thursday is that there is plenty of room to grab some back issues and also look at the ruddy amazing original art on show!

Have a look at these really old and imaginative pieces I spotted.

Jim Steranklo (that's some barnet!)

The main hall was a bit more managable through the day and myself and Matt Harrower took the opportunity to grab a few presents for pals back home fill some holes in the back issue lists.

Claudio Sanchez

We also managed to grab some time with Claudio Sanchez from the band band Coheed and Cambria. Along with his wife Chondra Echert and Daniel Bayliss, they produced one of my favourite series from the last few years -  Translucid. A book that cleverly flips the hero and villain cliches in a trippy and colourful style. You can get it in trade from www.boom-studios.com and I highly recommend it.

Danile Warren Johnson

What would the NYCC be without a chat and a purchase from Daniel Warren Johnson. I grabbed the trade of Extremity from him for my son and he handed me Cherno his Pacific Rim fan comic.

His art will blow your preconceptions of what you can get on a page. Uppon showing it to a couple of pals who were busy at their tables I had to nip back to get more!

Head over to www.space-mullet.com or follow him on Twitter @danielwarrenart

A small tip for anyone attending on the other days - get your shopping done in the last hour of the day on the sales floor. It began really thinning out at about 6.30pm.

Roll on Day 2!

Many thanks for reading....

Walking Dead exhibition opens in New York today at the Metropolis Gallery

If you're in New York for New York Comic Con right now, then you may be interested to know the Metropolis Gallery is hosting a free Walking Dead Comic Art Exhibit …just a ten-minute stagger from the Javits Center.

The Walking Dead exhibit, which opens this evening (6th October) and runs until 1st December 2017, features original comic art, TV production art and CGC graded comics celebrating the ‘TWD’ zombie phenomenon. 

At Metropolis, a unique gallery dedicated to comic art, fans can feast their eyes on the world’s most complete collection of Walking Dead comics and art.

“This show features the best of everything,” says Vincent Zurzolo, Metropolis Gallery curator and co-owner of Metropolis Collectibles, “from the highest-grade copy of the first comic book in the series…to Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard’s original art featuring iconic scenes…to concept art created by the late, great John Watkiss to inspire the TV production.”

The exhibit precedes a massive Walking Dead auction - featuring the first auction of the more than 500 pieces of art and 750 comic book - ending on 5th December 2017 and on Metropolis’ online auction site, ComicConnect.com.

The collection is valued at $500,000 and, remarkably, it all belongs to a single consignor, James Johnson, a contractor on the Jersey shore whose passion for zombies dates back to George Romero’s horror classic, Night of the Living Dead. He started his collection after getting hooked on the TV series in 2010.

“I started by collecting TV props,” says Johnson, who also collects baseball cards, stamps, gas promo trucks and toy soldiers. “Like many people, I didn’t even know the show was based on a comic book. But once I found out, I became obsessed with building the ultimate collection of Walking Dead comics and comic art—I’m a completist.”

But now Johnson is giving other collectors a chance to gorge on his treasures. These include the highest-grade copy of Walking Dead #1—which holds a 9.9 CGC rating out of a possible 10—and artwork featuring favourite characters such as Rick, Michonne, Negan, The Governor, Ezekiel, Tyreese, Glenn and more.

“The Walking Dead is a worldwide phenomenon,” says Zurzolo. “Yes, it’s about zombies, but what hooks people in is watching people make their way in a post-apocalyptic world without rules—and of course, with zombies. This collection is a phenomenon, too, because of its breadth and depth. There’s nothing like it.”

Don't forget that if you can't make it to New York, Walking Dead artist and Comics Laureate Charlie Adlard is at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival next weekend!

• The exhibit’s opening reception will be held Friday 6th October from 6.00 - 9.00pm and is open to the public. Thereafter, the exhibit is open for viewing Tuesday - Friday, 11.00am - 5.00pm until 1st December 2017

• The Metropolis Gallery is located at 36 West 37th Street, 6th Floor—just 10 minutes on foot from the Javits Center - so expected ravenous TWD fans will make their way from Comic Con to devour the collection en masse

• Metropolis Gallery web site: www.metropolisgallerynyc.com

• Click here for The Walking Dead auction

• Click here to view art for sale at Metropolis Gallery

Netflix orders "Raising Dion", based on director Dennis Liu's young superhero comics project

Netflix has ordered a ten-episode season of Raising Dion, a new SF drama series based on a comic book of the same name by award-winning director Dennis Liu, illustrated by Jason Piperberg.

In the comic, Nicole, a young, African American single mother discovers that her young son has magical abilities. Life was hard enough keeping up with the bills - let alone trying to keep track of her seven-year-old son’s invisibility, plasma powers and telekinesis.

In order to study his progress, Nicole films her son 24/7, with the help of her friend, Pat, who is an aspiring filmmaker. But when Nicole starts to notice mysterious men tailing her, and with Dion’s developing abilities constantly changing and becoming more powerful and possibly evil, she must find the courage deep within herself that she can raise Dion on her own.

Raising Dion was also made into a short film. Here's the trailer:

Carol Barbee, executive producer on Lifetime’s UnReal, will serve as executive producer and showrunner and actor Michael B. Jordan will also serve as an executive producer, and will appear in the series as the titular character’s deceased father.

• You can download the first issue of the comic for free on Dennis Liu's web site (www.dennis-liu.com) or buy a physical copy to support the creation of the next issue

• Find the Raising Dion project on Facebook

Parables of Care - a free comic about dementia that will touch your heart

Here's a touching new comic you can read for free online: Parables of Care. Creative Responses to Dementia Care, as Told by Carers is now available. 

This16-page publication presents true stories of creative responses to dementia care, as told by carers, drawn by Dr Simon Grennan (whose credits include the graphic novel, Disspossession) with Christopher Sperandio, and edited and adapted by Simon, Dr Ernesto Priego (City, University of London, who downthetubes readers will recognise as editor at the Comics Grid) and Dr Peter Wilkins (Douglas College).

It's a short comic, but there are some lovely one page strips included that will touch your heart, especially if you have had direct experience of, or cared for dementia sufferers. Some won't make for an easy read, but others offer valuable ideas for coping with stressful situations for both sufferers and carers.

The comic - available as a free online download, or, if you live in the UK, available as a print comic by order, is is a project of the Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design, City, University of London, The University of Chester, UK, and the Douglas College in Vancouver, Canada.

"Research has shown that comics have the potential to have a positive impact on the health and quality of life of people who engage in comics reading and creation," says Ernesto, "contributing to transform attitudes, awareness and behaviour around illness and contributing to create new opportunities for empowerment and more positive behaviour.

"Parables of Care explores the potential of comics to enhance the impact of dementia care research in particular - and seeks to make a contribution to enhancing the public impact of the best practices in dementia care resulting from City HCID research by exploring and embracing the communicative affordances of graphic storytelling in general and graphic medicine in specific.

"We hope that Parables of Care contributes to enabling stronger links between academia, dementia care practice and comics scholars and practitioners."

This is a smashing, thought-provoking short read, well worth your coffee or tea break. Check it out.

• Download Parables of Care. Creative Responses to Dementia Care, as Told by Carers  as a PDF file, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, from City Research Online here - there is no need to register, just click on 'download' next to the file thumbnail

• If you live in the UK you can request printed copies at no cost here

• Read more about the project here

In Review: Ismyre by B. Mure

Review by Tony Esmond

Ismyre by B. Mure
Full Colour - 80 pages
Published by Avery Hill Publishing

"A fantasy mystery story..."

The Story: In the city of Ismyre, Ed the sculptor works as his widower neighbour sings strange melodies late into the night. He places the finished figurine on the shelf and notices that there is an empty space where another one should be. Perplexed, he sleeps, whilst his neighbour continues to croon. Meanwhile, across the city, a government building explodes into a mess of plants and flowers...

Exploring themes of loneliness in cities, ecology, craftsmanship and the self doubt that goes with making things; Ismyre is a quiet and fantastical mystery tale set in an old world of ordinary magic...

The Preview: This is a book that I have been waiting to see for a while now. Dave and Ricky from Avery Hill publishing had the table next to ours at London Super Comicon last month and spoke about how much they were looking forward to its release.

Ismyre opens on a quote that struck an obviously contradictory cord with me as I read onwards:

'The sculptor carves because he must' - Barbara Hepworth

The central character is an anthropomorphic cat. He is a cat with worries in a number of areas. He seems unable to commit artistically, he sleeps badly, he seems generally an everyman leaf blown on the whims or people he meets and also has the problem that someone keeps breaking in to his flat and stealing his sculptures. So let's observe the contradiction that he must carve, but for a while does not and is worried about sculpting in ice (so stick that in your pompous quote, Ms Hepworth!).

It's actually the moments that lampoon so-called creatives that made me smile the most in this comic. It's hard not to see them as dunderheads from time to time - and this certainly had me chuckling,

Strange drunken friendships are made, scurrilous government officials are met and observed being really quite badly behaved (wags finger), a woman who looks like a crocodile acts as an artists agent - and there is some strangely crap magic in the mix.

The story itself is a strange one to me. It jumps about and at moments lacks any real direction. I sat and watched as the characters dashed, argued, sang, slept and plotted. It's a slice of the strangely absurd at moments. It leaves you curious and a tiny bit confused at moments too. It's not really for kids and steps over the line to be an adult comic through setting and words.

'Genius never tells, or sleeps. But snacks are very important.' 

(I try never to believe foxes!)

But, obviously, the story takes a large second place to the sumptuous hues and line-work of the art. The city at night sits in greys and blues and golds and opens on some really gorgeous set pieces. The initial moments of the neighbour singing in the otherwise quiet and action free night is something I could stare at all day.

The art looks straight out of a Roald Dahl book with the added bonus of being carefully detailed and sequentially pleasing. It's a loose cartoony style and B Mure shows us some real style with the characters featured.

My favourite by far is the character echoing that bad boy of the past Mr Fox in the shape of 'Faustine'. A mystery of a character, who keeps having to dash off for babysitting duty or just decides at a moments notice to kick a front door.

To me, this is a book that you can return to again and again. Don't worry about the scattershot plotting style - just dive in and enjoy the nattering dialogue and absolutely glorious visuals.

Another worthy addition to the Avery Hill stable.

• Find out more about this book and others at www.averyhillpublishing.com or follow them on Twitter @AveryHillPublbr | Avery Hill Publishing titles on amazon.co.uk

Now.... Where's that Faustine spin-off comic!?

Many thanks for reading