Photo Review: Dundee Comics Day 2012 - Part 2

The Dundee Comics Day has been running as part of the Dundee Literary Festival at Dundee University since 2008 under the guiding hand of Dr Chris Murray of the School of Humanities (above). The event treads the fine line between the accessibility of a public Lit Fest and the seriousness of an academic conference and now, with comics courses being run at the university, it now adds an educational element for the course students. While the main day of this year's DCD was, as usual, on the Sunday, this year the event did expand out somewhat with a screening of the documentary Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods at the Dundee Contemporary Arts cinema on the Friday night and a talk and signing session with artist Dave Gibbons on the Saturday afternoon. The downthetubes photo review of the Dave Gibbons event is here.

The main day however was Sunday 28 October 2012 under the titleInvisible Symmetries: The Comics Of Grant Morrison, with Grant Morrison himself and a selection of his British and Canadian artistic collaborators. The number of attendees at Dundee Comics Day has increased over the years as the guest list has increased and as more people hear about the event. Last year's DCD, with its predominance of 2000AD art and script droids, had perhaps the largest turnout to date but the Dave Gibbons talk on the Saturday appeared to match that turnout while the appearance of Grant Morrison on the Sunday easily brought DCD's largest turnout in all the years that it has been running.

The hour long morning session was devoted to Chris Murray interviewing Grant at the front of the large and well equipped lecture theatre before opening the discussion out to include questions from the audience. This took in his earliest work on Near Myths and Starblazer, through his IPC and Marvel UK work and onto his better known American superhero work. While the difference between Chris' academic questions and the audience's more fannish questions was noticeable, Grant took them all in his stride and, for all the adulation he receives from some sections of comics fandom, he quickly relaxed into the interview and came across as a regular guy.

Lunch gave the attendees a chance to inspect the entries in the Dundee Comics Prize competition for a 3 page story and cover for an update of the 1940s DC Thomson superhero character Mister X which were in the corridor outside the main lecture theatre or the original 2000AD and Megazine artwork on display upstairs in the Baxter Suite exhibition The Art Of Judge Dredd. The cold buffet selection for lunch was included in the cost of the £15 ticket which covered both the Saturday and Sunday events.

After lunch came five of Grant's artists in a run of half hour talks which normally included a QandA element at the end. First up was Rian Hughes (below) who has previously appeared at DCD several years back. He covered the Grant Morrison Dan Dare series in Revolver and Crisis that he had illustrated plus he gave a general overview of his work including a vast selection of logos for various DC comics as well as stylised versions of Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Supergirl for DC 's merchandising arm.

Next up was Frazer Irving (below) who concentrated on displaying and talking about the covers that he has produced for 2000AD and DC Wildstorm. Fraser was the first of the guests to connected his iPad to the lecture theatre's main screen and it proved to be an interesting and much more dynamic and interactive experience than the more traditional Power Point presentations as he zoomed into the specific covers and then into details on the given cover before moving on to his next subject.

The second break of the day allowed the first of the two signing sessions to take place in the Baxter Suite. The increased number of attendees did put a strain on what in previous years had been relatively quick signing queues and this first signing session ran over so badly that it had to be curtailed to allow the next batch of guests to give their talks. While it may not have been obvious to the academic organisers, perhaps not being used to such behaviour, it was obvious to those of us in the audience that some attendees were expecting to get serious numbers of books and comics autographed based on the piles of items that they were arranging and rearranging during the talks. Indeed an announcement had to be made prior to the second signing session that only one or two items should be presented for signature.

The third session of guest talks brought Frank Quitely (above) back to Dundee having appeared at DCD last year. With pages of the newly remastered Flex Mentallo on the screen behind him, he talked and took questions about his work with Grant and his current artistic style. For someone perhaps best known for his DC work, when asked what characters he would like to work he he listed Spiderman, Daredevil and the Hulk.

Next up was Canadian Cameron Stewart (above) who pointed out that his first "collaboration" with Grant Morrison was when he donned a Zenith outfit for a costume party in Canada many years before. As with some of the other guests, Cameron described the differences he had experienced between working traditionally with paper and then moving on to creating his art digitally.

The final guest of the day was artist and colourist Peter Doherty (below) who chose, perhaps wisely as the fifth of five artists talking that day, to concentrate on his colouring work showing examples of his Judge Dredd work as well as, of course, Flex Mentallo. Peter's laid back presentation concluded the guest's individual talks for the day after which most attendees made for the Baxter Suite again to join the long signing queue as the scheduled time of the concluding roundtable discussion came and went.

Indeed while the Dave Gibbons signing on the Saturday was scheduled at the end of Dave's talk with nothing due after it, the length of it was never really going to be an issue. However it was the signing sessions, more than the couple of technical glitches with the presentation equipment, that proved the most problematic for Sunday's schedule. The scheduling and control of the signing sessions is something that, while never really a problem before at the Dundee Comics Day, will need to be reconsidered for the future.

That said the weekend's events were interesting mixture with a good selection of presentations and presenting styles and all the guests seemingly relaxed about answering questions about their work. It certainly was something of a coup for Dundee to get both Dave Gibbons and Grant Morrison, as well as so many of Grant's artistic collaborators, to take the time to attend this year.

Indeed given that this year the event had Dave Gibbons, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely appearing, there is really only one other British comics creator that could top those names for next year - but no pressure there Chris!

There are more details of the Dundee Comics Day on its Facebook page.

There are more details of comics studies at the University Of Dundee at the University's website.

Photo Review: Dundee Comics Day 2012 - Part 1

The Dundee Comics Day returned to Dundee University's Tower Building for its fifth year as part of the Dundee Literary Festival and this year the normally one day event spread out over the weekend. Friday 26 October saw a screening of the documentary Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods at the Dundee Contemporary Arts cinema which tied in with the main Sunday event, Invisible Symmetries: The Comics Of Grant Morrison.

 

Before the main day on the Sunday, Saturday afternoon brought artist Dave Gibbons to Dundee almost forty years after his first DC Thomson strip, The Wriggling Wrecker, was published. With the Lit Fest's programme having to be published before this event was firmed up, it was described very generically as a 'Comics Workshop'.

 

Anyone expecting to be handed a pencil and a piece of paper as they entered was going to be disappointed however - but not for long. On the day Dave Gibbons stood in front of a busy lecture theatre for over one and a half hours talking about his career, his process for taking a script page through to a final coloured and lettered art page (a shortened version of the lecture he had given at Dundee's Duncan Of Jordanstone College of Art and Design the day before), and finally gave a demonstration of the Madefire e-comics app that he is involved with.

 

At ease in front of the audience, and with plenty of anecdotes and humour in his talks, this made for a fascinating and informative event that seemed to go down very well with the audience. When it was announced that there would be the expected signing session afterwards virtually everyone adjourned upstairs to the Baxter Suite (currently the location of the university's Art Of Judge Dredd exhibition).

 

With a queue of people stretching over half way around the suite, Dave started into signing and sometimes sketching in the books presented to him most of which, it has to be said, were various editions of Watchmen. As the good-natured queue slowly worked its way around the room Dave dedicated his signatures and took the time for a quick chat and to shake the hand of each person there.

 

If any criticism could be levelled at the Dundee Comics Days of previous years then it would be the fact that most guests are only allocated 20 minutes to give their talk or presentation followed by 10 minutes of questions from the audience. For guests with decades of experience in British comics, and much to tell, this is simply not long enough. The 1.5 hours of Dave Gibbons' talk showed that this mold can be successfully broken especially with such a interesting, knowledgeable and courteous guest.

You can follow Dave Gibbons on his Twitter Feed.

There are more details of the Madefire App on the Madefire website.

Dave Gibbons guests at Dundee Literary Festival

Another reminder about events in Dundee next weekend, that are part of the Dundee Literary Festival.

On Saturday 27th October Dundee University welcomes special guest Dave Gibbons, one of the most famous comics artists in the world, and best known as the co-creator of Watchmen, the ground-breaking graphic novel written by Alan Moore and drawn by Gibbons.

Gibbons will deliver a talk on the theme of Creating Comics, and will discuss his own methods for producing comic art, and in particular, his use of Manga Studio, which he will demonstrate. He will also lead a workshop on this theme, which anyone can participate in, but would be particularly useful for anyone who has ever considered creating a comic.

Dr Chris Murray, lecturer in Comics Studies at the School of Humanities and Director of the Scottish Centre for Comics Studies said “it is a tremendous honour for us to host a workshop with Dave Gibbons. He is a hugely talented and influential figure”. He added, “to have Dave Gibbons and Grant Morrison in Dundee on the same weekend is astounding - we are very proud that comics creators of this calibre are supportive of the Comics Studies courses and events that the University of Dundee is leading”.

Phil Vaughan, lecturer at DJCAD added, “comics students at the Art College and in Humanities will benefit enormously from meeting Dave Gibbons and Grant Morrison, and hearing about their creative processes”.

"It's also good to see such interest from the general public in these events," notes Chris, "as this demonstrates that for many Dundee’s proud history as one of the homes of comics production is still something that has a great deal of resonance”.

The talk and workshop are open to the general public, but are ticketed (£15 full price, £7.50 concession). This ticket also allows access to Dundee Comics Day on Sunday 28th October, which features comics superstar Grant Morrison, along with several of his collaborators, including Frank Quietly, Peter Doherty, Rian Hughes, Frazer Irving and Cameron Stewart. The events will be held in the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre and Baxter Suite, Tower Building, University of Dundee. More information is available here: http://on.fb.me/WgJH1t

To buy tickets, please visit www.literarydundee.co.uk or http://bit.ly/SXEityTickets are also available from Literary Dundee, 6th floor, Tower Building, University of Dundee, tel. 01382 384413. Please note, this workshop and talk is part of a wider event called “The Comics of Grant Morrison”, so that should be selected. One ticket allows access to all events on Saturday 27th and 28th October.

 

Grant Morrison headlnes Dundee Comics Day

A reminder that one of the world’s most successful comics writers, Grant Morrison, heads the stellar line-up of top industry talent appearing at this year’s Dundee Comics Day.

The annual event, part of the Dundee Literary Festival, takes place on Sunday, 28th October and this year’s programme, entitled ‘Invisible Symmetries: The Comics of Grant Morrison’, celebrates the work of the Glasgow-born writer.

It will be preceded by two special events in the run-up to Comics Day – a screening of the documentary ‘Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods’ at Dundee Contemporary Arts on Friday 26th, and a two-hour workshop on creating comics using Manga Studio on Saturday 27th. This workshop will be delivered by Dave Gibbons, the co-creator of Watchmen and one of the world’s most respected comics artists.

Grant Morrison began his career at the famous Dundee publishers DC Thomson before going on to work for Marvel and DC Comics and write for many of the world’s best-loved publications, including Superman, Batman and X-Men.

He will be discussing his approach to writing comics, his thoughts about superheroes (as expressed in his recent book Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero), and his experience of working with some of the best comics artists in the world.

Joining him at the event will be several of his collaborators, including Frank Quietly, Peter Doherty, Rian Hughes, Frazer Irving and Cameron Stewart. They will talk about their experience of working with Grant Morrison, as well as discussing their wider careers and future projects.

Dr Chris Murray, event organiser and one of the UK's foremost authorities on the subject, said Grant Morrison’s upcoming appearance was causing a great deal of excitement among comics fans.

“Grant Morrison is, quite simply, a legend in the world of comics,” he said. “Having him come here is a real honour and we are absolutely delighted to be able to pay tribute to a truly great comics writer.

“The fact he is Scottish and began his career with DC Thomson is testament to the great comics tradition here. We have a fantastic line up of other artists and writers and this is an event no true comics fan should miss. We know that people are planning to travel considerable distances for this year’s Dundee Comics Day so I’d advise people to get their tickets fast.”

Dundee is one of the great powerhouses of comics production, not just in the UK, but internationally. The publisher DC Thomson is at the heart of the city, with its long running comics, The Beano and The Dandy, and a host of beloved characters, such as Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan, and the Bash Street Kids.

Building on this local tradition and expertise, the University of Dundee is currently leading the way in this emerging academic field, with modules on comics at undergraduate level and the UK’s first Masters course in Comics Studies.

The Scottish Centre for Comics Studies (SCCS) is based at the University, bringing together researchers, teachers, archivists, artists and writers, industry professionals, and others involved in the promotion of Comics Studies.

Comics Day has been held annually since 2007 and has attracted some of the biggest names in the industry, including artists, historians, scholars and writers, in that time. It is designed to appeal to anyone with an interest in comics, and will be accompanied by an exhibition of comic art work. Book signings, talks and the announcement of the Dundee Comics Prize winners will also take place.

The events will be held in the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre and Baxter Suite, Tower Building, University of Dundee. More information about any of the events is available by contacting Dr Murray at c.murrayATdundee.ac.uk.

• To buy tickets, please visit www.literarydundee.co.uk. Tickets are also available from Literary Dundee, 6th floor, Tower Building, University of Dundee, tel 01382 384413.

 

Treating Comics Seriously - Six Questions for Dr Chris Murray

Dr Chris Murray is a lecturer and programme convenor in English for Dundee University's School of Humanities with research interests in comics, film and popular culture. He has contributed articles to the academic International Journal of Comic Art, Gothic Studies, and several books on comics, and has written a book on comics and propaganda. He is also editor of the peer-reviewed comics journal, Studies in Comics.

Chris organises and runs the Dundee Comics Day event, now part of the Literary Dundee festival, that since 2007 has grown out of a purely academic conference to become a day of talks and presentations from comics professionals plus an associated art exhibition.

Beginning with the 2011/2012 academic year, he will be running the post-graduate Master of Literature (MLitt) in Comics Studies at Dundee that was derided by MP Tom Harris, the Labour MP for Glasgow South, when it was announced.

Jeremy Briggs talked to Chris about the reaction to the MLitt announcement as well as his plans for this year's Dundee Comics Day.


downthetubes: Much was said in June about the new MLitt in Comics Studies course at Dundee. Could you tell us what the course is about and the academic requirements needed to take part?

Chris Murray: The course aims to provide a space for the academic appreciation of comics at postgraduate level. I already teach some undergraduate courses on comics, so it seemed time for the next step. There is certainly a gap in the market for this kind of course, and a demand for it. The course, contrary to the views expressed by Tom Harris, has a wide remit, with one module on autobiographical and documentary comics, another comparing various international comics traditions, and a third which is for those with an interest in creating comics. All students also write a dissertation on an aspect of comics history.

The normal entry requirements are the same for any MLitt course in the Humanities (a 2.1 degree), but as it isn’t very likely that anyone will have an undergraduate degree in Comics Studies there has to be some flexibility in terms of the discipline. Some of the students who have been applying have a degree in a Humanities subject, such as English, Film Studies or History, whereas others have Art degrees. One of the applicants who inquired about entry next year has a degree in Astro-Physics but wants to study comics!

The appeal of the course has been quite wide, but the course isn’t just an opportunity to pursue a hobby in a University setting. Many of the students currently on the course want to pursue comics academically, others want to be creators, or work in the creative industries, whereas others are using it as a means of professional development (yes – we have someone who currently works in the comics industry taking the course!).

DTT: MP Tom Harris’ tweets, which rather showed his ignorance about the MLitt, caused a flurry of indignation amongst the British comics community that was picked up on by some of the Scottish press. What was it like to be at the centre of a mini storm?


Chris: I take things like that in my stride these days. I knew there would be some backlash, and there’s been things like that in the media before (Biff! Bam! Crikey! Comics in Universities, eggheads read comics, blah, blah, blah…) but having taught comics and researched comics for several years I don’t feel like I have to prove anything to Tom Harris. I’m part of a growing community of comics scholars, and I can tell you there is some incredible work being done by these highly talented and driven people. Comics Studies is here. We aren’t waiting for the approval for everyone with an opinion and access to a Twitter account.

My abiding memory of that incident was the huge amount of support that came my way, not least from downthetubes, but also from David Lloyd and lots of other people I’d never met who just wrote to me out of the blue to express their support. The University, and Dundee politicians, were also very supportive.

In the end, so much flak was flying in Harris’ direction from so many people that I just stood back and let them set him straight. The most surprising thing was that a politician would believe what was written in a tabloid. Hook, line and sinker. He made his comments based on a tabloid story and didn’t even check his facts. You’d think a politician would be a bit more savvy. Then again, it’s been mentioned to me that certain politicians use Twitter to drop little controversial nuggets out there to generate a bit of hype and to create an image for themselves. Far be it from me to suggest that this was the case here.

DTT: In my review of the 2010 Dundee Comics Day, which included talks from Pat Mills, Alan Davis and Dez Skinn, I described it as "the highlight of my comics year so far". How do you plan to top last year's programme?

Chris: Luckily for us the UK is home to an astounding array of comics talent. This year we have John Wagner, Frank Quietly, Cam Kennedy, Robbie Morrison and Colin MacNeil, which I’m sure you’ll agree is a pretty amazing line up.

I’m working with Phil Vaughan this year (he is a lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, where he is delivering some modules on comics). We sat down and came up with our wish list, and they all signed on! Our only concern was what we’d do for 2012. But rest assured, we have something pretty exciting lined up…

DTT: Over the years the exhibitions tying in with the Comics Day and its spin-offs have included original artwork borrowed from the DC Thomson archive, from early pages of the Dandy, Beano and Magic right up to covers and internal artwork from Starblazer on display. Is there an associated exhibition with this year's Comics Day?

Chris: Yes, we have a display of artwork from Commando, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. The exhibition, curated by Matthew Jarron (Museum Services, University of Dundee), just went up. It looks great. I love the Ian Kennedy stuff in particular. It was a real treat to go to the Commando offices to pick out the artwork for the exhibition and speak to the editor Calum Laird, who provided us with some great material and some cracking anecdotes!.

DTT: Could you tell us a little about the Studies In Comics journal and how it differs from a commercial comics magazine such as Comics Heroes or a comics fanzine like Crikey?


Chris: Studies in Comics, which I co-edit with my partner-in-crime, Dr Julia Round (University of Bournemouth), is a peer-reviewed academic journal. It comes out twice a year from Intellect. The journal exists to provide a forum for academic work on comics, although that can be from any perspective.

The thing that distinguishes an academic journal from a commercial magazine or a fanzine is that academic work is usually designed to address the subject matter from a theoretical position, or to advance a methodology for criticism and analysis.

I enjoy Comics Heroes, and they’ve had some great articles and interview. Likewise, I thought that (the much-missed) Crikey! had some very well-researched articles on comics history. However, they are not intended to work in the same way as an academic journal. They are different tools for different jobs, although I think that the co-existence of commercial magazines, fanzines and academic journals is great and they all enrich one another.

DTT: Your book Champions of the Oppressed: Superhero Comics, Propaganda and Popular Culture in America During World War Two was recently published by Northampton Press in the USA. Can you tell us a little about it and how your interest in the subject began?

Chris: I’ve always been interested in comics. My earliest memories are of looking at comics and being fascinated by them. This never went away, despite the fact that I also became very interested in literature, especially William Blake, Thomas Hardy, T.S. Eliot, and so on. I also loved film and art. When I was at University I studied literature (after very nearly going to art college). I always felt that there was an undeniable connection between literature, art, film and comics.

When I came to study literature academically I found that any theory or critical position that could be adopted to study literature could be applied just as readily to comics, and the connections between comics and the other mediums were obvious. What was fascinating though were the differences, what comics could do differently, or better.

When I discovered that I could write my undergraduate dissertation on anything I wanted, as long as I could get a tutor to approve it, I lined up my arguments and knocked on Dr Keith Williams’ door. He worked on modernism, media and science fiction, so I though there was a good chance he’d hear me out.

As things went, he was more than happy to discuss the project, and to supervise it. He later supervised my PhD. I have a lot to thank Keith for. He was always encouraging, yet challenged me always to be rigorous and thorough. Likewise Roger Sabin and Paul Gravett, who’ve always been incredibly supportive.

When you have people you respect standing behind you, and colleagues like Julia Round, Billy Grove, and Phil Vaughan, standing beside you, some ill-informed rants on Twitter don’t really add up to much.

The book grew out of the PhD and allowed me to explore the political messages communicated by comics during the Second World War. I argue that comics were able to go a lot further than many other mediums, notably film, in presenting propaganda messages, as they were less regulated by government. It was a fascinating topic to research and gave me a new insight into the power of the superhero as an icon, and as a metaphor for ideological positions.

My current research is on British comic writers and artists, and I’m very much enjoying working on this. As I said earlier, the UK is home to incredible talent. It makes sense to be researching this in Dundee, one of the great homes of British comics publishing, and to be taking this research into the classroom.

DTT: Chris, thank-you for your time.

The Dundee Comics Day will take place in Dundee University on Sunday 30 October 2011 as part of the Literary Dundee festival. More details are available from the Dundee Comics Day Facebook page and tickets are available in advance from the Literary Dundee website

• There are more details of the MLitt in Comics Studies at the Dundee University website

• There are more details of the Studies In Comics journal at the Intellect Books website including a free PDF download of the first issue.

• There are more details of Champions of the Oppressed on the Hampton Press website and the book is available to buy in hardback or softcover on Amazon.

Script And Art Droids Converge On Dundee

The latest guest list for the Dundee Comics Day, that runs as part of the Dundee Literary Festival at Dundee University, maintains the event's reputation for inviting an impressive array of speakers. This year's theme is "Wot Comics Taught Me..." and speaking on the day will be an impressive selection of 2000AD script and art droids including artists Cam Kennedy, Frank Quitely and Colin MacNeil plus writers John Wagner and Robbie Morrison.

Also attending will be the creative team behind the Scottish Independent Comic Book Award winning graphic novel Burke and Hare, writer Martin Conaghan and artist Will Pickering, and returning for a second visit to the Dundee event will be comics expert Paul Gravett who no doubt will have at least 1001 suggestions for comics that the attendees could read.

In addition to the talks and signing sessions, the University will be hosting the Commando Battlelines exhibition celebrating Commando's 50th anniversary, an exhibition that is in addition to the Draw Your Weapons exhibition at the National Army Museum in London. The exact dates of the Dundee exhibition have yet to be announced but it will be open to attendees at the event.

The 2011 Dundee Comics Day takes place at Dundee University on Sunday 30 October. Tickets are £10 per adult and £5 for under 13s for the complete day and will be available from the Dundee Literary Festival website in due course.

There are more details of the Dundee Comics Day on the event's Facebook page.

The downthetubes review of the 2010 Dundee Comics Day is here.

The Tartan Bucket Prize Competition

The Dundee Comics Day has been running since 2007 and in 2008 became part of the Dundee Literary Festival at Dundee University. The fifth comics day is due to be held in October and the University has announced that this year the Comics Day, in partnership with DC Thomson, will be running a comics creation competition for the new Tartan Bucket Prize.

The competition is to create a new character and a short story in the form of a comic that will be published by DC Thomson either in print or on their website. The prize will be for a humorous story of no more than two pages designed to be read by a young audience and would be in keeping with the kinds of stories DC Thomson publishes in comics like The Beano and The Dandy.

The Tartan Bucket first prize will be £1,000 plus publication of the story and there will also be four runner-up prizes of £250 each. In addition the winners and runner-ups will be invited to attend the Comics Day and there will also be an exhibition of the artwork from the competition during the Literary Festival. The competition will be judged by a panel consisting of comic professionals and scholars including Comics Day organiser Dr Chris Murray of the university's School of Humanities.

The aim of the prize is to nurture comics talent in comics and as such anyone can enter the competition. The submission can be in any style, in black and white or colour, but must be original, unpublished and a complete story effectively ready to be printed. The deadline for completed submissions is 1st July 2011 and the Dundee Literary Festival will take place from 27 to 30 October 2011.

There are more details including the full rules and guidelines of the Tartan Bucket competition on the University of Dundee website.

There are more details of the Dundee Literary Festival at their website.

The downthetubes reviews of the Dundee Comics Day are here - 2008 review, 2009 review and 2010 review.

Dundee Comics Day 2010

The fourth annual Dundee Comics Day, part of the Dundee Literary Festival, will take place at Dundee University on Sunday 27 June 2010 and this year's theme is Creating Comics.

The guest speakers have now been announced and include Alan Davis, Rian Hughes, Pat Mills and Dez Skinn. With the addition of a workshop on creating Manga run by Nana Li, Dundee's impressive line-up of guests cover the entire range of comics creation from writing and artwork, via design and editing, through to publishing the end product.

As in previous years, the day will also include the opening of a comics exhibition in the University's Lamb Gallery. After the Beano's 70th birthday exhibition and last year's 30th anniversary of Starblazer, the subject of this year's exhibition is the late DC Thomson humour artist Bill Richie, perhaps best known for his work on Baby Crockett in the Beezer.

Tickets for the full day, beginning at 11am and finishing at 7pm, are £10 for adults and £5 for children under 13 and the cost of the ticket includes refreshments during the day.

More details of the Dundee Comics Day are available on the Dundee Literary Festival's website and tickets can be purchased from the University's on-line store.

The downthetubes review of last year's Dundee Comics Day is here and the review of the Starblazer exhibition is here.

More Scottish Comics Events

As the afterglow of Hi-Ex slowly fades we have some advance notice of two other comics events in Scotland.

The fourth Dundee Comics Day will be held at Dundee University as part of the Dundee Literary Festival on Sunday 27 June 2010. Previous speakers on the day have included Alan Grant, Warren Ellis, Bryan Talbot and Paul Gravett as seen in our reviews of the 2009 and 2008 events. This year's guests will be announced in due course.

Also returning is the Oxfam Comic Book Event which will be held in Edinburgh's MacDonald Road Library on Saturday 17 July 2010 beginning at 1pm. Last year's event, as part of the 2009 Oxfam Book Festival, was a small affair based around discussion panels with guests including former 2000AD editor David Bishop and Commando writer Ferg Handley. As with Dundee, Oxfam's guests will be announced in due course and there will be more details on Oxfam Morningside's Twitter feed. Last year's Oxfam panel on Scottish settings in graphic novels was filmed and is available to view on YouTube - part 1 and part 2.

Tube Surfing: Comics Academia

In the aftermath of Thought Bubble and its associated academic conference on comics, Possibilities and Perspectives, here is round up of what is happening comics-wise in the hallowed halls of academia.

We have recently mentioned on downthetubes the Fractured Images, Broken Words postgraduate conference at Lancaster University on 12 June 2010 which will include former 2000AD editor Andy Diggle as one of the key-note speakers.

Before that on 13-14 April 2010 Manchester Metropolitan University will host an academic conference entitled The Graphic Novel and Comic Conference: Comics, Cultures & Genres, hosted by Dr David Huxley and Dr Joan Ormrod who have previously organised the university's 2007 Aesthetics of Trash conference on animation and comics. This conference will tie-in with the launch of a new academic comics publication, the Journal Of Graphic Novels And Comics, from the university's Faculty Of Art And Design.

The longest running of the various academic journals is the American based International Journal Of Comic Art which has been running since 1999, although their website is not that up-to-date. We mention it here as the current issue has a long interview with Scottish comics artist Ian Kennedy on his work which includes Dan Dare, Judge Dredd and of course Commando.

Closer to home is European Comic Art from Liverpool University Press which is the first English language scholarly publication to study European language graphic novels and comics. This has been going since 2008 and is published in association with the Glasgow based International Bande Dessinee Society and the American Bande Dessinee Society.

Due to begin publication in 2010 is Studies In Comics from Intellect Books, one of the editors of which is Dr Chris Murray of Dundee University who has been instrumental in organising the Dundee University Comics Day for the last three years as well as the Beano 70th Anniversary exhibition and event. Plans for the fourth Comics Day in Dundee to be held in the middle of 2010 are at an advanced stage.

Perhaps the best known academic tie-in with comics is Edinburgh's Napier University with its MA in Creative Writing course taken by Sam Kelly and former 2000AD editor David Bishop. This is in its first year and is scheduled to include guest speakers such as Alan Grant, Mark Millar and Leah Moore.

More details of academic publications and conferences will appear as we receive them.

Starblazer Exhibition Details Announced

As we've previously reported, top comics writer Warren Ellis will be headlining the Comics Conference at this year's Dundee Literary Festival, but the Festival has now also released details of its planned exhibition dedicated to the 1980s SF comic Starblazer, published by DC Thomson.

The exhibition marks the first time artwork from the now defunct, but much missed British sci-fi comic Starblazer has been exhibited, which, in addition to art by the likes of Keith Robson, Jaimie Ortiz, Ian Kennedy and many others featured the early work of Grant Morrison, the hugley successful Glaswegian comics writer. The comic has such a cult status it's even recently spawned its own Roleplaying Game (see news story).

In addition to the exhibition, the publication's editor Bill McLoughlin and artist Keith Robson will discuss their experiences on Starblazer during the day.

Ellis, now best known for his work with US comics giants Marvel and DC, and relative newcomer, Avatar, will be discussing his career when he appears at the third annual Dundee Comics Day, part of the University of Dundee-organised Festival, on Sunday 28th June.

He's just one of a number of star names from the world of comics lined up to take part in the event, which features talks, exhibitions, book signings and workshops.

2000AD writer Alan Grant will also speak about his work while other speakers will discuss 2000AD. David Bishop, former editor of the comic, will discuss the work of Alan Moore, author of Watchmen, while other talks, delivered by scholars researching comics, will address how comics represent time.

The programme will begin with a workshop in Writing for Graphic Novels hosted by Bishop, which will prove an invaluable insight into the process of creating comics. Manga artist Emma Vieceli, creator of the recently released Much Ado About Nothing, a manga version of the Shakespeare play, will also discuss her creative process.

Comics Programme organiser Dr Christopher Murray said he is delighted to have been able to put together such an exciting line-up of authors, artists and writers.

"Comics are a wonderful form of literary and artistic expression," he feels. "They're entertaining for all ages, a unique artform blending words and images, and Dundee is a city with a long and proud history of comics production.

"The Third Annual Comics Day promises to be an important meeting of comics scholars and comics creators, and everyone with an interest in comics is welcome to attend. We're also proud to be be bringing together the considerable talents of writers Warren Ellis and Alan Grant, and artists Emma Vieceli and Keith Robson. Each year the annual Dundee Comics Day grows in profile and it is my intention to make it a staple event, underscoring Dundee's central position as the home of comic culture in the UK.

Comics Day not only gives the Festival a dimension not present in other literary celebrations, but also celebrates the city's position as a world leader in comics, established by the likes of The Beano and The Dandy, published by DC Thomson".

Tickets are priced £10/£5 (concessions) for the entire day's programme including workshops, and £3 for the workshop only.

The Dundee Literary Festival is now in its third year, and is bigger than ever, with star authors from the fields of philosophy, fiction, politics and poetry set to appear in Dundee. They include David Peace, renowned author of The Damned United and the Red-Riding Quartet and Straw Dogs writer John Gray. Talks, book signings, workshops and other events take place across four days.

• Exhibition Web Link: www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/starblazer.htm

• The full programme for the Dundee Literary Festival, and the Comics Day, is available online at www.dundeeliteraryfest.org

• Read our Starblazer feature on the downthetubes main site by Jeremy Briggs