Breaking talent to be showcased at Kendal-based comic art festival’s Clock Tower

Some of the UK’s best emerging and established comic art talent will be showcasing their skills at the specially-dedicated Comics Clock Tower venue as part of Kendal's The Lakes International Comic Art Festival in October, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Print Media, publishers of STRIP: The Adventure Comics Magazine.

The festival will run from 18-20th October in Kendal in Cumbria. Held beneath the landmark tower of Kendal Town Hall, the Comics Clock Tower venue will be a vibrant mash-up of writers and artists from a wide variety of styles and genres, who will be signing, sketching and selling their original creations.

Occult antiquarians will rub shoulders with urban teen vigilantes. Slacker vampires will size-up the romantic poets in a venue that promises to have something for comic fans and those who may not have read comics since they were kids.

The aim of the Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s Comics Clock Tower is to champion some of the breaking talent of comic art, as well as some of the industry’s more established names. The focus is on writers and artists who are pioneers of new styles in the field of comics and graphic storytelling. The venue will celebrate and introduce their work to a new audience.

Owen Johnson, co-ordinator of the Comics Clock Tower, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to reveal some of the comic creators and publishers taking part in the three-day marketplace.  These are some of the brightest, freshest names in British comics and it really is a privilege to present them to a wider audience.

“In the lead up to the show, we plan to use our various social media platforms to present interviews and artwork from these guests in order to explore them and their work in graphic novels.”

There will be an emphasis on creators working or living in the North of England. These will be joined by a selection of cutting-edge names from across the country, as well as leading UK publishers.

Guests who will be appearing at the Comics Clock Tower include:

• Emma Vieceli, 33, from Cambridge, who has worked on the Manga Shakespeare series for SelfMadeHero, Girl Comics for Marvel, Violet for The DFC, My Little Pony for Hasbro, and Comic Book Tatoo for Image Comics.
  Her more recent work includes The Avalon Chronicles, the award winning Vampire Academy and the graphic novel adaptations of the Anthony Horowitz Alex Rider series.
• Great Beast, a publishing house which is dedicated to making fun, creative, accessible and pop-culture inspired comics.
• Black Hearted Press – Scotland’s leading independent comic book publisher. The publisher’s leading title School of the Damned has been optioned to be made into a motion picture.
• Andrew Tunney (aka 2hands) – Manchester-based, Andrew’s debut self-published comic GIRL&BOY was nominated for Best Comic in the first ever British Comic Awards in 2012. He is also the colourist for Peabody & D’gorath.
• Nich Angell – Nich has been drawing explosive, vibrant and colourful comics for clients such as Mattel, Hasbro, WWF, Titan and the BBC for more than seven years. He has also recently produced concepts and games for an animated series for Nickelodeon UK.

Many of the more than 50 special guest writers and artists who will be appearing at the festival will also make appearances within the Comics Clock Tower., which will give an opportunity to people to buy from a wide range of new and existing comic art of all genres.

Names already announced as attending the festival include founder patrons Bryan and Mary Talbot and as well as Sean Philips, Ed Brubaker, Charlie Adlard, Posy Simmonds, Kurt Busiek, Joe Sacco and many others.

Julie Tait, festival director, said: “We want to give comic fans the chance to discover something new and also encourage others, who may perhaps think comics are just for kids, to pick up a graphic novel and find out what they are missing.

“The Lakes International Comic Art Festival wants to highlight the diversity of the UK comic arts community. One of the ways we will be doing this is through the Comics Clock Tower – our version of a comics’ marketplace.”

• More details about the new event are available at www.comicartfestival.com.

Great Beast Comics launches titles by Marc Ellerby, Adam Cadwell

Great Beast Comics has announced the release of their first two graphic novels, Ellerbisms by Marc Ellerby and The Everyday by Adam Cadwell.

Ellerbisms is the story of a relationship told in pictures through the autobiographical comics of Marc Ellerby.

Ellerbisms catches a glimpse into the life of a young couple, their highs and lows, their sighs and LOLs. Collecting more than 200 original strips from the cult web-comic plus an additional 30 pages of brand new material exclusive to this handsome softcover edition.

Ellerbisms - first conceived back in 2007 - has had write ups by Wired Magazine and The Guardian as well as receiving praise from notable comic industry professionals such as Warren Ellis and Kieron Gillen.

This new collection is a gem - the strips encompassing so many things about life and relationships it's impossible to detail them all. Head over to the Great Beast web site and check out some of the samples.

Since graduating with a First Class Honours in Illustration from the Kent Institute of Art and Design, Marc has illustrated comics and work for a number of clients as well as actively pursuing self initiated projects. His comic work has been recognised by bodies such as the Young Adult Library Services of America and the Harvey Awards and Eagle Awards.

In addition to Ellerbisms, his comics work includes Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter (also published by Great Beast).

Adam Cadwell's The Everyday cherishes the fleeting moments of our day to day to create an honest and hilarious portrait of modern life and the many little miracles and mysteries within. With crisp black and white artwork, keen observations and humble humour, Cadwell captures the minutiae of life we can so easily miss, a comic strip at a time, over 4 years of his life.

This hardback book collects all 200 comic strips from the acclaimed web-comic for the first time, at the size they were drawn and includes an introduction by the artist.

Based in Manchester, cartoonist, illustrator and storyboard artist Adam Cadwell also publishes his slacker vampire series Blood Blokes (an Eagle Award nominee 2012) through Great Beast. In June 2012 he launched the British Comic Awards, a national award to recognise important works and talent in the thriving UK comics culture.

Cadwell himself was one of the 54 British artists chosen for the Eisner nominated, graphic novel anthology Nelson, published by Blank Slate.

Cadwell’s comic work has been published by Jonathan Cape, Image Comics, Blank Slate Books, We Are Words + Pictures and Solipsistic Pop. His illustration work has also appeared in magazines such as MOJO and Shortlist.

Great Beast - takes its name from the very first Monster In My Pocket released in 1990 because the team thought it sounded cool  - was founded in April 2012 by UK based cartoonists Adam Cadwell and Marc Ellerby to provide fun and creative stories to as wide an audience as possible. All of their titles are creator owned and self published to a professional standard; these are comics brimming with passion and imagination.

Both books, as with all Great Beast releases, are available digitally too and the web site not only offers the opportunity to buy some great books but tie-in merchandise.


• Find Great Beast online, on Twitter, on Facebook and on Tumblr

Great Beast awakens - a new UK indie publisher

The cover to Ellerbsims by
Marc Ellerby

Just launched is a new indie UK publisher, Great Beast, described as "the home of the UK’s best independent comics and creators."

The brainchild of creators Adam Cadwell and Marc Ellerby, Great Beast aims to provide the most fun and creative stories to as wide an audience as possible. All of their titles will be creator owned and professionally self published.

The fledgling publisher launches with two collections of successful self published and award nominated comics to Great Beast; Marc Ellerby's Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter series, and the vampire slacker series Blood Blokes by Adam Cadwell.

Both creators will also be publishing long-awaited collections of their previous web-comic work, Ellerbisms and The Everyday, later in the year.

• For more information visit: www.greatbeastcomics.com