Leeds Alternative Comics Fair back in March

The second Leeds Alternative Comics Fair takes place on the 19th March 2011, 12 noon-6pm, at A Nation of Shopkeepers bar (behind Leeds City Art Gallery). Steve Tillotson (banal pig comics) and Hugh “Shug” Raine (REET! Comics) are again to organise the event.

 "We were very pleased with the way the first fair went last September and it seemed that the exhibitors, visitors and the venue were all happy, so we have decided to keep the format largely the same," says Steve. "The fair will keep its intimate scale and we are pleased that the majority of the creators we chose last time will again be selling their creations.

As before, the event will focus on creators from the North: from the North East will be Gary Bainbridge, Andrew Waugh and Ben Clark, from Manchester will be Adam Cadwell and new to the fair will be John “Scary Go Round” Allison from Oldham. Everyone else is from Leeds and West Yorkshire: Steve Tillotson and Hugh Raine, Helen “Memo” Entwisle, Krystina Baczynski, Geof “Fetishman” Banyard, Dr Simpo, the Black Dogs collective and another newcomer to the fair, Huw “Lem” Davies. The only exception is Gareth Brookes who, although from London, is an honorary Northerner for the day!

 The event promises to be a fun, relaxed environment in which comics fans and the uninitiated can browse and buy comics direct from the creators, without entry fees or table costs and we're sure A Nation of Shopkeepers will again be the perfect venue. It also hosts the “Doodle Booze” drink and draw events run by OK Comics and is a popular gig venue that holds up to 850 people, with great food and drink.”

• Leeds Alternative Comics Fair, 12 noon - 6.00pm, Saturday 19th March 2011, A Nation of Shopkeepers, the bar behind Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds (Google Place Map here). Admission Free. Web: http://leedsalternativecomics.wordpress.com

Manga @ Glasgow Film Festival

The Glasgow Film Festival has a considerable comics strand this year due to the presence of Mark Millar as a GFF Ambassador. The details of workshops, talks and screenings were originally mentioned on downthetubes here.

One of the events listed in the printed brochure that had to be cancelled was a talk between comics expert and author of Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics, Paul Gravett, and Amruta Patil. This has now been replaced in the schedule by "Global Manga: The Worldwide Impact of Japanese Comics" with Paul talking to Japanese artist Chie Kutsuwada and Scottish manga writer Sean Michael Wilson. This takes place on Thursday 24 February in CCA4 beginning at 1300. The talk will be followed by book signings by the participants.

There are more details of this event and how to buy tickets for it at the Glasgow Film Festival website.

Investigating the dark comedy of comics - a call for papers

A call has gone out for papers investigating the dark humour of comics, which will be presented at a one day event, the Bath Spa University Postgraduate Symposium in May at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, whose guests will include both academics and writers.

The Laughter and Transgression: An Investigation of Dark Comedy event will take on Friday 13th May 2011 at Corsham Court, Corsham, Wiltshire and is supported by the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Research Centre for Contemporary Writing and The Graduate School at Bath Spa University.

Comic writing and performance often allows for transgression, amorality, surprise, and the creation of alternative worlds. The act of creating dark comedy invokes a desire to shock, enabling disengagement, and thus freedom, from temporal and moral concerns. What are the evolving elements of dark comedy, and what are some of the issues that arise from its expression?

The day will feature presentations by keynote speakers including a well known writer to be announced and Professor Nicholas Royle, Professor of English, University of Sussex - whose books include Telepathy and Literature, After Derrida, The Uncanny and the novel Quilt.

The programme will be finalised by 15 April 2011.

The organisers are inviting abstracts for provocative papers, presentations, and installations for an upcoming one-day symposium on dark comedy, saying the symposium will be informal and cross-disciplinary.

Submissions will be considered from all disciplines within arts and humanities - including creative writing, screenwriting, drama, visual art, and film - as well as the social sciences. Installations can be of any nature; presentations should be 20 minutes in length.

Thematic areas might include modes of expression of dark comedy; the limits of dark comedy and the boundaries between discomfort and laughter; the ethics of laughter, Taboos and censorships; an transgressive narrative voice.

• Please send abstracts of maximum 200 words, and a brief CV, to: Rob.Smith10@live.bathspa.ac.uk. Please use this same e-mail address if you would like to attend but not present a paper.

• Abstracts must be submitted no later than Friday 11 March 2011.

(Thanks to Norman Boyd for this item)

Markosia to publish Henry Fint art book

(via ECBT2000AD and Cy Dethan): Markosia will be publishing Broadcast, The TV Doodles of Henry Flint later this year.

The book will contain about 100 pieces of all new artwork from Henry, best known for his work on 2000AD, Vertigo and Dark Horse, along with text and commentary co-written by Cy Dethan, author of Cancertown and just-launched Slaughterman’s Creed.

"It's Henry's personal work and will take a look at the stories behind the art, Henry's creative process, and, perhaps more scarily, explore the receiving equipment inside his head!" notes Cy.

"The book will be published by Markosia, and it's their first art book, but when Harry Markos heard about that the book was looking for a new publisher he leapt at it, being a big fan of Henry's work himself."

Posting a couple of examples of Henry's work on the Everything Comes Back to 2000AD blog, Rich Mcauliffe says " the scans I’ve posted here are doing the peices and their insane levels of detail no justice whatsover so I’m really looking forward to checking out these previews and of course the finished book."


• Broadcast, The TV Doodles of Henry Flint is due to be published in time for the 2011 Birmingham International Comic Expo but expect to see previews on the Markosia stand at this year's Bristol Con. Web: www.markosia.com

Art © 2011 Henry Flint