Zombies Hi And Amelia Earhart From Uproar Comics

Londonderry's Uproar Comics have been making a name for themselves in Northern Ireland with their regular publication of the anthology comic Zombies Hi, the main story of which is set in and around the walled city of Derry after a zombie holocaust. Uproar grew out of the free 2D Comics Festival, now in its sixth year at Londonderry's Visual Arts Centre, and the 2D Collective group of creators which we featured on downthetubes last year.

Zombies Hi issue 5 has just been released and is available from a variety of newsagents, bookshops and comic shops in Northern Ireland. Readers from further afield can order physical copies from the Uproar Comics website while e-copies are also available for download.

In addition, and in time for this year's 2D Comics Festival on Saturday 2 June, Uproar are releasing their first graphic novel about the American aviatrix Amelia Earhart. A historical biography may initially sound like an unusual topic for Uproar to cover, however when Earhart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo, she landed near Ballyarnett, just north of Derry, on 21 May 1932. This was previously commemorated in the now out-of-print graphic novel The Story of Amelia Earhart written by Felicity McCall with art by Joe Campbell and published in 2007 by Baird Publishing in association with Greater Shantallow Community Arts.

The new book entitled Amelia Earhart: First Lady of Aviation contains an updated version of that original GN and couples it with A Day in May, a text and spot illustrated account by Joe Campbell of Earhart's 24 hour stay in Derry.

The book is being released this weekend as part of the 2012 Earhart Festival and Festival director Oliver Green told downthetubes, "We believed that it was time for a new publication, as the 80th anniversary has already created a groundswell of public interest. I am conscious that the original graphic novel has all but sold out and is in circulation in the US, UK and Across Ireland as well as in Australasia. It is in regular use in classrooms in the North West, and beyond. With this in mind, it seemed appropriate not only to ask the original artist Joe Campbell and writer Felicity McCall to revise and update their work, but to commission what is effectively the next chapter in the story. With A Day in May, Joe Campbell has produced a marvellous combination of prose and pen and ink illustrations which perfectly evokes the atmosphere and ethos of that very special 24 hours in Derry. It is a work of outstanding talent, creativity and empathy with his subject matter and I am confident the new publication will not only match but better the success of the original book five years ago."

There are more details of Zombies Hi and Amelia Earhart: First Lady Of Aviation on the Uproar Comics website and Facebook page.

There are more details of the 2D Comics Festival which is free and takes place between 31 May and 2 June 2012 on the 2D website and Facebook page.

Celtic Conventions: Hi-Ex and 2D Return In 2012

We missed out on mentioning Hi-Ex 2012 in our run-up to Christmas so let's set the record straight now. The fourth Hi-Ex will be taking place on Saturday 31 March and Sunday 1 April on the banks of the river Ness at Eden Court in Inverness.

Guests announced so far include writers Jim Alexander, Michael Carroll, Al Ewing and Ferg Handley, and artists Gary Erskine, John Higgins, Cam Kennedy, Colin MacNeil and Tanya Roberts, who has provided the convention with its fun poster art of Tank Girl, Dredd, Dennis and Gnasher riding Nessie.

Tickets are already available from the Eden Court's website.

There are more details of the event and all the guests on the Hi-Ex website and blog.

The downthetubes reviews of previous Hi-Ex weekends are here - 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Across the water in Northern Ireland the sixth 2D Comics Festival will be taking place in its usual location of the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry from Thursday 31 May to Saturday 2 June, with the main full day event of the 2D Comics Fair taking place on the Saturday. As with all the previous 2D Festivals, entrance will be free to everyone and, like Hi-Ex, the event is aimed at all the family.

Also free at 2D are the dealers tables which give small pressers from both north and south of the Irish border a great platform to get their publications and work on display to a wider audience at minimal cost. Guests have yet to be announced but in previous years have included well known names from the British mainland.

There are more details of the 2012 2D Festival on their Facebook page.

The downthetubes review of the 2011 2D is here.

In Review: 2D Comics Festival

Last weekend saw Northern Ireland's 2D Comics Festival take place within Londonderry's city walls with entrance, workshops and talks all completely free. Patrick Brown, of Belfast Comics, reviews the event for downthetubes.

The weekend just past saw the fifth 2D Comics Festival in Derry, Northern Ireland. I was there for the fourth time, my third as an exhibitor, and my first with my name in the programme.

Derry (or Londonderry if you insist) is Northern Ireland's second biggest city, after Belfast, which doesn't make it especially big. In the middle, on the west side of the River Foyle, is the Walled City, and at the south end of the Walled City, just inside the Bishop's Gate, right at the top of a steep hill that's a bugger to climb if you're carrying a case full of books, is the Verbal Arts Centre, venue for the daytime portions of the festival. All the way down the hill and out through the Shipquay Gate is Sandinos Bar, venue for the evening bits.

The festival is just what you might expect for something split between a community organisation, dedicated to supporting literacy and storytelling, and a pub. 2D is not big or impersonal or corporate. There's mercifully little fan rancour or jadedness, no division between commercial and small press creators. Nothing gets taken too seriously. All of it, through whatever funding miracle David Campbell, of the Verbal Arts Centre, and his team have been able to conjure up, is free.

At the centre of the event is the open day on Saturday at the Verbal Arts Centre. On the mezzanine floor, a handful of lucky artists are stationed to do the hardcore sketching. I did it a couple of years ago and my hand's still sore. This year the mezzaniners included Gary Northfield from the Beano, Jim Medway from the DFC, Belfast legend Davy Francis (above), late of Oink! and Holy Cross, Vicki Stonebridge of Slaughterman's Creed and the Scottish Hi-Ex convention, and 2000AD's digital genius D'Israeli.

The theme this year was robots, and lots of lucky kids got themselves drawn as a droid by a fantastic artist. The rest of us, including Gar Shanley (right), writer of Supernatural Showcase and simultaneously the most miserable and the funniest man in Irish comics, and Tommie Kelly (far right), rock star, writer-artist and hellraiser, take our places upstairs in the main hall, show off our wares, sell them if we can, and do our fair share of sketching as well. The punters range from your usual thirty-something comic book con crowd, to young families, to teenagers, and I recognised plenty of faces from previous years in the crowd as well as behind tables.

Either side of the main daytime event, on the Friday and Saturday evenings, are the panels, held upstairs at Sandinos and lubricated generously with alcohol. There's a quiz, and the winners get a goodie bag of dreadful comics, including Zwanna, Son of Zulu, a breathtakingly racist comic from the early nineties. On the panels crime novelist Denise Mina admits to feeling like a chancer when writing comics, to pangs of recognition from every writer and artist in the room, and shares her delight at having one of her books adapted to TV. DC's art director Mark Chiarello gets a lecture in how to pronounce his own name from David Hine (Mark says it "Cheer-ello", David knows Italian and insists it should be "Keer-ello"), and gets to speak a little less guardedly than he does at bigger shows - he gets a round of applause for saying he hates Green Lantern, before reassuring us he's only joking.

There is, inevitably, a panel on "breaking into comics", during which Will Simpson (left with Adam Law) does an impersonation of Dave Gibbons that starts off as a recognisable caricature and degenerates into a peculiar cockney barking noise, and Glenn Fabry shares a rather revolting story of the unpleasant habits of a former editor. The Sunnyside Comics podcast panel on digital comics and creative ownership gets a bit rowdy and decides piracy is rude but probably inevitable. All the panellists, especially Rufus Dayglo, genuflect before guest of honour Mick McMahon, a modest and unassuming bloke whose choppy lines and memorable character designs just happen to define the childhood reading experiences of all of us over a certain age.

And then the panels wind up, and we stick around inside and outside the bar, spending the specially printed 2D drink tokens, for as long as our constitutions will let us. I'm a bit of a lightweight I'm afraid, but hair-raising stories reach me of the somewhat NSFW permanent marker 'tattoos' drawn by Deirdre de Barra on Archie Templar's torso, and how Archie's going to explain that to his other half when he gets back to Dublin. Finally, a handful of survivors gather on Sunday morning for breakfast in the local Wetherspoons and set the world to rights over an Ulster fry before heading for home, wherever that is.

2D's a great show. Long may it continue.

Patrick Brown has been creating and self-publishing comics since the mid-1990s. The Cattle Raid of Cooley, his adaptation of the ancient Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, has been serialised on the web since 2008 and is about half done. It, and a selection of his other comics, are available at http://paddybrown.co.uk/.

There are many more photos from 2D 2011 at the following Facebook pages -

2D Festival

Vicki Stonebridge

Ciaran Flanagan

2D Preps for Take-Off

The cream of the world’s comic talent will touch down in Derry/Londonderry next week for 2D, the Northern Ireland Comics Festival.

The free event – hosted annually by the Verbal Arts Centre – runs from 2nd - 4th June and is the biggest of its kind in Northern Ireland as well as being a unique and engaging celebration of comic book culture.

It marks the fifth time the event has run in the city and organisers have pulled out all the stops to ensure that this year’s event is the biggest and best to date, having secured some of the biggest and most respected names in the comics industry for this year’s programme.

Guests include legendary artists such as Mick McMahon (Judge Dredd), Glenn Fabry (Preacher, Slaine) and Mike Collins (Doctor Who, Superman) as well as host of other comic creators who have worked on properties and titles such as Transformers, Batman, Star Wars, Spider-Man, Gorillaz, Game of Thrones and The Beano.

One of the highlights of the festival is the 2D Comics Fair on Sat 4th June and those attending can buy comics, meet top comic creators, get free sketches of their favourite character, have a Robot version of themselves drawn at the ‘Hi Robot’ booth, or get their face painted as a fun character.

Attendees can also enter in the Mario Bros and Moshi Monsters drawing competitions, the Fancy Dress competition or have a go on our ‘Robot Drawing Wall’, with great comic prizes for the best efforts. Festival goers can also have their photo taken with the Star Wars Stormtroopers, as the fantastic Emerald Garrison will be in attendance.

This year one of the most influential men in Comics, Mark Chiarello (DC Comics VP Art Direction), will be attending to give an insight into the industry and host a series of portfolio reviews for aspiring creators, where he’ll be looking out for new talent. These portfolio reviews are notoriously hard to arrange, so please get in touch if you would like to take advantage of this great opportunity to get your skills noticed and possibly get a foot in the door of the comics industry.

The festival caters for all ages with workshops and fun drawing events for all the family during the daytime and panel talks in Sandinos bar for the older audience on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th June evenings from 6.30pm.

• All events are completely free of charge. For more details contact the Verbal Arts Centre on 02871266946, email davidAT2dfestival.com check the website  www.2dfestival.com
Twitter: @2dComicsFest.

Comics NI: The 2D Collective

When we mentioned the date and guests details for the 2011 2D Comics Festival in Londonderry’s Verbal Arts Centre at the start of June, we also mentioned the group of small press creators from the city that go by the name of the 2D Collective. Collective organiser Kevin “Gio” Logue has been in touch to give us more details about the group and what they are currently working on.

“The 2D Collective came together through the Verbal Arts Centre. David Campbell (the Centre’s artist in residence and 2D Festival organiser) had organised a 15 week course entitled Comic and Digital Illustration where he, being a Marvel trained colourist, taught us how to make finished comic art. All those who passed the course where called back a month after finishing and David informed us that the Verbal Arts Centre would like to give us the chance to put together an anthology for the 2009 2D Comics Festival and so we became the 2D Collective.

“The Fear anthology was given way free at the festival that year to promote both local talent and the Verbal Arts Centre having just started their own printing and publishing company. The anthology had a fantastic cover by Gary Leach and also contained one shot pages from the majority of those who were guests at 2D that year, including the six members of the Eclectic Micks blog to name but a few.

“After the Festival we stayed together as a group, meeting up once a week in a library/bar and caught the attention of the Greater Shantallow Community Arts program. They invited us down to their centre were they told us they had the funding to put together a Derry based comic anthology. So with what seemed like a sure thing we started into If Stones Could Speak. The book is now finished but unfortunately the funding that was granted to us at the start of the project was reconsidered as the recession sunk in and cut backs were made. However we have been promised that the book will see print in time for the 2D Festival this year.

“2D, I do love it. It’s not big in any way, a very grass roots festival but this year the guest list is looking fantastic with artist John Higgins and DC art director Mark Chiarello already confirmed. The main craic is with the talks at night in the upstairs of Sandino’s bar.

“The 2D Collective at this moment is on solo missions but still contributing to the blog when we can. But we shall be together at the 2D Festival promoting ourselves, sketching, hopefully brewing some new projects and, all being well, finally letting If Stones Could Speak see the light of day.”

You can see more of the work of the 2D Collective on their blog and see previews of pages from the If Stones Could Speak anthology on its blog.

The 2011 2D Comic Festival will take place in Derry/Londonderry between Thursday 2 and Saturday 4 June 2011 and there are more details on the 2D website and Facebook page.

You can see more of Gio’s work on his own blog.

Comics In Northern Ireland

With the good news of the return of 2D, Northern Ireland's Comics Festival, for its fifth year in the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry at the beginning of June, perhaps it is an appropriate time to take a look at what else is happening comics-wise in the Province.

In Derry, 2D has inspired and supported local small pressers who have combined into the 2D Collective. As well as a blog the Collective has published, with the help of the Verbal Arts Centre, two collections of comics, Fear and If Stones Could Speak.
There are more details about the 2D Collective on their blog.

Meanwhile Belfast has already played host this year to the Guardian's political cartoonist Steve Bell who gave a talk at the Out To Lunch Arts Festival in January. Also in Belfast the Crescent Arts Centre is currently running two ten week long courses, an illustration class with David Haughey entitled Visual Narrative which runs on Wednesday evenings and a Cartoon Masterclass with John Farrelly which runs each Saturday.
There are more details of the Crescent Arts Centre courses on their website.

For Ulster otaku the Forbidden Planet International store in Belfast (despite still being called "Talisman" by some locals) has joined in with the rest of the UK stores in arranging manga evenings, including quizzes, cosplay and money off offers with the last one being just this week.
There are more details of their events at the FPI Belfast Facebook page.

Also in Belfast there is a regular meeting of local comics people, both small press and professionals, in the Cloth Ear bar at the Merchant Hotel in Waring Street. They also run a well designed and informative blog under the simple name of Belfast Comics using the Belfast Big Fish as their logo. If that wasn't enough they also sell both their own small press comics and those of other creators from both north and south of the Irish border at the monthly Black Market indoor indie/alternative fair at the Black Box arts venue in Belfast. The next Black Market will be held on Sunday 6 March.
There are more details of the Belfast Comics group on their blog and details of their meetings are listed on their Facebook page.

The downthetubes Comics Events calendar is available for Northern Ireland organisers (as well as those in the rest of the UK) to advertise their events for free, and while tagged as British Comics Events, we are more than happy for organisers in the Republic Of Ireland to use it to promote their events as well.

2D 2011: Brush Strokes In Stroke City

2D, held at the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry, is the UK's most westerly comics convention and for the last four years it has been the largest comics event in Northern Ireland if not the whole island of Ireland. This year's event will take place between Thursday 2 and Saturday 4 June 2011.

While Derry's recent troubled history overshadow's much of its past, from the 3 month long siege in 1689 to the surrender of the Nazi U-Boats in 1945, as the UK's first City Of Culture in 2013 the city's future looks bright. In a city so full of history it is unsurprising that the 20th century Verbal Arts Centre is in the former 19th century First Derry School located on the 17th century walls of the city.

2D organiser David Campbell works as the artist in residence at the Verbal Arts Centre and, in a move that must leave other UK convention organisers green with envy, is able to get 100% arts funding for 2-D meaning that all the various events and workshops that make up 2-D are completely free. This even extends to the sales tables allowing not just dealers but also local, and not so local, small pressers to get their work seen by the public. Indeed a small press group, the 2D Collective, has grown up around the convention.

We tend to use the term 'convention' to describe many types of comics gatherings from small press get-togethers like Caption to large professionally organised events with major international names such as Kapow - two events that couldn't be more different. The mainland convention that 2D is most similar to is Thoughtbubble in Leeds and, like Thoughtbubble, 2D describes itself as a 'festival' with different events taking place at different times over several locations but with a main weekend daytime event bringing together signings, sketches, cosplay and sales tables which takes place in the Verbal Arts Centre. Evening discussion sessions are held in the less formal surroundings of Sandinos Café Bar at the opposite corner of the city walls towards the banks of the River Foyle.

Previous 2D guests have included major names such as Pat Mills, David Lloyd and Bryan Talbot while many local artists including familiar names such as Will Simpson and PJ Holden also take part. Guests already scheduled for 2011 include DC Art Director Mark Chiarello, writer Denise Mina and artists John Higgins, Dave Taylor, Gary Northfield, Jim Medway, Garry Leach and Rufus Dayglo.

Northern Ireland's physical separation from the rest of the UK has been something of a barrier to 2D being accepted by comics fans as part of the regular convention circuit as it is not a simple car or train journey from the majority of UK addresses. Yet considering that some fans from the opposite ends of the country take flights to get to conventions in Bristol, London or Inverness, the flights (or ferry) to get to Northern Ireland really shouldn't be seen as a step too far.

There are more details of 2011's 2D convention on its Facebook page and website which includes travel advice on how to get to Derry/Londonderry and accommodation suggestions once there.

There are more details of previous 2D conventions at the Irish Comics Wiki.

2D Festival Begins in Derry

If you're in Northern Ireland this weekend, then head along to the 2D Festival at the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry, which is now up and running with guests David Lloyd, Liam Sharp, Glenn Fabry, Mike Collins, Bryan Talbot, David Hine, Garry Leach, Rufus Dayglo, D’ Israeli, Declan Shalvey, Andie Tong, PJ Holden, Nick Roche, Phil Barrett, Bridgeen Gillespie, Andrew Brenner, Cartoon Saloon, Stephen Mooney, Simon Furman and Will Sliney.

Here's details of the full Festival Programme:

Friday 5th June @ Verbal Arts Centre 3pm - 4.45pm All-Star Comic Workshop (15yrs+)
Learn to draw comics with a host of top comic creators.

Friday 5th June @ Sandinos Bar
7pm Panel - The State of Comic Art
8pm Panel - Eclectic Micks present Homegrown Heroes

Saturday 6th June @ Verbal Arts Centre
Comics Open Day 11.30am - 5pm

• Get Sketches of your favourite comic characters from top comic artists (All Day)
• Get your Comics Signed by Comic creators (All Day)
• "Monster Me" Sketch Stall - get turned into a MONSTER by a top comic artist (All Day)
• Comic Stalls - Loads of comics for all ages to buy. (All Day)
• Monster Drawing Wall - in association with the Campaign for Drawing (All Day) Draw your own monster on our massive Monster Drawing Wall, spot prizes for the best efforts.

Talks and Other Events:
• 1.30pm: Like Sherlock Holmes Directed by Quentin Tarantino...With Animals!
Comic artist Bryan Talbot gives sneak preview of his forthcoming steampunk graphic novel Grandville
• 1.30 - 2.30pm: Star Wars Stormtroopers
Get your photo taken with the amazing Emerald Garrison of the Knights of the Empire (Irelands Premier Star Wars Costuming Group).
• 3.00pm: 2D Competition Prize-Giving
• 3.30pm: How I Got Into This Crazy Business And Ended Up Bringing V For Vendetta Into The World
Talk with Legendary artist David Lloyd

Saturday 6th June @ Sandinos Bar 7pm - late
• 7.00pm Panel - Q & A with artist David Lloyd
• 8.00pm Panel - Burn Hollywood Burn
• 9.30pm - Late Closing Party

All events are completely FREE of charge.

• For more details contact the Verbal Arts Centre on 02871266946 or check the website www.2dfestival.com or Facebook group

Tube Surfing: 3 June 2009

We haven't done one of these for at least couple of weeks, so hold onto your hats because there's some folk clamouring for space...

• Indie comics creator Sean Azzopardi has a new project - Thumbpaintings: life drawing using his Iphone and brushes app. Check them out at: phatcatz.org.uk/?p=1039

• Active Images and ComicCraft First Tiger Richard Starkings has also been answering questions, this time posed by the Den of Geek team. Richard talks about his Elephantmen title, his career at Marvel UK, Doctor Who and much more. A former editor of Doctor Who comics, he's just written a Doctor Who story, Cold Blooded War for IDW, from a plot by Gary Russell, revealing "It's not the kind of story I'd have come up with myself - this one features Ice Warriors, Draconians and even Alpha Centauri - but it was fun writing dialogue for Donna and working out how to pace Gary's outline into 22 pages. Fellow Brit and Whothusiast Adrian Salmon is the artist on this one, and he's done a great job."

• A quick reminder that Rich Johnston's new website, Bleeding Cool, is now live and it's already cranked up 400 forum members and material from the likes of Warren Ellis. Rich also picks up on rumours of a UK ComiCon we featured earlier this week, noting, as we have in updates to our story, that Comic Con International, behind the San Diego event, has denied being involved. Reed Publishing, behind the New York Comic Con has also denied involvement. The plot thickens...

• James Turner, one of many fine talents who worked on The DFC, has published an all-new Beaver and Steve strip featuring the characters that shot him to deserved national acclaim. "You may not like it," he says, modestly. Silly James - it's beaver and Steve: what's not to like?

• The Daily Mail has been having another punt at DJ and chat show host Jonathan Ross, this time ribbing him for his appearance, among other things. "His love of comic books and new-found friendship with Eminem imply that he is slightly immature," Jo Clements opined. Ross recentky revealed he'd given Eminem a copy of Avengers #3 when they'd met. "I knew he needed it. He’s a big Marvel fan," he explained.

• Delta and the Bannermen may have been one of the sillier Doctor Who stories of the 1980s (Ken Dodd has a cameo, for one thing), but fans of the sagas comic stories may want to pick up the new DVD release for the bonus features, which include interviews with Lee Sullivan, Simon Furman, Paul Cornell, Andrew Cartmel and John Freeman (who?), chatting about creating Who for Doctor Who Magazine. (If I look at all bedraggled in the interview it's because I got drenched finding the studio...). The DVD ships on 22nd June.

• Talking of Paul Cornell, he's been answering questions from fans of his Captain Britain and MI13 and Dark Reign: Young Avengers titles over on Comic Book Resources, which also has a couple of sneak peeks at the last issue of CB (#15). Talking about the book's cancellation, Paul says "Marvel put loads of effort behind it, and I got all the support I could wish for. I just think that, in the end, there are certain characters that won't sell well enough in the States. In the UK we were doing very well, but those numbers don't get added into the Diamond sales figures." Hmf!

• Talking of Transformers maestro Simon Furman, too: he'll be Derry in Northern Ireland this coming weekend, at the 2D Comics Festival. "This will be my third time at the Derry festival and I can’t recommend it enough," he enthuses. Declan Shalvey, David Lloyd, Liam Sharp, D'Israeli, Garry Leach and Rufus Dayglo will also be on hand, among others. Be sure to catch Paul J. Holden and ask him about the new Heroes Comic Reader, which we've been talking about over on the downthetubes mobile comics blog...

• And finally, since we seem to be on a 1980s reunion theme for this post, my old flat mate and 2000AD editor David Bishop's Doctor Who audio drama Enemy of the Daleks has been getting lots of praise on various fan forums. "I'd written a dozen different projects for Big Finish, so it was a joy to finally get the chance to script a four part story for the main Doctor Who range," he says. You can find out more about Enemy of the Daleks here, even download the first episode for the bargain basement price 99 pence - now that's value!

2D or not 2D?

A quick reminder that 2D, the Northern Ireland Comics Festival, returns from 4th - 6th June this year in Derry / Londonderry, featuring some of the most creative comic talent around.

The Festival will take place between The Verbal Arts Centre and Sandinos Bar and feature a diverse range of events, from educational workshops during the day on Thursday and Friday, to the always entertaining panel discussions in Sandinos, the best bar in town, on Friday and Saturday evenings. There will also be a closing party in Sandinos bar on Sat night to wrap proceedings up.

The event will also include Sketching, Signings, Dealers, an Exhibition and a whole lot more, and organiser David Campbell tells us the guest line-up will be announced soon and the event's web site will be updated with all the details.

"We are working on content for the workshops and panels so if anyone has suggestions for something they would like featured please get in touch," he says.

• All 2D Events are Free of Charge, as is All Tablespace. Contact Dave if you are a small press publisher or creator and would to book tablespace or get involved by emailing him via david@2dfestival.com