More Oxfam Edinburgh Comic Event Guests Announced

The 2011 Oxfam Edinburgh Comic Event will take place at the MacDonald Road Library on Edinburgh's Leith Walk on Saturday 23 July. This year's theme will be war comics and, as in its two previous years, this will be a relaxed, discussion based event and will include signings by the guests. A selection of comics, graphic novels and related books will also be available for sale on the day with all proceeds going to Oxfam.

The guest list includes War Stories and Kate and William artist Gary Erskine, and Starblazer and Judge Dredd artist Colin MacNeil plus two former Thargs and now writers, David Bishop and Andy Diggle.

As usual the panels will be hosted by Bogie Man publisher John McShane and the event will include a DC Thomson panel focusing on Commando with former Commando editor George Low, Commando writer Ferg Handley, former Dandy editor Morris Heggie and, having interviewed many DCT personnel for this website, downthetubes writer Jeremy Briggs.

Doors open on Saturday 23 July at 11:30am with the first panel due to begin at Noon and the event will run until 4pm. Tickets are £4 per person and will be available on the door or in advance from the Oxfam bookshops on Morningside Road and Nicholson Street. The venue is a 10-15 minute walk from Edinburgh's main bus and train stations while free car parking is available in the streets surrounding it. Attendees will be pleased to know that there is a Tesco Metro just across the road for sandwiches and other refreshments during the breaks in the programme.

More details of the event are available on the Oxfam Edinburgh Comic Event Facebook page.

There are more details of the venue at the MacDonald Road Library webpage.

Oxfam Edinburgh Comic Event 2011

The Oxfam Edinburgh Comic Event returns to the MacDonald Road Library on Edinburgh's Leith Walk on Saturday 23 July 2011. As in its two previous years this will be a discussion based event with signings by the guests plus a selection of comics, graphic novels and related books will be for sale on the day with all proceeds going to Oxfam.

Regular Oxfam guests 2000AD editor and writer David Bishop and Commando and Marvel Heroes writer Ferg Handley will be joined by Dan Dare and Kate and William artist Gary Erskine, attending his third Scottish comics event in five weeks after the Glasgow Comic Con and Scotch Corner @ Kingdom Of Adventure. Further guests are expected to be confirmed very soon.

The start time on Saturday 23 July is 11:30am with the event expected to run for most of the afternoon and tickets will be priced at £4 per person. The venue is only a 10-15 minute walk from Edinburgh's main bus and train stations.

More details will be available on the OxfamBooksEH10 twitter feed.

There are more details of the venue at the MacDonald Road Library webpage.

Commando Webbing: George Low

Former Commando editor George Low (above right, with former Dandy editor Morris Heggie, left and Commando writer Ferg Handley, middle) was the surprise guest at the Oxfam Comics Event in Edinburgh on Saturday 17 July. There he joined an impressive line up of artists, writers and editors to talk comics for the afternoon, sharing memories of his time on Commando. Attendees also had the opportunity to buy a wide range of old and new Commandos from the event's sales stall with all proceeds going to Oxfam.

Since retiring from Commando, George has maintained his links with the title by selecting the stories and writing the introductions to Carlton's range of large Commando reprint books which has now reached a shelf bending eight different titles. Following on from the limited edition box set Commando Ammo Box, Carlton are releasing a second boxed set of Commando books.

Due for release on 4th October 2010, the Commando: High Explosive box set includes three of the reprint books - Bandits at 12 O'Clock, Rumble in the Jungle and D-Day: Fight or Die! - plus a special reprint of the second issue of Commando from 1961, They Called Him Coward!.

Also included in the collection, which is limited to 1000 copies, is a certificate signed by George Low and current Commando editor Calum Laird.

This boxed set is due to retail at £59.99.

Oxfam Comics Event 2010 - Saturday 17 July

The Oxfam Comic Event 2010 will be taking place next Saturday, 17 July 2010, as part of the 2010 Oxfam Bookfest. The Comic Event begins at Noon in Edinburgh's MacDonald Road Library which is only a 10 - 15 minute walk from the city's main bus and train stations. This is an informal discussion based event with comics and books from Oxfam's three Edinburgh charity bookshops available to buy on the day.

After last year's discussions about Scotland in comics and Scottish comics in general, this year's theme will be the evolution of a comic from original idea to writing, art and publishing. Since our last post more guests have been confirmed and the current guest list includes - 2000AD and Megazine writer Gordon Rennie, Superman and Batman artist Frank Quitely, Marvel Heroes and Commando writer Ferg Handley, 2000AD writer and editor David Bishop, Doctor Who Adventures artist John Ross, DC Thomson artist Gordon Tait and DC Thomson archivist Morris Heggie.

Tickets, priced at only £3 - the same as last year, will be available on the door but are also available in advance from eBay and the Morningside Oxfam Bookshop which once again is organising the event. It is located at 210 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4QQ, and the telephone number is 0131 4469169. The shop can also be contacted by e-mail via oxfamshopf5808AToxfam.org.uk.

The fun poster for the event is the work of Edinburgh based artist Ben Morris who is a regular illustrator on Doctor Who Magazine and the junior Doctor Who Adventures.

T• here are more details of the 2010 event at the event's Facebook page and on the Oxfam Morningside Twitter feed.

• There are videos of Ferg Handley and David Bishop at the 2009 event on YouTube.

Oxfam Comic Event Tickets Now Available

Following on from last year's event, tickets are now available for the snappily entitled Oxfam Bookfest Comic Event in Edinburgh - Issue 2. This discussion based event will take place on Saturday 17 July 2010 in Edinburgh's MacDonald Road Library which is only a 10 - 15 minute walk from the city's main bus and train stations.

After last year's discussions about Scotland in comics and Scottish comics in general, this year's theme will be, like the Dundee Comics Day three weeks beforehand, the evolution of a comic from original idea to writing, art and publishing. As with last year the day will feature contributions from Marvel Heroes and Commando writer Ferg Handley, writer and former 2000AD editor David Bishop and Insomnia publisher Crawford Coutts. The four hour event begins at Noon with tickets costing only £3, the same as last year.

Tickets are now available from the Morningside Oxfam Bookshop which once again is organising the event. It is located at 210 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4QQ, and the telephone number is 0131 4469169. The shop can also be contacted by e-mail via oxfamshopf5808AToxfam.org.uk.

The fun poster for the event is the work of Edinburgh based artist Ben Morris who is a regular illustrator on Doctor Who Magazine and the junior Doctor Who Adventures.

There are more details of the 2010 event at the Oxfam BookFest website and on the Oxfam Morningside Twitter feed.

There are videos of Ferg Handley and David Bishop at the 2009 event on YouTube.

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, 11 July 2009: Starblazer Sculptures, Moon Landings and an Oxfam ComicFest

• Dundee-based artist Trevor Gordon has been in touch, to let you us of a collaborative art project going ahead in Dundee at the Mills Observatory. "I am working with archival material from DC Thomsons and creating sculptural pieces influenced by the work," he reveals. "There will a number of original Starblazer works on display and a number of strange sculptural pieces in a range of mediums.
"[DC Thomson staffer and former Starblazer editor] Bill McLoughlin has been extremely friendly and supportive throughout the process and it has been a joy to get my hands on these cherished images," Trevor reveals, " and [artist] Enrique Alcatena has also been a delight and there will be a wee note on his thoughts on Starblazer also." More details as soon as we get them: meanwhle, check out Trevor's work at www.trevoragordon.com

• Jeremy Briggs has completed a series of Moon Landing Anniversary posts for downthetubes, which will be published daily starting on Wednesday (15th July). The posts feature art and comics work published during or after the first Moon Landing. Meanwhile, our Comics Celebration of the 40th Anniversary gathers pace, with our album of art now featuring work by Adam Grose, Martin Baines, Ian Duerden and others. The album can be embedded on any web site to help celebrate this major endeavour of human exploration. Further art - illustration, strip, cartoons is welcome: If you don't want to join our forum and upload art but would like to join in with the celebrations, simply send your work to johnfreeman6-moonlandinganniversaryart@yahoo.co.uk. Please ensure images are no larger than 2MB in size.

• Talking of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, we spotted a reprint of the Daily Mirror for 21 July or thereabouts in WH Smiths today, complete with DVD of footage of the Apollo landing: it will be interesting to see what Garth was up to (and The Perishers!) on that momentous day in 1969...

• The British Film Institute's "One Giant Leap" season in London continues this coming week with screenings of the films 2001: A Space Odyssey, Countdown and Moonwalk One, the premiere of newly remastered Director's Cut in high definition of Theo Kamecke's film, commissioned by NASA to cover their historic Apollo 11 moonshot. With an atmospheric original score by Charles Morrow and a moody narration by Laurence Luckinbill, Kamecke's documentary has been described as perhaps the most significant time-capsule record of Apollo 11 ever made.

• Our thanks to comic creator Emma Vieceli, who kindly gave downthtubes a positive plug on her blog (despite Jeremy Briggs saying that she looked like a Manga character...) - view her comments here. Emma was recently interviewed for BBC Blast, revealing How To Get Creative!

• Graeme Neil Reid has announced he will be joining a huge number of comic creators at the Thought Bubble in Leeds at the end of November, so if you are thinking of going to any comic cons this year that would be one to consider.

• Talking of events, Insomnia Publications will be part of the line up at the Oxfam Comics Fest on 18th July at Macdonald Road, Edinburgh from 12 noon to 3.00pm. We've given this a plug recently, but Oxfam has been in touch with an update, reporting there will be discussion panels on Comics In Scotland and The Ups And Downs Of Small Press Publishing, featuring writers Ferg Handley (Marvel Heroes, Commando) and David Bishop (2000AD, Doctor Who) and other guests.
"We'll be holding a silent auction of some great comic book related merchandise, including a piece of original artwork from Spectacular Spider-Man," reveals organiser James McConnell, "signed by the artist, presented with a page of the script, signed by the writer, and other excellent items.
"There will also be an exclusive sneak peek at some never before seen pages from the upcoming Burke & Hare graphic novel from Insomnia Publications, and a stall selling comics and graphic novels."
•Tickets are £3.00 at all Oxfam Bookshops in Edinburgh, on sale now!