This week on(line)...: Jan van der Wateren, Ian Rakoff and Julius Bryant on comics in the National Art Library
Alex Fitch
Panel Borders: Collecting comics in the National Art Library
Continuing a month of shows looking at the presence of comics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Alex Fitch talks to Jan van der Wateren (former chief librarian and Keeper of the National Art Library,) and Ian Rakoff (founder of the Rakoff Collection) about the collecting and acquisition of comics at the V & A. Jan and Ian talk about the history of the Rakoff collection, how it relates to other comic book collections in the archive at the National Art Library - such as the Krazy Kat Arkive and Walt Disney comics collection - and various efforts over the years to highlight their existence. Also, Julius Bryant, Keeper of Word and Image at the V & A, talks about the museum's cultural remit and how that relates to comics, periodicals and popular culture.
More info at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/n/national-art-library-comics-and-comic-art-collection/
4.30pm, Monday 9th September, repeated 11am, Thursday 12th September Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com
http://skyarts.sky.com/sky-arts-ignition-series/memory-palace
Download / stream: https://panelborders.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/panel-borders-illustrating-the-memory-palace
Alex Fitch looks at the science-fiction sub genre of Alternate History, talking to three novelists about their works that imagines the past and near future if historical events had taken a different path. Charles Stross discusses his parallel worlds series "Merchant Princes" which depicts travel between various 21st Centuries where Europe is still feudal or has only just seen the industrial revolution plus his collaboration with Cory Doctorow "Rapture of the nerds"; Max Brooks talks about "World War Z" which depicts the present day Earth after twenty years of a war with zombies; and Ken MacLeod discusses his novella "The Human Front" and novel "Intrusion" which look at the kinds of police states that might exist in this county if various political movements had access to more advanced technology.
Following its UK premiere at Film4 FrightFest, Ryuhei Kitamura’s gore fest No One Lives finally arrives in cinemas, while we report back on other hits and misses of this year’s line-up in our FrightFest report and talk to Kim Newman about his latest book, Anno Dracula - Johnny Alucard.
Also out in cinemas this month are Kim Ki-duk’s haunting, intelligent thriller Pieta, Claude Sautet’s terrific gangster flick Classe tous risques, acclaimed German drama Hannah Arendt, and the 40th anniversary restoration of The Wicker Man: The Final Cut. We also have an interview with Paolo Sorrentino about his latest film, The Great Beauty.
It’s an even more exciting month for home entertainment fans, with the release of two rare films by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a collection of films by Atom Egoyan, and Alan Ormsby and Jeff Gillen’s cult horror classic Deranged. Also out on Blu-ray/DVD are Saxon Logan’s long-unseen Sleepwalker, Lotte Reiniger’s early animation The Adventures of Prince Achmed, plus we feature the wonderful sci-fi classic Ikarie XB-1 in our Reel Sounds column.
Staying with sci-fi, we have new articles relating to our latest theme, including reviews of Beyond the Black Rainbow, Georgian sci-fi parody Kin Dza Dza!, and a feature on Carré blanc. We also have a comic strip review of the 1958 original The Fly, while British author James Smythe's cinematic alter ego is Seth Brundle from Cronenberg’s 1986 remake. Bzzzt.■
recommended events:
Graphic Justice
A one-day symposium on the intersection of comics and graphic with the concerns of law and justice. Speakers include Paul Gravett, Ian Rakoff and other experts from the study of law and comics.
St Mary's University College, London
11 September 2013, 9am - 5pm FREE
More info at: http://graphicjustice.blogspot.co.uk
Sequential City
Sequential City explores the depiction of London in comic book narrative, as both a source of inspiration for writers and artists, and as a 'character' in its own right. The exhibition brings together original artworks and prints depicting the physical, cultural and sub-cultural sides of London (part of the 2013 London Design Festival).
Contributing artists include an impressive raft of Brit comic creators, from emerging talent to established names. Contributors include 2012 Costa biography prize-winner Bryan Talbot, Hannah Berry, Woodrow Phoenix, Rian Hughes, Gary Northfield, Sarah Mcintyre, Garen Ewing, Robert Ball, Simone Lia, Paul Duffield and Kate Brown.
Sequential City runs from the 16 - 22 September, and will feature an evening live comic jam event plus a children' comic workshop.
Baxter and Bailey, 6 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6NU
More info: http://www.londondesignfestival.com/events/sequential-city
Gosh! signings and launch parties
The Day the Crayons Quit, debut author Drew Daywalt and Jeffers is team up to create a colourful solution to a crayon-based crisis:
Poor Duncan just wants to colour in. But when he opens his box of
crayons, he only finds letters, all saying the same thing: We quit!
The battle lines have been drawn. What is Duncan to do?
Oliver Jeffers will be at Gosh! to sign for one hour on...
Saturday, September 14 from 3pm - 4pm
City lit: John Miers - the first Fast Forward talk at the famous Gosh Comic Book store in the heart of London. John Miers, an award winning contemporary comic book artist will be giving a talk on Visual Storytelling techniques, addressing the question: Are comics art or literature- or are they both, neither, and something else entirely all at once? This is your chance to find out how image, text, abstract symbols and composition combine in the most innovative medium around.
Tuesday, September 17, 7 - 8.30pm
The Best of Milligan and McCarthy: on Wednesday the 18th of September Gosh! have not one but TWO classic British comics guys in the house talking comics. Peter Milligan (Hellblazer) and Brendan McCarthy (Zaucer of Zilk) will be here doing a talk and Q&A about their new book from Dark Horse that collects the very best of their hard-to-find collaborative work from years ago: Freakwave, Paradax!, Skin and Rogan Gosh and more. That’s 20 years worth of their finest work from Vanguard Illustrated, Strange Days, 2000 AD and Vertigo!
Wednesday, September 18, 7.30 - 9pm
Gosh!, 1 Berwick Street, London W1F 0DR
Sophie's World - unseen photographs by Steven Cook
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, Orbital Comics is proud to present this special exhibition featuring rare and unseen of photographs of Sylvester McCoy’s companion Sophie Aldred (Ace). Originally taken by photographer Steve Cook in the late 1980s, a lot of the negatives were just recently recovered (not unlike the rumours of lost episodes being found).
The photos show Sophie’s versatility in a number of scenarios and
guises, including that of The Doctor’s beloved companion Ace. The
exhibition starts with a private viewing on September 5 and will run
through until the end of the month. Sophie and Steve will be in-store
signing prints of the photographs on Saturday, September 7 between 12
and 3pm.
September 5th - 30th
Orbital Comics, 8 Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JA
More info: http://www.orbitalcomics.com/sophies-world-the-unseen-photographs-by-steve-cook/
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival is modelled on the European comic festivals rather than comic conventions that UK audiences are more familiar with.
The aim is create an ‘en fete’ atmosphere, making the whole town part of the festival. There will be a much bigger emphasis on the range of talks, special live drawing events, workshops, films, exhibitions and a kids’ zone. Some of the events, including the exhibitions and the kids’ zone will also be free.
There will be The Comics Clock Tower – in Kendal Town Hall, where people will be able to buy comics and where authors and artists will be signing copies of their work. It will be smaller than at most comic conventions and will focus on writers, artists and publishers who are pioneers of a new wave of innovators in the field of comics and graphic storytelling.
We will be kicking off on Friday evening, 18th October and running until teatime on Sunday 20th. The programme will feature around 30 events of different styles and scales including meet the creators (presentations, live drawings and interviews), panel discussions and a few quirky events too. Alongside this there will be a film programme, exhibitions, workshops, our version of a marketplace/artists’ alley and a dedicated kids’ zone……and more
Guests include: Charlie Adlard, Steve Bell, Hannah Berry, Gareth Brookes, Ed Brubaker, Kurt Busiek, Stephen Collins, Darryl Cunningham, Rob Davis, Al Davison, Andy Diggle, Glyn Dillon, Pete Doherty, Hannah Eaton, Hunt Emerson, Carlos Ezquerra, Duncan Fegredo, Karrie Fransman, Simon Fraser, Katie Green, Isabel Greenberg, Steven Harris, David Hine, Ilya, David Lloyd, Robbie Morrison, Jose Muñoz, Luke Pearson, Ivan Petrus, Sean Phillips, Gary and Warren Pleece, Trina Robbins, Joe Sacco, Gilbert Shelton, Posy Simmonds, Nicola Streeten, Bryan and Mary Talbot, John Wagner and Oscar Zarate...Alex
Programme maker, Resonance 104.4 FM (Arts Council) - www.resonancefm.com
Assistant editor, Electric Sheep Magazine - www.electricsheepmagazine.com