SCOTLAND IN COMICS 7

Scottish Comics is a nice journal put out by Napier University recently. It is well illustrated with lots of D.C. Thomson comics pages. The writing includes pieces from Alan Grant and Mel Gibson who are always worth reading.

The preface from Alistair McCleery contains this sentence; "Are we claiming that comics are literature? No, simply that they carry meaning beyond their basic narrative." which lets you know where they're coming from.

Here are some of the selections (click for larger versions):

I remember Wilson fondly from when he was revived in Spike in the 1980s as "The Man in Black". Ian Kennedy does his usual great job on Tough of the Pool. And The Four Marys seems to be known by every woman in Britain of a certain age.

You can order a copy of Scottish Comics here.

GERALD SCARFE and DUNDEE COMICS DAY

The latest International Journal of Comic Art (Volume 12, No. 2/3) has been published. I have a couple of articles in there.

They’re reviews of two events from The University of Dundee. One is on Gerald Scarfe’s illustrated talk, and the other is on the third Dundee Comics Day. The latter featured David Bishop, Crawford Coutts, Warren Ellis, Gary Erskine, Mel Gibson, Alan Grant, Ian Hague, Peter Hughes Jachimiak, Ian Kennedy, Bill McLoughlin, Keith Robson, Julia Round, Roger Sabin and Emma Vieceli. More information can be found here.

GET THEE TO A LIBRARY 4


















Here's an interesting one. This is from the librarians' shelf, possibly in the back store at your local branch. Graphic Account is aimed at librarians and covers how comics and graphic novels should be dealt with in the collection.

Its most notable piece is the one by Mel Gibson. She is a well known comics expert nowadays, appearing on the BBC's Comics Britannia series, and doing talks at comics conferences and library events. She really knows her stuff. Here though, we find her just beginning to think about graphic novels' place in the library.

The book gives an insight into how interested parties in libraries view comics, or at least how they did in 1993.