19th-20th August, 2011

Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ

The Comics and Conflicts Conference will be held on 19-20 August, 2011 at the Imperial War Museum in London, and is aimed at comics scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts. Conference speakers and guests include: Pat Mills (Charley’s War); Martin Barker and Roger Sabin on Doonesbury; Garth Ennis (Troubled Souls, War Stories) and Francesca Cassavetti (Fabtoons).

Here’s a run down of the two days of events:

Friday 19th August:

9.00am – War Comics Conference opens; coffee and registration

10.00am – introductory talk by MARTIN BAKER and ROGER SABIN about the depiction of war in the Guardian’s comic strip Doonesbury

11.00am – choice of parallel sessions: REPRESENTING TRAUMA (Chair, Ariel Kahn) / ETHNICITY, NATIONALISM AND REPRESENTATION
(Chair, Paul Gravett)

12.20pm – Lunch

1.20pm – Panel on THE IMAGE AND REALITY OF WAR: (Chair, Garth Ennis) featuring Tim Pilcher, Darin Jensen, Isabelle Delorme

2.40pm – choice of parallel sessions: FORM AND CONTENT: (Chair, Roger Sabin) / CONFLICT AND IDEOLOGY: (Chair, Alex Fitch)

4.00pm – Coffee break

4.20pm – In conversation with PAT MILLS, from Charley’s War to Ayatollah’s Son followed by signing

6.00pm – Close

Please note: ticket cost for the entire day is £30.00 / Students £15.00 including Pat Mills talk or £6 for Mills talk only.

Saturday 20th August

10.30am – Artist DAVID COLLIER talks about his work from American Splendor to Chimo, followed by comic making master class at noon (separate ticket)

11.30am Artists and publishers discuss Trauma and Conflict (Chair, Paul Gravett) with Danish artist MIKKEL SOMMER, writer and illustrator of Obsolete, and ADRIAN SEARLE, the publisher of Dougie’s War, plus artist DAVE TURBITT.

2.00pm Artists and publishers discuss The Personal and the Political (Chair, Alex Fitch) with FRANCESCA CASSAVETTI and her mother, EILEEEN CASSAVETTI talking about the latter’s wartime diary which Francesca has published as a comic; joined by SEAN DUFFIELD, publisher of War – the Human Cost plus contributing artists DANIEL LOCKE and BEN NAYLOR.

3.00pm In Conversation with GARTH ENNIS – from Troubled Souls to Battlefields; a rare UK appearance by the writer, followed by signing

4.30pm Film Screening: COMICS GO TO WAR, directed by Mark Daniels, which looks at the work of Joe Sacco, Keiji Nakazawa (Barefoot Gen) and Marjane Satrapi among others, featuring new interviews with the creators + short film: “CHILD OF THE ATOM” by David Blandy.

All Saturday events are £6 / the film screening is FREE!

Imperial War Museum,
Lambeth Road,
London SE1 6HZ

Nearest tube: Lambeth North (Bakerloo) / Elephant and Castle (Northern line, City Branch) / Southwark (Jubilee)

Book tickets at http://wartime.iwm.org.uk

The Comics and Conflicts Conference is organised by Alex Fitch (presenter of Panel Borders, the UK’s only weekly broadcast radio show about comics), Ariel Kahn (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Roehampton University) and Paul Gravett (Comica Director).

The Comics and Conflicts events form part of a Children’s literature festival being held from 13-21 August 2011, which accompanies the Imperial War Museum’s new exhibition Once Upon A Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children.  For more information about the exhibition and the festival visit the Imperial War Museum web site.

Comics and Conflicts flyer, designed by Peter Stanbury

Creators in attendance include Al Davison and Tony Lee (IDW Doctor Who comic), Tom Humberstone (Solipsistic Pop), David Hine (Batman), China Miéville (Kraken), Denise Mina (The Field Of Blood), Alice Duke (Self Made Hero), Mark Stafford (Cherubs), Martin Fisher (Battle among the stars), Huw J. Davies (Freeman), Edward Ross (Parasites!) and Roger Mason (The Mice)

Click below for more info about panels and event timings

Doors open at 10am – Small press creators will be around to sell their work and meet visitors

11am – Small press to mainstream
Al Davison and Tony Lee (IDW Doctor Who comic), Tom Humberstone (Solipsistic Pop) and David Hine (Batman) talk about how working in small press comics has lead to work for mainstream publishers, but also provided a home to publish alternative titles throughout their careers so far. Chair: Matt Badham (Judge Dredd Megazine)

Followed by ‘Drop in and draw’ activities for first time artists wanting encouragement in creating comics, run by Tom Humberstone

12.30am – H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe
Novelists China Miéville (three time Arthur C. Clarke award winner for SF literature) and Denise Mina (The Field Of Blood) alongside artists Alice Duke (Self Made Hero) and Mark Stafford (Cherubs) discuss the influence of American writers Poe and Lovecraft on comic books and the difficulties posed by adapting their stories into strip format. Chair: Alex Fitch (Resonance FM)

2pm Comics and moving pictures
Comics have been both the basis of and influenced the look of much TV and film over the past few years and so creators Martin Fisher (Battle among the stars), Huw J. Davies (Freeman, Garth), Edward Ross (Filmish, Parasites!) and Roger Mason (2000AD, The Mice) will be talking about how their interest in both fields has led to cross-pollination in their work and how they see this influencing both media as a whole. Chair: Rich Johnson (Bleeding Cool)

3.30pm – Horror and noir
A panel looking at the crossover between two popular genres with guests Denise Mina, graphic novelist Hannah Berry who will be previewing her new book ADAMTIME and David Hine who has written horror themed comics throughout his career from Strange Embrace to Spawn. Chair: Paul Gravett (Comica Festival)

5pm Close

More info at www.sci-fi-london.com/bficomics

Also, one additional comics related event:

premiere of the new movie Super directed by James Gunn (Dawn of the dead / Slither / The Specials) – closes SCI-FI-LONDON at 7pm on Monday 2nd May, Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street, London

More info at www.sci-fi-london.com/festival

Creators in attendance include Paul Collicutt (Robot City adventures), Phillipa Rice (My Cardboard Life), Alex Milway (The Mythical 9th Division), Eddie Robson (Doctor Who adventures), V.V. Brown, David Allain, John Spelling (all City of Abacus), Lee O’Connor (Ctrl Alt Delete unmasks corruption), Zarina Liew, Yuri Kore, Clio Millett (Manga Jiman winners), Ian Edginton (X-Force), Matt Jones (BERG design) and Matthew Sheret (Paper Science)

Click below for more info about panels and event timings

Doors open at 10am – Small press creators will be around to sell their work and meet visitors

11am – SF comics for kids
Paul Collicutt (Robot City adventures), Phillipa Rice (My Cardboard Life), Alex Milway (The Mythical 9th Division) and Eddie Robson (Doctor Who adventures) discuss creating Science-Fiction and Fantasy comics for kids and having interested children in the format, how to keep their love of comics going. Chair : Chris Johnson (CBBC)

Followed by a children’s workshop run by Paul Collicutt

12.30pm – City of Abacus
A panel discussion with four of the creators of the serialised graphic novel CITY OF ABACUS including writers V.V. Brown and David Allain and artists Lee O’Connor and John Spelling, who drew issues two and three respectively, looking at the intriguing mix of dystopian SF and fantasy that the comic presents. Chair: Alex Fitch (Resonance FM)

Followed by City of Abacus signing

2pm – Manga Jiman
Three recent finalists – Zarina Liew (Runner-up 2009/2010), Yuri Kore (Winner 2009/2010), Clio Millett (Winner 2010/2011), Karen Rubins (Runner-up 2008, 2011) – of the Japanese Embassy’s ‘Manga Jiman’ (Pride in Manga) competition join one of the judges, to discuss the homegrown manga scene in the UK and the difference between Manga and Western style comics. Chair: Chair: Karen Rubins (V & A Museum comic book artist in residence, 2010)

3.30pm – The work of Warren Ellis
Editor Matt Jones (principal, BERG design who commission Ellis’ new comic SVK) and writer Matthew Sheret (Solipsistic Pop), whose love of comics started with Warren’s work, discuss the work of comic book / multimedia writer Warren Ellis who has penned some of the most influencial SF comics of the last twenty years. Chair: Iyare Igiehon (BBC 6Music)

Followed by 10 min preview screening of new documentary – “WARREN ELLIS: CAPTURED GHOSTS”

5pm Close

More info at www.sci-fi-london.com/bficomics

A panel discussion with four of the creators of the ongoing comic, John Constantine: Hellblazer, a horror periodical about a magus who investigates occult crimes, hauntings and disasters: Jamie Delano, David Lloyd, Peter Milligan and Andy Diggle.

Click below for more info about the event

The panel includes the comic’s original writer, Jamie Delano, who was chosen by Constantine’s creator, Alan Moore, to continue John’s adventures after his initial appearances in Swamp Thing.

Joining Jamie on stage are artist, David Lloyd – best known for drawing V for Vendetta – who contributed to the comic and illustrated the Constantine graphic novel, The Horrorist; and two of the most recent contributors, Andy Diggle, best known for writing The Losers and Peter Milligan (Shade the Changing Man).

The discussion will be followed by a screening of the film adaptation of the comic, CONSTANTINE (2005), starring Keanu Reeves.

More info at: www.sci-fi-london.com/festival / book tickets at www.apollocinemas.com

Find below general info about comic book events at SCI-FI-LONDON, curated by Alex Fitch…

As part of this year’s 10^th anniversary SCI-FI-LONDON – The London International Festival of Science-Fiction and Fantastic Film – the festival is proud to include a two day comics festival celebrating modern British comic creators from the last 30 years. The event will take place over two venues, our regular home of the Apollo Piccadilly Cinema, Lower Regent Street and at the British Film Institute, London and welcomes guests who have been published for over three decades plus newcomers to the medium.

Guests include: Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan, David Lloyd, Andy Diggle, V.V. Brown, China Mieville, Denise Mina, Hannah Berry, Ian Edginton and Yuri Kore

…who come from a wide variety of backgrounds not exclusive to comics – for example China Mieville is a three time winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award for SF Literature, V.V. Brown is a British singer / songwriter who has supported The Ting Tings on tour and was named as ‘an artist to watch’ by both The Independent and The LA Times – and whose work covers a variety of genres outside of superheroes, whose output has been made available from established book publishers as well as via self publishing.

Sci-Fi London has ensured there are a large number of female guests on the comic book panels and members of the small press and manga community are well represented to ensure members of the audience can get advice from creators and professionals working their way into the industry.

Comics at Sci-Fi London takes place at BFI Southbank on the May Bank Holiday weekend – 30^thApril and 1^st May 2011 – with an additional panel at the Apollo Piccadilly cinema, Lower Regent Street on 23^rd April about “25 years of John Constantine: Hellblazer” as Andy Diggle and David Lloyd discuss the character from his first regular appearance in Swamp Thing #37 to the 250^th issue of his own title, published last year.

At the BFI, panel discussions will include “Poe, Lovecraft and comics”, “Manga Jiman”, “Comics and moving pictures”, “City of Abacus”, Hannah Berry will be previewing her new book “Adamtime”, the long awaited follow-up to the acclaimed “Britten and Brülightly” plus children’s workshops run by creators from “Solipsistic Pop” and a screening of 20 minutes of footage from the new film “Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts” followed by a discussion of the writer’s work with some of his collaborators.

There will also be a handful of tables at the BFI for creators to sell and sign their work and Sci-Fi London will be inviting small press creators to take part in the festival for free.

Confirmed guests include: David Allain (City of Abacus, music video director)

Martin Baker (Battle among the stars)

Hannah Berry (Britten and Brülightly, Adamtine)

V.V. Brown (City of Abacus)

Paul Collicutt (Robot City Adventures)

Huw J. Davies (Freeman, Garth)

Jamie Delano (Hellblazer, Captain Britain)

Andy Diggle (The Losers, Thunderbolts)

Alice Duke (Self Made Hero: Poe and Lovecraft anthologies)

Ian Edginton (Scarlet Traces, X-Force)

Yuri Kore (The boy who runs from the sun, Manga Jiman Winner 2009/2010)

Zarina Liew (The Sun and the Moon, Manga Jiman Runner-up 2009/2010)

David Lloyd (V for Vendetta / Night Raven)

Roger Mason (2000AD, The Mice)

China Mieville (Kraken, Hellblazer)

Peter Milligan (2000AD, Hellblazer)

Denise Mina (Hellblazer, A sickness in the family)

Edward Ross (Filmish, Parasites!)

John Spelling (City of Abacus)

Comics at SCI-FI-LONDON is a SCI-FI-LONDON Lab event, which encompasses talks with artists, writers, scientists, filmmakers and critics talking about science-fiction and science-fact. It is curated by Alex Fitch, the presenter of Panel Borders, the UK’s only weekly broadcast radio show about comics, Thursdays on Resonance 104.4 FM in London, the Arts Council Radio station.

Further information about ticketing, schedule, applying for table space and additional guests to follow.