Month: November 2018

Comics Club at The Circle – anthology launch 25th November

Art by Katie Fotheringham

Each Thursday for the last three months we have been running one of our popular after school Comics Clubs at The Circle in Staffa Place. The Circle is a hub for charities, social enterprises, community groups and socially aware businesses in Dundee. They provide affordable offices, co-working and community space. By bringing organisations together, they are promoting collaboration and fostering innovation that does social good in the city.

It has been a pleasure working with The Circle to help make our Comics Clubs accessible to more young people across Dundee. We are proud to be able to launch a new Comics Club Anthology at The Circle featuring comics by the young people who attended the workshops there.

On Sunday November 25th The Circle is partnering with their tenants to host a Yuletide Fair. It will be an afternoon of festive fun, including food and drinks, local business stalls, Santa’s grotto and much more! And DCCS will be there! Come along between 12-4pm to pick up a copy of the comic and see what else The Circle has to offer.

‘Frankenstein Returns’ comic launch – Dundee Comics Prize 2018

Frankenstein Returns cover detail – Art by Dan McDaid, colour and lettering Phillip Vaughan.

2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, who lived in Dundee briefly as a teenager, partly inspiring her in writing her best known Gothic novel. On Thursday November 22nd at DCCS we are hosting the launch of Frankenstein Returns – the comic produced during the Being Human Festival celebrating the legacy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The comic features stories by Professor Chris Murray with artwork by Norrie Millar, Elliot Balson, and Ashling Larkin as well as a comic by David Robertson, and illustrations by Cam Kennedy and Dan McDaid. The comic also contains the winning entries from the Dundee Comics Prize 2018 and stories by young artists from DCCS’s weekly Comics Clubs. Chris Murray will open the event with an illustrated talk on a history of Frankenstein comics.

Part of the University of Dundee’s Being Human 2018 series “Frankenstein Returns“.

Suitable for all ages. The event runs from 6-8pm.

Close to the Heart Comic Launch

Inspired by the memory of her beloved father, University of Dundee PhD student Megan Sinclair has created a new comic that explores bereavement while raising both awareness of heart disease and funds for vital medical research.

Close to the Heart will be launched at a symposium at Dundee Comics Creative Space on Wednesday 21st November. The publication centres on the sudden death of Megan’s father, George, who suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep at the age of 53 in April 2014. She says the event turned her family and life upside down but her determination to do her father proud helped drive Megan towards First Class Honours and a Masters degree with distinction before embarking on her PhD in Comics and Education.

Despite its origins in tragedy, Megan says the overall message of Close to the Heart, which explores the importance of communication in helping people cope with grief, is one of hope.

Wednesday’s symposium focuses on public information comics produced by the Comics Studies team at the University in collaboration with academic and non-academic partners and aims to explore the impact of comics as a mode of public engagement as well as a research methodology.

The event begins at 10am with guest speaker Nicola Streeten, an illustrator, graphic novelist and author of Billy, Me and You, discussing her own experience of comics and grief. Other talks centred on graphic health will follow, along with a workshop, and roundtable discussion.

Close to the Heart will be officially launched at 7pm that evening and members of the public are welcome to attend both the symposium and the launch event. The comic is free but donations, which will be given to the British Heart Foundation, are welcome.

People can register for the symposium here and to attend the launch of Close to the Heart here.