CityLife

Why comic books could save the literary world

PANEL: Hannah Berry 1 / 5 images

ACTION heroes have always captured the imagination – of the young and the old. Many of the superhuman characters that we’re familiar with in big Hollywood productions started life as drawings on the pages of a comic book.

The rising interest in comic books – or in serialised comic books collections, often referred to as graphic novels or trade paperbacks – means that the genre has finally found its way into the Manchester Literature Festival calendar, with two major events dedicated to discussing the art of creating comics.

Paul Gravett, comic book expert and director of the annual Comica Festival who began his editorial career with cartoonist magazine Escape, says LitFest’s decision to include the events is part of a general trend by the literary world to finally embrace the graphic novel genre.

Paul says that Art Spiegelman’s Maus series – a illustrated retelling of the Holocaust that won a Pulitzer Prize in the early 1990s – changed the perception of the comic book genre.

But it’s still taken some time to bring it into the mainstream. “The profiles and quality of the artists is getting higher, but also there are big publishers getting involved,” says Paul as we talk about Between The Panels, the event he chairs on October 19 at the Whitworth Art Gallery.

“This has nothing to do with The Beano or Batman, which I have nothing against and are perfectly wonderful comics in their own right.

“But we are focusing on the multidisciplinary elements of creating comics.”

He’s assisted by an able team of graphic novelists, including superhero creator Paul Grist (Kane and, pictured left, Jack Staff), noir comic artist Hannah Berry (Britten And Brulightly) and internationally celebrated multimedia storyteller Bryan Talbot (The Adventures Of Luther Arkwright, The Tale Of One Bad Rat, Alice In Sunderland) who will focus on the storytelling and fine art genres that comics connect to, as well as the creative processes. 

“Not everybody who is comfortable with reading words only is going to make the jump to graphic genres. Many people don’t find it comfortable to read, and the great irony is that they are seen as children’s books but they can be very difficult to navigate.”

Before that, Dr Who comic book serialiser Paul Cornell, Ian Edginton (2000AD, Torchwood) and Adrian Salmon (Dr Who, Power Rangers) host Vvoorp Vvoorp! Comic Book Adventures In Time And Space at the Lass O’Gowrie on October 18. The mini conference will explore the highs, challenges and pitfalls of creating comic books based on popular TV series.

Vvoorp Vvoorp, Lass O’Gowrie, October 18, £9/£6.50; Between The Panels, Whitworth Art Gallery, October 19, £4/£3