The Sunday Spotlight: The ‘Occasionally Leaves Our Reality Altogether’ Edition
by Richard Bruton
Welcome once more one and all to the cornucopia of comic delights that is The Sunday Spotlight. Strap yourselves in, it’s time for the comics news…
Eddie Campbell returns to comics with a biography of America’s First Great Woman Cartoonist – Kate Carew – June 2024…
Eddie Campbell‘s not just one of the finest living cartoonists, he’s also a true scholar of comic book history – and his latest book, coming from Fantagraphics in June 2024, is a perfect example of that.
Hands up those of you who’d heard of Kate Carew before? Exactly. Well now, with the benefit of Campbell’s biography of a woman who wrote and drew comics in the first two decades of the 20th Century, you (and I) will be able to educate ourselves on this obviously far-too-overlooked name in the history of comics. More as it comes, but mark your comic buying calendar now.
Here’s the Fantagraphics PR for it…
“Kate Carew was America’s first great woman cartoonist, drawing for newspapers in the first two decades of the 20th century. She drew Sunday color comics alongside George Herriman, but it was in the idiom of freestanding caricature that she made her mark. She interviewed and sketched many of the famous celebrities of her time including the Wright brothers, who built and flew the world’s first successful airplane; Marconi, who invented wireless radio; Picasso, the most famous painter of the 20th century; the world champion African American heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson; and the leading figures of the suffragette movement in the years before women won the right to vote in the UK (1918) and the US (1920). Her most endearing achievement was her cartoon alter ego “Aunt Kate,” whom she sketched into the proceedings, turning graphic reportage into her personal adventure from San Francisco and New York to London and Paris.
Written and designed by award-winning artist Eddie Campbell along with Carew’s granddaughter, Christine Chambers, this book is an insightful, well researched biography as well as an astonishing archive of Carew’s cartoons and illustrations.”
Occultz is Oxford’s Comics, Cult, and Zine Fair, coming May 4th…
A new one-day comics, zine, cult fair happens in Oxford’s Star public house on Rectory Road on May 4th.
It’s organised by writer/artist/2000 AD editor Owen Michael Johnson and Jason Atomic, creator of London’s Dark Art Fair, and will feature artists selling a whole load of self-published comics, zines, prints and merchandise, plus there’s going to be vintage comics stalls and a series of zine-making and comic art workshops.
Advance notice – Gosh Comics presents Free Comic Book Day – 5 May…
A huge month for Gosh Comics London, one of the UK’s finest comic shops, all kicking off with their traditional Free Comic Book Day events, featuring Luke Pearson, Chris Riddell, and Tom Gauld. Then there’s a great children’s table event with creators from… Bog Eyed Books – Tor Freeman, Gary Northfield, and Woodrow Phoenix; Flying Eye Books – Adam Allsuch Boardman & Alexis Deacon; and Monster Fun – Claude TC, Ned Hartley, and Ramzee.
Fun for all!
Advance notice – Gosh Comics presents a TCAF Triple Threat – Luke Healy, Will Humberstone, Josh Hicks – 14 May…
Toronto Comic Art Festival is one of the world’s best comics festivals and Gosh London are presenting a trio of great cartoonists for a special post-TCAF signing session on Tuesday 14 May from 6-7 pm.
And more from Gosh! – the launch event for Leo Fox’s My Body Unspoiling from Silver Sprocket – 15 May…
Yes, I know I feature a lot from Gosh – but that’s because they’re one of the finest comic shops in the UK (the world even!) and they put on some truly great events.
Anyway, hot on the heels of the TCAF triple threat above, the very next day Gosh have a launch event for Leo Fox‘s new book, My Body Unspooling, published by Silver Sprocket – Wednesday 15 May 2024 at 7-9 pm.
To get an idea, here’s the Silver Sprocket blurb…
“My name is Lucille, and me and my body have broken up.”
Lucille and his body are constantly at odds. Lucille is too cold and too resentful for his body, and his body is too warm and too loud for Lucille. It’s time to ask God for a divorce. A minicomic by the author of Prokaryote Season and Boy Island, My Body Unspooling explores the push and pull between body and mind, and what ties them together.
Advance Notice – Macc Pow Convention 2024 is 20-23 June…
Another great comics convention that’s actually all about the comics, Macc-Pow returns this year on 20-23 June.
They’ve already announced a few things and guests for the con which launches on Thursday 20th at Cinemac Cinema through to a day of comic art creators to meet in Macclesfield Town Hall on Saturday June 22nd, and a full day of workshops for comics on June 23rd.
Guest this year include… Tor Freeman, Sheena Dempsey, Kev F Sutherland, Lew Stringer, Daps Draws, David Leach, Rachael Smith, Mr Hope, Asimina Hollinsworth, Blakemore comics, Charlie Adlard, Jacob Phillips, Sean Phillips, Nick Brokenshire, Emmeline Pidgen, Roger Langridge, Monty Nero, John Allison, Laura Howell, Peter Hogan, Hunt Emerson, Emma Reynolds, Eleanor Dixon, Paul McCaffrey, Little LICAF, Katie and Phil‘s MARVEL D&D, Tripwire magazine, Felt Mistress and Jonathan Edwards, Emma Vieceli, Tallewellyn Comics, Chris Askham, Will Chesters, Quantum Comic, Comics Youth, Dawn Wilson (slightly ghosts), Dan Whitehead, Roz Hague, Toria scribbles, Markus Pattern, Ellen Stubbings, FOX HAT, Rebecca Burke, Lily Blakey, Bo&Boon, Jim Medway & Broken Cross Primary, Froggy Froo, Corey Brotherson, Yomi, Laura Hole, Imogen Mangle, Alex Potts, Noel Hannan, Neil Roche, WOW comix, Shanefaced, Sam Hardacre, James Chapman, and Colin Mattheison.
More details on their Facebook page and Instagram.
