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Underground > Comic Books >

Speakers on comics

No star here laces

16:27 / 09.05.02

So a friend of a friend is organising a talk about comics at the ICA in the next couple of months and has asked me for recommendations for who to invite to speak.

For me, a personal wishlist would be something along the lines of:

Grant Morrison (of course)
Joe Quesada (cos he's important)
Brian Michael Bendis (cos he's great and I suspect he's a good speaker)
Jamie S Rich (to talk about the indie scene)
Kev O'Neill (cos he's brilliant and clearly a nutter)
Scott McCloud (to do the theory bit)
Chynna Clugston-Major (cos she's brilliant too and not a white male either)

However I (a) don't know how good a speaker any of these guys are and (b) don't know if they've got the budget to fly people in from the states.

So: who would you recommend approaching that's resident in the UK, and how should I go about doing it?

17:40 / 09.05.02

Bryan Talbot has done lecture type stuff before- he's a great bloke and created the first British graphic novel- he has won many awards too. He is contactable via bryant-albot.com (via James Robinson his webmaster). Bryan is based in Preston.

Paul Gravett, the comics historian, might also be a good idea

17:46 / 09.05.02

Jamie S Rich is gonna be over in the UK for comics 2002 and is a notorious Anglophile so will probably be spending some time in london anyway- may be worth sending him an e-mail C/O Oni press

Quesada is also gonna be around for comics 2002, but doubt he will be around for long

18:07 / 09.05.02

What about Warren Ellis? As far as I can tell he quite enjoys doing that sort of thing.

Contact him through his forum or website...

19:38 / 09.05.02

Yeah, its not like hes busy writing comics or anything...

01:33 / 10.05.02

Dylan (Hicksville) Horrocks might make for a good speaker too, I think (can't wait to read his upcoming interview in The Comics Journal).

05:15 / 10.05.02

David Lloyd of V For Vendetta fame would be a good bet too. I know he used to teach at the London School Of Comic Art or whatever it was called. Searching google turned up this link, http://www.illustration-agency.com/gallery/graphic/dlloyd.htm Dave McKean might be worth trying too. You could try sending an email to him through Neil Gaiman.

09:57 / 10.05.02

I would second Sleaze's recommendation of Bryan Talbot. He's a nice, down-to-earth guy, and has done a lot of speaking on comics. However, he's no longer living in Preston - up in the North East somewhere now, possibly Middlesbrough.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:12 / 10.05.02

I'd go with Warren Ellis, definitely - whatever people here think of his work/personality, he's done this kind of thing before, and at least has strong opinions and can express them forcefully.

11:52 / 10.05.02

well strong opinions expressed forcefully aren't always the best way of getting a point across, particularly if the audience in question does not share a sycophantic view of the author.

and of course Ellis will probably be in his ivory tower being too ill/busy on his forum or, at a push, writing comics, to attend.

Or to put it in a less sarcastic tone, I don't think Ellis is a particularly good spokesman for the comic artform. His successes are very much compromised by his excesses.

11:54 / 10.05.02

McCloud is a very good speaker: I saw him years ago, before Understanding Comics had even come out, and he was just as bright and concise live as in print. I imagine he's only gotten better since then--he's had a hell of a lot of practice.

12:18 / 10.05.02

Get Alan Moore!

(if only for the hardcore midlands bellowing action, never mind what he's got to say..)

12:23 / 10.05.02

Possibly not the type of comics luminary you're after, Lyra, but I have met Leo Baxendale (of Bash Street Kids fame) and he does a lot of this kind of stuff.

13:11 / 10.05.02

i definitely second paul gravette. i can get you contact details if you like.

pete ashton who runs bugpowder could probably have a lot to say on the matter of small-press and self-publishing since he used to be the main distributor of mini comics in the uk before the internet came along.

alan grant has been in the industry, on both sides of the atlantic for a while and has a wealth of great anecdotes, not to mention being a very sound geezer. (his wife has a few great stories too)

leo baxendale, yes! (i must try and get an interview with him one of these days)

matt brooker (aka d'israeli) is usually willing to talk to people -- he's done stuff with schools and libraries.

mel gibson -- no, not the hollywood actor; the girls' comics historian. she lectures/teaches on comics. she's not, like, really well known in the industry, but she's been studying the matter for ages and really knows her stuff. (see?

depending on when it was, and whether they're still in the country, then eddie campbell or chris staros would be worth a shout.

14:11 / 10.05.02

At convention panels and just in casual conversation, I have been very impressed with...

Paul Jenkins (has worked as both an editor and writer)
David Mack (I've never heard anyone talk more passionately about comics)
Brian Michael Bendis (very funny and honest)
Bob Schreck (very informative and a truly nice guy)
and Mark Waid.

Mark Waid is very cool because he was an editor for years and a successful writer. He knows everything about everything and he is very candid and honest. Not afraid to tell you what he really thinks about other pros and publishers and not afraid to tell you what has failed in his own career.

Ooops, sory. I forgot you said UK people. I've never met any.

14:21 / 10.05.02

well Paul Jenkins IS British, or at least British born and raised- he has moved to America now tho wherre he currently resides.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:50 / 10.05.02

Mark Waid - well, I guess if you're going for the gorgeous, pouting, charismatic rock star thing...

sleaze, I don't think the audience for such a talk would give a shit about how much time Ellis spends on his website. In the context of reaching out to a wider audience, these sort of concerns start to look somewhat trifling - unless you mean something else by "excesses". (But let's continue such a debate back in the thread devoted to said head-on-a-lease man.)

16:10 / 10.05.02

you misunderstand me, flyboy - its not weather the audience care how much time he spends on the net as much as if he will manage to pull himself away from it or any of his pressing commitments to forcfully cast forward his strong views at an audience who probably have more time for someone who isn't going to rant at them.

But the again perhaps I am doing him a disservice and Ellis would try less hard to be the King Stalin persona he presents to comic fans when he is talking to people who don't usually read comics...

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

15:08 / 11.05.02

Get Mark Evanier and then ask him for some people who worked in comics in the 40's and 50's so that you have some historical perspective. Gene Colan can talk a lot about the collapse of the industry in the 50's and how it came back in the 60's (and is a wonderful guy).

Evanier knows the business side of comics and pretty much knows comics from the 70's back.

Out of the modern people, I would say that Scott McCloud would be a great speaker, and so would the author of Cavalier and Clay, who was very active in the fan community as he wrote the novel.

14:30 / 13.05.02

Have you seen the "Postmodernism & Grant Morrison" thread here?
Cuz I link to an academic symposium on comics there, with a big list of speakers.

It's here: http://web.english.ufl.edu/comics/artists.html