Archaeology, comics and play in York

Comics in York! Part of the “Heritage & Play” sessions. March 26th.

There’s a great event taking place up in York for anyone who’s free next Wednesday, the 26th. It’s the latest “Heritage and Play” session organised by Sara Perry and Colleen Morgan – and next week it’s all about comics!

To quote Colleen’s FB post:

During the next Heritage & Play meeting, we’ll consider the productivity of using and making comics to share ideas and create knowledge in archaeology. We’ll begin by discussing (and viewing samples of work from) various individuals who’ve been applying comics to archaeology (both in the past and in the present). We’ll then lead participants through a preliminary drawing session where we start to articulate aspects of our practice and/or current research through comic–style depiction.

The Heritage & Play group is an informal series of events which Sara and Colleen are organising with Gareth Beale. The open sessions bring together play with a focus on a particular heritage, history or archaeology theme. You can follow the sessions on Twitter via #heritageandplay @clmorgan @ArchaeologistSP.

Heritage & Play

26 March, 2014

12:00 – 13:00

Room: K/157

 NO SKILL OR PREEXISTING DRAWING TALENT REQUIRED!!

 Bring: A pencil/pen/preferred writing implement & your lunch

I’m excited about this event – comics, archaeology, play and education are all natural partners. I’ve exploited these connections in the comic-format activities I designed for my Anglesey Prehistory comics, and I know Hannah Sackett is working in a similar vein down in Southampton. Best of luck to Colleen, Sara and Gareth for the day – I look forward to hearing how the day went!

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Star Comic

Yours truly was in The Shropshire Star on Monday in an article about the Richard III comic page I did for the Inside Out art group’s activity afternoon as part of National Libraries Day at Oswestry Library. Some nice comments from readers on the comic (including an eagle-eyed reader who spotted a dating error in the draft I’d emailed the paper!).

The page was only really supposed to be a quick example of how comics could be used for explaining current news events. Although I’ve sketched out the full version of the comic to about ten pages, I never completed more than this first page. Now, however, I’m wondering if it might not be a good idea to go ahead and expand and finish it over the summer. All I need now is a publisher – anyone interested? 🙂

In the meantime, I think once it’s finished, I’ll exhibit the completed comic Oswestry Library at the Inside Out art group’s exhibition wall near the reception desk. Hopefully it might encourage other illustrators and writers to consider this kind of graphic approach to local history or archaeology stories. Does anyone else remember the “Mark Trail” factual Sunday comics? I’ve long been an advocate of archaeological comics in newspapers – is this a first step? A weekly archaeological comic strip in The Oswestry Advertiser or Shropshire Star – that would really be a first!

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Richard III – Comic book hero!

“So Who Was King Richard III?” – introduction page.

My comic about Richard III – along with a host of others – has been included in an article about the discovery on the University of Leicester’s website. The article is about the response of artists, writers and comics creators to the story of the discovery of the remains of Richard III.

It’s notable how diverse the comics response to the story has been – both among the commissioned and non-commissioned works. My interest was primarily the discovery’s contemporary connections – the various political and regional responses to the question of where the remains should be buried, for example. Other writers and artists were interested in the discovery’s historic and dramatic context.

What’s clear, however, is that all of these threads were equally capable of being narrated through a comic or graphic format. Maybe the very nature of archaeology – the fact that even on a small scale it brings in a wide and diverse range of narrative elements – makes reporting it particularly suited to a a multi-varied visual medium such as comics.

So can we perhaps see comics – or indeed, any presentation format where information is presented as interrelated image and text – as the natural medium of archaeological reportage?

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Richard III – the comic!

“So Who Was King Richard III?” – introduction page

I did this one-page comic introduction last Wednesday to the story of the discovery of Richard III’s skeleton in Leicester. I drew it just after the announcement confirming the skeleton’s ID, and I wanted to have it finished in time for National Libraries Day. I had it up at my table while I was doing my art, and both parents and kids at the library really seemed to like it. I got into a long conversation with one family whose daughter was doing history at A-level and was unhappy that they didn’t do more about the Wars of the Roses at school.

I had perhaps thought that this Richard III comic might fit well into this year’s British Science Festival, as it brings together archaeology and archeological science, but I’m thinking now that it might better suit National Archaeology Day on October 19th. I’ve emailed the comic around to a couple of people who might be interested, and we’ll see what develops.

Interestingly, talking about this comic at the library this weekend also lead onto another comic project, bringing together Oswestry’s Festival of the Word and one of it’s most famous sons…

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