The Sound of Comics: An Evening of Comics and Music
From pop stars appearing in romance stories as villains (Elvis) to pop stars with their own comics (Johnny Cash), pop stars as cartoons (Gorillaz) and Elvis Presley films in comic book form, music and comix have enjoyed a long and intimate relationship. Was Marvel Comics Dazzler, for example, the prototype for Britney Spears?

Part 1: Show and Tell
Comica founder Paul Gravett is joined by Ian Shirley, author, Can Rock And Roll Save The World?; Flameboy, who's illustrated critically received graphic novels on Kurt Cobain, Eminem and Tupac (forthcoming); punk comic artist/music maker Edwin Pouncey aka Savage Pencil; and Hunt Emerson, creator of jazz strip Max Zillion.

Part 2: Film screening
A sneak preview of Unauthorised and Proud of It – The Todd Loren Story (Dir Ilko Davidov, Bullet Proof Films, 60 mins), a documentary about the San Diego-based publisher who, between 1989 and his murder in 1992, published unauthorised comic book biographies of bands like Guns N' Roses and The Rolling Stones.

Part 3: Music
Music and comics in the bar until late.
Where: ICA, The Mall, London
When: Wednesday, 20 July 2005

Misfit Lit

In its third year, COMICA has now established itself in the art world of London and its director, Paul Gravett, selected once again a hip location, the well-known Institute of Contemporary Art to feature a sold-out stellar panel of international comic creators.

Offering a unique insight into her work, American cartoonist Jessica Abel discussed Artbabe and La Perdida (a semi-autobiographical thriller set in Mexico City where she spent a number of years). Matt Madden presented 99 Ways To Tell A Story, a wild comics homage to Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style. Italian artist Igort discussed his lyrical fumetto 5 Is The Perfect Number, in which he reinvents the neo-realist mafioso tragedy. Paul Wright, British cartoonist for The Times, discussed his eccentrically English debut Smelling A Rat. Killoffer, the French Tarantino of autobiographical comics, discussed the emergence and role of the small French editorial collective L'Association and discussed his stark 676 Apparitions of Killofer, a self-loathing masterpiece with a strikingly elegant style. Illustrated in the background with a screen displaying examples of plates from their authors' websites, the talk concluded with Junko Mizuno, Japan's mistress of creepy cuteness and fractured fairytales.

Coinciding with the launch of Paul Gravett's latest publication Graphic Novels: Stories To Change Your Life, a unique insight into the medium's masterpieces, the talk was followed by the book signings in an adjacent and spacious room attended by friendly waiters serving complimentary drinks. Here, the audience enjoyed intermingling with agents, publishers and the authors as the small scale of the event prompted a more personal contact. All in all, another very successful event providing a wonderful voyage into the world of graphic literature.
Text © Dominique Le Duc