This Saturday November 7th sees not one, not two, but three expert panels on the world of comics for this year’s S.M.A.S.H. event at the Barbican Library, part of Comica and organised by the London Graphic Novel Network.
The line-ups have plenty of creators/commentators with Broken Frontier links including our own Editor-in-Chief and ‘Small Pressganged’ columnist Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier Award winners Karrie Fransman (Over Under Sideways Down, Death of the Artist), Paul Gravett (Comics Art, Comics Unmasked) and Gareth Brookes (The Black Project), and former BF columnist David Hine (The Man Who Laughs, Strange Embrace).
S.M.A.S.H. is an entirely free event and attendees can look forward to an afternoon of intriguing discussion on topics that investigate both the mechanics of the form and its critical analysis. The full list of panels and their coverage is as follows:
PANEL 1: Criticism
12:30 – 13:15
How should we understand comics and comics criticism? What exactly is the function of comics criticism? What things does comics criticism do badly and what things does it do well? What should the future of comics criticism look like – and why?
Speakers: Andy Oliver, Fumio Obata, Frazer Irving, Dan White
PANEL 2: Stories
13:30 – 14:15
Are there certain types of stories that only comics can tell or at least – tell best? What are the emotional or intellectual experiences that only comics can create in the mind of the reader? Do comics even need to tell stories at all? And if so – why?
Speakers: Gareth Brookes, Paul Gravett, Steven Appleby, Karrie Fransman
PANEL 3: Adaptation
14:30 – 15:15
How easy is it to adapt a comic into another art form? Or to adapt another art form into a comic? What are the artistic reasons for doing so? Which are the worst examples of comics adaptation and which are the best? And why?
Speakers: Ben Aaronovitch, Nick Hirschkorn, Andrew Cartmel, David Hine
For more on S.M.A.S.H. visit the Facebook event page here.
